1.9 Knight Takes Queen Principally a ‘seige’ episode, it’s a concept that should work well within The Musketeers world. France’s best, protecting the Queen against committed and skilful enemies appeals to everything that is good about The Musketeers. Action – tick. Good banter whilst facing death – tick. Cardinal being a git – double tick. Fighting nuns throwing beehives – err, tick. All the ingredients are there for a fun Sunday evening’s viewing. It comes as no surprise then that the episode opens well, with the opening twenty minutes establishing great pace and intent, building nicely up to the siege itself. However (and yes, unfortunately there is a but), this is where it goes slightly wrong. Knight takes Queen pays for its fairly hectic opening in that when it does take a breath, the audience catches up, looks around and realises that it’s been deceived. In what has been a consistent theme with The Musketeers, there is no better way than ruin the flow of the main story than introduce a dramatic sub-plot that has either no place within the context of the episode or serves to distract or detract from the main story. However, to give its proper due, there had been rumblings of secret desires between the Queen and Aramis from as long ago as episode two, so this wasn’t a surprise. Also, much like the way the writers gave credence to Constance’s affair with D’Artagnan, what better way to justify the unfaithful acts of the Queen than in an episode where her husband has effectively given her a death sentence, albeit unwittingly. Again, as in most Musketeers episodes the best part is not always in the event – but the banter that takes place after, and the exchange between Athos and Aramis in the morning after the night before rates highly amongst them. So if this sub-plot gets a pass, the other concerning Aramis finding his ex-fiancé as a nun in a convent they stumble across whilst being chased by lots of men – most certainly does not. If we get past the contrivance of finding his ex-financé in the first place, she actually serves no purpose whatsoever (unless you think that that Queen only slept with Aramis because he needed cheering up). Fortunately she doesn’t survive long enough to be any significant distraction but it would be really nice if, just for once, the show could just concentrate on getting the one plot right. I couldn’t finish without some mention of fighting nuns. It was a nice touch, if a little too tongue in cheek, but when a nun hurls a massive beehive over the wall it had a Monty Pythonesque feel that seemed a little out of place, (but you did have the Judean People’s Front attacking the convent, so was strangely appropriate). Despite the lack of overall threat and missed opportunities in the execution of the siege, Knight Takes Queen was an enjoyable enough romp. It was neither an example of how good the series has been, nor an episode consigned to the bargain bin. It possibly didn’t quite reach the crescendo I was hoping for as the season’s penultimate episode, but I can only hope (and the teaser didn’t disappoint) that next week’s finale ends the show on a high. Read Rob’s review of the previous episode, The Challenge, here. Follow our Twitter feed for faster news and bad jokes right here. And be our Facebook chum here.
