Reign (TV Series) Pilot (2013) User Reviews

"Pilot"

[allmoviesfan · 8/10 · 25 February 2023]

Not sure how historically accurate 'Reign' is or isn't, but the story of Mary Queen of Scots - who, it must be said, doesn't speak with any sort of discernible Scottish accent - certainly opens with a rush and shows great promise. The first dozen or so minutes are non-stop, setting up the series nicely.

The exiled queen (played by Australia's own Adelaide Kane, a "Neighbours" alum, like so many of our best and brightest actors and actresses), engaged since her youth to the future king of France, Francis II, is the target of an assassination plot at the convent where she has been living ostensibly for her safety. One of the nuns there was - unfortunately for her - Mary's food tester and someone managed to get poisoned food in. Luckily for Mary, she hadn't started eating yet, but it was all too close for comfort and she is shipped off to the French court with some of her friends from Scotland to serve as ladies in waiting, including the delightful Anna Popplewell, of Narnia fame. The five Scotswomen must come to grips with life in the French court and all the politics and intrigue that comes with it.

Queen B

[pekic990 · 8/10 · 24 October 2013]

Balance! The thing that made me like the Pilot was the Balance between secrets, power and love games.

Mary Stuart, the young, naive and beautiful queen to be is a classic CW protagonist. Adelaide made a perfect job in creating a character that is sweet, nervous in front of her promised husband and strong in moments when her people needs her. Mary's interaction with her future husband were intriguing, funny and intense. While her heart is devoted to Francis and the idea of marrying him, she isn't blinded by her destiny and by the things she should feel. Francis on the other hand is a tortured little man. Tortured by his feelings of being unworthy, treated wrongful by his father, living in the shadows of his brother and apparently being completely talentless made him doubt every move he made. Even though you can feel a connection between Mary and Francis, the connection established between Mary and the bastard Prince, Sebastian seems more powerful and honest. Hopefully the CW will keep the triangle present but not dominant and let politics determine the course of Mary's and Francis's relationship and not him being jealous.

Looking on the turning point of the episode the Rape attempt. I honestly didn't see it coming, I thought Colin would be the spy in Catherine's lines and serve as a plot device later on. Catherine on the other hand is the Victoria Grayson of the 16th century. She is powerful and intimidating, loved her performance over the course of the episode. The opening sequence with Nostradamus gave the show a different perspective to the show. Let's see how deep will they dig into the charlatan magic.

A solid performance was proved as well by Lola, one of Mary's Ladies in waiting. The actress that captivated us in Narnia, showed big emotions upon losing the boy that she loved. Even though all the Ladies love Mary deeply, Lola's performance made a difference and put Mary in lonely and heartbreaking position. This ultimately made her step up. The mystery that should keep us coming back to the show is the Women behind the Mask. An unexpected ally that prevented Mary from drinking the vine. I personally assume it is Mary's mother but let see what the writers have in mind.

The show has a lot of potential and if you can isolated your (CW) prejudice you can enjoy the show and maybe even learn something new.

Unwatchable

[sparklefish · 2/10 · 8 March 2022]

What sort of nonsense is this? I cannot even make it through the first episode due to the unbelievable mind-boggling amount of historical inaccuracy. This is not how people talked during the Tudor period. This is not how they wore their hair, this is not how women talked to men, this is not what the castles looked like, this is not what the clothes looked like.

This show is someone's mish-mosh idea of what high school girls now would be like if they dressed up in some sort of renaissance looking costumes for a theme party or prom, without in anyway adopting the norms of how women in court were supposed to behave or how they were supposed to address men.

45 minutes and I am done.