As King Louis' condition worsens, Queen Anne has been privately corresponding with King Philip of Spain, with Aramis serving as her envoy. When her brother apparently offers terms for peace, Aramis goes to a ruined fort to meet the Spanish Ambassador. The meeting turns out to be a trap, and Aramis is captured by Grimaud. The peace talks were staged by Grimaud as part of a plot with Gaston and the Duke of Lorraine to discredit Queen Anne before she can become regent. Forging a letter from King Philip, they demand the release of several captured Spanish generals in exchange for Aramis. Treville sends the Musketeers to recover the prisoners, but Marcheaux arranges for them to be publicly hanged. To make matters worse, d'Artagnan's cousin Espoir is also amongst the condemned men after being arrested for stealing a loaf of bread, forcing him to make a judgement call that puts him at odds with his friends.
Espoir doesn't seem to add much to the story, other than giving the idealistic d'Artagnan a moral dilemma. Marcheaux has stirred up the crowds at the execution when the Musketeers collect the prisoners, while Espoir continues to stir them up. That said, it does lend perspective on how draconian criminal justice was back then. When he tries to make a break for it, d'Artagnan takes him back to the Garrison, but Athos and Porthos are unhappy with him compromising the mission. Even Espoir tells him to take him back to prison, but d'Artagnan is reluctant, as doing so would be condemning his cousin to death. That said, when he's cut loose, he and d'Artagnan stumble across the camp where Aramis is being held. And he ends up saving Athos' life when they try and rescue Aramis. I guess they had to find a way to tie him into the events of the story.
Nevertheless, it does present an interesting conspiracy which actually succeeds: Queen Anne sponsors a campaign of literacy to win the hearts and minds of the populace, even offering patronage to Sylvie. After the Musketeers save Aramis, Marcheaux presents the leaflets to Grimaud and he devises a new way to carry out their plot.
In another sub-plot, we see the return of Milady de Winter (teased in the opening credits), having left for England at the end of the previous season. King Louis initially claims to have talked to her while in a daze induced by his medicine, but Treville assures Athos that he'd been hallucinating. Treville then finds her in his office, and offers a retainer for her services. She refuses and seeks out Athos, learning about Sylvie after seducing Cadet Brujon and going to confront her. When she sees that Athos is surprised to see her, she realises that he had intended to join him. She claims to have spoken to Sylvie, and assures him that she's safe but realises he won't believe him. Athos then learns that Sylvie has been arrested for allegedly distributing a subversive caricature of the queen.
The scene which follows this revelation is actually quite powerful. As King Louis states that Sylvie has been sentenced to be publicly flogged, Athos storms out of the meeting and interrupts the sentence. It's essentially made Athos go full circle: when Milady killed Athos' brother, he ordered her execution, claiming he chose duty over love. But now he's going against the king's wishes to stop Marcheaux from flogging Sylvie, loudly rejecting the king's law and choosing love over duty. As his friends back him up, Milady is amongst the spectators. She's watching it unfold and realising where his heart truly lies. She then meets with Treville and accepts his original offer.
All in all, this was a pretty good episode. Next time, things are about to go off.
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