I am an anathema device

• F/M
• M/M

• d'Artagnan/Porthos (Trois Mousquetaires)
• Athos/Constance Bonacieux
• Aramis | René d'Herblay/Sylvie

Responding to @llywela13​‘s lovely recap of “A Good Soldier”

"I'm going to stop banging on about the lack of explanation now and just presume he's an official cadet awaiting commission, even if we have never been officially told as such, nor ever heard him actually express his desire to join."

I think after his valiant service in S1x02, we have to assume he's determined to stay, and since he's taking orders from Athos and Treville, he has to be a cadet at this point. There's literally no other way he would be permitted to guard the royal family otherwise.

"So it makes sense that he doesn't realise what's bothering Aramis here"

I think it's 'doesn't remember' more than 'doesn't realise'. Presumably Aramis was ostensibly over the trauma of the massacre as far as the world is concerned, and on this day in the present, Athos is probably thinking of a dozen other things other than Savoy->massacre->sad Aramis. And Aramis hasn't said anything, more proof of his habit of keeping his true, deepest emotions close to his chest (though when he does reveal them, it's often to Athos himself.)

"Athos isn't even wearing his hat, but still manages to throw it away in all the excitement. This is No Time for Hats has become a trope in the fandom for a reason!"

Heh, very true. I presume this time Athos wants to free his hands, but the way they throw their hats away every other time makes little sense. Does make it all look so dramatic and stuff, though.

"Aramis is close behind, but slows himself down tripping over the box border; not Cabrera's most graceful moment ever."

Aw, cut the man a break. He clears the hedge but botches the landing. He's twelve years older and 2 inches shorter than our Luca, who has ridiculously long (bandy) legs to begin with :) And he's wearing that silly fucking cape to boot.

"Santiago Cabrera ... is sometimes criticised for not being the most overtly emotive actor"

Who are these fools who think that? I've seen him in so many things and he emotes like a champ!

On the scene with Constance, when Marsac says "I'm in your debt, Madame," I love the derisive little 'Hmmm' she says as she's out of the room. She's in no danger of falling for his bullshit, and I have to say, she's a better judge of character than Aramis is in this. (I really don't like Marsac.)

"[Athos and Marsac] loathe one another on sight"

Well, of course. Marsac has committed two unforgivable sins against honour - desertion of his position, and of his friend. (And Athos won't be at all thrilled that this friend is *his* dearest friend, and that Marsac seems ready to drag Aramis down into the shit with him.) Honour is Athos's religion. Marsac has no honour whatsoever, and Athos cannot ever not despise someone like that. (He only starts to change his mind about Milady once she shows she still has a little left.)

You talk about Porthos being somewhat detached, and it's a pity we don't see him offering support to Aramis, but we never really *see* Porthos being that emotionally supportive of Aramis. It's just taken as a given that he is, and will always be there for him as Aramis was always there at his back. It doesn't need to be said out loud. As for his reactions now, Porthos will hate deserters as much as Athos does for the reason that he's a soldier through and through, loyal to his bone, and wedded to duty. He doesn't give a toss about the Duke, but when a man can't depend on his brothers to stay with him, then that man is worthless.

"How convenient that he happened upon this bloke at just the same time that the Duke of Savoy was about to visit Paris"

From what he said about working for Savoy, it wasn't a coincidence - he was there *with* the Duke as part of his entourage. But him boasting about killing Musketeers in Marsac's hearing was a hell of a stretch for the plot, not to mention that since Marsac has been in Aramis's custody since the Duke's arrival, when, exactly did he hear this? Unless he was following the Duke, in which case, why not kill him along the route?

"they don't get any similar scenes of friendship at all in this episode, and that's probably my biggest regret about the episode"

Indeed. Thank God for fanfic :)

"such a blank dismissal of the claim is also kinda naïve"

You know what I thought of when I read this? The Thin Blue Line concept. Cops against the world. The Musketeers are this show's police, and they react exactly as cops do in the real world when one of theirs is attacked or criticised - they close ranks (as in the case of Serpico et al). Aramis is one of them, but he's also the vehicle by which this attack has come. So while they don't trust Marsac, they *do* trust Treville who is literally seen as their adoptive father - even by Athos. It's not a naive reaction, so much as an automatic one. Also, the messengers here are not reliable - one's a murderer, the other a cowardly deserter. Why wouldn't their first reaction be to call 'bullshit'? I mean, I did, because it's *Treville*. It's still horrifying to me that the accusation was true.

"there may be deeper issues in play here that they don't yet have enough information to understand"

But that's a thought for *after* they get past the shock and instant rejection. Not seconds after they hear the accusation.

"for Aramis this is intensely personal"

It is for all of them, but in different ways. Treville literally saved Athos's life, so the idea that the man could do something so despicable must be like a knife in the heart. Treville gave d'Artagnan hope and a life after the murder of his father. And Treville did what no other commander would do, take Porthos, a slave's descendent, a rough commoner, and stuck him in an elite regiment full of the nobility's sons. To accuse Treville of treason is to threaten him with death, and we know how hard they took his real death.

So *their* way of taking it personally is muffling their ability to sympathise with Aramis because it's been presented up to now as *Marsac's* agenda. They do come on board fairly quickly because clearing Treville's name is important to all of them for different reasons.

Aaaand you say all this pretty much later ;)

"No one loves a whistle-blower."

No one loves a coward and deserter.

"Athos, turning swiftly to glare daggers at the man, like he considers this a really low blow"

I took his reaction as him worrying that emotionally driven Aramis will be driven to stupidity — again — by Marsac's manipulation. Aramis is a good solider but he makes bloody stupid choices, and Athos will have seen many examples of that.

"When such a serious allegation has been made and twenty men are dead, simply saying 'I don't believe it' is not enough. It wasn't enough for d'Artagnan, whose father had been murdered, and it isn't enough for Aramis, who saw his comrades slaughtered around him."

All true, but in defense of the other three, there isn't the time pressure on them that there was in Athos's situation, nor is anyone about to be executed. Athos is slowly, painfully coming around to the idea that they have to investigate, but it's a deeply repugnant insult to Treville's honour and reputation, so it's not surprising that the most he can do is let Aramis do what he needs to (and that's a big concession because Aramis is *good* at investigation.)

Marsac is a disruptive distraction. Once he's safely tied up in Constance's house again, they start to think clearly.

"I find it so jarring that we don't get to see him being such a stalwart supportive friend to Aramis when he needs it most"

The problem with overt support right then is that it's also supporting Marsac, and Porthos absolutely hates the man. I think that the only reason he's not making a big thing out of it there. Also, the one thing Porthos can't handle is being lied to by his mates, and Aramis has lied to him, so that will make him a little standoffish anyway.

Those two just don't really do heart to hearts. Even when Porthos met Aramis at the monastery, it was like pulling teeth for him to admit what was his biggest problem with Aramis. He prefers to ignore someone or something that's distressing him, or solve it with physical action, which is why he has no trouble showing Marsac his teeth over attacking d'Artagnan. (I'm going to pretend this is all intentional characterisation instead of the writers forgetting about the important stuff, which they do tend to do.)

As an aside, re your remarks on Aramis's flashback, I wonder how accurate his memories are, given the headwound and, no doubt, hypothermia. Did Marsac really help him? Did he even see Marsac or did he imagine it? Did he tell himself Marsac saved his life because he couldn't imagine it any other way? We have several unreliable narrators in this ep, and Aramis is one of them.

On the sword fight with the Duke, do you recall Tom talking about filming this scene? Apparently the floor could not be de-slipped as they normally do by pouring Coca Cola on it and letting it dry because it's a heritage building. So he slipped all over the place, and insisted on wearing sneakers when his feet were out of frame :) You see him fall at one point and I have a suspicion it wasn't in the script.

"What motive could a musketeer possibly have for wanting to kill the Duke of Savoy?"

Delivery of that line was perfection :)

"we know [The Bonacieux] keep servants"

Well, one at least. I imagine if Jacques talks to the maid the way he talks to Constance, the servant(s) all hate his guts, and wouldn't tell him if they walked in on Constance having sex with all four Muskie boys :)

"I wonder now how much of the heartache in the remainder of this episode could be avoided if Treville felt able, in this moment, to send the others away and then simply sit Aramis down and explain everything to him, the one man who actually deserves to know the whole story."

This is so Treville though, isn't it? He did the same thing to Porthos over his father. And over the Challenge with the Vinny Jones ring-in.

He doesn't share, he doesn't emote anything but anger, he never lets down his guard. And I wonder if that's a legacy of dealing with the cardinal, living and serving under Marie de Medici and so on, as much as his own stoic nature.

He and Athos are brothers from a different mother, really. Must drive open-hearted Porthos up the bloody wall.

"D'ARTAGNAN: Treville didn't admit anything."

Aramis is right though. He did. Treville never throws empty threats around, or blusters, or screams when he can be flat and sarcastic. That he didn't actually have them arrested for quite egregious insubordination is all the proof Aramis needs. And Athos agrees. Porthos is still desperate to find a way to absolve Treville, but the older men know he's guilty.

"what show would be complete without a sexual assault on its resume"

Yeah. That the show went there - and so much more often and worse in Season 2 - really disappointed me. We didn't need this scene to hate Marsac, or to know he'd reached his lowest ebb. Lazy scriptwriting.

"[Aramis] then hits Treville again, for good measure"

That bothered me, that second punch - while Treville was already down. Then Aramis ran away and it really looked cowardly to me.

One punch - totally in character. The rest of it was not Aramis, it wasn't Musketeers. God knows what they were thinking.

"[Aramis] believes nonetheless in due process and rule of law, in justice."

Also in forgiveness and redemption. Assassinating the Duke without giving him a chance to confess and gain absolution is a sin, even for a man guilty of such a heinous crime.

"[Richelieu] executes the most beautiful double take you will ever see"

I made you a new GIF just for you :)

"If Marsac already had a gun of his own, why did he take Aramis's?"

Because he only gets one shot from each. He can reload, but it takes a lot of time.

Fabulous recap! Thank you for sharing!