Reign Recap: Supersize Edition!

So REIGN has been picked up for a full season. You know what that means, more shenanigans at the court of Henri II like these last two episodes.  Sorry I'm late with the recaps but last weekend was the 50th Anniversary of Dr. Who so Mary, Queen of Scots fell by the wayside.

 

Bash looking soulful, probably thinking about Mary!

- Mary and Francis are so cute together you guys! They spend the first part of the episode snuggling and making out. I sure hope nothing comes between these two crazy kids!

- Uh oh, some blonde chick named Olivia shows up at court after almost getting killed in the Dark Forest. It turns out that she and Francis used to play 'doctor' in the boathouse until they got caught. She was whisked away to marry to someone else but it fell through because of that whole not being a virgin thing.

- Mary decides to be nice to Olivia instead of ripping her hair out until Olivia admits that she's back to steal Francis.

- Mary decides to that Olivia needs to leave court to stay with a respectable family in Paris to help repair her reputation. WTH?

- Olivia pleads with Francis not to send her away, telling him that if she can't marry him, she'll be happy to just be his mistress.

- Machiavella de Medici blackmails Aylee into giving her a look at Mary's letters to her mother. If she doesn't, she'll tell Mary that Aylee is a klepto.

- Francis told Mary at the Harvest Festival (seriously there is a festival every week on this show!) that Olivia was not going to be going away after all. Oops! They argue and Mary does what any woman would do in this situation. She gets drunk and makes out with her fiancé's cuter half-brother.

- Catherine de Medici reveals that she wants Olivia to trap Francis into marrying her by getting pregnant.

- Mary reveals that knows that Catherine is reading her letters, in fact, she planned the whole thing with Aylee.

- Greer and Kitchen boy made out. What do you want to bet he's some prince or noble who is hiding in the royal kitchen for REASONS.

- Kenna told off Mary after Mary tried to warn her about getting involved with the King. Ooh, Kenna, you are going to be so sorry when Diane de Poitiers and the Queen join forces to get rid of you.

- The pagans in the Dark Forest are mad because Bash rescued some dude from having all his blood drained from him. He now has to pay be sacrificing some else's life. Who could it be?

This week's episode was entitled Scotland although it had nothing to do with Scotland whatsoever.

- Mary and Bash had an awkward moment recalling their make-out session from last week.

- A giant, bloody stag's head was left in Mary's room while she was sleeping as a warning from the pagans/heretics who live in the dark forest.

- It turns out that Diane de Poitier comes from a pagan family. She warns Bash that no one can find out their terrible secret.

- Mary and Catherine de Medici play good cop/bad cop with the servants. Mary promises that no one will be punished if they give information while Catherine tells them if they don't cough up information, she will burn their villages down.

- Kenna, one of Mary's ladies, invites her friends to the King's bedroom to celebrate her becoming his mistress. She gets upset when one her friends points out the entwined initials H&D in the floor. She has a hissy fit and demands that the King remove them.

- Bash releases a prisoner and takes him into the Dark Forest of Doom to flush out of one of the pagans/heretics who he kills as a sacrifice. On the way back to the castle, Bash pushes the prisoner off a cliff when it looks like he's going to spill the beans about what happened.

- The King complains to Diane de Poitier about Kenna's demands before making love to his former mistress.

- After Bash returns to the castle, Francis announces that he and Mary should see other people, as long as one of them isn't Bash. Meanwhile Francis finds Olivia and decides to play hide the éclair with her because this show is the worst.

November Books of the Month

Normally I feature just one book that I feel that readers would enjoy but this month we have a plethora of really cool books.

Title:  Writers Between the Covers
Authors: Shannon McKennon Schmidt & Joni Rendon
Paperback: 256 pages
Publisher: Plume (October 29, 2013)

Why did Norman Mailer stab his second wife at a party?  Who was Edith Wharton’s secret transatlantic lover? What motivated Anaïs Nin to become a bigamist?

Writers Between the Covers rips the sheets off these and other real-life love stories of the literati—some with fairy tale endings and others that resulted in break-ups, breakdowns, and brawls. Among the writers laid bare are Agatha Christie, who sparked the largest-ever manhunt in England as her marriage fell apart; Arthur Miller, whose jaw-dropping pairing with Marilyn Monroe proved that opposites attract, at least initially; and T.S. Eliot, who slept in a deckchair on his disastrous honeymoon.

From the best break-up letters to the stormiest love triangles to the boldest cougars and cradle-robbers, this fun and accessible volume—packed with lists, quizzes and in-depth exposés—reveals literary history’s most titillating loves, lusts, and longings.

Title: Marie Antoinette's Head: The Royal Hairdresser, the Queen, and the Revolution
Author:  Will Bashor
Publisher:  The Lyon's Press
About:  Marie Antoinette has remained atop the popular cultural landscape for centuries for the daring in style and fashion that she brought to 18th century France. For the better part of the queen’s reign, one man was entrusted with the sole responsibility of ensuring that her coiffure was at its most ostentatious best. Who was this minister of fashion who wielded such tremendous influence over the queen’s affairs? Marie Antoinette’s Head: The Royal Hairdresser, The Queen, and the Revolution charts the rise of Leonard Autie from humble origins as a country barber in the south of France to the inventor of the Pouf and premier hairdresser to Queen Marie-Antoinette.

By unearthing a variety of sources from the 18th and 19th centuries, including memoirs (including Léonard’s own), court documents, and archived periodicals the author, French History professor and expert Will Bashor, tells Autie’s mostly unknown story. Bashor chronicles Leonard’s story, the role he played in the life of his most famous client, and the chaotic and history-making world in which he rose to prominence. Besides his proximity to the queen, Leonard also had a most fascinating life filled with sex (he was the only man in a female dominated court), seduction, intrigue, espionage, theft, exile, treason, and possibly, execution. The French press reported that Léonard was convicted of treason and executed in Paris in 1793. However, it was also recorded that Léonard, after receiving a pension from the new King Louis XVIII, died in Paris in March 1820. Granted, Leonard was known as the magician of Marie-Antoinette’s court, but how was it possible that he managed to die twice?

Title:  Marie Antoinette Serial Killer
Author:  Katie Alender
Publisher: Scholastic Books
Pub Date:  9/24/2013
Overview:  Heads will roll! Paris, France: a city of fashion, chocolate croissants, and cute boys. Colette Iselin is thrilled be there for the first time, on her spring break class trip.

But a series of gruesome murders are taking place around the city, putting everyone on edge. And as she tours the sights, Colette keeps seeing a strange vision: a pale woman in a ball gown and powdered wig, who looks like Marie Antoinette.

Colette knows her status-obsessed friends won't believe her, so she seeks out the help of a charming French boy. Together, they discover that the murder victims are all descendants of people who ultimately brought about Marie Antoinette's beheading. The queen's ghost has been awakened, and now she's wreaking her bloodthirsty revenge.

 

And Colette may just be one of those descendants . . . which means she might not make it out of this trip alive. Acclaimed author Katie Alender brings heart-stopping suspense to this story of betrayal, glamour, mystery, history--and one killer queen.

Title:  Mrs. Poe
Author:  Lynn Cullen
Publisher:  Simon & Schuster
Pub Date:  10/1/2013

 

Overview:  1845: New York City is a sprawling warren of gaslit streets and crowded avenues, bustling with new immigrants and old money, optimism and opportunity, poverty and crime. Edgar Allan Poe’s “The Raven” is all the rage—the success of which a struggling poet like Frances Osgood can only dream. As a mother trying to support two young children after her husband’s cruel betrayal, Frances jumps at the chance to meet the illustrious Mr. Poe at a small literary gathering, if only to help her fledgling career. Although not a great fan of Poe’s writing, she is nonetheless overwhelmed by his magnetic presence— and the surprising revelation that he admires her work.

What follows is a flirtation, then a seduction, then an illicit affair . . . and with each clandestine encounter, Frances finds herself falling slowly and inexorably under the spell of her mysterious, complicated lover. But when Edgar’s frail wife Virginia insists on befriending Frances as well, the relationship becomes as dark and twisted as one of Poe’s tales. And like those gothic heroines whose fates are forever sealed, Frances begins to fear that deceiving Mrs. Poe may be as impossible as cheating death itself. . . .

Reign Recap: Episode 4

Just caught up with REIGN this morning. OMG you guys, so much drama! Archery contests, whipping boys, ghosts, intrigue, romance. Where do I begin?

- Tomas and Francis competed in an archery contest because a joust would have been too exciting I guess. Tomas cheated, and then gave Mary a favor of a pink rose. In front of everyone!

- Mary's uncle Claude de Guise showed up again to basically tell her stuff. This time it was to tell her that King Henri wasn't yet willing to end her betrothal to Francis.

- Catherine de Medici admitted to Mary that she wanted her gone, gone, gone.

- Francis, now that Mary was about to get engaged to another man, got all handsy and jealous.

- Lola flirted with a wounded Bash.

- Tomas showed his true colors by telling Mary every time she disobeyed him, Miguel the whipping boy, would be punished.

- Simon, Lord Westbrook, was accused of being a spy for the English and almost executed in the middle of a masquerade ball.

- Kenna aka Lady McSlutty told King Henri Horndog that she was ready to be his mistress but he told her that position was filled.

- Clarissa the ghost left Mary, Simon's seal which proved that he wasn't the guy the prostitute saw in the tavern after all, which meant he was innocent.

- The prostitute confessed that it was actually Tomas. OMG, I totally didn't see that coming!

- Bash and Francis united to prove that Tomas was a total SOB which culminated in an exciting fight in the woods! (No not really).

- Mary wore more cracked out fashions that have nothing to do with the period.

- Greer flirted some more with the servant boy from the kitchen.

- King Henri Horndog changed his mind and decided to make Kenna his mistress after all. Because Catherine emasculates him and Diane spends too much time shopping in Paris.

- Mary shocked the court by telling the King and her uncle that she would be leading the renegotiations for her betrothal to Francis.

- Nostradamus did absolutely nothing. (Seriously this show would be much more interesting if Catherine de Medici and Nostradamus were getting it on!).
Historical Notes:  Well, I was wrong about Claude de Guise, I assumed that he was her cousin, but he's actually her uncle.  The show has also been picked up for a full season which means that I will be recapping the show for another 18 episodes! It will be interesting to see if they actually do develop this love triangle between Bash, Mary and Francis that they promised.  At some point Mary and Francis will have to get married, the writers can't keep throwing ridiculous obstacles in their path.

Guest Blogger Elizabeth Eckhart on Where’s the Female Walter White?

The theme behind Scandalous Women is that well-behaved women don’t make history. Unfortunately, the entertainment business is another story. Though history is rife with women who have performed unheroic actions in order to further a cause they believed was right, it seems novels, television, and film have been slow to understand these qualities in women. The entertainment world is buzzing with the onslaught of anti-hero men; consider Breaking Bad’s Walter White, and Dexter’s Dexter, who are two of the most recent additions to the “dangerous men” club that began with Tony Soprano. Like Tony, these are men who make purposefully evil choices for what they believe is a pure-hearted cause. Walter White, after all, becomes a drug lord for the sake of his family.

Not to say we haven’t had our fair share of “evil” or “naughty” women, but in most cases, that’s all they are. Women in popular literature, on TV, and in movies are more likely to be found portraying “good girls,” who, even if they make mistakes, never meant to, or “femme fatales,” women who have no moral guidelines whatsoever. But where are the leading lady protagonists who have enough depth to stand as anti-heroes themselves, making evil decisions for acceptable reasons, and possibly leading the storyline?

They are few and far between, that’s for sure. One of the first examples that came to mind is the fictional character of Catwoman, who shows no hesitation when it comes to deception or even murder in the name of stopping bad guys, but generally plays second fiddle to Batman’s role. There’s also the recent film Young Adult, during which Charlize Theron played a woman entirely unwilling to change her sad, pitiful, life, which was able to give us a taste of what it was like to have a female lead we may not like. And the popular novel Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn did something similar with its possibly completely insane, though incredibly smart, female lead. Other examples show a trend toward female protagonists of greater depth and complication, such as Carrie on Homeland or Hannah on Girls, yet still, these characters lean further toward the realm of misguided mistakes than Robert De Niro worthy murders and drug deals.
Media has long been embedded in the male gaze, and it’s still generally men writing the scripts and frankly, the majority of men are incapable of writing women well (as always, with some exceptions). Jack Nicholson’s advice from As Good As It Gets, when discussing writing women is simply, “I think of a man. And then I take away reason and accountability.” Or, read this intriguing and frustrating article on why a few notable comic writers refuse to write women with more depth, simply because history and the genre haven’t previously called for it, and they believe readers won’t be interested in it.

But based on readers’ highly positive reactions to Gone Girl and other anti-heroes, it seems as if readers are clamoring for in-depth female characters that aren’t solely motivated by lust and greed, or the opposite, purity and moral perfection. Here are a few lead characters that have either come close, or have hope, of becoming the female counterpart of previous male antiheroes.

Lisbeth Salander, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo: Lisbeth is the victim of multiple crimes against her person, which puts readers immediately on her side. So much so that we accept the fact that she is a hacker who routinely invades the privacy of anyone and everyone. She’s also been known to lie, steal, and seek revenge in violent ways. But it’s all in the name of justice... right?

Jackie Peyton, Nurse Jackie: On this television show, Jackie is a manipulative nurse who has affairs, abuses medications, and frequently breaks the law. However, she’s saving lives most of the time, and for that reason has the same effect as House from the show House: we like her anyway.

Hannah Horvath from Girls: Hannah is young, emotionally a mess, and occasionally a whiny brat. She is selfish, unmotivated to get her own job and stop mooching off her parents, and is often petty. Still, we root for her as the lead character of this show.

Beatrix Kiddo from Kill Bill: An obvious choice for anti-heroism, this film is about Beatrix seeking revenge on Bill, and it results in many, many innocent deaths. Though plot wise she is a strong choice, the movie doesn’t give a lot of room for character depth, since it is a film more focused on gore.

Arya Stark, Game of Thrones: Arya is just a child in George R.R. Martin’s addicting television and book series, but as the story has progressed her actions have become increasingly morally unsound. We know Arya is motivated by revenge, and desires the destruction of anyone she believes is involved in harming her or her family. Still, some of her actions recently, murder by both her own hand and by the direction of her friend the assassin, are leaning toward an antihero trend. She may grow into the most conflicting character yet.

Alissa Nutting’s Tampa: Though this novel is yet to be released, there is high hopes that we’ll have found a female protagonist who partakes in more than questionable actions. The novel follows a young, beautiful teacher as she seduces a student.

Though I’m sure there are more, the stretch to find the female counterpoint to Walter White is not as easy as it should be. Partially this is due to many writers’ own fear of creating a morally questionable female character, but much of the time audiences too have failed to support the emergence of female anti-heroes. We’ll find that Nancy Botwin, from the show Weeds, who turned to selling weed in order to support her children, was heavily criticized for putting her children in danger. Likewise, Skyler White, from Breaking Bad was portrayed as a horrible mother and utterly unlikeable for smoking a cigarette while pregnant, (really, check the internet comment boards) despite the fact that her husband cooks meth and murders people.

In the end, for female antiheroes to succeed and rise in numbers, both audiences and writers must continue to create and support them. No longer should women be confined to easily compartmentalized characters of adoring wife/girlfriend or sexualized femme fatale. There should be female characters across the entire board with audience sympathy and qualities that land somewhere between angelic and demonic.
Author Bio: Elizabeth Eckhart is an entertainment and film blogger for directstartv.com. She frequently writes about literature, fictional figures, and media in general. She can be followed on twitter at @elizeckhart.


　

Reign: Episode 3 Recap

 

I finally got a chance to watch last week's episode of REIGN. OMG, you guy, so much happened to our girl Mary this week.

- England sent troops to the Scottish border which sent Mary into a tizzy when her cousin Claude de Guise showed up to tell her. (Given how long it took news to arrive, are we to assume that the English troops just camped out on the border hoping for a fight?)

- She asked King Henri for troops to help Scotland and he said 'no way.'

- She kicked a ball around with Prince Charles.

- She climbed a tree and then got stuck.

- She met Tomas, the sexy illegitimate son of the King of Portugal.

- She broke the girl code, spending time with Tomas, even though she knew Greer liked him.

- She offered to sell Tomas timber in exchange for troops. Instead he wanted to marry her. Something about her 'wildness' appealed to him.

- She did a sexy dance with Tomas at a ball, which consisted of a lot of dipping and lifting, wearing a dress that looked like a feather duster.

- She called out Francis on his commitment issues.

- She received her first kiss ever from a guy, from Francis, who then told her to marry another man.

- She wore costumes that ran the gamut from the Regency to some off the shoulder anti-bellum dress.  She even managed to wear a dress that was actually the right period.  Don't know how that slipped by.

- She drank coffee.

 Also, Nostradamus made strange predictions, while looking like the 16th century equivalent of John the Baptist (something about Greer marrying a man with white mark and the lion will fight with the dragon on a field of poppies), and Lady McSlutty did dirty deeds in dark corner with the King but refused to give up her V-card. She then had an awkward conversation with Henri's illegitimate son Bash, on how to win back the King's affection. Francis also threatened to tell Catherine de Medici and Diane de Poitiers that the King had a new bit on the side unless he helped Mary by sending troops to Scotland. Needless to say that didn't work out so well. 

Historical Notes:  Yes, Mary, Queen of Scots did have a relative named Claude.  He was actually her uncle, the Duc of Aumale. Her cousin would have been his son who wasn't born yet.  Why he tells her about the English, and not say anyone at the French court like the King, I have no idea. Nor why there is no Scottish ambassador to the royal court.  As for Tomas, John III of Portugal did have an illegitimate son named Duarte who was the Archbishop of Braga. However, John III was succeeded by his 3 year old grandson Sebastian, so some of the details are right.