The Musketeers 2.03
Jan. 17th, 2015 03:19 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
selenakIn which there are subplots galore and really badly organized rescue missions, but on the other hand, the hostages do well.
Okay, so the whole Moors-persecuted-and-exiled-in-and-from-Spain plot is about a century too late (in the 1630s, Tariq would never have been able to become a general in Spain in the first place), but hey, what else is new on this show, and it means we get a good slice of Porthos scenes with a very likeable female guest star of the week (who, like the previous ones, doesn't die - keep it up, show!). Samora being a poet (a very Al Andalus touch) and reading Arabic poetry to Porthos while also being utterly matter of fact and practical was great characterisation, and letting their conversations be about how they identify themselves, and why, instead of going for the cliché flirt plot was refreshing. Also, it seems to indicate that Porthos' arc will be about more than finding out who his father was.
This may be a show aimed at a "family" audience, but the teaser scene with Rochefort making the prostitute dress up as Anne and going through a roleplay with her that shows he's in love/obsessed with Anne is pretty adult. Also adds to Rochefort's motivations, of course. And indicates that when he inevitably will find out Anne did have a lover who wasn't him, he'll take it very badly indeed.
Meanwhile, Anne and Louis this season seem to have sled into the type of marriage they actually had both in Dumas and in history (minus Louis' orientation), which is a bit jarring since last season they didn't, and ended the season on a note of closeness. But Anne telling Rochefort that if the baby dies Louis will blame her still was a nod to history; historical Anne and Louis had a reasonably well arranged marriage thing going in their teens until Anne's first miscarriage, which Louis did blame her for. (Because it happened after she accepted a dare to run from her lady in waiting, Madame de Chevreuse.) It went downhill from there.
At last we get an on screen show explanation for Milady's name, though I suspect the show only audience will assume she invented Lord de Winter along with everything else. Anyway, as I said last week, Milady seducing Louis strikes me as a very Milady thing to do, and I suspect we're next headed for a clash between her and Rochefort, because now she's invested in keeping Louis around. As to what Athos will make of his ex becoming maitresse en titre... (BTW, it strikes me this is a bit of a nod towards, in the third novel, Athos' son being Louise la Valliere's beloved before she becomes Louis XIV.'s mistress.)
Speaking of le Roi Soleil, the Dauphin still hasn't been named in this episode, so the kid might or might not be the future Sun King, but if he is and Constance makes it out of this show alive as opposed to the source material, she may have a huge favour to cash in. (Though the show, like Dumas, makes the point that kings are rarely grateful.) Also of interest: her husband actually NOT telling Rochefort where she was (against expectations), not that it was of much news, and the doctor instead of being a jealous jerk saving her life by pointing out she'd been right and he'd been wrong about how to cure the baby. (Oh, and I wonder whether we'll see Marguerite again, because she was punished for letting the baby been taken under her watch, which she did.)
Okay, so the whole Moors-persecuted-and-exiled-in-and-from-Spain plot is about a century too late (in the 1630s, Tariq would never have been able to become a general in Spain in the first place), but hey, what else is new on this show, and it means we get a good slice of Porthos scenes with a very likeable female guest star of the week (who, like the previous ones, doesn't die - keep it up, show!). Samora being a poet (a very Al Andalus touch) and reading Arabic poetry to Porthos while also being utterly matter of fact and practical was great characterisation, and letting their conversations be about how they identify themselves, and why, instead of going for the cliché flirt plot was refreshing. Also, it seems to indicate that Porthos' arc will be about more than finding out who his father was.
This may be a show aimed at a "family" audience, but the teaser scene with Rochefort making the prostitute dress up as Anne and going through a roleplay with her that shows he's in love/obsessed with Anne is pretty adult. Also adds to Rochefort's motivations, of course. And indicates that when he inevitably will find out Anne did have a lover who wasn't him, he'll take it very badly indeed.
Meanwhile, Anne and Louis this season seem to have sled into the type of marriage they actually had both in Dumas and in history (minus Louis' orientation), which is a bit jarring since last season they didn't, and ended the season on a note of closeness. But Anne telling Rochefort that if the baby dies Louis will blame her still was a nod to history; historical Anne and Louis had a reasonably well arranged marriage thing going in their teens until Anne's first miscarriage, which Louis did blame her for. (Because it happened after she accepted a dare to run from her lady in waiting, Madame de Chevreuse.) It went downhill from there.
At last we get an on screen show explanation for Milady's name, though I suspect the show only audience will assume she invented Lord de Winter along with everything else. Anyway, as I said last week, Milady seducing Louis strikes me as a very Milady thing to do, and I suspect we're next headed for a clash between her and Rochefort, because now she's invested in keeping Louis around. As to what Athos will make of his ex becoming maitresse en titre... (BTW, it strikes me this is a bit of a nod towards, in the third novel, Athos' son being Louise la Valliere's beloved before she becomes Louis XIV.'s mistress.)
Speaking of le Roi Soleil, the Dauphin still hasn't been named in this episode, so the kid might or might not be the future Sun King, but if he is and Constance makes it out of this show alive as opposed to the source material, she may have a huge favour to cash in. (Though the show, like Dumas, makes the point that kings are rarely grateful.) Also of interest: her husband actually NOT telling Rochefort where she was (against expectations), not that it was of much news, and the doctor instead of being a jealous jerk saving her life by pointing out she'd been right and he'd been wrong about how to cure the baby. (Oh, and I wonder whether we'll see Marguerite again, because she was punished for letting the baby been taken under her watch, which she did.)
no subject
Date: 2015-01-17 07:12 pm (UTC)As well as the Moors being expelled from Spain being too late I have a feeling that the racist villain talking about black people as "a different species" is too early for that kind of pseudoscientific rhetoric.
no subject
Date: 2015-01-18 06:44 am (UTC)ETA: then again: is what, say, Brabantio and Iago voice in Othello comparable?
no subject
Date: 2015-01-17 07:33 pm (UTC)We didn't really have much transition from Louis and Anne holding hands at the Christening to them both heading for affairs this episode, did we? It felt a little uneven. Though I guess there's a fair margin between being glad someone isn't dead and wanted to sleep with them.
I think that Constance's husband must have told them where she was, otherwise how would they have found her in the laundry?
Interestingly, I don't think Milady lied once in that conversation, though she may have elided the timeline a bit ("I came back form England, worked for the Cardinal for several years, tried to kill all your Musketeers, and THEN fell in with slavers").
no subject
Date: 2015-01-18 06:49 am (UTC)Milady: Well, there might be a lie depending whether or not the show allows Lord de Winter to have existed at all, but otherwise, yes. (BTW, for what it's worth, I think he did exist in the show verse because I suspect one reason why we finally get an on screen explanation for her name is that they will let her not so dear brother-in-law show up this season.
no subject
Date: 2015-01-18 04:09 pm (UTC)Oh, Brother In Law De Winter would be an interesting turn of events. I do hope they take the time to make her backstory more clear, as she's got a lot to fit in.
no subject
Date: 2015-01-18 12:14 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2015-01-18 06:51 am (UTC)