Hot Off The Press - The Musketeers episode 8

Later than expected, episode eight of The Musketeers arrived with a famous face this time around with the former controversial football player, and now actor, Vinnie Jones on the scene. Playing almost an enforcer for the Cardinal as he burns down villages and farms, I wouldn't call the role exactly a stretch for the actor, but nonetheless it certainly brought something new and exciting to the show.

Starting off with the musketeers having arrested Jones, d'Artagnan soon discovers that the criminal burnt down his own farm and only source of income. Meanwhile, following a fight between Jones and Cardinal's Red Guards, the King proposes a competition between the Cardinal's men and his musketeers. The competition would allow d'Artagnan to become an official musketeer but first he needs the money. However, the Cardinal sees Jones as the ace up his sleeve needed to win.

Trying to avoid the use of any montages, the episode followed the musketeers as they raised enough money to compete, which doesn't sound very exciting but is handled well, particularly with Porthos who finds himself with a recent widow. Again, the humour and interaction between the musketeers remained a strong point, however d'Artagnan's relationship with Constance lacked enough spark to really feel engaging. The show wants us to support them, but I've yet to find their scenes together particularly entertaining, more filler between the central plot points of each episode. Both Luke Pasqualino and Tamla Kari play their roles very well, but the relationship between d'Artagnan and Constance needs the same level of attention from the screenwriters that made the musketeers so enjoyable to watch.

In contrast to Constance, femme fatale Milady de Winter (Athos' former wife) continued to feel like the female equivalent of the Cardinal, but her meeting with Athos felt weak, lacking any sense of drama. Maimie McCoy is certainly fun to watch as she goes about the Cardinal's bidding but like Capaldi himself, she too has felt underused. Despite the flaws with the script, Jones' physical appearance was enough to ensure his scenes carried enough menace and power to keep the story going, and was certainly one of the strongest aspects of this week's episode. I think it goes without saying that we won't be seeing him next week (he's a guest actor playing a bad guy, it's obvious what's going to happen to him!), but I did find his exit a little too quick, and should have been more of a beast to kill off. Remember what happened to Bane in The Dark Knight Rises?

Had Jones been provided with stronger lines and the final duel felt tougher to watch, this could have been the perfect follow-up to last week's episode. Instead, weaknesses in the script result with romantic elements of the show feeling unoriginal and the dramatic moments lacking much in the way of actual drama. Where the show will go now with two episodes left, and knowing that Capaldi won't be returning, it will be interesting to see what will happen to his character. Despite not quite matching episode seven, this episode was still fun to watch regardless.