Loyal traitors
Mar. 21st, 2015 10:28 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
shallownessIt’s probably indicative of my state of mind that if I could draw or use stuff like Photoshop, I would be working on drawing Ross Poldark with starburns.
Right, anyway. The Musketeers was on last night .
2.9 The Accused
After the icky intensity of the previous ep, I’m almost glad we had two weeks to wait for this. It meant I could recover.
Constance had the better of Anne in having to wear the same costume.
There was a metaphorical sound running through this episode for me, and that was the sound of a trap closing. Several of them. Mainly Rochefort’s doing, as the traps he’d sprung for the Queen, Aramis, the King, Marguerite, Nameless the Dauphin and Constance, and thus all who loved them i.e. the Musketeers, snapped shut. I felt that a lot of what had happened so far this season had led to this. I thought it was a pretty well constructed episode.
For a lot of it, Athos was the winner. His snark as Aramis’s story came out was ace. I still think he should have warned Milday about Catherine, and I didn’t love that he was the one rescuing her, in a way. As in, I’d have liked for her to best Catherine for herself, but they had to make it mostly about him. Um, yes, she was telling the truth about your brother – as she said, why would she lie?
Anyway Athos/Milady worked so much more for me than it normally does. His tempered trust in her was great, as was her pragmatism, and they both had great lines. She looked immensely sassy in that green leather version of a historically accurate style. (I thought that she was foolish in goading Rochefort, and given that she wasn’t in the trailer for next week and she isn’t the one he’s wronged the most, I no longer expect her to be the one to end him.)
What also helped was the lighting. I really want to praise whoever did the lighting design for this episode. The shots of Athos and Milady in profile worked beautifully, the sense of flickering candlelight in Rochefort threatening Marguerite and the way Anne was lit up around the convent table when she said she was going back were all spectacularly effective.
Speaking of: guerrilla nuns become forger nuns!!!!
And the most important moment was a quiet one. Maybe this would not be big for those who have read Dumas or watched more adaptations, but Milady’s real name is Anne!? At least, I don’t know if it is her real name, or even her birth name, but it was the name she was married by. Given how she’s been set up in opposition to Queen Anne – suggested at in the moment where she also turns up to rescue Anne and there was a momentary expression, which I appreciated – that’s fun.
(I apologise if that’s already been set up on the show and I just missed it, which is entirely possible.)
It feels like there’s so much else to cover. I loved the boys’ reaction to Aramis’s revelation. I was mainly chuckling through that. And more seriously, Porthos’s view of what Aramis should to for the good of the boy was rather poignant.
Ugh, I am worried about Constance. As I was, knowing more, from the second she decided to stay. Of course, she and Anne trusted Marguerite, but Constance should have realised that Rochefort hated her. But what she went through and what I fear she will go through wasn’t good.
The show suffered slightly in the LeMay beheading, awful and effective though it was, at Wolf Hall doing something similar recently and having history and being less schlocky on its side. (Not to mention the real life beheadings going on these days adding another edge.) Still, being forced to watch that, the ultimate expression of how unjust things were with Rochefort in the ascendance and then having D’Artagnan, who’d just urged her to hope, be kicked in before her very eyes - aww, Constance.
I also had a lot of sympathy for Marguerite as she realised how mad and bad Rochefort was and how deep she’d got in. And it really all started with Aramis taking advantage of her feelings to get to see his son. Anne’s look of betrayal at that rather undercut his big speech to Porthos about how much he loved her. And besides, Anne might have needed you at the convent, but you were just as much of an emotional wreck at the time.
Finally, really nice shot of the Musketeers and Milady outside of the (gorgeous) castle.
Right, anyway. The Musketeers was on last night .
2.9 The Accused
After the icky intensity of the previous ep, I’m almost glad we had two weeks to wait for this. It meant I could recover.
Constance had the better of Anne in having to wear the same costume.
There was a metaphorical sound running through this episode for me, and that was the sound of a trap closing. Several of them. Mainly Rochefort’s doing, as the traps he’d sprung for the Queen, Aramis, the King, Marguerite, Nameless the Dauphin and Constance, and thus all who loved them i.e. the Musketeers, snapped shut. I felt that a lot of what had happened so far this season had led to this. I thought it was a pretty well constructed episode.
For a lot of it, Athos was the winner. His snark as Aramis’s story came out was ace. I still think he should have warned Milday about Catherine, and I didn’t love that he was the one rescuing her, in a way. As in, I’d have liked for her to best Catherine for herself, but they had to make it mostly about him. Um, yes, she was telling the truth about your brother – as she said, why would she lie?
Anyway Athos/Milady worked so much more for me than it normally does. His tempered trust in her was great, as was her pragmatism, and they both had great lines. She looked immensely sassy in that green leather version of a historically accurate style. (I thought that she was foolish in goading Rochefort, and given that she wasn’t in the trailer for next week and she isn’t the one he’s wronged the most, I no longer expect her to be the one to end him.)
What also helped was the lighting. I really want to praise whoever did the lighting design for this episode. The shots of Athos and Milady in profile worked beautifully, the sense of flickering candlelight in Rochefort threatening Marguerite and the way Anne was lit up around the convent table when she said she was going back were all spectacularly effective.
Speaking of: guerrilla nuns become forger nuns!!!!
And the most important moment was a quiet one. Maybe this would not be big for those who have read Dumas or watched more adaptations, but Milady’s real name is Anne!? At least, I don’t know if it is her real name, or even her birth name, but it was the name she was married by. Given how she’s been set up in opposition to Queen Anne – suggested at in the moment where she also turns up to rescue Anne and there was a momentary expression, which I appreciated – that’s fun.
(I apologise if that’s already been set up on the show and I just missed it, which is entirely possible.)
It feels like there’s so much else to cover. I loved the boys’ reaction to Aramis’s revelation. I was mainly chuckling through that. And more seriously, Porthos’s view of what Aramis should to for the good of the boy was rather poignant.
Ugh, I am worried about Constance. As I was, knowing more, from the second she decided to stay. Of course, she and Anne trusted Marguerite, but Constance should have realised that Rochefort hated her. But what she went through and what I fear she will go through wasn’t good.
The show suffered slightly in the LeMay beheading, awful and effective though it was, at Wolf Hall doing something similar recently and having history and being less schlocky on its side. (Not to mention the real life beheadings going on these days adding another edge.) Still, being forced to watch that, the ultimate expression of how unjust things were with Rochefort in the ascendance and then having D’Artagnan, who’d just urged her to hope, be kicked in before her very eyes - aww, Constance.
I also had a lot of sympathy for Marguerite as she realised how mad and bad Rochefort was and how deep she’d got in. And it really all started with Aramis taking advantage of her feelings to get to see his son. Anne’s look of betrayal at that rather undercut his big speech to Porthos about how much he loved her. And besides, Anne might have needed you at the convent, but you were just as much of an emotional wreck at the time.
Finally, really nice shot of the Musketeers and Milady outside of the (gorgeous) castle.
