Reign feels like a well-funded high school production, which makes a sad sort of TV-land sense, since high school girls are obviously its intended audience. This oh-so-twee tale of the young Mary Queen of Scots got the country, France, and the century, the 16th, right. After that, you are on your own. Four or more times every episode, the sound track inexplicably blares out a pop tune. It's like having Barry Manilow suddenly pop up in the middle of "Game of Thrones." Ugh. The only thing missing to make the disaster complete: vampires. Maybe they can sneak one or two in during the pop songs. Many reviewers argue that Reign is historical fiction. They're half right. It's fiction. If they are going to do something this many parsecs from reality, why not use purely fictional characters, rather than drag history into an alley and beat it beyond recognition?
