The Rise and Fall of Queen Joan
A very humiliated Joan learns her husband has conceded Navarre to Queen Elena, a move he probably made just to piss her off after she fled in the night and made him look like a fool. Not content to let bygones be bygones, Elena insists that Joan make restitution for the death of her son Luis…a child for a child. Joan tries to reason with her, and it appears to work. Then she stabs her in the gut just to make sure. You just can’t leave things like that to chance, you know? The Catalonians take this little bit of murder surprising well, rallying behind Joan.
Feeling empowered, she decides to travel to Paris, collect Isabella, and return to live out her days as Queen of Navarre/Catalan. And if Landry wants to abandon all and join her…? Well that would be just fine.
It was nice dream, Joan. Unfortunately that’s all it ever will be. Philip, tipped off to her affair and the paternity of her unborn child, plays a malicious game of cat and mouse. Now I kinda see why Joan had such loathing for him. The final knife thrust comes from Isabella, who sides with Daddy and alerts him to Joan’s plan to flee for Navarre (again). Unfortunately I don’t see Landry riding in to save her; he’s kinda got a lot going on at the moment. Which brings me to…
Indiana Landry and the quest for the holy grail, Part 2
Landry starts episode 108 on a pretty triumphant high. He struts back to the Temple with the The Holy Grail, his life finally renewed of its purpose. That’s when things start to go downhill. Pierre successfully spins a BS story about Parsifal being missing, causing Landry to send most of his knights out to search for him. Um, yeah, that will come back to kick him in the ass later. He attempts to learn more about his mother, but the woman has all the maternal instinct of a thorn bush. Then Rashid shows up, insisting Landry honor his bargain to hide the grail and not turn it over to the Pope. His mother agrees.
Frustrated with both of them, and still frustrated with Godfrey for keeping so much from him, he spurns their advice and hands the grail over to the Pope. But he is not without his doubts-his journey to find the grail and his interactions with the Saracens have made him question the morality of the Crusades. As his mother so aptly points out, “What for? So fools can fight for the rest of time?”
Things get worse. Landry realizes that the Pope ordered Godfrey killed. He and the few men left at the Temple are forced to fight for their lives against the Pope’s guards. Only a few survive, mainly thanks to the aid of the Brotherhood of Light, which now includes a very-much-still-alive Tancrede, yay! Welcome back, dependable sidekick! (But RIP Rashid). That turban looks dope AF. But things continue to suck, because not only does Landry have to track down that stupid cup AGAIN, but now he’s been denounced by the Pope and summoned by the Templar Grand Master for an inquest.
That’s King Supreme Pontiff, to you
We’ve known since the beginning that Pope Boniface wanted the grail in order to reclaim The Holy Land. It’s been thoroughly beaten into our heads by now. But what we didn’t know was how grand his ambitions really were. Why stop at the Holy Land when you can use that dusty chalice to claim all of Europe? Someone has a bit of a Caesar complex.
He puts on a benevolent, kindly-old-grandfather face when he’s giving eulogies and absolving people from their adultery, but underneath he’s a power-hungry despot. The secret Parsifal took to his grave was this: Roland, Godfrey-killing, Adelina-beating Roland, was working for the Pope. Was one of his personal guards, even. Sadly, Landry doesn’t figure that out until right after he’s handed the grail over. He confronts the Pope, who cavalierly admits everything. Yes, he had Godfrey killed after Godfrey refused to give him the grail. Yes, he absolutely plans to unite Europe under the “One True God”, kings be damned. And yes, he humbly accepts the burden of ruling this holy empire.
The Pope makes his escape with the grail, but not before ordering his guards to kill Landry and Co. He shows up later at Landry’s trial, and gleefully prepares to ex-communicate and burn him in the flames of righteousness. Landry’s mom shows up just in time to a) blurt out who Landry’s baby mamma is (WHY’D YOU GO AND DO THAT?) and b) tell His Holiness a shocking secret about the grail, and presumably, Landry’s connection to it. And it pays off-the Pope is noticeably shaken. Landry gets to keep his soul, and his life. Just not his kneecaps. Effin’ Gawain.
It sucks to be Landry right now
It’s The Templars v. Landry, and the charges are PRETTY SERIOUS, GUYS. “Striking a Christian with a sharp object”. “Conspiring with the Saracens”. Very grievous. And then Gawain shows up and adds “Bones a married woman and begets a child upon her”. Landry tries to turn the focus onto the Pope and his sins, but the Templars aren’t having it. Landry is found guilty of 5 of the 9 great crimes and sentenced to ex-communication and to be burned at the stake.
Watch your language Geillis, they’re monks!Source
Landry is halfway to losing his soul when big mama urgently requests the Pope’s attention. She spouts some cryptic grail/God nonsense, and tells him the big secret, which seems to apply to the grail and to Landry. OMG HE’S A DESCENDANT OF JESUS. Nice try, Knightfall. Dan Brown beat you to the punch 15 years ago. I’m guessing this secret has something to do with Landry’s father, but I can’t come up with a explanation for the whole “The grail is so much more than symbol, goes back even further than you think” angle. Let’s hope this is all addressed in the season finale.
Anyways, the Pope is extremely apologetic for almost damning Landry to hell, but has to rush off because De Nogaret’s lady assassin has bested Tancrede and stolen the grail. Gawain takes that opportunity to admit Landry into the Lame-Knee Club with a mallet. Ouch.
King Philip is ready to kick some Templar Ass
De Nogaret has his mercenary army close at hand, and decides it’s the ideal time to drop in on his old friend King Philip. He has some juicy news for him, aye? Sneaking his way into the castle, he manages to avoid getting killed long enough to tell Philip that a) The grail is in France, and b) The Pope has every intention of using it to oust Philip, along with every other king in Europe. Oh and also c) his bff, excuse me, his “brother” is banging his wife. And is the father of her unborn child. The Templars are now his enemy.
Just go ahead and embrace that legendary French debauchery, Philip. It’ll help. Source
Being the generous and selfless guy that he is, De Nogaret offers Philip the use of his mercenary army against the Templars. Philip hems and haws and mutters something about needing proof first, but by the end is getting up close and personal with his new mercenaries, a cleaned-up and richly dressed De Nogaret by his side yet again. De Nogaret even managed to track down one of his adorable little caps. Get ready to toss that thing in the air, pal…your assassin just snatched up the grail. See if you can hold on to it longer than the last guy, mmmmmkay?
