Seeking Persephone (2026) s01e04 Episode Script

- This gentleman is clearly ill.
- I ain't running
a charity, guv.
Here's hoping we can do
business again in the future.
- We will.
- Adam?
Why did you decide
to get married?
- [Adam] At the time it
seemed like a good idea.
I just kissed Persephone.
- I noticed.
- She is lonely in
this empty castle.
- I heard them, Adam!
The wolves, they're
inside Falstone!
- [Adam] They are not inside
the castle walls, Persephone.
- I want to know why you've
stayed around all these years.
- We're friends, Adam.
- All of the balls
you held for mother
weren't enough to keep her here,
so why the blasted blazes am
I trying the same approach?
Now I've promised you
that your brother
will visit you here
and that Falstone
Castle will host a ball,
and no one, not
Harry, not anyone else,
will browbeat me into going
back on that promise to you.
- I want to believe that.
[gentle instrumental music]
[tender music swells]
[tender music softens]
John, please have Atlas saddled.
I wish to ride to the vicarage.
- Your first ride
outside the castle gates.
- I'm ready.
- Very good, Yer Grace.
[tender music continues]
[hooves clopping]
[Atlas huffs]
[tender music continues]
[Atlas neighs]
[tender music continues]
[hooves trotting]
[Adam sighs]
- Fiends, it's getting cold.
[Zeus grunts]
Zeus.
[Zeus neighs]
Steady, Zeus.
[wolf howls]
Whoa.
- Have you found her?
- Her?
- Her Grace.
We were riding to the vicarage,
and Atlas bolted
without warning.
She's not that good a rider yet,
and I'm afraid she
might've been unseated.
And more with that pack
soundin' so close and angry.
- Persephone!
- [John] She's not answering.
- Persephone! Ya, ya!
[perplexed music]
[wolves howling]
[crows cawing]
[wolves continues howling]
Ya. Ya, ya!
[animal howling]
We need to find the pack.
- I was thinking that
meself, Yer Grace.
[jarring music]
[wolves howling]
[Zeus neighing]
- Whoa, whoa. Steady, Zeus.
Steady, steady.
[wolf howling]
- I heard that, too, Yer Grace.
We're gettin' closer.
[wolves howling]
- Ya, ya!
[jarring music continues]
[wolves snarling]
[perplexed music]
[Atlas neighing]
[wolf howling]
[wolves snarling]
[wolf barks]
[wolves continue snarling]
[wolf whimpers]
[wolves continue snarling]
[gun fires]
[wolf whimpers]
- It's me, Persephone!
- [Persephone] Adam!
- Stay next to me.
Stay next to me.
[wolf snarling]
[wolf barks]
- John, hand her up to me.
Take Atlas back if you can.
But be quick about it. The pack
won't stay spooked for long.
[Adam grunts]
Persephone, arms around me.
Hold fast.
When we reach the road,
we are going to run.
[distant wolves howling]
[suspenseful music]
Everyone is to be armed.
The pack is within
yards of the castle.
Where John Handly
is through that gate.
[grunts] They have to
be closed immediately.
- [Groom] Yes, Your Grace.
- I'm so dizzy.
- Can you walk?
- I think so.
[bell tolling]
[suspenseful music continues]
- She was thrown from her
horse, out in the forest.
There's a possibility
she's broken her ankle.
- Should I have a
surgeon sent for?
- No.
The wolves are prowling
just outside the gate.
It isn't safe for
anyone to go in or out.
- [Harry] But they've
never done that before.
- Persephone?
Where is mother?
- [Harry] Drawing room, I think.
- [Adam] Send her up
to Persephone's room.
[door clicks]
[unsettling music]
[Persephone groans]
[Persephone cries]
- Are we safe now?
- Yes.
- I was afraid no
one would find me.
- Merciful heavens!
- Mother, I need your help.
- There's blood
on her riding habit.
- Mother?
Help her to a seat, Harry.
- Adam?
Can you take my boot off?
It's too tight.
[rousing music]
[Persephone groans]
- Adam, she needs a surgeon.
- [Adam] I know.
Bring me boiling water.
And the strongest brandy
Barton can find, go.
Help me, Harry.
[Persephone groaning]
- You'll have to cut it.
- Mother, could you
find me some scissors?
[dramatic music]
[Persephone sobbing]
Hold her still.
I don't want to
accidentally cut her.
[Persephone groaning]
[Persephone sobs]
Here.
I'm sorry, Persephone.
I'm trying to be gentle.
[dramatic music fades]
[brooding music]
[brooding music fades]
[birds chirping]
[tender music]
[Persephone gasps]
- Adam?
- Yes, dear?
- Please stay with me.
[tender music continues]
- If you will stay with me.
[tender music continues]
Barton said you
wanted to speak with me.
[John clears throat]
- H-How is Her Grace?
- Sleeping.
- I know it ain't seemly
me talking to you in here.
But, why, I think I know,
I have an idea why the
pack attacked Atlas.
And I thought you might
wanna know sooner than later,
even if tellin' you means
overstepping meself a bit.
- You aren't overstepping.
What have you discovered?
- While we were
cleaning Atlas's wounds,
we couldn't help but notice
that he smelled
strongly of bacon.
- Of bacon?
- It might be why the
wolves attacked Atlas
but weren't so intent on
getting at me or my horse,
or at you and Zeus.
Her Grace might have picked
up some of that smell,
and that'd be why
they were huntin' her.
- Talk with your staff.
See what you can find out
if it played any role
in this attack, any.
I do not want the same
mistake to occur again.
- Yes, Yer Grace.
- John?
Thank you.
[poignant music]
- Adam?
May I speak with you, please?
- Perhaps you should sit down.
- I'm so sorry, Adam.
I know you wished me to
help with Persephone.
You must be so disappointed.
- Sit down, mother.
- Sometimes you're
so like your father.
Dear man.
- Are you unwell?
- I'm so mortified.
You see, I've always been
hopeless in a sickroom.
Even as a child, when
anyone in the household
would get so much as a cold,
I would fret our dear
nurse into a fit of nerves.
And my mother always told me
it would be different
when I was a mother.
You must be so ashamed of me,
being so utterly useless when
you were depending on me.
- There was a great deal of
blood, earlier, with Persephone.
I do not blame you for
not being up to the task.
- Well, I'm certain I only
made the situation worse.
I always did.
The second surgeon actually
sent me to the vicarage
for two days.
Banished from my own home.
From my poor boy.
- Banished? The second surgeon?
- I'm certain I made it worse.
I was so nervous, so concerned
through the first one-
- The first surgery?
- And I didn't get better.
Worse, in fact.
The next few surgeons
insisted I be gone
before they even arrived.
- You are referring to
the surgeons who did this.
- And I was grateful to go.
Happy to.
What kind of an unnatural mother
wishes to leave her
child at such a time?
[Dowager Duchess sobs]
[Harry clears throat]
- Persephone is asking for you.
She seems anxious.
[poignant music]
[door clicks]
[door creaks]
- What is it, Persephone?
- I've been thinking
back on my ride.
- Surely that can wait until
you're more fully rested.
- What happened today, I
don't believe was an accident.
- What has led you
to that suspicion?
- John didn't help me mount.
Usually the stable
hand waits for him,
but this time he didn't.
And the stable hand who
helped me smelled like-
- Bacon?
- How did you know?
- Was it a faint aroma?
- No.
At first I thought perhaps
he'd been helping
in the curing house
or had slipped in a lard
spill in the kitchen.
The scent was so strong
I could still smell it-
- While you were riding.
- Exactly.
- The groom who helped you
mount, does he assist you often?
- Occasionally.
- Do you know his name?
- He wears a green
handkerchief around his neck.
None of the others do.
- John Handly
will know who it is.
- You're going to talk to him?
That groom, I mean?
- If he had any hand in this,
I plan to do far
more than just talk.
What's the name of the groom
who wears a green
handkerchief round his neck?
- Uh, Jimmy.
He's a newer one.
Quiet-like. Keeps to himself.
- Any idea where I
might find this Jimmy?
- Last I sought of him, he
was at the back of the stable.
- He helped Her Grace
mount this morning,
and she said he reeked of bacon,
more than could've
been accidental.
- On purpose, then?
- That's what I
mean to find out.
- Ah, there he is.
Jimmy!
- Smith!
Do not let him
get past the gate!
Stop him!
[bell tolling]
[tense music]
[Smith grunts]
This vermin is Mr. Smith
who tried to kill my wife.
- You took the only thing
that mattered to me.
Jus' trying to repay
the favor, guv'nuh.
- You'll hang for this-
- Oh, no.
I have a better idea.
Put him in the gibbet.
- What?
No, you can't do that!
You have to consult the law!
- I am the Duke of Kielder.
I am the law.
[Adam grunts]
[gentle music]
[Adam breathes deeply]
Duke's aren't supposed to
need people, Persephone.
[gentle music swells]
[Persephone sobs]
[tender music]
- I like Falstone.
- So do I, Linus.
- Then why don't you look happy?
- Probably because I'm in pain.
I had no idea how long a few
simple cuts could take to heal.
- I understand they
weren't simple at all.
- Considering what
might've befallen me,
I think of my injuries
as comparatively simple.
It is so good to have you here.
- I am happy to see you again.
Though I already miss the sea.
Evander only ever missed home.
- I believe he is home now.
- And he is with mama.
- Midshipman Lancaster.
If I had known that your
intention in visiting here
was to make your sister cry,
I would not have invited you.
- You guessed my devious plot
with alarming
precision, Your Grace.
Every young navy man
wishes to bring
their female relatives
into varying states of hysteria
on every possible occasion.
- And apparently,
you are also intent
on bringing Persephone
down to her deathbed.
- Alas, it is true.
Though I have
momentarily forgotten
how I intend to do this.
- By keeping her out of
doors and in the cold
instead of inside
warm and off her feet.
- Ah, yes, I remember now.
But I suppose since you
have guessed my plot,
I shall have to abandon
my ill-fated scheme.
- It was inevitable.
- Oh, thank you.
I will see you inside, Linus.
[Persephone chuckles]
- You seem pleased.
- I've missed my brother.
- He's not at all
what I expected.
Your description
was of an infant.
Imagine my shock when he
walked out of the carriage
no leading strings or
nursemaids in sight.
- Adam Boyce,
are you teasing me?
- I never tease.
- You also, apparently,
never host balls.
Yet you're doing
exactly that tomorrow.
- Oh, clearly I have begun
a descent into senility.
- You are in the oddest
mood this evening.
- You have no idea.
[graceful orchestral music]
[distant guests chattering]
- Persephone seems to be
wondering where you are.
- Has she asked after me?
- Just a look on her face.
We could always tell growing up
when she was
worrying about one of us.
- She must've worried a lot.
- Persephone held the family
together after mama died.
- How old was she?
- 12.
She very suddenly lost what
was left of her childhood.
- You did as well.
- Her life these
past eight years
has been one unending sacrifice
for the sake of the family.
- Including her marriage?
- Do you know why my papa
named Persephone as he did?
- Obsession with
all things Greek?
- Other than that.
The story of
Persephone is his favorite.
- It seems an
odd favorite to me.
- Not when you
look at it as he does.
Papa counts himself amongst
those scholars of the classics
who believe that Hades didn't
trick Persephone at all,
and that they both
decided together
that she'd eat the
pomegranate seeds,
because it meant that
nothing could prevent
Persephone from
returning to him.
- But why would she return?
- It was the reason
for her return
that endeared the
goddess to my father.
- The seeds?
- [Linus] The seeds
were symbolic.
- Symbolic of what?
[graceful orchestral
music continues]
- I know disappearing at balls
is one of your
particular talents,
but it does not reflect
well on your wife.
You really ought
to go sit beside her.
- What I really ought to do
is hang you out your
bedchamber windows
by a bed sheet wrapped
around your ankles.
- Welcome back, old friend.
You've been
shockingly soft lately.
- Oh, shut up, Harry.
[graceful orchestral
music continues]
What do the pomegranate
seeds symbolize?
- What?
- In the Persephone myth.
Linus said the
seeds are symbols.
- Has he been
waxing philosophical?
That is the one trait
he inherited from papa.
- What do they symbolize?
- According to papa, the
seeds are symbolic of love:
Hades's love for Persephone
and her love for him.
- How could she love someone
who kept her prisoner?
- Papa always believed
she came to know him
beyond his fearsome demeanor
and came to love him.
Hades fell in love with
Persephone as well.
She was his match.
- But if they were so in love,
then why did she leave at all?
If she had eaten all the seed,
she would've stayed forever.
- Hades did not
force her to remain
because her family needed her.
- Hades never let
anyone leave his realm.
- Hades loved Persephone.
- He let her go
because he loved her?
- And she returned
because she loved him.
[tender music]
[tender music fades]
[footsteps approaching]
Thank you for the ball, Adam.
It was wonderful.
- And you were happy?
You weren't disappointed?
What?
What more were you hoping for?
- I've never danced at a ball.
Very often I imagined doing so.
I had no intention
of asking you to do
yet another
unpleasant thing today.
And yet
- I would enjoy
dancing with you.
- You would endure
it, I am certain.
[gentle music]
- I want to dance with you.
- The musicians have all left.
- We don't need them.
[gentle music continues]
- Oh, my leg has
It's still too weak
to hold me for long.
- Then allow me to hold you.
[tender music]
[Adam exhales deeply]
[tender music continues]
[tender music fades]
Linus leaves for
Shropshire in the morning
to visit your family.
- Yes, I know.
- You will be leaving with him.
- That was not the plan.
- It should have been.
It should always have been.
The two of you can depart
immediately following
breakfast in the morning.
- Will you be
journeying with us?
- I belong at Falstone Castle.
- And where do I belong?
- Your family needs you.
- And what about you, Adam?
- Dukes don't need people.
[door clicks]
[door thuds]
[morose music]
[Persephone gasps]
[ducks squawking]
You'd best not keep the
horses standing, mother.
- It will only take a moment.
And it is more important than
me making a timely departure.
Your father and I had
an arranged marriage.
No accounting was made
for the differences
in our dispositions.
I was raised in
town, among society.
London, the ton, it's
what I knew and needed.
Your father was raised here,
in quiet and solitude.
We wanted very
different things in life.
We tried to compromise,
to blend our preferences.
But he begrudged the balls
and gatherings held here,
and came to rather despise
my need for company.
- He wouldn't have-
- I will admit I
likewise began to view
my relationship to Falstone,
and by extension, him
through a lens of bitterness.
- I do not wish to hear this-
- Resentment
grows quickly, Adam.
Your father was a good man,
despite his implacableness.
I held out hope for so long,
in my foolishly romantic heart,
that he would come for
me while I was away.
He never did.
- Did you tell him that that
was what you were hoping for?
- I was so young, only
17 when we married.
In my naivete, I believed
that, if he truly cared,
he would meet me partway.
You are more
willing to compromise
than your father ever was.
And Persephone is more
suited to quiet and solitude
than I will ever be.
She is your match, Adam.
Do not throw away this chance
by making her
guess at your feelings.
[footsteps retreating]
[footsteps approaching]
- She has a point, you know.
- Every other guest has
left the castle, Harry.
Why haven't you?
- I'm here to be
your conscience.
To save you from yourself.
She will come back.
When Linus returns to his ship,
Persephone will
return to Falstone.
And I know you well
enough to predict
that you will act as though
you couldn't care less
whether she is here or not.
Do you really want her
to wonder about that?
- This is none of
your concern, Harry.
[poignant music]
- You miss her,
and she deserves to know that.
- She is happy with her family.
- Then go be part of her family.
Go to Shropshire.
- That isn't how it works.
- How what works?
- Persephone
receives her reprieve,
and Hades stays
in the underworld
waiting to see if
the seeds work.
- Obviously you were sleeping
during that lecture at Harrow.
Hades did not sit back
and wait for Persephone.
When the time came, Hades
slipped past the hellhounds
and ventured into
the realm of the living
to reclaim his bride.
- I do not remember that.
- Hm.
Hades was no
pambsy fribble, Adam.
And I'd bet a pony
his Persephone
knew exactly how her
husband felt about her.
[tender music]
[leaves rustling]
- Are you sure
you're warm enough?
- I'm dressed as
warmly as I am at home,
it is far colder there.
- You speak very fondly
of Falstone Castle.
- I've come to love it, Athena.
More than just the castle.
- I hope I'm not out of line
in saying that you seem
to miss the castle.
- I do.
- Then why do you seem so sad
whenever anyone
mentions you going back?
I do not merely think it
is because you'll miss us.
- Probably because I'm
not entirely certain
what I will find when I return.
- You could always
just stay here.
- My heart is there.
- I hope the castle knows
how fortunate he is.
[footsteps approaching]
[tender music]
- Adam.
Have you come to take me home?
- When you're ready.
But I, I wanted
to see Shropshire,
to see where you grew up.
- You did?
- And, and get to
know your family.
And I, I
Hades always went
after Persephone.
- Yes, he did.
- He waited as
long as he had to.
And then he left his kingdom
and he did not come
back until he found her.
- I think Hades
must've missed his wife.
- I think he knew
to the very minute
how long she'd been gone.
But was Persephone
as anxious to return
as he was to have
her with him again?
- Yes, she was.
[tender music continues]
- Why did Hades go after her?
- He must've loved her.
- Oh, he did.
He did, more than he
could even express.
[tender music continues]
But, but did Persephone love
him in spite of his flaws,
in spite of deserving
so much better
than he could ever offer?
- Oh, Adam.
- Am I too late?
Is there nothing I can-
- You said you
belong at Falstone.
Only at Falstone.
- I belong with you.
[tender music continues]
- I do love you, Adam.
[tender music continues]
- The ton would not believe
that even if they
heard you say it.
[Adam and Persephone laugh]
- We shall have
to convince them.
- I may enjoy London yet.
- Does this mean I can
come to your castle?
- Our castle is in need
of a good exploration.
Perhaps if you have no
other plans for Christmas,
you could undertake one then.
- [Artemis] Athena, Daphne!
- You realize she will bring
the rest of the family,
and Falstone will be
overrun with people.
- [chuckles] Well, and
there is probably a chance
I will be in a foul
mood from time to time.
You may, once again, have
to save me from myself.
You have done that, you know.
- Saved you?
- Oh.
Oh, my Persephone,
do you know that I
would've come for you
no matter how far you'd gone?
- Hades always
came for Persephone.
And she always returned home.
Always.
[tender music continues]
[tender music fades]
[gentle music]
[gentle music swells]
[gentle music fades]