Elizabeth Kerri Mahon

You guys, this show is twisting itself in knots to try and figure out ways to keep Mary and Francis from getting married.  As you probably recall, Nostradamus predicted that marriage to Mary will be the death of Francis. And Henry, for some reason, decided that it's vitally important that Mary stake her claim to the throne of England. Diane de Poitier's plot to have Bash legitimized was discovered, so she convinced Bash to leave the court. I can't even begin to recap these episodes.  Both of them hit new heights of ridiculousness.  "In For King and Country," Mary decides that there is only one way for her to keep Francis safe.  She tells King Henry that she will stake her claim to the English throne but there is a catch.  Henry has disinherit Francis and legitimize Bash, who she'll marry him instead. Henry hesitates for only a minute before agreeing.  Seriously? This plot is so ridiculous, I can only imagine the writers were smoking s...

I'm so sorry for getting behind with my REIGN recaps.  I went to England for a week, and I forgot to set my DVR to tape "Left Behind" and then I was so jet-lagged when I got back that I totally forgot that there was a new episode before the holidays.  In the meantime REIGN inexplicably won 'Best New Show' at the People's Choice Awards, which means that this show will probably be getting a second season.  Truthfully, it was really hard to watch these two episodes. I get so frustrated with this show! It has moments where it's decent, but for the most part these episodes are execrable for different reasons. The biggest problem that I have with this show is the lack of atmosphere. The French court should be teeming with people, the royals should have no privacy whatsoever. Instead, Mary and ladies wander around the halls of the palace in their nightgowns at all hours of the day and night.  Where are Catherine's ladies-in-waiting, her flying squadron o...

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 Olivi...

  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 look...

There are many great things about living in New York, and one of them is the Paley Center in midtown.   The Paley Center is a museum that is dedicated to one thing only; television.   For the past several years, they have given members as well as the public the chance to get a first look at the new fall television season.   This year, I was lucky enough to get to view the pilot for the new CW series about Mary, Queen of Scots, called appropriately enough, REIGN.    (Mary and Francis have a tense moment)    I tried desperately to check my brain at the door and throw away and preconceived notions that I might have had from watching the extended preview online.   However, that proved difficult once the show started.   Granted, I’m clearly not the intended viewing audience for this show.   The CW tends to skew hella young and most of the shows are geared towards teenagers and twenty-somethings.   REIGN is definitely skewed t...

In New York, you have to take your history where you can find it.  The city has changed so much over it's 400 years of existence and much has been lost, particularly when it comes to Scandalous Women.  The building where Evelyn Nesbit spent on Stanford White's red velvet swing collapsed a few years ago, the original Madison Square Garden no longer exists, and the Vanderbilt and Astor mansions have long since been torn down for high rise buildings. However, one thing you can do is eat scandalously. The following eateries pay homage to some of the Scandalous Women that I have written about in the past. The photo above is the Lillie Langtry room at Keen's Steakhouse which is located a stone's throw away from Macy's Department store.  Keen's has been around since 1885, which makes it one of the oldest restaurants in NYC and one of the few that still exist from the 19th century.  Lillie Langtry was the first woman customer at Keen's and i...

Recently I wrote a post about the plethora of books on Henry VIII since The Tudors and the 500th anniversary of his coronation. I've also begun to notice that there have been a spate of books about Mary, Queen of Scots lately, both fiction and non-fiction. What is about the reign of Mary that keeps writers and readers so interested? Is it the murder of Darnley and her subsequent hasty marriage to Bothwell? Her years in imprisonment in England and eventual beheading? Her life is tragic but also kind of sexy compared to Elizabeth, the Virgin Queen. Mary was Queen of two countries, married three times, the last marriage possibly forced. She was tall, with red hair, and Catholic living in a country where danger lurked behind every corner, not knowing who to trust, living amongst squabbling nobles who refused to bow to a woman as sovereign. Not only have there been a lot of books, but there was a revival of Schiller's Mary Stuart on Broadway recently with Janet McTeer (magnificent) ...

(1971) Starring Vanessa Redgrave (Mary, Queen of Scots), Glenda Jackson (Elizabeth I), Nigel Davenport (Bothwell), Timothy Dalton (Henry, Lord Darnley), Ian Holm (David Riccio), Patrick McGoohan (James Stewart, Earl of Moray) and Daniel Massey (Robert Dudley), directed by Hal Wallis, Universal Pictures The film opens with the death of Mary’s first husband Francois II after he goes out riding. Mary is distraught and Catherine de Medici blames her for her son’s death. Instead, Mary decides to go back to Scotland to take up the throne. She is refused safe passage through English waters but determines to go anyway. Upon arriving in Scotland, she is met by her half-brother James Stewart, the Earl of Moray who has determined that Mary will be Queen in name only. Mary is perturbed to discover that there is no grand welcoming for her arrival but she takes in stride, and even manages to joust verbally with John Knox who shows up at the dock to harangue her for being a Catholic. In the meantim...