Thoughts
The problem with any adaptation of the Count of Monte Cristo's character is that you end up making him more sane.
He's honestly a Joker-level character sometimes.
> “Then," continued Chateau-Renaud, "since you have an establishment, a steward, and a hotel in the Champs Elysees, you only want a mistress.”
> “I have something better than that," said Monte Cristo; "I have a slave. You procure your mistresses from the opera, the Vaudeville, or the Varietes; I purchased mine at Constantinople; it cost me more, but I have nothing to fear.”
> “But you forget," replied Debray, laughing, "that we are Franks by name and franks by nature, as King Charles said, and that the moment she puts her foot in France your slave becomes free.”
> “Who will tell her?”
> “The first person who sees her.”
> “She only speaks Romaic.”
And it's these interactions that end up getting cut in any abridged version or adaptation. Because honestly what the hell.
Although if I remember correctly, I think later the Count tells his slave that she's free, and she chooses to stay with him, and the Count admits that he views her like a daughter and isn't sleeping with her and she speaks French and the Count is actually making 4D chess moves that no one else (including me) understands.