#reign rage

Are you sitting down, anon?  Because I’ve got some bad news.

Sigh.  No, Mary and Bash are not a thing anymore in show canon.  (What happens in my mind, however, is a totally different story.)  And the jarring transition from people who loved each other to people who have ostensibly  never met is probably the most intolerable storytelling I’ve encountered on TV, like ever.  If you stopped watching the show before this weird and unnatural schism happened, my suggestion is to not watch past the 3/4s mark of episode 13.  Then, there are some good moments in 14 and 16, but after that…I’d like to say there’s angst and sadness and drama between them, but I’d be lying.  Because there isn’t angst and sadness and drama, there’s just nothing.  Like 20 straight episodes of nothing.  They just don’t even interact, not at all whatsoever.

I find this especially ridiculous considering how miserable they’ve written Mary to be.  Like, she and Francis have been so acutely unhappy since they wed, any normal person in the world would look at the moment they chose that situation and wonder what it might have been like if they’d taken the other path.  Regret would be a powerful tool here, even with (perhaps especially with) Bash married to Kenna.  You can’t tell me the Mary of S1E13 would look at the Mary of S2E10 and still run down that hall to Francis.  So why would the Mary of S2E10 not go back to that choice for comfort.  Can you imagine?  Being in so much distress and agony whilst your best friend, who married the man you denied, is well-treated and happy?  The only way a relationship between her and Conde would make any smidgen of sense is if MARY, needing but can’t having Bash, tries to find someone reminiscent of him to use as a stand-in. All I see now is a showrunner-with-a-grudge-and-a-chip-on-her-shoulder wanting to make a Bash-like character that is HER idea and HER casting and can’t be attributed to the woman who came up with the whole damn concept but got forced out of the project. 

Fans of Reign rejoice! A Season 3 of the cult classic has officially been confirmed, which means more drama, more betrayal, and more importantly… a whole l

MM: Definitely. With that said, do you have any message for the people who are still holding out for Mary and Bash to get together?

Adelaide Kane and Torrance Coombs in Reign (2013)

TC: I’m still holding out, too, but I have to confess I’m losing hope. I don’t think there’s any intention of honoring that at this point. There’s been so many times with opportunities, as far as the season- we’ve been in a room together and there’s been no acknowledgement of what came before, I think we’re to assume that time has passed and they’re in their respective positions and have just tried to put that behind them. I have been surprised before, there are things that I’ve thought had been dropped and they made their way back in. Some of those are still to come, so you know, that’s just the way it goes, so I won’t say never but it is looking grim at this point.

I should give up on pointing out the ways in which Bash and Mary could have connected in a meaningful way since they are SO plentiful it might be easier to simply point out the ways in which they couldn't relate to each other.  And you might as well just pretend 90% of what was said and done in the early parts of season one never happened because, lets face it...they're writing it that way.

I think that, since we're a smaller subset of the fandom at the moment (I actually believe that initially we were probably an even, if not larger, part of the fandom, but as you said we lost so many in the second half of the season last year and even more this year.) and therefore don't have the strong voice we used to, people just assume that it must be us who are supporting this ship...

And it may be that there are those who've shrugged and said, I guess if I can't have Mash this will suffice, but I've never come across any.  In fact, the extremely few Conde and Monde oriented pages I've come across actually seem more anti-Bash.  (Parallel gifsets to "prove" Conde's interactions with Mary are better and that sort of thing...)

To be honest, I don't see much support for anything happening on the show at the moment.  Frary fans are angry--and rightly so!--with the nonstop and unfounded angst.  I don't believe for an instant that Mary would have let Francis spiral in such a way without putting two and two together.  I don't believe Bash, having learned the secret, wouldn't have included her in it, even if it risked Francis' anger.  HOW I WOULD HAVE LOVED TO SEE BASH AND MARY TEAM UP TO PROTECT FRANCIS' SECRET--AND THEREBY, FRANCIS HIMSELF--BECAUSE THEY CARE FOR HIM AND TRUST EACH OTHER TO DO WHAT IS RIGHT FOR HIS WELL-BEING.

Mark that as another amazing potential storyline that got sacrificed for this joke of a new triangle and to stay committed to Laurie's agenda of keeping Bash and Mary from interacting at all so that she can dedicate more screen time to things such as baby-killing sisters and incest and you, know, RAPE.

 And I don't believe Mary would turn to Conde for emotional support in any of her trials, especially protestant related trials...if she didn't turn to Francis, it would have been to someone else in her circle.  Bash, or any of her ladies...or basically, ANYONE but a protestant.

See, I don't think Laurie wanted to do away with a triangle, she just wanted to do away with the one that she didn't create.  She's trying to erase Stephanie Sengupta's influence on the show by basically rehashing all the same storylines but with people and characters she created (but still keeping it all in service to Frary and Frary angst).  This is another example of someone sticking their heels in and doggedly insisting that their vision is the right one, let all else be damned.  Imagine what this show could have been if she was a flexible storyteller, one who could let her obstinate, ironclad vision go and let chemistry and relationships and story flow naturally and organically.

Of course, this is coming from someone who hasn't watched this season since I think episode 4.  I could be wrong about everything...but I doubt it.  

A reminder that last year, THIS was the promo for the first episode following the midseason break.

I remember feeling like I was jumping off that damn cliff with them.

I had never been more excited for the return of a TV show in my entire life.

But the bottom line for me is, none of those reasons are good enough to cancel out the fact that they did this for sensationalism and ratings and to pat themselves on the back for being so "brave" and "going there."  

If you want a story with a medieval/fantasy/historical feel that does handle this topic and after affects of it with poignancy and sensitivity whilst also not being the defining moment of the character's life (and is a damn good and entertaining read to boot) go buy Daughter of the Forest by Juliet Marillier.  

Reminder that #FightForFrary trend will be happening this Wednesday! Please join in! #Reign RT pic.twitter.com/aSjR2kWG6A

— ReignedUsIn (@ReignedUsIn) November 17, 2014