I am a huge fan of Alexandre Dumas and his Musketeers. This series has the feel of his books even though it doesn't follow the story line of the original. While you may not recognize the story lines, it provides the feel of an origin story of sorts. One can watch these shows and get the notion that they are filling in the blanks even if it doesn't exactly align with the original story.The series integrates all of the expected characters with some excellent story lines. The special effects are not over the top and the locations and sets give the feel of the time period.Even if you are not a fan of The Three Musketeers, the stories are well written and you get drawn into the series. This is definitely worth watching.

"The musketeers" is the TV-show I'm currently most excited for the new season to start for. It is a great show because of the dynamics between the characters, which seems so much stronger than with any of the other adaptations of the book.Of course, the books have many adaptations, so there are some things that may irk those who've watched several of them. However, it is a TV series which allows for much more room to explore the characters than the movies do, which is great, because it is really lovely to find out more about them. I greatly advise anyone interested to check it out!

An appearance of this historically interesting musketeer of the time would be nice.... from wikipedia Charles-Geneviève-Louis-Auguste-André-Timothée d'Éon de Beaumont (5 October 1728 – 21 May 1810), usually known as the Chevalier d'Éon, was a French diplomat, spy, freemason[1] and soldier who fought in the Seven Years' War. D'Éon had androgynous physical characteristics and natural abilities as a mimic, good features for a spy. D'Éon appeared publicly as a man and pursued masculine occupations for 49 years, although during that time d'Éon successfully infiltrated the court of Empress Elizabeth of Russia by presenting as a woman. For 33 years, from 1777, d'Éon dressed as a woman, claiming to have been female at birth. Doctors who examined d'Éon's body after d'Éon's death discovered that d'Éon would have actually been male at birth.

I've just finished watching the second series on Canadian television and unlike other shows (The Fall, Broadchurch) this series was better than the first. Not to say I did not enjoy the first as I did, but the second felt more complex and the characters were given more depth and nuance. Plus, it felt like they had more budget so the sets and costumes improved.However, I the villain, Rochefort (Marc Warren), was not believable - to me he came across as a pantomime villain; all I kept thinking about was the cheeky Cockney chappie he played in Hustle. However, his character did make for a most interesting plot that ran through all 10 episodes.I do enjoy the female roles too. Milady is a villainess but she does have her good points and is a bit of a swashbuckler herself. My favourite character is Constance and happy that she and D'Artagnan were finally married.My daughter did wonder why the Spanish characters (except for the Queen)all have an accent yet the French all sound like they're from London. Hmmm.Finally, have to say how much I enjoy Santiago Cabrera (Aramis) - seriously delicious!