Reign on the CW continues tonight with an all new Friday, May 5, season 4 episode 11 called “Dead of Night,” and we have your weekly Reign recap below. On tonight’s Reign’s episode as per the CW synopsis, “Mary and Darnley are at odds as they put their plan to seize England into action. Meanwhile, Elizabeth’s conflicted about her feelings for Gideon as she tries to find a Catholic to wed; and Catherine’s son Henri attempts to claim the throne from Charles.”
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Reign begins with Greer (Celina Sinden) and Queen Mary (Adelaide Kane) sitting in the garden with Greer’s daughter, Rose. Mary thanks her for returning to court after she banished her brother, James (Dan Jeannotte) from court.
Mary admits that her husband, King Darnely (Will Kemp) has been on good behavior since learning of her pregnancy and since he is trying she will as well. Greer suggests that Bothwell (Adam Croasdell) could be in the way of Mary committing to Darnley; before Mary can answer Darnley joins them.
He comes bearing news from England that Queen Elizabeth (Rachwl Skarsten) has learned of their marriage and is feeling pressure to marry Archduke Ferdinand (Steve Byers). Darnley tells her if Elizabeth marries Ferdinand, who is Catholic, they will lose their Catholic advantage and the Vatican may shift its support to England. He continues to tell her they need to strike England before Elizabeth marries, in spite of their child. He offers to call his English allies to help them, but Mary is terrfied.
Lord Narcisse (Craig Parker) and Nicole (Ann Pirvu) share a drink while Narcisse asks about how King Charles (Spencer Macpherson) is handling his younger brother, Prince Henry (Nick Slater) being at court. She shares that she reassured Charles that no man is bigger, taller and stronger than him in her eyes, Narcisse praises her.
Henry is entertaining his sister, Princess Claude (Rose Williams) and her husband, Luc Narcisse (Steve Lund) when Charles and Nicole arrive learning Henry had planned a family celebration in Charles’ honor. He presents them with gifts and brings out a book of black magic that he took from the dead body of a Turk Soldier.
Nicole inquires about the magic and flirts with Henry when he suggest they could perform some magic on Charles. When Catherine (Megan Follows) arrives she demands Henry to give her the book, chastising him over how dangerous it was to bring it to court.
The others go to dance while Catherine and Henry talk, she wants him to pray for Charles after she wrote her daughter sharing all of Charles’ victories and hopes Charles will be allowed to stay on the throne.
Mary and Darnley meet with her nobles and Darnley introduces Lord Barrett (James Gilbert) who will lead the mission to attack Queen Elizabeth in her castle. Mary assures Barrett that she acknowledges his English men are risking their lives and she offers them her royal seal for their support and full power of the Scottish military.
Mary hopes her cousin, Elizabeth will acknowledge that she is the rightful heir to the English throne and if she doesn’t it will be decided when that day comes. As Barrett leaves, Mary holds hands with Darnley saying she couldn’t have done this without him.
Ferdinand speaks to Elizabeth, saying he is honored she has picked him for her suitor. She wants them to keep things quietly until their countries have agreed to terms. He tells her he isn’t just marrying her for the crown, but he wants something real between them, she smiles and agrees she wants the same.
She leaves their meeting and rushes off to kiss Gideon Blackburn (Ben Geurens), saying she needed to see him. She says Ferdinand is nice and treating her well but when he talks, all she can think of is Gideon. Gideon frets that he finds it harder than expected to live like this with her. She asks if its too difficult for him, he says he wants the best for her but if the situation becomes to painful for either of them, he will disappear; she pleads for him not to say that.
Bothwell arrives at the castle and Darnley is furious that Mary contacted him to confide in him when she was upset. She quickly apologizes and says she will take care of it. Mary tells him it was a mistake contacting him, he disagrees but she speaks loudly so Darnley can hear her and he stands behind her to tell him to leave.
Darnley says he is happy to meet him, even though he was the Royal Watchman who sent Mary bad letters about him and he asks Bothwell to bow to his new King. Bothwell refuses to bow to him because he is just an Englishman wearing the Scottish crown. He continues to say he would bathe the hills with English blood if he could and would rather die than bow to him. Darnley and his guards draw swords to kill him, but Mary stops them. Darnley banishes Bothwell from court as Mary begs him to leave.
Henry and Charles play tennis; Claude is on Henry’s side as Nicole stands up to tell him he is brilliant, strong and she adores him. Luc jokes to Claude that Nicole is a devoted subject. Things quickly change when Henry throws a ball at Charles’ face, when Charles is taken to the infirmary Narcisse finds out the ball was packed with rocks.
Catherine is furious that Henry is undermining the King by throwing parties and treating the court as if it were his. She also confronts him on the way he is eyeing Nicole. Henry admits that Queen Leeza (Anastasia Phillips) says Charles isn’t right in the head but Catherine reminds him that since Charles was born first, he automatically gets the throne first.
She orders him to apologize in front of the court at dinner but Henry threatens her with Spain backing him. Catherine reminds him that she has the book of black magic he brought to court and it is a heresy and neither Spain nor the Vatican would take kindly to heretics. She says she would turn her son over for witchcraft if it stops him from tearing the family apart. He agrees to apologize.
Darnley finds Mary updating her that Barrett and his soldiers have arrived safely in England and are waiting to turn over the gold to their allies. He asks since they have a little one to protect, if something happened to her wouldn’t she want him to do everything to protect Scotland?
He wants her to reconsider the crown matrimonial but she wants to know why he is so worried about something happening to her. He gets angry with her and she demands to know how many times he is going to disappoint her. He says that since he has no power, she is the only one at risk, especially if Elizabeth should find her royal seal. Mary is astonished that he is threatening his wife and queen while she carries his child. He tells her not to deny him this, or she will lose England and everything she fought for her entire life.
At the family dinner, no one speaks until Henry offers his brother an apology for not remembering how traumatized he has been since his kidnapping, as he continues to taunt him, Charles orders him to leave court but Henry says he can’t because Spain begged him to be there. Charles screams at him while Henry says there are Spanish warships in the harbor should be need them and Charles may be his brother but he is stronger than him in every way and everyone at court only feels pity for Charles, especially Nicole. Charles attacks him.
A guard comes to tell Bothwell that Mary is desperate and needs to see him. She needs to stop the mission in England, return her men home and retrieve the evidence Darnley is holding against her. She needs him to do it but its an unsanctioned mission and he will die if he is caught on English soil. She says he is the only one she can trust.
He needs to find Gideon to help him find the men plotting against Elizabeth, she feels he is the only one likely to help them. Bothwell says with or without her crown, he would do anything for her and leaves.
Claude cries to Luc that she was so excited to see her family be together but they are a disaster and wonders if he is disappointed in their future. Luc holds her saying he doesn’t regret and thing and she isn’t a disappointment and suggests if they start a family of their own, it will be different. She tells him that she isn’t in love with him and he feels the same as they both smile.
Narcisse tells Henry he made a mistake and he has no choice but to tell Spain their prized pony dabbles in the occult. Henry says Narcisse can stay quiet or Charles will know Narcisse is together with his beloved Nicole. Narcisse says blackmail is nothing without proof and mocks him saying Henry is still young and will get better at the court games.
Catherine has had enough and plans to draft a letter to the Vatican not caring that Henry is her son; Narcisse stops her saying Henry is the better man for the throne and he is tired of forcing Charles to be king when Henry IS a king. He tells Catherine to face the fact that Henry is the future. Catherine worries that Charles will always be viewed as a threat if removed from the throne and he will be murdered one way or another.
Narcisse loves Charles but he is irreversibly damaged from whatever the Red Knights did to him. He tells Catherine Spain wants Henry on the throne and she doesn’t have the power to save Charles. She smashes a glass on the wall and begins to read the book of black magic.
At English court, Elizabeth comes to Gideon saying she is going to scream that Ferdinand invited her on a 4-hour carriage ride through the country that night and begs Gideon to get her out of it, and he agrees. Gideon is called away to speak to an Italian visitor.
David Rizzio (Andrew Shaver) and Bothwell introduce themselves to Gideon who is confused why they need to speak to him until he is told Queen Mary is in danger but they need his help without letting Elizabeth know. Gideon learns the man Mary is in danger from is Lord Barrett and he is on English soil; they need to stop him before he finishes the mission. They ask him if he will help them.
Mary sits with Greer saying she hates herself for trusting Darnley again; before Greer can respond Darnley arrives asking to speak to Mary alone. Mary tells him Greer knows all about his threat and he can speak freely. He tells her if she wants England she needs to grant him the crown matrimonial.
He says the privy council is ready and all she needs to do is sign the document. He says this is the right thing to do and they can finally be equals. Mary stands up saying she made him king, as she rips the paper she tells him they will never, ever be equals.
He tells her she just lost England and he will warn Elizabeth against her and when she finds out Mary’s part, she will come for her and take her head. Mary tells him to do what he must but she will never sign.
Barrett orders his man to wait until Darnley gives them further instructions. Rizzio and Bothwell walk into the room and tell them to all return to Scotland at once as Mary has aborted the mission. Barrett stops the men from leaving saying he doesn’t serve Mary but works for King Darnley only and until they hear from him, no one is leaving.
Rizzio begins to explain how Darnley has no power but Barrett spits in his face, causing Bothwell to take him by his throat and reaffirming that the mission has been aborted and demands Mary’s seal. Barrett, at first, denies having the seal but returns it when Bothwell plans to kill him.
Gideon is captured by Scottish soldiers and Bothwell says Gideon has heard too much and will report everything back to Elizabeth. Bothwell draws his sword and knocks him unconscious saying Gideon is going with them.
Elizabeth is patiently waiting for Gideon to stop her from the carriage ride but her servant tells her no one has heard from him but he left the castle hours ago with no word on where he went.
Gideon wakes up and Mary tells him he is in Scotland but cannot leave as he has information that cannot get back to Elizabeth. He asks her if she plans on killing him when she tells him she is no longer pursuing the English throne. He doesn’t believe her but she says she can’t do it while she has so many enemies in Scotland to contend with. She reveals that her husband is a danger to her but Gideon says he is sorry but she was about to kill Elizabeth.
Gideon makes Mary promise she is no longer a threat to Elizabeth; he tells her to release him and he will never tell her what Mary has done. She thanks him and sends him on his way. Bothwell feels she shouldn’t have let him go. Mary says she is going to keep her word for now as she needs to make sure her disastrous marriage won’t ruin her. She admits she should have listened to his warnings about Darnley.
Bothwell gently touches her face reassuring her that she is as strong as he thinks she is. She tells him she is married and a queen and can’t afford to make a mistake. He removes his hand but she grabs it in her hand as they lovingly look into each others eyes.
Catherine enters Charles’ room, asking him where Nicole is but he doesn’t know where she has gone to. She tells him to put the Spanish nonsense out of his mind but he wants to know if they really want Henry to take his place. Charles says he is anointed King by God and if Spain wants to remove him, they will have to kill him.
Catherine promises she will never let that happen but he doesn’t want to hear it. Catherine takes his hairbrush and mumbles that he is going to prove stronger than anyone ever imagined. In her chambers, Catherine performs one of the rituals from the forsaken book.
Gideon tells Elizabeth he had gone drinking with is friends, but she worried that when he disappeared it was because their relationship had gotten too painful for him. She explains about the carriage ride and all she could think about was how she could spend a lifetime with someone she doesn’t love. She realized she cannot do it when the man who means everything to her will be kept at a distance.
Gideon tells her she has to marry Ferdinand and confesses he wasn’t drinking at a tavern but was working with Mary. She gasps and wants to know what happened. He reveals Mary needed help preventing a coup and it was Catholics who wanted to see Mary on her throne. Elizabeth angrily asks him if he is going to continue defending her rival? Gideon says she is right, that she needs to share her throne with someone of Catholic faith and must marry Ferdinand.
Darnley walks into the throne room and sees Mary flanked with Bothwell and Rizzio and demands to know why Bothwell is there. Mary informs him that she invited Bothwell back as her bodyguard and Rizzio is her new advisor.
She summoned him to show him that her gold, royal seal and men have returned to Scotland; he asks to speak alone and she refuses. He tries to apologize but she says the threats he made cannot be taken back and never forgiven. He implores her, saying he was angry and never meant what he said. She tells him they are finished; he concedes saying she won but he never really had a chance.
When Darnley says he will drink and whore his way through Scotland, Mary has Bothwell arrest him. He turns to Mary saying she can’t marry him because her child needs a father; she looks at Bothwell and Darnley realizes neither Rizzio nor Bothwell knew. He threatens to say the child isn’t his and they both pay the price.
Mary is shocked that he would condemn his own child and wonders who would believe him; he says ANY man would suddenly implying she is very close to her bodyguard but he is still her husband and has the power to ruin her. Mary orders him to get out of her sight.
The End