The Musketeers’ latest episode, The Exiles, combined multiple plots to weave a larger, entertaining plot. Unfortunately, some of the minor details seemed a little forced at times, but the end result was a fun episode.
During The Exiles, Aramis and D’Artagnan are given a very important mission—to track down a peasant woman named Agnes and her infant son Henri. Unfortunately, a group of ruffians kidnap Henri, but Aramis and D’Artagnan save Agnes and track the kidnappers to their base in Paris. However, the abduction is more complicated than anyone thought, so D’Artagnan recruits some outside help for his bold rescue plan.
While Aramis and D’Artagnan are off attempting to save Henri—who is more important than anyone knows—, Athos and Porthos are working with Captain Treville to protect the king from an unknown danger. King Louis’ evil mother, Marie de’ Medici, appeared seemingly out of nowhere and claimed that her life was in danger from a mysterious assassin. However, these Musketeers see through Medici’s lies and begin an investigation into her recent past. Their main concern is protecting King Louis’ life because his mother already tried to steal the throne once before.
Of course, both Captain Treville and Cardinal Richelieu have history with Medici, so they also begin their own investigations into her motives, which surprisingly aids the Musketeers at crucial times. It was strange to see Richelieu working with the Musketeers, but he explained that Medici hates him more than anyone else in Paris so getting rid of her was extremely important.Obviously, Medici was going to be evil; The Musketeers didn’t attempt to hide the fact that Medici was evil or insane starting with her first appearance in the episode. Everything about Medici, including her hair, screamed “THIS LADY IS EVIL!”
Seriously, look at her hair. It belongs on a super villain.
The Exiles was one of the better episodes in an already strong season. The storyline jumped back and forth between the two sets of Musketeers while mixing their missions together fairly well. Granted, Medici’s part of the episode seemed a little forced at times, but I was able to forgive that aspect because of the end result. Watching Medici’s plan fail so miserably was endlessly enjoyable.
Interestingly enough, The Exiles actually shows how far both Treville and Richelieu were willing to go to protect King Louis, Richelieu has already shown a penchant for murder throughout the first part of the season, but even Treville was willing to cross some dangerous lines to protect himself, and King Louis, from Medici and Vincent. Will Treville have a moral change as the season progresses?
One fantastic part about The Exiles was the inclusion of Constance in more scenes. That feisty lady is quite entertaining, and her role during this episode was pretty fun. Instead of being a random housekeeper, Constance actually went on a mission with D’Artagnan, and she used her new fencing skills during a rescue mission. Yes, Constance’s fight scene was a little cheesy, but that just added to the fun.
In fact, this episode brought the goofiness back to the level that made the first episode so entertaining. The one-liners flew back and forth during battles and otherwise serious scenes, including the first meeting with Medici and Vincent. Athos and Porthos started this meeting by talking trash to Vincent while simultaneously threatening his life, but that wasn’t even the goofiest part. At one point, Aramis jumped in the air and perfectly shot a man with his pistol at long range. Nothing about that scene was realistic, but it was fun as hell.
The Exiles suffered from occasional story issues, but the rest of the episode was well done. I look forward to seeing how the final few episodes progress as D’Artagnan comes closer to being a full-fledged Musketeer in the midst of Richelieu’s evil plans.
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