Musketeer-wise,
Porthos got some extra attention in episode 3, but “The Homecoming” definitely
puts him center stage. I’m reminded of
the first season of Torchwood, where
each of the supporting cast had one story more squarely focused on them in the
midst of the Gwen-centric episodes and the ensemble offerings (“Greeks Bearing
Gifts” for Tosh, “Ghost Machine” for Owen, and “Cyberwoman” for Ianto, in case
anyone’s eager for a few seconds of Torchwood
geekery.)
So, episode
5 finds Porthos in a spot of bother. He’s
been accused of a drunken manslaughter, and while his fellow musketeers try to
prove that the dead man fell by someone else’s hand, Porthos is brought back to
his old haunt. The Court of Miracles,
which I mainly know from the Disney version of The Hunchback of Notre, is the thieves’ den the orphaned Porthos
sprung from. At the Court, he’s
reacquainted with friends from his hungrier, less honorable days. Essentially, it’s the old “you can never go
home again (especially if you pulled yourself out of the gutter)” story, but
with more sword fighting.
Very
little Richelieu today. A bit of
scheming, a bit of advising, a bit of treacherous activity, a lot of
barely-concealed disdain for the king.
Wash, rinse, repeat. Now that PC
is the Doctor, there’s a fairly good chance he won’t be too available for the
show’s second season. Having some PC in
your show is always a good thing, but given how scantly they’ve used him so
far, it might not be any great loss.
On a
side note, I like the way that the series doesn’t insist on an all-white cast. Two of the musketeers, as well as incidental
one-shot characters, have been played by people of color, and I appreciate it. It’s depressingly easy for movies or TV to
homogenize in the name of alleged historical accuracy, and it’s nice to see a
show incorporating PoCs without making a big deal of it.
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