Reign

[cactuswatcher]

The facts: James Stewart, not the actor from It's a Wonderful Life, but the Earl of Moray, did exist unlike Sebastian in this series. He was James V's oldest illegitimate son. Like Mary's de Guise uncles who don't appear in the series, the real life James was an interesting, and controversial force in Mary's life. As stated in the episode, he was Protestant, and he was one of the reasons for the secret treaty mentioned in last week's episode. He was very influential in Scotland and apparently he was either very supportive of Mary or a formidable foe of hers depending on which way the wind was blowing. One can say for him that he did at a point or two in Mary's life have the opportunity to seize Mary's throne and did not. It is said that of him, he would rather have had the power of a king than the title. He did in fact go to France ask Mary to return to Scotland, but that event was a couple years after the events in this year's Reign. As for his nice speech about King James V's plans for Mary, we can refer back to last week's post where we established that King James was so little cheered by the birth of his daughter that he died pouting in bed days after her birth.

Moving to the episode itself, we can qutoe Tolstoy: Happy families are all alike... Henry is crazy, but apparently quite religious. Lola is beginning to wonder whether her new husband is only after her dowry, and planning to add her to his growing list of late wives. Kenna and Sebastian seem to have decided that since they are stuck with each other for life they might as well be chums. Francis seemed to be channeling his mom this week, and quite a bit unlike his character earlier this season. Mary learned that payback's a bitch even if both of you were just trying to spare the other's life.

Comments

[dlgood.livejournal.com]

Notably, the Earl of Moray was supposedly the first person assassinated by firearm.

we can refer back to last week's post where we established that King James was so little cheered by the birth of his daughter that he died pouting in bed days after her birth

Well, this isn't the most historically accurate show. Mary Stuart, as far as cold be told, was not particularly interested in going back to Scotland and cared little for its politics during her time in France. But then again, this version of Francis II has a functioning physiology. And the constant warring between Catholics and Protestants seems to be absent from the court. Well, lets see what they do with the Duke of Lorraine next week. Still no sign of her grandmother, Antoinette, which is too bad. Many entertaining historical figures absent from this show...