The Musketeers – The Good Soldier Review

The latest episode of The Musketeers, The Good Soldier, is one that aims for a different tone than the rest of the season, but it’s not necessarily a bad thing. The more serious tone works well with the story that is being told, and Aramis does a good job showing that he isn’t simply a lighthearted womanizer. To be honest, I was worried when I saw how serious The Good Soldier would be, but I enjoyed the episode quite a bit.

The Good Soldier focuses on the Duke of Savoy who has travelled to Paris in order to sign a treaty with the king. However, Savoy is the location of the worst slaughter in the history of the Musketeers, and Aramis was one of only two survivors. Unknown to Aramis and the other Musketeers, the other survivor of the slaughter—a man named Marsac—was also in Paris. His mission was to assassinate the Duke of Savoy at all costs, but his plan failed, resulting in his capture by Aramis.

Marsac’s failed assassination quickly became the second story throughout The Good Soldier, which also coincided with an investigation into the Duke’s past. Marsac was convinced that the Duke of Savoy planned the ambush that resulted in all those dead Musketeers, so he found a way to have Aramis and D’Artagnan investigate the Duke while they were also protecting him from danger. In addition, Marsac found information that a prominent Musketeer had assisted the Duke with the ambush, leading all four Musketeers to lose faith in their order. Aramis and his friends had to quickly solve multiple mysteries before the Duke of Savoy returned home without signing the treaty.

The Dick…I mean Duke of Savoy.

What made The Good Soldier so serious? The main reason was Aramis’s attitude; normally, Aramis would be known for having fun, getting drunk, and bedding women. During the Duke’s stay in Paris, Aramis was constantly having flashbacks to the massacre. Needless to say, he was a little stressed and angry throughout the episode. In fact, Aramis didn’t make a single joke during the episode. Very strange.

The other reason that The Good Soldier was so serious was the underlying theme of the storyline—loyalty. All of the serious accusations almost tore the Musketeers apart, and they started to doubt each other and their commanding officers. Much of the episode included conversations about being loyal to family, close-knit groups, and country. One such conversation involved deciding between duty and a loved one when death is one the line.

The consequence of upsetting Aramis.

Of course, not all of The Good Soldier was serious; D’Artagnan, Porthos, and Athos were all back to their normal attitudes, so plenty of jokes and fun moments were included. Two scenes in particular were both entertaining for very different reasons. The first scene could be classified as a prison break in reverse, in which the Musketeers broke into the prison simply to hide an inmate from potential visitors. Of course, they are Musketeers so breaking into a prison could only be achieved with fist fights and disguises. This scene had multiple lines of dialogue being spoken, but the most important moments came from watching facial expressions as each character discovered the prison break.

The second scene was one in which D’Artagnan agreed to teach Constance about shooting and sword fighting in order to avoid being evicted from his apartment. The scene was fairly straightforward, but the entertainment came from their chemistry and Constance’s excitable nature. She was extremely overjoyed when she managed to shoot a wine bottle on the fifth or sixth attempt.

Both Commodities and The Good Soldier have veered toward more serious territory, but these changes have been enjoyable. The Musketeers has been doing a fine job of staying away from overused themes and cheesy moments, which has made the show immensely more enjoyable to me. Granted, I would like to see a return to more of the humorous adventures in the future, but I am still enjoying watching the current episodes. Now, if only D’Artagnan would get a Musketeers’ cloak so he can stop looking like such an outsider.