'The Count of Monte Cristo' Is Trapped in "The Red Room"
Edmond (finally!) puts his revenge plan into motion, and it turns out his new alter ego is a complete creep.
The transformation of The Count of Monte Cristo is (finally!) underway this week, as the man formerly known as Edmond Dantès kicks the moving pieces of his complicated revenge plot into gear. This involves everything from the purchase of several houses, a trip to Italy, a little casual murder, a tedious visit to the opera, some light drug use, and an attempted infanticide thwarted at the last possible moment.
(Reader, I only wish I were kidding.)
Unfortunately, none of this is as fun as it should be, probably because the show repeatedly chooses the most staid and uninteresting ways to depict its lead character. Sam Claflin is not in any way an incapable actor, yet Monte Cristo smothers every inch of his charisma, and he seems to have been told to play every scene as if he is dead inside.
It isn't a completely inaccurate read of where Edmond would likely be, mentally speaking, at this point in his life. But it makes for exceptionally dull television, a fact that's doubly unfortunate when you consider how completely ridiculous almost everything that happens in this episode is. A baby is stolen and buried alive! Edmond orchestrates the kidnapping of his ex-girlfriend's large adult son to ingratiate himself with their family! Everyone seems completely fine with rolling up to the house of a complete stranger! This is (or, well, should be) deliriously campy stuff!
