For my TV show this week, I’m picking a more niche teen series that is a little less known than shows like Riverdale and Grey’s Anatomy. In this post, I’ll focus on Reign: a CW teen drama inspired by the life of Mary Queen of Scots. While her life story may be the historical inspiration, this show took great creative liberty and ran with it. Yet, I believe it works so well to create a truly entertaining historical drama with just enough factual inclusions to make the audience feel a little educated on the story.

I first watched Reign in maybe 7th grade on Netflix. I had seen its cover picture and thought the hair and wardrobe of the characters were so pretty and cool that I gave it a try. To my surprise, the show had a Lumineers song as the theme song, and I was instantly hooked. Reign takes place in 16th century France, and features beautiful castles and palaces. The show truly is so gorgeous to watch, from set design to wardrobe. Every female character has an amazing wardrobe that incorporates modern elements to create gorgeous dresses.

For lack of a better term, the “vibe” of Reign is just so interesting and fun. This show had drama on a scale much larger than a typical teen show. Because of its historical inspiration, the drama of this show included country tensions, religious conflicts, claims to the throne, illegitimate offspring, and literal beheading. This drama was coupled with the typical love triangle drama found in teen shows but additionally featured an arranged marriage for stakes to thrones.

The main character, Mary Queen of Scots, was always my favorite character and I was always rooting for her. Spoiler alert, history was not on her side. I didn’t know anything about her role in history, so every part of the show came as a surprise to me– specifically her beheading as the series finale. Throughout the show, I was always rooting for her relationship with the king of France, named Francis (which I always found funny.) I love a good love story, and this show portrayed what was probably a very bland arranged marriage as a beautiful and tumultuous love story.

The greatest loss I experienced while watching Reign was at the death of Mary’s husband Francis. I knew eventually he would die, it’s just how history went, but somehow I was in denial that it would actually happen. When it did, it was dramatic and so incredibly sad. His death was only in the 3rd season, and in my opinion, started the downgrade of the show. The first 2 and a half seasons were so good, especially with the love triangle between Mary, Francis, and Francis’ half brother.

While Reign may not have had audiences as large as Gossip Girl or Pretty Little Liars, the show found its niche and created a significant following, including myself. I love to rewatch Reign in the fall simply for aesthetics, and this blog post may influence me to start it all again.