In 1844, Alexandre Dumas created the Three Musketeers, his story about Athos, Porthos, Aramis, and d’Artagnan. Little did Dumas know that his work would be recreated multiple times throughout different media forms. Obviously, the most popular of these recreations is the Disney film starring Charlie Sheen, Kiefer Sutherland, Oliver Platt, and Chris O’Donnell. BBC America is attempting to change this with the release of The Musketeers as a TV show.
The old school Musketeers
The Musketeers focuses on d’Artagnan and his initial meeting with Athos, Porthos, and Aramis. Unfortunately for the three musketeers, d’Artagnan is hell-bent on murdering Athos based on some incorrect information. d’Artagnan is convinced that Athos murdered his father because a group of bandits has been traveling through France, robbing and murdering civilians while posing as Musketeers. This sends d’Artagnan to Paris in pursuit of the alleged murderers, where he runs into many popular characters from Dumas’ story.
Anyone who is familiar with the Three Musketeers will be able to guess the main villains and storyline of The Musketeers in about 10 minutes, but that knowledge won’t stop the show from being entertaining. The Musketeers mixes together the action, intrigue, and humor that Dumas’ story was known for, and it works fairly well. However, the 1:15 run time was more jam-packed than the other episodes will tend to be because multiple characters needed to be introduced. This premier episode introduced the King, Cardinal Richelieu, the Musketeers, Constance, and many other characters that are essential to the series.
With so many important characters, it was extremely important for BBC America to properly cast each one. This was achieved fairly well, especially with Cardinal Richelieu. Peter Capaldi plays one villainous bastard in Richelieu, and he plays it to perfection. Richelieu is known as a scheming, evil man who will bed any lady and murder any man just to make a point. Capaldi’s version of Richelieu evokes Tim Curry at times, but goes in other serious directions at others. I honestly can’t wait to see how the rest of The Musketeers plays out just because of Peter Capaldi.
He’s an A-Hole, but I can’t help but root for him.
Having a truly evil villain is great, but how are the actual Musketeers? Luke Pasqualino plays d’Artagnan as a headstrong, slightly sarcastic young man with a decent sense of humor. Strangely, he did have some very strange personality swings throughout the episode. At one moment, he was extremely angry and crying, but he was sarcastic in a later scene while trying to bed a random lady. d’Artagnan wasn’t fantastic in the first episode, but he definitely has some potential.
Porthos-drinker, gambler, and fighter.
Tom Burke, Santiago Cabrera, and Howard Charles played Athos, Porthos, and Aramis very well during the episode because they were able to fit the different personality styles that each character is known for. Porthos was by far the best character in the premier episode; his gambling and fighting provided some much-needed humor and entertainment. Aramis was the very religious and very horny Musketeer who was always willing to fight when needed. Cabrero—who reminds me of Zachary Levi—plays Aramis almost as well as Charles plays Porthos. Tom Burke’s version of Athos is one of the more confusing characters in The Musketeers because he doesn’t talk very much. Athos does have reasons for his silence—mostly his past—but I do hope that he will spend the next few episodes spending more time in the forefront, carousing with the other Musketeers.
The season premier of The Musketeers was quite strong, even if it was completely packed with new characters. I am quite excited to see how the series progresses, but I am mostly excited for more Cardinal Richelieu and Porthos.
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