It’s been years, but honestly, I still think about that plague. Most CW dramas start their second seasons with a bit of a glow-up or a predictable romance reset, but Reign season 2 decided to just kill everyone off with the Black Death instead. It was bold. It was gross. It basically set the tone for a year of television that felt vastly different from the high-glamour, "who will she choose?" vibes of the pilot year.
Mary, Queen of Scots wasn't just a girl in a pretty dress anymore. She was a ruler. A tired, often grieving ruler who had to navigate a court that was literally rotting from the inside out.
The Plague and the Pivot
Season 2 kicks off right where the first ended, thrusting us into a France gripped by fear. King Francis and Mary are finally together, but the honeymoon is... well, it's non-existent. While Francis is out trying to find Lola and his newborn son, Mary is stuck behind the castle gates making life-or-death calls.
This is where the show really grew up. Remember the "reckoning"? Mary realizes that being a "good" person and being a "good" queen are often mutually exclusive things. She sacrifices a family to save the many. It’s dark stuff. Laurie McCarthy, the show’s creator, really leaned into the grim reality of the 16th century here—even if the dresses still looked like they came straight off a 2014 prom rack. That’s the Reign charm, though. You don't watch for historical accuracy in the stitching; you watch for the high-stakes political chess.
The introduction of the plague wasn't just a plot device to trim the cast. It acted as a catalyst for the religious tension that would eventually define the rest of the series. The Catholics and the Huguenots weren't just disagreeing; they were killing each other in the streets. It felt visceral.
Why Reign Season 2 Divided the Fandom
If you talk to any die-hard fan, the mention of "Condé" usually triggers a reaction. Louis Condé, played by Sean Teale, became the third point in a very messy, very controversial love triangle.
People hated it. Or they loved it. There wasn't much middle ground.
After everything Francis and Mary went through to get married, watching Mary drift toward Condé felt like a betrayal to many viewers. But if you look at it through the lens of Mary’s trauma, it actually makes sense. Season 2 put Mary through a horrific sexual assault—a plot point that remains one of the most debated moments in the show’s history. It changed her. It made her feel distant from Francis, who represented the crown and the duty that had failed to protect her. Condé represented an escape. A "what if" that didn't involve the crushing weight of the French throne.
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Was it frustrating to watch? Absolutely. But it felt human. It wasn't just a plot twist for the sake of drama; it was a character reacting to a broken world.
The Catherine de' Medici Factor
We have to talk about Megan Follows. Honestly, she carried this season on her back. While the kids were worrying about their love lives, Catherine was out here hallucinating her dead husband, Henry, and dealing with the ghosts of her past. Literally.
The "Haunting of Henry" subplot was weird. Let’s be real. It leaned a bit too far into the supernatural for some, but Follows played it with such delicious intensity that you couldn't look away. Her chemistry with Narcisse (Craig Parker) was also a highlight. Watching two of the most manipulative people in France flirt while trying to destroy each other? That’s peak entertainment.
The Politics of Narcisse
Lord Stéphane Narcisse was the villain we didn't know we needed. He wasn't just a "bad guy" like the Darkness or some vague threat from the woods. He was a political shark. He used Francis’s secrets—specifically the whole "I killed my father" thing—to blackmail the King into doing his bidding.
This pushed Francis into a corner. For a big chunk of Reign season 2, Francis looks like a weak king because he’s being squeezed by Narcisse. It’s painful to watch Mary lose trust in him because he can’t tell her the truth. This is where the writing gets clever. It uses the "secret" trope to actually dismantle a marriage, showing how even the strongest bond can't survive a lack of transparency.
Breaking Down the Key Players
Let's look at how the board shifted this year.
Francis spent most of his time trying to be a father to John and a king to a fractured nation. He was failing at both. His health started to become a talking point, foreshadowing the tragedy to come. Mary, meanwhile, went from a romantic lead to a hardened sovereign. She stopped asking for permission. By the end of the season, when she’s standing on that balcony, you see a woman who has lost her innocence but found her spine.
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Lola’s arc was also surprisingly grounded. Her struggle to raise a royal bastard while maintaining her friendship with Mary was a delicate balancing act. It added a layer of "real-world" consequence to the show's soapy foundations. Then there's Bash. Poor Bash. He spent the season investigating "The Reckoning" and the supernatural elements of the woods. It often felt like he was in a completely different show—a sort of 1500s X-Files—but it provided a nice break from the suffocating atmosphere of the court.
The Costume Controversy
You can't talk about this show without the clothes. In the second season, the budget clearly went up. We moved away from the simple headbands and into full-blown tiaras and intricate embroidery.
Critics often slammed the show for its lack of period-accurate clothing. "Why is she wearing sleeveless chiffon in a drafty castle?" they’d ask. But the costume designer, Meredith Markworth-Pollack, knew exactly what she was doing. The clothes were a bridge. They made the characters feel relatable to a younger audience. Mary’s wardrobe in season 2 reflected her shift in power: more structural pieces, darker colors, and more "warrior queen" vibes. It was visual storytelling, even if it wasn't historically "right."
The Final Act: A Kingdom in Flames
The season finale, "Burn," was a total reset. The Condé rebellion, the betrayal, the realization that Mary and Francis might never be the same—it all came to a head. When Mary tricks Condé to save Francis, it’s a bittersweet victory. It proves she still loves her husband, but the cost has been astronomical.
The religious war wasn't going away. The English threat was looming larger. And the prophecy about Francis's death was hanging over everything like a shroud.
Real Talk: Did It Hold Up?
Looking back, Reign season 2 is probably the most "complete" season of the series. It had a clear beginning, middle, and end. It took risks. It wasn't afraid to make its protagonists unlikable.
People often forget how much ground this season covered. We went from the plague to a royal birth, to a religious civil war, to a full-scale rebellion, and finally to a heart-wrenching reconciliation. It was exhausting. It was messy. It was exactly what a historical soap opera should be.
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If you’re revisiting the series, pay attention to the silence. The moments where Mary and Francis are just looking at each other across a room, knowing they’ve broken something they can't fix. That’s where the real magic of the season lies. Not in the grand speeches, but in the quiet realization that being a king or queen means losing yourself.
How to Get the Most Out of a Rewatch
If you’re planning to dive back into the French court, here’s how to do it right.
First, stop worrying about the history. If you want a documentary, go to the History Channel. This is a fantasy version of the Valois court. Embrace the inaccuracies. Second, watch Catherine de' Medici's face in every scene where she isn't speaking. Megan Follows does more with a side-eye than most actors do with a monologue.
Also, keep an eye on the background characters. The show does a great job of showing how the decisions made by the royals trickle down to the servants and the commoners. It makes the stakes feel higher than just "who is dating who."
Next Steps for Reign Fans:
- Check out the soundtrack: The use of Vitamin String Quartet covers of modern pop songs peaked in this season. It's worth a standalone listen on Spotify.
- Track the motifs: Notice how often "light" and "dark" are used in the cinematography this season. The castle gets significantly darker as Mary’s mental state declines.
- Re-evaluate Condé: Try watching his scenes without the bias of "he's ruining Mary and Francis." He's actually a fascinating foil to Francis's sense of duty.
The legacy of the show isn't just the shipping wars. It’s the way it portrayed a young woman trying to find her power in a world designed to keep it from her. Season 2 was the forge that turned Mary into a blade.