So many stations
have tried to do the historical soap opera narratives recently, apparently in
an attempt to cash in on the few that have worked. It should come as no
surprise that CW has decided to follow in the footsteps of series such as “The
Tudors” and “The White Queen,” and even less of a surprise that they have
treated it the same as they did “Gossip Girl” or “Vampire Diaries.” With a cast
of young attractive actors, the story quickly set up a love triangle, a
narrative necessity of any CW series. While this is an inevitability that is
irritating but forgivable, it is far more difficult to justify the typical CW
inclusion of current pop music in the soundtrack.
This extremely
altered and fictionalized narrative takes its characters and basic concept from
the teenage years Mary Stuart, Queen of Scotland (Adelaide Kane), spent living
amongst two-faced villains scheming against her. The series begins with Mary’s
journey to France
The show may be
too heavily reliant on the forced romantic melodrama, no doubt catering to the
teenage girl demographic above all the rest, but thankfully there is also
plenty of forced political backstabbing and scheming to break up the sanitized
romance. Alliances shift as the goals change from episode to episode. The more
that happens in this narrative, the more it feels as if nothing will ever
really change. The main effect this series had on me was the urge to go back
and watch Katherine Hepburn in Mary of Scotland (1936) or any of the more
recent portrayals that do not include pop music contradictions.
The Complete
First Season on DVD includes all twenty-two episodes on five discs, along with
a handful of extras. Along with a handful of unaired scenes on each disc, the
fifth disc includes two featurettes created for this release. There is a
making-of featurette, as well as one on the historical authenticity of the
show’s production elements.
Entertainment Value:
4/10
Quality of
Filmmaking: 6/10
Historical
Significance: 2/10
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