The Musketeers make a joyous return to our screens.
‘Keep Your Friends Close’ begins with the great circle of life and death leaving its indelible ring-stain on the coffee table of our heroes’ lives: just as the Cardinal, a very naughty (albeit rather sexy) man, is laid to his final rest, a bouncing royal baby is born.
Meanwhile, the boys are sent to bring home Comte de Rochefort (a suitably scruffy and dishevelled Marc Warren) who until recently has been imprisoned in Spain. He brings news of military strategist General de Foix’s capture by Spanish forces, necessitating a road trip to Spain for the boys, accompanied by their new friend. But Rochefort has secrets he’s not sharing – how far can he be trusted?
Just when the Musketeers thought the Cardinal’s death would ease their troubles, a new parade of dangers and intrigue begins to emerge. New friends, and new foes, are introduced, and the Cardinal’s influence continues to cast a long shadow over our heroes’ lives.
Old romances continue to cast a shadow as well – as Aramis struggles with the knowledge of how the little Dauphin came to be, and Constance finds herself dealing with both a new job and D’Artagnan’s continuing but impossible feelings for her – while new loves may well be hovering on the horizon, and some very old secrets threaten to make themselves known. There is no shortage of drama in the life of a Musketeer, it would seem.
Season 2’s opener is not short on exciting adventures, guns and swords, close calls, and horses – with a cheeky bit of nudity thrown in for good measure. It does the job of reminding us what happened last time and getting us up to speed with where we are now without becoming tedious or overloaded with exposition.
If the rest of the season is up to the first episode’s standard – and we have high hopes it will – it’s something to look forward to indeed.
Aired at 9pm on Friday 2 January 2015 on BBC One.
> Buy the Season 1 boxset on Amazon.
> Order the Season 2 boxset on Amazon.
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