Reign Recap Season 4 Episode 10 A Better Man

Director: Dawn Wilkinson

Writers: John J. Sakmar & Kenny Lenhart

Original Air Date: 28 April 2017

Sorry royals, I am not writing a full recap of this episode. I realised recently that I have not taken a proper day off in too long, and I really do feel how tired I am. I am posting, instead, a few thoughts I had on this episode. 

■ The sprint to Mary's tragic end (gasp, 400 year old spoilers!) is definitely felt with the removal of James from Court. Considering how little time Reign has, it was a good way to go. It made sense that Mary's most loyal and capable courtier and protector would not be by her side through the events that history imposes must happen.

■ I remain indifferent to the romance between Elizabeth and Gideon. I enjoyed them better as friends.

■ Henri is at French Court, and he looked as shady as he was hot.

■ I appreciate how quickly Reign moved in the previous episode. I suppose this episode tried the same thing, and it was not as successful. I do sympathise with Reign; the writers have had to put as much of the story they wanted to tell as possible in too few episodes because of the cancellation. 

■ When Charles is shown to have a working though struggling mind, and Nicole as a woman capable of talking to him and persuading him, the relationship works, to a certain degree. When Nicole's ability to get Charles to do what she said is treated as a superpower, as it was in this episode, the dialogue is awkward and almost feels like justification for the existence of the character. Also, I am not sure what was served by those scenes between Nicole and Narcisse.

■ Will Kemp is still beeping brilliant as Darnley.

■ I am now in denial over historical spoilers and fantasising about a final scene of Mary living under an assumed name in a modest chateau somewhere arranged by Catherine de Medici.