By Helen Langdon
In this week's Musketeers, our intrepid band was escorting a dodgy customer to Paris and the waiting Cardinal. But, as luck would have it, a lot of Europe wanted to kill him. On the plus side, it had finally stopped snowing, so the musketeers got to ride through some green countryside. This week’s episode was crammed full of plot, including several daring escapes, and a lot more character work for the boys in various shades of brown (or black if you’re Athos).
In this week's Musketeers, our intrepid band was escorting a dodgy customer to Paris and the waiting Cardinal. But, as luck would have it, a lot of Europe wanted to kill him. On the plus side, it had finally stopped snowing, so the musketeers got to ride through some green countryside. This week’s episode was crammed full of plot, including several daring escapes, and a lot more character work for the boys in various shades of brown (or black if you’re Athos).
This was the week when Athos and Porthos finally got to do more than glower and throw punches. Athos’ role was to have a bit of a breakdown and then reveal to d’Artagnan and the audience the reason why he’d had Milady executed (or tried, at least). Unfortunately, in an attempt to sound drunk, he instead sounded like he’d been battered about the head with the clunky dialogue stick. What was also really intriguing this week was a brief look into his leadership role, with Aramis standing up to him repeatedly in order to get Porthos the treatment he needed. Athos seems to be bonding with d’Artagnan rather than reiterating these friendships the audience is told exist, possibly in an attempt to make Milady’s seduction of d’Artagnan more devastating.
And Porthos. Addressing those Telegraph commenters who took offence at a non-Caucasian actor portraying one of the musketeers, Porthos revealed that his mother had once been a slave. This meant that Emile’s real cargo was signposted early on, and was a nice reference to Alexandre Dumas’ father (the son of a slave, who became a high-ranking general in the French army). Slavery and colonialism is something very few Musketeers adaptations touch on, despite the time period. Here, it was mentioned in terms of its human cost, the capitalist way of viewing people as commodities, and the possibility of using these plantations and colonies to increase international power.
This serious tone is slightly ruined by how comedic Bonnaire’s comeuppance feels. Of course he was never going to get away with his plan – that’s slightly dark for a Sunday night TV show – but tricking him into sailing away with the Spanish after a fake fight was a bit slapstick. Casting James Callis as Bonnaire was a great choice, bringing all the swagger and charm the character needs in order to be likeable. After all, if he was just evil, it would be boring and we would have seen it all before.
And Porthos. Addressing those Telegraph commenters who took offence at a non-Caucasian actor portraying one of the musketeers, Porthos revealed that his mother had once been a slave. This meant that Emile’s real cargo was signposted early on, and was a nice reference to Alexandre Dumas’ father (the son of a slave, who became a high-ranking general in the French army). Slavery and colonialism is something very few Musketeers adaptations touch on, despite the time period. Here, it was mentioned in terms of its human cost, the capitalist way of viewing people as commodities, and the possibility of using these plantations and colonies to increase international power.
This serious tone is slightly ruined by how comedic Bonnaire’s comeuppance feels. Of course he was never going to get away with his plan – that’s slightly dark for a Sunday night TV show – but tricking him into sailing away with the Spanish after a fake fight was a bit slapstick. Casting James Callis as Bonnaire was a great choice, bringing all the swagger and charm the character needs in order to be likeable. After all, if he was just evil, it would be boring and we would have seen it all before.
“Commodities”, the first episode to be written by someone who wasn't the show creator, marked the first time we got to see two women talking to each other. True, they were talking about d’Artagnan, so it doesn’t quite pass the Bechdel test yet. But what does keep occurring in The Musketeers is women saving the men, whether that be through Constance’s lying or Milady’s more physical contributions. It was just a shame that Maria ended up dying after she did her knight in shining armour bit. The Musketeers is never going to be heavy on the women, being as it is something of a Boys Own adventure. But it does feel like Milady is being set up to be the primary antagonist. Perhaps that’s was the way it was always intended to be, or maybe it’s a side effect of Peter Capaldi’s appointment as the Doctor. In either case, three episodes in, each episode has ended on a shot of Milady, tying them all together thematically.
This episode has its own theme, outside of that. Did you notice all the ships? The episode started on the docks, with Emile swaggering along, and ended up with him stumbling onto a boat back to Spain. His whole enterprise revolved around ships, whether it was the ships he used to defraud his business partner or the slave ships he wanted to build. And then there was the king, building his model ship while asking the Cardinal why he couldn’t have a navy. That kind of coherency throughout an episode, in such a subtle way, is what might help lift The Musketeers above being just a fight-of-the-week show.
But it is starting to rely on a few tropes. Chief among these is the use of fake sex, seen last week in d’Artagnan’s explanation of Constance as his mistress, and this week in Emile’s escape plan. d’Artagnan showed a bit of genre savviness and laughed at the suggestion of leaving a prisoner unattended, even if was to have sex. But no-one else seemed to take this as a serious threat (yes, OK, they did go and wait for him in his cart, so maybe it was more of a kindness thing? Just in case he really did want sex before he went?). Maybe a British audience is expected to assume that the French really are just obsessed with sex.
Next week on The Musketeers, the Cardinal and the Captain have a secret, which is going to make Aramis really annoyed. And Constance’s breasts get another airing.
This episode has its own theme, outside of that. Did you notice all the ships? The episode started on the docks, with Emile swaggering along, and ended up with him stumbling onto a boat back to Spain. His whole enterprise revolved around ships, whether it was the ships he used to defraud his business partner or the slave ships he wanted to build. And then there was the king, building his model ship while asking the Cardinal why he couldn’t have a navy. That kind of coherency throughout an episode, in such a subtle way, is what might help lift The Musketeers above being just a fight-of-the-week show.
But it is starting to rely on a few tropes. Chief among these is the use of fake sex, seen last week in d’Artagnan’s explanation of Constance as his mistress, and this week in Emile’s escape plan. d’Artagnan showed a bit of genre savviness and laughed at the suggestion of leaving a prisoner unattended, even if was to have sex. But no-one else seemed to take this as a serious threat (yes, OK, they did go and wait for him in his cart, so maybe it was more of a kindness thing? Just in case he really did want sex before he went?). Maybe a British audience is expected to assume that the French really are just obsessed with sex.
Next week on The Musketeers, the Cardinal and the Captain have a secret, which is going to make Aramis really annoyed. And Constance’s breasts get another airing.
RSS Feed
