This episode starts off with a lie, a truly ingenious lie from Queen Mary. She certainly wasn’t joking last week when she stated she would do everything necessary to keep her throne. But her terms to gain help aren’t as straight forward as they seem and Mary becomes a pawn in an even grander game that holds higher stakes than she imagines. Her acts of self-defense may turn into acts of war towards England and its queen, and Mary could be digging herself into even deeper trouble than she was (if that is even possible). Mary is trapped between a rock and a hard place, as always, but watching her persevere through her struggles is what makes this an enthralling show. Of course we’d all love to see our favorite characters happy, but we’d get bored without any strife and without any challenges that allow our main characters to show their strength and determination.

I’ll admit, some characters are beginning to grow on me. Loyalties of some characters were tested and this solidified the loyalty of some surprising characters to Mary’s side. While old friends became traitors by forging loyalties to her greatest foe, Elizabeth. Speaking of Elizabeth, her plot line this week finally wasn’t painful to sit-through, instead her character’s tribulations depicted throughout this season (painfully slowly, might I add) have finally amounted to give her strength. Elizabeth is shedding any meekness she may have exhibited before, and as she blossoms into the conniving, ruthless, powerful queen she is remembered to be, she shed the final weight holding her back from being unstoppable. She made sacrifices this week that put her on par with her cousin, Mary. The brilliance of these two rival queens is splendid to watch as they act against each other and we the viewer are privy to how they come to their decisions. I cannot wait to see where Elizabeth’s story line is taken from here on out, I just wish it had been sooner, rather than so close to the season finale, but I’ll take what I can get. Now there’s just left to hope the writers don’t regress and throw her back into another repetitive story line.

The reemergence of a supernatural element to the show with Catherine’s story line breathes fresh life into the show. The mystical elements that were introduced in the first season of the show had all but vanished, and this new development seems to fill a void I hadn’t realized the magical element of the show had left. Although, this late into the season I worry the supernatural plot element will be rushed and not played out in the most thoroughly enjoyable way. We’ll just have to wait and see what awaits, as old horrors emerge from Catherine’s past to haunt her reign now.

Overall, this episode was an improvement from the last one, albeit with some parts which I disliked (but I attribute that to personal sentiments and not reflective of the episode’s quality or entertainment). I give this episode 4.3 victorious chess matches out of 5.