Reign on the CW continues tonight with an all new Friday, April 7, season 4 episode 8 called “Unchartered Waters,” and we have your weekly Reign recap below. On tonight’s Reign’s episode as per the CW synopsis, “A tragedy occurs, pushing Mary and Darnley apart as their wedding looms. Meanwhile, Mary is forced to enlist help from Catherine; and a traitor to Spain petitions Elizabeth to support an expedition to the New World.”
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Reign begins tonight with Lord Darnley (Will Kemp) arriving late and Queen Mary (Adelaide Kane) reminds him that de’Medici family is the one who lends legitimacy and strength to her Scottish rule and their joint claims to the English throne.
She suggests if he has any more affairs or secrets, he should tell her about them now. He said he made a mistake with Keira (Sara Garcia), and she is in the past. His friend, Malcolm shows up, joking that he knew it would take a crown to nail him down.
The Duchess of Florence and her family arrives, she says they are there to honor her cousin, Francis’ widow. Mary and the Duchess are mortified when they hear Darnley telling his friend that Francis was a frail, dwarf with undescended testicles.
Duchess decides if this is what they will be subjected to they can leave now. Mary tells Darnley he has no idea what he has done, and Francis was more of man that he’d ever be. Darnley shakes his head in disbelief as Mary storms off.
In France. King Charles (Spencer MacPherson) walks to his throne with Nicole (Ann Pirvu), where he honors 3 Catholic nobles. Queen Catherine (Megan Follows) asks Lord Narcisse (Craig Parker) if he slept with her to do it. Narcisse says he paid for her and it wasn’t cheap.
Catherine tells Narcisse that her daughter, Queen Leesa (Anastasia Phillips) wants her brother, Henry back from the battlefields and on the throne. Leesa also demands that her mother, Catherine attend Queen Mary and Darnley’s wedding to represent both France and Spain in support of the Catholic union.
Darnley tries to explain to Mary that it is better for people to think the problem was Francis than their Queen being barren. Mary says his defending her will do no good without the de’Medici family, informing him that the de’Medici family has toiled for generations to rise from the merchant classes and take great pride in their connection to the French royal family and his insult undermined that very status.
He is willing to apologize, but Mary says its too late for that. He thinks they will be fine without them; Mary says in order to compensate for his words, the Medici family wants lands belonging to Lord Theodore Davies, which comes with a title of “Earl”.
Darnley stops Mary from leaving, saying they cannot go on like this. He insists that if he is going to be her King, he must be her partner too. She scoffs, reminding him he has lied, cheated and humiliated her. She asks how does he expect her to treat him? She tells him the only reason she is marrying him is because she doesn’t see any other option.
Mary arrives at the Davies property, where Lord Bothwell (Adam Croasdell) is working on the wall. She learns these are no longer Lord Davies’ lands, as he parlayed them in a game of cards, and they are now his. He says if she has something to say about this estate, she will have to tell it to him.
Mary tells Bothwell everything that is happening, he is surprised she still plans to marry the Englishman. She is desperate for him to sign over the deed to the Duchess. She learns that he worked closely with her mother, and in honor of that he is willing to consider selling her the lands. She agrees to go on a boat ride while they survey the lands, so she doesn’t have to go back to court empty handed.
In England, Queen Elizabeth (Rachel Skarsten) meets with Captain John Hawkins, the man Spain wants to die in prison. He hasn’t done anything against her or England, but he is considered a pirate. She wants to know why she shouldn’t throw him in the tower. He produces a tomato as a treasure from the New World, and she invites him to dinner with her because she wants to see his other treasures.
Princess Claude’s (Rose Williams) husband, Luc Narcisse (Steve Lund) reminds her of his promise of a lifetime of happiness. They are still sleeping in separate quarters and she is deeply saddened that Leith (Jonathan Keltz) has left court. She shares her anguish about her brothers and the throne; that if Leesa has her way and Henry takes the throne, Charles would never be allowed to live.
Narcisse comes to visit Nicole, offering her family a beautiful manor in exchange she would have to undo anything her family did to convince Charles to be Protestant. Narcisse if she is to stay there, she needs to convert him back and if she doesn’t, Charles will lose more than just his religious freedom, he will lose everything, leaving her with nothing!
Bothwell and Mary are on the rowboat, where he tells her Darnley will be her undoing. Bothwell says Darnley is arrogant, speaks without thinking and speaks out of turn.
He promises that Darnley is not the asset she thinks he is, if she marries him she will spend the rest of her life trying to rectify the damage he causes; what she needs is a partner. Before they can say anymore, they get caught in a flash flood and the boat vanishes and they are stranded.
Charles and Nicole are laying in bed together when he says his whole life Catholicism taught him sex wasn’t for pleasure, but she taught him different. Nicole tries to convince him to go back to the Catholic faith in order to stop blood shed. He is angry his mother is involved with this, Nicole tells him to be Catholic in name only, he refuses.
Bothwell helps Mary out of her gown, so she can dry faster. She is too proud to ask him to help, but he does anyways. She becomes suspicious and learns the lands are not his and he needed time alone with her to call off this disastrous marriage.
She calls him a liar and a scoundrel, asking him if the future of Scotland is a joke to him? Bothwell reveals he promised to protect her and her throne, she discovers he is her “Loyal watchman”.
John Hawkins is enjoying dinner with Elizabeth, but he offends her. She says he is only there by her grace and he is to abide by their rules. He says that is bloody boring, she dismisses her servants and produces distilled wormwood, saying its not so boring after all.
They drunkenly play games until she wants to know what happened in New Spain between him and the Spanish? He encourages her to rival Spain to claim the lands.
She says its not possible because Spain is the most powerful nation in the Europe, she has enough to deal with on this continent and can’t afford to challenge Spain on another. She orders the treasures back and she will make an excuse this time, but if it happens again, she will have no choice but to imprison him. He tells her the world is bigger than Europe.
Luc goes to see Charles and Charles believes he is there on behalf of Narcisse; Luc quickly corrects him saying he wants to know more about Claude, so he can share things in common with her. Charles smiles, saying she loves the stars. Claude had told him when they were younger that no matter where they were, or found themselves, the stars would always remain constant, to give them direction and comfort.
Charles agrees to go outside for some archery; they talk about Narcisse’s lack of parenting. Charles speaks to him about why he chose the Protestant religion over Catholicism; he feels open to talking about it.
Luc tells him that it appears he gave over one set of pressures for another when it comes to religion. Charles wants to know how he cane escape the pressure; Luc advises him that he is not alone and he should lean on those to help him.
Bothwell and Mary are walking towards the Davies estate, he agrees that they need the de’Medici support for the throne and will help her obtain Davies’ land. He also shares that he didn’t use his real name on the notes because he has a lot of enemies, and because of her brother he needed to reach her another way. They are interrupted by a man neither has seen before.
Bothwell doesn’t allow him to come any closer but he tells Mary she can have love or an heir but she cannot have both. If she ch0oses the child, it will be a son and he will rule both nations, united in peace; before he can finish he falls to the ground.
When he wakes up, they learn his name is David Rizzio (Andrew Shaver). David shares about an accident he had, and when he came to he was among Druids. The message came from one of them, saying it was for Mary, not Queen or Majesty, just Mary!
The man did not give his name, but by the description she knows it is Sebastian, promising he would come to her when she needed him the most. He says the man was with him in spirit and guided him all the way to her. David says the journey was very muddled and he just doesn’t know if the man is safe or in danger.
Elizabeth is presented to the Spanish Ambassador, who wants to know why Hawkins hasn’t been arrested. She says Spain will be paid back and he was reprimanded. He tells her Spain could hold her responsible and consider this an act of aggression. She understands and says he will be arrested at once; he threatens her saying her Navy is no match to her Spanish fleet, and Queen Mary has full Vatican support, that Catholics rule land and seas, leaving England with diminished power; a fact she would do well to remember.
James (Dan Jeannotte) is upset that Mary is taking heed to this prophecy. She says this message was from Bash, who had joined the Druids to learn the gift of foresight. James feels it might be a trick from Bothwell, she says if she follows the prophecy, it is clear that Darnley can provide an heir who represents the future of both England and Scotland and that is more important than love.
James informs her that Keira hasn’t left town, she simply moved to another inn and Darnley left court without royal guard. She is furious he continues to see her; she stands up and says she will marry Darnley but she refuses to allow him to humiliate her in this way. She orders Keira to be gone, telling him to dump her on the streets if he must, but this ends NOW!
Catherine joins Narcisse in the hallway, telling him Charles has asked to speak to a Catholic priest, excited that Luc was the one who convinced Charles to do this. Catherine tells him they need to control Nicole, once Narcisse says he will take care of it, she says she is off to Mary’s wedding.
James arrives to remove Keira from her room, at the same time something spooks one of the horses, he breaks his tether and knocks down Keira.
Elizabeth brings John Hawkin back in chains. She shares that a Spanish Ambassador came insisting she arrested him. He taunts her bending over for Spain, she tells him there is no reason she can’t rival Spain.
She gives him a royal charter, ordering him to go to the New World and plant an English flag with full support of the crown; urging him to discover new lands and riches, claiming them for his country. She wants to be the Queen who makes England the greatest power the world has ever known.
Luc and Claude lay in bed, looking up. She loves that they can see the stars inside, as its too cloudy outside. He had a cone created with holes and a candle under it to light up the stars.
He tells her no matter what is happening, even if it feels like your world is crumbling, you can always count on the stars to be there. She looks at him surprised and he admits Charles told him, and he hopes one day she will think of him in the same way. She thanks him for being her husband and wanting to protect her and for helping Charles. He goes to retrieve the wine, when he sees Charles pacing in the hallway. Charles says nothing will be alright, he wants to run but the woods are dangerous. Charles says he was well and wants to stay well.
Bothwell arrives with the deed to the Davies’ estate, just as the Duchess was about to give up. She tells Mary she is pleased to continue the alliance between Florence and Scotland. Bothwell tells Mary they make good partners, she excuses him when James arrives.
James isn’t pleased to see Bothwell, but doesn’t have time to dwell on it. He tells Mary he has bad news. She goes to one of the rooms, where Darnley is holding Keira’s hand, saying she was weakened by fever and he didn’t even know she was still in town. The physician says death will come this night, and it will be a mercy.
Mary apologizes, saying it was an accident. Darnley tells her she can tell herself whatever to make herself feel better, but Keira is dying all because of her not trusting him and her rage. She says she can’t trust him, asking where he went if not to see her.
He went to a jeweler, making a piece for her to show the world his commitment and what their union means. He says he had let go of Keira, but now whenever he looks at Mary he will only see the person who killed Keira. He asks Mary how he isn’t supposed to hate her?
Mary cries by her fire in her chambers, Catherine arrives and comforts her. Mary begs her to help her get out of this marriage, that she doesn’t want to do this.
THE END!
