Those About to Die (2024) s01e09 Episode Script

[crowd cheering]
[crowd cheering outside]
[Tenax]
We need to speak.
Leave us.
Manilius demands ten million sesterces.
Yes.
After I'm Emperor, I can pay him that.
Or I'll kill him.
He wants it now.
In advance.
It's impossible.
Without our winnings there is no way.
What's worse,
Leto met with Titus and laid out,
with surprising accuracy,
what I have done.
Titus knows?
Yes, and no.
He doesn't know who to believe.
Me or Leto.
[sighs]
Ten million!
Perhaps there is a way.
A bet.
We wager everything we have
on a round bet, today.
Scorpus to take the lead
on the seventh lap.
- I'll make sure it happens.
- Yes.
You grasp at straws.
That's all we have.
[Tenax]
If we win,
we'll have enough to pay Manilius
and as many of the Praetorians guards
as we need.
Yes.
Yes, let
Let's do it.
[crowd cheering]
[cheering continues]
Brother,
you seem agitated.
No.
Just thoughtful.
Much as I thrill at all of this,
in two days we open our Amphitheater,
and this place loses something
that's magic.
That's true enough.
But as you've pointed out,
it also loosens the stranglehold
the Patricians have over our city.
Well put.
It's your words.
I know.
[footsteps approaching]
[Fonsoa]
Elia
Let's talk this through.
[crowd chatter]
[hushed]
We're making a very large round bet.
Spread it out to the other boards.
But keep it quiet
so we don't drop our odds.
You said "we".
Does that mean I have a piece of it?
[sighs]
Make this happen and you get a tenth.
Scorpus will take the lead in the seventh.
I need to make sure
that's what will happen.
Get the jewellery and the deeds.
Betting everything on one race is risky.
No other choice.
Life or death.
All or nothing.
[slams counter]
[crowd chatter]
[indistinct conversation]
I need something from you.
[sighs]
Everyone wants something from Scorpus.
I'm putting everything I have
on you today.
- Everything.
- Huh?
Of course, Scorpus will win but
that's expected.
The odds won't be so good.
Vain little fuck.
Where have you been?
The odds on you winning
aren't as good as they used to be,
but on a round bet
A round fix.
This close to the race? No.
No. It's impossible.
It's too hard to set up.
Too many drivers to bring in
to make it look real.
I don't care.
I need you to take the lead
on the seventh,
hold it and win.
What's my piece?
Your life.
Without this,
Domitian is dead.
And so are we.
Got it?
Go to the other betting taverns
and bet it all.
Gold, the deeds to my properties, everything.
Where do you hide the chits?
Are you sure?
Get them.
[Cala]
In Numidia,
leopards drag their prey up into trees.
Higher places are better
for hiding things of value.
Go.
I need help.
[Tenax]
Rufus
Come here.
Take these and follow me.
[Cala] Higher places
are better for hiding things of value.
[crowd cheering]
[horn sounds]
[sighs]
Xenon died!
Yes.
Such a tragedy.
So, I thought
Why not go with Gold?
Good decision.
[chuckles]
Otho, over there!
Oh.
Fonsoa is in the first race?
Yes, he is.
[horse whines]
[Fonsoa]
Now do you see, little brother,
the appeal of this?
Come on.
You must feel what lured Andria
and I to this.
[Passus]
Citizens of Rome!
I present to you the first race of today!
[crowd cheering]
[door opens]
[creaking]
[fanfare]
[Passus]
Chariots
ready!
[crowd cheering]
[loud cheering]
[Tarlo]
Come on!
[chanting]
Scorpus! Scorpus!
- [bell dings]
- Yah!
Yah! Yah!
Hah!
Yah!
- [cheering]
- [Sapo] Let's go!
Hah!
[driver cries out]
[bell dings]
Hey, Otho!
Would you like some food? Are you hungry?
Yah!
Yah, yah, yah!
[grunts]
Yah! Yah!
[grunts]
[strains]
[gasps]
[man]
Move, son! Run! Run!
Open up! Elia, please!
[Scorpus]
Please, open up!
Move over!
Yah!
[screams]
[grunts]
[gasping]
No, Fonsoa!
[Fonsoa screams]
- [gasping]
- Fonsoa!
[Elia]
Fonsoa!
[crowd gasp]
Come!
[Elia strains]
[crowd cheering]
[Gavros]
Get the physician! Hurry!
[man]
What's up?
[Elia]
Get the legs.
[sound muted]
[sound cuts back in]
[gasps]
[footsteps approaching]
[Salena gasps]
[Salena whispers]
Please.
Don't give up. Please.
It will be all right.
[strained breath]
Please, stay with me, please.
Elia.
Do you remember when I broke my leg?
Of course.
Foolish thing.
[chuckles]
You carried me home.
Grandfather He was gone.
You held me while Andria set my leg.
You held me all night long while I cried.
It must have hurt.
Not like this.
[sobs]
I'm sorry.
[Salena whimpers]
No, no.
[Salena and Elia sob]
[sobbing]
No.
[sobbing]
No.
[Elia sobbing]
No!
[Salena sobs]
[sighs]
[water trickling]
[exhales]
[man]
He's dead! Scorpus is dead!
- [man] Dead!
- [crowd gasp]
[woman wails]
Oh, it cannot be true!
No, it cannot be!
Scorpus is dead!
[overlapping chatter]
I ordered Scorpus' interment
to be here at the spine.
I would have commissioned
a grand statue for him, but
I'll be dead before I can see it.
He was my friend.
I'll commission the statue.
You'll be dead too.
We bet,
we lost,
and now soon we die.
Perhaps not so soon.
We bet,
we lost,
but I found our winnings.
And it is more than enough
to cover Manilius.
What?
How?
Does it matter?
[Domitian]
No.
[chuckles in relief]
Now we have Scorpus' share as well.
- [Domitian chuckles]
- I suppose we do.
[Domitian chuckles]
A much better view from here.
Who would have thought a couple paces
would make such a difference?
A grand view standing here as your partner
and not just a client.
My, my.
We are ambitious. Aren't we?
Yes, we are.
And you,
not even a Patrician.
Don't be so sure about that.
If so,
all the better for me to have you
as my servant.
Excuse me.
I have a goodbye to attend to.
[footsteps receding]
[priest humming]
Everybody out!
Shame you'll miss all the fun now.
It won't be as much of a laugh
without you.
Speed across the River Styx
to the wine-soaked pleasure of Elysium.
You
wonderful
drunken bastard.
[inhales]
[exhales shakily]
[footsteps approaching]
[Elia whimpers]
Were it not for my rage
there would be no grave to dig?
Blame the Fates,
not yourself.
[shovels scraping]
[indistinct conversations]
Salena, I had to come.
What a terrible tragedy.
Please,
allow me to make amends.
Go to sleep.
I apologise for my touch.
Will you let me begin again?
Say what you must, then leave.
Without obligation,
I ask that you meet with my advocate.
He believes you have a strong case
to get back your shares
in the Blue Faction.
Go on.
[Caltonia]
You have had three children, I believe.
Only Otho lives.
The other two were very young when they
Then the jus trium liberorum applies.
When a woman has had three children,
she is free from the guardianship
of her husband.
Meaning?
What is yours is yours.
Those shares were yours,
not your husband's.
He stole them from you
and so the sale of them to Consul Marsus
was invalid.
[Salena]
This can't be proven.
It is already proven.
It needs only to be argued in court,
an expensive
but doable process.
How soon can we meet with your advocate?
A fool's bet.
And you lost.
I lost one.
And won another.
We bury the dead
and forge ahead.
Write these for me.
Both scrolls will be the same.
Can I trust you?
Yes.
And no.
This has nothing to do with your children.
Good, now write.
Counted.
[Tenax]
All sorted?
Titus will die in his sleep.
And Porto?
[Manilius]
He will die shortly after,
along with those Praetorians loyal to him.
[Tenax]
I have people in Ostia
monitoring the arrival of the Navigator.
Whatever you do,
do it fast.
As part of the deal,
I've written out dual confessions.
If either of us betray the other,
we both die.
And Domitian with us.
[Tenax]
Two simple parchments,
either one enough to see us killed,
either one enough to keep us alive.
Depending on who holds them.
[door opens]
[door closes]
It's done.
And now, for as long as you live,
you have a sword dangling over your head.
Like that legendary Greek.
Damocles?
Follow me.
We all live with a sword
dangling over our heads, Cala.
It's just that I know it.
Push here.
[scraping]
You're mad.
You're in this too now.
Then we are both mad.
[footsteps approaching]
[keys jangling]
Please, I beg you.
I have important information
for the Emperor!
He will pay you more than you can imagine,
when he hears what I have to say.
[footsteps approaching]
And what precisely do you want
to tell my brother?
Please. I beg you, my love.
Then why don't you beg for me?
By all the Gods
I regret what I've done
and I will never, ever
do it again. I will never speak of it.
No.
You won't.
You already know too much.
I can't having you spilling secrets
to my brother
No, please. No Don't No
[grunts]
[Hermes whimpers]
[Hermes screams]
[screams]
- [snip]
- [screaming]
[Hermes groans]
[choking]
[Hermes spluttering]
[door closes]
[splutters]
[Berenice]
Stop.
Down.
It's bad news.
Domitian is buying Praetorian Guards.
He's part owner of the Gold faction.
That's where he's getting all his money.
Tell me you have proof.
[Rufus]
Only what I've heard.
Then who would know for certain?
[Rufus]
Cala runs his books.
I believe her youngest daughter
is in the home of the Consul Marsus
as a slave.
Yeah.
[coins jingle]
[carrier]
Up!
[indistinct conversation]
[door opens]
I'm here to see your mistress.
Your Highness.
We have the same enemy, Antonia.
And who might that be?
You know perfectly well who it is.
[crowd commotion]
[indistinct conversation]
You are summoned by Antonia Cornelia,
wife of the Consul Marsus.
Me?
For what?
The Lady Antonia wishes
to speak to you about your daughter, Jula,
who is a slave in her house.
[crowd cheering]
Remember, not too quick.
Let the crowd wait for it
before you give it to them.
I think you may have
finally found your calling.
Blood sports, a showman.
It suits you.
I've spent long enough
sitting in the far seats
to know what the mob wants.
[doorbell rings]
[door opens]
My Ladies.
You wish to speak to me about my daughter.
Is there a chance I might buy her freedom?
You misunderstand.
[footsteps approaching]
- Mother!
- Leave her!
- No!
- [Cala] Leave her!
Quiet!
Your daughter has been spying on
my husband and me.
Such an offense warrants death
and I am within my right and power
to do it in any manner I choose.
[Berenice]
You work for a man.
Tenax.
You reside in his home.
This man is a client of
Flavius Domitianus,
the brother of the Emperor.
I presume your daughter
was reporting to him
through you.
Domitian and Tenax are responsible
for the arrest of my husband,
Consul Marsus.
Did you know they were planning a coup
against the Emperor Titus?
That's what I thought.
We need proof
of their planned betrayal.
Only with that
will you save your daughter.
Her silence speaks volumes.
If there's such proof,
how do I know you will keep your word
and you will not harm my daughter?
[Antonia chuckles]
My family has been furnishing Rome
with consuls
for over 300 years.
I am above lying.
But I understand your lack of trust.
[gasps]
No, no, no. Don't, please.
I can get you your proof.
But don't hurt her.
It is up to you now.
You have until midday,
if not
your daughter will die.
Now go.
[Jula sobs]
- [fanfare]
- [crowd cheering]
[cheering]
Listen,
people of the greatest city on Earth.
Let the games begin!
[cheering]
Brace yourself, brother.
You'll win the adoration of all of Rome.
[music plays]
[gasping]
[cheering]
[growls]
[yells]
I always imagined it like this.
So close you can see
everything.
Ready the birds.
Ready the birds.
[man]
Ready the birds.
[man 2]
The birds!
[cheering]
- Release them.
- Release them.
[man]
Release them.
[crowd cheering]
[man]
Wow!
You've outdone yourself, brother.
This is something special.
[music plays]
[tribal screaming]
[cheering]
Whoa!
[gladiators cheer]
[tiger snarls]
[elephants trumpet]
[tiger snarls]
[crowd cheering]
Aura!
- [door slams]
- [exhales]
[strains]
[drumbeat]
Aura!
What is this?
How can this be?
Please forgive me.
Forgive you for what?
For everything.
I am the reason you are here
in this arena.
That Jula is a slave,
that our mother is in Rome.
- I am the cause of everything.
- You were protecting Jula.
And look at where that got us.
[Aura sighs]
I have enrolled myself to the Ludus.
Do you think your death
will make it easier for us?
Perhaps not for you.
But for me.
[men shouting]
[Atticus]
Kwame!
Come!
Aura.
Close the door.
Your sister?
And pull.
- Pull.
- [man] Pull.
[strains]
[crowd gasp]
[both]
Whoa!
Oh-ho!
Nica, my girl.
Listen carefully.
Senators!
Tenax.
Free us.
You'll profit beyond your dreams.
[Tenax]
Consul.
This is madness,
you know he'll kill you too.
We will all die.
Shut up!
[panting]
[breathes heavily, groans]
[fanfare]
Tenax!
Open the gates!
[Torel]
You can't do this!
Please!
Tenax!
[crowd cheering]
[chuckles]
Look at those Patrician sons of bitches!
[cackles]
A long way from the Aventine now.
[chuckles]
Meet Sobek,
the Egyptian crocodile god
from the dark waters of the Nile.
The demon of the hereafter.
[whimpers]
Stay here. Wait for me.
Have you brought it?
Get my daughter.
Hand her over to me,
then you'll get your proof.
Go get her.
Mother.
Quiet.
Nica!
[breathes shakily]
Proof.
- [carrier] Up!
- [carrier 2] Up!
You're free.
Stop.
Is this Jula?
Slave girl of the house of
the Consul Marsus,
sister of the gladiator Kwame?
What's this about?
- Take her.
- No. No, no.
- Stop. Please.
- She is now the property of Rome.
What is this about?
- Mother!
- Where are you taking her?
- Please!
- [Jula] Mother!
[crowd cheering]
[water rippling]
[cackling]
Come on!
Now.
- Now.
- [man] Now!
[crowd cheering]
- [cheering]
- [cackles]
[Tuccian]
When Set murdered his brother Osiris,
Isis sent out the mighty Sobek
to take vengeance on Set.
Will Sobek show mercy on the traitors
or
will he take revenge?
[cheering]
[Domitian chuckles]
Are we sure about this?
After all he is a Consul
and they are Senators.
[Domitian] All the more reason
to reward their betrayal publicly.
[cries out]
[crowd cheering]
[chuckles]
I suppose you're right.
[whimpers]
[both]
Whoa!
[cries out]
[screams]
[cheering]
[Rufus]
Tenax.
One of your men,
who's been watching Ostia harbour,
tells me the fair winds have brought
a "certain navigator" to Ostia,
earlier than expected.
He is to arrive this afternoon.
[crowd cheering]
[whimpers]
Come on!
Look out!
[gasping]
[Hermes groans]
[rapid breathing]
[inaudible dialogue]
Wasn't that your boy?
Your taste in entertainment
never ceases to appal me, brother.
[Filo]
Make way! Make way for the Lady Antonia!
Please, stop.
No women allowed.
Gate 22 for the upper deck.
I'm Antonia Servilius.
The wife of the Consul Marsus. Step aside.
You step aside.
Do not touch me.
Get her.
Now.
[guards chuckle]
Go on, you too.
I am Berenice,
queen of the Judeans
and Consort of the Emperor Titus.
I demand to speak to him.
What is it today?
- I am queen Berenice.
- There she is.
We won't get another chance
to kill this whore.
Don't lose her!
I have something of the utmost importance
to get to the Emperor Titus.
I demand to speak to him!
[guard]
Keep your voice down.
[Berenice] Escort me now
or I will report to the Emperor.
He will hear of this.
You will be rewarded for giving it to him.
Or be punished if you don't.
Don't you understand?
[guard]
Right, just give it to me.
Give me what you have
and I'll take it to him myself.
No, from my hand to his.
It's either that,
or nothing.
Then it's nothing.
And you will die for your insolence.
[guards chuckle]
Roman imbeciles.
Barbarian whore.
[crowd cheering]
[gasps]
[crocodile snarls]
[cries out]
[gasps]
[screams]
- [gasps]
- [crowd cheering]
- Whoa!
- Come on!
[crowd cheering]
[sobs]
[wails]
[wails]
Where's the upper deck for women?
[man groans]
Are you all right? Make space.
Fetch him something to drink.
- [woman] Do you remember?
- [woman 2] Yes.
need to speak with his Highness Domitian,
it's urgent.
[guard]
Get back.
Back.
Come on.
[whispering]
Tenax needs to speak to you.
A moment, brother.
Yes, very well.
[crocodile grunts]
[whispers]
We're out of time.
The navigator arrives in Ostia
this afternoon.
So, it's over.
Titus wins and we die.
No.
No, not if we move our plans forward.
Kill him here and now.
What?
Are you mad?
What choice do we have?
You cannot kill him
in front of all of Rome.
[sighs]
Get Titus out of his chair
and up into the anteroom.
I'll do the rest.
What about his guards?
Once he's dead, they'll look to you,
their new Emperor.
Take charge as quickly as you can
to stop them from killing me.
If this goes badly, I knew nothing of it.
Of course. Go.
[crowd cheering]
[clears throat]
We need to speak.
Alone.
Very well.
[Porto]
Emperor!
Porto.
Me and my brother were just
It is of the utmost importance.
Very well.
One moment, brother.
The grain fleet navigator is in Ostia.
He has a ship's log, proof
Proof that your brother delayed
the grain shipments.
Bring him to me.
I think it's safer
that we go to Ostia ourselves.
Do you not trust your men
to bring him here?
I don't trust anyone at the moment.
[Titus]
So, it's come to that?
Prepare an escort.
Fresh horses for the Emperor and myself.
Full personal guard mounted and ready.
I'm not leaving your side
until this is settled.
So few I can trust. I'm grateful for you,
Porto.
And I shall guard you, my Lord.
Go.
Go.
Brother, you were saying
I was only worried for your safety
brother.
Revenge
by those aligned with Consul Marsus.
But now your commander is here.
I'm sure you'll be safe.
Yes.
[crowd cheering]
Titus!
Titus!
[crowd cheering]
[inaudible]
[inaudible dialogue]
[inaudible dialogue]
[in Hebrew] Traitor!
[cries out]
[inaudible dialogue]