The Musketeers Marathon - S1E8: The Challenge

 

This episode plays out a lot like an underdog sports film. And I'm going to have to discuss more spoilers as events come into play in subsequent episodes.

The Musketeers have recently returned to Paris from Gascony with the disgraced intendant Martin Labarge, played by Vinnie Jones. Labarge kills a Red Guard captain during the prisoner transfer, which brings the rivalry between the two regiments to the boiling point. As Treville and Richelieu get into a heated debate about the incident, King Louis proposes a contest between two champions nominated from each regiment. D'Artagnan sees an opportunity to prove his worth as a Musketeer, but learns that Labarge razed his farm back in Gascony, leaving him without a source of income and putting a strain on his relationship with Constance.

As mentioned above, d'Artagnan basically serves as the underdog for this episode. He has to raise the entry fee for the contests, but also has to overcome his hot-headedness with Athos' tuition. Constance attempts to raise the money by selling some of her possessions, but d'Artagnan is gifted the money by Milady.

This episode also borrows a few elements from the original book. Porthos attempts to raise his entry fee by courting a wealthy widow but grows closer to her in the process after learning that her marriage was loveless. Another element involves the Cardinal asking Monsieur Bonacieux to spy on d'Artagnan. He learns of d'Artagnan's affair with Constance and demands she breaks up with him by threatening to frame d'Artagnan for treason. 

To make matters worse, Treville decides to nominate himself as the champion when he learns that the Cardinal has nominated Labarge as his champion. I mean, you need to get some use out of Vinnie Jones. I still have no idea how he'd end up being appointed to a government post though.

There's definitely a greater focus on drama than action, with the exception of the obligatory training sequences. It all builds up to the contest itself, which is a great sequence. Treville gives the violent and uncontrollable Labarge a good fight, until the latter floors him and breaks his arm. When another brawl ensues, King Louis allows Treville to nominate a new champion. Naturally, he picks d'Artagnan, who ends up running Labarge through. All while the theme song blares in the background. It just shows how much d'Artagnan has grown over the series. At the beginning, he was barely able to hold his own against three Musketeers, but now he's able to take on a powerhouse like Labarge.

I'm excited to see the next episode, and what lingers in the shadows as Milady hints at a plan to use d'Artagnan to destroy the Musketeers.

The Musketeers Marathon - S1E7: A Rebellious Woman

 

Today's episode provides an interesting look at proto-feminism.

A friend of Constance is killed after being knocked down by the royal carriage while trying to deliver a petition to Queen Anne. The petition turns out to have been written by the Comtesse Ninon de Larroque, pushing for greater access to education for women. When another one of Constance's friends goes missing, the Musketeers learn that they were both students of Ninon, who teaches natural philosophy and astronomy to women of all backgrounds. Richelieu believes that her cause undermines church authority, but is also aware that her immense wealth could be used to finance the construction of a new navy. He sends Milady - who has also been attending Ninon's classes - to find evidence to condemn her so he can seize her assets. 

The Cardinal is also visited by Father Luca Sestini, an old friend from the seminary who is now a Papal envoy. Sestini tells the Cardinal that the Pope disapproves of an alliance between Catholic France and Protestant Sweden, and suggests that stamping out Ninon's "heresy" would give him prestige in a bid to become the next Pope. Ninon is subsequently arrested when several missing women are found being sheltered in a secret room in her home. She's put on trial for witchcraft, and condemned by a false testimony from Milady. But when the Cardinal is poisoned during the trial, the Musketeers must race to find the culprit before Ninon is burned at the stake.

Annabelle Wallis steals the show as Ninon. She's very enlightened for a woman of her time, and her philosophies are profound. She subtly insults the Cardinal in every scene they share, and even strikes up some interesting chemistry with Athos and Aramis. She and Athos almost see each other as kindred spirits, as both are dismissive of the concept of marriage. While this is only from a cursory reading, I believe that she's based on Mary Wollstonecraft, an English writer and advocate for women's rights (especially education) who wrote A Vindication of the Rights of Women in 1792.

If there's anything I do have to criticise, it's the character of Luca Sestini. He's a dogmatic Catholic priest who's an inquisitor in all but name. Combined with his Irish accent, that could be invoking a stereotype that has unfortunate implications.

Nevertheless, there's still some great action, especially when Athos beats up a sword-wielding Red Guard with a tome. I also love the high stakes it presents, once again showing how far Richelieu is willing to go to serve his country's interests. Speaking of which, we also get a moment when he's poisoned in which King Louis is pleading for him to be okay. It just shows how much of a father figure King Louis sees the Cardinal as.

One last thing before I go. While I won't spoil the outcome of the episode's story, I will have to spoil elements which serve as later plot threads. In this case, the episode ends with d'Artagnan beginning an affair with Constance. It's an element of the original story which isn't always used.

The Musketeers Marathon - S1E6: The Exiles

 

Another political intrigue, with a conspiracy that threatens the stability of France itself.

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.

The Musketeers Marathon - S1E5: The Homecoming

 

The weather's not great today. But it's not raining musketeers outside. In a bid to mix up the usual swashbuckling, today's episode takes the form of a murder mystery.

After a wild night celebrating his birthday, Porthos wakes up in the street next to a dead body. Unable to recall how he got there, he's promptly arrested by the Red Guards and sentenced to death. On the way to his execution, he's kidnapped and taken to the Court of Miracles, one of the most notorious Parisian slums. There, he re-unites with his old comrade Charon, played by Ashley Walters, who leads one of the Court's most prominent gangs. Although counselled to leave Paris, he tries to recall the events of that night. Meanwhile, d'Artagnan and the other Musketeers are unable to enter the Court, and decide to carry out their own investigation. They learn that the victim was the son of an impoverished aristocrat, who was connected to a Protestant church and the illegal purchase of gunpowder. Something sinister is afoot, and they must find out what.

I love the mystery aspect of this episode (again, I don't want to spoil too much). The opening with Porthos waking up next to the body (along with a melon) is interspersed with flashbacks to the previous evening when he and the other Musketeers were celebrating at the Garrison. During the festivities, Porthos shoots a melon off Aramis' head (according to Athos, it's a shot he's never made sober), and it's set up that the body he found was killed in a botched trick shot.

This episode also delves deeper into the backstory of this version of Porthos. It was previously mentioned in an earlier episode that his mother was a freed slave who died in poverty. Porthos himself is now established to have grown up in the Court of Miracles, and was in a gang with Charon, while also being romantically involved with a thief named Flea. He later left to join the army, and from there received a commission in the Musketeers.

One person who also gets a moment to shine is Treville. This episode shows just how much he truly cares for his men: He defends Porthos as a character witness during the trial; when Porthos is being taken to the gallows by the Red Guards, he tells the Musketeers to delay them while he appeals to the king for a stay of execution; and when Charon tells Athos that Porthos thinks his friends abandoned him, he immediately recognises that Charon is trying to drive a wedge between them. Although I do have questions about his actions at the end of the episode. I don't think it's something a nobleman in 17th Century France would do.

The Musketeers Marathon - S1E4: The Good Soldier

 

This is another pretty good one.

The Duke of Savoy, who is married to King Louis' sister Christine, has come to Paris to sign a treaty of alliance between France and Savoy. Upon arrival, he narrowly survives an attempt on his life, but Aramis discovers the would-be assassin is a former Musketeer named Marsac. Five years earlier, Aramis and Marsac were the sole survivors after a troop of Musketeers were massacred during a training exercise near the French-Savoyard border. Marsac has learned that the Duke was responsible for the massacre, and persuades Aramis to investigate. But the Musketeers' loyalties are thrown into question when Captain Treville is implicated. 

Meanwhile, the Duke refuses to sign the treaty until the assassin's motives are determined. In reality, he suspects Cardinal Tucker of being involved in the disappearance of his Chancellor, Clouset, five years earlier. His First Minister, Gontard, is tasked with investigating rumours that Clouset is being imprisoned in France.

This episode has a greater focus on political intrigue than swashbuckling action. I can't go into too much detail, because there are plenty of surprises I don't wish to spoil. However, it's interesting to see the rifts that are threatening to form. Aramis has to persuade d'Artagnan not to bring Marsac in (which does provoke a funny warning in which d'Artagnan threatens to take it personally if he's hanged), and they hide him at Constance's house. Porthos and Athos realise they're keeping a secret after the debriefing, and Constance threatens to evict d'Artagnan for the deception. Athos and Porthos are also reluctant to investigate Treville.

The episode also sees d'Artagnan grow closer to Constance. She goes back on her initial eviction, citing that she'd miss him. He later punches out Marsac for making improper advances towards her. I must admit the "rescue romance" trope isn't a thing I'm keen on when it's played straight. Yeah, it's a typical swashbuckler trope, but I can do without it. However, there is a subversion here. Constance asks d'Artagnan for a favour that her husband can't know about; she wants to learn how to fight.

All in all, it's a great episode with some tense intrigue and a few poignant moments. I especially like one comedic payoff with Gontard learns of Clouset's imprisonment.

The Musketeers Marathon - S1E3: Commodities

 

3:10 to Yuma, anyone? Actually, this is one of my favourite episodes, and when the show truly picked up.

The Musketeers have been dispatched to Le Havre to arrest Emile Bonaire, a flamboyant merchant and explorer played by James Callis, for violating a trade agreement between France and Spain. Unfortunately, the journey back to Paris is not a simple one: Bonaire's wife, Maria, attempts to rescue him on several occasions; Bonaire's financier, Paul Munier, is looking for a return on his investment and has sent thugs after him; and two Spanish agents (because everyone who isn't French speaks with their native accent) are shadowing them along the journey.

When Porthos is wounded in an ambush, Athos is forced to give him shelter at a dilapidated chateau; his ancestral home as the Comte de la Fere. While Aramis treats Porthos' injury, Athos becomes withdrawn as he's forced to spend the night, haunted by memories of his marriage to Milady de Winter. Meanwhile, Porthos - who is now established to have been the son of a freed slave - is fascinated by the tales of Bonaire's travels and dreams, until he discovers that he's actually a slave trader.

While there's still some great action, with a barfight, an ambush, and a horse chase, this episode has a greater focus on drama. We get flashbacks to when Athos was happily married, interspersing moments of him wandering through the chateau. He doesn't share this with anybody except d'Artagnan. There's also the tension between Bonaire and Porthos, who is almost on the cusp of killing the merchant outright.

Bonaire makes an interesting "villain of the week". He presents himself as a suave and charismatic figure, so you kind of warm up to him. In reality, he's just a snivelling coward who will say anything to save his own skin. Nonetheless, that is something he's good at, especially when he's brought before the Cardinal to account for his misdeeds. It's frustrating when you want to seem him get his just desserts, but so satisfying when he eventually does.

Good episode, with great tension and drama from multiple fronts.

The Musketeers Marathon - S1E2: Sleight of Hand

 

I wonder if the Grubers had some French ancestry...

After getting into an illegal duel with another Musketeer, d'Artagnan is arrested by the Red Guards and abandoned by his friends. He's imprisoned in the Chatalet, and forced to share a cell with a sleight of hand expert named Vadim, played by Jason Flemyng. It's then revealed that his arrest was a ploy for him to get close to Vadim in order to investigate the theft of a large quantity of gunpowder. They escape during a visit from the Queen, and Vadim invites d'Artagnan to join his band of radicals. D'Artagnan learns that they intend to assassinate King Louis and Queen Anne, in order to incite a people's revolution. He attempts to warn the Musketeers, who conduct their investigation, but the plot isn't what it seems.

This episode has a lot of tension as d'Artagnan tries to infiltrate Vadim's organisation, especially as he's mistrusted by Vadim's right-hand-man Felix. Vadim's a pretty good villain too, stringing everybody along before he reveals his true intentions. The overall story is very similar to Die Hard: With a Vengeance, as Felix is dedicated to carrying out his revolution while Vadim's true goals are more criminal than political. That doesn't stop him from playing a few comic book villain tropes, including a death trap complete with gloating.

Said death trap involves Vadim leaving d'Artagnan tied up in a room full of powder kegs and a fuse. It's an old cliché, but it's still great. I especially like one moment in which d'Artagnan is able to free himself and extinguish the fuse. But when he leaves, the door to the room turns out to be booby-trapped, triggering several other fuses.

The duel at the beginning is pretty funny too. In an aversion to the "civilised" notion of honour duels, the other Musketeers tell him to do anything it takes to win, with Porthos remarking on how he taught d'Artagnan to kick his opponent in the groin. And when the Red Guards break up the duel, they subvert the typical "All for one and one for all" motto, replacing it with "Every man for himself" when they flee.

One issue I do have is that this episode seems to scale back the Cardinal's ruthlessness. The previous episode had him using Red Guards to murder and impersonate Musketeers to discredit the regiment, and ended with him having his mistress killed for being unfaithful. This time, he's working with the Musketeers to foil Vadim. Nevertheless, it does establish him a little better, and actually closer to the book version. Unlike many adaptations, (such as Tim Curry), this version of Richelieu doesn't wish to seek the throne for himself, but he does wish to control it. He's essentially Malcolm Tucker in 17th Century France.

In some continuity, Aramis saves Queen Anne's life after she's taken hostage by Vadim, and she presents him with a crucifix as a token. Porthos warns Aramis not to fall in love and mentions Adele, whom Aramis believes to have moved to the Cardinal's country estate.

Anyway, I'll see you tomorrow for the next episode.

The Musketeers Marathon - S1E1: Friends and Enemies

 

Well, it's a new month, and time to start the marathon.

It's 1630. France is ruled by the childish King Louis XIII, played by Ryan Gage. Stuck in a loveless marriage to Queen Anne of Austria, played by Alexandra Dowling, the king is more concerned with hunting than ruling. As such, he defers most state matters to his First Minister, Cardinal Tucker Richelieu, played by Peter Capaldi. The King is protected by an elite regiment known as the Musketeers, led by his close friend Captain Treville, played by Hugo Speer. When not on duty, the Musketeers share a rivalry with the Red Guards, the Cardinal's personal regiment.

Luke Pasqualino plays d'Artagnan, a farmer from Gascony with a talent for swordplay, who is travelling to Paris with his father to petition the king over the taxes levied upon them by Richelieu. While staying at an inn, they're robbed by bandits led by "Athos of the King's Musketeers", and d'Artagnan's father is killed while they're fighting them off. In the style of Inigo Montoya, d'Artagnan travels to Paris seeking revenge. He is seduced by Milady de Winter, the Cardinal's personal assassin and spy, played by Mamie McCoy. After Milady frames him for the murder of a Spanish envoy, he eludes the authorities and meets Constance Bonacieux, a cloth merchant's wife played by Tamla Kari. 

Meanwhile, we also follow three Musketeers: Athos, a troubled nobleman played by Tom Burke; Porthos, a boisterous bruiser played by Howard Charles; and Aramis, a romantic libertine played by Santiago Carbrera. They're tasked by Treville to search for a troop of musketeers who disappeared in Chartres with a number of important letters. After learning both he and the Spanish envoy he was due to meet failed to make the rendezvous, they return to Paris and are confronted by d'Artagnan. After a brief fight, Athos is arrested for murder and robbery. Aramis and Porthos must then seek d'Artagnan out to help clearing their friend's name.

This episode provides most of the traditional swashbuckling clichés you'd expect from a story of its kind. While I'd say it's a genre that's built on cliché, it would be nice to see them done a little differently from time to time.

I especially like the sequence after the intro in which the Musketeers are introduced. It establishes their characters perfectly:

• Athos is shown waking up in his room surrounded by wine bottles and looking forlornly at a locket, implying he's lost somebody. He promptly dunks his head in a bucket of water (after punching through the layer of ice on the surface), dons his uniform, and heads out. It establishes that he puts duty first, even when it's painful for him.
• Porthos is shown playing cards with a Red Guard who accuses him of cheating. After Athos suggests a duel, the Red Guard agrees and then kicks Porthos' sword away. Porthos fends him off with a fork, laughing all the while. This shows his boisterous and cunning nature.
• Aramis is shown to be sleeping with the Cardinal's mistress, and is forced to dangle from a window so he isn't caught by the Cardinal. As his friends laugh at his predicament, he falls. This shows his romantic notions, and their tendency to land him in trouble.

Yes, it's traditional swashbuckling action, but I still love it. In fact, I'd often say that Aramis and Porthos were one of the inspirations for Kestrel and Scar.

The Musketeers Marathon

Yeah, I'm procrastinating again. Writing's been a bit slow lately, with job-hunting and house-hunting. I'm still working on The Pirate King, the follow-up to Gentlemen of Fortune. Trouble is, I'm also getting distracted by other ideas for stories featuring Kestrel and Scar. After all, I want to see what kinds of mischief they can get into. On top of that, I've got my Swanwick workshop to prepare for August. For the last couple of years, most of my writing has been university assignments and ghostwriting. Since then, I've found that if I don't have deadlines I don't have as much discipline.

Anyway, to try and get back into the swing of things, I've decided to do another marathon. I've mentioned previously that I'm fond of the BBC's short-lived series, The Musketeers. It's not exactly an adaptation of the classical tale by Alexandre Dumas, but more of a fan fiction. Nonetheless, I still love it, and often cite it as one of the inspirations for the Kestrel and Scar stories.

Over the next month, I'm planning to work my way through the series and provide a write-up of each episode. I'll try and keep spoilers to a minimum, but this might be difficult.

Get ready for some classical swashbuckling action with some very British-sounding French people. I'll have my first review posted tomorrow.

Film Review: The Gentlemen

 

It's been a while since I posted on here. Job hunting stress and writers' block often go hand in hand. With this in mind, I decided to do another film review. A while back, I did reviews of Guy Ritchie's London gangster films; Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels, and Snatch. The other night, I checked out his more recent entry in that genre; The Gentlemen.

Matthew McConaughey plays Mickey Pearson, an American expatriate living in London who operates a large cannabis empire. He's also a high society figure, who maintains a strong relationship with members of the English aristocracy (he hides his labs on their estates in exchange for paying their upkeep). He seeks to retire from a life of crime and sell his business to Matthew Berger, an American billionaire played by Jeremy Strong. Things get complicated when Dry Eye, a Chinese gangster played by Henry Golding, learns that Mickey's getting out and seeks to buy him out. After Mickey refuses, one of his labs is raided by a gang of MMA fighters and rappers known as "The Toddlers". Mickey has also made an enemy of Big Dave, a tabloid editor played by Eddie Marsan, after publicly refusing to shake his hand at a black tie event. Dave hires Fletcher, a private investigator played by Hugh Grant, to investigate Mickey's aristocratic connections. Fletcher then offers to sell his findings to Raymond Smith, Mickey's second-in-command played by Charlie Hunnam. Their meeting serves as a framing story for the rest of the film.

Once again, this film employs an impressive array of characters which provides a ton of great dialogue. Mickey is suave and charismatic, but does show his ruthless side at times. Fletcher's sleaziness gives him some great back and forth with the more straight-laced Raymond. Michelle Dockery plays Mickey's wife Rosalind, who runs a garage that serves as one of Mickey's fronts, but is just as streetwise as he is. Big Dave is obnoxious (evidently someone in the crew hates tabloids), but it's great to see him get his just desserts (with a certain nursery rhyme I'll never look at the same way again).

If there's anybody who steals the show, it's Colin Farrell as The Coach. He's a gym owner who serves as a mentor to the Toddlers, but tries to keep his hands clean of criminal activity. Nevertheless, when the Toddlers steal Mickey's cannabis, he tries to protect them by offering his services to Raymond. He also gets all the best lines. He needed a lot more screen time.

In one subplot, Mickey is asked by one of his aristocratic friends to recover his daughter from a group of heroin addicts she's fallen in with. Raymond is reluctant to embark on the mission, harbouring a strong prejudice against heroin users. It creates a tense scene as he meets with the addicts. He attempts to retain a veneer of pleasantry, but you get the idea he's trying not to lose it.

If there's anything I do have to criticise, there's one plot element which stems from this which doesn't seem to get resolved. I can't really talk about it here due to spoilers, but it does provide an interesting "butterfly effect" vibe. Nevertheless, it's a loose end which doesn't get tied off.

All in all, it's a funny story about how it's not easy to leave some lives. It's currently available on Netflix, and I highly recommend you check it out.

Book Review - Burrowed

 

It's been a while since I've posted on here. You could say I've been getting some writing done. Anyway, today I'm taking a look at Burrowed a fantasy novel by Maressa Mortimer. This post is being made as part of a Reading Between the Lines blog tour.

Blurb

The beautiful island of Ximiu has a plan for a more sustainable future. But not everyone living on the island is on board. Jasira, daughter of the governing matriarch, is determined to uncover the dark forces threatening her home. With the help of her friends she embark on a desperate bid to save her island community. When the price is higher than she had bargained for, will Jasira still find faith and beauty in the world around her?

Review

This was an intriguing read. Marketed as a fantasy, it nonetheless takes place in a modern society, which brings across the feeling it could be real and take place somewhere in our world. This is backed up by the fact that the island's society is Christian. However, it retains a fantasy element on account of the fact it doesn't clue you in to where exactly the island could be situated. There's mention of a mainland, but doesn't state any country name. Nonetheless, I think this works to the story's advantage, because the ambiguity lets the reader make a decision on exactly where it takes place.

The story is told from the point-of-view of Jasira Colmadis, the daughter of the Xibai, who rules the island. We explore her friendship with Ilori, the son of the Vice-Xibai, as they navigate the effects of the Serving Clean Island initiative the government is pushing for. The island's residents are being asked to sell their cars, but when the cars go missing before they can be sold on the mainland, that sets a mystery in motion.

I quite like how Jasira plays the detective, and a lot of the story is dedicated to how people are feeling the effects of the push for the sustainable future. It's almost as if the initiative is being sabotaged. It's a slow-burning mystery, but one that keeps you guessing.

Burrowed is available here.

About the Author

Maressa grew up in the Netherlands, and moved to England soon after finishing teaching training college. Married to Pastor Richard Mortimer they live in a Cotswold village with there four children. She is a homeschool mum, enjoying the time spent with family, travelling, reading and turning life into stories, she wants to use her stories to show practical Christian’s living in a fallen world.

• Website
• Facebook

Happy writing.