The Musketeers: "A Good Soldier"
Late again, but this week has been rather hectic. Still, this episode maintains the high quality of plot/character interaction, and though I initially thought the story was going to veer into a political mystery, it soon became an espionage thriller with a twist I really didn’t see coming (though I should have).
So the setup is this: the Duke of Savoy (a small but important principality) is heading for France to sign a treaty. It’s important that France keeps this Duke on their side, as Savoy is a buffer between itself and the power of Spain. But when someone takes a shot at the Duke, the negotiates are threatened. Aramis hides the attempted assassin, not only because it is his old friend, but because his actions have something to do with a massacre of twenty Musketeers some years ago. Unbeknownst to all but the audience, a prisoner languishing in a small cell is also wrapped up in it somehow.
Here’s what I loved most about this episode: there are no bad guys. Every single character was acting out of a genuine belief that what they were doing was right and just - and more than that, for the greater good. Whether it was seeking justice or protecting France or following orders, there were no true villains here, nor even anyone scrambling for personal gain or gratification. Everyone adhered to a higher purpose, which means that the moral quandaries that the episode raised were surprisingly sophisticated.
The title "the good soldier" might well have been a question: what makes a good soldier? Once the mystery surrounding the Musketeer massacre is unravelled, it turns out that it was all part of a much larger plot to secure France’s interests by protecting a spy in the Savoy court: the Duke’s own wife and King Louis’s sister. The plan was to distract Spanish spy Cluzet’s growing suspicions of the Duchess by leaking information to the Duke: the location of a Musketeer regiment, as well as the false information that they were coming to assassinate him. And whilst his attention was elsewhere, France nabbed Cluzet and so prevented him from exposing the Duchess.
The cost of course, was the twenty or so dead Musketeers, which makes Marsac's anger towards the Duke of Savoy and Treville pretty justified (though it's a wonder he never once tried to go after the Cardinal).
So there are plenty of moral quandaries to go around, starting with Aramis placing his loyalty to a fellow soldier over the immediate threat he poses to the Duke. At this early stage, I was sure that by the end of the episode this would turn out to be a stupid move, with Marsac as a bad egg whose only true loyalty was to himself. After he attacked Constance in her house, I rolled my eyes, assuming that this was to telegraph his impending evilness. And yet it was not the case. The narrative purpose of the attack was simply to segue into Constance’s request for D’artangan to teach her how to shoot (more on this in a bit) and regardless of Marsac’s behaviour, he was nevertheless driven by a very real and intense need to find accountability for those who had deliberately sent him and others into a death trap.
This show is great with such nuance. Later the Duchess of Savoy make a point of telling the Musketeers that she truly loves her husband despite being a spy for France, and even the likes of the Cardinal is not an adversary to the Musketeers in this instance, even acknowledging them, however briefly, for their help.
Treville is implicated in the deaths of Musketeers for having agreed to the deliberate leak, setting up quite a nice ethical dilemma. Aramis takes centre stage in the investigation, and though we don’t learn much about his past (as we did with Porthos and Athos last week) he’s put into a difficult position regarding what course of action to take. Does he owe his allegiance to his fellow soldier (as well as his dead comrades), or does he accept the difficult call that Treville had to make and let the past go for the sake of the greater good? The episode itself doesn’t provide any clear answers on whether or not the Cardinal/Treville’s joint plan to protect the Duchess was worth the deaths of all those Musketeers; only demonstrates that Aramis can ultimately accept that sacrifice, whilst Marsac cannot. As Athos says: "before you go down this road, ask yourself one question: if it is true - what then?" Having found out the truth, Aramis decides to make peace with it, though the episode chooses to have Aramis burying Marsac alongside the graves of the other Musketeers as its final shot: the very real cost of their job and the political wrangling that they’re involved in.
Miscellaneous
A fab female character who doesn’t end up dead! Hats off to the Duchess of Savoy. I’m only sorry that there wasn’t much interaction with Queen Anne, as it would have been fantastic to see more of the two of them trying to maintain control over their high-tempered husbands. Still, a poignant little nod to Anne's lack of a child when it came to watching Louis/Louis Amadeus dueling.
Athos continues to be the most observant one of the bunch - first in noticing that something was wrong with Aramis at the parade, and then in confronting him after their meeting with Treville, bluntly stating: "you’re hiding something." There’s a reason he’s the defacto leader.
No Milady this episode! I can understand that there’s only so much they can do with certain characters in various situations, but I really hope that this isn’t going to be like Merlin in which there can only be one female regular at a time (complete with obnoxious cheering by the fan-base at their absence). Though Queen Anne was back this week, she had little to do, and I'm beginning to realize that however gorgeous the menfolk might be, I really need a strong feminine presence in my stories in order to be fully engaged. That's not a be-all, end-all rule, but it is generally true.
Plenty of teeth-clenched teamwork between the Cardinal and Treville which is always fun. I’m actually a little bitter that Doctor Who has nabbed Peter Capaldi. He’s fantastic, what with all his gestures and mannerisms - now we’re going to have to see him suffer under Moffat. His switch from "this is a waste of time" to "open this door!" once he spots D’artanagan at the door was brilliant.
Constance is just...joyous. I haven’t felt this much affection for a fictional character since Angel Coulby's Guinevere. She calls out D’artagnon on his shitty "bros before hoes" attitude (after he ranks his promise to Aramis over her personal safety in bringing a criminal into her house), is justifiably angry about the situation (yet using it to her advantage in pressing D'artagnon for self-defence classes), and tries to save face after her attack at Marsac's hands by saying: "it’s just as well you came when you did - I might have hurt him." Aw, bless. And then she makes this face:
I love that they're taking their time with any possible Constance/D'artagnon pairing, making sure that their simmering attraction is build on real friendship and respect.
"A bodyguard of Musketeers. It’s like being protected by wolves." Heh. I wasn’t sure what analogy he would go for, but I’m glad that it illustrated skill (and a hint of danger) rather than incompetence.
Ten million points to Porthos’s "aw fuck" face when the Duke demands a duel with Athos. I watched it at least ten times and it got funnier each time.
And did you catch the Cardinal's little wave to Louis Amadeus when the Savoy delegation left?
No new episode for two weeks? You’re going to make me wait that long for shirtless Porthos? Ah well, I guess it’ll give me time to catch up on Black Sails.