Screen Rant is pleased to present an exclusive clip from Dangerous Liaisons episode 5, titled "The World Should be Afraid of Us." The STARZ series, based on the infamous epistolary novel by Pierre Choderlos de Laclos, pulls back the curtain on life in 18th-century and revels in one lower-class woman's quest to conquer the nobility. The mysterious Marquise de Mertreuil was one of the biggest names in her social circles in the classic book, but her origin and history have never been fully depicted (despite countless iterations and reimaginings) until now.
Introduced as a young prostitute from the house of Madame Jericho, Camille (played by Alice Englert) is naively in love with Pascal Valmont (Nicholas Denton) and hopes he will rescue her from her life of debt. While he is of a much higher class, meanwhile, he remains penniless thanks to his stepmother Ondine (Colette Dalal Tchantcho) cutting him off. After Pascal betrays her trust by giving his heart away to any number of noble women as a means of seeking his fortune, Camille and her handmaiden Victoire (Kosar Ali) stole his incriminating letters and began working their way up in society by using them to blackmail those very same women. But after finding solace in the home of the recently deceased Marquise de Mertreuil, Camille is once more in danger of losing everything when the Marquis decides to marry the daughter an enemy next.
What To Expect From Dangerous Liaisons Episode 5
As seen in the Dangerous Liaisons clip above, Ondine begins plotting for the title of Marquise by ingratiating herself to Camille, with whom she has already reached something of an understanding. By playing on Camille's probable fears of abandonment and her antagonistic relationship with Christine de Sevigny, who would turn Camille out at a moment's notice, she hopes to form an alliance with her new acquaintance that may secure both their futures. Camille cleverly deflects this request, pointing out that not only is Ondine unlikely to win the Marquis' heart, but she's already proven herself to be a poor stepmother when it comes to Pascal.
Anyone familiar with the Dangerous Liaisons novel knows very well that it is Camille herself who becomes the Marquise de Mertreuil, so it is easy enough to expect that Ondine will not win the day. But "The World Should be Afraid of Us" has plenty of room to play with expectations, given that the series precedes the novel by many years. Whether Camille teams up with Ondine to further her vengeance against her ex-lover Valmont or chooses to make an immediate power play for the sake of her own position, her machinations are sure to have viewers on the edge of their seats.
Speaking on Valmont, he's made excellent progress on his mission to seduce Jacqueline de Montrachet (Carice van Houten), which in turn is part of his mission to seduce Camille for the safe return of his letters. But as he gets closer to the truth of her shared history with Camille, she gets further from letting him back into her heart and closer to doing far worse than throwing pig's blood on Jacqueline. Watching it all, and hopefully managing to stay forever just out of the fray, is her close confidante Victoire. She may not manage to save her friend's vengeful soul before their lives burn up in ashes before them, but it's still a joy to watch her try.
Dangerous Liaisons airs Sundays on STARZ, and is available on all STARZ streaming and on-demand platforms.