A Tale of Two Cities (2026) s01e04 Episode Script

1
Do you regret it,
saving my life?
LUCIE: I'm inviting you in,
Sydney. My life, my family.
Was I an amusement to you
or a dress rehearsal for him?
Why didn't you just stay away?
I had to see you.
That night in the wine shop,
I should have kissed you.
I would give anything,
everything for you.
The life you love.
You can't ask me
to save you, Sydney.
[both speaking French]
CHARLES: Finally,
I can bury the name Evrémonde
once and for all.
Evrémonde.
[battle-cries]
[in French]
[gentle music]
[in English]
What's wrong?
Who is he, this Théophile?
[sighs]
My uncle and father's steward.
The only one who ever
showed me any kindness
after my mother died.
And he's a prisoner in Paris?
He's accused of counter-
revolutionary crimes,
but it's all lies.
How did he know to write
to you at this address?
What does that matter?
Well, you never wrote to him
after you left France.
It's strange then
that he would write--
No, you're not listening.
He's family.
The only one I ever knew.
Lucie.
I didn't mean
I have to go.
- No.
- This man risked his own life
to protect me
when I had no one.
What, will you just walk
back into Paris now
after everything
that's been done
in the name
of the Revolution?
The lynchings,
the massacres in the streets.
- That's all over with.
- He murdered their king!
These are ordinary men
and women.
You are the son
of an Evrémonde!
You told me yourself
your family name
is despised
more than any in France.
Nobody knows
I was born an aristocrat.
This Théophile does.
He won't have talked.
He would never betray me.
- He was like a father to me.
- You can't just leave.
You can't.
He needs me.
I need you.
I need my husband.
These past few months
you've been changed.
Not eating, barely sleeping.
You won't even say her name.
I can't.
[sobbing softly]
I I
I can't.
[soft music]
[speaking French]
[Charles speaking]
[in English] Two weeks.
No word from him.
Something has happened.
Your contacts at
have heard nothing?
Nothing.
I must go to Paris.
- No.
- He would do the same for me.
We don't even know
if he arrived there.
Papa, I
I have to go.
You can't go alone.
[soft music]
[music continues]
Hello, Sydney.
Oh, you never did knock.
What about Mr. Striver?
He moved on.
Years ago.
Married himself a rich widow.
And you?
No business of yours.
What do you want?
Your help.
[scoffs, laughs]
[coughs]
[coughing, wheezing]
[spits]
Are you about to offer me
another armful of lemons?
I'm afraid
I'll disappoint you.
Charles is in danger.
Someone wake me up.
I've had this dream before.
- This was a mistake.
- Oh, that's it.
Run back to your perfect life,
your perfect home.
Children running
about your feet!
My child died!
[crying]
She was eight years old,
and she was perfect.
[sobs]
No, I believe it.
I believe it.
What was her name?
Mathilda.
Mathilda?
After your mother.
You once said
you would do anything for me.
The life I love.
I know I have
no right to ask
to expect anything
after so many years,
after everything.
But I'm asking anyway.
Please
help me save him.
CHARLES: [speaking French]
[door bangs]
[man speaking]
[grunts, coughing]
[grunts, panting]
[grunts, groans]
[gentle music]
SYDNEY: [in English]
Stay close.
[man speaking French]
LUCIE: [in English]
shut the bank
when the first riots broke out.
Hester secured us the rooms.
We won't be disturbed.
SYDNEY: Yeah.
Did you know the city
would be like this?
LUCIE: I'd read the reports
in the newspapers.
Heard stories of those
who'd escaped to London,
but I never imagined.
We have to find him.
Who in Paris is gonna help you?
You saw the fear out there,
the paranoia.
Who's gonna risk their neck
for the wife of an immigrant?
The wine merchant
Ernest Defarge.
His shop is in San Antoine.
- We can start there.
- No, that's too big a risk.
No, he knows me.
He's always been
a friend to my family.
If Charles's life is
in danger
his enemies
could be anywhere.
- If you were spotted
- No, you can't ask me
- to just sit here.
- I'm not asking.
Those are my terms.
I go alone or I don't go.
[soft chatter]
[man speaking French]
[speaking French]
[speaking French]
[man speaking]
SYDNEY: [in English]
Busy night, monsieur?
Thank you for the, um
for the bottle.
You're English.
Do I know you?
We share an acquaintance.
Lucie.
Manette.
No.
You are mistaken.
We can have
this conversation inside,
if you'd like,
with your wife.
Something tells me you'd prefer
to keep it between us.
Lucie, she's
she's in Paris?
She's here for her husband.
Charles Darnay.
They're married?
Nobody can know.
She must go by Manette.
Her father
he's still a hero
to many here.
[Lucie coughing]
You're sick.
How long have you known?
Since just after Charles left.
You should have told me.
I never would have agreed.
Which is why I didn't.
Nobody else knows.
[clears throat]
Charles is alive.
- Thank God.
- But he's a prisoner.
Ernest Defarge
works up on the force
on his wife's orders.
She has great influence
over these revolutionaries.
Well, has he seen him?
Spoken to him?
He's never left alone
with the prisoners.
So long as Charles is there,
his life is in danger.
And does Ernest know
his accuser's name?
He says "No."
- I have to see Charles.
- I
No, don't tell me
that I can't.
He's my husband,
the father of my child.
I won't just stay hidden away
whilst he suffers.
I need to see him
with my own eyes.
It'll take some time,
but there, um
There may be a way.
[Charles and Théophile
speaking French]
[soft mournful music]
[in English] Ernest?
You should not have
come back to Paris,
Mademoiselle Lucie.
Will you take me to him?
I beg you
do not ask that.
If it were discovered
that you are his wife
For the love you bear me
and my father,
for the-- the joy
you brought into our lives
after so many years apart.
Everything you and your wife
have done for our family,
please take me to my husband.
[man speaking French]
Charles's cell mate.
Théophile.
The man he came to save?
He died this morning.
There's more.
I was able to speak
a few words with Charles.
And?
The letter
from Théophile
it wasn't him.
SYDNEY: Charles is
to be brought to trial.
- You said yourself that--
- Tomorrow.
But they can't.
And we still don't
know the charges.
But-- well, how can he prepare
a defense, call witnesses?
The letter to Charles,
asking him
to come to Paris, it
it was forged.
You knew.
Suspected.
You have no idea
who could have sent it to him?
None. Nobody outside
my family knows
he was born an Evrémonde.
Well, I will know tomorrow.
I remember the last time
you and I were alone together,
the night before a trial
of Charles Darnay?
That one ended well.
A lot has changed.
Not so much.
You still have the same
questionable taste in lawyers.
And you still have
the same coat
even as it falls apart
on your shoulders.
I went to sell it. Twice.
Never could quite bring myself
to part with it.
We'll leave early
for the tribunal.
SYDNEY:
I'll sit up a while.
An ancient mystic
once showed me a trick
to keep the mind sharp
late at night.
A towel
and a basin of cold water.
When we return
to England, I
I hope you'll call
at the house.
I want you to meet him.
Him?
I believe so.
Will you do that?
Will you call?
[distant gulls cawing]
[people clamoring]
[man 1 speaking French]
[bell dinging]
[crowd clamoring]
[crowd booing]
LUCIE: Charles.
Charles.
[bell dinging]
[in French]
[head of tribunal
speaking French]
[crowd clamoring]
[head of tribunal
speaking French]
[bell dinging]
[crowd booing]
[speaking French]
[crowd clamoring]
[head of tribunal speaking]
[crowd clamoring]
[head of tribunal speaking]
[crowd murmurs, gasps]
[crowd shouting
indistinctly in unison]
[head of tribunal speaking]
[bell dinging]
[woman speaking]
[reading]
Papa.
[woman speaking]
[Alexandre sniffles]
Moi
[woman speaking]
[crowd clamoring]
[head of tribunal speaking]
[crowd clamoring]
- Lucie
- No. No.
[Charles speaking French]
[dramatic music]
There must be something.
A way to appeal a reprieve.
It was Thérèse who sent
the forged letter to Charles.
She planned this. All of it.
She knew he would never
leave Théophile to die.
She preyed on him.
ALEXANDRE: That's my fault.
My own words, my own blood.
I'll never forgive myself.
You knew.
All this time, you knew
Charles was an Evrémonde
and that they were
the ones who imprisoned you.
Why didn't you tell me?
I saw no reason to judge Charles
by his name and his family.
Yes, but if we'd known,
he would never
I would have stopped him.
I am sorry.
I am so sorry.
We must get them out of Paris.
Charles will be executed
at noon tomorrow.
You saw the bloodlust
in the courtroom today.
Who knows
who they'll come after next.
Lucie will never
leave Charles behind.
Then we'll persuade her.
Can he not be saved?
There will be no reprieve.
[people singing indistinctly]
[speaking French]
[muffled revelry]
Does your
does your childhood
seem far off to you?
Your younger days,
do they seem very long ago?
I feel
I am traveling
in a circle
nearer and nearer
to the beginning.
I understand the feeling.
He's sleeping, fitfully.
I, too, am ready for bed.
There must be a way.
- There is none.
- I can't just stand by
and let them murder him.
No. You will leave.
The only thing that matters now
is your safety,
you and the child.
But he's my husband.
SYDNEY: Exactly.
It's what he'd want.
How can you know that?
Because it's what
I would want, too.
I've spent ten years
hating him,
twisting myself
around the belief
we were nothing alike.
The truth is
we both love
the same woman.
You could never have
saved me from myself.
You can't save Charles now.
[sobs]
What do I do?
Leave Paris.
Tomorrow at noon.
Thérèse and the others will be
watching the executions.
It's the only sure chance
we'll have
to get you and Alexandre
out of the city.
And what do I tell him
about the father
he'll never know?
Tell him the truth.
He was a better man
than any of us.
One who would embrace
any sacrifice
for those dear to him.
Who would even risk his life
for a friend he had not seen
in ten long years.
And could put away more neat gin
than any know.
[chuckles, sobs]
You should rest.
Eat something.
No, I have no appetite.
My mother would drink a pint
of hot milk every morning
with me in the belly.
She said
it calmed the nausea.
That may have been
the brandy she laced it with.
I always knew
I'd end up like her.
Until I met you.
The first time
since I was a boy,
I thought,
"If she sees it in me"
What?
Something worth living for.
Worth loving.
I did see that.
I still do.
A life you love.
I'll make the arrangements.
We leave at noon sharp.
Thank you.
For what?
Giving me something
I never had.
Hope.
That I might be a better man.
[haunting music]
[distant clatter, clamor]
I know.
But this is the way
it has to be.
The executions begin at midday,
and you and your father must be
far away from the city
before they end.
Papa.
It's time.
No.
Lucie?
Ready the carriage.
I know where he'll be.
Lucie, we can't
[dramatic music]
[man speaking French]
Papa?
Papa!
Papa.
Come on.
[Thérèse speaking French]
[in English]
You need to get away from us.
[speaking French]
[Lucie, in English] No.
Please.
[speaking French]
[in English] Please.
Don't do this.
[in French]
[in English] Please.
[in French]
Lucie?
[both grunting]
[screaming, grunting]
[gunshot]
[gun thuds]
[gasping]
ALEXANDRE: Lucie.
[woman speaking French]
- LUCIE: We have to go. Come on.
- No, no.
Hester, quickly.
[woman speaking French]
[distant clatter, clamor]
[gate opens]
ERNEST: Ten minutes.
[gate closes]
Sydney?
The last person in the world
you hoped to share
your final moments with.
Are you a
a prisoner?
Do you want to live?
It's a simple question.
Yes, of course.
Do exactly as I say.
Strip everything.
Your boots, too.
Why?
No no, no, no, no, no.
There's no time
for empty posturing.
- No. I said "No."
- Why?
Because for once, I might be
the hero of our shared story?
This isn't about pride.
- No?
- No.
I will not allow you
or any man to die for me.
You think
this is just about you?
I have loved her
all these years.
Not as well as you have,
but just as long.
I can't.
You can
and you will.
Your life is not
worth less than mine.
But yours is not
your own, my friend.
It has belonged to her
ever since she chose you.
Price of victory.
Oh, and
it belongs
to another now, too.
The child she's carrying.
What?
She
A child?
You see
you cannot refuse
any more than I can.
[gentle music]
[muted audio]
[gentle music continues]
Live a long life.
Grow old and fat.
And ugly,
for the love of God.
[Charles chuckles]
[sobs]
Love her for both of us.
[gate opens]
He's here.
Go.
[exhaling shakily]
[guard speaking French]
[both speaking French]
[dramatic music]
[distant shouting in French]
We're going home, Papa.
- Home.
- HESTER: Hurry. Hurry.
They will come looking for us
as soon as they find her body.
You saved us.
You saved my life.
Uh, Sydney.
Have you seen Sydney?
No.
[haunting music]
[guard speaking French]
[gate opening]
[man speaking French]
[crowd booing]
[booing continues]
[breath trembling]
[bell tolling]
[bell continues tolling]
[crowd cheering]
[bell continues tolling]
[crowd cheering]
[breath trembling]
[gentle music]
[Lucie sobbing]
[mournful music]
[crowd cheering]
[crowd cheering]
[woman speaking French]
[announcer speaking French]
[crowd booing]
[crowd booing]
Did you know?
Yes.
Is it true?
Yeah.
LUCIE: "A life you love."
SYDNEY: Do not hesitate.
Do not turn back.
I do it gladly.
For the first time in years,
I'm seeing clearly.
I see you and Charles
safe in London.
Alexandre and Hester.
The happiness you all deserve.
I see a beautiful city
and a brilliant people
rising from this abyss.
And in their struggle
to be truly free
I see the evil
of this time wearing out.
I see your child, his years
filled with music and laughter.
His father's wisdom.
Above all,
his mother's love.
I see you growing old.
Your life lived
your heart full.
Knowing you were never loved
more than on this day,
in this place
when I opened
my heart to you
last of all the world.
It is a far,
far better thing that I do
than I have ever done.
It is a far, far better rest
that I go to
than I have ever known.
[crowd cheering]
[haunting music
overtakes cheers]
[theme music playing]