The Musketeers 02x08, "The Prodigal Father"
Well, that was underwhelming.
(Don't worry, I'm not hating ... everything. It's just long. I simply, unreasonably expected more from the long since promised big episode about my favourite musketeer.)
( Beware of Spoilers )
(Don't worry, I'm not hating ... everything. It's just long. I simply, unreasonably expected more from the long since promised big episode about my favourite musketeer.)
( Beware of Spoilers )
Well, I'd say his involvement in incidents like what happens with Savoy are very different to actually making the politics that create these situations. You're right he doesn't exactly stay out of the scheming, but that doesn't mean he's any good at it. He can't even convincingly to his musketeers! ;) Yes, making Louis mad at him predictably turned out terrible, but I think he was also right in that he would have made a terrible politician and that might have hurt the country more. If he does join the council by the end of series 2 I'll be surprised.
I like what you said about the blood oath. That's definitely something I could see happening (and now I must think about it with regards to fic ^^).
Treville is still an idiot for abandoning Porthos and his mother. I think if there was more Treville and Porthos interaction in the episode we could see how very sorry he truly was.
Yes, I really missed something like that. More emotional closure for both of them.
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but I think he was also right in that he would have made a terrible politician and that might have hurt the country more
*nods* I remember in 1.01 when Louis says "That's why I like you, Treville" re: Treville being honest. If Louis was more reasonable then Treville could have stayed as Louis' advisor without having to go down the full-on politician route.
Also from a show plotting point of view if Treville was trusted by Louis as much as Rochefort is now then it would be a bit too easy for our musketeers.
How far you can go without losing your honesty but being witness to politics is something I muse on generally...
My headcanon is that Belgard is 6-7 years older than Treville and De Foix which would fit in with Belgard being the musketeer captain at the time of King Henri's assassination. (I know in the original book Treville is the same age as the Inseparables; there's nothing to say you couldn't be the captain at 25 but I'm reading into how the BBC series might extrapolate from the book ;-))
Some few years before Belgard became captain, De Foix, Belgard and Treville accompanied King Henri, Queen Marie and a bunch of others on a trip to the home of a loyal courtier/friend of the King. At this time the musketeers haven't yet got that 'king's own guard' standing. The courtier's house gets attacked by (Spanish?) men with superior musketskills and swordskills. De Foix finds out Belgard was overconfident and didn't check one of the entrances to the house in the cellars or something. There's no time to discuss; Belgard fobs him off saying something about Treville insisting he'd do those checks himself.
Belgard, Treville and De Foix rally the rest of the soldiers on the trip and they fight them off in time for reinforcements to arrive. They think they're going to die so swear an oath of three friends who are going to die fighting for their country.
But they survive! King Henri realises he needs his musketeers to be an elite regiment and gives Belgard the captaincy. The three of them are heros and glad to be alive. De Foix forgets Belgard's little lie/misdirection and as he was injured/a bit delirious wonders if he imagined it all.
Then a few years later, Belgard wants to kill Porthos and his mother; King Henri is assassinated. Treville and De Foix don't have proof that Belgard was incompetent but start sharing different things Belgard has told them separately over the years and start to realise he's a compulsive liar, not to mention a greedy bastard.
Treville and De Foix hide and then abandon Porthos and his mother. The next day they regret what they'd done, search for them and can't find them. Afraid Belgard will track them down and kill them with his resources as captain, they decide to swing the council decision whether Belgard should keep his job as captain following Henri's assassination.
They give evidence of his mistake/cover up at the courtier's house, knowing it will look like they covered it up for Belgard and are therefore complicit in his incompetence. Belgard loses his job. However, a canny cardinal realises he needs some of these predictable soldier types and gives Treville a glowing review that allows him to be the new captain of the musketeers. He also offers De Foix a position in a different regiment, where he eventually becomes a general. De Foix doesn't want to leave but realises it's the cost of the mistakes they made and for getting bailed out by Richelieu.
Which explains why Treville hasn't seen De Foix in "over 20 years" as per 2.01 despite them being good pals. It also explains the start of Treville's distrust of Richelieu's games yet a certain amount of grudging admittance that sometimes these have worked in his and France's favour.
I'm sorry for the essay! :-D
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Still I don't think I'll be able to wait the extra week for the final episode once it's aired on BBCA. As I already ordered the S2 Bluray way back when 2x01 aired I'm not feeling that guilty about streaming it. ;)
*nods* I remember in 1.01 when Louis says "That's why I like you, Treville" re: Treville being honest.
Yeeees! I love that bit I mean, we all know Treville lies from time to time. Even in that very scene. But he never lies to the king about what he thinks he should do, and that's the important thing.
Porthos must have been born before the assassination so by the time they would have given evidence their friendship would have been severly cracked if not broken entirely. (How could you go on like before, knowing your friend threatened to kill his wife and child?). Yes, I can see that as a turning point for them and the other reevaluating what they know about Belgard.
Them finally breaking up completely after the assassination works so well. Because series 1 is set around 1630, exactly 20 years after Louis father was murdered, so it fits perfectly (I almost assume it's coincidence XD).
Though I have to say Belgard having been captain of the guard doesn't mean the other two served under him. The king's musketeers didn't exist back then, and even after they were founded they weren't the only Royal household guard.
There's so much potential for conflict between the three, even before Belgard completely overstepped the line with Porthos' mum, and I like your idea of them having been character witnesses more than anything else and their evidence that doomed Belgard so much relating to past mistakes or flaws they've only come to realise recently/after abandoning Porthos. Maybe costing him his job is also them subconsciously punishing him for what he asked them to do.
The show is playing fast and loose with character ages anyway, especially when it comes to Treville. I think the book had him as a good of friend of Louis' father and described him as already somewhat grey and old. While the real Treville was actually close to Louis, not his father, and about the same age to the king, i. e. in his late twenties around the time the book is taking place, and around thirty for the time the show is set. But then the show also cast it's cardinal, Aramis and Porthos about 10 years too old compared to the book, so who gives a fig if it all adds up in the end? XD I still like to mix in some parts from the real life biographies, because it's such a nice starting point for head-canons.
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One day I'll write out a time line of what we know from the show...;)
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