After the previous episode of Reign left Mary’s future in France uncertain, this episode gave her much appreciated purpose as she struggled to keep a promise she made. The fierce side of this Queen was once again on display after a length absence and her no nonsense attitude about her mission to fulfill her promise brought out the evidence of her capacity as a ruler.

Mary’s scenes with Catherine de Medici are always a favorite as they seem to feed off of the power the other has, even in moments when they are both vulnerable, they find solace in the presence of the other. They share a distorted mother-daughter bond and it was amazing to see this connection between these characters for the first time this season.

Not ignoring the tragedy within the previous episode, there were plenty of reminiscent mentions about a recently deceased character, and of course, lingering emotions that the characters had because of that loss. Although, some characters close to the deceased seemed to have glossed over their mourning, which some viewers, like myself, found insensitive.

Secondary characters were touched upon more this episode, which I suspect was a strategy to liven up the mood after a death and in these times of great political turmoil. After all, Reign is supposed to be a lighthearted show, which is why its fans don’t mind the historical inaccuracies much. This episode had ex-kitchen boy Leith and Princess Claude provide viewers with their expected dose of humor and vivacity.

Coming back to my point on historical inaccuracies, English Court was back in the mix this week with Queen Elizabeth as love-sick and, frankly, disappointing as ever. If one thing’s for sure, I know a good Queen Elizabeth adaptation when I see one, and so far nothing about this adaptation has given me much pause, but instead I find myself zoning out during her scenes. Not much of her court is fleshed out, I’ll admit, but Elizabeth is the least interesting character in her own court, a let down to the real Elizabeth’s memory, who was a force to be reckoned with.

Overall, this latest episode of Reign brought some closure to the tragedy in the previous episode and introduced exciting new story lines to hold my anticipation for the next episodes to come. On the other hand, the introduction of English Court this season has done nothing but take time away from more interesting happenings going on at French Court and I sincerely hope that the quality of these scenes improve, or that they’re taken out all together.