The Reign series finale started with Mary’s baby still missing after Lord Darnley kidnapped him. James came back and found the baby.

Meanwhile, Catherine made a deal with a witch to have Nicole killed. Nicole apparently was allergic to nuts. She ate soup that was thickened with nuts and Nicole died in Henry’s arms. He brought her back to the castle and he and Henry almost came to blows. Catherine was able to twist everything around so that the brothers realized Spain was to blame and they bonded over Nicole’s death.

In England, Elizabeth was facing war with Spain and discovered that the war would be costly and could make her more susceptible to an invasion from Scotland. She also killed Jane, her servant, who she discovered killed Lord Blackburn at Lord Narcisse’s bidding.

Later, Mary and Lord Bothwell decided that the best way to protect her son from Lord Darnley was to kill Darnley. Bothwell and a couple of guys, who later turned against him, blew up the house Darnley was hiding out in, but Darnley survived. Bothwell and Darnley fought and Bothwell strangled Darnley.

Catherine and Narcisse went to see the witch about payment and she drugged them. The witch told Catherine that her sons’ plan to attack Spain would fail and Catherine would be the scapegoat unless she had her daughter Margot at her side. Catherine went to Margot and told her it was time for Margot to come home.

Elizabeth received the letter from Mary in which Mary renounced her claim to Elizabeth’s throne. She then called off her engagement and prepared to go to war with Spain.

Bothwell then explained to Mary that their scheme to get rid of Darnley didn’t go as planned. Knox showed up with the two guys who were with Bothwell and had Mary and Bothwell arrested for Darnley’s murder.

We then jumped to 21 years later and Mary’s execution. The writers gave Mary a happy ending by reuniting her with Francis in death.

What the show skipped was that Mary had been on the run for a long time. She and Bothwell married after he had kidnapped her (not exactly the romance shown in Reign). Her marriage to Bothwell only fed the charges that she was involved in Darnley’s murder. He was eventually exiled and imprisoned until his death.

Mary escaped from Lochleven Castle and raised an army, but she was defeated and fled to England to seek help from her cousin Elizabeth. Instead of helping her, Elizabeth imprisoned Mary for 18 years. Mary wrote many letters to her son, James, asking for his help, but her letters were ignored. Elizabeth found out about letters Mary had been writing to Anthony Babington who had been plotting to kill Elizabeth and put Mary on the English throne. Elizabeth used those letters to justify Mary’s execution.

After all of the years spent fighting over each other’s thrones, Mary’s son became king of both countries because Elizabeth died without an heir. Also, they are buried near each other at Westminster Abbey.

What aggravated me the most about the series finale was that the writers didn’t say what happened to Catherine, Charles, and Henry. In case you are wondering, Charles was already dead from tuberculosis by the time Mary was executed. Henry, who had become king of Poland, abandoned the Polish throne to ascend to the throne in France. Catherine still served as regent until she died in January 1589. Henry was murdered eight months later by a friar.

What did you think of the series finale?

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