Reign on the CW continues tonight with an all new Thursday November 20, season 2 episode 8 called “Terror of the Faithful.” Tonight, princess Claude makes an unexpected visit home and exasperates her mother. Meanwhile, protestants are harmed by Vatican inquisitors, and this creates discord between Mary [Adelaide Kane] and Francis. Meanwhile, Condé gets captured after he makes a bold declaration; Catherine [Megan Follows] fails at finding a suitor for Claude; and Narcisse gives Lola a ride home
On the last episode, young, reckless and provocative Princess Claude (guest star Rose Williams) made a surprise visit home, torturing her already haunted mother, Catherine (Megan Follows). Francis (Toby Regbo) was pressured by Narcisse (Craig Parker) to act against his conscience or risk his throne and his wife. Mary (Adelaide Kane) found a new ally in Condé (Sean Teale). Francis confided in Bash (Torrance Coombs) and hatched a plot that involved an uncertain Lola (Anna Popplewell). Kenna (Caitlin Stasey) mistakes Claude for a newfound friend, while Greer (Celina Sinden) returned earlier than expected from her wedding tour. Jonathan Keltz also starred. Did you watch the last episode? If you missed it we have you covered with a full anddetailed recap, right here for you.
On tonight’s episode as per the CW synopsis, “Tensions escalate between Mary (Adelaide Kane) and Francis (Toby Regbo) when Vatican inquisitors perform barbaric acts on anyone suspected of being a Protestant. After a brave proclamation, Lord Condé (Sean Teale) is abducted, resulting in a precarious situation with a surprising group of assailants. Catherine (Megan Follows) experiences an annoying setback when she plays matchmaker on behalf of a reluctant Claude (Rose Williams), while Narcisse (Craig Parker) offers a stranded Lola (Anna Popplewell) an innocent horse ride back to the castle, where a dark secret involving Francis is revealed. Torrance Coombs, Caitlin Stasey, Celina Sinden and Jonathan Keltz also star. Charles Binamé directed the episode written by Adele Lim and Melody Fox.”
Don’t forget to come back here tonight at 9 PM EST for your live recap of Reign season 2 episode 8 “Terror of the Faithful.” In the meantime, be sure to hit up the comments section below and let us know what you’re most excited about for tonight’s episode.
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Soldiers go door to door interrogating villagers about whether they are Protestants. A church representative – Cardinal Vasari – is there and says since he lied, they should take his lips. They do and then paint a red mark on the door of his shop. Mary chews Francis out about Vasari’s actions and Francis says he wrote the Pope and asked him to recall Vasari but says she needs to stop second guessing him or go back to Scotland.
She asks if he’s serious about them living separately and says she has a duty to their people and won’t give up on France. Bash tells him he’s alienating Mary and Francis says he’s trying to get Mary out of the country and safe from Narcisse until they can destroy the man. Bash says he may push her too far and won’t be able to win her back but Francis says he’d rather she was safe.
Catherine comes to wake Claude who complains. Catherine says she has a marriage prospect there for her – a son of a Bavarian count. Claude says it’s too cold there and Catherine says it’s a good alliance and will France new trade routes. Claude says she just wants rid of her and says she doesn’t want to be married. She says with her brother king, there’s no reason for her to wed.
Catherine says she will marry and contribute. She tells her daughter she stinks and to bathe. Claude flops down on the bed and Catherine pours a jug of water on her. Louis Conde is taken captive and hauled into the woods. Turns out, it was Protestants that took him and they want to talk how they can help each other. He says he’s Jacob Ravel and leads the local Protestants.
He shows Conde other Protestants he may want to meet and walks him to a Protestant gathering in the woods because they are scared to worship in town. Ravel says the numbers grow every day and says to help or they will all suffer the same fate as Louis’ nephew. Ravel says he heard Francis sent a letter to the Pope about Vasari and says it gives them hope. He asks Louis to appeal to Francis to get their minister and audience with Francis and Mary.
Lola is in the woods when her horse wanders away. Narcisse rides up and says he saw her horse ride off. She asks if he followed her then scared off her horse and he asks why he would do that. Lola says he can’t force her to ride back with him and he says he would never force her to do anything she doesn’t want but says it’s a very long ride back to the castle.
He points out something in the distance and says it’s a wolf but she says he’s the wolf. She agrees to ride with him. He tells her that his first wife liked to ride and says his wife told him pressing up against the pommel while riding was quite invigorating. She’s embarrassed. Louis goes to talk to Mary and Francis. He says the minister wants to rebuild the Protestant church.
Mary encourages Francis to grant the request and says it could imply they have some protection. Francis gives the minister permission to rebuild and says that’s all he can do. The minister says it’s not enough. He says they are being hunted by the Vatican. He tells Francis he has two days to expel Vasari and the Inquisitors or else Catholics will be attacked in retribution.
Francis doesn’t like being threatened and has him arrested. He says he’ll get the truth out of him about where the arms and explosive they have are hidden even if he has to beat it out of him. The man is taken away and Louis apologizes and says he didn’t know the man was a fanatic. Francis asks for names of some of the others but Mary says this was inevitable.
Bash agrees and says they need to keep this secret or else the news of a planned Protestant attack could trigger more religious violence. Louis agrees to help Bash hunt down the zealots and they leave. Mary offers to help deal with the Protestants but he tells her that she can’t help and he doesn’t want to hear what she’s saying.
Lola and Narcisse take a break on the ride and he tells her that he wants more time with her. He says if they met on the sly she wouldn’t have to worry about the ramifications from Mary. He tells her forbidden fruit is sweeter and could be done purely for her pleasure. He says he won’t press her for a response but basically says she makes him hot and he wants to hear from her soon.
Catherine meets with William, Claude’s prospective fiancee, and his father. She tells them Claude is studying her scripture and the Count says they have a delicate matter to discuss. He says they have heard rumors about Claude’s virtue and her fooling around with a priest. Catherine asks if he wants grandchildren with royal blood. He asks why she would let her daughter marry down.
She says she is looking for a reaffirming of their ties with Bavaria. The Count says he needs Claude’s virginity confirmed before the marriage can go forward. Louis and Bash go talk to some Protestants and they say their minister is a good and kind men. Bash asks for the name of some of the minister’s close associates but then the Vatican guards ride up and take the man prisoner.
Bash says he’s already investigating them for the King but the Vatican guards say they don’t answer to the King and take them away. Lola comes to talk to Francis and says she knows why he’s pushing Mary away and says she knows he killed Henry. She says Narcisse told her about that and the blackmail. He asks why Narcisse told her and she says he thinks to use her against him and tells him to tell Mary.
She says Narcisse told her the truth while Francis lied to protect himself. He says he is protecting Mary, his mother and even their son. She’s shocked that her son could be a target of her potential lover. Francis asks if she didn’t hide the envelope because she’s taking Narcisse’s side. She says she actually hid the envelope at Narcisse’s home and he says he can take his head for treason once the guard finds it there.
Catherine tells Claude that she has to have the Vatican guards verify her virginity and Claude says she’s not a virgin. Catherine says she’s made a sizable donation to get the results they need. Claude tells her mom she won’t take the test or marry. She says if someone wants to touch her privvies, they’ll have to put her on the rack and pry her legs open. Catherine agrees they can do the rack.
Francis and Mary send Lord Girard off kindly and Mary says acting normal feels strange. She says she doesn’t know which is harder, pretending there’s not an attack coming or that their marriage is well. Louis shows up and says the attack is the work of a few fringe radicals and says the Protestant leaders really don’t want this. Francis goes to the dungeon to talk to the minister.
Mary walks with Louis and asks why the Protestants would send their minister to be tortured and killed. Louis says the people don’t know about his threat and that if they kill him, it will create a martyr. Mary begs him to try and talk sense to Francis and Louis tells her Francis is a fool to ignore her wisdom. Francis goes to the minister who isn’t talking.
He says he doesn’t fear losing his life over this and Francis asks if he fears his people losing their lives to the Vatican Inquisitors. Louis shows up and listens in. Francis says if the attack takes place, all those innocent Protestants will happen. Francis says he will protect them all if he will just tell him where the attack will take place. The minister tells him the monastery where they planted the explosives.
Louis goes to check it out and they find a fuse. He pops the lid off a barrel and finds it’s just sawdust, not gunpowder. It’s a decoy and they wasted a whole day looking for it. Above the arch in red paint they see painted Sanguis Fluat. Louis says it’s Latin and means “blood will flow.”
[10:02:02 PM] Rachel Rowan: Claude marches through the halls knocking things over in a temper and complains to Bash about her mom trying to marry her off to a Bavarian. He tells her if she’ll go away from Catherine, she might be off her mind. He suggests Cousin Babette’s but she says she slept with her fiancee once on a dare. She says people are so judgmental. Bash says it’s her mom’s attention she wants, not the court’s.
Claude says Catherine doesn’t love her and Bash says he knows that and that’s something they had in common. Claude says she doesn’t need her bastard brother feeling sorry for her. He tells her the marriage could be a new start and a chance to find happiness and love somewhere new. Bash goes to see Catherine and she’s surprised.
He says he looked into the Count she wants Claude to marry and says the trade route story is BS. He asks what her motives are and she says he’s overstepping his bounds. She asks if Claude asked for his help and he says he encouraged Claude to accept the marriage and find love. Catherine says she loves and protects all her children. She says she prays for their souls and hers and treasures her family.
She tells him the names of all the children she lost over the years. She talks about the twin girls that died and she imagined what they would look like grown but could never see them as older than eight. She looks at the bed where she sees the ghost children lying and Bash asks if she’s all right. She says she’s been drinking a bit due to her nerves.
Bash tells her Claude needs her affection now. He tells her to give Claude some sign that she loves her before she sends her away. He says she owes Claude that much. Catherine goes to sit by the bed where her ghost children are napping and Bash can tell something is up. He later gets a message that Narcisse is back from his country manor and says he needs the guard to ride now.
They head to Narcisse’s home and says he’s suspected of treason and his home will be searched. He protests, but in they go. Francis tells Lola that the letter wasn’t found and that Narcisse must have found it and knows she put it there. She says she was with Narcisse yesterday and he never mentioned it. He offers a guard but she refuses it and says she can’t explain it.
Louis sends a message to Francis about the search. Louis tells Mary about the search and the message written there. Louis says the minister won’t be alive for long. Sure enough, Francis has the man on the rack being stretched and tortured. The minister says he put the bomb there himself and then says they must have lied to him. Francis demands his co-conspirators names and has him stretched again.
Mary comes in and tells him to stop. He tells her to go away and she says they can’t martyr the man – it will make things worse. He has them stop and pull the man off the rack. His arms are dislocated and they pop them back in. It may be too late for the minister. Francis tells Mary he never meant for any of this to happen and hopes she knows that.
Narcisse waits for Lola and says he knows she tried to frame him for treason. He says he found it but then the guard didn’t come and he thought she had a change of heart. He tells her Francis is a weak patricidal king. She tells him she found out he threatened Mary and her child. He says he was trying to motivate Francis to be a better and stronger king but says her baby is at risk no matter what.
She tells him he’s not a patriot, but is a dangerous man. He tells her the world is a dangerous place and she and her child would have benefited from his protection. Claude submits to the virginity test from the Vatican representative. Catherine stands and takes her hand while her daughter is examined. Bash tells Francis the minister is dying and can’t be helped.
Mary says they have to keep him alive. Bash says a surgeon in Epernay may be able to help and Francis tells Bash to take the man there. Catherine tells Claude she’s sorry she had to undergo the procedure. She tells Claude she’s beautiful and that it’s for her own good that she’ll be married and away from the castle. Claude asks why. The evil twins wait on the bed glaring at Claude.
Catherine thinks back to when the twins were tiny and the nurse telling her that Claude is jealous of the twins and pinches them and says they ruin everything. Claude stomps away out of the nursery. Now, Catherine tells her she’s protected her more than she has any of her other children. Claude begs her not to make her lave but Catherine says it’s done and looks past her at the twins.
The minister wakes in a cart being driven hastily to Epernay with Bash escorting him. A tree is in the road and Bash and the other guard are shot by arrows. The minister staggers out of the cart and says he sent them to the wrong location but he worries he’s betrayed the case. The man runs him through and says there was never a bomb. Bash is conscious and sees and hears all of this.
The Count is pleased about Claude’s virginity test and says he’ll be pleased to call Princess Claude family. Catherine is pleased. Clause approaches Narcisse and sits on his lap. He tells her he knows she’s being friendly as a show for her mother. He says he might enjoy her company and is recently unattached. He tells her he’s heard about her toying with priests and asks if she’s up to the challenge.
Catherine watches with growing anger and then concern as the dead twins follow Claude out of the room. Flashback to Catherine crying saying she thought the babies were just asleep. The doctor says they were both suffocated. He shows her fabric roses he found one in each of their throats. They were from Claude’s gown. Claude killed the twins!
Louis goes to see Bash at Louis’ town home where he’s recuperating. He says men attacked the transport and killed the minister then took him with him. Bash says he heard them say there never was a bomb. Mary asks why threaten with something that doesn’t exist. Louis gets word that there’s a disturbance in the square involving the minister. Mary and Francis put on cloaks as a disguise and go to see.
The minister has been strung upside down in the crucifixion pose, arms spread wide – a punishment reserved for heretics. A man shouts that the Vatican and the crown had this done. Francis wants to tell the angry crowd they didn’t do it but Louis says that’s not safe. The Protestants are riled up and Mary says the radicals wanted them to kill the minister and when they didn’t they had to do it themselves.
A riot breaks out between the Vatican Inquisitors and the Protestants and Louis hides them away. Mary tells Francis this is his fault. She says she has lost all faith in him and says he’s not the man she thought he was. Later, Francis kneels and looks at his son. Lola comes in and he says the child is the only good and pure thing in his life. He says he has ruined his marriage and rule.
Lola says she understands why he’s done what he has and says he’s a good man. She lays her hand on his shoulder reassuringly. Uh-oh. His baby mama is being supportive when his wife is not. Any bets on whether he’ll shag her again and knock her up again? It only took once last time… Should be interesting to see how this goes.
THE END!