While Marie Antoinette is viewed as a good queen for the French people, the current winter is leading to fear and hunger. It’s the beginning of the end of the royal couple in Marie Antoinette season 2, episode 1.
Caution: This post contains SPOILERS for the Marie Antoinette season 2 premiere.
The episode opens with a look at how the fear starts to grow among the people. While traveling in her carriage, Antoinette notices that there are two ice sculptures for her and her husband, and they seem to be as a way to celebrate the monarchs. When she notices that there’s a man almost frozen to death between them, she rushes out and offers him her fur to warm him up.
The people watch as the man reaches out to touch Antoinette. There’s no malice in this, but the guards immediately react, hitting the man and pulling Antoinette away.
Money is a growing concern for Louis in the Marie Antoinette season 2 premiere
When back at the palace, Antoinette wants Louis to give her some more money so that she can help the people. She also makes it clear that she will not buy a diamond necklace. Instead, Yolande, the children’s governess, should get a ring. That’s the only compromise she’ll make knowing that the jeweler, Boehmer, is relying on their money for his own debts.
There’s a clear look at the country’s financial affairs. Louis knows that the country is bankrupt, and everyone wants money right now.
Louis and Antoinette do find a way around some of the issues, though. They will elevate the people who have been most loyal to titled positions, including Yolande, who will become a duchess. It seems to be the best option to ensure loyalty from people, but it doesn’t do enough for everyone. Yolande needs money to pay off her lover’s gambling debts.
Yolande works on getting her people on the inside in Marie Antoinette
Maybe there is another way around this. The King needs someone to help manage the finances, but he is still to appoint a person. We know it’s because of the dire financial state the country is in, but everyone else just thinks that Louis is struggling to find the right person.
Yolande encourages her lover and brother to flee to the countryside for now. She can get Calonne in the position of financial advisor, meaning that he can steal money to pay off the debts.
Calonne is selected for the position, after he shares some story about how he was able to handle debts elsewhere. Louis sees through the story, but he needs a financial controller and that can’t be his brother. He trusts Yolande, and that puts Calonne in a position that he doesn’t want to be in. He needs to figure out France’s debt, and it’s a big one!
Antoinette’s letters are stolen from her desk
Meanwhile, Antoinette has a situation on her hands. She’s been writing letters to her own lover from before Louis. She writes them in lemon juice, so they can only be read up against a flame. While she hides them in a hidden compartment of her desk, they are stolen.
Of course, only Yolande knows where they were hidden, and she becomes the first suspect for Antoinette. It starts a growing problem for the two, especially after Antoinette’s miscarriage which Yolande turns her back on. What none of them know is that there’s a stranger who got into the palace and was able to steal the letters.
Jeanne dresses as nobility to steal from Versailles. She has so far managed to pickpocket Yolande and Lamballe, but she hasn’t stolen anything of value just yet. So, she decides to be a country royal collecting funds from the fallen. While that eventually works, Jeanne has been too impatient.
When she finds out that Boehmer has the jewelry at Versailles, she decides that she needs to steal the rumored diamond necklace. Her friend Villette, who prostitutes himself for food and money, is able to fake a seizure, giving Jeanne time to go through Antoinette’s desk to get the letters and a sketch of the necklace.
One of the women Jeanne ran into when collecting money for “charity” offers a starting donation and promises more where that came from. It’s enough money to start a life in the countryside, but now Jeanne wants that necklace.
Chartres is ready to return to Versailles
At the end of Marie Antoinette season 1, Chartres was banished from Versailles. Now he’s ready to return, although he’s viewed as a libertine and a coward.
At the same time, Provance, the brother of Louis, wants the throne. The two were enemies once, but now they have a similar need. Then there’s Lafayette — yes, the Lafayette — Félicité, and Saint-Georges, the composer and violinist Provance once banished from Versailles. Many of them favor democracy over France’s monarchy, and now they need to find a way to start the overthrow of the people.
We know how history ends, but this is a fun look at how it all happened. Get ready for more Marie Antoinette, as the second season has already started strong.
Marie Antoinette airs on Sundays at 10/9c on PBS.
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