'The Serpent Queen's Seventh Episode Reveals "An Attack on the King"
It’s the penultimate episode of The Serpent Queen, and Catherine’s narration of events has almost caught us up to the present. However, we start with a different point of view in this episode when Rahima, still imprisoned, receives a visit from Mary Stuart de Guise, there to recruit her. Mary becomes the narrator, going back to her fateful wedding day. King Henri has been felled by his jousting opponent. Is he dead? He’s certainly close to death, with a gruesome injury, his opponent’s lance in his eye. (Warning: This episode contains some unpleasant material.)
Catherine: “You have learned a valuable lesson. A Queen never lacks a legitimate reason to break a promise.”
In a diversion from her prophetic dream, Catherine does not allow Diane de Poitiers into the royal apartment. Emboldened by impending death, Henri speaks his mind when Catherine asks him why he did not comply with her request to stop jousting. Cruelly, he tells her he wanted to make her dream come true; when she says she loves him, he responds that he pities her.
