Reviewed by Lewis Hurst.

Another week, another standout episode from The Musketeers. After three great episodes, I’m going to go out and say that it certainly seems as if the show has finally overcome the stumbling problems the first half of the series faced. And I’m really coming around to that theme tune too.

A story based around gender equality was an interesting choice for this episode and one that certainly paid off. The character of Ninon was exemplary. A truly brilliant female character, and this is a show packed with brilliant female characters. Sometimes in television you get very strong feminist characters who sometimes come on too strong thus becoming annoying. Ninon was played perfectly and came across as a well-rounded and thoughtful character that portrayed her beliefs well. Of course this was further helped by a stunning performance from guest star Annabelle Wallis who some older viewers may remember portrayed Jane Seymour in the period Drama The Tudors. Her short-lived romance with Athos was a nice touch, even if it didn’t particularly lead anywhere.

And of course, this week saw the welcome return of Maime McCoy as Milday de Winter. Being absent for the past few weeks, Millady felt like she’d never been gone. McCoy was an absolute joy in this installment. Filling the character with lots of villainous grace, she was the centre of attention every time she was on screen. When sharing said screen with Peter Capaldi, that is saying something. It was great to see her storyline with Athos develop a little more. When Milady passed Athos in the courtroom I audibly gasped with excitement and of course, once Athos found out she was there I was practically on the edge of my seat with excitement. I’ve found the running storyline between Athos and Milady to be one of the strongest things about the series so it’s good to see it progress a little further. With Athos now knowing Milady is in Paris and under the employ and protection of the Cardinal, one wonders how this will change Athos as a character in the remaining three episodes.

But, without a doubt, the star of the show here was Peter Capaldi yet again. I feel like I’m repeating myself a lot, but Capaldi is honestly that good! You can see why Capaldi is one of the most popular actors in Britain at the moment, even before he was cast as a certain physician. Capaldi just blew me away. When Richelieu was poisoned and lay dying, Capaldi was able to bring a sense of determination and power to the man that was actually quite scary. Even when dying, the Cardinal is still a force to be reckoned with.  It seems that his brief encounter with his own mortality has made Richelieu a changed man… but certainly not a better one. If the final scenes suggest anything, we’re in for a much more ruthless Cardinal than before. As he said himself, no one is going to stand in his way. And if this means we’re going to see a lot more Capaldi over the next few episodes, well, bring it on.

Of course I must also mention the big development this week; D’Artagnan and Constance starting an affair. While this was certainly on the cards from the get go, I’m honestly surprised it occurred at this stage. I would have preferred an episode devoted to developing the two’s relationship first before they started locking lips but hey, maybe one is coming? Since the next episode seems to be D’Artagnan heavy, hopefully the writers will use this time to develop their relationship more. Since at the moment it’s only been light flirting between the two, the relationship seems to have developed a lot off screen. So yeah, more time between D’Artagnan and Constance please!

Another shout out to Mr Murray Gold though! Another excellent score for this week’s episode, even if I did detect a few hints of the Silence theme from Doctor Who at one point. And of course, Richard Clark did an excellent job in the director’s chair. The shots felt grand and epic and to say I was only watching on my laptop and that the quality wasn’t the best (with my TV being off for repair one has to make do), but I was still blown away shot after shot. And that is commendable.

So all in all, this was another superb episode of The Musketeers. Considering the last few episodes have been of very high quality, I have very high hopes for the remainder of the series.

9/10