'Reign's' New Love Triangle is So Complicated

Season one of Reign was dominated by the Francis-Mary-Bash love triangle, but with Bash trying his darndest to make things work with his new bride, Kenna and Mary and Francis wedded and bedded, as the medieval folk would say (at least that's how they put it in The Other Boleyn Girl, which I can only assume is SUPER accurate), that triangle is on the back burner to say the very least.

But FRET NOT fans of complicated love affairs: The season finale saw Francis realizing that Lola was out in plague country delivering his bastard son and galloping off to be with her – even though that meant being on the wrong side of the quarantine gates. He chose his mistress over his wife, which is just insult to injury considering said mistress is his wife's biffle/lady-in-waiting.

I'm predicting a decent arc of quasi-love triangle drama, even though Francis seems to sincerely want to be true to Mary (he and Lola's tryst happened when she was with Bash, after all). It's a complicated threesome – even more complicated than last season's triangle (and falling for two brothers is pretty damn complicated, so kudos to Reign's writing staff for finding such a killer way to raise the stakes.

I foresee a solid 5 complications coming up in a big way to cause worlds of pain for Mary, Francis and poor not-even-royal-but-still-caught-up-in-this-mess Lola:

1. Francis LOVES that baby. Yes, he knows the "right" thing to do for his marriage and his kingdom is to send Lola away and never think about her or Francis Jr. again, but he had that love-at-first-sight thing going when he held the kid and decided to keep Lola and the baby around. This is going to be SO WEIRD for everyone involved. Mary can't just divorce him because he's her BFF's baby daddy. They are royalty and leaders and that's not how life works. She's going to have to pretend to accept it, even though she definitely never will.

2. Mary isn't pregnant yet and that was already an issue. Anyone who's seen a little bit of The Tudors or The Other Boleyn Girl (I'm sorry for all of the references to this movie, but I'm shocked I didn't make a million last season. I'm basically making up for lost time here) knows that nothing will sour a royal union faster than a queen who can't get knocked up (or even just can't get knocked up with the right gender baby). Mary was already having anxiety about her empty womb last season and that's going to skyrocket know that Francis already has a son from another woman (even if it IS an illegitimate one).

3. Mary is becoming SUPER Catherine-y. All of the season two teasers have focused on Mary's increasingly manipulative behavior and that's bound to lead to some arguments between her and Francis…especially if she starts manipulating him or Lola.

4. With Lola back at court, she and Mary are going to be major frenemies. Usually, the queen would have total control over her ladies in waiting, but now that Lola is the mother of Francis' child, she's going to get some choice treatment in the court and Mary is going to have very little control over any of that. I don't think Mary will want to hate Lola, but she's going to, at least for a while. So much resentment.

5. Lola and Francis have a history – and that's hard to forget. Francis feels like he and Lola really bonded, on more than just a physical level, when they hooked up in Paris. With Mary going a little crazy with power and his son there to remind him constantly of his bond with Lola, he's probably going to be very tempted to take her as a mistress. He doesn't want to be like his father, so he'll fight the urge – at least at first – but I can't imagine this not being an issue.

I'm so glad that Reign is back in all its soapy glory. I just can't wait for this plague thing to blow over so we can get back to showcasing fabulous outfits that are completely period inappropriate but WHO CARES?