‘Reign’ Review: Francis and Bash team up to save Mary in ‘Hearts and Minds’

While we knew all along that Mary was not going to sail off to Portugal with Tomas, we were still blown away by how tonight’s episode of Reign unfolded. Last week, we liked Tomas. He was willing to be there for Mary when France (and Francis) couldn’t and we understood why she’d agreed to end her engagement and make a new alliance with a decent guy.

“Hearts and Minds” took everything we thought we knew about Tomas and tossed it out the window. This guy is the worst. First, he showed off at the archery tournament (how creepy was the Clarissa-inspired target?), beating Francis and then rubbing his nose in it when he gave Mary his favor (gross – no one likes a gloater). But we soon learned that was the least of his bad qualities. Once Tomas found out that Mary and Francis were still spending time together, he let his true colors shine.

Tomas decided he was going to teach Mary a lesson in who holds the power. He brought in his servant Miguel to use as a whipping boy and made it clear to Mary that she was going to have to be the kind of queen who followed his every order and was seen and not heard. Aylee and the rest of the ladies-in-waiting were horrified, and so was Mary, but she knew there was nothing she could do about it. Kings and queens don’t have the luxury of choice (See? Sometimes the grass really isn’t greener).

King Henry and Mary’s uncle had to work out the details of officially ending the treaty. As Mary waited impatiently, Catherine told the young queen all the reasons that she doesn’t like her (rude). Once Mary finally gets an audience with the king, he wants something from her in return. The only witness that Simon (the English envoy) was spying on them was a prostitute. They asked Mary to sign her name to the statement instead and after questioning the woman, Mary agrees and in doing so, basically signed Simon’s death warrant.

But things were not that simple. Clarissa left an English seal for Mary to find and that made her question Simon since his seal was different from the one most of the English had. Simon explained why and suddenly Mary doubted that they had the right spy. Luckily, Francis and Bash were coming to the same conclusion after they realized Tomas wouldn’t have been able to swoop in and save the day if Bash and the men hadn’t been ambushed in the first place.

Tomas isn’t happy to see Mary talking to Simon and roughly grabs her. Francis and Bash immediately come over to help. Once Tomas is gone, they realize they need to track down Miguel and get him to turn on his master, but he’s gone. Francis and Bash set out to find him and Mary talks to the prostitute, offering her protection if she tells the truth about who she really saw in the tavern with the English seal.

In the woods, Tomas thanks Miguel for his service and then prepares to kill him. Bash and Francis show up just as Tomas hits Miguel with an arrow, but the wound isn’t fatal. Bash and Tomas get into a sword fight, but Bash is still weak and ends up on the ground. Francis takes over, but Tomas taunts him that he doesn’t know how to fight like a bastard does. Francis proves him wrong when he kills him (yes!). His hand is shaking and Bash assures his brother that’s normal because it’s not supposed to be easy to kill (this was a really nice moment between the brothers).

Mary is attempting to stall the king from beheading Simon, but Queen Catherine is whispering in his ear that waiting makes him weak. Kenna steps up and bends the king’s ear to her will. He’s swayed by her words and then he asks her to stay at court as his mistress (every girl’s dream, right?). Francis and Bash return with Miguel and Tomas’ body (did anyone else breathe a huge sigh of relief at that point?).

Obviously they can’t let Portugal know that they murdered Tomas without starting a new war so they use a newly freed Simon to sell their case. He’s going to Portugal along with a story that Tomas died nobly in the words or something like that. Does anyone really care? He’s dead and gone and we’re totally okay with that. As the line goes, history will forget this too.

But here comes the best part. Since a new treaty between France and Scotland needs to be negotiated, Mary interrupts the king and makes it clear that she’s going to be involved every step of the way (how awesome was that?). I love how strong willed Mary is and how she does what she can with the limited power she has at her disposal. Afterward, she tells Francis that his instincts will make him a great king (pretty cute shipper scene, right?).

As Mary is getting ready for bed, she goes to the corridor to thank Clarissa for her help and tells her that she appreciates having her there so she feels less alone. Then the camera pulls back and we get to see Clarissa – hiding under Mary’s bed as the queen goes to sleep. OMFG, that was really, really creepy. Who is this girl? What happened to her? Why doesn’t she know personal boundaries?

Speaking of boundaries, was anyone else kind of annoyed that Kenna went behind Mary’s back to the king after everyone agreed that they’d join her in Portugal? Mary gave them a choice and I think she would have understood if her friends wanted to stay in France so I wish Kenna would have spoken up then. But at the same time, her decision to become the king’s mistress is a big one and it’ll be interesting to see how things play out from here.

What did you guys think? Are you falling in love with this show yet? If you are, tell your friends to love it too! I’ve seen next week’s episode and it’s so good; I’ll have teasers soon. In the meantime, hit the comments and share your thoughts with us!