okay! So, Porthos is a little out of character this series, no? Him sayingĀ āthere is always a choiceā to Clementineās claim of stealing out of necessity, irritable with Sylvie for standing up to bullying, emptying much-needed grain onto the floor. You know. All those caring, careful Porthos things. I have an explanation.Ā
Porthos is weary, this series, especially these first two episodes. He walks away from confrontations, instead of throwing himself enthusiastically into them. When Athos tells them to search Saint-Antoine, for example, and Aramis fights it while Porthos just does as heās told. When he tells the grain master, who saysĀ āI have never killed a musketeerā,Ā āand you never willā he soundsā¦ tired of it fed up.Ā
It reads, to me, as if Porthos has been to war. As ifĀ ārightā andĀ āwrongā are no longer such certain things in his mind. That fighting is more duty than joy, now. It also reads, to me, as ifā¦ Howard Charles has always played Porthos as gentle. We all agree that Porthos is gentle, but if you look at this scenes heās given, itās almost always his fighting that is highlighted. His brutality. I think itās H Charlesā acting that twists that and turns Porthos into an inversion of it. Porthos in the novel is brute strength and relative stupidity. Heās a good man, who likes fighting, and is ridiculously strong. It is H Charles who really brings that kindness and softness to his character. I think thatās important here.Ā
Porthos says he could never give up soldiering, and clearly demonstrates on more than one occasion that he loves it. Perhaps, though, we can read into that in other ways. When he is a soldier, his skill is celebrated, he is respected, he is looked up to. He embraces peopleās perception of him as violent, and uses it. He keeps his strategic mind and cleverness to himself. I am, by the way, talking about race, here. I donāt want to talk about it a lot, but the violence and brutality of Porthos feeds uncomfortably into the common perception of black men. As a soldier, Porthos utilises that perception. Whether itās a-historical, something the writers and directors meant, something H Charles did, I dunno. I think that PorthosāĀ āI could never give up soldieringā, andĀ āpraise and glory are two of my favourite thingsā are linked. Earning respect and position is something Porthos wants, needs, enjoys.Ā
I think in series three we need to see Porthos renegotiate that. He needs to be given space where he can be both respected and gentle, a soldier and clever. We need to see him re-find his center, his morality. He needs to find his right and wrong. I do meanĀ āhisā, as well. Morality, right, wrong. Theyāre subjective. We see Porthos give in, I think, to an extent, to other peopleās morality. We hear other opinions on his lips. We see him adhere to duty, and we see him accept with a calm weariness that he is good for fighting. We see his intelligence, but itās not clear that he does.Ā
This is my reading of it, of his character and of the episode. Itās not necessarily correct or subjective, but this is how I findĀ āmyā Porthos, as it were, in these actions. I am glad that Porthos got his ownĀ āstoryā, in this episode. I am disappointed that instead of focusing on his intelligence in discovering and tracking the grain, instead the majority of screen-time was given to him fighting. Again. I like watching him fight, heās good at it, but I would like to see more of his kindness and gentleness, that I keep going on about, but H Charles plays it very well, adding that dimension to Porthos which the scripts seem to ignore.Ā
[tagging @canadiangarrison because itās she who brought the inconsistency of character to my attention]
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