Reign
On Thursday night, I was one of the 2 million people who tuned in to watch the CW premiere of Reign. My thoughts? Kind of mixed! (Spoilers ahead!)
I’m totally into the “supposed” setting. Reign takes place in 1557 France. The storyline follows the betrothal and future marriage of Mary (Queen of Scots) to Francis (Prince of France).
Francis’ mother, Catherine, is the “evil queen.” She tries to have Mary drugged and raped so that she will be unfit to marry her son. Oh and by the way, Francis doesn’t want to marry Mary. Yikes.
Prince Francis isn’t exactly charming, either. In fact, he’s following in the footsteps of his father who is married with a son (Francis) and has a mistress on the side with a son from her (Sebastian). Francis has been seeing another girl in the castle (I think her name was Natalia), also on the side. Another twist? Sebastian is totally hitting on Mary. I hope this won’t turn into a full-fledged love triangle—I have The Vampire Diaries (another CW show) for that!
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| Francis, Mary, and Sebastian (left to right) The three next to each other reminds me of promo pictures for TVD! |
As if the family drama isn’t enough, there’s an added supernatural element. Interestingly, Nostradamus is a character on the show! He tends to the queen telling her his visions. Unfortunately, he has predicted that Marry will cause the death of Francis, which, not surprisingly, the queen isn’t too happy about.
Overall, I was pleased with the premiere. I would rate it at a 6/10. My issues lay mainly with the setting. I felt it was not true to 1557 France. The characters, particularly Mary’s friends, are too modern. It feels like Mary’s friends were pulled out of Gossip Girl(another CW show) and thrown into lavish dresses to “fit in” the setting. And that’s another thing I found inaccurate—the wardrobe. Now, don’t get me wrong, I think the dresses are absolutely stunning. But did women wear sleeveless dresses in the mid-1500s? I don’t think so.
Will I watch the second episode next week? Yes. Will I finish the season? Yes. Do I hope the plot unfolds a little better? Yes!
-Nadia Hamidi
Sources:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reign_(2013_TV_series)
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