By Helen Langdon
The Musketeers have arrived! And episode one was a busty romp full of funny hats, shooting, and lots of mud.
The Musketeers have arrived! And episode one was a busty romp full of funny hats, shooting, and lots of mud.
We start off on the road to Paris, following d’Artagnan and d’Artagnan Senior on their way to complain about the high taxation that the dastardly Cardinal was enforcing. But, as is often the way, some bad guys show up and rather suspiciously declare, “WE ARE MUSKETEERS. AND THIS ONE HERE IS DEFINITELY ATHOS.” They proceed to kill d’Artagnan Sr, which means that d’Artagnan now has to avenge his death, because that’s what happens in these sorts of shows.
Cut to the real Athos, who’s hungover and staring at a locket which is obviously going to turn out to be very important. This is the section of the episode where we meet all of the musketeers, and get to know them better. You can tell Athos is posh, because he keeps on mentioning the chivalric code during a fight over a card game. Porthos cheats at cards, and is willing to take a fork to a swordfight. And Aramis is shagging the Cardinal’s mistress. And another bit of foreshadowing occurs – this is not the most subtle of shows – when Aramis’ pistol gets left behind in her chambers (insert your own penis joke here). The mistress is clearly doomed from that point on.
The musketeers are called in by their boss, and get told to find out where a missing troop has gone. And the missing troop, by the way, had a confidential mission, so again, they’re obviously dead. This is when d’Artagnan arrives in Paris, and fights Athos (et al, eventually), and loses. He doesn’t end up dead, because the musketeers are the good guys. But the guy who’s running around pretending to be Athos does keep on killing people, so Athos is up for execution while Aramis, Porthos and d’Artagnan have to do some detective work, 17th century style, to figure out exactly what’s gone down.
Cut to the real Athos, who’s hungover and staring at a locket which is obviously going to turn out to be very important. This is the section of the episode where we meet all of the musketeers, and get to know them better. You can tell Athos is posh, because he keeps on mentioning the chivalric code during a fight over a card game. Porthos cheats at cards, and is willing to take a fork to a swordfight. And Aramis is shagging the Cardinal’s mistress. And another bit of foreshadowing occurs – this is not the most subtle of shows – when Aramis’ pistol gets left behind in her chambers (insert your own penis joke here). The mistress is clearly doomed from that point on.
The musketeers are called in by their boss, and get told to find out where a missing troop has gone. And the missing troop, by the way, had a confidential mission, so again, they’re obviously dead. This is when d’Artagnan arrives in Paris, and fights Athos (et al, eventually), and loses. He doesn’t end up dead, because the musketeers are the good guys. But the guy who’s running around pretending to be Athos does keep on killing people, so Athos is up for execution while Aramis, Porthos and d’Artagnan have to do some detective work, 17th century style, to figure out exactly what’s gone down.
From a first episode, it’s difficult to tell how good the series is going to be. It’s not going to be awful – the cast are all very attractive, and pretty good at acting. Ryan Gage as King Louis III was a weak point, although he picked up in the scene where he begged Cardinal Richelieu for his help. That’s possibly just a character issue, playing up the needy and easily manipulated sides of the King, but there was just something off about the actor. Saying that, he did have one of my favourite lines: “[Birds] are born to be shot. Like rabbits. And poets.”
As well as beautiful men and women propping up every scene, episode one was full of scenery porn. Apparently everywhere apart from Paris is under a deep layer of snow. The sets are suitably authentic, and the library scene in particular looked stunning. Apart from that, there isn’t much to say of the cinematography. Most of the scenes involving the musketeers themselves could have been shot in greyscale and there would have been much difference.
The most exciting bit of a new show starting is working out what’s going to be the recurring theme in each episode. Will it be the Cardinal’s pointing finger of doom? Milady glaring at Athos from windows? Or just a round of “guess which musketeers will be topless”?
Overall, a solid starting episode. A few fun fights which didn’t drag on, an interesting plot, and a good introduction to the characters. Next week’s episode looks even better, focussing on an anarchist assassination plot. Maybe this means Queen Anne will get a chance to speak more than a couple of sentences!
As well as beautiful men and women propping up every scene, episode one was full of scenery porn. Apparently everywhere apart from Paris is under a deep layer of snow. The sets are suitably authentic, and the library scene in particular looked stunning. Apart from that, there isn’t much to say of the cinematography. Most of the scenes involving the musketeers themselves could have been shot in greyscale and there would have been much difference.
The most exciting bit of a new show starting is working out what’s going to be the recurring theme in each episode. Will it be the Cardinal’s pointing finger of doom? Milady glaring at Athos from windows? Or just a round of “guess which musketeers will be topless”?
Overall, a solid starting episode. A few fun fights which didn’t drag on, an interesting plot, and a good introduction to the characters. Next week’s episode looks even better, focussing on an anarchist assassination plot. Maybe this means Queen Anne will get a chance to speak more than a couple of sentences!
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