To LOVE Reign (TV show)

[XelaM]

As someone who loves history (and therefore knows that "Reign" utterly butchered any historical resemblance to that time period and that the show has as much to do with Mary the Queen of Scots' reign in France as I with Jesus ) I still cannot help but be utterly addicted!

I watched two seasons in just a few days (at the huge detriment of work and all my life responsibilities ). I am hooked! I must say it has a lot to do with the insanely handsome Francis (who in real life died as a sickly teenager and most likely never consummated his marriage but in the TV show is as ferocious gorgeous King)

The costumes are a farce; the show has zero historical accuracy and yet I am a shameful addict! 🙈

Anyone else?

@watchingrnfire I kinda knew they were not supposed to have kids given that it's loosely () based on the actual Francis and Mary but given all the insane story lines on Reign, I thought Mary was going to get pregnant with various babies and was gutted they didn't get her to have a secret baby with Francis.

I also wanted him to live until end of season 4 (because I'm in love) but I suppose he had to go some time. 😭

And I'm on Season 4 so you haven't spoiled anything and for anyone who hasn't watched it yet - it's (extremely loosely) based on actual people so I guess most people know how it ends

I loved Reign and have got all my historical facts from it!

@whatnumber 😂😂😂 There is so much to learn!

I loved how in Season 4 Lord Darnley said that Francis was rumoured to be a frail dwarf with undescended testicles because that's what the real Francis was rumoured to be like. Reign's Francis was an Adonis

I loved Reign! Watched it years ago as it was being released. Don't think there's a cast that's hotter, tbh. And I loved all the costumes and female friendships. I'm glad people are still discovering it.

I think The Great is its natural successor in terms of whacky history-lite glitz (huzzah!) But Reign was on another level.

Fun fact - Francis makes a small appearance playing Young Dumbledore in the HP films. Excited to learn he's going to be in A Discovery of Witches!

Oh, I'm Russian originally and I love the Catherine the Great period. I expect The Great will be as accurate about that time period as Reign

I have said up-thread, but I really recommend "The Last Czars" on Netflix. It's about Russia's last tsar and his family. It's actually quite factually accurate. It's really good. It doesn't have any of Reign's insane story lines though 😂

...and Rasputin is not as good-looking as Reign's Nostradamus 😂

Utter nonsense but I absolutely loved loved loved Reign! So glad to see a thread on it!

The only weekly essay I wrote at uni that was considered starred first quality was about the Revolution & the fate of the Tsar & his family. Sadly it was the result of a raging fever & [oral] steroids + hormones meaning I wept buckets over the last thing I read then immediately started writing. It was the only time I ever went all out arguing one side of things, because almost a century on I was desperately angry & upset about the murders & ensuing desecration of their bodies.

On reflection, perhaps I shouldn’t have had my tonsils out in the Easter holidays before finals. For a start, would probably have done better in the Long Essay I had to write during them; and secondly, who knows what genius might have struck me during finals if I were dealing with that rather than just the exacerbated-by-surgery post-viral-fatigue. Huh.

All that to say: have been avoiding “The Last Czars” & am now considering suing my former university for causing me such extensive trauma & depriving me of televisual goodness.

@MarieVanGoethem Haha! Wow. I must say I have always taken the side of the Russian Royal family, but... objectively speaking, their unbelievable wealth and absolutely despicable/criminally negligent/stupid behaviour in light of what was happening could only have resulted in that fait. There is a reason as to why in France and Russia the revolutions were so incredibly bloody. In no other countries did the Royals behave so disgustingly towards the people. Nikolas was an absolutely horrendous Tsar and his wife's antics with Rasputin really could only have been viewed as either treachery or criminal stupidity, especially as no one knew about the Tsarevich's illness. Miliukov gave a speech in the Duma in 1916 about the Tsar and Alexandra's behaviour asking "Is it stupidity or treason?!"

Plus Nikolas started World War I!! His stupid mobilisation started the war.

They had to go...

@XelaM
Oh, I think they were abysmal rulers, and I understand the political/practical reasons for the execution, but it was so SO horrifically brutal & not truly necessary. And preventable, for the girls, at the very least - Nikolas was bound to be tried (& then, let’s face it, executed) & trying Alexandra as well (esp given Rasputin business) would make sense. Alexei, of course… He’s trickier than the girls, but… (As a side note: how the actual F did The World’s Most Incompetent Execution Squad manage to kill Nikolas first/faster than his haemophiliac 13yo?! Jesus wept.)

It just felt like the cherry on top of the cake of brutal senseless violence that was WWI; & it was so easy to imagine the awfulness of it, the dreadful flipside of living a life of privilege due to an accident of birth…

Yes, it was definitely unnecessary to kill the girls. The main targets were the Tsar, Alexandra and the Tsarevich. But that's not how Lenin operated. They all had to go. Pretty much all the closest members of the Royal family got killed. Only the Tsar's mother, his aunt, his niece who was married to Yusupov and the Grand Duke Dmitri with his sister Maria Pavlovna managed to escape. I think they were the closest family members to the Tsar who managed to flee

...and the Tsar's English cousin George V withdrew his invitation, otherwise they would have probably been able to flee to England

Sorry, the Tsar's sister managed to flee, not aunt

@XelaM
The thing with George V is more complicated than it seems though I think, given as a constitutional monarch he couldn’t simply act alone (hence his being able to blame his PM for the retraction of the offer). Then you’ve got the fact Alfonso of Spain kept up his efforts to grant them asylum right to the end to absolutely no avail; & Nikolas turning up his nose at Wilhelm’s offer Because Patriotism. I can understand George V feeling unable to consider inviting “Bloody Nicky”; but the way the Marchioness of Milford Haven’s repeated requests to the government to be allowed to have the girls live with her on the Isle of Wight really is shameful.

I don’t think any of the Royal Families who declined to offer the Romanovs asylum (mostly because they thought the R’s had toppled their own thrones & didn’t fancy a domino effect) believed they’d be executed though. I don’t think George V ordered his Court into mourning dress for the Romanovs for a month in July 1918 for a month for show - & I don’t think he & Queen Mary were such stellar actors they could appear genuinely grief-stricken at the memorial service at the Russian church, either. Everyone was terrified of Communism, but nobody seemed to realise yet just what Lenin & his wee pals were like; much less have an inkling of what horrors might come with Stalin. (I’m always baffled by people who think Hitler = unique Big Bad of the C20: how the HELL is the “Uncle Joe” PR still working?!)

Just finished Season 4

I see why people say it was rushed at the end. They definitely could have had a 5th Season, especially with Margot making an appearance. They could have done the whole story about how she married the King of Navarre's (Antoine's) protestant son Henry (future Henry IV of France) who ended up King of France after all the Valois boys died. Catherine de Medici's Bartholomew's Day massacre plot would have been a great plot line.

And Mary's downfall and time in England were all very rushed.

In terms of the crazy Reign-specific plots, lots of loose ends were left loose. I wish they had made a 5th Season 😭

Yeah, the end was totally rushed and just left me wanting more Reign madness. I felt cheated tbh. 😢

@MaryStuart Yes, wanted more Reign craziness 😭

And I liked Lord Darnley He was my favourite in Season 4

Lord narcisse- keep him in my bed full time I’d love too watch, as mentioned it’s £20 a season on prime :/

Hah, really liked Lord Narcisse, but if I were to rate the Reign men by their hotness, my top 5 list would be:

1. Francis (man of my dreams )
2. Antoine King of Navarre
3. Tomás Prince of Portugal
4. Lord Darnley (he made me laugh )
5. Prince Don Carlos of Spain

Prince Louis Condé and Leith were also extremely handsome, but the characters were less funny

Ok... I need help having just watched the barely watchable "Last Kingdom" (only those episodes where Toby Regbo appears ) and Season 3 of "Medici" (because Toby only appears in Season 3 🙈😂) I clearly need help with my obsession and to take a break from trying to find him in some obscure scenes in awful TV shows.

Can anyone recommend any good series on Netflix/Prime that will cure me? 😬

So pleased to see this! I was watching it on NetFlix and it disappeared before I got to the end. I will find it on Prime.

If you want period dramas:
Is The Tudors still available? I think it was on All4 or iplayer at some point.
Or Versailles?

Or random stuff :
I’ve just finished The Outlaws on iplayer (comedy)

If you still haven’t watched The Great you really have to! I think the first season is on C4 still (second season only on Starzplay, boo).

My favourite bit of Reign was when the king spelled out Kennas name on the lawn in fairy lights

Thank you! I haven't watched "The Great" as I'm Russian and I was afraid that the historical errors would drive me crazy if it's as historically accurate as "Reign" but I will definitely give it a go.

I must say I have now decided to watch Seasons 1 and 2 of "Medici" given that I only watched Season 3 because Toby Regbo only appears in Season 3 . And now that I'm watching from the beginning it's quite enjoyable 😂