It’s time for a show in Marie Antoinette season 2, episode 2, while Louis tries to figure out what to do about France’s financial situation. Jeanne uses this time to get inside the queen’s world.
Caution: This post contains SPOILERS for Marie Antoinette season 2, episode 2.
We get to see how more people gather around to bring the queen down, but for some, it will probably have consequences they didn’t intend. Meanwhile, Antoinette needs to deal with a lover returning, while also finding a way to keep the people happy. There’s a lot going on throughout the episode, with a clear look at how the downfall is about to happen.
Swedish Count Axel von Fersen returns in Marie Antoinette season 2, episode 2
During the previous episode, Saint-Georges teamed up with Provance and Chartres, and together, they now get Beaumarchais on board to craft a play. That play will be performed at Versailles, although Louis makes it clear that there is no talk of politics and religion in this play. Marie Antoinette is more than happy to go along with the play, and she wants to even be a part of it.
This is exactly what Beaumarchais wants. He casts Antoinette as the female lead, and then he casts her Swedish lover, Count Axel von Fersen, as her lover. Antoinette is completely thrown off by this, Beaumarchais and Chartres are happy about that because she deserves to be made a fool of.
However, the two are able to clear the air, and they end up hooking up in the woods while practicing their lines. This is sure to create some discomfort for Louis when the play is on, since he knows all about Antoinette’s love for the Swede.
Provance finds out that his wife is starting something up with a woman in the same play. Rather than pull her out because that would make him look like a fool, he convinces Louis to cancel the play. It doesn’t take much to get Louis to go through with that, as he walks in on Antoinette and Axel together in Antoinette’s dressing room.
Antoinette realizes that she needs to get back into the good graces of her husband. There is a great moment in this episode when Saint-Georges tells Antoinette that she trusts too easily. He clearly isn’t all that happy about the way people around him are talking about Antoinette. I think that talk makes Antoinette realize that it is her and Louis against the world. He is the only person she can really trust.
While there won’t be a private performance with Antoinette in the lead, Louis does agree to the play happening anyway. It’s done with a different cast, and it certainly goes down well at first, but the end of the play has been changed. Beaumarchais gives the lead a monologue that shares just how he thinks about Louis, which leads to his arrest in the middle of the performance.
By this point, people are already on Beaumarchais’s side, though, seeing the arrest as censorship. We all know how important freedom of speech is, but that doesn’t mean freedom from consequences. It’s not censorship if you agree to do something and then change your mind. The people don’t see that, though, because they don’t see the decision that happened beforehand.
The people are starting their revolt, and it’s not good for Antoinette and Louis. Chartres now has a way to. He sees how quickly the people turn for and against people, and while Chartres is a villain to the people right now, he can become a popular man.
Jeanne works her way into Versailles in Marie Antoinette
The start of the episode sees Jeanne get a new dress. That has come from the money raised with the charity, and it looks like it is going well. And now with this, Jeanne has managed to work her way into Versailles. With Antoinette closing herself off from the world after her miscarriage, nobody is really going to check to see if Jeanne really is her new friend.
That is except for Lamballe, who is sure that something is off. However, Lamballe has been pushed out recently, and it means Antoinette isn’t exactly going to listen to her just yet. All the other women at Court see Lamballe as someone obsessed with the queen and willing to do anything to get into the queen’s good graces, so they don’t believe her comments about Jeanne either.
Lamballe is not afraid to call Jeanne out in the middle of court, but Jeanne is a good actress. It’s exactly the situation that Jeanne needed to be able to turn the tables for her, though, as she’s able to get Lamballe to backtrack with a comment about no longer being close to the queen.
With the money that they now have, Villette wants to get out of Paris. He wants to move to the countryside and buy a farm, and he tells Jeanne that they have the money for that. Jeanne makes it clear that this won’t work out well for them. Only the rich are safe from hunger, and they need to remain in Paris. I would love to see Villette get out while he can, but that’s sure not to happen.
Calonne has a plan to get France out of debt
While Calonne thought he was getting into a job that would allow him to steal money for Yolande, that turns out not to be the case at all. Now he needs to figure out a way to get France out of debt, but it’s not as simple as stop spending money. At least, that’s the way he makes it seem.
Of course, he’s still acting in his own interest, but he will also need to do his job well if he wants to keep his position and head. So, he offers a few ideas to Louis to get out of debt. One of those is to get an extension on the loans, but there’s no guarantee that will happen. Calonne thinks that the best option would be to raise taxes for the rich.
Calonne has a good point. The poor shouldn’t shoulder everything. The rich need to pay their fair share if the country is going to stay in good fortune. That’s not something Louis wants to admit, though. He wants to extend the debts for now.
Calonne manages to sneak some money to Yolande, but it’s not as much as she needs. However, it probably won’t be too long before they are caught out. People are already getting suspicious.
During the episode, we see Count Cagliostro perform in a tavern. Chartres and Provance watch his performance, knocking his skills throughout. However, there is a moment that stands out for the two of them. Cagliostro has some sort of vision of the dauphin not becoming the next king. Instead, that is going to go to someone of “blood.” It’s a strange prediction, but it certainly suggests that someone has sent him the message of the Revolution coming.
Antoinette realizes that she is in a very dangerous situation right now. When Louis goes missing one night, Provance quickly tries to take over. It turns out that Louis has fallen off his horse and sprained his ankle, but this is the point Antoinette realizes that should something happen to Louis, Provance will not protect her or her children. She needs to become a queen with real power, and while the French won’t like it, she is ready for the fight. Is she ready for the ending, though?
Marie Antoinette airs on Sundays at 10/9c on PBS.
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