Troy: Fall of a City (2018) s01e06 Episode Script
Battle on the Beach
I fled the field of battle.
I've brought shame on the whole city.
Alexander isn't coming back.
What about the search parties? We've called them off.
My husband isn't dead.
Achilles and the Myrmidons are refusing to fight.
That's 500 of their best men.
Then we have to move quickly.
Enlist more men over 14 and under 40.
One hour, or you know what they'll do to her.
- The horses! They're gone from the stables.
- What? Greeks! Attacking! Get the men out there.
Now! To the wall! Move! Lord Pandarus is a determined man.
He will find out the truth .
.
unless you open that door.
Aphrodite, why have you done this to me? I won't let you take him.
No! Are you all right, son? I saw you .
.
as a boy .
.
at the city games.
You wrestled your brother.
It was a good fight.
Did I fight well? What did you do before you became a soldier? Blacksmith's apprentice.
For your father? I am an orphan.
No.
No, you are a son of Troy.
I'm ready to give my life for her.
What's your name? Astyanax.
What was it like? Did you fight near Hector? Did you kill any Greeks? I wish I could have been there with you.
- They slaughtered us.
- What? You are not a soldier, you're a boy.
And you are not going out there.
I will fight for my city if I want to! Like you.
Like all men.
The young were supposed to be kept in reserve.
I ordered it.
The enemy cut through our lines.
There was no choice but to send in the reinforcements.
The Greeks celebrate outside our walls.
They can see victory on the horizon.
Pissing distance from the wall, and still we can't get in.
Not without the Myrmidons, no.
When this is over, I want 1,000 songs written about the craven Myrmidons.
One thousand tales of how they sat on their arses while we did the fighting.
As long as you aren't expecting me to sing any of them.
She watched.
I sent Paris running like a scared child from my sword.
And still she stays behind her wall.
Odysseus has been sent back to speak to Achilles.
Perhaps he can work his magic.
How come you're alive? Are you dangerous? So am I.
Penthesilea.
Our Amazon Queen.
How'd you come to be in the river? What's your name? You're a soldier.
You're a long way from any battlefield.
You think it's barbaric.
I had him searching for the man who was betraying us.
As it turned out, that man was him.
Perhaps it is barbaric.
But the war isn't just outside these walls.
It is in here.
It's with us.
It's in the streets, in the houses, in the shadows of Troy.
Let him be a lesson to us all .
.
that treachery wears a friendly face.
And this is how it ends.
Helen.
You found me.
I told you to get him out of the city, not kill him.
I tried, but he would not be persuaded.
You're lying.
He was going to take it to the King with a letter of accusation.
You know I can get you out.
I wouldn't need long.
A night's preparation, that's all.
I didn't ask for that.
You don't need to.
Draw.
Loose! We found this.
Do Troy's common soldiers carry weapons like this? I am Alexander, son of Priam.
Prince of Troy.
My fate and that of the city are entwined.
So it was nobility that led you to jump.
There's a prophecy.
There always is with boys like you.
As long as I live, Troy is doomed.
So if I killed you now, I'd be doing Troy a service.
I'm not afraid to die.
Just not very good at it.
So you say you come to fight for Troy? I come to fight for whoever wants to kill Greeks.
What did the Greeks do to you? Most of them, nothing.
I'll kill them anyway.
I'll kill any man that fights under the banner of the Myrmidons.
So you wish to kill Achilles.
I wish to try.
We ride for the city tomorrow.
Come with us and fight for your people.
If it makes you feel any better, you'll almost certainly die in the process.
You miss it.
I know you do.
The adrenaline .
.
the taste of metal on your tongue .
.
the sound .
.
the chaos.
I miss the hush.
When I meet an opponent worthy of me .
.
everyone around us stops to watch.
The din of battle drains away like a wave.
And for a few moments, it's just the two of us.
And then I kill him.
And then everyone gets back to what they were doing.
Then come and do it.
Come and fight.
End this.
My honour prevents it.
I tried.
You should eat.
You'll need your strength.
We leave at sunrise.
What will you do? If you're going to kill yourself, just do it.
Why does your queen hate Achilles? He killed her daughters, her sisters, soldiers.
There's a price to pay.
He has not paid it yet.
For luck.
The Greeks camp outside our walls.
Our people are starving.
My brother is gone.
Your son is kicking me.
I've known Pandarus since I was a boy.
I would never have believed he was capable of betraying us.
No.
Aphrodite.
Allow me to find a way through the darkness .
.
to hold the walls of my city together.
Let the children of Troy play in the sun again.
Let them taste bread.
Let fathers grow old with their young ones, with their wives .
.
their brothers.
Why do you play with me? Why didn't you tell me about the prophecy? It was not mine to tell.
We sent our son away to die.
And then we let him back.
.
.
.
even though we knew what damage it would do.
It's true.
Troy will fall while Paris lives.
But the curse has been broken, and what was promised will not come to pass.
Your heart stopped when you hit the water.
I'm not dead.
But you were.
And the women warriors brought you back.
When you left the mortal realm, the prophecy was completed.
Death took you and now you start afresh.
A second chance.
A chance for what? For fathers to grow old with their children .
.
and their brothers.
Do you remember choosing me? Yes.
If we replayed that day a thousand times again, you'd choose me a thousand times more.
Yes.
Yes.
Hector? My brother's alive.
I thought you were never coming back.
Why? Why did you leave me? I was in disgrace.
We would have fixed it.
There was a prophecy I don't care! I don't care about a stupid prophecy.
Aphrodite visited me.
She came and she told me that I had another chance.
That I could come home .
.
to you.
I love you.
I love you.
You need to speak to them.
I know.
Have you ever been inside the walls of Troy? Once.
When I was a little girl.
Was it a happy place? There was a market.
Women selling jewellery.
A man roasting birds on a spit.
Children playing.
Merchants, musicians.
Colours I'd never seen before.
I want you to know that every memory you have of that place .
.
every building you passed, every person you saw I will burn it all down.
I will put it to the sword.
I will wash it in blood.
Can you picture that? Sir.
You come in.
You fuck off.
Any news of Achilles? Still nothing.
We can still take the city.
We can do it quicker with him.
You're in a hurry to get home, Odysseus? Yes.
Don't start rushing.
That's when mistakes get made.
Come with me.
It's about your brother.
He could not live with what he had done.
I'm sorry.
Mother.
Aphrodite came to us.
She came to me, too.
She said the curse was broken.
That you'd died and returned.
It's true.
My son.
They killed Agelaus.
I'm sorry.
He was a good man.
Let's get you some food, and a bed.
- Mother - What's wrong? Can we speak with the generals together? We only need ten men, at first.
Achaikos? - Dead.
- Euclid? Dying.
Kyros? No.
OK.
We have Deiphobus, Troilus, myself, you, and Aeneas.
Aeneas, get us five more of your best and most absolutely alive soldiers.
Give them a sword and a shield and have them by the front gate immediately.
Cousins, a bit of caution? I'm afraid caution is of little use to us now.
If you are still of a mind to listen, then my advice is to hold fast and come up with a less suicidal strategy.
Ten of you? Reinforcements will join us once we've started.
Let's hope none of them run away this time.
You're sure about this? I fight for both of you.
The Greeks have pushed up to the walls.
Only Achilles is left at the beach, and he's not fighting.
We go behind their lines, cut off their supplies, destroy their stores.
Everything.
Do to them what they did to us.
My husband is back.
Where is he now? On the battlefield.
He fights for the city.
Good for him.
My position has been reaffirmed.
The Greeks will be sent back to where they came from and you should go with them if you have half a mind.
You know I can't leave without you.
I'll have guards come here and whip the flesh from your back if you presume to dictate terms to me.
Your husband is back.
But the days of him putting your wellbeing before the city's are gone.
Those Trojan jewels are a noose around your neck.
And they're tightening.
Perhaps you didn't hear.
The curse was lifted.
The tide is turned.
When the walls of Troy start to fall and the chaos takes over, there will be very little I can do to protect you.
Let me help you.
You need to get out of this city.
Now.
Oh, hello.
Be respectful, Deiphobus, they can kill you with their bare hands.
God, I'd like that.
Good evening, Your Majesty.
Has Greek blood been spilled? No.
It's not a good evening yet, is it? They've got some nerve.
This is madness.
They won't attack first without Achilles' say so.
So don't kill any of them.
- Heeya! - Heeya! - Heeya! Back to the beach! Hurry! Now, let's get back.
Greeks! Here they come! Here they come! The Greeks are pulling back to the beach.
Come on! At the double! Let's go! Kill them all! It sounds almost peaceful, doesn't it? But out there, it's screaming and it's blood.
And our husbands are there.
Fighting for us, and the city.
Willing to sacrifice everything.
And we have to stand and watch.
You don't strike me as the sort to enjoy just being a spectator.
I have no desire for battle.
We're in arrow's range, we should fight.
We're Myrmidons, are we not? The Trojans are burning our supplies! And with us so close to victory.
How inconsiderate of them.
If we run out of food, we will starve with everyone else.
Well, I'm sure Menelaus has it under control.
He doesn't have it under control.
He doesn't have anything under control.
The time has come, Achilles! You lost a prize and you've been sitting around like sour milk ever since.
You're no better than Agamemnon.
He knows he's an arrogant bastard.
He doesn't try to hide it behind some lofty ideals! Are you done? I'm done sitting around waiting for you to remember that you have a pair of balls and a sword.
I would like to go home now, and I cannot until this war's finished! Well, perhaps you should leave before I forget that I once held affection for you.
It's not affection.
It's love.
And I'm not afraid of it.
When my mother dipped me in the river as a child, she did so with a mother's love.
She gripped me tightly.
Even as she looked to make me invincible, she feared she'd drown me.
Love is weakness.
It doesn't have to be.
Fight with me.
If not, then fight for me.
Achilles! Achilles, he's back! Myrmidons! Achilles! He's here! Stay close, Alexander! No! You send another man out in your armour? Your son, my Prince.
We'll name him Astyanax.
He's going to come for you, isn't he? Hector, you can beat him.
Hector? Their army's gone back to the beach.
Yes.
I liked it when they were outside the walls.
I liked being able to see them.
I think the things that you can't see are much scarier than the things that you can.
My husband.
Tell me.
What do you see of Hector? Does Achilles come for him? I don't know.
What do you see? I don't see anything.
Just blackness.
Then the curse has been lifted.
We've burnt their supplies.
We have the Amazons on side.
The time to strike is now! Our army is hungrier than theirs.
Our army will always be hungry! But theirs will recover.
And if you lose? Achilles.
Hector! Hector! You will never Hector! Your people are watching! - I have to fight him.
- No.
He's right.
The city's watching.
I can't refuse.
You must! Bring me my armour.
I saw your man die on the beach.
He begged for mercy like a raped servant girl.
I've never seen a soldier die with less dignity.
My Queen will open your heart and drink your blood, you son of a whore.
Son of a goddess, actually.
Hector! Please don't go out there.
Not today.
Don't fight that man.
I've no choice.
Stay here with me, with our son! Please.
I would choose a short life as your husband over a long one alone.
I fight for you both.
Open the gates! You bleed like the rest of us.
On your knees.
I'll die on my feet.
You will die on your knees.
When you get to the riverman, pause a while.
Your wife and your son will be there shortly.
Astyanax.
I'm an orphan.
You're a son of Troy.
I'm ready to give my life for her.
I've brought shame on the whole city.
Alexander isn't coming back.
What about the search parties? We've called them off.
My husband isn't dead.
Achilles and the Myrmidons are refusing to fight.
That's 500 of their best men.
Then we have to move quickly.
Enlist more men over 14 and under 40.
One hour, or you know what they'll do to her.
- The horses! They're gone from the stables.
- What? Greeks! Attacking! Get the men out there.
Now! To the wall! Move! Lord Pandarus is a determined man.
He will find out the truth .
.
unless you open that door.
Aphrodite, why have you done this to me? I won't let you take him.
No! Are you all right, son? I saw you .
.
as a boy .
.
at the city games.
You wrestled your brother.
It was a good fight.
Did I fight well? What did you do before you became a soldier? Blacksmith's apprentice.
For your father? I am an orphan.
No.
No, you are a son of Troy.
I'm ready to give my life for her.
What's your name? Astyanax.
What was it like? Did you fight near Hector? Did you kill any Greeks? I wish I could have been there with you.
- They slaughtered us.
- What? You are not a soldier, you're a boy.
And you are not going out there.
I will fight for my city if I want to! Like you.
Like all men.
The young were supposed to be kept in reserve.
I ordered it.
The enemy cut through our lines.
There was no choice but to send in the reinforcements.
The Greeks celebrate outside our walls.
They can see victory on the horizon.
Pissing distance from the wall, and still we can't get in.
Not without the Myrmidons, no.
When this is over, I want 1,000 songs written about the craven Myrmidons.
One thousand tales of how they sat on their arses while we did the fighting.
As long as you aren't expecting me to sing any of them.
She watched.
I sent Paris running like a scared child from my sword.
And still she stays behind her wall.
Odysseus has been sent back to speak to Achilles.
Perhaps he can work his magic.
How come you're alive? Are you dangerous? So am I.
Penthesilea.
Our Amazon Queen.
How'd you come to be in the river? What's your name? You're a soldier.
You're a long way from any battlefield.
You think it's barbaric.
I had him searching for the man who was betraying us.
As it turned out, that man was him.
Perhaps it is barbaric.
But the war isn't just outside these walls.
It is in here.
It's with us.
It's in the streets, in the houses, in the shadows of Troy.
Let him be a lesson to us all .
.
that treachery wears a friendly face.
And this is how it ends.
Helen.
You found me.
I told you to get him out of the city, not kill him.
I tried, but he would not be persuaded.
You're lying.
He was going to take it to the King with a letter of accusation.
You know I can get you out.
I wouldn't need long.
A night's preparation, that's all.
I didn't ask for that.
You don't need to.
Draw.
Loose! We found this.
Do Troy's common soldiers carry weapons like this? I am Alexander, son of Priam.
Prince of Troy.
My fate and that of the city are entwined.
So it was nobility that led you to jump.
There's a prophecy.
There always is with boys like you.
As long as I live, Troy is doomed.
So if I killed you now, I'd be doing Troy a service.
I'm not afraid to die.
Just not very good at it.
So you say you come to fight for Troy? I come to fight for whoever wants to kill Greeks.
What did the Greeks do to you? Most of them, nothing.
I'll kill them anyway.
I'll kill any man that fights under the banner of the Myrmidons.
So you wish to kill Achilles.
I wish to try.
We ride for the city tomorrow.
Come with us and fight for your people.
If it makes you feel any better, you'll almost certainly die in the process.
You miss it.
I know you do.
The adrenaline .
.
the taste of metal on your tongue .
.
the sound .
.
the chaos.
I miss the hush.
When I meet an opponent worthy of me .
.
everyone around us stops to watch.
The din of battle drains away like a wave.
And for a few moments, it's just the two of us.
And then I kill him.
And then everyone gets back to what they were doing.
Then come and do it.
Come and fight.
End this.
My honour prevents it.
I tried.
You should eat.
You'll need your strength.
We leave at sunrise.
What will you do? If you're going to kill yourself, just do it.
Why does your queen hate Achilles? He killed her daughters, her sisters, soldiers.
There's a price to pay.
He has not paid it yet.
For luck.
The Greeks camp outside our walls.
Our people are starving.
My brother is gone.
Your son is kicking me.
I've known Pandarus since I was a boy.
I would never have believed he was capable of betraying us.
No.
Aphrodite.
Allow me to find a way through the darkness .
.
to hold the walls of my city together.
Let the children of Troy play in the sun again.
Let them taste bread.
Let fathers grow old with their young ones, with their wives .
.
their brothers.
Why do you play with me? Why didn't you tell me about the prophecy? It was not mine to tell.
We sent our son away to die.
And then we let him back.
.
.
.
even though we knew what damage it would do.
It's true.
Troy will fall while Paris lives.
But the curse has been broken, and what was promised will not come to pass.
Your heart stopped when you hit the water.
I'm not dead.
But you were.
And the women warriors brought you back.
When you left the mortal realm, the prophecy was completed.
Death took you and now you start afresh.
A second chance.
A chance for what? For fathers to grow old with their children .
.
and their brothers.
Do you remember choosing me? Yes.
If we replayed that day a thousand times again, you'd choose me a thousand times more.
Yes.
Yes.
Hector? My brother's alive.
I thought you were never coming back.
Why? Why did you leave me? I was in disgrace.
We would have fixed it.
There was a prophecy I don't care! I don't care about a stupid prophecy.
Aphrodite visited me.
She came and she told me that I had another chance.
That I could come home .
.
to you.
I love you.
I love you.
You need to speak to them.
I know.
Have you ever been inside the walls of Troy? Once.
When I was a little girl.
Was it a happy place? There was a market.
Women selling jewellery.
A man roasting birds on a spit.
Children playing.
Merchants, musicians.
Colours I'd never seen before.
I want you to know that every memory you have of that place .
.
every building you passed, every person you saw I will burn it all down.
I will put it to the sword.
I will wash it in blood.
Can you picture that? Sir.
You come in.
You fuck off.
Any news of Achilles? Still nothing.
We can still take the city.
We can do it quicker with him.
You're in a hurry to get home, Odysseus? Yes.
Don't start rushing.
That's when mistakes get made.
Come with me.
It's about your brother.
He could not live with what he had done.
I'm sorry.
Mother.
Aphrodite came to us.
She came to me, too.
She said the curse was broken.
That you'd died and returned.
It's true.
My son.
They killed Agelaus.
I'm sorry.
He was a good man.
Let's get you some food, and a bed.
- Mother - What's wrong? Can we speak with the generals together? We only need ten men, at first.
Achaikos? - Dead.
- Euclid? Dying.
Kyros? No.
OK.
We have Deiphobus, Troilus, myself, you, and Aeneas.
Aeneas, get us five more of your best and most absolutely alive soldiers.
Give them a sword and a shield and have them by the front gate immediately.
Cousins, a bit of caution? I'm afraid caution is of little use to us now.
If you are still of a mind to listen, then my advice is to hold fast and come up with a less suicidal strategy.
Ten of you? Reinforcements will join us once we've started.
Let's hope none of them run away this time.
You're sure about this? I fight for both of you.
The Greeks have pushed up to the walls.
Only Achilles is left at the beach, and he's not fighting.
We go behind their lines, cut off their supplies, destroy their stores.
Everything.
Do to them what they did to us.
My husband is back.
Where is he now? On the battlefield.
He fights for the city.
Good for him.
My position has been reaffirmed.
The Greeks will be sent back to where they came from and you should go with them if you have half a mind.
You know I can't leave without you.
I'll have guards come here and whip the flesh from your back if you presume to dictate terms to me.
Your husband is back.
But the days of him putting your wellbeing before the city's are gone.
Those Trojan jewels are a noose around your neck.
And they're tightening.
Perhaps you didn't hear.
The curse was lifted.
The tide is turned.
When the walls of Troy start to fall and the chaos takes over, there will be very little I can do to protect you.
Let me help you.
You need to get out of this city.
Now.
Oh, hello.
Be respectful, Deiphobus, they can kill you with their bare hands.
God, I'd like that.
Good evening, Your Majesty.
Has Greek blood been spilled? No.
It's not a good evening yet, is it? They've got some nerve.
This is madness.
They won't attack first without Achilles' say so.
So don't kill any of them.
- Heeya! - Heeya! - Heeya! Back to the beach! Hurry! Now, let's get back.
Greeks! Here they come! Here they come! The Greeks are pulling back to the beach.
Come on! At the double! Let's go! Kill them all! It sounds almost peaceful, doesn't it? But out there, it's screaming and it's blood.
And our husbands are there.
Fighting for us, and the city.
Willing to sacrifice everything.
And we have to stand and watch.
You don't strike me as the sort to enjoy just being a spectator.
I have no desire for battle.
We're in arrow's range, we should fight.
We're Myrmidons, are we not? The Trojans are burning our supplies! And with us so close to victory.
How inconsiderate of them.
If we run out of food, we will starve with everyone else.
Well, I'm sure Menelaus has it under control.
He doesn't have it under control.
He doesn't have anything under control.
The time has come, Achilles! You lost a prize and you've been sitting around like sour milk ever since.
You're no better than Agamemnon.
He knows he's an arrogant bastard.
He doesn't try to hide it behind some lofty ideals! Are you done? I'm done sitting around waiting for you to remember that you have a pair of balls and a sword.
I would like to go home now, and I cannot until this war's finished! Well, perhaps you should leave before I forget that I once held affection for you.
It's not affection.
It's love.
And I'm not afraid of it.
When my mother dipped me in the river as a child, she did so with a mother's love.
She gripped me tightly.
Even as she looked to make me invincible, she feared she'd drown me.
Love is weakness.
It doesn't have to be.
Fight with me.
If not, then fight for me.
Achilles! Achilles, he's back! Myrmidons! Achilles! He's here! Stay close, Alexander! No! You send another man out in your armour? Your son, my Prince.
We'll name him Astyanax.
He's going to come for you, isn't he? Hector, you can beat him.
Hector? Their army's gone back to the beach.
Yes.
I liked it when they were outside the walls.
I liked being able to see them.
I think the things that you can't see are much scarier than the things that you can.
My husband.
Tell me.
What do you see of Hector? Does Achilles come for him? I don't know.
What do you see? I don't see anything.
Just blackness.
Then the curse has been lifted.
We've burnt their supplies.
We have the Amazons on side.
The time to strike is now! Our army is hungrier than theirs.
Our army will always be hungry! But theirs will recover.
And if you lose? Achilles.
Hector! Hector! You will never Hector! Your people are watching! - I have to fight him.
- No.
He's right.
The city's watching.
I can't refuse.
You must! Bring me my armour.
I saw your man die on the beach.
He begged for mercy like a raped servant girl.
I've never seen a soldier die with less dignity.
My Queen will open your heart and drink your blood, you son of a whore.
Son of a goddess, actually.
Hector! Please don't go out there.
Not today.
Don't fight that man.
I've no choice.
Stay here with me, with our son! Please.
I would choose a short life as your husband over a long one alone.
I fight for you both.
Open the gates! You bleed like the rest of us.
On your knees.
I'll die on my feet.
You will die on your knees.
When you get to the riverman, pause a while.
Your wife and your son will be there shortly.
Astyanax.
I'm an orphan.
You're a son of Troy.
I'm ready to give my life for her.