Three musketeers, one review

There are a few ways to instantly sell me on a new TV show, regardless of reviews or recommendations. The new BBC show, Musketeers, hit virtually all of the boxes: an adaptation of an all-time favourite book, a cast featuring Peter Capaldi and the hot artist from Heroes, and plenty of sword fights. I’d have eagerly watched it regardless of any bad reviews, which is probably for the best, as it had something of a mixed reception from critics.

It’s not hard to see why: Musketeers is trashy in the best sense of the word, more interesting in having fun than historical accuracy, with a mostly young, attractive cast who spend a lot of time wearing too little clothing. Then again, anyone who’s read Dumas’ novel knows it was never intended to be high-brow literature; the book itself is definitely of the most purely entertaining classic French novels, so I don’t have any objection to the show prioritising fun over accuracy.

Our protagonist is d’Artagnan, a young country boy desperate to join the King’s Musketeers, whose journey to Paris starts off with a bang after the inn where he and his father are staying is attacked. The opening scenes already make a rapid departure from the events of the book in the killing off of d’Artagnan’s father (it’s not a spoiler if it happens in the first five minutes), which I felt was a somewhat unnecessary change for the sake of adding drama.

The opening episode also introduces us to the Musketeers themselves, the King, and the Cardinal. The former are, respectively, Athos, Porthos, and Aramis, who are by turns shown to be violent, womanising, and chivalrous. The Musketeers, with their rallying cry of ‘all for one and one for all’ (the original ‘bros before hos’) are charged with keeping the peace on behalf of the King, Louis XIII. Tensions are high, however, with the common 17th century power struggle between church and state existing between the King and Cardinal Richelieu, whose own guards are constantly duelling with the Musketeers. Tales of court scheming and unwise bedfellows are as old as most monarchies, yet always seem to provide good fodder for historical dramas.

This is the situation that d’Artagnan finds himself caught up in, when upon arriving in Paris he manages to find himself right in the middle of a brawl and challenging Athos to a duel to the death after a case of mistaken identity. The first episode is certainly action-packed, with more than three swordfights and a few raunchy scenes.

The cast is one of the strongest aspects of the show. One setback was a minor controversy over whether the casting of Porthos as mixed-race is an attempt to be ‘politically correct’ (which, really, can we just stop having this debate - not only have non-white people been around in Europe since at least Roman times, ethnicity is the least of most historical drama’s issues with accuracy. In addition, Alexandre Dumas himself was black, so the casting makes sense if only as a nod to its author). In reality, all of the Musketeers are well-cast: Athos, played by the strong, stoic leader of the group, and Santiago Cabrera is perfect as ‘pretty boy’ Aramis, whose talents in duelling are matched only by his talents of enticing women into bed. Luke Pasqualino, of Skins fame, is also good at portraying d’Artagnan’s sensitivity and the recklessness that comes with his immaturity. Finally, Peter Capaldi is unsurprisingly perfect as the Cardinal, as his face does lend itself so well to the role of scheming villain.

The main issues with the programme are those which are basically inherent to the book: pretty much every female character is either a seductive temptress (the character of Milady is one of the most stereotypical femme fatales around) or a feisty love interest, and it takes a while to see the Musketeers as sympathetic characters rather than Renaissance-era ‘lads’ who spend all their time brawling and chatting up women. It’s another reason why it’s worth sticking with the show for a few episodes to see if it’s a grower, even if you’re not keen on the first episode.

The most recent adaptation of The Three Musketeers was a film only three years ago starring Orlando Bloom and Milla Jovovich. It met to unanimously awful reviews, but in my opinion it’s a book that naturally lends itself better in TV format, given that it was first published as a series in a newspaper and weaves many plot lines taking place over a fairly long period of time. It’s also just a really good book, and missing huge chunks of it out in order to condense it into a two hour film seems a shame.

It may not be a realistic portrayal of 17th century France, but what it lacks in realism it makes up for in its commitment to ensuring the viewer has a good time. Having been commissioned by the BBC for a second series, it’s clear that the majority of its audience are so far on board. With ten episodes in total in the first series, things are looking promising for the Musketeers.