The Musketeers started its premiere season with a crucial meeting between D’artagnan and Milady, and all of the following episodes have led to a final confrontation between the two. Joining D’artagnan and Milady in this confrontation are the Musketeers and the evil Cardinal Richelieu. Unfortunately, not all of the Musketeers want to work together, which is the basis for a stressful final episode.
Musketeers Don’t Die Easily starts in a way unlike the rest of the season. Athos becomes quite intoxicated, follows Milady around town threatening her life, and drunkenly shoots D’artagnan during an argument. This shooting would have brought the main Musketeers together, but the other Musketeers found out that D’artagnan had previously bed Milady, causing a mass amount of anger. After being abandoned by the Musketeers, D’artagnan is taken by Milady who sees an opportunity to turn the weakest link against the other Musketeers.
Unbeknownst to D’artagnan, Aramis and Porthos are secretly planning their revenge against anyone who wronged Athos. This plan also includes getting revenge on Cardinal Richelieu for trying to murder the queen. Of course, this plan involves D’artagnan getting captured and traded in exchange for a crucial letter, meaning that someone has to track down or betray him.
The season finale of The Musketeers was a very fun episode with multiple plot changes that I didn’t expect. The newer story involving Musketeer betrayal and hatred was a change of pace from the standard heroes and villain story, and it made the finale even more entertaining. Even better, the finale took a tense situation and still managed to include a lot of the humor that was present throughout the rest of the season. Even when things seemed dire, Aramis and Porthos still found time to crack jokes and make fun of random characters.
The only downside to Musketeers Don’t Die Easily is the ending. The final battle of the season was absolutely fantastic, but the moments wrapping up the story were less so. This ending won’t be revealed, but it was partially disappointing given the circumstances. However, the ending is supposed to lead into the second season, so the changes were partially understandable.
As a whole, The Musketeers had a phenomenal first season. The cast worked well together and genuinely appeared to be a group of brothers fighting together to protect the King. More importantly, Peter Capaldi was a perfect choice for the evil Cardinal Richelieu. His mixture of pure evil and partial concern for the King made for an impressive villain. Hopefully, Capaldi will still be able to play this role considering his new job on Doctor Who.
Occasionally, The Musketeers would have a less impressive episode, but these were very rare in the initial run. Almost all of the episodes were quite good, and we can only hope that the second season is just as impressive. Now, The Musketeers just needs to include some more episodes involving drunk Porthos and Aramis, and the show will be even better.
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