This week on the Musketeers,the Queen is away, so Charlotte Mellendorf and her father have come to play with the King. She charms Louis with her praise and ability to hunt; something he laments that his own wife never does. If only Anne would die and he could marry Charlotte, who would laugh at all his jokes and give him a male heir.
The Cardinal hears the King’s plea, and sends assassins after the Queen, without his knowledge. Except the Cardinal had to know the Musketeers were protecting her majesty and that these guys didn’t really stand a chance. The attempt fails and they’re all safe for the time being.
Yet the game of cat and mouse continues as the Musketeers gallop through the gorgeous countryside, god knows how many assassins on their tail. Finally, they spot a place in the distance and Aramis insists that he, Athos, and the Queen stay there while D’Artagnan and Porthos head back to Paris to get reinforcements.
The place they’ve found is a convent and the nuns welcome the Queen and the Musketeers. Gallagher, the lead assassin, comes right up to the door, holding a white flag. When Athos goes to see what he wants, he says, simply, “the Queen.” The rest of them can walk away freely now but anyone who stays inside the convent will die.
So the nuns are running a distillery and one of them points out to Aramis that they can make Molotov cocktails out of the alcohol. That nun turns out to be an old friend of Aramis’. Her name is, or was, Isabelle, and they go way back. They were supposed to get married but it didn’t work out. She got pregnant, then lost the baby, and decided the best thing for them both was for her to go to a convent and let Aramis live his life full of danger.
The attack has begun and while the Musketeers take out the assassins from the windows, Isabelle and other nuns throw Molotov cocktails and a whole hive of bees over the sides of the convent. Unfortunately, during a break, Isabelle and Aramis’ reunion is cut short, when two men sneak into the convent. She manages to stab one, but the other gets a shot right to her chest.
Aramis is upset about her death, yet he still ends up kissing the Queen after she comforts him. Or maybe it happens because they’re possibly all about to die—who knows. These two have been dancing around an illicit affair all season. Who knew all it took to get them together was the death of a hastily brought in former love interest?
While Aramis spent the night in bed with the Queen, the attackers were building tunnels. Just when it looks like all hope is lost, D’Artagnan, Treville, Porthos and their fake regiment show up. And so the Queen is returned home safe and sound, while the Cardinal is able to pin the attempted assassination on Mellendorf. Sounds about right.
image courtesy of INFphoto.com