Men forcing war between women is a given — but on ‘Reign,’ it’s all that matters

In “A Grain of Deception” (Feb. 17), Queen Mary (Adelaide Kane) hosts a fashion show — naturally — to suss out which of the wives of her trusted advisers has been leaking political secrets to the enemy. Statement necklaces and even more statement tiaras are worn, gossip is spread — and even mid-con she’s able to come up with a B-scheme to seduce and destroy another woman, the wife of this season’s baddie, John Knox (Jonathan Goad).

This sequence is notable not just for the excellent deployment of The CW’s party-of-the-week trope, but also as the most success anyone — male or female — has in their various plots this week. But the real key here is not the expert deployment of the party-as-honeytrap that stands out, nor just that Mary came up with the whole set-up on her own: It’s that nobody else even thought to suspect these women of treason in the first place.

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Mary’s increasingly petulant half-brother, James (Dan Jeannotte) is stymied by the leak: He trusts his men, he trusts his sister, and thus a solution is impossible. Even when Mary explicitly notes how all of the trusted men have wives and servants, James can’t get his head around the concept that women would a) listen to this talk or b) understand its importance, let alone c) take the initiative to betray secrets to the enemy.

“Reign” has always been multifaceted in its portrayal of men and women: The time and place necessitates that men always have the upper hand and all of the power — but that same time and place also mandate that when a Queen is the only possible monarch, it’s God’s will, and thus she must be supported. While Mary and her cousin Queen Elizabeth (Rachel Skarsten) are the highest authority in their respective courts, it spill has no reason to spill over into madness, such as treating the women who surround them as anything more than possessions.

Of Mary’s devoted ladies-in-waiting, only Celina Sinden’s wry Lady Greer remains; thus, the show’s story continues to explore how women are set against one another. As long as someone else is lower than you, you can avoid dealing with your own lot in life. (A concept we did not leave in antiquity, although more often than not it’s a concept weaponized and used, by and large, as a punchline by the status quo it supports.)

Here we see at Mary’s fashion show/spy reveal party, as the ladies of the court delight in gossip about one another — who drinks too much, who has loose morals, who is way out of her depth. It’s enough cattiness to send Greer — whose incredible journey on the show has made her a successful brothel entrepreneur, wife to a jailed Protestant radical, and mother of a pirate baby out of wedlock — literally packing.

Mary, surrounded by advisers she can’t trust and don’t respect her, is desperate to keep Greer around — not least of which because she’s out of people she can entirely trust. Her conversations with James are loaded with foreshadowing to those who have read up on their real history, with James clearly frustrated at his lack of power and tired, it goes unsaid because it’s not necessary to say, of being bossed around by a woman.

It’s a situation that has Mary still desperate to wed herself to the unknown property that is Lord Darnley (Will Kemp) — even if just to have a man around as a human shield against treason. (Again, a quick skim of Darnley’s Wikipedia entry shows us all how that’s going to turn out.)

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And yet, like “Bates Motel,” this show leans into the inarguable ending that we all know is coming: On “Bates,” it’s Norma’s (Vera Farmiga) destiny to become a taxidermied pet to her unstable son — here, it’s Mary’s fate to marry badly, twice, and eventually fall. The brutal result to which we’re hurtling results from a thousand sliding doors, one thing or another having gone differently. And that means it’s a strength of the show, more than ever, to play upon the fact that neither Mary nor Elizabeth know the exact path their inevitable collision will take.

The inclusion of Catherine de’Medici (Megan Follows) as Mary’s mentor for the three seasons pays off dividends here, with Mary’s pragmatic survival instincts clearly channeling those of her onetime mother-in-law. Catherine herself continues to exist purely in survival mode –particularly now that her mercurial son Charles (Spencer MacPherson) has taken the throne… And, judging by his hidden wounds, is either self-mutilating or involved in some sort of Renaissance fight club situation. (Either of which seems equally and hilariously likely, with this show!)

Mary, Queen of Scots is most remembered for the end of her story. The point of this show has always been that the way we are remembered can never be the whole of that story; our fate doesn’t define anything about how we lived. Mary’s life was not a litany of despair, no matter its darkness — and through especially this final season of “Reign” we are invited to enjoy the triumphs and joy she felt along the way — the spy-reveal fashion shows, and girl talk with Greer; the triumph of trapping her brother in her debt — even as we hold our collective breath, waiting for a happy ending we know can never come.

“Reign” airs Fridays at 9 p.m. ET/PT on The CW. Fourteen episodes are all that remain.

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