MovieChat Forums > The Musketeers (2014) Discussion > Cheesy, cheap writing

Cheesy, cheap writing

posted 8 years ago by joshavanhoudt
5 replies | jump to latest

Normally it is not my style to comment on a tv series after watching only one episode, but I cannot resist in this case.

For a series with quite alright production values the writing is appalling. Any story set around the musketeers is bound to be a little cheesy, a little tongue-in-cheek, it is what the audience expects and what fans of the story appreciate I think, speaking for myself anyway.

But this is just too much. I mean, the cheap way to kill off Gaudet without making D'Artagnan a villain? The unnecessary last minute suspense of Athos' saving? The predictable killing off of Dujan, a scene which is void of any relevance at all... the flat female characters...

Pff. This is an insult to the potential of this series.

[–] joshavanhoudt 8 years ago

Aaaaand the second episode is as bad if not worse.

Constance husband tells the musketeers: "I'll see you to the door"... yet D'Artagnan stays behind with Constance. Is this really the only way the writers could think of to write in some precious romantic alone time for these two? It's a bloody disgrace.

[–] lucy-loo1 8 years ago

It wasn't clear in epi 2 but d'Artagnan was living in Bonacieux and Constance's house as a lodger by then, which is why he stays behind.

The show is good overall - if you stick with it - but the writing has a few issues, including a lack of screentime for d'Artagnan and Constance's developing romance

[–] OhhDonna 8 years ago

Disagree.

And the fact that they don't waste too much time on romance is the best part of the show.

[–] lucy-loo1 8 years ago

It's fine to not waste too much time on romance BUT you do need to develop proper chemistey in one of the most important romances in the show - d'Artagnan and Constance - otherwise it's poor writing and viewers don't care.

[–] mstanley-1 8 years ago

I watched half a dozen episodes and really wanted to like it, but at least Dumas fit his story into actual history, which this show seems to know nothing of, which is surprising for a British series. Also surprising is the tailored leather outfits everyone wears - very UN-musketeer garb that panders to current trends in Hollywood movie making. More fantasy than history, go watch Richard Lester's Three and Four Musketeers for the only really good treatment the books ever received.