Those About to Die (2024) s01e03 Episode Script

[donkey whinnying]
The trick with the yellow ash
of Mount Vesuvius
is not using too much.
Too much, and the cure
is worse than the curse.
How much is too much?
That's the art of it.
[groans]
- [donkey braying]
- [rumbling]
[rumbling]
[rumbling]
Gods reside within.
Pray they stay there.
[picking ash]
[bird squawks in distance]
You should change the positions
of your middle two horses.
You have your big horse left-centre.
He should be right-centre.
I've done all right.
Of course. I'm
just saying.
Do you drive, Andria?
Two-horse gigs, mostly.
But I've driven fours
and I once drove six.
Impressive.
I know I have a lot to learn.
I'm a provincial boy,
just as you once were,
but you learned.
So will I.
And one day, I too will drive
in Circus Maximus,
like you.
[thunder rumbles]
Nobody drives like me.
Let's get back to Rome.
[Ferox groans]
[tapping]
Elia.
The mottled one just died.
Lenno!
The same mare and sire as Ferox,
a season younger.
[Elia]
He was never as fast as Ferox,
but what a heart he had.
He would have run until it exploded.
[theme music]
[Cala]
Tell me of this man Tenax.
[Claudia]
Better than some,
worse than others.
He does business,
betting at Circus Maximus,
buying, selling,
doing things I don't see
and would not speak of
even if I saw them.
[footsteps approaching]
Get her to the house of Consul Marsus
and make sure she contacts her daughter.
I need ears on Marsus and Antonia.
[door opens]
[door closes]
Please, one moment.
[Cala]
Please.
Are you intact?
Come closer.
[whimpers softly]
[Jula whimpers]
Good.
Drusilla, here, will train you
in what you need to know.
Speak.
You could not know her virginity
from a single touch.
It wasn't my touch that confirmed it.
It was her tears.
Drusilla.
Claudia.
This is the mother of the new girl
in your house.
Go. To the kitchen.
- Mother!
- Jula!
How can you be here?
What are we to do?
Shh. Quiet.
We don't have much time.
There are things you need to do.
Now, listen carefully.
[door opens]
[door closes]
My son is in Rome as well.
Taken to be a gladiator.
Where would he be?
The Ludus Magnus.
Come.
This is madness.
I will have no part of this.
Go then.
What
[Augendus scoffs]
[Ferox groans]
Wait.
He said it could kill them.
And what else can we do?
Put crows in their stalls?
Bells to scare away the spirits?
Gavros?
They'll die
if we do nothing.
With this, perhaps they have a chance.
Let me do it.
[Gavros hushes]
[Gavros]
Easy. Easy, easy, easy, gently.
I saw that coming. Use the net.
Forget the trident until I'm snared.
No.
You have to trick me.
Men are smarter than animals.
- Now you're learning.
- [Atticus bangs pipe]
Reverse.
Attackers, defend.
[Atticus]
Good.
Move!
Move, confuse me!
If I move,
you will learn.
You will know.
If I'm still,
you have to guess.
[Atticus]
Water.
Who taught you the hunting of animals?
Animals.
[chuckles]
When I was a boy,
my father would say that and laugh.
"Learn from the prey, not from me."
But I learn it all from him.
He was from Nubia,
the Land of the Black Pharaohs,
where we have hunted with kings
since the dawn of time.
When I could crawl,
he taught me to catch
mice and moles.
When I could walk, it was lizards
and hares and foxes.
When I could run alongside him,
we took all the worthy prey.
How did he die?
Romans killed him.
Why?
Because they are Romans.
It was what they call
the "Year of the Four Emperors".
Romans fighting Romans.
My father fought for the wrong Roman.
Vespasian won and took his vengeance
against the losers.
The first of the Romans were twins.
Romulus and Remus, abandoned by
their mother and left to die.
A she-wolf found them.
Suckled them and raised them as wolves
in a cave on a hill called Palatine.
Where the palace of
Vespasian and his sons now stands.
Dogs,
even savage ones like Laconians
and vulpines,
only kill when hungry.
Even hyenas,
the nasty creatures that they are,
they only kill when hungry.
Wolves are different.
Wolves kill for pleasure.
Like the Romans.
And what of you?
Taken from a battlefield?
No.
On a battlement,
with our women and children behind us.
In the north, there is shame in surrender,
but it was the only way
to keep our families alive.
My wife and son are here in Rome.
From the first to the twelfth hour,
she weaves for them.
My son is seven.
He has spent the last two years
hooking a rug
that will be walked on by the feet
of rich Romans.
I get to see them
on the kalends and sometimes nones
of each month.
And so you dream
of gaining the Wooden Sword.
Maybe one day.
[Atticus]
Colon.
Flamma.
Come here.
[Atticus]
Colon, you will fight Flamma in two days
in Circus Maximus,
before the chariot races.
Viggo,
you and Kwame will be Colon's weapons men.
Make sure you get a good price
for his body.
- [overlapping chatter]
- [music plays]
Is there a way to enter?
[guard]
Easy.
Be a well-muscled, manly slave
ready to be butchered
for the glory of Rome.
[chuckles]
Be off.
You're not Roman.
You're Syrian.
[in Syrian]
You had a mother in your homeland.
The gods willing,
she is alive and missing you.
If not alive, the gods willing,
she is at peace.
[in English]
Please.
My son is in there.
[door opens]
[man shouting in distance]
[indistinct conversation]
Hey, hey! Wait.
[in Numidian]
My son!
My dear son!
[in English]
What of Jula and Aura?
Jula is a slave
in the house of Consul Marsus.
And Aura, she's owned by a criminal,
a man called Tenax.
Are they well?
They're alive.
Watch out!
Hold your anger.
Don't make more trouble.
I'll free you from here.
- I don't believe so.
- I will, I promise.
You must go.
[footsteps receding]
[guard]
What are you doing, huh?
[Hermes]
Why do you hate your brother so much?
I don't whether I love you in spite of
your stupidity or because of it.
It's not a stupid question.
Why aspire to be Emperor?
Without it you could still have
everything one could possibly want.
I am a danger to Titus.
That's why he convinced my father
to deny me military command.
That's why I've been kept on
such a tight leash,
begging for enough money to live,
even after cajoling the Senate,
winning them over to my father's cause,
giving him the curule chair.
I've been made what?
Aedile Ludi?
Aedile Ludi is a position of respect.
I'm a showman.
My brother,
the soldier,
is respected.
When I was a boy, he tormented me.
It amused him.
He'd strike me in front of
his soldier friends
and make me cry.
On the training field,
he would put a sword in my hand
and dare me to attack him,
but when I did, he would strike me
again and again
laughing.
Humiliating me
- before all of them.
- He was young.
He was cruel.
Eventually
that torment turned to tolerance.
But when my father dies,
that tolerance will become fear
and he will kill me.
And unless I've disposed of you already,
he'll kill you along with me.
If I'm not ambitious,
I am dead.
I'm sorry.
No reason to stay now, I suppose.
[footsteps receding]
[Gavros]
Elia!
Come!
Hurry.
Hurry, hurry. Quickly. Quickly!
Oh, Ferox!
Ferox!
[chuckles]
Good boy!
You're OK!
[Ferox whinnies]
African.
I need work.
And a wage.
[loud knocking]
I have a betting tavern
at the Circus Maximus,
- you two could work there.
- [door opens]
Pay?
We'll see about that.
The horses!
[Tenax]
Back from the dead.
I owe Neptune a sacrifice.
[Gavros]
They are weak.
But getting stronger.
How much stronger?
We race tomorrow.
Stronger than the nags we bought.
You find me a second driver?
No one else is as foolish as you and I.
No one wants to shove their thumb
in the eye of tradition
and join a fifth faction.
Two-horse gigs?
And fours.
You're in.
[chuckles]
[exhales]
Come!
[door closes]
Pretend.
It will go easier.
[Marsus speaking in next room]
[Antonia] So, Scorpus told us
he's leaving the Blues for good.
[Marsus]
Mm-hmm.
But he didn't even know it was me
who ordered his horses poisoned.
[Marsus]
What? That was you?
Of course.
You regain controlling interest
of our faction
and I protect it.
I suddenly remember why I married you.
[Marsus]
To what do I owe this expression of
Respect.
And love.
Love as well.
Scorpus is too good a driver
to let him take the track against us.
Do you mind if I arrange his death?
[Marsus]
No, I don't.
Come.
What's this?
A gift.
She's intact.
It's the same scent you used to wear.
I thought you might enjoy that.
Go. Go!
[footsteps receding]
[door closes]
[knocking on door]
Where is he?
[Aura]
Jula's here.
Come.
[Tenax]
Did anyone see you leave?
- [Jula] No.
- Good. What do you have for me?
They said they are going to kill someone.
- Who?
- Could be something with an S.
- Scorpus?
- Yes.
Scorpus.
Get her back.
Make sure no one sees her.
Oh, Jula.
How are you? Do they treat you well?
I'm fine.
Come, quickly.
I wanted to see what
the running surface is like.
Yeah. They switched the coarser grain sand
on the turns.
We have to pull hard left
to hold the line.
[chuckles]
People think that
I'm a gifted drunken fool,
that I win because Fortuna touched me
in my mother's womb.
My mother was a whore.
Fortuna never came to visit us.
I win because, like you,
the night before the race
I come to the oval and I test the sand.
[indistinct chatter]
Tomorrow, I die.
Yes.
[Colon]
When Flamma killed the Gauls,
I helped carry what was left of them
to the animal pens.
No one came for their bodies,
and Atticus got 20 sesterces for the meat.
I'm a warrior,
son of a warrior,
the last of the Cimbri people,
and I do not wish
to end up as shit from a tiger.
I wish to end
as my father and grandfather did,
as smoke
rising from a warrior's pyre,
ascending to the stars.
I will see to your pyre.
Thank you.
I don't want to end up
as shit from a tiger either.
If I'm still alive,
I'll see to it.
What of you?
Who will attend to your pyre?
I like tigers.
I wouldn't mind ending up as shit
from a tiger.
[chuckling]
[Colon and Viggo chuckle]
- Scorpus.
- Ladies.
What?
[chuckles]
[woman]
What are they doing?
- [woman 2] Scorpus!
- [woman] Scorpus!
It is Scorpus.
[man 2]
They're attacking Scorpus!
[crowd gasp]
[crowd scream]
Out.
[chuckles]
You
- astonish me.
- What are you talking about?
All of Rome knows.
Scorpus is dead.
A street crime
with no hint of who did it.
Well done.
It wasn't me.
What?
I wanted to kill him in the early morning,
so there would be no time to replace him.
Oh, well.
All the better for us,
our hands are clean.
Add to that the new faction's horses
can barely run
and they're being driven by nobodies.
A pair of Spanish grooms.
There's one thing we need to take care of.
We need a new driver.
Do you have any thoughts?
I do.
We're here to tally the Imperial accounts.
Some light.
Maybe some privacy.
[door creaks]
Each of you, five of these.
Why the intrigue? It's yours.
Well
in a sense.
Halt!
Lucius.
Spread the bets.
No more than 10,000 sesterces each,
all to lose.
Your Highness, with respect,
that makes no sense.
- You can't win betting against everyone.
- Do as I say.
All of this, quiet bets
that Green, Red, Blue and White
shall lose.
I expect excellent odds.
Hermes.
[man]
My Queen.
What have you brought me, goldsmith?
The mark of the Imperial Treasury.
We've recast 40 gold bars for Domitian.
[door opening]
[gasps]
[door closes]
[soft thud]
Praying to your one lonely god?
Yes.
What are you asking for?
Forgiveness.
There are some things
only God can forgive.
Try me.
I pray for my family.
Families are dangerous.
They can ensnare you more completely
than your retiarius in the Circus.
Ah, so you mean my family?
Well,
Domitian is a boy
and I'm a soldier.
You think your sword will protect you?
That and those of
the Praetorian guards, yes.
[chuckles]
My grandfather, Herod the Great,
always said
"It is not easy to kill a scorpion
with a sword."
[footsteps receding]
Your brother grows more open
in his ambition.
What's this?
It appears to be a gold bar
with an Imperial stamp.
Where did you get it?
No, the question is, where did you get it?
Well, I'm not the one who has it.
- You are.
- Do not toy with me!
You took it from the Imperial Treasury.
I did no such thing.
And whoever told you I did, they're lying.
Why would they do that?
There are many who would benefit
from driving a wedge between us.
If you wish, I'll look into it.
I've already done so.
I've ordered an accounting
of the treasury.
Forgive me,
but that is my domain.
Not for long.
[door closes]
He will kill you.
[exhales]
He may.
[Hermes]
What are you going to do?
[sighs]
The treasury's large,
an inventory will take time.
When I win today,
I'll return what I've borrowed
and fill my coffers,
hopefully enough to buy some Praetorians.
They're expensive,
Praetorians.
And if you don't win?
Then I expect I'll die.
You can die with me.
[Xenon]
Are you mad?
I can't drive for Blue.
White has made me rich.
And besides,
Leto would kill me.
[Antonia]
He may try.
We would protect you.
How much does Leto pay you now?
All Rome knows.
Six hundred thousand sesterces a season,
equal to what you pay Scorpus.
We will triple that.
Antonia?
One million six hundred thousand a season?
I believe it's
one million
eight hundred thousand
- a season.
- [groans]
Right now?
- Today? For today's race?
- Right now.
Or no deal.
I get to drive Incitatus?
Of course.
I'll drive for you.
But you have to keep Leto from killing me.
We'll try our very best.
[crowd cheering]
[drumming continues]
Father, you're not ready.
- [drumming continues]
- [crowd cheering]
[Domitian]
Father?
Huh?
I've made a mistake.
I've made a terrible mistake.
A mistake?
Yeah.
Our infantry is too far away.
I should have kept six cohorts
of infantry in reserve.
You should rest.
Huh?
You should rest.
- Who?
- Come on.
Come.
[drumming continues]
[Vespasian groans]
[sighs]
Thank you.
I know I can always rely
on you
Titus.
[whispering]
Titus.
Yes, Father.
I'll do what needs to be done.
[crowd cheering]
[cheering continues]
You should trust me more, brother.
There's nothing I'd like more.
I'll wait for the count of the treasury
to tell me if I can.
Well, I'll accept your apology
when the time comes.
Father is, er,
indisposed.
He won't be joining us today.
[Leto]
By the Gods.
I'll kill them all!
Marsus, Antonia,
Caltonia
and, most of all, Xenon!
Where are the new special chariots
from Lentullus?
He claims that they were
stolen.
Stolen?
Yes.
[grunts]
What should I do?
Bring up a reserve driver!
And use the old chariots!
Dear gods!
You three, prepare this chariot.
You, prepare the horses!
Come on!
[Passus, in Stadium]
Citizens of Rome!
I present you
our first bout of today!
[crowd cheering]
The great Flamma,
killer of killers,
colossus,
will do battle
with the mighty Colon!
[cheering intensifies]
We, who are about to die
salute you.
[Passus]
Gladiators
ready!
Engage!
[crowd cheering]
[Flamma chuckles]
[both]
Come on!
[crowd roaring]
Ah!
Ah!
[gasping]
[cackles]
[Domitian]
You
a soldier, finding blood distasteful.
Not distasteful.
Wasteful.
[Flamma cackles]
[all cry out]
Whether it's shed defending
or expanding our frontier,
that's where blood serves a purpose.
It serves a purpose here as well.
[cheers victoriously]
[yells]
[crowd cheering]
[crowd cheering]
[crowd chanting]
Flamma! Flamma! Flamma!
Ah!
Ah!
[crowd cheering]
[crowd cheering]
[indistinct conversation]
[Viggo]
Hurry! Hurry!
[indistinct conversation]
[chuckles]
sentimental.
What is this?
Caltonia.
Oh, I'm sorry. I thought you knew.
We've acquired another 500 shares.
I believe that makes us
the leading shareholders.
I'm sure you'll find those seats
quite comfortable.
Oh, and, by the way,
although we all mourn the passing
of our beloved Scorpus,
we've taken it upon ourselves
to hire Xenon.
He'll be driving for us today.
[Leto]
Marsus!
How dare you!
Xenon is my driver!
Then you should
pay your people better, Senator.
Enjoy the race!
[upbeat music plays]
[music continues in background]
[door opens]
[footsteps approach]
[groans]
By the name of Atagartis, where am I?
Ah, shit.
I'm bleeding.
We had to make it look real.
That was you?
You filthy Roman.
[Scorpus groans]
You tried to kill the great Scorpus, huh?
No, of course not.
Antonia ordered your death.
What?
I'm trying to keep you safe.
If you're dead,
no one will try to kill you.
Antonia?
Ha.
No. She loves me.
She has a very particular way
of showing it.
And one other thing
a delivery from your tailor.
[crowd cheering]
[Passus]
Today,
just literally four factions
are running for victory.
For the first time in history,
we present to you
the Gold Faction!
[crowd cheering]
With driver, none other
than the great Scorpus!
[crowd gasp]
[crowd chanting]
Scorpus! Scorpus! Scorpus!
Those are ours!
They're ours!
Scorpus is alive?
Worse, look.
Xenon is driving for the Blues.
[man]
Scorpus is alive!
[man 2]
There's a new faction.
[man 3]
Scorpus is alive!
Three hundred on Scorpus.
A plebian, called Tenax,
somehow raised enough money
to form a new faction
and hire Scorpus away from the Blue.
That's him,
over there.
As Aedile Ludi,
I thought it might please the crowd
to see one of their own up here.
Apparently, I was right.
[horns sound]
[horse whinnies]
Remember. No whip.
Just a snap over his ear.
Boy.
Get out of here.
[Passus]
Chariots!
Ready!
[bell ringing]
[ringing continues]
On Scorpus!
[man]
Put another 60 down.
- [gate opens]
- Yah!
[crowd cheering]
Come on!
Yah!
Yah!
Yah!
I placed a bet on Scorpus.
[bell dings]
- Come on! Come on!
- Xenon!
[charioteer]
Move!
[Elia]
Come on.
Let's go. The race is on.
Come on. Let's go.
Mother.
- [bell dings]
- Yah!
Yah!
[bell dings]
Now!
Yah!
[crowd cheering]
How have we bet?
Heavily.
[bell dings]
Last round. Go, now!
Yah!
Yah!
Yah!
Go, go, go!
[booing]
Come on! Come on!
Go! Go! Go!
Yah!
- Come on!
- More!
Give Scorpus more!
Stay strong, Ferox.
Incitatus, hold!
[whinnies]
Hold, Incitatus!
What are you doing?
Yes!
- [cheers]
- [crowd cheering]
Yes!
[crowd cheering]
You're not going to stay
and present the laurels?
No
because I have an accounting of
the Imperial Treasury to attend.
[footsteps receding]
[Caltonia]
Quite a day.
I can only guess what's next
for our faction
under your stewardship.
I shudder to think.
[crowd cheering]
[all shouting angrily]
Scorpus!
Where's that bastard?
I'm going to report everything you did
to the faction owners.
Leave Incitatus alone.
Well
me and Incitatus are old friends.
Friends, my ass.
Just leave him alone
and stop playing dirty.
[moans in pleasure]
[chuckles]
[chuckles]
Go.
[Scorpus]
What was your name?
Sofia.
We should do this again.
[overlapping conversations]
- [raucous shouting]
- [drumming]
[cheering]
Two thousand sesterces.
[Cala]
For my daughter Aura's freedom.
Where did that come from?
I won it here.
From you.
We agreed.
I decide a price
when my troubles are over.
From what I've seen of you,
your troubles will never be over.
One thousand.
You owe me
for the secrets I shared with you
from Jula.
[scoffs]
Fifteen.
One thousand.
[Tenax]
Fine.
You are free.
Why me?
Mother, what about Jula and Kwame?
One step at a time, daughter.
[glass smashing]
Tenax!
[men arguing]
[man] It's only four factions.
There can't be more.
[man 2]
It's our history. It's our tradition!
And who are you to change everything?
Tenax, I'm talking to you.
Boys, we need to close up.
There's only four factions!
[shouting continues]
[shouting continues]
[crowd rioting]
[woman screams]
[rioting in distance]
[rioting outside]
[gasps]
What took you so long?
[Vespasian]
Huh?
I'm dying.
[groans]
[crowds shouting]
[Titus]
After the accounting is done,
send more troops to quell the riot.
[Porto]
Yes, my Lord.
[Porto]
It's all here.
To the last denarii.
So she deceived me.
General Titus. The Emperor.
[Vespasian]
Lift me up.
Take me to the middle of the room.
- Bosa?
- Yes.
My laurel.
[Vespasian sighs]
An Emperor of Rome
must die
standing
to become divine.
Yeah.
Now I am ready
to become
a god.
A god.
[coins jingling]
Your father.
Take him to the bed.
[crowd rioting]
[crowd rioting]