History Series / TheSerpentQueen

* FlashForward: The fourth episode moves the action forward fifteen years, allowing Catherine and Henri to be played by adults rather than teenagers.

* MsFanservice: Beauty-obsessed Diane is shown naked a couple of times (she is played by Creator/LudivineSagnier after all).

* RealisticDictionIsUnrealistic: Both played straight and averted depending on the character. Catherine and Diane use the heightened diction common in costume dramas, while the speech of most of the other characters is more natural, with Henri in particular tending to stumble over his words.
* SettlingTheFrontier: In his first privy council meeting, Henri is advised by one of the Bourbon brothers that establishing a French colony in the New World would be a good idea.

* IdiotBall: Teenaged Henri returns from his campaigns with a new Italian mistress and a baby, whom he promptly and proudly introduces to Catherine and Diane, seemingly [[DidntThinkThisThrough expecting]] that they'll both welcome this development. (They don't.)
* IgnoredExpert: When [[spoiler: Dauphin Francis]] dies, his father immediately suspects foul play. The royal doctor assures the king that [[spoiler: the dauphin]] was born with an oversized heart and that the death was almost certainly due to natural causes, but he doesn't listen.

* ColorMotif: Diane always wears black and white.

* DoctorsOrders: How Catherine and Henri are forced to listen to a doctor's advice in order to conceive. His theory is that they're not "well-matched" for one another.

* AmbiguouslyBi: Catherine's servant Aabis has an affair with King Francis, but is also shown sleeping with perfumer Angelica. It's not clear whether she's bisexual or a lesbian who had pragmatic sex with Francis in order to assure her place in the French court.

* BruiserWithASoftCenter: For all his bluster and {{Jerkass}} tendencies, King Francis takes a genuine liking to Catherine and makes sure she's decently taken care of.

* BruiserWithASoftCenter: For all his bluster and {{Jerkass jerkassery}}, King Francis takes a genuine liking to Catherine and makes sure she's decently taken care of.

* FallGuy: Montmorency, King Francis' right hand man, tells Catherine that either she or Sebastio will be executed for causing the death of [[spoiler: the dauphin]], even though he doesn't actually believe either was responsible. Catherine ultimately lets Sebastio--a very loyal mentor and arguably her only genuine friend in France--take the fall, indicating her increased ruthlessness, and the fact that none of the other members of her retinue are safe.

* FountainOfYouth: Diane is obsessed with appearing younger than she is, and we witness some of her rather unpleasant beauty rituals (e.g. being repeatedly doused in ice cold water "for the skin to contract").

* FriendToAllLivingThings: The teenaged Henri is depicted as being interested in animals, particularly frogs, which he delights in catching and showing to any woman who catches his fancy.

* LawOfInverseFertility: Catherine is desperately trying to get pregnant with Henri's child, but is unable to. Adding insult to injury, her servant Aabis gets knocked up by King Francis and decides to abort the fetus.

* MellowFellow: Henri is generally shown to be very passive and indecisive, and also SuperGullible, much to the dismay of his father (and the delight of almost everyone else).
* NationalStereotypes: A DiscussedTrope. The Italians consider the French to be uncultured provincials who don't understand how to properly use cutlery. The French in turn think that the Italians are overdramatic [[ThePrimaDonna prima donnas.]]

* StrawHypocrite: Charles de Bourbon, one of the members of the king's privy council, has converted to Protestantism for opportunistic and self-serving reasons.

** OneShotCharacter: [[spoiler:Pope Clement.]]

* PassiveAgressiveKombat: Most of the feuding between Catherine and Diane takes this form.

* ZeroPercentApprovalRating: Catherine is this in the present timeline--all those who don't actively despise her seem to be terrified of her.
* AntiHero: Catherine fully admits that she has made morally dubious choices, but argues that she had to in order to survive in the French court.

* AssholeVictim: [[spoiler: Dauphin Francis.]]

* EnemyMine: Realizing that Henri's Italian mistress, and her baby, are a big problem for both of them, Catherine and Diane work together to send her packing.

* NewMoney: While Catherine wasn't a true commoner, her family wasn't part of the older European nobility.

* StrawHypocrite: Charles de Bourbon, one of the members of the king's privy council, is a Protestant, but purely for opportunistic and self-serving reasons.

* ItIsDehumanizing: Rahima is bullied by a fellow servant girl who consistently refers to her as "it" as a means of insult.

* LockedAwayInAMonastery: After the death of her parents, Catherine was sent to live in a convent.

* CruelAndUnusualDeath: Poor [[spoiler: Sebastio]] gets drawn and quartered after being falsely accused of [[spoiler: poisoning Dauphin Francis.]]
* DirtyOldMan: Pope Clement, big time.

* IgnoredExpert: When [[spoiler: Dauphin Francis]] dies, his father immediately suspects foul play. The royal doctor assures the king that [[spoiler: the dauphin]] was born with an oversized heart and that no poison was involved, but the king ignores this.
* ImpliedRape: Dauphin Francis tells Mathilde that when he and Henri were held captive in Spain, a group of Spanish soldiers took a liking to Henri, and that while Francis tried to fight them off, he was unsuccessful.

* NationalStereotypes: The Italians consider the French to be uncultured provincials who don't understand how to properly use cutlery. The French in turn think that the Italians are overdramatic [[ThePrimaDonna prima donnas.]]

* FallGuy: Montmorency, King Francis' right hand man, tells Catherine that either she or Sebastio will be executed for causing the death of [[spoiler: the dauphin]]. Catherine ultimately lets Sebastio take the fall, indicating her increased ruthlessness.

* FreudianExcuse: Dauphin Francis begins a sexual relationship with Mathilde, Catherine's dwarf maid. He later reveals that when he and his brother were held captive in Spain, a dwarf treated them with kindness.

* BreakingTheFourthWall: Catherine often gives asides to the camera.

* BitchInSheepsClothing: Diane initially behaves in a friendly manner towards Catherine, casting herself as a [[TheConfidant helpful confidante]] who can show Catherine how to handle life in France. When Catherine finds out about her relationship with Henri, however, they become instant enemies.

* WoundedGazelleGambit: Concerned that she is going to be kicked out of France for having failed to produce an heir for Henri, Catherine prostrates herself before King Francis and begs him to let Henri choose another potential bride--but, as a deliberate slight to Diane, asks that this bride be young, pure and virginal. The success is twofold, as Francis takes pity on Catherine and allows her to stay in France, and Diane is extremely unnerved by being OutGambitted by a teenager who also managed to play on her greatest insecurities.

* WoundedGazelleGambit: Concerned that she is going to be kicked out of France for having failed to produce an heir for Henri, Catherine prostrates herself before King Francis and begs him to let Henri choose another potential bride--but, as a deliberate slight to Diane, asks that this bride be young, pure and virginal The success is twofold, as Francis takes pity on Catherine and allows her to stay in France, and Diane is extremely unnerved by being OutGambitted by a teenager who also managed to play on her greatest insecurities.

* BerserkButton: Downplayed but Diane ''really'' doesn't like it when people bring up her age.

* ZeroPercentApprovalRating: Catherine seems to be this in the present timeline--all those who don't actively despise her seem to be terrified of her.

* ArtisticLicenseHistory: Dauphin Francis is portrayed as a JerkJock when he had actually become bookish and solitary during his years as a hostage in Spain.

* FountainOfYouth: Diane is obsessed with appearing younger than she is, and we witness some of her rather unpleasant beauty rituals (e.g. being bathed in ice cold water "for the skin to contract").

* PetTheDog: As influence-hungry and conniving as she can be, it does seem like Diane genuinely cares about Henri.

* BitchInSheepsClothing: Diane initially behaves in a friendly manner towards Catherine, playing herself up as a [[TheConfidant helpful confidante]]. When Catherine finds out about her relationship with Henri, however, they become instant enemies.

* CorruptTheCutie: The series is framed as a middle-aged Catherine [[{{Flashback}} telling her story]] to a pious ShrinkingViolet servant girl named Rahima. Over time, Rahima begins to learn the lessons Catherine is teaching her, and becomes more ruthless and conniving as a result.

* ErmineCapeEffect: Catherine argues that she needs an extremely lavish costume for her presentation to the French nobility, in order to impress them and to lean into their pre-concieved notions about Italian people.

* FriendToAllLivingThings: The teenaged Henri is depicted as being interested in animals, particularly frogs, which he delights in showing to any woman who catches his fancy.

* InconvenientAttraction: In the present, Catherine admits that she actually did have feelings for Henri, while acknowledging that she wishes she hadn't.
* ItIsDehumanizing: One of the other servants consistently calls Rahima "it" as a means of insult.

* LawOfInverseFertility: Catherine is desperately trying to get pregnant with Henri's child, but is unable to. Adding insult to injury, her servant Aabis gets knocked up by King Francis and winds up aborting the fetus.

* MellowFellow: Henri is generally shown to be very phlegmatic, indecisive and SuperGullible, much to the dismay of his father (and the delight of almost everyone else).

* PetTheDog: As influence-hungry and conniving as she can be, it does seem like Diane genuinely cares about Henri.
* {{Trigger}}: Diane ''really'' doesn't like it when people bring up her age.

* BitchInSheepsClothing: Diane initially behaves in a friendly manner towards Catherine, playing herself up as a kind of [[TheConfidant confidant]]. When Catherine finds out about her relationship with Henri, however, they become instant enemies.

* FountainOfYouth: ProudBeauty Diane is obsessed with appearing younger than she is, and we witness some of her rather unpleasant beauty rituals (e.g. being bathed in ice cold water "for the skin to contract").

* {{Schemer}}: Most of the main characters could fall under this umbrella.