Mary and James butt heads over Darnley, while Catherine goes searching for a king.
Good onReignfor spending so much time developing the sibling relationship between Mary and James this season.
Aside from some fraught moments with Marie de Guise, Mary hasnt had much interaction with true family.
Credit: Ben Mark Holzberg/The CW
Its no secret that James doesnt like Darnley.
Dont mess with a dudes stallion, you know?
Its just another sign that Mary might actually be falling for this guy James is not amused.
Lady Lennox admits to it straightaway…shes pretty proud of the forgery, in fact.
She wants her son to keep his eyes on the prize: Hes about to marry a queen.
Dont be a fool, she tells her son.
Its not so easy for Darnley.
Keira was the love of his life, but he admits to having true feelings for Mary, too.
Hes touched by Marys gift of the old Lennox lands.
Too bad hes even more touched by Keiras demands to kiss her and try not to feel anything.
The ex-lovers end up back in bed.
No one can ever know, Darnley says.
So, obviously, someone will find out.
Mary, falling harder for Darnley by the minute, sets out to fix things with James.
She promises to get him new lands with valuable trade routes.
Oh, he knows Bothwell, and the dude isnt sick.
Hes down at the local tavern getting drunk.
To the village, we go!
Once there, the brother and sister duo get split up.
Mary heads into the tavern and finds Bothwell playing poker.
On the other hand, he has a ponytail, dimples, and seems very flirty.
Okay, Im all in on Bothwell.
If youve done your history homework, you know who Bothwell is this is a very exciting little meeting.
He knows Darnley must be involved.
James storms into the room and finds Darnley and Keira in bed together.
Darnley implores James not to tell Mary, but understandably, James is livid.
James is the best.
Any bets on who the Loyal Watchman is?
My current theory is Bash (come back from your Druid adventure, just!).
Mary is heartbroken over the news.
She confronts Darnley, who tries to deny it, which Mary has no time for.
Have we ever seen Queen Mary this angry?
She feels stupid for thinking this marriage was anything more than a political move.
She cant spurn him now too much is at stake.
Mary knows Darnleys right, but she doesnt have to be happy about it.
Shell marry him, but theyll be miserable.
This is only for the good of Scotland.
Um, so, like, where are you guys registered?
Id like to look into their return policy.
Catherine and Narcisse need to find Charles first, or else France may become a Spanish territory.
It must be Charles.
Well, that was easy.
Charles is living off the land and loving it.
Catherines never seen her son so happy.
Unfortunately, that means it wont be so easy to convince him to get back on the throne.
They tell Nicole that if she can persuade Charles to return to court, theyll bring her with them.
And one off-screen conversation later, Nicole has gotten Charles to go back to the palace.
Well, that was easy, too.
Once there, they still have to convince Leesa that Charles is fit to rule.
Hes in charge here.
Leesas about to pop a forehead vein.
Charles tries to remind them that Henry VIII broke away from the Catholic church and he was just fine.
Catherines like, Oh, little one, you are no Henry VIII.
Also, having a Protestant king will throw the country into civil war.
Charles doesnt care hes ruling France his own way now.
So, maybe things arent so easy?
Narcisse walks in to find her tangled up in his sheets.
She wants gold and she wants Narcisse to get it for her.
In return, shell continue manipulating Charles into doing whatever he wants.
Its a pretty decent offer, but this girl might be more trouble than shes worth.
Catherine knows she needs to find a way to talk Leesa off the ledge.
Leesas packing up to go home and get King Philip and the Vatican to intervene and take France.
This is worse than that pigeon soup Catherine had to choke down on the farm!
Catherine begs Leesa to stop punishing the entire country and stick to punishing her.
Shell give her whatever she wants.
Unfortunately, what Leesa wants is a whole lot worse than Catherine was expecting.
Now that Charles is super into his kingly duties, Catherine knows he wont go down without a fight.
It will pit Protestants against Catholics.
In short: It will lead to civil war.
It doesnt really seem like a fair deal, does it?
Meanwhile, in England:Boy, will I be glad when Elizabeth gets back to destroying peoples lives.
This sad character development thing they have going on is not the most compelling.
It feels likeReignis stalling?
Sorry to be so callous about poor little Agatha, but there it is.
Its hard to do when youre crying all the time, so he lets Elizabeth take the reins.
Its all very lovely: Elizabeth turns Agatha into a queen for the day.
They jump on beds, play in fountains, basically reenact theFriendsopening credits, I guess.
Agatha gets a gown and a tiara and can boss servants around.
Agathas slow march to death serves two purposes.
First, Elizabeth comforts Agatha with tales of a heaven full of dancing and hugs from your mom.
Its a reminder of how terrible Elizabeths life was for a while.
A queen may forgive, but she never forgets.
Okay, Elizabeth probably doesnt forgive either.
Agatha quite liked Mary when she met her, and also isnt a queen supposed to want peace?
It all hits Elizabeth hard, and she ends up calling off an impetuous invasion.
She needs to be smarter than that.
Agatha dies peacefully in her sleep and Gideon weeps in Elizabeths arms.
Ben Geurens really sells this Agatha stuff.
Gideons been put through the ringer in his short time onReign, huh?
Lets get this guy a happy ending, ASAP.
Give that little angel everything she wants!
