The Marie Antoinette season 2 finale opens with the snowy nightmare that we had the pleasure of sharing the sneak peek of. From there, it’s time for a revolution to begin.
Caution: This post contains SPOILERS for the Marie Antoinette season 2 finale
With Louis in a deep depression, Antoinette continues to take control of political matters. Not everyone is happy with that, especially when it comes to her son, the dauphin, being in the room for discussions. Antoinette proves that she can be both mother and queen at the same time.
There are revolts starting to rise up around, and Louis needs to take control a little so that he can call for the Estates General. It’s the only way to push through the tax reforms. I do like seeing Provence on the back foot, as he realizes that he could end up taking over a bankrupt country.
King Louis and Marie Antoinette face Parliament in the Marie Antoinette season 2 finale
Before anything, Louis needs to get these tax reforms pushed through. Necker knows that the Third Estate won’t need convincing too much. They’re the ordinary people who work for a living and will want the nobility to pay their share. It’s the First (the bishops and priests) and the Second (knights and nobels) Estates who will need convincing. I like how we get the explanation of who the three Estates are, with Antoinette explaining it to her children.
Things go a little better at first than Louis and Antoinette think it will. After a lukewarm welcome, Louis’s speech encourages the people to support the queen.
Sadly, it’s not the Estates General that brings the heartbreak to the royal family, though. As they sleep, the dauphin passes away. Louis and Antoinette wake to find him dead, and doctors can’t bring him back. They don’t have time to grieve, though. While he is old enough for a state funeral, that is cost prohibitive, and there are all these reforms to push through. All Louis wants is time to grieve.
Well, with all that, the people continue to revolt thanks to Chartres and Felicite and the new National Assembly that takes away power from royalty. As people start to storm Versailles, Louis, Antoinette, and Provence made the decision to stay in Versailles. Antoinette points out that there may not be anywhere safe for them all, so the Palace is the best option.
Provence goes to see his wife, who has reunited with Margurite. It turns out that Provence has been eating rat poison thanks to her, and now she’s leaving to enjoy her life with Margurite. Provence doesn’t want to lose his wife, and now he will be tortured with her absence. That is if he lives through this revolt!
Jeanne faces trouble in London in Marie Antoinette
While France is facing issues, Jeanne is trying to make money in London. She has published her memoir, and while it’s not completely true, it has made its way all the way to France. However, she hasn’t been paid by the publisher yet, which her husband points out to her.
Of course, we have to remember that her husband took the diamonds, and Jeanne realizes where he has been hiding them. They happen to be in the chandelier, which has what look like diamonds. It’s the perfect hiding spot in plain sight.
Just as it looks like Jeanne is going to be able to get away and flee to America, guards storm the home. Her husband didn’t call the guards, and why would he? He’s going to be arrested as well. Jeanne can’t go back, though, so she goes to the window in an attempt to flee the way she did the last time. The window is much higher up this time, but there is a person with a cart passing by.
Can Jeanne time it right to land in the cart? Sadly not. She dies from the jump, the diamonds in her hand. Those diamonds are stolen by a passerby, as Jeanne’s death is blamed on her husband, with the rumor being that he pushed her.
It’s too late to save Antoinette and Louis
Before the end of the episode, Antoinette gets Chartres — yes, he’s Orleans in the series but it’s easier to remember who he was in the first season — to visit her. She is angry that he has continued to go up against her and the Crown.
Well, Chartres shares what he would have done differently had he been in power. He would have reunited the two family lines that have argued over the Crown for decades. That’s all he wanted; to see his family line back on the throne. But now it’s too late, and he wouldn’t be able to stop it even if he wanted.
It’s not like Chartres wants to stop it, though. He wants to be King of France. So, as Felicite is excited about the people storming the Bastille to release the political prisoners, Chartres decides to remain in his own home. He makes it clear to Felicite that he never really wanted full revolution, and he will become the new king.
Many people flee Versailles, and with the loss of his wife, Provence isn’t even bothering to rejoice in the king losing everyone. The end of the Marie Antoinette season 2 finale is major with the people forcing their way through the gates of Versailles. Nobody inside is safe.
Now we wait to see if Marie Antoinette season 3 will happen.
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