One Hundred Years of Solitude (2024) s01e02 Episode Script

1
[ethereal music playing]
[faint moaning, screaming]
[gasping]
[music fades]
ONE HUNDRED YEARS OF SOLITUDE
[rooster crows]
[birdsong]
[delicate music playing]
José Arcadio.
José Arcadio!
I don't know what you're working on,
but we need to talk.
This is a solar weapon, you see?
A what?
[José Arcadio B.] A weapon
that uses sunlight.
Here's the design.
No gunpowder, Úrsula.
It's a magnificent idea!
- Magnificent for who?
- It can be used by an army.
If I can put on a demonstration,
I bet I could sell it to the government.
I look forward to the day
when you sell one of your genius ideas
that only you understand.
[door opens, closes]
[narrator] As news spread
about the quality of the soil,
their tiny village transformed into
an active town with stores and workshops,
which lured tradesmen from Arabia
Morning.
with slippers on their feet
and rings in their ears.
- [Úrsula] Matilde!
- [Matilde] One second!
- [Úrsula] Morning.
- Morning.
[chuckles] They're ready.
These are good for another year, maybe.
But, Úrsula, tell José Arcadio
he has to stop growing already.
Here.
[coins jangle]
Oh, please. Don't worry about it.
[animals bleating]
Thank you.
- Here, candy for you and the children.
- Ah! Thanks! Just put them over there.
Mm.
Mm. Listen, these are so good.
I mean it, Úrsula. You should sell these.
Oh, Matilde,
there's too much for me to do.
Think about it.
[narrator] By March,
the gypsies had returned.
- [townspeople chattering]
- [goats bleating]
[upbeat music playing]
[upbeat music becomes louder]
[music continues faintly]
[music stops]
[delicate music playing]
[Melquiades] Fascinating.
You are a true inventor.
Thought you would never return.
The world is a big place, José Arcadio,
and it takes some time to traverse it.
Trust me when I say that my plan
was always to see you again.
Come on, show me. Show me.
Úrsula doesn't want me to say this
in front of the children
but I've reached the conclusion
that the Earth is round,
the same as this orange.
[laughing]
You think I'm crazy too?
Quite the contrary, my friend.
I always knew you were an enlightened man
which is why I have something for you.
[mysterious music playing]
[narrator] That noon,
as proof of his admiration,
Melquiades delivered his gift
to José Arcadio Buendía.
A gift which would hold profound influence
over the future of the village.
Aureliano!
Tell your father I'm going to the market!
[Aureliano] Father,
my mother wanted me to tell you
Get out!
What's all this?
[Melquiades] This? This is alchemy.
Alchemy
[Melquiades]
The most ancient science in history.
We'll set up a laboratory
so you can experiment with the elements.
What elements?
The building blocks of matter.
Ammonia. Lead. Mercury.
And sulfur.
Alchemy, my friend,
is the mastery of matter
and the greatest, most splendid power
that human beings can wield.
Above this,
there's only God.
[laughing]
[adventurous music playing]
[José Arcadio] Aureliano!
Aureliano, come here!
Come on!
[waves crashing]
[narrator]
While José Arcadio Buendía devoted himself
to the teachings of alchemy,
Úrsula was busy developing
a promising candy-animal confectionery,
molding her profitable creations
around sticks of balsa wood twice a day.
[music intensifies]
Mm.
Oh, tomorrow
Candy for sale!
Let's see. We're almost out of lime.
Hey, where's José Arcadio?
[music ends]
[narrator] Those who were closest
to José Arcadio Buendía,
who had known him
since the foundation of Macondo,
were startled at how much he had changed
under Melquiades's influence.
An alchemist's mission
is to decipher the mysteries of matter.
And the ultimate proof
of his total mastery
is the transformation
of common base metals
into gold.
[solemn music playing]
That's impossible, Melquiades.
If it were that easy,
everybody would have
endless quantities of gold.
It is possible.
For an alchemist, it's possible.
Look.
It requires a lot of skill and practice.
I strongly suggest
you start with something simpler.
TRANSMUTING METALS
THE DOUBLING OF GOLD
Can you imagine
what we could do with that?
- [Melquiades] There are no limits.
- Úrsula, Melquiades is staying for dinner.
All right. Help yourself to what's left.
Don't worry about me, thank you.
I must be on my way.
I'm needed back at the camp.
Good evening.
Melquiades, I'd still like for you to come
tomorrow morning if that's all right.
- See you tomorrow?
- I'm afraid that won't be possible.
We're packing up our things.
We leave at dawn.
But we just began with the experiments.
I know, but you have everything
that you need to keep moving forward.
You can do this alone.
Don't worry.
I promise I'll be back, my friend.
Next time you invite your friend
for a meal,
ask me if there's enough food first.
You're always locked inside that room.
You never think.
For your information,
it's an alchemy laboratory.
And by the way
it'll make us very rich.
Well, that's great
because my inheritance has almost run out.
José Arcadio Buendía,
forget this nonsense once and for all.
We have a family to feed.
José Arcadio, Aureliano! Food's ready!
Have you seen our children?
No.
[upbeat percussive music playing]
[gasping]
Over there! It's over there!
[snarling]
- Go that way, Aureliano!
- Okay, okay!
[José Arcadio] Run!
[grunting]
- [unsheathes knife]
- [dripping]
- [animal groaning]
- [roaring]
[dripping]
[music stops]
[panting]
[animal groans]
[José Arcadio sighs]
[somber music playing]
[groans]
[yelling] Ah!
[tools clanging faintly]
[Úrsula] Pilar, have you seen my children?
They left at dawn and haven't returned.
Ah, I'm sure they're close by.
Don't worry about it. Since you're here,
why don't you sit down for a reading?
Ask away.
José Arcadio Buendía.
Pick three.
[eerie music playing]
He observes the world differently.
He's a man of passions and obsessions.
Luckily, he's not interested in
women or other vices,
or he'd spend his days drunk
at Catarino's. [laughing]
- [boys chatting]
- Oh, they're gonna get it now.
We'll finish later. Thank you, Pilar!
José Arcadio!
Aureliano!
[eerie music playing]
TRANSMUTING METALS
THE DOUBLING OF GOLD
You won't believe
what the kids brought home with them.
Tell me you didn't just take my coins.
Where are they?
I followed the formula step-by-step.
What formula?
A process that can
scientifically double your gold.
Does that molten blob
look like gold to you?
Well, I bet I could separate it.
I'd need to use a bit more sulfur,
probably less lead,
What made you think you could
take these without asking me?
You know I need those coins
to help me grow my candy business.
What candies?
Not only do you do nothing for this house,
you also have the nerve
to destroy what little we have left.
I'll recover every last gram of gold.
I swear.
No. I don't need you
to recover any of the gold.
I just need you
to take care of your family.
Of our children,
who are growing up without a father.
They look like savages. I mean, look.
[sighs]
José Arcadio.
Aureliano.
Come in.
Go ahead.
[somber music playing]
[narrator] From that afternoon on,
José Arcadio Buendía
gave them his best hours.
- He taught them how to read and write.
- It's about patience. Okay, boys?
And told them about
the wonders of the world
I caught one!
pushing the limits
of their imagination to the extreme.
And eventually,
the boys learned it was possible
to cross the Aegean Sea on foot,
that one could jump from island to island
all the way to the port of Salonika.
[José Arcadio B.]pastime
was to sit and think.
Don't even try.
Here, these ones are ready to be sold.
I'll go get José Arcadio.
[Pilar] I counted them, so don't think
I won't notice if you take one.
That morning, when she entered the room,
Úrsula was struck with a mingled sense
of shame and pity at the sight of him.
He was so well-equipped,
it struck her as abnormal.
And she began to relive
her newlywed horrors once more.
Why that face?
Did Prudencio Aguilar's ghost
visit you again?
- It's worse than that.
- [Pilar] What could possibly be worse?
José Arcadio.
- I saw him naked.
- And?
His manhood is enormous.
[laughing]
That's normal, Úrsula! He's growing.
Everything grows at the same time.
That's not normal, Pilar.
Might as well be a deformity.
It's worse than having a tail.
What if he's forced to spend
the rest of his life alone?
Quite the contrary.
He'll be lucky.
But if you need reassurance,
I'm happy to do a reading.
Please.
[Pilar] Cut it.
Relax, José Arcadio. This won't hurt.
Choose three.
What's it say?
That you will be unconquerable
like a hurricane.
- [low rumbling]
- [gasps]
Oh my word!
[gasps]
[narrator] José Arcadio felt
his bones filling up with foam.
And he experienced a languid fear
and a terrible desire to weep.
[door opens]
What did the cards say?
His life won't be short
in women or descendants.
I can assure you.
[panting]
[curious percussive music playing]
That night,
in the terror of sleeplessness,
he desired Pilar Ternera again
with a brutal anxiety.
He wanted to be with her
for them to never leave the granary,
and for her to say, "Oh my word."
- [creaking]
- [man groaning]
[groaning continues]
[groaning continues]
[man] Mm. Wednesday.
[groaning continues]
[tense music playing]
[moaning]
[gasping]
Uh! Uh!
[narrator] Pilar Ternera
had permitted him to understand
the reason that men fear death.
- [Úrsula] Good morning.
- [woman] What flavors do you have?
- Tamarind, corozo, lime, and orange.
- I'll have some orange and corozo.
Of course.
- [Pilar] How are things today?
- Pilar!
Business is good, huh?
We can't even keep up now.
Stay here with the children.
- I'll go home and bring more candy.
- Of course. Go.
- [woman] One lime and one corozo, please.
- [Pilar] Go ahead.
- [man] Could I have an orange one?
- The orange one is scrumptious.
José Arcadio pass me the candy.
- [Aureliano] Where were you?
- Sh.
It's not the first time
I've seen you leave.
Come on, what is it?
[José Arcadio sighs]
I met a woman.
A woman? What were you doing with a woman?
[sighs] You mean,
what was she doing with me?
[candle slides]
Her skin smells just like smoke
and her laughter scares the doves away.
[laughing]
[mysterious music playing]
When she touches me,
it's almost as if she knows my whole body
better than I do myself.
[moaning passionately]
You can't imagine all the things
you can accomplish
with a tongue, Aureliano.
You wouldn't believe it.
[moaning] Oh!
[gasps, laughs]
We reached a moment
where we nearly fainted
from all of the pleasure.
[moaning]
Oh! [gasps]
What's it feel like?
Like the whole world is shaking.
[both laughing]
[José Arcadio B.] The sun's rays
converge at the lens,
and when projected,
they can burn the target.
[mysterious music continues]
[José Arcadio B.] By concentrating them
in one spot,
they'll make that vessel
burst into flames.
- Yeah! Mother!
- [José Arcadio] That's it!
[laughing]
[José Arcadio B.]
Did you see that, Úrsula? We did it.
It works.
[narrator] Many years later,
seconds before the army officer
gave the command to fire,
Colonel Aureliano Buendía relived
that warm March afternoon,
when his father interrupted his lesson,
to listen to the distant pipes and drums
of the returning gypsies.
Melquiades.
- [vibrant music playing]
- [all chattering]
[jangling]
[man] Come! Come!
Come closer!
And see the most recent discovery
of the wise men of Memphis!
The wonder that belonged to King Solomon!
Uh, 30 reales, please.
[coins jangling]
[music fades]
[mysterious music playing]
[narrator] The chest gave off
a glacial exhalation.
Inside, was an enormous transparent block
with an infinite number
of internal needles,
in which the light of the sunset
was broken up into colored stars.
The biggest diamond in the world.
No, sir.
It's ice.
- This is the great invention of our time.
- Uh, uh, uh!
That's five reales more
if you want to touch it.
[coins jangle]
[gasps] Ah!
It's boiling.
[man 2] Hey!
THE MAGNIFICENT WONDERS
OF THE WISE MEN OF MEMPHIS
[man 2] Experience the power
of the Sumerian potion
that was kept in obscurity for centuries.
THE RENOWNED EUCLIDES
A thick syrup
to make oneself invisible.
Ah!
I'm sorry, sir.
You know Melquiades, the alchemist?
Melquiades is gone.
He perished in the dunes of Singapore.
[tense music playing]
That can't be true.
- Melquiades, he can't have died
- [onlookers gasp]
[poignant music playing]
[woman screaming in distance]
[distorted warbling sounds]
Melquiades passed away.
[music fades]
[pensive music playing]
Keeping alchemy alive is now
the best way to honor his memory.
[sizzles]
[Úrsula groans]
[groaning]
José Arcadio!
[groans]
[grunting]
[grunting, panting]
[gasping] José Arcadio
- [liquid splashing on floor]
- [wailing]
[gasps]
[gasping]
[clatters]
[groaning, panting]
[wailing]
[moans, pants]
[straining]
[narrator] One Thursday in January,
at two o'clock in the morning,
Amaranta was born.
Úrsula examined her carefully.
She was light and watery, like a newt.
But all of her parts were human.
[gasping]
[Amaranta crying]
[birdsong]
- [Matilde] She's so pretty.
- Finally, the daughter you yearned for.
- She hasn't cried, not once.
- That's true.
She'll be a very serene girl.
- [woman] Yes, congratulations.
- Hey, this cookie's amazing.
- [woman] From the shop.
- Have some bread.
Mm-hmm.
- I made this myself. It's honey bread.
- [women gasp]
- Mm, so good.
- So, where's your husband?
In his workshop, I would guess.
- Oh, let me hold her.
- He won't be long.
- And then me.
- [Gerineldo] Right
[José Arcadio B. laughs] We did it!
- Úrsula!
- [Aureliano] Mother!
- Úrsula!
- [all cheer] Hey!
- Sh, sh, sh, sh.
- We have guests.
[Gerineldo] The tiger came down
from the mountain!
- [Magnífico] We thought you had died.
- [all laugh]
My friends. Magnífico, Gerineldo.
- I have here some gold coins.
- Sh, sh, sh.
Recovered from an impossible alloy.
Is this true?
- Yes, it is.
- You have no idea how happy I am.
Congratulations.
- [Gerineldo] How many goats is that?
- [Magnífico] Set up shop!
Sh! Quiet.
My son, how about it?
- Looks more like dog poop.
- [all laugh]
Watch your mouth!
[footsteps depart]
Come on, let's eat.
- [Gerineldo] I'll pour us a drink.
- [Pilar] Juice.
How are you? Oh.
Little baby! Little Amaranta
Come in. My brothers are out.
He humiliates me!
He keeps treating me like a little boy.
[Pilar] Don't let
these silly things get to you.
I won't spend another second
inside the laboratory.
I'll live life my own way.
Easy now.
Why don't you just tell your father
what you actually want?
What I want
is to be with you.
Yeah, me too.
[both chuckle]
[lively music playing]
FOR THE FIRST TIME IN THE AMERICAS
THE MAGIC CARPE
Over there.
That doesn't compare
to how I feel when you and I together.
Now, you're a grown man.
We're having a child.
[lively music fades]
[all audio becomes faint]
SHOWS
What's the matter?
Nothing!
[Aureliano] José Arcadio.
Leave me alone!
[sighs]
[narrator] José Arcadio lost his appetite
and could not sleep.
He was so disturbed, anxious, and bitten
by a hostile rancor against the world,
that he left his bed that night
to mingle in the confusion of the fair
and find some solace.
[mysterious percussive music playing]
After wandering around among
all kinds of contraptions,
he spotted a young gypsy girl.
She was the most beautiful woman
he had ever seen in his life.
[crowd clamoring in distance]
[jangling]
[panting]
On first contact with her body,
the girl's bones seemed
to become disjointed
with a disorderly crunch,
like the sound of a box of dominoes.
- [clattering]
- Oh!
[birdsong]
All right, kids. Get up.
Where's your brother?
He hasn't returned.
Matilde?
Have you seen my son?
No.
Last time I saw him was at your house.
Maybe let's ask Pilar?
Pilar!
Have you seen José Arcadio?
Catarino!
- Catarino, have you seen my son?
- Your son? No.
He was with the gypsies last night.
He's a gypsy now.
Off you go. Run back home, all right?
Tell your father what happened.
[eerie music playing]
[narrator] In a few hours,
José Arcadio Buendía gathered
a group of well-equipped men.
After three days of useless searching,
they returned to the village.
[somber music playing]
[humming]
[birdsong]
[narrator] José Arcadio Buendía
was consumed by consternation
for several weeks.
[somber music continues]
[Amaranta crying]
[clicking tongue soothingly]
Silver is best worked within filaments.
I'll show you how.
Don't worry, my son.
Your brother will come back.
[bird whistles]
Come on.
Grab the hammer.
[tools clanking]
We gotta hammer the silver
to give it shape.
Here.
[Amaranta cooing]
[clicking teeth soothingly]
[Amaranta cooing]
[jangling]
[rattles]
[chair clattering]
[toy jangling]
[narrator] Time put things in their place.
Father! The basket!
Father, look!
- Father!
- That's the properties of matter, son.
Nothing extraordinary,
once you understand it.
[narrator]
During his prolonged confinement,
José Arcadio begged with all of his heart
that the long-awaited miracle
would not be turning metals into gold,
but Úrsula's return.
[townspeople chattering]
[horse neighing]
[dogs barking]
[hammering]
Father! Look over there!
[ethereal music playing]
[narrator] Almost five months later,
Úrsula returned.
It's your mama. Run!
She came from
the other side of the great swamp,
where there were towns
that received mail every month
and where they were familiar
with the implements of good living.
[Aureliano gasps]
[poignant music playing]
Where's José Arcadio?
I never did find their tracks, son.
And nobody else has seen him.
[hammering continues]
My little girl.
[José Arcadio B.]
Who are all these people?
They all wanted to see
the marvel of this small town
in the middle of the swamp.
You really did it.
You found the path
that connects Macondo with the world.
I want to introduce
Visitación and Cataure.
My companions during the journey.
They're moving in with us.
- Welcome.
- Thank you for having us.
- Pleased to meet you.
- [José Arcadio B.] Welcome.
[music continues]
Easy.
[music fades]
Don't ever leave again.
You better not either.
[dog barking]
[knocking]
Pilar.
Is everything all right?
[baby crying]
Wait, whose child is that?
It's mine.
A boy, actually.
And his father?
It's José Arcadio's.
I'm here to give him to you.
Pilar, what is this nonsense?
We fell in love, Úrsula.
I don't believe it.
- But we did.
- [baby cries]
Sh. I'm sorr All right. Sh.
So It was you.
You're the reason my son
disappeared that day.
If you coerced him with witchcraft
to give you a son,
that bastard is yours to raise.
[somber music playing]
[baby crying]
Please, just look.
I beg you.
[baby crying loudly]
This boy is your flesh and blood.
[Pilar] Sh, sh, sh, sh.
[baby continues crying]
He has the eyes of our fathers.
Oh, no. There, there.
Sh, sh, sh, sh, sh.
A Buendía needs to be
raised with his family.
Then we'll raise him as our own.
As long as that whore
never steps foot inside this house
and this child never knows his mother,
because her actions
have brought shame into this family.
You heard our conditions, Pilar.
[baby fussing]
He'll have a better life here.
[baby crying]
[Pilar sobs]
[music fades]
[narrator] The baby was given
the name of José Arcadio,
but they called him "Arcadio"
so as to avoid confusion.
[mysterious music playing]
Aureliano spent endless hours
in the laboratory,
learning the art of silverwork
by his own experimentation.
Adolescence had taken
the softness from his voice.
He became silent,
perpetually solitary.
[creaking]
And yet, it had restored
the intense expression
that he had in his eyes when he was born.
[creaking continues]
[Arcadio, in Wayuu] Let's play!
[Amaranta] Come on!
[Arcadio] Go hide!
[Amaranta] What's that?
Ha! Run! [giggles]
[Arcadio] Run!
[Amaranta] What's that? [giggles]
- Run!
- [Arcadio] Run!
Run!
[Amaranta] Go hide! [giggling]
[Arcadio] Run!
[Amaranta] What's that?
[mysterious music continues]
Arcadio, Amaranta!
[in English] I don't wanna
hear you speaking Wayuu.
I told you to please speak English.
What's wrong?
They're almost here.
[creaking]
[music fades]
[tense music playing]
BASED ON THE NOVEL
BY GABRIEL GARCÍA MÁRQUEZ
[music fades]
[ethereal music playing]
[music fades]