The devil is in the detail
It’s all going on in this week’s Musketeers: A Rebellious Woman – from a women’s right to education, passionate clinches and attempted murder in the name of religion, The Musketeers proves just because a story’s old doesn’t mean we can’t enjoy it.
When a young girl and friend of Constance’ is killed by the royal carriage, It transpires she was trying to hand the Queen a note, following the teachings of Ninon De Larroque (Annabelle Wallis), who believes all women no matter their class should be allowed an education. It’s fair to say Ninon ruffles a few feathers starting with the Cardinal who sends Milady undercover to create propaganda about the outspoken lady in an attempt to gain money for his new navy. While all this is going on another student of Ninon’s Fleur Baudin (Alice Sanders) goes missing adding fuel to the Cardinal’s rumour-mongering.
Athos is soon intrigued by this modern woman whose idea of love matches his own and equally incensed when he sees his estranged wife Milady accusing Ninon of witchcraft, leading to her being sentenced her to be burnt at the stake. To the credit of Maimie McCoy and Tom Burke, Athos and Milady really do have a love / hate relationship that always seems to simmer.
This episode did a great job of diverting us from the real witchcraft goings on from papal envoy Luca Sestini (John Lynch), who poisons the Cardinal nearly killing him – and in turn showing us a sliver of his humanity and some great lines all round. Milady’s “half the doctors say you’re doomed, the other half claim you’ll make a full recovery… there’s a lot of professional pride at stake” was a joy to watch as the humour of the situation and the Cardinal’s trust, or lack thereof, in Milady becomes clear. But as ever Peter Capaldi and Ryan Gage get the best lines with the Cardinal’s “this is all very dark ages isn’t it.” And the King who say’s it like it is with much hilarity “Aren’t you that Jesuit priest who wrote that terrible pamphlet!”
I was expecting to dislike this episode, purely because I’m not a fan of Annabelle Wallis as a performer, however, the episode was strong, fast paced and fun and says a lot about the time period. And for the Constance and d’Artagnan finally get it on. They might want to take it somewhere a bit more private though as Constance’s house is like Piccadilly Circus. Plus d’Artagnan’s, unwittingly sweet declaration: ” Why shouldn’t I list all the reasons I love you?” speech was a little out of the blue considering all their previous kisses, (despite how much we know they secretly enjoyed them), have been a performance for onlookers.
