The Musketeers 2.06
Feb. 21st, 2015 12:02 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
selenakIn which we get Two-Face in The Musketeers, crossed over with Sophie's Choice, and surprisingly, it (mostly) works.
Except for Louis regarding Rochefort as the hero of the hour at the end, instead of Treville, which simply siimply happens because of the continued "Rochefort favoured while Musketeers are treated ungratefully" theme, not because of character logic. Don't get me wrong: I have no problem with Louis being petty and ungrateful. For example, his dismissal of Milady despite the fact she just brought the cavalry and rescued him at the end makes psychological sense for Louis as established in this show - part of her appeal to him was that she flattered his ego, and so the fact she saw him weak and saved his life would work against, not for her. But "Rochefort's great, the rest of you sucks" doesn't work because Louis would be far likely to complain why Rochefort didn't free himself earlier to save him if the show didn't need him to favour Rochefort.
Other than that, I thought this was a great episode. Mind you, I'm always a sucker for the " entire cast is forced to work together by outside common enemy" trope if done well. (I think my favourite two examples are the Alias season 1 two parter The Box and the American Gothic episode where everyone is taken hostage by Ben's younger brother.) Also, you can tell that Adrian Hodges did some Plague research back when he was writing the Charles II miniseries and has been burning to use it, never mind there was (as far as I know) there was no Plague epidemic at the appropriate time in France. Stilll, it was the type of gruesome story plausible within this version of 17th century France resulting in a tragic villain (and kudos to the show for making clear the tragedy but also not letting this excuse the present day actions by showing the different reactions of his younger brother), and despite the fact the whole use of a coin flip screamed Two Face from Batman I never felt kicked out of the story by it. Extra kudos for letting our villain make sure his surviving helpers escaped before facing his death bravely, which is contrasted with Louis still refusing to learn responsibility for his subjects and actions, and panicking in the face of death.
This episode also moved along various developments triggered by its events - Constance decides to return to d'Artagnan and openly live with him, poor Marguerite clearly had her epiphany as to Aramis & Anne (and even Aramis & the Dauphin, I suspect - btw, I note the baby is still strictly referred to as "my son" and "the Dauphin", never by name, so my suspicion that it will turn out to be not the future Louis XIV and die are still ongoing), Porthos now knows Rochefort has an obsession with a married woman, Louis called it quits with Milady while Athos is reluctantly impressed by her. So far, the show has found plausible reasons for Milady to work together with the Musketeers despite their past - here, for example, Louis is her bread and butter (she doesn't know him well enough to realise her rescue is going to backfire on her) so she has good reason to get Athos and Treville and participate in the grand saving) - but if she's heading towards a redemption arc, she's the first Milady in any Musketeer incarnation to do so. (This, btw, could be, to use a favourite word of today's fandom, problematic, because I doubt the show will bother with the fact that was Milady has atone for isn't connected to Athos - he was the one in the wrong there, especially in this version of the tale - but her killing score of many an innocent person who were simply in the way - or had a good dress.) That we just got introduced to Catherine last week furthers my suspicion this is indeed where we're heading, though: Catherine as the new female villain while Milady gets promoted (demoted?) to morally ambiguous character. But that's in the future, and her role in this particular episode was great.
At a guess, Rochefort will soon discover that the reality in his head, where he and Anne are pining for each other, does not fit with the facts, notably the Aramis part of it. (Likely Marguerite, who now has reason to resent Aramis for using her, will tell him, since Rochefort has been known to blackmail Anne's ladies into spying for him.) As to how Milady will finance her existence now that she's not a Royal mistress anymore and heading toward non-villainess status: I have no idea.
Except for Louis regarding Rochefort as the hero of the hour at the end, instead of Treville, which simply siimply happens because of the continued "Rochefort favoured while Musketeers are treated ungratefully" theme, not because of character logic. Don't get me wrong: I have no problem with Louis being petty and ungrateful. For example, his dismissal of Milady despite the fact she just brought the cavalry and rescued him at the end makes psychological sense for Louis as established in this show - part of her appeal to him was that she flattered his ego, and so the fact she saw him weak and saved his life would work against, not for her. But "Rochefort's great, the rest of you sucks" doesn't work because Louis would be far likely to complain why Rochefort didn't free himself earlier to save him if the show didn't need him to favour Rochefort.
Other than that, I thought this was a great episode. Mind you, I'm always a sucker for the " entire cast is forced to work together by outside common enemy" trope if done well. (I think my favourite two examples are the Alias season 1 two parter The Box and the American Gothic episode where everyone is taken hostage by Ben's younger brother.) Also, you can tell that Adrian Hodges did some Plague research back when he was writing the Charles II miniseries and has been burning to use it, never mind there was (as far as I know) there was no Plague epidemic at the appropriate time in France. Stilll, it was the type of gruesome story plausible within this version of 17th century France resulting in a tragic villain (and kudos to the show for making clear the tragedy but also not letting this excuse the present day actions by showing the different reactions of his younger brother), and despite the fact the whole use of a coin flip screamed Two Face from Batman I never felt kicked out of the story by it. Extra kudos for letting our villain make sure his surviving helpers escaped before facing his death bravely, which is contrasted with Louis still refusing to learn responsibility for his subjects and actions, and panicking in the face of death.
This episode also moved along various developments triggered by its events - Constance decides to return to d'Artagnan and openly live with him, poor Marguerite clearly had her epiphany as to Aramis & Anne (and even Aramis & the Dauphin, I suspect - btw, I note the baby is still strictly referred to as "my son" and "the Dauphin", never by name, so my suspicion that it will turn out to be not the future Louis XIV and die are still ongoing), Porthos now knows Rochefort has an obsession with a married woman, Louis called it quits with Milady while Athos is reluctantly impressed by her. So far, the show has found plausible reasons for Milady to work together with the Musketeers despite their past - here, for example, Louis is her bread and butter (she doesn't know him well enough to realise her rescue is going to backfire on her) so she has good reason to get Athos and Treville and participate in the grand saving) - but if she's heading towards a redemption arc, she's the first Milady in any Musketeer incarnation to do so. (This, btw, could be, to use a favourite word of today's fandom, problematic, because I doubt the show will bother with the fact that was Milady has atone for isn't connected to Athos - he was the one in the wrong there, especially in this version of the tale - but her killing score of many an innocent person who were simply in the way - or had a good dress.) That we just got introduced to Catherine last week furthers my suspicion this is indeed where we're heading, though: Catherine as the new female villain while Milady gets promoted (demoted?) to morally ambiguous character. But that's in the future, and her role in this particular episode was great.
At a guess, Rochefort will soon discover that the reality in his head, where he and Anne are pining for each other, does not fit with the facts, notably the Aramis part of it. (Likely Marguerite, who now has reason to resent Aramis for using her, will tell him, since Rochefort has been known to blackmail Anne's ladies into spying for him.) As to how Milady will finance her existence now that she's not a Royal mistress anymore and heading toward non-villainess status: I have no idea.
no subject
Date: 2015-02-21 11:32 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2015-02-21 12:03 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2015-02-21 03:15 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2015-02-21 04:04 pm (UTC)Now in an ideal world, if they want to change Milady's villain status to morally grey, I think the best way to do it would be to handle her like Crais was on Farscape. The show never forgot what he did, or presented characters who had good reasons to hate Crais as being mean or stupid or what not. And it's even arguable till the end just how much Crais changed; you can just as well make a case that he cared about Talyn, Aeryn, revenge on Scorpius and himself, not necessarily in that order, and all his actions were caused by this, with the bigger picture not coming into it, and certainly not regret of his own actions as a Peacekeeper Captain (other than those which affected Talyn). But still: Crais from late s1 onwards became a far more interesting character because his loyalties were uncertain and you couldn't tell just what his inner rules were anymore. I think a similar arc for Milady could be done, if the writing is up to it. But whether it will...
no subject
Date: 2015-02-23 09:13 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2015-02-24 08:56 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2015-02-24 12:43 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2015-02-24 12:44 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2015-02-24 01:44 pm (UTC)Now in my ideal world, I'd let her main relationship - if she's to be Crais-fied - be not with Athos (or D'Artagnan), but with Constance. Who wouldn't have the problem of once having loved her and feeling let down by reality, nor the almost-execution guilt. She's not likely to sentimentalize Milady, either, but she's good natured enough to give her a chance IF Milady is consistent about changing, while also keeping an eye on her.
no subject
Date: 2015-02-25 10:23 am (UTC)(This should also be remembered in case anybody starts pulling a Lilah/Regina style "all the supposedly-evil things she did were to rebel against the patriarchy" argument)
no subject
Date: 2015-02-25 02:42 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2015-02-25 03:16 pm (UTC)