'The Count of Monte Cristo' Episode 6 Looks for Divine "Providence"
'The Count of Monte Cristo' remains uniquely blessed in his enemies, because they are surely the dumbest people alive.
Edmond’s elaborate schemes continue to unspool as The Count of Monte Cristo enters its final third of episodes, and, if nothing else, this is a reminder that he remains uniquely blessed in his enemies, because they are surely the dumbest people alive. On some level, it’s satisfying to watch a craven social climber like Baron Danglars being so openly and obviously set up. On another, it’s all so egregiously overcomplicated that it’s often exhausting to watch.
“Providence” sees the Count staging elaborate fake-outs, thwarting engagements, coercing confessions, doing drugs, and sending inappropriate gifts to his now-married ex for reasons that defy description. On some level, you have to respect the hustle — the man apparently quite literally doesn’t sleep — but there are points where it just feels like too much. Perhaps it’s because we’ve seen so little about whatever his endgame is. Is it public humiliation? Jail? Death? All of the above? Does there really need to be this much build-up?
This hour also spends more time than we ever have before with the secondary characters of this story, and The Count of Monte Cristo really seems to think viewers are more invested in their interpersonal dramas than we have any reason to be.
Edmond summons Luigi Vampa (Lino Guanciale), the brigand leader who helped him kidnap Mercedes’s son in Rome a few episodes back, to Paris. Rather than put him in a devil costume again, this time he dresses him up as Count Spada, a made-up heir to a noble Italian family, whose wealth he insists comes from a long-lost family fortune he found on a remote island. (Sound familiar, anybody?)
Vampa repurposes Edmond’s discovery of the (real) Spada family fortune to bolster his (false) identity as its heir, and, in doing so, catches the interest of Danglars, who seems more than willing to break his daughter’s engagement to Fernand and Mercedes’ son Albert if it means he might get to marry her off to a man with that kind of wealth. But while watching Danglars publicly debase himself to impress a man who, in real life, robs people for a living, it’s also difficult to describe this as a particularly compelling narrative twist.
Surprise, Danglars is greedy and cares about no one but himself! This is brand new information! (Narrator voice: It is not.)
Honestly, the real problem with this episode is that it is boring. Sure, it’s nice that Valentine won’t have to marry a boy she doesn’t love, decent as he seems. It’s great that Edmond manages to convince Noirtier to confess to his involvement in Franz’s father’s death. (Noirtier, we must remember, also sucks!) Not even watching Valentine get framed for her grandmother’s murder is enough to make any of this subplot interesting.
After all, it was a vial stolen from the Count’s lab that provided the poison that killed the Marchioness. He already knows who took it and when, so there’s no way he won’t immediately insert himself into this particular miscarriage of justice as soon as he finds out what happens. What larger purpose does this serve? To illustrate that Heloise, like her husband, is terrible? That she will commit any crime in the service of her own advancement?
Great, that has come through loud and clear. Now, can we please get on with the rest of this?
If nothing else, “Providence” also proves that this show is at its weakest whenever Edmond and Mercedes interact. Part of the reason for this is that The Count of Monte Cristo never really sold us on the grand tragedy of their romance, nor has it bothered to dig into how Edmond feels about Mercedes’ betrayal in the aftermath of his return.
Instead, it seems content to leave them both in a weird limbo of inappropriate yearning that’s somehow supposed to be the same thing as character development. Nothing about their dramatic interaction this week — the earrings, their clandestine park meeting, their out-of-the-blue discussion about Edmond’s alleged former love who didn’t wait for him, Mercedes insistence she feels like she’s known him before — has any real emotional weight.
This conversation feels more like ticking boxes on a narrative checklist than anything else, and yet we’re also clearly supposed to believe it was emotionally devastating for both parties. Mercedes is crying, Edmond immediately needs another drug hit, but their reactions feel completely disconnected from the events we just watched take place.
How can so many aspects of this show feel undercooked when so much of it is also overbaked?
The Count of Monte Cristo continues with new episodes airing and streaming on local PBS stations and the PBS app on Sundays at 10 p.m. ET through mid-May 2026. All episodes are available to binge on PBS Passport for members and on the PBS Masterpiece Prime Video Channel.
