Aramis and d'Artagnan are sent to a remote village to retrieve a woman named Agnes and her infant son Henri from the local church. Upon arrival, they witness Henri being kidnapped, and Aramis saves Agnes from being killed. Meanwhile, Athos and Porthos are accompanying King Louis on a hunting trip when they're approached by Marie de Medici, the queen mother who was exiled for attempting to usurp her son's throne. Although she risks execution by returning to France, Queen Anne and Cardinal Richelieu persuade King Louis to spare her life in a show of magnanimity. As Aramis traces the kidnappers back to Paris, Porthos and Athos foil what appears to be assassination attempt on the queen mother as they escort her to the border. It soon transpires that the two incidents may be connected, and part of a sinister plot to seize the throne again, with baby Henri as her most significant pawn.
Once again, this episode involves a lot of intrigue, and I don't want to go into too much detail in order to avoid spoiling it. The overall conspiracy is very similar to Dumas' later story, The Man in the Iron Mask. Tara Fitzgerald does a great job as Marie de Medici. She presents herself as penitent and trying to reconcile with her son, but she's really a manipulative schemer. It's great to see her get into a battle of wits with the Cardinal. It also produces some funny dialogue between them and the king, showing how much of a petulant child Louis can be.
We also get a great action scene as the Musketeers raid the safehouse where Henri is being kept. Aramis and d'Artagnan stake the place out with Constance, and d'Artagnan comes up with a scheme to have Constance pose as a wet nurse to infiltrate the safehouse. Athos and Porthos spot them as they shadow Marie and her bodyguard to the safehouse. They then raid the place and despatch the thugs, during which time Constance puts d'Artagnan's combat training to good use.
Speaking of which, this episode also shows how far the Cardinal is willing to go to maintain stability, to the point where he's willing to sacrifice a child to prevent a civil war. Treville reluctantly orders Aramis to hand Henri over to Richelieu, despite what that entails. When Aramis objects, Treville excuses himself to do paperwork. Hugo Speer's kind of stilted delivery of the line seems to be insinuating that he won't get in the way if Aramis has a better plan. He attempts to get Agnes and Henri out of the country, but when the other Musketeers realise what he's doing, they catch up and offer their support.
All in all, this is a pretty good episode. Great action and intrigue, along with some truly poignant moments.
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