It is a pleasure to finally see the French and English court transitioning seamlessly between one another. The beginning of this season introduced rocky transitions between the two courts and made the show and the plot lines feel disjointed. Not only have the two courts improved, but Queen Elizabeth’s fierce character and determination have finally blossomed; she is now quite similar in attitude to the strong-willed Queen of England we know recognize from history. Also, now I truly find myself becoming attached to certain English court members, whereas before I still simply saw them as enemies to Queen Mary and France.

The fast-paced feel of the previous episode slowed down in this episode, though it was not unwelcome as it provided the perfect opportunity to show the progress of minor character’s plot lines. The last we saw of Queen Mary’s “fallen” lady Greer, her plans to sort out her life were running smoothly. This episode she is faced with the reality of her situation and what she is willing to do for her family. But during her troubles came a very sweet moment of friendship between her and Leith. Although their romance was short-lived, and feels like so long ago I can barely remember it, their understanding of one another and wanting to better their stations allows them to maintain a steady friendship. Very few times on screen can a past couple remain good friends only, and this representation of their friendship is an amazing dynamic to behold. Speaking of Leith, I do want to point out my bias for him, as he seems to be the most consistent character throughout the series and I appreciate his continued goal to raise his station legitimately with his own hard work.

For the major plot of this episode, I’d say the situation seemed to be under-played. A major coupe to overthrow a queen (I’m not telling which one!) is not something that would be resolved so easily. But I can see why it was done, as a mere plot device to make room for another plot device: separating one lover from another. And I’d also like to give a shout out to regent Catherine this episode because she truly will go to great lengths to protect France, even asking for the help of not only unsavory characters, but ones that have betrayed her before. And yet again she reminds us that while she does care for people, she cares most about the benefits she can get for France. But in a way, Queen Mary is beginning to learn from Catherine, no matter how much she claims to resent what she does. It is still ambiguous whether Mary truly cares for people, or if she’s also using them for her own benefit. Either way, Scotland’s reclaiming looks to be approaching, as the Vatican’s support for Mary seems to be holding fast, for now.

What I dislike about this season is how some major characters from the previous seasons were relegated to secondary characters at the beginning of the season, and now it seems they’ve been further downgraded to simple muscle-men, foot-soldiers, not have their own plot threads but instead furthering along the plots of others. I believe some valuable characters are being wasted as muscle-men for Catherine as she uncovers that the supernatural force after her has a much wider scope for vengeance than simply her head. I do like this plot line, but as I’ve said before, I fear it will be rushed since it was introduced so late in the season. If it somehow extended into the next season, I’d be anxious to learn how they would do that and to find out the resolution to it.

Though not as exciting as last week, this week’s episode held plenty more character development and showcased some minor characters we haven’t seen an a while. In a show with such a large cast and many interesting characters I’ll admit I’m attached to, it’s nice to have a slower episode once in a while to catch up with their characters. One particularly amazing aspect I’ve come to notice is that the characters advance without the need to be in the show, like when we see a character again they have changed from the previous time we saw them, giving the true illusion that they have lives beyond what we see in the episodes. This seems like a pretty straight forward aspect in a show, but very many other shows I’ve noticed have any character development or changes besides what is shown in the episodes. Overall, I give this episode 3.8 of regent Catherine’s star crowns out of 5.