The Musketeers 2.05 “The Return”

Synopsis of The Musketeers 2.05 “The Return”:

After Athos is kidnapped and taken back to his estate of Pinon, the other musketeers follow him and find themselves in the midst of a battle against Renard—a malevolent baron who wishes to seize Athos’s land for his son. As the musketeers train the peasants of Pinon to combat Baron Renard’s forces, Athos encounters Catherine—a woman whose life he blames himself for ruining years ago through his actions.

“The Return” is not only an excellent episode of this series, it is probably my favorite episode of The Musketeers thus far. It’s definitely my favorite episode of the current season at this halfway point and, off hand, I can’t recall an episode from the first season that I liked more than this one—though episode 1.03, “Commodities” would come closest (and, this episode is actually the sequel to “Commodities”).

A specific bit of dialog hooked me early on this current episode, as the concept it touched upon is a particular interest of mine. As the synopsis states, the peasants who work on Athos’s estate kidnap our melancholy musketeer and take him to his ancestral home of Pinon to deal with Baron Renard’s attempt to claim the land for his dimwitted son. After a brief scuffle in the dust between the son, Edmond, and Athos, the baron and Athos discuss things over ale (or perhaps it’s wine or brandy). After insulting the peasants and sexually harassing the fiery and attractive young peasant woman, Jeanne, the baron gets right to the point with the dialog that hooked me:

Baron Renard: What are your plans for the estate?

Athos: The estate is of no more concern for me; I have renounced my title.

Baron Renard: One cannot renounce what is given by God.

Athos: God had no part in this.

Baron Renard: I’ve never heard of such a thing. What of your position? Your responsibility to the social order?

It is the issue of “responsibility to the social order” that hooked me. Due to my political ideology, the concept of a person’s responsibility to “the social order” is an issue I dwell on considerably. Of course, Baron Renard was referring to Athos’s “responsibility” of upholding the social order of a feudal society by maintaining his title of Conte de la Fere to prevent an erosion of the separate classes within the culture.

This action-adventure tale of violent conflict between the underdog peasants and the baron’s well-armed forces is actually an examination of egalitarianism in Europe that is set approximately 160 years before the French Revolution. Obviously, as a one-hour action-adventure melodrama, “The Return” has little opportunity to be particularly profound in its examination of egalitarianism. However, the contrast between Athos and Catherine de Garavilla allows for some slight insights into the culturally encoded reactions to class distinctions (and it also plays off episode 2.02, “An Ordinary Man,”  that involved King Louis XIII slumming around as a lower-class lord).

We are first introduced to Catherine when, at a distance of perhaps 25 meters, she fires a flintlock pistol at a rope from which Athos is hanging by his wrists so that Edmond Renard can whip him in front of his peasants. Fortunately, and extremely miraculously, Catherine’s lead ball not only hits the rope, it severs it so that Athos falls to the ground and the baron’s forces scamper away in fear that a company of soldiers is approaching.

Flintlock firearms are incredibly inaccurate—particularly flintlock pistols, which have an extremely short effective range. Even the best expert shooters could not have hit such a distant target with a flintlock pistol (except by sheer luck while aiming elsewhere). Additionally, the lead ball would not have had the force to sever the rope. Thus, we must attribute Catherine’s amazing shooting prowess to . . . magic!

Later, Athos discovers that Catherine has been living in the servant quarters of his fire-ravaged mansion—which was destroyed by flames set by Milady de Winter in last season’s “Commodities” (the episode in which we learned that Milady murdered Athos’s brother Thomas and escaped the noose by seducing the hangman after Athos left the site of her hanging).

As Athos and Catherine speak of old times—Catherine looking back favorably and Athos tormentedly—we learn Catherine’s backstory (which, inexplicably, was not mentioned in the “Commodities” episode). Catherine was betrothed to Thomas Athos (“Athos” is the family name—our melancholy musketeer’s full name is Isaac Athos, but we usually just refer to him by his last name), and she lost her social station when Thomas was murdered before their wedding.

We also learn that before being betrothed to Thomas, Catherine was intended as Athos’s eventual bride through an arrangement their fathers made when Catherine and Athos were children. However, when Athos disregarded the arrangement to marry Milady de Winter, Catherine was “passed down” to Thomas. (Didn’t you just hate getting your older sibling’s hand-me-downs when you were a kid?)

Having lost everything through Athos’s rejection of the arranged betrothal and Thomas’s death at the hands of Athos’s bride, Catherine now lives as an outcast in the servant quarters of the mansion she should have overseen as the Contessa de la Fere—or even as the sister-in-law of Milady de Winter as the Conte de la Fere. Instead, Catherine now fends for herself by hunting rabbits and other game—which is how she became such an amazing marksman with a flintlock pistol.

As the daughter of an aristocrat whose social station was lowered through circumstances that Athos feels responsible for, Catherine is a point of contrast to Athos—an aristocrat who has voluntarily renounced his social station following the events of six years earlier. (We learned in “Commodities” that Thomas’s murder occurred five years earlier, and the marker on his crypt reads “Thomas Athos 1598-1625”—and we have also learned in previous episodes that the first season took place in 1630 and that this second season seems to be set in 1631).

While the political conflict in “The Return” is about the power struggle between the Renards and the Pinon peasants, the ethical conflict is the issue raised by Baron Renard regarding the responsibility of the aristocracy towards the peasants who work their lands. For instance, even though Athos has renounced his aristocratic title of Conte de la Fere, he still receives an income from the harvests his land produces at the hands of the peasants who work on his estate. Thus, if those peasants are persecuted by another aristocrat—such as Baron Renard in his efforts to seize the land for his own son—what are Athos’s obligations in protecting the peasants and fighting against the injustice perpetrated against them?

Somewhat similarly, as the only aristocrat remaining in Pinon due to Athos’s absence, did Catherine have any obligation during the past six years to address the plight of the peasants of Pinon? Do people of higher rank have an obligation to aid those of lower ranks or those who are suffering from misfortune? Indeed, that is a question that is one of the foundation stones upon which the United States was built.

In the sermon “A Model of Christian Charity” that he delivered aboard the Arabella during its voyage to the Massachusetts Bay Colony in 1630—the same year in which the first season of The Musketeers is set—John Winthrop claimed that God created lower-class and unfortunate people so that people of higher rank and fortune could be charitable. However, the main characters in The Musketeers are Catholics, not Huguenots, so perhaps they need not worry about such things.

Catherine eventually takes up arms to aid the peasants, but only because she mistakenly believes Athos intends to bestow his renounced title upon her—that she will become the Contessa de la Fere and the lady of Pinon after all. However, we also get a glimpse of the type of ruthless contessa Catherine would be.

After the young peasant woman, Jeanne, confronts her about preening in front of a mirror instead of preparing for battle against the baron’s forces, Catherine grabs Jeanne by the hair and presses a dagger against her throat. Should Catherine actually become the Contessa de la Fere, Jeanne is likely to meet with an unfortunate end at some point—or at dagger point, to be more precise.

The fact that the peasants actually do take up arms against Baron Renard should not come as a surprise to anyone who has yet to see the episode. After all, it’s a common convention for these types of melodramas—but the writers also fell back on the trite topos of initially making it seem that the peasants were too cowardly to fight even though they would not be fighting for Athos’s land but for their own.

As viewers knew he would, Athos eventually joins with his fellow musketeers who arrived at Pinon looking for him out of concern for his safety. At that point, to spur the peasants to action, Athos promises them his land if they successfully defend it against Baron Renard’s siege. This call to action is then reinforced by Captain Treville’s speech to the peasants regarding the baron’s men as he says, “You have something worth fighting for; do they?”

However, as I mentioned, the writers then fell back on a typical topos of melodramas by making it seem as if the people with the most to gain are too cowardly to take on the challenge—too afraid to die in combat. Thus, it initially appears as if the peasants won’t show up at dawn to begin training under the tutelage of the musketeers. However, shortly after the designated deadline, the peasants slowly assemble a few at a time until all are ready to fight for their freedom from serfdom.

Together, our five protagonists (now that he has been stripped of his command, Treville is merely another musketeer) train the peasants to be semi-adequate in combat after they have been given weapons taken from the secret armory in the underground vaults of Athos’s estate. Additionally, Treville oversees the fortification of the peasant community with makeshift barricades.

As the muskeeters and peasants await the baron’s attacking troops, there is a brief exchange between Aramis and D’Artagnan that I found particularly amusing. Keep in mind that, lately, Aramis’s mind has mainly been focused on the queen and their infant son whose illegitimate title of heir to the French throne is unknown to all save Aramis, the queen, and Athos (and, I guess, Constance Bonacieux, following the events of “Emilie”):

Aramis: I lay awake last night thinking, “What am I doing here?” I mean this isn’t my fight.

D’Artagnan: Did you come up with an answer?

Aramis: This morning I realized . . . this is just what I was born to do.

D’Artagnan: You mean protect the innocent and fight against injustice?

Aramis: Oh, that too . . . but mainly, you know, just to fight. To risk everything; put it all on the line. How else do I know I’m truly alive.

In the end, the fight goes exactly the way viewers would expect—after all, this is The Musketeers, not Game of Thrones—and Aramis expresses gratitude to his fellow musketeers for opening his eyes to his true responsibility to the social order:

Athos: I owe you all a debt of thanks. I was wrong and you made me see it.

D’Artagnan: I don’t think your change of mind was because of us.

Athos: Who then?

D’Artagnan: (nods his head towards the former peasants, now landowners, of Pinon who are lining the road as the musketeers pass by on their horses).

Yes, our five musketeers ride through the ranks of the former peasants who are now all co-owners of the French commune of Pinon (there actually is a contemporary commune called Pinon in northern France). As they ride off into . . . the sunset(?) . . . a young boy watches them. I half expected the lad to suddenly exclaim, “Ma? Who were those masked men . . . er, musket-bearing men?”

Or perhaps he might suddenly shout out in emotional torment, “Shane! Come back, Shane!”

Yes, at times this show is an obvious throwback to those thrilling melodramas of yesteryear! However, I wouldn’t want it any other way.