'Marie Antoinette' Season 2's "The Worst Winter" Sets the Tone for the Monarchy’s Fate
When we last left Versailles in Season 1 of Marie Antoinette, the king and queen were on top of the world, with Antoinette (Emilia Schüle) finally giving birth to the dauphin. Sadly, that pinnacle will pretty much be their last. This season will be all about the different forces and factions closing in on Antoinette and Louis (Louis Cunningham) and eventually turning public opinion fully against them to deadly consequences.
“The Worst Winter” starts bleakly, in the grips of one of the coldest winters France has ever seen. Despite people freezing to death in the streets, the villages sport kings and queens made of snow to honor the monarchy’s “charity.” (Frustratingly, it’s unclear who benefited or what the crown paid for.) By the end of this episode we’ll learn of France’s secret financial crisis, and Antoinette will have lost her next pregnancy.
Despite being in America for three years, Axel von Fersen (Martijn Lakemeier) is apparently still at the forefront of Antoinette’s mind. In her private moments, the pregnant queen writes him letters in lemon juice, full of her forbidden desires. The letters are blank stationery to the naked eye, their words revealed only by fire. Antoinette keeps this one-sided correspondence hidden in her desk.
