Versailles Review: Crime and Punishment (Season 3 Episode 4)
The bulk of Versailles Season 3 Episode 4, “Crime and Punishment” centers on the weakest subplot of the season, a fact that unfortunately detracts from several much more interesting character developments happening elsewhere.
The riots and civil unrest that most of us haven’t bothered to care much about because it detracts from the over-the-top drama of Louis’ court are ongoing. You’d be forgiven for not entirely knowing what, exactly, everyone’s so upset about, but it’s taxes.
Also, that mob that beat up Colbert a couple episodes back probably.
Anyway, this has all escalated rather quickly. Now Louis is holding prisoners from the last riot in the Bastille, and some of the rebels (most notably Bastien) have kidnapped Fabien Marchal in return.
Versailles makes no effort to explain to us how this happened, or how a man of Fabien’s talents might find himself bound and gagged in the basement of a random tannery.
Which would be fine, if any of this was fun. But it’s not.
Eventually, Jeanne discovers that her friend has a special guest in the basement, which is basically just an excuse for her to give yet another speech about the excesses of the French royals and the suffering of the poor.
And the thing is? It’s not like she’s wrong.
Louis’ behavior is and has been awful. He treats his subjects as a bottomless piggy bank and acts as though they should all be grateful for the chance to toil for him.
We should all be 100% on Jeanne’s side. But the show has done little to make any of us care about Guillame, Bastien or any of these people, which is why Louis decision to lie to and then slaughter a group of them doesn’t land as hard as it should.
Yes, it’s an atrocious decision and Louis at his absolute worst. And perhaps if it’s all merely mean to be an example — for Phillippe and for us — that Louis is rapidly becoming a tyrant, then at least it makes narrative sense.
But since we don’t have anything like a real emotional connection with any of these folks, the sudden death of a man whose name we likely barely remember, feels like a too-convenient plot point.
Versailles has always been the sort of show that excels at high drama, but struggles with nuance. Which is why it stumbles so badly at trying to critique the lives of the characters whose very behavior it encourages us to delight in.
For example, Sophie’s sudden spy turn is as intriguing as it is strangely nonsensical.
Her sudden devotion to Leopold’s cause remains unexplained, as well as what, precisely, he could have promised her to get her to release what appear to be poisonous insects into the Queen’s rooms and lie to Marchal.
But Sophie’s utter commitment to her dramatic dark plan is entertaining to watch, and that’s what makes all the difference.
Even Louis’ trip to a nunnery to fetch back his disgraced ex Madame de Maintenon is the kind of thing this show excels at, as the king tries to convince himself he’s become a good person simply by virtue of the fact that he didn’t sleep with a teenager when given the chance.
Way to go, I guess.
The most intriguing person in all this is, surprisingly, Maintenon, who finally acknowledges what we’ve all guessed already — that she’s not as good as she pretends, and doesn’t really want to be.
All it took was some hard time in a local convent for Maintenon to confess that what she really wants isn’t a life of prayer and contemplation. (Surprise!) Instead, she wants power.
This realization seems like an important turning point for the character though perhaps one that is a bit sad for the story, overall. Maintenon’s piety made her interesting, and set her relationship with Louis apart from the many others — and other women — that he’s had over time.
Someone expecting the king to be better than he has to be, rather than encouraging his worst self in service to her own self-interest is at least a story we haven’t seen before.
But Maintenon’s spiral into her own dark side should be fun to watch. Certainly more so than rioting peasants.
What did you think of this episode of Versailles? Share your thoughts in the comments below!
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Versailles airs Saturdays at 10/9c on Ovation.
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Lacy Baugher
Lacy is a pop culture enthusiast and television critic who loves period dramas, epic fantasy, space adventures, and the female characters everyone says you're supposed to hate. Ninth Doctor enthusiast, Aziraphale girlie, and cat lady, she's a member of the Television Critics Association and Rotten Tomatoes-approved. Find her at LacyMB on all platforms.