The Musketeers Series 2, Episode 1: ‘Keep Your Friends Close’

No matter how knowing, post-modern and genre aware audiences increasingly become, it seems there will always be room in people’s hearts for an old fashioned adventure story following the exploits of either one or several likeable rogues. Case in point; The Musketeers, BBC 1’s period swashbuckler, based loosely on the works of Alexandre Dumas.

When it debuted this time last year quite quickly garnered something of a following, with a respectable 5-6 million strong UK audience tuning in each week to see the adventures of the King’s Musketeers Athos (Tom Burke), Aramis (Santiago Cabrera), Porthos (Howard Charles) and D’Artagnan (Luke Pasqualino), and how they fared – often with one hand tied behind their back – against the Machiavellian political machinations of the sinister Cardinal Richelieu (Peter Capaldi) and the sultry provocatrix (and former wife of Athos) Milady de Winter (Maimie McCoy).

Last Friday saw the start of the second series of The Musketeers, picking up some time after the events of the first series, setting in motion how several plot threads left hanging from then will come to play in the weeks to follow. Queen Anne’s (Alexandra Dowling) son – implied to have been illegitimately sired by Aramis during the events of Series 1 – is born, and it is hinted that Richelieu (who we are informed has dies in the intervening months between series) has nevertheless passed on his suspicions concerning the child’s parentage to his allies within the Church at some point between seasons. Meanwhile, the enduring feeling between D’Artagnan and Constance Bonacieux (Tamla Kari) in the wake of their thwarted relationship and her return to an unhappy marriage seems set to continue the “will they/won’t they?” subplot of the first series.

All of these plot elements and dynamics between the core cast members have already proven themselves to be engaging and successful last year, and at this point in the series, there isn’t much more to say of them than that they continue to be so. However, the real plot of this episode – and, indeed, the series to follow – is set in motion by newcomers to The Musketeers’ cast of characters. With Peter Capaldi now occupied being the face and eyebrows of Doctor Who, the role of main antagonist has fallen to Marc Warren, playing one of the Cardinal’s lieutenants; Comte de Rochefort, who at the point the audience meets him has ostensibly escaped from Spanish captivity to report to King Louis that the Spanish also hold a General De Foix (Dominic Mafham), one of France’s key military figures, and that his rescue is imperative to the safety of France. To this end, he has the Musketeers accompany him on a covert rescue mission. However, needless to say, there is more to Rochefort’s plans than he is telling either the King or the Musketeers.

Rochefort is without a doubt a worthy successor to Capaldi’s Richelieu, with Warren superbly marrying the former’s cool, calculated scheming and ruthlessness with fighting and marksmanship prowess to rival that of the protagonists. That isn’t to say that it is – to all intents and purposes – the same villain (albeit with an increased physicality). Whilst Richelieu was portrayed as a cold-blooded manipulator with an undeniable megalomaniacal streak in the first series, it could also truly be claimed that a great many of his actions – no matter how repugnant – were what he considered to be in the best interest for his country. At present, Rochefort’s allegiance is anything but as clearly defined; seemingly playing both the France and Spain towards his own, as yet undisclosed, end.

Further ongoing arcs seem to be instigated by the General De Foix and himself, who has a longstanding friendship with the Musketeers’ Captain Treville (Hugo Speer) and who implies that the pair of them know something of Porthos’ father that they have not told him.

In terms of the basic plot to this particular episode, it cannot be denied that it consists of little more than a relatively straightforward search and rescue mission on the Musketeers’ part, in which they attempt to infiltrate a Spanish prison in order to free the General, and features a fair helping of action, humour and a degree of intrigue along the way. And, really, it doesn’t need to offer much more than that at this stage of the series. In any television show, the purpose of the first episode of a series is to establish the new situation, story threads and characters for the audience so that later instalments can be free to delve into deeper themes and more complex storytelling.

To this end, Keep Your Friends Close is a perfectly respectable first episode to help ease audiences back into the world of The Musketeers, and whet their appetites for whatever adventure is in store in the weeks to come.

The Musketeers airs on BBC One on Friday at 9 pm.

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