Catherine Aces "The First Regency" on 'The Serpent Queen'

Episode 5 of The Serpent Queen opens as Catherine de Medici and her favored maid Rahima stroll in the forest. In fitting with the series’ fairytale themes, the forest is so often the place where bad things happen, and where supernatural beings roam. Rahima spots a man, or a creature, lurking in the shadows. Today Catherine is uncharacteristically silent, concerned by the contents of the treacherous letter she received at the end of the last episode. It revealed a plot between Mary and Elizabeth I (England) against Catherine.

Catherine: He could trust me as Regent even if he couldn’t love me as his wife.

She needs to find more proof, more letters between the two royal women, almost certainly hidden in Mary’s rooms and asks Rahima if she will help. It’s a grave situation –– everything is at stake, the future of France, of Catherine, and even of Rahima: “Our fates are intertwined,” Catherine intones. We know Rahima, emboldened by her new power and flattered by her intimacy with Catherine, will accept the challenge, which is just what Catherine intends.