Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10
Cast: Tom Burke, Santiago Cabrera, Howard Charles, Alexandra Dowling, Luke Pasqualino, Ryan Gage, Tamla Kari, Maimie McCoy, Hugo Speer, Marc Warren, Phil Rowson, Charlotte Salt, Ed Stoppard, Marianne Oldham, Hara Yannas.
The end game is almost upon the faithful Musketeers. The Queen stands charged with treason and treachery, Aramis is deeply involved in a scandal that could bring civil war to France and Athos has started to see the deceitful Milady De Winter in a different light once more, the combination of all these chemical, potentially nuclear like explosive elements are enough to place the future of the country into unheralded jeopardy on the scale of Agincourt.
The penultimate episode of the series takes place immediately after the events that unfolded in The Prodigal Father and for that reason the suspense and intrigue has not lost any of its virtue or polish. The episodes resolve is such that it charges headlong as if it was planned as an eventual three part barn storming finish to the series and the only thing that could upset the gallant proceedings is the necessity now to surely kill off Marc Warren’s character at the end of the series. This vacuum will be hard to fill and perhaps only the emergence of the Duke of Buckingham will keep the future of this superb series on track.
The Accused sees Marc Warren at his absolute cunning best. His ferocity as Rochefort is unsurpassed in any of the previous attempts to capture this great villain for what he truly is, an animal whose bite could destroy a single country, a foul creature whose self serving base like desires is akin to, in modern parlance, paying close proximity to certain members of the current and previous Governments, a wolf with a taste for blood. His savagery unsurpassed as was proved when he attacked and threatened to strangle Maimie McCoy’s Milady. This one single act of brutality elevated the episode and heightened the terror available to the faithful viewer.
It has been mentioned before but as a statement of fact it is worth repeating, this version of the Alexandra Dumas tale is quite by some considerable distance the best that has ever been placed before the British viewing public, whether on the big screen or in the homes; dark, brooding and so well written and presented it could pass for a general on horseback. For far too long the story has not been given the true respect it deserves and yet in just two seasons, The Musketeers has outshone every other version to the point, where apart from for comedy value, they should be seen as artistically redundant, if not showing a huge disservice to the past.
Friday nights on the B.B.C. will be hard to live up to for the foreseeable future.
The current series of The Musketeers concludes next Friday.
Ian D. Hall