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This really would have made a much better second episode in my opinion, we learn far more about the three main Musketeers this week, their strengths and weaknesses are laid bare to each other in what is essentially a road trip adventure. As I commented on in the poll at the weekend this is almost exactly what I had envisioned as a second outing for the heroes, and others also expressed that they would have liked to have seen more bonding happening before Sleight of Hand. I have to say that I am a little puzzled as to why this is coming after rather than before it, I can only think that it’s maybe because D'Artagnan takes more of a back seat for much of the hour and they wanted him to have a prominent story first.
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It’s also a much darker episode, though I think that was evident from the promo with the Athos/Milady flashback hints, there is also a much more sombre Porthos on display, we get a little of his background history and realise the struggle he has had in getting to where he is now. His relationship with Bonnaire is a complicated one that goes through highs and lows, he is forced to question things about himself and his friendships. Howard Charles does a fantastic job in one particular scene describing the very harsh realities of seventeen century life for some people, I will be very surprised if his performance doesn't touch everyone who watches.
Commodities airs at 9pm on 2nd February on BBC 1 and BBC 1 HD, below are a few dialogue teasers to see you through until then and I will be around in the comments leaving further teasers up until Sunday. Don't forget to come back to vote in our poll after the episode and let us know what you think.
“Forget-me-knots, I pressed one for you as a memento of a perfect day. Athos, swear that nothing will ever come between us”
“Look, I still carry the token of your love”
“Lay one finger on me and you’ll have the Cardinal to answer to”
“What can be more natural than for a married woman to take a lover”
“From the streets of Paris to the Kings elite regiment, quite a journey”
“The drawings make it look far worse than is really is”
“Keep an eye on Porthos, do not leave him alone with Bonnaire”
“Any notion of a personal life ended the day I picked you out of the gutter and made you my creature”
“No, I never carry any concealed weapons…..I completely forgot about that one”
“What’s the matter with you! Don’t you care about Porthos?”
Trailer Teaser
“If France will not guarantee our security, Spain will”
About the Author - Sandi
Sandi is part of the Senior Staff at SpoilerTV having been a contributor from back in the Lost days of DarkUFO, and who now writes previews for Banshee, The Musketeers, Atlantis, and other BBC shows. She also enjoys watching and commenting on other shows such as Sons of Anarchy, Hannibal, Game of Thrones and Elementary.
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Agreed. Glad we get a Porthos thread.
ReplyDeleteCheers :)
ReplyDeleteI think it was you that brought up at the weekend that he was the one we knew the least about? It's great that we do now get to know more about him in this episode, he really does have some material to get his teeth into :)
ReplyDeleteYep, that was me. With all that's usually going on with the other Musketeers, seems like Porthos can be easily pushed as just comic relief or treated more as a caricature than a character. Glad they're not doing that here.
ReplyDeleteI like the uh... swagger, in the first picture. :)
ReplyDeleteThanks for the preview! Much appreciated. It's nice to see more background on the three musketeers. Especially on Porthos since we didn't get much on him in the first 2 episodes. I wonder if he'll also get a lady. Seems like everyone has one except for him. So it would be nice if he does get one.
ReplyDeleteSorry to bug you with the same question! But were there any good Constance/D'Artagnan scenes in this episode? Did they at least share a few scenes? I'd love to see more close/intimate moments with them where they connect on an emotional level. :)
Thanks as always!
Agreed, it's lovely to see that's he's not just the jovial one and it was you bringing up the lack of our insight into him that made him the focus of this preview really. The press release/promo has focused of Athos's brooding past and I wanted to bring up that it isn't just about him really. We also see that he and Aramis seem to be the closer two of the Musketeers, which I suppose makes sense as Athos and D'Artagnan also develop a bit of bond with each other too.
ReplyDeleteCouldn't resist including that one ;) Too much brown leather be damned! I just can't understand that complaint by some, what do people expect in a time where leather armour was the norm, lol
ReplyDeleteI'm afraid that as they are basically on a road trip they don't really hook up with anyone in Paris a great deal this week, there is just the one brief scene towards the end. But in the promo at the end of the episode there is a hint of further things to come :)
ReplyDeleteThanks for the response! I guess the scene you're referring to is when Constance tells D'Artagnan that a woman came looking for him. (We saw that moment in the promo). Hopefully, more scenes with them in the next episode, then! I really wish we got more than 10 episodes. I wonder why BBC didn't just order 13 which is the norm for their shows.
ReplyDeleteI don't know of many BBC shows that have 13 episodes, it's usually only the Sat teatimes ones isn't it? That's only due to Doctor Who and RTD, he managed to prove that using a certain type of budget over 13 episodes was more effective and saved money on that type of show over all. Most shows have 6-8 episodes as far as I'm aware, so having 10 is actually quite a boon :)
ReplyDeleteHello!
ReplyDeleteThank you for that preview, it’s a relief! I usually have a hard time waiting
for my favorite shows until next episodes, and I have to admit that waiting for
our Musketeers is quite the torture! Anyway, I’m so glad we get more of Porthos
this Sunday. He is my favorite, with Aramis too. Talking about him, in the
promo we can see him argue with Athos, and I can’t imagine why he is so upset.
I believe “What’s the matter with
you! Don’t you care about Porthos?” is one of his lines. I’m waiting for good
story line with Aramis and the Cardinal’s Grudge (because of Adèle), and the “romance”
with the Queen… I’d like to know if there are some good scenes with him as last
week?
(so sorry for my english ! I'm a french girl ^^)
No, no, you're English is fine, I understand you perfectly! We seem to be getting a fair few Aramis fans here at STV which is fab, he's my favourite too ;) I think the problem with Arthos, and the reason Aramis says that line to him, is that Arthos is very reluctant to face up to his past in this episode, he's in a pretty dark place himself and sometimes can't see past his own pain to see what is seriously wrong with his own men. It takes Aramis' anger at him to snap him out of this at times I think.
ReplyDeleteThank you for your answer ! I definitely can't wait for Sunday !
ReplyDeleteOh I love road-trip type episodes
ReplyDeleteThank you for that. Really appreciate that you highlighted him here. Guess I like knowing we'll get deeper stories for all of The Musketeers, not just Athos, or Aramis. Of course I like what they're doing with them too, but I want all of them.
ReplyDeleteInteresting that we'll see Aramis and Porthos as the closer relationship. That makes a lot of sense to me. I did find it interesting that on the BBC website they described Aramis as a "natural loner" even though he's good with people and the ladies, and I wondered how they were going to play that. I'd always thought of Athos as the loner, though realistically he probably didn't start out that way personality wise, just became so through circumstance. Maybe Aramis is more intrinsically loner-ish and I just never fully thought of him that way.
I think Howard Charles as Porthos was really good casting.
ReplyDeleteGood assessment. I'm sure you've seen this, but just fyi (from the BBC website):
ReplyDeleteAramis: Santiago Cabrera
Charming but deadly, a great lover and a great fighter – Aramis is a man of fascinating contrasts.
Handsome, a loner by nature but a faithful friend, Aramis is a complex figure. His love of women is notorious but he is very far from being a routine womanizer. His effortless charm means that he is never short of admirers – not even the Cardinal’s mistress is off-limits, but it has deadly consequences. A brilliant shot, Aramis has a ruthless streak but also the most romantic heart of the Musketeer brotherhood. He possesses a deep insight into human nature and puts his faith in a deity who understands and forgives its many contradictions.
Porthos: Howard Charles
A great fighter, a loyal friend and a man who lives life to the fullest.
Raised in desperate poverty and triumphing over every kind of adversity, Porthos has finally found his true family in the Musketeers. Intensely loyal to his friends and a natural fighter, he is the go-to guy for hand-to-hand combat and the man you always want on your side in a fight. Self-educated, as quick in thought as he is in action, Porthos has a lively sense of humor but is not a man to cross.
That's a great point! I guess I was thinking of Atlantis recently. Didn't it have 13 episodes for some reason? Plus Robin Hood and Merlin also had 13 episodes from what I can remember. Usually, the big period dramas like Downton Abbey have less episodes (8) because they're extremely expensive to make. But anyway, I'll take the 10 episodes, of course! I just wish there were 13 because that gives the writers more time to really develop characters and storylines. And we'd learn a lot more about the characters. I guess it depends on the pace of story telling. If it's too slow of a pace, then 10 episodes won't reveal much. But if it's a good pace, then it should do justice to the characters.
ReplyDeleteI meant to just do Aramis for the loner comparison, but whatever. This is Athos. I guess the "solitary drinking" is the Athos-loner-vibe we're picking up on.
ReplyDeleteAthos: Tom Burke
Athos is brave, resourceful and a natural leader of men. But he nurses a dark secret in his past.
A brilliant swordsman, Athos is the glue that binds the Musketeers together. His character commands respect. At first sight he can appear arrogant but his offhand manner disguises a deep capacity for friendship. He is wryly humorous and engaging but during bouts of solitary drinking he has the capacity to hit the self-destruct button. At these times, the bottled-up darkness from his past threatens to engulf him.
By the way, I've started a new tumblr fan site for Constance and D'Artagnan:
ReplyDeletehttp://constance-and-dartagnan-haven.tumblr.com/
Let me know, moderators, if we're allowed to post links to sites! If not, I'll delete this message. :) :) :)
Yeah, I guess it is the lone drinker, self destruct thing that we are seeing more with him that makes us think of him as a loner more. I see Aramis as someone who doesn't trust lightly but once he does you have his heart and he is your friend for life, may be that is what they mean by loner by nature?
ReplyDeleteI don't think it's a problem here, we do have a dedicated fanwork side to the site here to show art too thou if that's any help, here's the link http://www.fanshowcase.com/ :)
ReplyDeleteYeah, it's Who, Merlin, Atlantis and Robin that are/were the Saturday teatime shows that have the 13 episodes. It's something to do with them being cheaper overall to produce two seasons over one year than over two, they are all run on a much cheaper budget than the bigger dramas anyway I think.
ReplyDeleteIf you think about it thou, we get 20 minutes extra per episode compared to those shows with Musketeers (60 mins rather than 40 mins) so it works out ok in the end I think :)
Curious character descriptions, and interesting. I always find it kind of fascinating how shows advertise their characters and what they choose to focus on (obviously they have to focus on something). I went to the site and noticed it described both Athos and d'Artagnan as brave, but we know all of them are brave, so... varied and various traits being highlighted.
ReplyDeleteI can see what both you and Sandi are saying about the source of Athos and Aramis's possible loner tendencies, and think they're both viable theories. It makes them both complex characters, and I like that. And I like the Porthos description. At the end of the day, though, I just want characters that are multidimensional, consistent, but capable of progressing, learning, and acting on accumulated experience. :) Pull those things together, and I'm usually a pretty happy fan.
Okay, ridiculously, I suddenly want to hear Aramis introduce himself this way. "Hello, I'm Aramis, charming but deadly. Pleased to make your acquaintance."
ReplyDeleteGreat point! I didn't even think about the time per episode! :)
ReplyDeleteThanks! I didn't even know about this section! :)
ReplyDeleteI do like that extra breathing pace per episode, so many times I thought Merlin or Who needed it when they wanted to sell an complex idea, and instead the audience just have to accept that a character immediately decides something rather than there being a slower build up to a confrontation. It makes for far more interesting characters I think.
ReplyDeleteyou're welcome.
ReplyDeleteWith a swaggery waggle of eyebrows. ;)
ReplyDelete"Acting on accumulated experience." My biggest gripe in tv shows is when a character has some big epiphany and then two episodes later is acting like it never happened, or starts repeating all the same mistakes they already repeated like two seasons ago.
ReplyDeleteRandom question about episode 2. In the ending scene, D'Artagnan goes to his room and sees flowers on his pillow. Were the flowers from Constance? Or are we to believe they were from Milady since she is manipulating him? It wasn't clear to me when I saw the episode. What do you guys think? And do you think D'Artagnan knew who they were from, hence his smile?
ReplyDeletePretty sure they were from Milady. Earlier in the episode Milady was holding those flowers while talking to the Cardinal. The Cardinal asked her something like, "Are those for me?" and she basically shot him down. Then, they showed up on D'Artagnan's pillow.
ReplyDeleteThanks. I thought so, too, but then I saw that scene included in one of the Constance and D'Artagnan fan videos! So, I thought maybe I misunderstood something! It would have been nice, however, if they were from Constance! :)
ReplyDeleteIt good to see characters out of their normal environments I think, even thou we don't know a great deal about these ones yet it still helps to bring out a different side to them, especially in this case as they are spending a great deal of time in a place that one of them has a lot of bad memories of.
ReplyDeleteExcellent. Sounds like a good, well rounded episode for all. :)
ReplyDeleteThat's odd, I agree that of the four of them in the first 2 episodes Athos is the one portrayed as the one who is the loner more. Even in this third episode he is secretive, brooding and drinking to excess alone until he opens up a little to D'Artagnan.
ReplyDeleteMaybe they mean Aramis is a loner as in he doesn't show his moody side when in company in the same way that Athos does but bottles it up? I think that he certainly has a lot more empathy for those around him, that comes out this week for sure.
Looks like we'll be getting more on Athos and Porthos, which pleases me greatly. Good write up. Thanks.
ReplyDelete