Hot Off The Press - The Musketeers episode 2 & 3

Despite watching them on release, I've been a little busy lately so here are episodes two and three to the BBC series, The Musketeers. Full spoilers to follow.

So unlike Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (which is a pain to write all the time), The Musketeers has kept my interest and I have to say that this series is pretty enjoyable to watch. Granted each episode has had it's problems, the series certainly isn't as bad as say something like BBC's Atlantis. 

Having established the characters in episode one, episode two introduces villain-of-the-week Jason Flemyng who plans to kill the king, while d'Artagnan goes undercover to reveal his secrets. It's been done before a hundred times with the obligatory twist towards the end when the heroes think they have the villain sussed out, but it was fun to watch and managed to include a neat little sword fight in the dark at the end between d'Artagnan and Flemyng's bad guy. 

Which leads me onto one of the major problems that plagues the series - sword fights. In any film production where they can afford fancy choreography, the sword fights (think The Princess Bride) are genuinely impressive and exciting to watch. Here, on the other-hand, quick cuts and close shots of the action are used to disguise rather plain fighting. There are no 'wow!' moments where Athos takes down three enemies at once, and uses a fallen enemy's knife to kill another before they kill one of our heroes. 

That said, the final duel between Flemyng and d'Artagnan is exciting because of the creative use of lighting in a sewer where it is naturally dark. Everybody wins! What follows is actually quite tense and gripping but ends too quickly, with a mortally wounded Flemyng stumbling into the light before dying. Rather dark for a show that feels like it can't decide who it's aiming for. Regardless though, episode two was good fun to watch, and actually looks pretty good in the process. 

Episode three presented the musketeers with the difficult task of escorting a merchant who's being hunted by Spanish spies. Again there was some shaky action, and there was another weakness when exploring Athos' backstory which was poorly handled, due to some dodgy dialogue. A twist regarding the merchant's actual business revolving around the slave industry was interesting but also felt clunky.

That said, it did expand on Pothos' character, even if the merchant himself felt mishandled. He's fun and charismatic, but then his wife/ lover is killed before his eyes. Once his secret is revealed, he is then questioned by Pothos while he digs her grave. But he doesn't seem to bothered afterwards, and he isn't painted too badly as a villain, more of an opportunist. What are we supposed to feel?! I don't know! While it is interesting when shows acknowledge matters such as this instead of ignoring them, the way the matter is handled could have been improved. Nonetheless, the entertainment factor was still prevalent throughout and kept the show moving along nicely.

Overall episode three was entertaining but a little uneven compared to episode two. On a technical level, the show looks great with impressive locations, costumes and lighting, and the acting remains solid throughout. Hopefully episode four will push the story forward and that Peter Capaldi will finally enter the fray, having only been on the sideline so far.