Les Misérables review, episode four: A few misjudged moments trip up an otherwise impressive episode

While doing the press rounds for Les Misérables (BBC1), Dominic West appointed himself as Jean Valjean’s official hype man. Speaking to various publications, he referred to the hardened, humane protagonist of Victor Hugo’s 1862 novel – whom he plays in this six-part adaptation – as “a true hero”, “a proper hero”, and “the greatest hero in all literature”. “Valjean is not just a good guy,” he said “he’s an amazing guy! Like Spider-Man!” In tonight’s fourth episode, though, Valjean is less Spider-Man, and more overprotective dad.

We’ve jumped a decade on from last week, which saw Valjean once again escape the clutches of Inspector Javert (who may or may not, in West’s view, have a crush on the escaped convict that’s manifesting in the form of obsessive hatred), finding refuge for himself and his ward Cosette (Mailow Defoy) in a convent. As far as Valjean is concerned, they’ve found their forever home – but Cosette, now a teenager played by Ellie Bamber, has other ideas. The plan is for her to take the veil and commit to the convent for life, but she’s having second thoughts about becoming a “bride of Christ”. As most teenagers would.

Cosette wants to see the world. Valjean distrusts it. It is the same world, after all, that imprisoned him for 19 years for stealing a loaf of bread, and that drove Cosette’s mother Fantine (Lily Collins) to poverty, prostitution, and an early grave. “Lies, violence, cruelty – that’s the world,” he tells Cosette, whose only experience beyond the convent’s walls was a brief spell with her loving mother, and then in the abusive care of the Thénardiers. “I don’t believe it’s all like that,” she says. Bamber plays the part with a dose of doe-eyed innocence, but she lacks the presence of the doyens she’s acting alongside.

Eventually Valjean, though terrified that he might be discovered and rearrested, relents. They leave the safety of the convent, and immediately amble into what appears to be some sort of tunnel of terror. There is begging, fighting, leering, and sleazy soliciting. A woman is arrested. A man lies dead on the floor. As far as “we’re not in Kansas anymore” moments go, it’s a little much.

Marius (Josh O’Connor) has grown up too, and had his eyes opened to the poison he was fed by his staunchly conservative grandfather. “I’m not a royalist anymore,” he announces, with the self-congratulatory air of a university fresher who has just joined Marxist Soc. “I’m a Bonapartiste and a democrat.” But he’s soon distracted from his newfound radicalism when he bumps into Cosette, and is immediately smitten.

To distract Marius from his all-consuming crush, his fellow revolutionaries take him out on the town. They enter a red-lit lair, full to the brim with the kind of people – men in dresses, men kissing other men, sex workers going about their business – that seem to horrify pure, sweet Marius. Presumably to ramp up the nightmarish atmosphere, it’s filmed from woozy, disorienting angles, and soundtracked by screeching strings. The whole thing feels misjudged and outdated.

Still, the episode gets its mojo back in its climactic scenes. Valjean is unwittingly led to the home of a poverty-stricken, but no less loathsome, Monsieur Thénardier by Thénardier’s daughter Éponine (clearly too good for this family, and played with impressive subtlety by Erin Kellyman). After managing to overcome about a dozen men, Valjean loses his cool, quite literally, and presses a hot poker onto his arm.

Javert, having been tipped off by Marius (who had only good intentions in doing so), pounces, missing Valjean by a hair. He will not rest “while that man is free”. After watching this chaos play out, though, I certainly need to.