Reign on the CW continues tonight with an all new Monday April 25, season 3 spring premiere called “Succession,” and we have your weekly recap below. On tonight’s episode, Charles’ coronation nears, forcing Mary to find a suitor who will be her ally.
On the last episode Mary (Adelaide Kane) struggled to resist her feelings for Gideon (Ben Geurens) as she worked to align herself politically with potential allies. Did you watch the last episode? If you missed it we have you covered with a full and detailed recap right here for you.
On tonight’s episode as per the CW synopsis, “Charles’ coronation nears, forcing Mary to find a suitor who will be her ally. Meanwhile, Lola discovers who’s been poisoning Elizabeth; and the castle’s serial killer has special plans for Catherine.”
Don’t forget to come back here tonight at 8 PM EST for your live recap of Reign season 3 spring premiere. 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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#Reign starts with a man in the tunnels looking at rats in the tunnels of the castle and gasps when he sees something. Catherine is in a tizzy over Charles’ coronation and wants bread and wine sent out to the villages. The master of coin complains about the cost but Catherine tells Lord Fluret to make it work.
She says the house of Valois has to be shown in all its glory. Her lover Christophe is now one of the king’s guard and she promises him a dalliance later when he thanks her for getting her the appointment. He whispers that he wants to take her right here. She promises they’ll be together soon.
Catherine argues with Fluret over the costs and then Catherine greets Narcisse when he shows up. She hands him a toast for him to honor her at the coronation. She says it was lovely seeing the privy council strip him of his power and she can’t wait to hear him deliver the speech showing his support of her.
He’s less than thrilled. Bash shows up and tells her there was something awful found in the tunnels. Mary walks with – and talks about John Knox and how her mother hated the man. Mary discusses Erik of Sweden as possible husband but she doesn’t like that he’s a Protestant.
Charles asks Mary to take a place of honor in his procession and insists it will show the world that he and France are behind her and shows his love for her and Francis. Mary agrees. Mary goes to talk to Gideon about John Knox.
Gideon hopes that a common foe in Knox might bring her closer to Elizabeth. Mary asks him about the Scottish hostages and Lola and Gideon says things are at a standstill since Elizabeth was poisoned. Gideon says it was nice talking to her.
He asks her about a dance at the coronation feast but Mary says they need to stick to politics. He says he’s just a friendly face on the big day of the coronation. Mary says she’s happy for Charles but admits she’s a bit out of sorts.
Mary says the coronation of her and Francis wasn’t too long ago and now she’s just an ornamental queen here and in Scotland. Gideon encourages her then his daughter Agatha comes in and the nanny coughs. Mary tells her to go to the infirmary for treatment.
Gideon pulls a coin out of her ear but Aggy pouts and asks to go play with her doll. Gideon says he doesn’t know what he’s doing wrong and Mary says he just needs to spend time with her. He says he sees her at meal and bedtimes but Mary says take her and do something fun.
Gideon asks her to come along with them to have some fun since she was a girl once too. Bash tells Catherine they found a squire and a high born woman buried beneath the floors of the castle. Catherine worries and Narcisse says a killer on the loose is not good for the coronation.
Narcisse threatens to change up his speech and Catherine says they will add king’s guard and have them hunt around the clock. She says she has it under control. We see the master of the coin handing out money in payments. Then he hears a creaking noise.
He turns to look and calls out but no one answers. He’s grabbed and stabbed through the chest. Elizabeth is with William and he talks about how she has to stay away from Dudley since his wife’s death is still driving gossip.
Elizabeth asks if he’s found her poisoner and he says he needs more time and since public opinion is against her there are lots of prospects. William says Mary wrote through Gideon about her antipathy for John Knox and his loathing of female monarchs.
Elizabeth says that means Mary is coming back to Scotland and she needs to talk to Lola. We see that Gideon and Mary take Agatha to a little fair. She’s staring at exotic animals including a lemur and a camel. Agatha asks for her doll and Gideon goes to get it.
A vendor mistakes Mary for Agatha’s mother and the two share a look. Mary smiles at her and Aggy says she wishes Mary was her mother. Mary says she would like to be her dear friend and says her father loves her. Agatha says if she was her mother, no one could take her away from her father.
Mary asks if she’s afraid Queen Elizabeth will take her away and Mary reassures the girl and says her father is her greatest protector. Gideon comes over with her doll and Aggy is kinder to him on his return with her doll. He smiles gratefully at Mary.
Elizabeth comes to talk to Lola and asks when Mary will return to Scotland then asks military questions and about who Mary hopes to marry. Elizabeth sets Lola’s gowns on fire when she won’t give her the answers she wants and threatens to keep her at her court.
Christophe dawdles with a serving girl in the tunnels then asks her to meet him the place they used to before. She says it’s locked and he says give me they key and promises he will buy her new things with his king’s guard salary so long as she doesn’t tell her husband.
The girl hands over the key and Bash asks where he’s been and says he needs to be on guard. He says Fluret has gone missing and chastises him for wandering the halls. Bash says he knows about Catherine but says show people you were worthy and no one will remember how you got the job.
Christophe asks for a night patrol and a chance to prove himself. Christophe uses the key to enter Catherine’s chambers and he tells her about Fluret and that several nobles have fled. He calls her beautiful and compliments a necklace she wore.
She says she wore it at Francis’ coronation and doesn’t want sad memories. Christophe makes a flip remark and she chastises him. She says you never know true love until you have children and puts her jewels away. She says losing a child is true pain.
Christophe says he makes it a point never to look back and says there’s so much beauty in front of him and he caresses her. She notices the new key he added and asks if he has a new lover. He says an old one then asks if she’s jealous.
She says no unless there’s no lover’s talk about them. Lola talks to her maid about Elizabeth’s outrageous antics and mentions Dudley being the queen’s lover. The servant tells her that Dudley is a nice man and his dead wife was absolutely awful.
Lola hands the girl some plums but then finds an expensive wig in her bag then asks if she stole it from Elizabeth. The girl denies it then whispers Lola must see something. She takes her to a hidden chamber where they see William with a woman and calls Elizabeth’s name as he makes love to her and asks about the wig.
Mary rides back from the fair with Gideon and his sleeping daughter and he thanks her for her kindness. She says they would have come to this moment without her but it would have taken time. Mary says she has to accept her fate and consider Erik of Sweden to appease John Knox.
She says this betrays who she is and he says it must have been hard when the vendor mentioned that Aggy was her daughter when she is childless in life. He says if that foolish prince helps you achieve your goals, do it. Mary says that contradicts his orders but he says he speaks as a friend.
Then he jokes that Sweden is a block of ice and Erik smells and is a bore. Christophe tells Bash that he saw the butcher arguing with Fluret and says he seems to take joy in the killing. Bash isn’t sure but Christophe adds that he saw him stealing a barrel of salt which is worth a year’s wages.
Bash says salt can be used to preserve meat. Bash and Christophe go check the bodies for signs of salt but find just trace amounts. Bash wonders if the butcher is moving bodies in the barrels to get them into the tunnels. They go to the butcher’s chambers.
They head inside to the buzzing of flies and Bash looks at a jar and says these jars store the hearts like he and Delphine found before. Christophe finds a barrel of salt and they dig into it and then dump it out and find Fluret.
The butcher comes in and says he didn’t do this. He’s scared and fights them but the man says he’s done when Bash says stop fighting. Lola comes to Elizabeth and the queen asks if she’s ready to tell her all about Mary. Lola says no but does have other information.
She tells her she’s heard whispers about a gentleman who was a favorite of hers and says she knows her advisors wanted him gone. Elizabeth tells her to be cautious. Lola says Mary surrounds herself with true friends and Elizabeth says she does too.
Lola says she does not and Elizabeth asks what she means. Lola shows her the wig and tells her about William. William is surprised to find Elizabeth in his chambers and she says she knows about the courtesan and the red wig and how he calls out her name as he beds her.
William wants to know where she heard it and Elizabeth says she thought he loved England but now she knows he loves her. He says he never acted on it and could have become her lover but would not bring shame upon her yet Dudley didn’t care.
William says real love is sacrifice which is what he’s done to protect her. Elizabeth asks if he would kill her unborn child then says he knew she was pregnant. He says he didn’t know. Elizabeth says she spoke to the courtesan and knows he sought out an abortifacient.
Elizabeth says she knows what he did killing her child and cries. She says he had no right but he says it had to be done to save her reign. Elizabeth says he must go now and never return. Catherine talks to Bash about catching the killer and he credits Christophe’s watchful eye.
Catherine worries that he didn’t catch the right man. Then Bash says only the baker and the butcher had access to where the salt is kept and Catherine immediately knows something is off. Later when Christophe sleeps, Catherine checks his keys and slips one off the ring.
She lights a candle and goes with the key to check it out. Sure enough, the key unlocks the larder where the salt is kept. She goes inside and looks around. Christophe is there behind her and locks the door. He says she figured it out and he says he thought he buried the bodies deep enough.
Catherine says he’s sleeping with the baker’s wife to frame the odd butcher. Christophe says he didn’t need barrels and carried the bodies himself. Catherine says she knows how he steered the search. She says she got to know him and his inability to understand her grief over losing her child.
She says she discovered he has no conscience. She asks if she’ll be his next victim and he says he would never hurt her. He says he knows she would never hurt him either. He says he slept with the baker’s wife to get the key and said unkind things about her.
Catherine says he’s a murderer and he says tell no one. He says he knows she won’t because it’s a secret and he knows one of her secrets too. He whispers that she had Claude beaten so she could steal the regency from Narcisse.
He says he heard her plotting with Boinel when he was in a secret passage. He says there’s a second witness and he could take her regency down if she wanted. She attacks him and he fights her off then says he usually must cut out a heart to possess it.
Catherine says he can’t stay here and he says he can and will and says if she stops him or he turns up dead, a letter will be delivered with information about the beating of her daughter. He says get up so we can make sure the butcher is punished for his crimes. She’s terrified.
Next day, it’s the hanging of the butcher and Bash tells Catherine the man still insists on his innocence. The butcher cries on the platform then the hangman releases it and he’s dead while the real killer lives on. Mary smiles at Charles and tells him Francis was very nervous.
She tells him Francis almost dropped the scepter when the cardinal handed it to him. She gives him a hankie that Francis always kept to ensure his hands stay dry. Charles thanks her and Catherine says it’s time. They head in for the coronation.
Mary smiles at Gideon who is off to one side. Charles is crowned by the cardinal and handed his scepter. They all kneel and Mary smiles at him. Charles holds it tight with the cloth Mary gave him so it won’t slip. At the celebration, Narcisse looks annoyed at the parchment with the toast on it.
Narcisse offers Catherine a toast and calls her a woman of great honor and protector of the realm. He toasts the honor of the house of Valois. Charles joins in on the toast and Catherine sees Christophe lurking nearby.
Mary approaches Lord Cunningham about meeting Eric but he says John Knox has stormed Edinburgh and burned her in effigy. He says Knox issued an ultimatum and said she can’t come back to Scotland unless she converts to Protestantism.
Mary says no and she will not be bullied or chased out of her country. Cunningham asks what she will do and she says fight fire with fire. Gideon comes to see Mary and says he knows she’s going to the Vatican for funds to fight Knox.
Gideon says Elizabeth will see this as an act of war but Mary says she won’t let Knox take what is her and she must embrace her purpose and regain her power. Gideon says if she brings a Catholic army there, there will never be peace in the British Isles. Mary stands firm.
THE END!
