Versailles [Season 1, Episode 1]
Un Roi Sans Chateau N'a Rien D'un Vrai
Shown 1st June 2016
The story starts in 1667.
King Louis XIV (George Blagden -
Vikings
) has taken control of France, after the death of his mother the Queen Regent.
However, he seems mentally unstable.
His only policy of government seems to be to tax the poor
so he can build a massive stately home at his father's hunting lodge, Versailles.
In all fairness, his brother the gay Duke of Orleans (Alexander Vlahos -
Merlin
) spends fifty thousand on shoes.
There is also a thriller subplot.
Four Spanish mercenaries are taken into custody by the King's royal thug Fabien Marchal (Tygh Runyan -
Stargate: Universe
). Standard operating procedure is to torture them to death in the hope of a confession.
The thug has a group of uniformed musketeers,
plus a handful of paid clerks and snoops who operate out of the laundry room in the basement.
Small government at its best!
The King sleeps with aristocratic women, and gets them to spy on their husbands.
Meanwhile, his wife - a Spanish Princess - is pregnant.
The King assigns a local doctor to help her.
Unfortunately the doctor is an old-fashioned type,
who still believes in blood-letting despite living in a modern era
where science has advanced to accept the sun as the centre of the universe.
Luckily his daughter Claudine (
Lizzie Brochere
) is a Twenty-First Century career woman who wants to be a professional surgeon herself.
Versailles [Season 1, Episode 2]
I Am The State
Shown 8th JUne 2016
The Queen's child has been born.
The bad news is that it is not the King's.
Hardly unfair of her, because the King always treated their relationship like an open marriage.
Anyway, the secret service goes into overdrive to stage a coverup.
The King's old friend Rohan, a Cavalier with a strange (Dutch?) accent, arrives at court.
He will not be seen again for the next few episodes,
although he eventually turns out to be an important character.
The King wants to invade the Spanish Netherlands.
He even has an amazing model of the defences of Maastricht,
although all anyone talks about is besieging Cambrai.
The King's brother, Phillipe the Duke of Orleans (Alexander Vlahos -
Merlin
), wants to be put in charge of the campaign.
The King also launches a crackdown on the Aristocracy.
Genuine nobles are exempt from paying taxes, while fakes would be a security risk.
Versailles [Season 1, Episode 3]
Il est Temps Que La Noblesse Replique
Shown 15th JUne 2016
It turns out that the Queen's little person was not the only man of colour that she knew.
Prince Anabar of Orsini visits the court, for the first time in nine months.
He represents his father in negotiations with the French, Spanish, English and Dutch.
King Louis XIV (George Blagden -
Vikings
) introduces Anabar to the Royal daisy-chain.
The King's mistress, Henriette of England (
Noémie Schmidt
), is married to the King's brother - the gay Duke of Orleans (Alexander Vlahos -
Merlin
) - who would rather have sex with Mister Cavalier.
He also gets a tour of Versailles,
where Louis has his workers constructing 400 apartments for the nobility to live in.
The road to Versailles is now plagued with highwaymen.
This is the result of a small central government,
which is basically the Royal household.
The King's security budget is spent guarding himself and his wealth.
Worse, the highwaymen are former nobles that he himself exiled and disenfranchised.
Louis would rather spend his time hunting down and killing an old man
who was dispossessed for supporting a failed rebellion
Versailles [Season 1, Episode 4]
Demain I'Aurai Bien Plus De Choses E...
Shown 22nd JUne 2016
It turns out that the highwaymen are secretly organised by the Duke of Cassell.
His goal is to undermine the building of Versailles,
which is taking up most of the country's tax money.
This would not make any difference to him, because as a nobleman he is tax-exempt.
It will take two hundred soldiers to secure the road.
Unfortunately, the French Army is away invading the Spanish Netherlands.
The King sends his favourite rider, Rohan, to protect his brother Phillipe,
Duke of Orleans (Alexander Vlahos -
Merlin
). At the same time, he also conducts secret negotiations with a Hapsburg envoy.
Versailles [Season 1, Episode 5]
La Guerre Fait Toujours Rage En Toi, Dis...
Shown 29th JUne 2016
King Louis XIV (George Blagden -
Vikings
) signs a peace deal to end the war with Spain and the Hapsburg Empire.
This means he can take his army, six thousand men, home to France.
He offers them jobs as construction workers at Versailles,
and will now have enough men to adequately patrol the highways.
He even has enough gunpowder left over for a flamboyant fireworks display.
Phillipe, Duke of Orleans (Alexander Vlahos -
Merlin
), still has some PTSD symptoms!
Madame de Maupassant is sent off on a mission.
She must persuade the Duke of Cassell to attend the King's banquet.
A mother-and-daughter pair of courtiers have been hanging around.
Now they get to hook up with some men.
The mother, Béatrice Hiéronyme de Lorraine (
Amira Casar
), goes for a walk in the garden with security thug Fabien Marchal (Tygh Runyan -
Stargate: Universe
). Meanwhile the daughter climbs a scaffolder's pole.
Versailles [Season 1, Episode 6]
Ce N'est pas Un Enfant Que tu Lui Don...
Shown 6th July 2016
Two thousand construction workers go on strike.
Small wonder, since they are ex-military war veterans
and yet their risk of injury or death is greater at Versaille than on the battlefield.
The King sends officer after officer to negotiate with them,
but avoids sending his brother Phillipe, Duke of Orleans (Alexander Vlahos -
Merlin
).
The Duke of Cassell settles into his new lodgings - a former broom closet.
His hired highwayman is still at work, in partnership with a crooked tax collector.
The King's answer is to build a hospital for wounded soldiers.
Well, he will pay for it but the soldiers will have to build it themselves.
Also, he commissions a service medal for survivors of the campaign.
Versailles [Season 1, Episode 7]
La Maladie Du Roi Empire, C'est Main ...
Shown 20th July 2016
The King was infected with TB, and now he is bed-ridden.
It affects his mind as well as his body,
and the most lucid thing he can do is invent a new dance.
His most trusted advisor is now Jacques the gardener (Gilly Gilchrist).
A conspiracy of mask-wearing assassins is hanging around.
Their first plan was to poison a cordial that the King's stale-male-pale doctor was to deliver.
Unfortunately, the King prefers the healing touch of Doctor Claudine (
Lizzie Brochere
). The backup plan somehow involves the gay lover of Phillipe,
Duke of Orleans (Alexander Vlahos -
Merlin
).
The Conspiracy draws a few outliers, like the Duke of Cassell and his former henchman.
The Huguenot woman has the backing of William of Orange,
and seeks to start the French Revolution a century early.
This does not make much sense - they seem to rely on the idea of Phillipe taking over,
so all they need to do is sit back and let things develop naturally
with no real risk of exposing themselves.
Perhaps the conspiracy is more organised than it seems.
The Royal council has to formally appoint a Regent,
and the Queen - a Spanish Hapsburg Princess - insists on a joint Regency.
Versailles [Season 1, Episode 8]
Ton Palais De Reve Est En Train de Dev...
Shown 27th July 2016
The lady doctor Claudine (
Lizzie Brochere
) takes up her father's job.
Of course, she has to dress as a man.
Perhaps this is for the best,
because it ensures that men will not inappropriately flirt with her.
Fabien Marchal (Tygh Runyan -
Stargate: Universe
) makes his way to the doctor's bed.
Not for sex, because he had too much of that in the previous episode.
His lover poisoned him, and he has come to realise the truth about her.
The Huguenots meet up in a basement.
Their leader, the mysterious masked man,
has plans to prevent an alliance between France and England.
However, the highwayman is only looking out for himself.
Yes, even with the King's Head of Security out of action,
the conspiracy begins to fall apart from the inside.
Versailles [Season 1, Episode 9]
Etiquette
Shown 3rd August 2016
King Louis XIV (George Blagden -
Vikings
) knows that William of Orange is behind the plotting at Versailles.
This makes a good pretext for a pre-emptive invasion of Holland.
To do this, he must divide the alliance of Protestant nations in Northern Europe.
Louis sends his sister-in-law, Princess Henriette of England (
Noémie Schmidt
). The French aristocrats are all played by English actors,
while the English Princess is played by a French actress.
She remarks that it is now six years after the Great Plague (1665),
and four years after the Great Fire of London (1666).
She has to bribe the British with three hundred thousand gold crowns a month for a six-month campaign.
In return, Louis wants fifty men-of-war to support his navy
and six thousand soldiers to support his army.
Fabien Marchal (Tygh Runyan -
Stargate: Universe
) investigates his lover.
Then, in a scene reminiscent of Milady's end in
The Three Musketeers
, Jacques the gardener
escorts her out into a secluded area of the royal garden.
Versailles [Season 1, Episode 10]
Laissz-moi sentir le Soleil sur ma p...
Shown 10th August 2016
Henriette of England (
Noémie Schmidt
) falls ill, with bleeding from the mouth.
This was the cliffhanger at the end of the previous episode,
but it has been re-staged so it happens in a different
The lady doctor Claudine (
Lizzie Brochere
) does what she can.
Fabien Marchal (Tygh Runyan -
Stargate: Universe
) shuts down the palace and starts interviewing everyone inside it.
He has nine hundred and forty-something journals,
presumably one for every person he has to investigate.
Of course, with so many suspects he is bound to hit a few red herrings.
The highwayman, a former exiled noble who has played both sides,
is an obvious suspect.
The King's son, the Dauphin, makes his first appearance this episode.
Rather than have him stuck in the palace,
King Louis XIV (George Blagden -
Vikings
) sends him off horse-riding with Rohan.
Versailles [Season 2, Episode 1]
The Labyrinth
Shown 21st April 2017
The Season starts by tying up the loose ends of the previous Season.
Fabien Marchal (Tygh Runyan -
Stargate: Universe
) retrieves the Dauphin and ends the old Huguenot plot.
However, there is a new plot for the new Season.
Yes, William of Orange's spymaster has a replacement spy in place.
King Louis XIV (George Blagden -
Vikings
) has paid for an amazing new technology,
and predictably he weaponises it against his prisoner.
Of course, this makes Louis out to be nothing more than a 17th Century Bond villain.
Louis recruits a local playwright as the new court historian.
Yes, this illustrates how he views history -
not as a collection of facts, but as a means to propagate his own self-image.
Another new face at court is a female astrologer,
who has the ear of the Marquise de Montespan (
Anna Brewster
).
The Minister for Justice dies, probably from arsenic poisoning.
It looks like there is a lot of it going about.
Unregulated pharmacology, that is.
People exchange love potions and suchlike at the court,
since it is a social venue as much as a business one.
As a result, everyone is a suspect.
Versailles [Season 2, Episode 2]
A Still Small Voice
Shown 28th April 2017
Phillipe, Duke of Orleans (Alexander Vlahos -
Merlin
), is in seclusion at his own palace, away from Versailles.
King Louis XIV (George Blagden -
Vikings
) decides to marry him off to the Princess of Palatine,
in order to make a military alliance with her family against the Dutch.
Fabien Marchal (Tygh Runyan -
Stargate: Universe
) investigates the poisons and the love-powders.
This involves working with the lady doctor Claudine (
Lizzie Brochere
).
The King's wife and mistress are waging a cold war against each other.
The wife, a Spanish Hapsburg princess,
hires an extremist catholic priest as her personal chaplain.
Meanwhile the mistress is heavily pregnant with the King's royal seed.
The mistress does not have a personal chaplain,
but she associates with the soothsayer woman.
Key staging posts in France refuse to feed, water or garrison the army.
It turns out that these locations are run by the Roman Catholic Church,
and the Pope has turned against Louis because of his adultery.
Jacques the gardener (Gilly Gilchrist) also functions as a guard.
He still wears his cyborg arm with a spring-loaded sword.
While patrolling the woods at night, he accidentally discovers a Dutch spy.
Versailles [Season 2, Episode 3]
Shown 5th May 2017
Princess Palatine arrives at Versailles with her new husband,
Phillipe, Duke of Orleans (Alexander Vlahos -
Merlin
). She has big shoes to fill,
since she replaces the much-loved Henriette.
But at least her husband's gay lover is friendly enough.
Madmoiselle de Clairemont has done well for herself.
She is not merely an informer for Fabien Marchal (Tygh Runyan -
Stargate: Universe
). After serving as Henriette's lady-in-waiting,
she is now lady-in-waiting to Henriette's replacement.
But King Louis XIV (George Blagden -
Vikings
) has a new assignment for her - as wife of the Duke of Cassell.
A suspect arises in the case of the poisoning.
The motive attributed to him is that he was in line for the job,
and hoped to step into the dead man's shoes.
This illustrates a problem with the King's policy of centralising control.
The aristocracy still vie for the King's favour,
but without their personal safeguards they are vulnerable from assassinating each other.
Versailles [Season 2, Episode 4]
Miasma
Shown 12th May 2017
Fabien Marchal (Tygh Runyan -
Stargate: Universe
) is down again, although he shows no sign of injury.
His attacker makes a run for it.
However, she is on foot while her pursuers are on horseback.
Also, her choice of wearing bright blue in the middle of a forest
means that her chances at concealing herself are limited.
Marquise de Montespan (
Anna Brewster
) is obsessed with keeping the King's favour.
Unfortunately her infant daughter, the King's illegitimate child, takes sick.
The Queen has her own agenda.
She wants her chaplain, Father Pascal, to force joyless religion on the court.
The Duke of Cassell is blackmailed by the spy.
Luckily for him, he still has a pretty young wife to play with.
She is a tough young spy who easily survived the death of her mother
and became an expert spy for Marchal.
Now she becomes a victim and a weakling, to make Cassell look bad.
Versailles [Season 2, Episode 5]
War And Peace
Shown 19th May 2017
In the previous episode Doctor Claudine (
Lizzie Brochere
) was fired.
Now Fabien Marchal (Tygh Runyan -
Stargate: Universe
) gets the same fate.
However, the two of them have a lot in common so they can comfort each other.
While the King has dispensed with two of his most loyal servants,
he now pardons the young nobleman who was cleared of poisoning the minister.
However, the nobleman has his own agenda - that of the soothsayer woman.
He is there to get new clients for her,
and to fulfill the needs of the Marquise de Montespan (
Anna Brewster
).
King Louis XIV (George Blagden -
Vikings
) wants to send his brother off to lead the invasion of Holland.
However, he gets subtley persuaded to lead the invasion himself.
Phillipe the Duke of Orleans (Alexander Vlahos -
Merlin
) is not only denied the generalship, he is also denied the regency.
Louis hands over complete power to his wife, the Hapsburg Princess.
Things do not look good for Montespan.
Claudine (
Lizzie Brochere
) investigates the source of the poisons.
She goes to Paris, and visits an apothecary who stocks exotic plants.
The bad news is that the rough neighbourhoods are full of rapey poor people.
The good news is that Father Etienne,
who ministers to whores and takes their unwanted children,
is in the area and knows how to take care of himself.
Versailles [Season 2, Episode 6]
Shown 26th May 2017
King Louis XIV (George Blagden -
Vikings
) leads the invasion of Holland.
He fires the first shot, resting his musket on the shoulder of a minion.
This move may seem stylish, and was copied by Furiosa in
Mad Max: Fury Road
. However, it would have rendered the unfortunate minion permanently deaf in that ear.
Back at Versailles, the poisoners are still at work.
The Queen's response is to have all the wine confiscated and locked up.
She even puts a curfew on the residents.
This is a very unpleasant move, since most people are only there against their will
and are living in squalor compared to their own castles at home.
In real life, Marie Therese was the one who said let them eat pie crust,
a line popularly misquoted and misattributed to Marie Antoinette.
While the King is away, his ministers must negotiate a trade deal
to get access to the port of Pondicherry in India.
The Sultan will not negotiate with the Queen,
because he sexistly believes women are too good and pure for mere career-work.
Phillipe the Duke of Orleans (Alexander Vlahos -
Merlin
) agrees to negotiate on behalf of his brother,
in exchange for a percentage of all profits from the Canal Du Midi -
which allows the distribution of goods from the Atlantic to the Mediterranean,
bypassing Spain.
The courtiers celebrate by holding an orgy.
Unfortunately it all goes wrong.
Versailles [Season 2, Episode 7]
A Night
Shown 2nd June 2017
King Louis XIV (George Blagden -
Vikings
) finally has a face-to-face confrontation with William of Orange.
Yes, he actually meets someone who can treat him as an equal.
William proposes an alliance, so they can have a peaceful global trade empire.
This is at odds with the Frenchman's plan,
to have a European empire founded on invasions and bloodshed.
The French and the Dutch try to remain civilised.
William's advisor accuses the French playwrite of not being a true historian,
more interested in writing the embroidered version of events than the true facts.
This pretty much sums up the entire show's attitude to history.
The Queen uses the previous episode's tragedy as an excuse to crack down on parties.
All this will do is increase the nobles' resentment,
taking away the few pleasures they are left and turning the palace into a prison in all but name.
William knows this, and points it out to Louis.
The tighter he clutches his fist, the more loyalty will slip through his fingers.
As a result, Louis turns his closest friends against himself.
Versailles [Season 2, Episode 8]
Le Nouveau Regime
Shown 9th June 2017
The Queen still wants to get rid of her love rival, Marquise de Montespan (
Anna Brewster
). This week's plan is to invoice her for her expenses,
which the King had promised to pay himself.
King Louis XIV (George Blagden -
Vikings
) gets home and decides to take a bath.
In real life, he only took three baths in his entire lifetime.
Palatine starts vomiting in the morning.
Everyone assumes she has been poisoned.
The height of medical technology is not old-fashioned bloodletting
- they have progressed to transfusion with the blood of a sheep.
Of course, she might just be pregnant.
The blackmailer gets greedy and squeezes his victims for more money.
Rather than face disgrace and debtors' prison for a bill they cannot pay,
they are tempted by suicide.
This will not do the conspiracy much good,
if all the soothsayer's customers are fleeced and killed.
Louis wants to drive out the Protestant scourge,
and create a Catholic empire with Justice and Enlightenment at its centre.
Of course, this is completely oxymoronical.
He is obsessed with conquering Maastricht, even though is is held by the Spanish.
To do this, he will need the Catholic Church's unconditional support.
They want him to be austere and outwardly religious.
Montespan wants to get her position back.
She arranges a magnificent firework display
Unfortunately this undermines the King's plan for austerity,
and he insists that all his minions know their place.
The Queen plots with the Cardinal to replace Montespan permanently.
Not with a new young hot mistress,
but with a boring woman who will preach to him on modesty, piety and fidelity.
They choose Madame scarron, who is the only friend of Montespan.
Louis hires Fabien Marchal (Tygh Runyan -
Stargate: Universe
) back.
Not only will this mean he gets back his old job and a regular income,
he also gets to track down the person responsible for his lover's death.
Cassell realises he is dying.
As a result, the blackmailer has no leverage on him.
Versailles [Season 2, Episode 9]
Seven Shadows
Shown 16th June 2017
The King's minions round up and oppress a religious minority.
Last Season it was the Huguenots,
but this time it is a coven of people accused of witchcraft.
Versailles [Season 2, Episode 10]
Of Blood And Stone
Shown 23rd June 2017
The main coven has been rounded up.
The remainder keep their heads down at court.
King Louis XIV (George Blagden -
Vikings
) is notoriously merciless against perceived transgressors,
and he has chosen to take assassinations on his castle grounds as a personal insult.
Versailles [Season 3, Episode 1]
Miroirs et fumées AKA Smoke And Mirrors
Shown 23 Apr 18
King Louis XIV (George Blagden -
Vikings
) welcomes a new guest to Versailles.
This guest is his defeated foe, the Holy Roman Emperor.
Louis offers to give him the same deal that William of Orange requested in the previous Season.
Louis states that he is not opposed to the Huguenots,
and only oppressed the ones who were treasonous towards him.
He has yet to revoke the Edict of Nantes,
so things still look relatively good for the oppressed minority.
This Season was largely written by
Tim Loane
, the Northern Ireland film-maker who directed Oscar-nominated short film Dance Lexie Dance.
Versailles [Season 3, Episode 2]
Question de confiance AKA Trust Issues
Shown 23 Apr 18
The Marquise de Montespan (
Anna Brewster
) has been replaced in the King's affections.
However, she seeks to undermine her replacement.
Fabien Marchal (Tygh Runyan -
Stargate: Universe
) is visited by an old friend.
The former Duchess of Cassell returns,
after apparently refusing to help William of Orange.
Marchal states he does not trust her,
although he trusted her enough last Season to let her escape.
Versailles [Season 3, Episode 3]
La vérité éclatera AKA Truth Will Out
Shown 30 Apr 18
King Louis XIV (George Blagden -
Vikings
) sends Fabien Marchal (Tygh Runyan -
Stargate: Universe
) to round up a bunch of poor people in Paris.
The Holy Roman Emperor plots to rescue his daughter from Versailles.
King Louis does not need her as a hostage,
he simply wishes to prevent her from being married off to the King of Spain.
The French Queen is a Hapsburg, and has to choose sides.
A
Lara Pulver
lookalike named Delphine, Duchesse d'Angers (
Marie Askehave
) arrives at Versailles.
She looks to be a major player in future episodes.
Versailles [Season 3, Episode 4]
Crime et châtiment AKA Crime And Punishment
Shown 30 Apr 18
Fabien Marchal (Tygh Runyan -
Stargate: Universe
) has been kidnapped by the working class.
They want to trade him for Olivier (
Tim Loane
) and the other hostages.
Will King Louis XIV (George Blagden -
Vikings
) be a wise and generous ruler?
A Huguenot scientist pays a visit to Versailles.
Louis has him locked up for no reason.
The Chevalier is falling for Delphine, Duchesse d'Angers (
Marie Askehave
), and tries to intervene on her behalf.
Yes, the super-gay man has fallen for a woman.
An incredibly wealthy woman, but also a very female one.
The French Queen has exceeded her usefulness to the Holy Roman Empire.
Her own Hapsburg family has decided to get rid of her.
Louis is miserable since his platonic lady-friend was exiled from court.
He goes to visit her at her new lodgings - a convent.
Versailles [Season 3, Episode 5]
L'au-delà AKA The Afterlife
Shown 07 May 18
Versailles is visited by a trade delegation from the Ottoman Empire.
Their secret mission is to negotiate a military alliance against the Hapsburgs.
Yes, the Turks want to launch another siege of Vienna.
Will King Louis XIV (George Blagden -
Vikings
) sell out another Roman Catholic empire?
Louis decides to play the Roman Catholic hand quite strongly on the home front.
His next step is to heavily tax and oppress the Huguenots,
the French Protestants who make up a large portion of the middle class.
For example, the Royal boot-maker and his family are Huguenots.
Let us remember that the aristocracy pay no taxes to Louis,
and the peasants are by definition very poor indeed.
To remove the middle class means the rich will get richer and the poor will get poorer.
The results may not be seen for a hundred years,
but the result is inevitable.
Modern-day politicians may shout Project Fear,
but they are merely ignoring the fact that actions have consequences.
The Queen has fallen mysteriously ill.
Her doctor cannot do anything to save her,
so they get a Roman Catholic priest to conduct an exorcism.
The storyline is that she is assassinated by the Hapsburgs
in order to tie up the loose ends in their plot.
However, who benefits the most from her death?
Louis gets to cut his ties with the Hapsburgs,
he can sleep with his new religiously devout mistress
(who would never have sex with a married man)
and even potentially choose a new wife.
Versailles [Season 3, Episode 6]
La roue de la fortune AKA The Wheel Of Fortune
Shown 07 May 18
King Louis XIV (George Blagden -
Vikings
) has planned his betrayal of the Hapsburgs and their Holy Roman Empire.
However, they have made a secret alliance with the Roman Church.
And the Church has a secret weapon against him, in the form of
The Man In The Iron Mask
.
Louis tries to placate the Roman Church by oppressing the Huguenots.
His new step is to confiscate their French-language bibles
and make a bonfire of them as after-dinner entertainment for the Cardinal's feast.
The good old days of fireworks displays are long gone.
Fabien Marchal (Tygh Runyan -
Stargate: Universe
) finally gets to seal the deal with the Duchess of Cassel.
However, her job is to protect the Hapsburg Princess
and Marchal has been ordered to remove her from Louis' list of enemies.
Versailles [Season 3, Episode 7]
Le livre des révélations AKA The Book Of Revelations
Shown 14 May 18
King Louis XIV (George Blagden -
Vikings
) and Phillipe the Duke of Orleans (Alexander Vlahos -
Merlin
) finally have a clue on the origins of
The Man In The Iron Mask
. They pretend to go on a boar-hunting expedition,
while really they sneak off to look for the midwife who delivered their illegitimate brother.
The Duchess of Cassel and the Hapsburg Princess are on the run.
Fabien Marchal (Tygh Runyan -
Stargate: Universe
) is in hot pursuit, and he always gets his man.
However, he has been unlucky in love -
his lovers in the first two Seasons both died
as a result of involvement in palace plotting.
The middle-class Huguenots are being taxed out of existence.
They have no choice but to leave the country.
The Chevalier must take time away from preparing his boyfriend's daughter
and instead start forging travel documents for his girlfriend's friends.
Princess Palatine paraphrases the German Jewish poet Heinrich Heine,
a century before his birth, by saying
It starts with burning books, and ends with burning people.
Versailles [Season 3, Episode 8]
Des hommes et des dieux AKA Men And Gods
Shown 14 May 18
King Louis XIV (George Blagden -
Vikings
) has
The Man In The Iron Mask
. However, the truth is distracting.
He can no longer concentrate on his role as King.
Can he prove himself worthy?
The Cardinal may not have his leverage any more,
but he still wants to force Louis into an alliance.
The plan is to marry him to Princess Breganza of Portugal.
The working-class Huguenots have decided to start a leafleting campaign.
Yes, this is straight out of
Red Dwarf: Polymorph
. When it is pointed out that they will make things worse,
the reply is It can hardly be any worse than it is.
It may have been a century since the St Bartholomew's Day massacre,
but Parisians should still have some collective memory of the event.
The rich Huguenots are fleeing the country,
and the Chevalier is getting rich by helping them.
However, since the forger is obviously greedy and artistically inclined
there are a limited number of suspects.
Versailles [Season 3, Episode 9]
La poudrière AKA The Tinderbox
Shown 21 May 18
King Louis XIV (George Blagden -
Vikings
) carries out his plan to solve
The Man In The Iron Mask
situation.
With this over, the Cardinal has no more leverage on him.
Rome wants Louis to marry Isabella, the Portuguese Infanta,
so Europe can be stabilised through a single bloodline.
Louis prefers to stabilise it through bloodshed,
by invading and conquering his neighbours.
Louis also decides to revoke the Edict of Nantes,
the legal document that protects members of non-Catholic religions.
This allows him to confine the Huguenot nobles to their rooms at Versailles,
and to mark out the homes of Protestant peasants.
Of course, he is not universally popular.
Fabien Marchal (Tygh Runyan -
Stargate: Universe
) quit the King's service in
Season 2
on a matter of the heart, and now wants to save the shoe-maker's sister.
Likewise, the Chevalier wants to save the Duchess.
Versailles [Season 3, Episode 10]
L'héritage AKA The Legacy
Shown 21 May 18
Fabien Marchal (Tygh Runyan -
Stargate: Universe
) is still on the run, after he quit the King's service.
He was kept out of the loop about
The Man In The Iron Mask
, but he still knows too much for comfort.
The Huguenot woman helps him hide, but she herself is on the run.
The General cooks up some propaganda to justify the purge.
He talks of a nefarious plot,
and states that the arrests were limited to the ringleaders.
These ringleaders, all ten thousand of them, were sent as slaves to the galleys.
Seventeen pastors were executed,
while the Chevalier and his girlfriend Delphine, Duchesse d'Angers (
Marie Askehave
) are to be sent to the slave colony of Louisiana.
Palatine is so disgusted at the King's decision
that she decides to pay her husband a visit in his private residence.
King Louis XIV (George Blagden -
Vikings
) plans a ceremony of Thaumaturgy in Paris,
where he will bless the sick and the needy.
Yes, he pretty much sees himself as the second coming of Christ.
With Marchal gone, the head of Security is now the shoe-maker.
The Huguenots plan to ambush Louis and his procession.
All they have is half a dozen men with single-shot pistols.
The aristocrats in attendance, most of the regular cast,
outnumber the paupers being healed.
Will the heroic assassins save France?
