Random grumblings and plot holes involving...Francis!
So everyone, let's begin with our favorite Dauphin, Francis. He's living in the palace with his womanizing father, his totally-cooler-than-you older half brother, and his overbearing mother. Sounds like your everyday family.
Alas, they're not your everyday family. They're the royal family of sixteenth century France (except you Bash!) and when Mary touches down at court we're all blinded by how incredibly sexy and roguish Francis is compared to everyone (even you Bash!) in all of his leather and fringe glory. Mary is immediately awe-struck by her handsome betrothed than she hasn't seen since she was like...eight. Then he shows her the room she used to sleep in and how he turned it into a welding room that nobody can enter (unless...you're Catherine de Medici) and our young royals have a very cute and touching moment.
Then Francis has to go and ruin it like two scenes later in the beginning of a recurring cycle of being douchy to Mary, having her stolen from him, and then winning her back because true love conquers all.
Speaking of all of the guys who get at his lady...
Tomas
His father
His brother Bash
His cousin Conde
Francis, you need to do better!
Every episode consists of you constantly losing Mary!
Why? Because Francis is selfish. Bear with me, yes as soon as he wed Mary, Francis became a sweetheart. Before that all we had was an entire season of angst over whether France and Scotland should be allied. I've done tons of research and here are two reasons why there could never be so much angst over this:
1. France and Scotland had been apart of the Auld Alliance for at least two generations.
2. If Francis marries Mary then he becomes King of France and Scotland, along with a claim to the English throne and what king wouldn't want that?
So even if it doesn't make sense, the benefits outweigh the costs. So Francis stop being so torn between a good move and nothing, there are literally no alternatives to Mary. Who else was he gonna marry, Olivia?
Speaking of her, let's discuss the mistresses of Francis: the random one from the pilot, Olivia, Lola, and that other random one I think her name was Amelie. Random, Random, Random, Random! Who are these women? (Except Lola, we know her but why?) The first one served no purpose except to establish from Day One that Francis is not going to be faithful (who is faithful on Reign nowadays? Might as well have a huge orgy) and that he'll be mean to Mary until somebody comes along to sweep her off her feet, then he's oh-so-in-love again.
Then Olivia appears, having some ill fated ride in the forest to make Mary pity her and she could reveal her evil plot to take back Francis. And what does Francis do? He decides to keep her around and even rekindles the relationship just to establish that he's in love with Mary while he's sleeping with someone else. Yeah, totally buy it.
Now for you Frola fans, please tell me when Francis and Lola interacted before Mary ran of with Sebastian (thanks Nostradamus, not really). Never, absolutely never. A few scenes of bonding and BAM! Sexy times with Lola that results in a baby! Why is she the first? Francis had two long term mistresses before Lola but one night with Lola and we get a baby. Either Francis knows how to pick barren women, Lola is fertile as Hell or...most probably this poor baby is going to be a plot device in the near future.
Last but not least, we get Amelie who was nothing more but a rebound after Mary puts Francis off to go be with Conde some more. (We'll get more into that when we get to Mary).
More than anything, Francis is a plot device more so than a character. He is used to justify most, if not all of Mary's actions and for everyone else to constantly worry about his death. Yeah, Nostradamus tells us in episode one that Mary will cause the death of Francis and we spend the rest of the season wondering if Nostradamus is right while Francis himself swears he doesn't believe in prophecies. Oh Francis, how stupid and naive are you? You're going to die in season three, I predict this and if not I'll rewrite this entire chapter.
In conclusion, Francis is there to have an angst filled relationship with Mary and be used as a plot device for everyone else to angst over whether he lives or dies. Then there's the random baby with Lola. To sum up Francis in one word: angst!