Reign – The Complete First Season: DVD Review
Today we have special treat for all you people out there! We have Lety Gallegos of Gone With The Words, who is another great friend of Cinema Deviant, to do a review on Reign: Season 1. Check out what she thinks!
Season Overview:
Mary, Queen of Scots (Adelaide Kane) has been engaged to France’s heir to the throne, appropriately named Francis (Toby Regbo), since she was six years old in order to save Scotland from the English. This series is set in 1557 following Mary’s rise to power as she travels to the French court to live and await her marriage to Prince Francis II. Her stay at French court is riddled with murder attempts, political plotting, betrayal and love. At only 15 years of age, Mary is refined, poised and confident and meets these obstacles in stride with a fierce determination. Her beauty captures the eye of many at court which leads her through a very emotional, and sexually charged love triangle. Mary believes her marriage to Francis II is sealed, but there are other factors and forces against it that she must contend with in order to secure Scotland’s safety.
The series is loosely based on the historical Mary I of Scotland (December 1542 – February 1587) during her younger years, and betrothal to the Dauphin of France, Francis.
My Likes
As soon as I saw the trailer to this show I knew I had to watch. I adore period dramas and this was exactly up my alley! I am absolutely head-over-heels in love with this series. Adelaide Kane is excellent as our young Mary, Queen of Scotts and she owns the role. Not to mention her chemistry with both of her love interests is quite explosive. The evil-plotting Queen of France, Catherine de’ Medici (Megan Follows) is deliciously wicked. I also cannot forget to mention the incredible set design, cinematography (the locations! the castles! eek!) and costume design. The gowns these ladies wear are gorgeous and the men look so incredibly dapper in their modern-meets-16th-century garb. I must also give a shout-out to those intricate headbands! They seemed to have a headband to compliment every gown the actresses wore. I was also enamored by the music. I have often gushed to my friends about how amazing the soundtrack to this series is, it’s a mix of indie and pop and flows with the historical-but-modern feel to the show.
This series didn’t just focus on Mary, though she is quite obviously the protagonist, it also features her BFF “ladies-in-waiting” and their trials and tribulations as they search for love (and money). Their storylines were quite entertaining, there was even one that was carrying on an affair with the King of France, Henry II (Alan Van Sprang) *gasp*. Almost every episode had some sort of cliffhanger and they seemed to get better as the season progressed.
My Dislikes
I adored everything about this series and this season. It did seem to be exploding with plotlines though, usually I did not mind it, but at times it was overkill. Also, the “Nostradamus” (Rossif Sutherland) character threw me for a loop when he was first introduced but it seemed to coincide a bit with the historical aspect, so after my initial “wait. what?” moment, that didn’t bother me at all. It turns out he is involved in some of the storylines because of his prophetic abilities so it makes for an interesting contrast to the other story arcs.
Historical Fiction Disclosure
Let’s keep in mind that this television series is very much historical fiction and if you are a history buff, you should probably skip this one. However, if you love period dramas and swoon-worthy romance with a lots of scandal then you will most definitely love this show!
Special Features:
Reign: The Making of a Queen – This featurette gives us a closer look as to how the show came to be, and takes us behind the scenes. It includes commentary from executive producers Laurie McCarthy and Brad Silberling as they delve into the details that surrounded the making of Reign. I learned some interesting facts about the show and the casting. It always nice to see how actors/actresses are outside of their roles, and hear their natural accent.
The Authenticity of Reign: Recreating the 16th Century – In this quick peak we learn all about the set, and costume design. It’s amazing to hear about all the details that went into the creation of these beautiful scenes and captivating outfits. We also get to hear from the actors/actresses and the executive directors and their opinions on the sets and their costumes.
Deleted Scenes – There are two deleted scenes and they both seem to be from the season finale. I thought one of them was helpful in understanding one of the latest storylines. The other did not seem to add much depth to the episode which was likely why it was deleted.
