The Musketeers 2.08
Mar. 8th, 2015 07:09 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
selenakIn which there are family reunions of sorts, and finale events are set up.
I'm not sure I buy all this dragging out, "Porthos has to discover for himself" stuff of the backstory as opposed to Treville, once he gives Porthos Bellegarde's name, telling him straight away. That really screamed of artificial "Porthos can't be allowed to get the complete truth until the grand climax near the end of the episode" Doylist reasons with no character logic. For that matter, I'm not sure I buy Treville and De Fois finding no other place to dump baby Porthos and his mother in than the Court of Miracles.
But what I do appreciate is that what I hoped comes true, i.e. Porthos, with some florishes, essentially gets the core backstory of Alexandre Dumas' father, the general Alex Dumas. Who was the product of a white aristocrat and his black slave. When the aristocrat got into financially difficulties and had to go back to France and his home estate, he sold Dumas' mother Marie Suzette and her children (including young Alex), but later once in France and fluent again bought the boy back. (Just the boy, mind.) He did raise him as his son and put him into a military academy, but once grown up, Alex rejected his father and his father's name, took his mother's name - Dumas - again and had the luck that all of this coincided with the French Revolution starting. (His luck run out because of Napoleon later, but that's another story.) Anyway, all of this is why I knew old Bellegarde had to be responsible for Porthos' and his mother's fate. (And hence probably also was involved with his daughter and son-in-law's brothel business, though that part of the plot seemed to serve no other purpose than giving Our Heroes some rescuing of damsels to do while Porthos has scenes with Bellegarde and Treville and figures out the truth. If we're supposed to think "white slavery" as a counterpart to black slavery, that wasn't the best idea, either. Otoh Porthos deciding that Bellegarde was lying because the portrait Bellegarde had given him was in fact not that of his mother, and what this said about Bellegarde's attitude re: black women, as a good touch.
Milady's two scenes with Rochefort and Athos respectively confirm her new role as the joker in the card game, so to speak, the character who could jump either way. Well, could if Rochefort wasn't the evilest crazy creep, which rather puts me in doubt Milady will pick him as an employer option , even setting aside past humiliations. Really, Rochefort's one dimensionality as a villain has been one of the season's let downs.
Constance spending no more than one episode guilt tripping re: Bonancieux and deciding for love and D'Artagnan after all suddenly makes me worry for Constance's survival chances, it being the episode BEFORE the finale, not the finale. Otoh, Dr. Lemay - who took the "no" pretty well - may yet serve another plot purpose, if Constance gets poisoned - he could save her.
Rochefort finally snaps, questions Anne about the cruxifix and declares his love, or rather lets her into the fact in his head, she's supposed to have been in love with him all this time. This goes as well as expected. I was afraid the show would actually go for a rape scene, but no, Anne uses one of her hairpins and gives Rochefort a reason for his Dumasian eyepatch, upon which Rochefort makes me sure we'll never the Buckingham/the Queen's jewels plot on this show because taking his revenge by accusing Anne of treason via adultery with Aramis is basically the nastier version of Richelieu's scheme in the book to embarass her with the king by using the jewels she gave Buckingham as a love token.
So, finale predictions: Constance (conventiently just informed by Anne of the truth) will be put in lethal danger by Rochefort in order to make her witness against Anne. She's refuse and almost die, but be rescued. (I hope.) Marguerite will be prepared to testify but won't at the last minute and die tragically in Aramis' arms, because that's the type of plot characters like Marguerite get. (Aramis hopefully will feel guilty longer than for two minutes, but given it's the finale, that hope isn't large.) Rochefort will be exposed as a Spanish agent and as having poisoned the king at the last minute, too, possibly via Milady, which seems to be the set up, but the show could throw a wrench in and let him be found out another way. Either way, Rochefort is done for - after all this, they can't continue him in a position power - and I for one won't miss him next season. Now can we please get Mazarin and some subtlety back into our main antagonist?
Since there hasn't been a pay off yet to Athos' sister-in-law swearing revenge on Milady, this is either intended for next season, OR Milady is another character in lethal danger in the finale. You'll notice that all these lethally in danger characters are women. Well, the core four are always safe, if Treville were to die this season I think they'd have done it in this or the previous episode (he might die next season, though), and Louis COULD die, leaving Anne as regent, but we still don't have a Mazarin or a Mazarin-like character, so I don't think so.
...and then there's the STILL unnamed (as in, out loud, on screen) Dauphin, but it won't be quite such a blood both. If Louis survives, so does the kid, at least until next season. Incidentally, if the Dauphin is the future Louis XIV after all and Louis XIII dies without Anne producing little Philippe d'Orleans as a second son, I'm sure somehwere the stars are smiling on the yet unborn Henriette-Anne of England, who is spared a horrible husband. And on our own Lieselotte von der Pfalz (ditto). But who then will write her letters from the court of the Sun King?!?
I'm not sure I buy all this dragging out, "Porthos has to discover for himself" stuff of the backstory as opposed to Treville, once he gives Porthos Bellegarde's name, telling him straight away. That really screamed of artificial "Porthos can't be allowed to get the complete truth until the grand climax near the end of the episode" Doylist reasons with no character logic. For that matter, I'm not sure I buy Treville and De Fois finding no other place to dump baby Porthos and his mother in than the Court of Miracles.
But what I do appreciate is that what I hoped comes true, i.e. Porthos, with some florishes, essentially gets the core backstory of Alexandre Dumas' father, the general Alex Dumas. Who was the product of a white aristocrat and his black slave. When the aristocrat got into financially difficulties and had to go back to France and his home estate, he sold Dumas' mother Marie Suzette and her children (including young Alex), but later once in France and fluent again bought the boy back. (Just the boy, mind.) He did raise him as his son and put him into a military academy, but once grown up, Alex rejected his father and his father's name, took his mother's name - Dumas - again and had the luck that all of this coincided with the French Revolution starting. (His luck run out because of Napoleon later, but that's another story.) Anyway, all of this is why I knew old Bellegarde had to be responsible for Porthos' and his mother's fate. (And hence probably also was involved with his daughter and son-in-law's brothel business, though that part of the plot seemed to serve no other purpose than giving Our Heroes some rescuing of damsels to do while Porthos has scenes with Bellegarde and Treville and figures out the truth. If we're supposed to think "white slavery" as a counterpart to black slavery, that wasn't the best idea, either. Otoh Porthos deciding that Bellegarde was lying because the portrait Bellegarde had given him was in fact not that of his mother, and what this said about Bellegarde's attitude re: black women, as a good touch.
Milady's two scenes with Rochefort and Athos respectively confirm her new role as the joker in the card game, so to speak, the character who could jump either way. Well, could if Rochefort wasn't the evilest crazy creep, which rather puts me in doubt Milady will pick him as an employer option , even setting aside past humiliations. Really, Rochefort's one dimensionality as a villain has been one of the season's let downs.
Constance spending no more than one episode guilt tripping re: Bonancieux and deciding for love and D'Artagnan after all suddenly makes me worry for Constance's survival chances, it being the episode BEFORE the finale, not the finale. Otoh, Dr. Lemay - who took the "no" pretty well - may yet serve another plot purpose, if Constance gets poisoned - he could save her.
Rochefort finally snaps, questions Anne about the cruxifix and declares his love, or rather lets her into the fact in his head, she's supposed to have been in love with him all this time. This goes as well as expected. I was afraid the show would actually go for a rape scene, but no, Anne uses one of her hairpins and gives Rochefort a reason for his Dumasian eyepatch, upon which Rochefort makes me sure we'll never the Buckingham/the Queen's jewels plot on this show because taking his revenge by accusing Anne of treason via adultery with Aramis is basically the nastier version of Richelieu's scheme in the book to embarass her with the king by using the jewels she gave Buckingham as a love token.
So, finale predictions: Constance (conventiently just informed by Anne of the truth) will be put in lethal danger by Rochefort in order to make her witness against Anne. She's refuse and almost die, but be rescued. (I hope.) Marguerite will be prepared to testify but won't at the last minute and die tragically in Aramis' arms, because that's the type of plot characters like Marguerite get. (Aramis hopefully will feel guilty longer than for two minutes, but given it's the finale, that hope isn't large.) Rochefort will be exposed as a Spanish agent and as having poisoned the king at the last minute, too, possibly via Milady, which seems to be the set up, but the show could throw a wrench in and let him be found out another way. Either way, Rochefort is done for - after all this, they can't continue him in a position power - and I for one won't miss him next season. Now can we please get Mazarin and some subtlety back into our main antagonist?
Since there hasn't been a pay off yet to Athos' sister-in-law swearing revenge on Milady, this is either intended for next season, OR Milady is another character in lethal danger in the finale. You'll notice that all these lethally in danger characters are women. Well, the core four are always safe, if Treville were to die this season I think they'd have done it in this or the previous episode (he might die next season, though), and Louis COULD die, leaving Anne as regent, but we still don't have a Mazarin or a Mazarin-like character, so I don't think so.
...and then there's the STILL unnamed (as in, out loud, on screen) Dauphin, but it won't be quite such a blood both. If Louis survives, so does the kid, at least until next season. Incidentally, if the Dauphin is the future Louis XIV after all and Louis XIII dies without Anne producing little Philippe d'Orleans as a second son, I'm sure somehwere the stars are smiling on the yet unborn Henriette-Anne of England, who is spared a horrible husband. And on our own Lieselotte von der Pfalz (ditto). But who then will write her letters from the court of the Sun King?!?
no subject
Date: 2015-03-16 06:31 pm (UTC)That kind of man would not marry a black servant. Therefore, I'd assume he was lying, expect that he said it to his daughter. He might have been trying to wind her up, but I remain uncertain.
It was also left a bit vague whether he actually knew about the white slavery.
What are your thoughts?
no subject
Date: 2015-03-17 01:26 pm (UTC)re: whether he knew about the white slavery, it's open to interpretation but I'm sure he did. His son-in-law responding to Bellegard's moral indignation speech with "will you never tire of playing your mind games?" makes no sense otherwise but makes much sense if he means "here you go again, pretending that you didn't know to fool these newbies".