Reign on the CW continues tonight with an all new Friday, March 3, season 4 episode 4 called “Playing With Fire,” and we have your weekly Reign recap below. On tonight’s Reign’s episode as per the CW synopsis, “Lord Darnley surprises Mary with a visit to Scotland, which allows her to see more to their union than just a political bond. Meanwhile, Elizabeth attempts to acquire allies; and Catherine wants Claude to focus on securing a new husband.”
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Reign begins tonight with 2 young boys fencing in the forest finding a young woman, Bianca (Sofia Banzhaf) nearly strangled to death as Narcisse (Craig Parker) and Catherine (Magan Follows) discuss how King Charles (Spencer MacPherson) chose to bring Bianca to the woods to view the corpses of dead soldiers than bed her. Catherine denies that Charles is a necrophiliac, and they need to stop the gossip.
In England, Queen Elizabeth is upset that Gideon (Ben Geurens) is late, but he explains he is a widow and was up all night with his daughter, Agatha. After berating him, she reveals that the Vatican has sent an envoy to her Catholic nobles and seek an alliance with Darnley (Will Kemp) and Queen Mary (Adelaide Kane); and against her.
She orders Gideon to go remind these nobles of they turn against her they will be put to death. Gideon suggests she wins them over and swing their votes and loyalties to her side, to avoid more English bloodshed. She agrees to try it his way, for now.
Meanwhile in Scotland, Mary is on holidays and playing food games with her lady, Greer (Celina Sinden). Mary refuses to talk about Gideon and shares that its up in the air about Darnley. Mary says she understands now why Lola loved growing up on these lands; Greer appears to be sad.
Greer admits that her husband has nothing to do with her any more, but she will not abandon him. Mary reassures her things will turn out. Mary suggests she lay down, and Mary leaves and runs freely through the fields until her dog begins to growl and Lord Darnley appears.
She tells him he should have waited for her at court, he said he tried that once and it didn’t go so well; Mary apologizes. Darnley gets on his knee and offers her a shoe, suggesting they marry, she agrees it would be good for Scotland.
In France, Catherine and Narcisse confront King Charles on his behavior regarding Bianca, He seems to not even care, which Catherine points out to Narcisse that this has been his attitude for weeks; banishing and being dismissive whenever he chooses.
Narcisse explains he understands the tragic death of his friend, but this behavior needs to stop. Charles says he is not his father and has no right to speak to him that way. Catherine wants to know when Bianca fled if he was giving chase; hunting her. Reminding him that Bianca’s story to rob them of everything.
As they lease Charles, they run into Queen Leesa (Anastasia Phillips), who taunts them about her ill brother the King who refuses to leave his chambers. She mocks and suggests maybe her sister, Saint Claude (Rose Williams) could help him. Leesa shares that Claude has taken up with sleeping with married men. Leese brings in the guards and removes the husband while they are in bed together, but it is unclear if they were actually having sex.
James (Dan Jeannotte) speaks to Emily Knox (Claire Hunter) about everyone who deceives him and he doesn’t want to view her the same way. James kisses her saying her husband is away; she says she will burn for this and begs for God to save her soul as she cannot do this. She flees giving James a chase to look through her husband, John Knox’s (Jonathan Goad) papers.
Catherine is caught between her daughters as they argue about the virtues of their family. Claude asks why she does this since she is happily married to King Philip? Leesa admits her life used to be so much worse when she lived there. With the help of the Vatican and her faith, Claude is going to be sent to a nunnery for her sins of the flesh!
Mary and Darnley are playfully having a game of golf, when James arrives with news for Mary; revealing Knox is speaking today to loyal Catholics, hoping to dissuade them from their distant and uncaring Queen especially since their crops failed and they haven’t had help from the Queen. James revealed he read the notes straight from Knox’s home. Mary is impressed with his loyalty.
In England, Queen Elizabeth speaks to Lord Maxford, singing his praises. He reveals he is a businessman and no one’s faith or alliances should interfere in that; Elizabeth agrees. He says the real threat has nothing to do with prayer books, it comes from across the sea. He tells them Spain is building a vast fleet, that will bring an army to their shores and their Navy is too weak to stop them. England once ruled the seas, but there are no men left with King Henry VIII’s vision.
Elizabeth learns the only way to prove to be as good as ruler as her father is to invite the men on a royal hunt and show them who she really is. Gideon disagrees but she is determine to show she is nothing less than a Tudor Queen.
In France, Catherine is worried that if Leesa has the power to do what she did to Claude, what is to stop her from doing it to Charles next; considering she already tried once to replace Narcisse as Lord Chancellor. Narcisse says since he isn’t Leesa’s mother maybe she will listen to what he has to say; Catherine agrees.
John Knox is speaking to the village, telling them they are going hungry at harvest time because Queen Mary is just a spoiled French girl who doesn’t care about them. Mary presents herself from behind the crowd saying that is a lie; that Knox’s words are only words. What good are they, since you cannot eat them and fill your bellies with them?
Lord Darnley works with her showing that she has brought more than words; she has brought them food. Greer and James admire how well suited Darnley and Mary really are. Knox leaves saying she has the ignorant fools literally eating out of her hands, he looks down as a pot boiling over flames and says they need to end this gathering now.
Darnley tells Mary he thinks she has won, since Knox has left; moments later people are screaming “FIRE!” Darnley tries to remove Mary from the danger but she says they must help them so they don’t lose all their crop. When the fire is out, the villagers praise Queen Mary.
Greer tends to James’ wounds but no one knows where Darnley went, but another house fire breaks out; Darnley rescues the little boys inside; Mary is thrilled but James is very suspicious.
Elizabeth takes Lord Maxford and some men on the hunt despite the fact that Gideon didn’t show up. She manages to shoot a deer when Maxford couldn’t; at dinner Maxford says its clearly a trait she learned from her father.
She tells him he is right about Spain and they need lumber, something he has vasts amounts of in his own backyard and offers to buy it; but in order for that to happen, him and his Catholic friends need to fully support her. They must promise to not speak to the Vatican even if they came calling.
Leesa agrees not to send Claude away but in exchange she must wed a Catholic noble; Catherine protests saying Claude has the right to choose her own husband but he shares that her husband has already been chosen; it is one of Narcisse’s older children, someone Claude has never met. When his carriage arrives, Claude appears to like what she sees.
Claude and Luke walk through the palace and gardens where he says he wants to make this work, that plenty of arranged marriages work; she feels two random people forced to spend their lives together doesn’t work a lot of the time. She states he doesn’t know who she is or what she likes or who she loved.
He admits he has heard about her and has no intention of changing her spirit, he wants to embrace it. He promises to be a loyal husband and one that will protect her. He says he is not like his father, and he doesn’t want that kind of relationship nor life for his children. She looks surprised but he says he does expect heirs who will have a good life since she is a princess. He grabs a flower from the garden and says she is a stunning woman.
Catherine asks to speak to Claude in private; Claude admits it’s not all awful. Catherine warns her to watch out because he is a Narcisse after all. She knows this isn’t what Claude wanted, but for now this marriage will protect her.
She promises that once they rid the court of Leesa, she will help her deal with the consequences of her union to Luke. Catherine says if Luke ever lays a hand on her, she must tell her. She may not be able to get her out of a nunnery but she can make sure she becomes a widow. Claude agrees to the marriage.
Queen Mary admits that she likes Lord Darnley and if he agrees to the terms she has laid out for their marriage, their union will serve Scotland well. She asks if she is what he expected; he admits she is more than what he thought. He says he only wishes she felt the same, and brings up the crown.
He reassures her it is not about the crown and him thinking of taking it when she dies, he says it is to protect her and her legacy; especially since it was very common for women to die during childbirth. Mary asks about assassinations and he promises to protect her with his life.
She says due to her painful history and betrayal she will not yield to the crown matrimonial; he accepts her terms. He admits he is an ambitious man and if he is only King as long as she remains alive; he says LONG LIVE THE QUEEN! She stands and says they will be wed for Scotland, he kisses her hand and leaves the room.
Claude lights a candle and prays that Leith (Jonathan Keltz) is at peace and begs him to forgive her, as she prepares for her wedding to Luke. She is wearing a beautiful white gown with a veil as she marries Luke in the palace chapel; Lord Narcisse looks overly pleased while Catherine looks sad for her daughter.
Leesa congratulates them, warning them that God will be watching them to make sure they don’t stray from His path; and complains that King Charles couldn’t even attend a royal wedding. Luke interrupts her, protecting Claude. She tells him he didn’t have to do that; he says he simply wants to share a dance with his new bride, she smiles.
Catherine asks how such a loving man could be Narcisse’s son, but says she is grateful for Claude. As Catherine and Narcisse dance she sees Charles sneak past the celebrations; she excuses herself and chases him. When she reaches him, there is blood around his mouth and down his chin; he shouts enough and throws her into the wall.
Elizabeth confronts Gideon on missing out on the hunt and embarrassing her; she admits that she won the men over on her own. Gideon shouts at her that he doesn’t care about her endeavors because he is about to lose the only thing that matters to him. He shares that his daughter’s condition has worsened and he needs to prepare for the worst. Elizabeth apologizes but Gideon isn’t done.
He feel he should have been paying attention but while he was too busy keeping Elizabeth’s house in order, his own world was crumbling. She tells him to not lose hope saying she will do everything in her power to help Agatha; he says she has no power in this at all.
Claude and Luke retreat to their chambers, where he offers that its not too late for her to choose the nunnery. He asks permission to kiss her when she admits she hasn’t kissed a man since Leith.
Narcisse arrives in the hallway and discovers Leith. Narcisse tells him they thought he was dead; Leith says there were days he wished he was, but he knew Claude was waiting. Narcisse says he shouldn’t have come back and that Claude married just now; Leith feels if they haven’t consummated the marriage he still has time.
Narcisse has the guards hold him back, informing him that Claude has married his son, Luke; and it is his duty to ensure they have a long and happy marriage and the King’s guards drag him away.
Greer learns of Mary’s impending marriage and wishes she were happier about it. Mary admits she had hoped Gideon would be the one, but when the fire happened and she worked side-by-side with Darnley, she said they were like-minded and like-spirited.
Greer says she doesn’t need to marry him, but Mary says its the only hope in surviving Elizabeth; but Greer protests about the love aspect. Mary insists it will have to be enough. Mary finds a letter that says, “Darnley started the fire to appear as a hero, signed by loyal watchman.”
They both question if he could have do it, and Mary asks who did she just agree to marry.
THE END!