On the latest episode of The Musketeers, Aramis (Santiago Cabrera) and Queen Anne (Alexandra Dowling) had been working together to broker a peace deal with the Spanish. Aramis wanted to go to King Louis (Ryan Gage) with their information but Anne wanted Aramis to deliver one last message to the Spanish first.
Aramis rode out alone with a letter to deliver to the Spanish Ambassador. He was met by a man who took him to an abandoned building where Grimaud (Matthew McNulty) was waiting to ambush him. He was knocked out, tied up and hung by his wrists. Grimaud was able to take the letter before Aramis destroyed it and gave it to Gaston.
D’Artagnan (Luke Pasqualino) and Porthos (Howard Charles) delivered some captured Spanish generals to Marcheaux (Matt Stokoe). D’Artagnan wanted to know that they would be looked after and Marcheaux promised they would until they hung.
Louis had begun to deteriorate rapidly and had been given a new opiate based medicine to help with his pain. Minister Treville (Hugo Speer) was by his side and promised to look after him. However when Treville awoke the next morning, Louis had gone missing.
The Musketeers were called and Athos (Tom Burke) arrived with D’Artagnan and Porthos. The noted that Aramis was missing and went in search of Louis. He was wandering around the Palace gardens in his nightclothes and they soon tracked him down.
Before taking him back inside he rambled to them that Milady de Winter (Maimie McCoy) was the most beautiful woman he’d ever seen. Treville took him back inside to bed.
Grimaud forged a letter to appear as though it was from Madrid and sent it to the Queen with a list of demands. He wanted the Spanish prisoners released in exchange for Aramis. She showed the letter to Treville.
The Musketeers were tasked with taking the Spanish prisoners back from the Red Guard. They turned up just as Marcheaux was about to hang them. As they began to leave with them one of the other prisoners recognised D’Artagnan and appealed for his help. He turned out to be his cousin, Espoir (Tom McCall) who had also been sent to hang for stealing. D’Artagnan decided to take him with them against the wishes of Marcheaux.
Treville had a visitor who turned out to be Milady de Winter. She was on the run from the English after killing a duke’s son. Milady demanded money and Treville agreed for the Crown to pay her a retainer in return for her assassination skills. He also warned her to stay away from Athos.
Gaston met with the Duke of Lorraine (Robert Glenister) and they plotted to take the throne. He told Gaston to keep Aramis alive and later Grimaud said he would use Aramis to lure the Musketeers to him. His plan was to kill them all.
Meanwhile, Aramis managed to free himself by distracting the man guarding him. Sadly his escape didn’t last long and he was recaptured by Grimaud and his men.
Treville and Constance (Tamla Kari) went to the Queen to tell her about the plot against her. They suspected that Grimaud was working with Gaston and Marcheaux. They advised her to win the trust of the people of France.
After talks with the Queen, Constance met Sylvie (Thalissa Teixeira) with an offer. The plan was to let her use some printing facilities paid for by the Queen. The Queen would pay the bill to boost her reputation and help the poorest people to learn to read and write.
The Musketeers set out to make the trade for Aramis. D’Artagnan wanted to take Espoir along with them to then set him free. They reluctantly agreed but said he must not get in the way of their mission.
Near the location of the meet, D’Artagnan went to set Espoir free. They came across where Aramis was being held and spotted Grimaud. Athos decided it would be worth a rescue attempt and planned to kill Grimaud too. They used the recruits and Espoir to help them.
After a fierce gun battle and plenty of sword fighting they got to Aramis but Grimaud had him at gunpoint. Aramis told them to shoot but they didn’t want him to get hurt in the crossfire. Grimaud managed to flee on horseback and Aramis was really annoyed at them for not taking him down.
After thanking Espoir for his help he was sent on his way. They decided to return to Paris instead of going after Grimaud.
Grimaud met with Marcheaux who showed him the leaflets printed by Sylvie. He cooked up a plan to use them against the Queen.
Back at the Garrison, Milady was waiting for Athos. They shared a kiss but then Athos pushed her away because of Sylvie.
Athos went looking for Sylvie and discovered that she had been taken by the Red Guard. He was shown a new poster that had been created making fun of the Queen by saying she had a new lover.
The musketeers got the Queen safely back to the Palace and met with a furious Louis. He was annoyed at not being told of the Spanish peace talks and also of the new posters ridiculing the Queen.
Sylvie was due to be whipped and given 20 lashes by Marcheaux. He decided to up the punishment to 30 when she spoke back to him. As the punishment was carried out Athos arrived and tried to stop it. He was followed by Pothos and D’Artagnan and the whipping was stopped.
Milady watched on from the crowd as Athos tended to Sylvie. She then went to see Treville and accepted his offer. He said he would send for her when she was needed.
At the end of the episode, Louis called Anne a ‘Spanish harlot’ and Aramis was told off by Treville for being a soldier playing at politics. Treville became furious at Aramis and threw him out when suggested that he was doing the same.
The next episode is The Prize. When death strikes the Louvre, Treville takes controversial steps to protect the Dauphin from the unholy alliance of Grimaud, Gaston and the Duke of Lorraine. His secretive tactics isolate the Queen and threaten to drive even his loyal Musketeers apart. With the disbanded Red Guard at Grimaud’s disposal, Constance and Sylvie must hide the Dauphin in a city crawling with spies, while Treville turns politician to divide the opposition. Will diplomacy work in the battle to save France, or has Treville underestimated his enemies?
Tune into BBC One at 8:30pm on Saturday to watch the episode. Preview episode 9 with our gallery below:
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