Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *
Cast: Tom Burke, Howard Charles, Santiago Cabrera, Luke Pasqualino, Peter Capaldi, James Callis, Maime McCoy, Tamla Kari, Julian Bastida, Andres Williams, Anna Skellern, Jim High, John Warnaby, Tomas Masopust, Ryan Cage.
Charged with upholding the King’s Law at all times, the morality of their actions can sometimes be too much of a burden to bear at times and never more so for The Musketeers as they are ordered to bring Emile Bonnaire to Paris to explain his actions, his actions which delve into the historic start of modern Empire building in Europe and the price paid by many for the profit of one man in the third episode, Commodities .
Sometimes television and the world of cinema collide well and with films such as 12 Years A Slave having recently been lauded for the unsettling wrongs committed by our forefathers in the name of oppressive bondage, the idea of The Musketeers delving into the past brutality, albeit in word only, is strong reminder that the evil trade still persists in the 21st Century. It may well be 17th Century France but the root of evil spreads outwards.
The addition of James Callis to the cast for the episode as slave trader Emile Bonnaire was sublime. His time spent in the re-imagining of Battlestar Galactica as computer specialist Gaius Baltar was not wasted as he bought that element of uneasy, roguish charm to the role of the Bonnaire, a role in which he took to as easy as a Musketeer to the anger of a dangerously crossed woman. The charisma in which Bonnaire was able to show, entrancing all before him, including initially Porthos, was acting of a high quality in itself. The smile of the Devil never looked so sweet and his magnetism to the job at hand of slavery was one of distasteful brilliance.
The mixed story line also saw the back-story to the hatred and loathing that lives in the heart of Milady De Winter, an excellently cast Maime McCoy and Athos, played by the brooding and sincere Tom Burke. The fire in the eyes of Maime McCoy as she relived the day her husband had ordered her execution was exceptional, the fire in the old chateau matching the intensity of betrayal felt on both sides.
For the writers of this new version of the Alexandre Dumas classic novel to make more of the story between Athos and Milady De Winter is worthy of the time that the B.B.C. have allotted the series on its own. For Milady De Winter to have such an impact in the hearts of literature lovers and to this day perhaps the most intriguing character in the book should be celebrated and not shunned as has been in other versions. Even when portrayed by a strong actress such as Lana Turner and Rebecca De Mornay, nobody has reached the true malevolence and near malice that underpins the character. Maime McCoy plays on that feminine allure and underplayed strength with such ease that it wouldn’t be too big a suggestive leap that she has become the consummate ideal of the mysterious spy.
Three episodes in and the series has enthralled and entertained, it has been a real shot in the arm for historical fictional drama and a welcome relief for those who don’t like their television to patronise or insult with constant banality.
The Musketeers continues on Sunday.
Ian D. Hall