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DCWash

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Everything posted by DCWash

  1. Porthos better get a woman, that's all I gotta say. (Actually, I've got a whole very long-term plot line--like, longer-term than the show can actually run--thought out about the domestication of Porthos. Because I think he deserves, and is the one of the four who would most appreciate, a happy home life.)
  2. "Those extreme corsets" weren't popular until the 19th century. Before then, stays and stomachers provided structure and support, and would feel tight by today's standards, but didn't produce those extreme wasp waists we're used to seeing and associating with "corsets." Ask any reenactor. The bulging breasts we see in this show are more a modern costuming construct than historic reality, I think, but also because the tops are being squeezed, not the area where reproductive organs are being squeezed. We also need to remember that miscarriages and stillbirths were much more frequent than we generally think, so much so that in the old days it was almost taken for granted and not written about--which is why we don't think about it when we talk about things like historic fertility rates or individual royal couples. Much of it was linked to nutrition. But miscarriages are still a major cause of concern. That's a big part of the reason for the IVF and surrogacy industry.
  3. This is one of the few episodes I've watched twice, and I noticed some details on the second viewing that I wouldn't have picked up on a one-time viewing. (Partly because I was watching it merely inches away on a small tablet, partly because my internet connection kept getting hung up so I watched it in small bites.) One thing I saw was that, underneath that dashing beard, Santiago Cabrera is really...young. Almost D'Artagnonly (try spelling that!) youthful. Even though I went into the second viewing after having read your comment above and was prepared to go after him because of it, suddenly I found myself cutting him some slack because he seemed so young and vulnerable. And maybe Aramis seemed young and forgivably dumb. Queen Anne has always seemed very young. King Louis seemed surprisingly--well, maybe not "surprisingly," in light of past behavior--humane in his attitude towards Anne on the first viewing, but it occurred to me in the second viewing that they may have been trying to make the point that there's a difference between a decent--i.e. a good--man and a good king. His heart towards her was in the right place. A good king, though, would have pushed Rochefort aside and done something about it right away. And just a little thing I noticed in the scene where Aramis is telling them about his...indiscretion...with the queen: All four of the Musketeers are wearing their shoulder guards. I assume they've always been wearing their shoulder guards, the ones that mark them out as Musketeers, but I've never noticed--the really do blend in with their tunics pretty well. What's interesting, though, is that each one is different, and a couple are quite plain while a couple are quite florid. I wonder what that means? Also, Treville doesn't wear one. That could be an indication of his loss of rank, but he's still a Musketeer, even if he isn't their captain any more, so that doesn't quite work, either. Hmmmm......
  4. That was my first thought when I saw the episode tonight. But did you see how Lemay--poor honorable, legitimately terrified Lemay--was searching for something or somebody to look at in his final moments? I think that's why Constance didn't close her eyes. So he would have a friend to make eye contact with and not be so alone. It loioked to me like she was making a real effort to look him in the eye. That takes courage, the courage Porthos was talking about.
  5. You guys do know you're driving me crazy, don't you? I'm the kind of person who watches TV fairly objectively, who doesn't get too into it, who doesn't understand passionate shipping...but I have to admit, lately, when those two have had scenes together, and Athos has seemed to soften towards her, I've literally yelled at my screen, "Don't do it, dude! She's a bad 'un! You know better!" By the way, Amazon has the good old '70s Three Musketeers with Michael York and Oliver Reed and Richard Chamberlain and Charlton Heston and Raquel Welch up for streaming, for free right now if you have Amazon Prime. I'm sorely tempted, as it's the version that got me into swashbuckling as a pubescent all those years ago (I even took fencing in college!) and as I can't watch this episode this week.. On the other hand, what if it hasn'% You guys do know you're driving me crazy, don't you? I'm the kind of person who watches TV fairly objectively, who doesn't get too into it, who doesn't understand passionate shipping...but I have to admit, lately, when those two have had scenes together, and Athos has seemed to soften towards her, I've literally yelled at my screen, "Don't do it, dude! She's a bad 'un! You know better!" By the way, Amazon has the good old '70s Three Musketeers with Michael York and Oliver Reed and Richard Chamberlain and Charlton Heston and Raquel Welch up for streaming, for free right now if you have Amazon Prime. I'm sorely tempted, as it's the version that got me into swashbuckling as a pubescent all those years ago (I even took fencing in college!) and as I can't watch this episode this week.. On the other hand, what if it hasn'% You guys do know you're driving me crazy, don't you? I'm the kind of person who watches TV fairly objectively, who doesn't get too into it, who doesn't understand passionate shipping...but I have to admit, lately, when those two have had scenes together, and Athos has seemed to soften towards her, I've literally yelled at my screen, "Don't do it, dude! She's a bad 'un! You know better!" By the way, Amazon has the good old '70s Three Musketeers with Michael York and Oliver Reed and Richard Chamberlain and Charlton Heston and Raquel Welch up for streaming, for free right now if you have Amazon Prime. I'm sorely tempted, as it's the version that got me into swashbuckling as a pubescent all those years ago (I even took fencing in college!) and as I can't watch this episode this week.. On the other hand, what if it hasn't borne up?
  6. Hmm. I get iPlayer semi-demi-hemi legally through Hola. I wonder if I can tap into BBC America the same way. (I doubt it.) ETA: Quick answer: No, there isn't.
  7. Dude is hung up over a fourteen-year-old. Yeah, I know there were plenty of fourteen-year-old brides in that era, but they were usually marriages of strategy or convenience, not love, and usually to somebody of about their own age--Anne has made reference to she and Louis pretty much growing up together. In fact, one of the things I like is the way they sometimes show there's a kind of bond between Anne and Louis by virtue simply of them both having grown up as royals and understanding each other because of that, and having married each other as children, and knowing each other so well because of that. They may not be in love with each other, and may not have ever been, but they do get each other, whether they want to or not, and sometimes they appreciate that and appreciate the fact that nobody else really does understand them the way the other one does.
  8. Okay, I'm all settled in with my weekly cocktail and iPlayer to watch the episode, AND IT'S NOT THERE! Can somebody tell me what's going on? It's Red Nose Day, isn't it? ISN'T IT?????
  9. I think there's a difference here, though. Constance always dies. Maid Marian never dies. Maybe it's the difference between 19th-century romantic historical fiction and legend that's been passed down through the ages.
  10. I think wearing a baby blue dress in a historic drama is the female equivalent of wearing a red shirt in a sci-fi production.
  11. Porthos' father lied so much and told so many stories, I'm not clear if Porthos is legitimate or illegitimate, if he stands to inherit or not. I did like the dig that his house is bigger than Athos', though. And I do love that we get so many reveals in different episodes of Treville screwing up in his past, in an understandable way, and living to regret it. The implication is that Our Heroes can do the same, even though we don't see them do it since it's a TV show about them being Heroic. I have a sneaky suspicion Constance isn't long for this world. Not only is that true to canon, but it's a convenient romantic story trope that, now that she's confessed her love and is free to pursue it, she'll drop dead of some dastardly or otherwise tragic cause. It seems to me that Milady is being cast as the new Richelieu, in that she's being shown as having complex and not entirely dastardly motives for a villain, so maybe Constance's death wont' be at the hand of her, which is what I've seen in the past, but I think there's some rule somewhere that not heroine can have two decent men in love with her at once and not be punished for it. Besides, she looked like Jo March or Becky Thatcher in that blue dress and with the bangs, and no good can come of that.
  12. From what I've read about the real-life Musketeers, you had to be pretty high-ranking to be appointed to the job. I've had the impression that Dumas and the later interpreters of Dumas pretty much stuck to that, with the exception of Porthos. I've never had the feeling that Aramis and D'Artagnon came from peasant stock, for instance, or could even be classified as bourgeoisie. Which doesn't mean they're the highest of aristocrats, either, but somewhere on the upper end of the scale. As to why Porthos, the kid from the slums, got to be a Musketeer...maybe he saved somebody important's life or something? Something that proved his exceptional ability, at any rate.
  13. Just so! I really want for a character like, say, a great-aunt of Louis, a true aristocrat who knows the value of everything and the price of nothing, who respects talent, hard work, fairness, honesty, kindness and courage no matter what the social class, to come along and in her outspoken way ask him about those inappropriate shirts of his. Extra points if she refers to him as a "vulgar little man," because he is. On the flip side, for every time I want to yell at Rochefort to tighten up the lacing on his tunic, I see Porthos and think how elegant and gallant he looks, without being over the top. They're dressing him this year like someone out of a Velazquez or El Greco painting, and it really works on him. Not all the time--which works, too; I mean, he's got work clothes and he's got dress clothes--but when he's at court.
  14. I have really come to believe Marc Warren is a one-series wonder with this show. I quite literally can't imagine how they're going to stretch his character out into the next series. For anybody who's curious, The Siege of La Rochelle. Though it seems poor La Rochelle has been besieged a number of times. I'm glad they're getting into the Wars of Religion of the 17th Century, though I don't know that you can blame Louis that much for all of them, even though at least some of them happened under his reign--he was so young, I'm willing to give him a pass for at least some of what sounds like atrocities. In fact, the more I read, the more it seems like he had to put up with a lot of ill will for things that he could somewhat legitimately consider things that were not his fault, which the show seems to build into its characterization. If you've read up on it. If you haven't, he's just a whiner, which seems to me to be a valid way to see the TV character, too. I was very pleased that Aramis was shown to be medically skillful, but only up to a point, and when he reached that point, he owned up to it and gave way to the doctor. All of that seemed like as it should be for a soldier who was frequently left to his own devices in the field. And I was very pleased that the doctor seemed to know that boiling water was efficacious, but owned up to the fact that he didn't know why. For generations, people knew that scrubbing surfaces down, dowsing things with boiling water and alcohol (in the form of spirits like brandy or wine), etc., produced results and so they did it. They couldn't tell you about microbes and germ theory, but they knew it worked, and that cleanliness led to quicker healing and lower mortality than dirty wounds and surfaces, so they paid attention to it. What he said seems about accurate for an attentive and educated doctor of the 17th century--not out in left field, not reactionary. Maybe it's because I'm about his age, but I'm extremely fond of Treville. I like the way he's very much a Musketeer, but looks at things a bit differently simply because he's a different generation from the rest of the Main Four. And they respect him for that. I'd like to hear more about his history. Those Wars of Religion? I'm sure he took part.
  15. One thing I liked about this episode early on was I guess what you'd call the production values. I mean, this whole series is rich that way, but this episode really succeeded in being impressive when it counted. So often Louis is shown as being giddy with pleasure at something that really isn't that big a deal, even to aristocrats of his time, and it just makes him look silly--which is probably the point. But this time, the fancy brass mechanical models of the solar system, the masque Louis had people acting out, the way those things were shot, all of it together really worked in building up the effects of splendor and glamor and mystery and eeriness. Did y'all recognize the masks the henchmen were wearing early on? Those were specifically worn by plague doctors. The reason for the long beaks was that the doctors could put herbs and other aromatics and fumigants in the end of the mask to filter out toxins in the air they breathed when they were out in the plague-filled streets and treating plague-ridden patients. Because of that, it didn't sit right for me when I first saw them. I thought the guests from the court should recognize the masks and feel uneasy because of them. It took a while, but when Mr. Bad Guy finally brought up the subject of plague, then they made sense, but still, everybody that saw them should have at least thought they were in bad taste, even if they did suspect them to have a hidden meaning.
  16. That whole thing really foreshadowed the French Revolution nicely, didn't it? I dunno, I can handle some angsty Athos. It's sunlit flashbacky Athos I get tired of. (Though I came to realize part of my problem was that iPlayer kept getting hung up and buffering, making all the scenes seem much longer than they really were. When I reloaded and watched one without the rebuffering and it zipped along, then....oh! that was much better because the pacing was so much less lugubrious!) There was one scene, in the armaments cellar with D'Artagnon that I thought was perfectly played: I can't remember the exact line, but Athos was handling a weapon and said something about it being "battered but serviceable" and D'Artagnon quipped, "What, are you talking about the pistol or yourself?" Athos let loose with this beaming smile for a moment at the joke...and then his face just fell, like his heart broke all over again at the reality of how far he had fallen, and that made D'Artagnon's heart break, and he kind of embraced Athos....and, like I said, the whole thing was played just perfectly.We got so much with so little! Plus a rare Athos smile. That scene, and some earlier dialogue between Athos and D'Artagnon about Athos renouncing his title, reminded me that D'Artagnon was himself and estate owner, in Gascony--one of the bad guys last season burned his holdings, which were his only source of income, I remember--and that is something pretty profound that the two of them have in common, that heritage and responsibility. On a lighter note, did anybody recognize Colin from "Rev"? He's the new mayor of Pinon! And the dissolute son of the bad guy reminded me of a young Rufus Sewell. Not nearly as hot, but like they'd be closely related or something.
  17. You know how sometimes you know too much history for your own good, and it gets in the way of enjoying innocent TV shows? Well, here's my bit: There's a town in Missouri called Ste. Genevieve, settled by the French in the early 18th century, with some of the original architecture still intact. One way they know what's original French architecture, as opposed to slightly later buildings, is that the French build their log houses with the logs running vertically, as opposed to horizontally, which is what we're used to seeing. The rational was that rainwater would drain away better and the logs wouldn't rot as badly. We saw that a number of times in Ste. Genevieve, and I think we saw it some in Louisiana as well. So when Athos stumbled out of the barn and into the bright sunshine and there were all these buildings that looked like they were made out of Lincoln Log kits, I almost yelled out, "That's WRONG! That's not FRENCH!" Ahem. Other than that it was pretty good. I really liked Catherine as a character. I thought she was pretty loopy by the end, but I thought they did some interesting things with her throughout, yet it was consistently logical that she would be who she was. It was funny that through most of the episode I kept thinking she was really the perfect woman for Athos, if he'd only wake up...until she really, really wasn't. I, also, thought he was going to have that standard wake-up moment where he was going to change his mind and keep the title and become the benevolent comte again, and was rather surprised that he didn't. I can't quite see him as a truly common soldier, though. Surely he's got some other land, or some money socked away someplace, or something like that? Honestly, I wouldn't object to Catherine killing Milady. I think she's got as much a right to as Athos does, and I love the way she's earned her skills. Doing it with Thomas' pistols is chillingly fitting, too. I hope we see more of her. I like the way she's not quite a female Musketeer. She's aces with the swashbuckling, but she's not dashing. She's not noble. But she's not an ice queen or a sadist, a la Milady, either. She kind of reminds me of Richelieu in that sense. He was the Bad Guy, but at the same time, he was honestly looking out for France's best interests, as he saw them. Catherine is looking out for herself, no doubt about it, but at the same time seems to respect a certain class-bound code of honor.
  18. Well, he did appear in the next week's previews, so he does remain around somehow. It makes me wonder if he's demoted but remains a Musketeer, like now of the same rank as the rest of the guys, which could be deliciously awkward. I doubt if that's what happens, but still....
  19. This has always been a problem for me, and it's squarely at the feet of Dumas himself: Milady DeWinter's name. "Milady." That's not a name, that's an informal title. Constance could get aways with saying, "Yes, milady," with a curtsy to the queen, or to any other woman of rank. Yet here she is signing letters "Milady" and there's the king going, "Well, hel-LO Milady! How YOU doin'?" and on and on. It jars and it sounds silly. Maybe it is, and always has been, a translation issue?
  20. I keep wanting to tell Rochefort to button up his shirt. That open neck in court when nobody else is wearing one doesn't say he's too powerful to go his own way with regard to fashion, it doesn't say he's too manly to fit into a regular shirt, it's just vulgar. I half expect to see gold chains and medallions nestled in his chest hair. Of course, that flash forward to Mafioso/gangsta vulgarity is probably the point, but still.... One kind of subtle thing I liked about this episode: It's the second time in a row they've gotten the court physician along side, with allusions to respect for his learning and his respect for honest inquiry coming from all kinds of places. Last week he freely acknowledged Contance's idea of steam helping the Dauphine's croup; this week, he had no problem with the idea of there being something in the soup, but only questions how he could go about testing that. Could anybody tell anything about next week's episode from the previews? As far as I'm concerned, they might as well have cobbled together a bunch of action shots from the next six weeks. It almost made me wonder if they had even finished putting the episode together yet.
  21. Well, this one's in his face. Waving his tiny royal fingers at Papa, every day. Makes a difference.
  22. Okay, help me out here. In the first episode of the season, a minion took Our Boys (or at least a couple of them, including Aramis--I can't remember which) to a tomb, on the late Richelieu's orders. Aramis pitched a fit when he saw the name. It obviously was a reference to last season, but I didn't recognize the name. Based on what he said, I assumed it was the mother of the other baby, the Queen Mother's secret grandson, the one they smuggled into Spain. Now I'm wondering if I'm wrong, because several people here are linking the name with the Aramis/Queen fling and ensuing Dauphin. So, who was it?
  23. Is he? Or so far is it just manipulative flirting? Or do we really know which for sure? You know, now that I think about it, Aramis isn't covering himself with glory so far this season, is he? Manipulating an innocent governess, lying about why he didn't take that shot in the courtyard in the last episode, which had dire consequences (missing the shot I mean, not the lying so much)--I don't know that it's so much evil or even wicked as merely human, but we've come to expect more out of him and Our Musketeers, you know? I wonder if we're going to see consequences of this kind of behavior, or see him go further down hill.
  24. Yes! I was coming here to say much the same thing! I don't know that I found it "creepy" so much as "highly ironic," though. Given the BBC's propensity to drop episodes if they have the slightest link to recent real-life trauma, I'm actually kind of surprised this one aired. I'm not sure what to make of Ryan Gage and the King this year. Last year, he was a spoiled boy trying to do the right thing, but not very hard, and failing more often than not. This year? Much more adult. And we're not seeing any effort, so far, at the "trying to do the right thing"...thing. I kind of miss that. I do think Ryan Gage is doing a good job, but I don't think he has as much to work with.
  25. (I just got caught up by watching on iPlayer so I'm also just getting caught up with all the comments.) Yes. Since I really like Porthos, I'm looking forward to this. I don't know that I agree, mainly because I watched a video on the BBC webpage for the show where each of the actors very briefly outlined the story arc for their character. The fact that they COULD outline the story arc for their characters indicates to me that it's still going to be pretty much an ensemble show instead of the "D'Artagnan and his helpful buddies" show, which I like. I mean, we already know there's some interesting stuff about Porthos and his father coming up, as well as Aramis and the Dauphin. But Milady is apparently coming back, too. All those right there is enough to chew on for a while. I do miss Peter Capaldi, though. Mark Warren isn't as melodramatic as I was afraid, however.
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