Versailles Review: The Afterlife (Season 3 Episode 5)
After two episodes that were, quite frankly, not as fun as usual, Versailles Season 3 Episode 5, “The Afterlife,” comes roaring back with an installment that has almost everything a fan could ever ask for from this show.
There’s betrayal, scheming, death, the long-awaited consummation of a love affair, a sword fight that takes place in a decorative fountain, and even an exorcism.
Just in case anyone was still wondering why Versailles is the most entertaining show on television right now.
Thanks to the — this isn’t a typo, promise — apparently poisonous insects that for some still as yet unexplained reason Sophie released into Marie-Therese’s bedroom, the Queen is going crazy. Full-on hearing voices, shouting at strangers, taking her clothes off in public crazy.
She ends up tied to her bed, screaming in agony as the whole court watches, and an old priest and a young priest try to drive a demon from her body. (Spoiler alert: This show is nuts.)
It’s unfortunate finally get an episode of this show that’s so centered on Marie-Therese, and it’s the one in which she dies. Throughout Versailles‘ three seasons thus far, the queen has been a quiet presence behind everything that’s gone on at the court and she deserved so much better than she ever got from her husband.
It’s heart-breaking that her final moments are spent asking Louis to forgive her (as if he doesn’t have a list of indiscretions several miles long) and admitting that she never saw her life as something in which she might be happy.
(For the record: This entire thing bears zero resemblance to how this queen died in real life, beyond the fact that her end was apparently quite painful.)
The show doesn’t bother to tell us much about Sophie’s motivation for any of this, which is going to become a problem if it goes on for too much longer. This isn’t exactly the first time she’s poisoned someone, but there’s a big difference between escaping an abusive spouse and killing a woman who’d always been kind to her.
Why is Sophie working with Leopold? And why is she so committed to his cause? Also how is she so bad at this double agent thing?
Didn’t she learn how to be a spy from Fabien? She might as well be walking around carrying a sign that says “I just poisoned the queen!” Even that teenager figured out something was up!
Elsewhere, Madame de Maintenon returns to court, ostensibly to help Louis realize his destiny, but really to claim some power of her own through him. And with a spot on the king’s council and a serious dislike of the Protestants at Versailles, she seems primed to do just that.
However, even after her confession last week that she wanted the ability to forge her own future, we still don’t see enough of Maintenon becoming a true player in this particular game of thrones.
Sure, we see her strip the Chevalier of his official post and court (and presumably his income). We watch her direct Louis into demanding that Protestants recant their faith if they want to keep the crown’s business. Yet she does all of this under the same mantle of piety she’s always worn.
How much is fake and how much is real? Is everything since her return a kind of public manipulation/performance? We don’t get to see much of her POV; therefore, her larger goals remain frustratingly murky.
Maintenon’s decision to finally sleep with the king following his wife’s death straddles a similar line between genuine and performative behavior.
We’re not sure whether she finally gives into Louis’ advances out of a need to comfort someone she cares about in a time of grief, or because she sees Marie-Therese’s death as an opportunity to further secure her own position. Is there simply less sin if neither of them are married to others? Or is she angling for a crown?
The show’s decision to repeatedly cut between Louis and Maintenon’s sexual encounter and the maids working to prepare Marie-Therese’s body for burial certainly seemed to imply that something darker than just lust was happening.
But what?
Stray Thoughts and Observations
- Clearly the Catholic versus Protestant subplot is going to become an ongoing concern, as Louis attempts to spiritually clean up his court, or some such nonsense. I have doubts about whether Versailles is capable of doing a religious freedom storyline with the nuance it deserves, but I have to admit it’s miles better than the peasants’ revolt from last week.
- While the fact that Phillippe and the Chevalier finally had an actual conversation this week, it doesn’t make up for the fact that Versailles hasn’t bothered to explain this rift between them beyond the fact that the Duc d’Orleans was away at war. The distance between them is painful to watch, not for the least of which reason that we don’t know entirely why it exists. Surely, their entire years-long relationship could not have collapsed quite so quickly? And why is neither man seemingly at all interested in getting it back?
- You know it’s a great episode when Phillippe and the whole man in the iron mask subplot is the least interesting thing going on.
- Bontemps loves Louis so much and is probably literally doing horrible things for him behind his back because of this iron mask business and just protect him at all costs is what I’m saying.
What did you think of this episode of Versailles? Share your thoughts in the comments below!
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Versailles airs Saturdays at 10pm 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.
One thought on “Versailles Review: The Afterlife (Season 3 Episode 5)”
Great review! This is my favorite season of Versailles, I can only hope one day there will be a 4th season.
So the reason why Sophie planted that bug on the Queen’s pillow was because, as spy to the Holy Roman Emperor Leopold, she was instructed to take action as such, as he would await the news of the Queen’s death. This was after his marriage plan was not followed through by the Queen, in order to strengthen ties between Spain and the Holy Roman Empire. He wrote in a letter to Sophie that he would push further to undermine Louis’ ties with and any claims to Spain, therefore the Queen (brother to Spanish king) had to go. Sophie’s shock and sadness over the Queen’s illness makes me think she felt terrible for causing it, but then again, she is a spy, and like she told Fabien in season 1, “I am merely trying to survive.”
Louis and Maintenon are horrible and did things in such poor taste 🙁
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