A face.
A fleet.
A war.
A man.
A thought.
A trick.
A trick to break the walls of Troy.
And burn it!
Scream into the ground!
What does it mean?
A gift.
For Athena.
Common Gods.
Respect their offering.
Save it from the waves!
Take it to Athena's temple!
The war is over!
Stop!
Not this psalm.
I want to remind them of whose wine they're drinking.
I don't want to desease this psalm.
I want to desease.
Then why do you entertain suitors in his house night after night?
In this world, a man does what he chooses.
I do what I can.
I am a man now, Mom.
So throw them out.
Break Zeus's law and see what they do to you if you give them that excuse.
I've already lost a husband.
I don't want to lose a son.
My dad's coming back.
Where is he?
Eight years since Troy fell.
Almost twenty since he left us.
Where is he?
We have to welcome him like we welcomed all of you.
Are you calling us beggars?
I'm saying you've been welcome here for three years.
We've only enjoyed your hospitality for so long.
Because your mother won't choose.
She's already married.
Odysseus is dead.
What do you know about my dad?
I know he kept stringing cattle and bad wine.
But you had the best day of your life.
The rest of it, the first two seasons.
I know he never came home.
Not yet.
You're pining for a daddy you didn't even know.
Like some sniffling bastard.
Well, since none of us can really know who
our fathers are, don't claim that I'm lying.
But I did know him.
As boys.
We watched him hunt.
I tried to volunteer for his expedition to Troy.
But he told me to stay here and keep an eye on you.
On me or my mother.
You can't blame me for looking at me.
My dad is coming home.
And his hospitality won't be as generous as hers.
So he doesn't follow Zeus's law then?
Zeus's law tells us to treat strangers as we be
treated because they might be gods in disguise.
I think if established and tenuous that you are not a god.
No, no.
Too fast.
How can you know?
You don't need eyes to hear a hasty combination.
Mentor push him.
Too fast.
He's as friendly as you.
He only answered to your father.
Where did he get him from?
He met right here.
Ah.
I'll take him.
For your boy?
For a hunting dog.
Damned if he wasn't right.
Hold still.
How bad a scar do you want?
Why do you always pluck your bow?
It's only fair.
To warn your prey?
To fight with honor.
You weren't fighting, you were hunting.
Ah, hunting's nothing but fighting with stealth.
Clever.
Clever, but your cleverness is going to get you in trouble.
Try again.
This time, not as fast or precise.
You can't win with a perfect defense.
Draw the attack.
Hesitate.
Open your belly to your opponent's blade.
Their attack becomes your chance.
You teach my father that?
No, no, he taught me.
He said, you're not always going to be the
strongest or the fastest, so be the smartest.
What would he do, huh?
If he came back here to find all these suitors in his house?
Don't.
I can't even let myself imagine what he'd do to them.
There are so many.
Cut a couple down, the others cave bullies and cowards.
Most of them were old enough to go to Troy, but when they saw Agamemnon's sale,
their fathers hid them.
And you knew Agamemnon's war would take many years and many lives.
So he raised his army by lottery.
Name?
Draw.
No.
Name?
Antinous.
Draw.
Yes.
By lots?
Antinous told me he volunteered.
Your boy's trying to take Sanon's place.
I'm not going to let him.
He needs to stay here, take care of his family.
You can watch over your boy too.
Of course.
He's with me.
Well, he wanted Antinous to look after me.
No, no, no.
But Odysseus was sensitive to a father's shame.
He fell for these fathers.
You and your mother meant more to him than promises of glory.
So he knew it would be years.
Did he tell my mother?
That's a question for her.
You may ask, is he ever coming back?
I hardest think so.
Never known a dog reach twenty.
But he's long outlived his master.
I didn't mean to stop you.
I'm in no hurry.
You yelled at your grandfather's burial shroud.
It'll be time to remarry.
Why?
Ithaca's been without a king too long.
They want security.
From what?
The people from the sea.
That's just traveler's tales.
All we know of the world is traveler's tales.
That's how we found out Troy had fallen.
Now they all tell stories of attacks by people from the sea.
And who are the people from the sea?
No one knows, but the elders wanted the good to be prepared.
Prepared?
Part of the greatest civilization ever known.
Look at this great house.
Stones as old as knowledge.
At the mercy of some greedy, unwanted guests.
The structure's nothing.
Without people's respect for its meaning.
Azusa's law.
To treat others as you would be treated.
And the abuse that they destroy everything.
So how could you think of marrying one of them?
Because a long time ago, your father asked me to.
Agamemnon is our king.
The Trojans took his brother's wife.
Or she ran away with them.
Either way, the walls of Troy are said to be impregnable.
We'll sit outside that great city, trying to draw them into battle.
As years go by, Telemachus grows, and you learn life without me.
Menelaus will give up on Helen.
This is Agamemnon's excuse to break Troy's control of the trading routes.
He won't let it pass.
Ever.
Well, if you refuse…
He'll take our son.
He would never.
He sacrificed his own daughter for favorable winds.
Wow, the gods want his daughter's life.
The power of a sacrifice.
Is in the cost to the person making it.
That's monstrous.
And committed.
I won't return soon.
If at all.
What if we ran?
Took you past the ship, the brightest crew, and headed for the horizon.
Held hands on deck as we rode west at dusk, chasing the escaping sun.
There's a world beyond these walls.
Agamemnon's vengeance would fall on all of Ithaca.
Promise me if I don't return by the time Telemachus comes of age.
Promise me you'll take another husband.
Enough sacrifices.
Love's not a sacrifice.
Of course it is.
I don't want you to make it.
It's not up to you.
Promise me.
No.
Promise me you'll come back.
What if I can't?
Then your memory won't be making my decisions.
Take my pen.
Wear it always.
Athena will bring you home.
I'm not sure it suits me.
When travelers claim to have seen you, I'll ask where you are wearing,
and I'll know if they're lying.
If the people from the sea are real, right now, Ithaca has no king or as an army.
I could take this role.
Come.
String it.
That's not fair.
You said only he could string this bow.
He was happy to let others try.
He'd line up all the axes.
No one else ever did it.
Mom, they're bleeding us dry, so you'll be forced to
choose one of them before I can claim the throne myself.
The traveler told me Menelaus returned years ago.
They've all returned.
All who survived.
Maybe he is dead.
And if he is, then this is my palace.
We need to know.
I have to go to Menelaus to find out the truth.
Telemachus, these suitors mean you harm.
Oh, you think I don't know that?
Every night they push me to give them the excuse they need.
I'm out there on the sea, on the road.
They won't need an excuse.
You just won't come back.
You don't want me to claim the throne myself.
You just want to keep me in my place so that you can stay queen of Ithaca.
I've had enough of being queen of Ithaca without my king.
Without your king?
Or a king?
And you think you're ready to take your father's place?
Your child.
Too loud, Melanthias.
Don't wear your spurs in the palace.
You're cowherd, not a horseman.
And you're a pig farmer, and who are you to talk to me like that?
A servant our master left in charge of his herdsman.
The master is long gone, you blind old fool.
And you're about as welcome here as that dog ass.
Argus!
Sir, he didn't do anything.
So that stink is you?
Leave the old dog alone.
Which one?
Both of us.
What did you say to me, slave?
You just got carried away.
Argus is my father's hunting dog.
His hunting dog?
Look at that thing.
Get it out of here.
Don't!
Can't you see he's in pain?
Okay.
Then I'll put it out of his misery.
Leave him alone!
Come on.
Do you see?
You all see?
Here, touch me!
I have the right.
Please don't hurt my son.
Easy, easy.
Young pup lost his head.
Show some mercy.
Drink some more of his wine.
I'll take care of this.
It's my father's hunting dog.
He's only living to see Odysseus return.
He's fine.
I'll put him on a dung heap out front so he can greet his master a little sooner.
That dog stays out there!
Next time think twice before you offer up your life for an animal.
You're clear.
Prepare supplies.
Take them down to the ships.
Tell no one.
Use only people you trust.
You've freaked your mother's heart.
If I stay, they'll force me to fight.
No one will back me.
I have to find out what happened to my father.
Ithaca will be behind me if they know Odysseus is dead.
The suitors will never allow that.
You will never make it back alive.
Tell Mentor to meet me at the ships just before dawn.
What do you want me to tell your mother?
To hold out for as long as you can.
Ship's ready.
Tide's right.
Have I ever told you that you have wise eyes?
Athena's eyes?
Once or twice.
You haven't even asked me where we're going yet.
Where are we going?
We'll find my dad.
He's alive.
I can feel it in the wind and the waves.
He's out there somewhere.
Wandering, injured, lost.
I don't know.
But he's alive.
More dreams?
Men drowning… inside.
Some… dark space.
Firelight on stone.
I don't know.
Don't you want to remember?
Why can't God speak in ways we understand?
Who doesn't understand thunder?
The fire.
A child's smile.
Good harvest.
You hide yourselves from us.
Look.
Who's moving that cloud?
Massing those birds?
Who's moving the water?
Who were you talking to?
Athena came to me again.
She's telling me to remember.
To leave.
Why would you leave?
We have everything we need.
How long have I been here, Calypso?
I have a home somewhere.
There's someone… out there.
How do you know?
I don't know.
I feel.
What we have here could last forever.
Forever is for God.
For your God.
You want to remember, but what if remembering destroys your happiness?
Then it wasn't real.
No.
No more.
But I love it.
Stop eating the lotus.
Tell me what you remember.
After Troy.
Troy.
We won the war.
And then what?
Ten years on this fucking beach.
Let's go home.
Remember who we leave here.
Do we have enough provisions?
We've taken enough from Troy.
Another stop or two won't kill us.
And pull!
And… Stole the oars.
Rest!
Stole the oars!
We'll raise the sail.
Follow the southerly winds.
Yes, sir.
Agamemnon's rowing west on the known provisions route.
He's got more mouths to feed.
We'll find places to land.
Are you sure it's a risk?
That followed Agamemnon long enough.
With a little luck and the right winds, we'll see
some of the world and still be home before Agamemnon.
Just keep the bear on the right.
Odysseus!
Man!
See?
You lucky bastard.
We're down to our last supplies.
Assemble a landing party.
Food and water.
Enough for three weeks.
What if they won't give it?
How badly do you want to get home?
Get your weapons ready!
Bagging.
Borrowing.
Pondering.
Ask him why they abandoned their village instead of welcoming us.
They see them as Kalasori sit down.
Exeron!
They're waiting for the sea people.
They're waiting for us.
They thought we were the sea people?
No.
We're Greeks.
From Ithaca.
Maybe you heard our victory at Troy.
We're headed west on the southerly winds.
He says if we go that way, we won't like the things we'll find.
After years of war, no one could stand between my men and home.
Not even me.
Didn't something happen?
Chasing the escaping sun?
There you go.
Lucky bastard.
No, no, no, no.
Sheep come in flocks.
Let's follow.
Someone lives here.
Yeah, they make cheese.
Pretty good.
There's a lot of it.
We should leave.
We brought nothing to trade with.
Zeus's law.
I don't know if whoever lives here has heard of Zeus's law.
Or Zeus, for that matter.
Everyone's heard of Zeus's law.
Get the fire going.
We'll welcome the owner back.
Get away from the fire.
I think it's asleep.
Wait.
The… Rock.
We can't move the rock.
We'd be trapped.
Spread the word.
In the morning.
When it lets out its flock, we'll rush the entrance.
Pressed up.
Go!
Can
we jam something in the cave mouth?
Leave a gap?
Maybe.
But what?
His law.
It'll notice.
But grab the thin end.
Put it in the fire.
How much rope do we have?
How big is the flock?
Couple dozen, maybe.
Not too many of us.
When it comes back, two of us have to get out.
Or at least get killed.
Run low through the flock towards the entrance and then split wide.
So we can only grab one of them.
Right.
Four of us should make the run.
Two and two.
Why risk more men?
There ain't two of us last night.
We're warming up the two before he sleeps.
No!
NOOOOOO!
NOOOO!
No!
The sun rises for me.
It can talk.
Why not talk before?
Do you talk to ants?
Should we reason with it?
I think we're past that.
What are you doing?
No!
Go!
Go, go, go, go, go!
Why
do you
have to fire that arrow?
We lost good soldiers to that beast.
Yeah, and that beast was the son of Poseidon.
What?
When we put its eye out, we heard it crying his name.
That thing was a monster.
I heard it too.
So now the sea is against us?
And the wind.
Why are we supposed to get home with Poseidon against us?
We can't live by omens and sacrifices.
Do you know how many times I've heard you
weeping, praying to Athena since we left Troy?
Couldn't you have shown some mercy?
Take this.
Wear it.
Remember those we couldn't bury.
The gods helped those who helped themselves.
From that moment, every rough sea or headwind told the crew we were cursed.
But where is my crew?
When will you let me see my men?
If I could just talk to them, they'd help me.
Let me remember.
Did I have a wife, children, maybe a son?
How long have I been here?
A long time.
If I had a son, how old would he be now?
I don't know how to speak to a king.
You'll be fine.
Keep your mouth shut.
But if anyone asks, we're traders from Crete,
and we'll figure out how to approach the king.
Welcome.
Thank you.
You seem to be having quite… This way.
Where are you taking us?
The king insists on meeting strangers himself.
Sit.
Not you.
You.
Enjoy our hospitality, our suit's demands.
But perhaps you should tell us who you are.
We picked the right day to arrive.
Feast of my daughter's wedding.
Tomorrow she leaves to start a new life.
You don't look like a beggar.
Imagine you know who I am.
I now ask the son of Atreus, brother of Agamemnon, the husband of Helen.
Perhaps you've heard of Helen.
Face.
I launched a thousand ships.
That may be now just five hundred.
Somebody left on the battlefields of Troy for that face.
For your brother's ambition.
This one looks familiar.
Hey, Jax.
Chocolates.
Killies.
I don't miss them as much as one particular warrior.
He was the smartest of us all.
Ten years we rotted on that beach.
Deadlocked.
Fighting amongst ourselves until one day.
They found a way.
Odysseus.
Did we hear the story of the horse?
What did you hear from the inside?
We were in there for days.
We squeezed inside before the ship set sail.
Odysseus, he knew that no one could know that we were inside.
Not even sending the soldier we left behind.
The first two tides our men drowned right in front of us.
They silent our piss and shit.
A gift for Athena.
Common gods.
Respect their offering.
A gift for Athena.
It's enough.
It's enough for Athena.
He knew to wait for a moonless night around the plains of Troy.
Come
on!
Come on!
I think you know the rest.
You moved by my telling it.
You sure you're the bard singing?
I have.
But they weren't there with all of you.
With your father, Odysseus.
You still like him?
When did you last see him?
Troy.
The gods granted us a righteous victory.
Righteous.
The gods granted our righteous victory but did not bless our voyages.
Took me years to get home.
But he didn't.
Some did and wish they hadn't.
Tell him.
Tell him about your brother.
About the fate the gods bestowed on him after your righteous struggle.
About his hero's welcome.
About how Agamemnon made it home years before us.
Tell him how he was welcomed by his queen, my twin sister Clytemnestra.
No.
Tell him how she… No!
He does not want to hear about my brother!
He must know of his father.
I know nothing of Odysseus since Troy.
Nothing?
Not from any of your men?
Or Agamemnon's retraders that travel the rest of the world?
Did you come here for summers?
Is that what you're interested in?
Gossip?
Are you in the right place?
Anyone want to spin a story about Odysseus?
Some say he's rich or some say poor.
Some say he perished, some say he's imprisoned.
What say you?
Imprisoned?
What kind of prison could hold a man like that?
Tell me what you do, remember.
The rest will come.
And the men became more and more convinced that I defended Poseidon.
Hey!
We.
Were hit by storm after storm, all pushing us off course.
Until we were truly lost.
Hello.
We're here in peace.
We just need some food.
We need food.
Can't you understand that?
It's just a child.
If that's a child, what about its parents?
Hey, shh, it's okay.
No, no, no, no.
Shh!
Go!
Back to the ship!
Go, go, go!
Go!
Wait!
Checkmate!
Wait!
Move this bastard!
Turn to port, follow the coast.
What if they have ships?
We need to get as far away as possible.
We don't have supplies for a blind crossing.
We've lost our way.
We need to find food and get our bearings.
Turn to port.
There!
Smoke there!
Go fast, we'll find the anchorage at the beach.
Who is that?
Former landing party.
Tomorrow.
Leave someone with the tenders.
We think you should stay.
We?
All of us.
Still alive.
Is this a mutiny?
That's up to you.
Give me your boat.
I'll make sure we eat tonight.
No matter what you find.
No, no, it's okay!
It's okay!
You're okay!
It's all right!
No one's gonna hurt you!
If I do what you want.
No one is going to hurt you.
My name's Eurylochus.
What's your name?
Cersei.
Cersei?
We need food.
Badly.
I have food.
Lots of food.
You let me?
Your weapons were armor.
Put it out the back.
Put it in.
You like my meat?
Why do you have so much?
You never know when strangers will come.
Men
with their appetites.
Too much is never enough.
No!
Eurylochus!
They haven't come back yet!
None of them?
No!
Give me your tiger.
Stay with the boat!
Why don't you just come here?
Do you come from the sea?
Are you alone?
My pigs have taken a liking to you.
Are you hungry?
Leave your weapons at the door and enjoy the hospitality of Zeus.
Grab a hog.
You can slaughter it for your dinner.
Whoever you are, you're clearly not a farmer.
Here.
That stew smells good.
That's enough for just us.
Who says it's just us?
Who else is here?
Who indeed?
You say you're all alone, but no one comes here alone.
No?
You can only reach this spot by sea.
So, where are your shipmates?
I'm looking for them.
Anyone happen to come this way?
But you prepared all this food.
You're questioning me?
You?
The traveler who's clearly starving, it hasn't touched the food in front of him.
Claims to be a sailor, yet wears a great warrior's armor.
And who breaks Zeus's law by bringing a dagger into his hostess's house.
You have sharp eyes.
Sharpen by the gods.
Do they grant you insights?
Truths.
Sometimes.
Would they tell you where I could find my men?
You're a man.
That's right.
They would.
Then would you tell me?
Perhaps.
If you give me your dagger.
Why would I help a liar who refuses my hospitality?
Come on.
I remember we were here earlier.
Now they're not.
They moved on?
Yes.
Leaving their rings.
I wouldn't.
Don't.
I don't know who this crow is to you.
If you don't put that knife down, I will throw out of it to find her.
Don't hurt her.
Family.
Mother.
Your sister.
You did this to her like you turned my men into pigs.
I didn't turn your men into anything.
Look at them.
This is who they are.
Look at them.
Base.
Disgusting.
The primal urges that you value in battle.
They've raped and pillaged across the world for you.
And you think that's against their nature?
You think they only did that because you ordered them too?
A true commander thinks his men's savagery is actually discipline.
If you don't seem that deluded.
But you sent them to me here.
On my own.
A gang of filthy soldiers with empty bellies and hot blood.
You thought they'd respect me and my home?
Look at them.
Know your own men.
Did they hurt you?
They would have.
They just want to go home.
Let them.
Back into your disguise.
Odysseus.
Back to the ship.
Take all the food you can carry.
Leave the meat.
You're not gonna let her live.
She's a witch.
Who gave her powers?
Your gods.
Fill the jugs and skins of the stream.
Be ready to sail at dawn.
Why leave her like this?
We get on better this way.
I'm sorry if we offended you.
We can't get back without your help.
We need to know the way to the trade routes.
You're too lost.
What do you mean?
Only blind Tiresias can tell you how to go home.
Tiresias?
In Hades.
Nobody sails into hell, then comes back.
You will.
Head north into the twilight.
And head inland until a river of fire meets a river of ice.
There you must dig a trench.
And fill it with the blood of sacrifice.
Gather the dead.
And learn how you go home.
You.
Not your men.
You'd curse them?
Not a curse.
A truth.
Your men don't want you to defy the gods.
The gods say only you make it home.
Then I defy the gods.
Sinan.
It's Odysseus.
Sinan.
It's Odysseus.
Let him drink Odysseus.
Then you will hear his testament.
Odysseus?
Yes.
You lied to everyone.
Did you have to lie to me?
I needed you to believe.
Why did you have to volunteer?
Don't you remember how I came here?
I begged to take Anti nous' place.
He'd been called.
He offered money for your family if you'd take his place.
If the Trojans don't let me live.
If I never make it home.
Take this back to my father.
Tell him everything I did.
Odysseus.
Feel free to add some stuff.
You didn't trust me with the truth?
You knew I'd die for you.
Dying men tell the truth.
I needed you to believe.
I died for your lie on that beach.
I know.
I was there with you.
I heard you repeat the lie with your dying breath, winning us the war.
I was right there, inches from you, smelling your blood.
What comfort could that give me?
Not knowing you were beside that horse until the dead told me.
Which dead?
A lot of veterans of your campaigns walk these shores.
The dead meet to lament the living and greet the newly dead.
My father was the first shade to find me.
To comfort you?
Shades don't comfort.
They want word of the living who wronged them.
My father had died in poverty, alone, begging for scraps from people like Antinous.
Antinous cheated you?
As is no doubt cheating you.
How?
Who's an Ithaca looking after your wife and son?
My wife is of no concern.
Talk to Agamemnon about homecomings.
Agamemnon's here?
You buried me at Troy with respect, thank you.
But spare a thought for those you didn't.
It's not always possible.
When you get home, take a ship, head into the unknown west till you find land.
And there, give sacrifice and honor your men.
Do you still have the lot?
Of course.
If you make it home, give Antinous back his shame.
I will.
My lord.
Odysseus.
How are you here?
We won the war you headed for home.
Odysseus.
The most brilliant of all my generals.
He would never be snared as I was.
When you cast the drift, like us.
No.
My misfortune was to make it home.
To be welcomed by my beautiful wife.
Bathed.
Anointed.
Made soft.
To learn the hardest lesson that I'd left to poison in her hard years before.
Good part of her heart had gone…
No.
She and her lover had plotted my murder for years.
Odysseus.
Yes.
My son Orestes.
Did he avenge me?
My lord, how could I know?
I'm still trying to get home.
Don't make my mistake.
Don't walk in the front door expecting garlands and praise.
Come in disguise.
Take your time.
Assess.
Do you see?
I know what I have to do.
Some of what you have to do.
My prophecy is not for their ears.
Back to the ship.
Sail southwest, past the sirens.
Their song lures your men onto the rocks.
They'll all die.
I won't let that happen.
I'll block their ears.
With wax.
Past the sirens.
There's no use between the whirlpool Charybdis and the monster Scylla.
The whirlpool in the sea takes all of your lives.
The monster in the cliffs?
Only six.
But your determination to not sacrifice any more lives kills all of them.
I'll do what I have to.
At the end, when starvation and mutiny threaten, they
demand to land where the sun god grazes his cattle.
Their slaughter Apollo's herd.
Zeus kills them for it.
Do you see?
I'll stop them.
Why do you value these men's lives more than those you've already lost?
I can still save them from the gods.
But not from themselves.
What is that?
Your own buried crew.
Demanding you share their dishonor.
Let's go!
We rode out of hell.
Leaving so many fallen comrades.
I have to save the rest.
What's happened to them?
Did they leave me here?
Are they coming back?
Did you do something to them?
Hop some.
You told me not to eat the lotus flower.
Just tonight.
So you can get some sleep.
And tomorrow, when you're ready, you'll remember.
You'll remember your crew.
And your family.
Family.
A wife.
Do I have a wife?
So I'm Melanto.
Strangers don't come in here.
Screen or no screen, after three years of feasting
together, we're far from strangers, Penelope.
Are you trying to marry me or ruin my reputation?
Melanto can be discreet.
I'm actually here out of concern for your reputation.
Oh?
Please, how hard you work.
Slow, steady progress.
But every night, you've been unraveling that work.
Leave us.
You can't expect her to be loyal to a master she never even knew.
I expect her to be loyal to me.
Then she will be.
Then you marry to me.
Slaves have no choice but to be loyal to the future.
This is a household waiting for a master.
Just as ethic as a kingdom waiting for a king.
Ithaca's king is coming back.
No, he's not.
Did you know that as a boy, he tried to go with him to Troy?
He never told me that.
Dizzies refused to let me.
He knew that Ithaca needed a future without him.
And he saw me as part of that future.
I'll never tell other suitors about you.
Deception.
Finish your weaving.
It's time to let him go.
Why would you want to marry someone who loves someone else?
Your loyalty to Odysseus is one of your finest qualities.
I love you.
I want you to choose me and end all this.
You can't tell me you're not tired.
The waiting.
The uncertainty.
You've done your duty.
Year after year after year.
It's time to think of yourself.
It's time to live again.
It's what a Dizzies would have wanted.
I'll take care of all your needs.
And my son?
With thrown as he is.
He's the heir.
Unless we have a child of our own.
Where is Telemachus?
He's gone inland.
To visit his grandfather.
I was coming for Argus.
I told you that dog stays there.
Go back to the farm.
When we need your pigs, we'll send Melantius.
You're no longer welcome in this palace, old man.
I answer to my mistress.
Does she even know your name?
Now go!
Telemachus will have to come back by the temple at Pylos.
You take your man away from there.
Why, so you can stay and try and turn on the queen?
I don't think so.
He needs to die on that road.
And Eris has a plan.
Eris!
I need everyone in his party dead, in a ditch, throats open.
Telemachus and his men will be ready for the
bandits who work the road between here and Pylos.
But if some of them took the temple from the priests before they arrived…
Then bring me part of Telemachus' proof.
His nose.
Would you know him only by his nose?
His ears too.
Who taught you?
My father's swineherd.
Swineherd?
Your best most loyal servant.
Odysseus left his most loyal servant behind.
He always was the smartest.
Only one Agamemnon I never listened to.
Should have listened harder.
Can I ask what happened to your brother?
His wife betrayed him and murdered him.
What did you do to him?
My son Orestes, he killed them both.
But he killed his own mother?
He avenged his father.
But you don't have to worry.
Your mother has nothing in common with Clytemnestra.
Maybe not.
But the suitors have convinced the elders it's time she remarried.
It's not a good time for an empty throne.
Heard the stories, people from the sea.
Have you been raided?
Not yet, but the attacks, they do seem closer.
Sparta's ready.
What about Ithaca?
The army defend herself.
Someone's got to take the throne.
Then the battle is there, not here, son.
You've run from the problem.
Left your mother the mercy of the suitors.
Should I hire mercenaries?
Go back and kill them all?
Murder rich and powerful guests in your own home.
You'll be exiled.
What then?
You must evict them without violating Zeus' law.
I have to take the throne.
I have to know if Odysseus is alive.
This has nothing to do with a father you've never known.
You have to lead, son.
No matter what's happened to Odysseus.
You need to remember.
No, I don't.
I don't need to know the truth.
I'm happy here with you.
And why are you gathering the bones of your old ship to make a raft?
Remember your crew.
Your journey.
I heard the song of the sirens.
Put the wax in the men's ears.
None for me.
Tie me to the mast.
Why?
I want to hear the siren's song.
No.
That's a bad idea.
No one's ever heard the song and lived.
That's why it's a good idea.
I'll be the first.
No matter how hard I plead, do not untie me until we're well clear.
What was the siren's song?
All the things you wanted to be.
Then, all the things you wish you never wished for.
It was the delicious itch you go to scratch.
They find it's under the skin and you can't reach it.
So the delicious itch becomes unbearable.
I told you what you most want is what you most can't have.
And what you most can't have is what you already had and lost.
It was the song of all the promises I failed to keep.
And it told me I don't really want to go home.
My water ahead!
Charybdis.
The monstrous whirlpool.
Hoist the sails!
Come on, let's go!
Get the whirlpool shot!
Can we head out to sea?
It's already got us.
Get in the boat!
The water hammer is moving!
We might make that canyon.
It's too narrow.
Make for the whirlpool.
If you steer down the slope, we can make enough weight to shoot out the other side.
Don't be afraid, we can do it.
No.
No!
We're making for the channel.
We're making for the channel!
Oars in!
Get the oars in!
It's over an oars!
Prepare to hold water!
On my signal!
Three…
Four…
Three!
We made it!
We did it!
You guys…
Keep us straight!
You knew!
And you didn't tell us!
If I told you, you wouldn't have chosen this way.
And those men would still be alive!
No!
We'd all be dead!
You had no right!
I had every right!
And every responsibility!
The whirlpool would have destroyed the ship and all of us!
This way we live!
Some of us live!
Yes!
What else did Tiresias tell you?
I'm going to put in there…
We can't land there!
That's the sun god's isle!
We need repairs!
These men are exhausted!
I want six shipmates!
I'm going to put in… I'm going to rest up on dry land.
You're all going to die!
You asked me what Tiresias told me.
He said you're all going to die.
If you slaughter the sun god's cattle which graze on that island, you'll all die.
That's fine.
We'll put in.
We'll cook our own provisions.
We'll pick fruit.
We'll get water.
Nothing more.
Swear to it.
All of you.
See?
The wind took us right in.
We'll rest up…
Do the repairs and set out as soon as the wind changes.
Grab that light!
Did the crew keep their promise?
Yes.
For a long time.
But the wind never changed.
The steady onshore breeze that made it so easy for us to land
made it impossible to leave.
And our provisions ran out.
Go!
Did you think if you ate quietly the sun god wouldn't notice?
We thought you wouldn't notice.
I'm not the problem.
I wanted you to live.
Tiresias told you.
Cersei told you.
The gods told you.
You gods don't speak in ways we understand.
Who doesn't understand pain?
Or blood or death?
When you watch your men die, do you see chance or do you see consequence?
I see consequence.
I see my failure.
What if their deaths aren't your failure?
I lead them.
I led them here.
And who led you?
Why do you put yourself above the gods?
Why do you claim responsibility?
Why don't you want to go home?
What do you expect?
They ran out of food!
Have some pity.
My pity is what put us on this damn island.
I told you what would happen.
Yes, you did.
And we decided we would rather drown than starve.
Well, now's our chance.
The wind has dropped!
The calm was just long enough to lure us out onto Poseidon's ocean.
Under Zeus' sky.
Stay off!
It's too late!
Hurry go!
Hold on!
The wind has just stopped!
Hurry!
My wind!
The last thing I remember was the harsh hand of Zeus.
I don't know what happened to my men.
Yes you do.
Exactly what you told them what happened.
I washed up on your shore alone.
You washed up on my shore with some of your boat and none of your crew.
Half dead, unconscious.
I watched you lost for days into weeks.
I knew the lotus would ease your awakening so
that your pain was more of the body than the mind.
And it did.
You liked it so much.
You ate it so willingly.
And as I cared for you.
Thank you.
I came to love you.
How long have I been here?
I kept telling myself to stop giving it to you.
That you were strong enough to remember.
How long, Calypso?
But you were so happy.
You were happy.
We were so happy.
For years.
Years?
Seven years.
You fed me lotus flower and held me captive.
I saved your life.
I rebuilt your body.
I just couldn't bring myself to rebuild your mind.
You have been happy.
Your heart was just always somewhere else.
And your mind was bound to follow eventually.
How could you?
The lotus clouds the mind and stops the well.
But it doesn't change who you are.
You weren't ready to go home for whatever reason.
I am now.
As I always knew you would be.
Now?
You were clutching something when I found you.
Your hand wouldn't open for weeks.
You'd call out.
Mostly to Athena, but sometimes you would say another name.
Help me go home.
I am.
You're a man who needs to control his fate.
But you cannot control this.
You must give yourself to the storm.
Give yourself to Poseidon.
And take your punishment.
I just won't let him kill you.
Give up the fight, give up control and live.
It's a leap of faith you've never yet made Odysseus.
Odysseus.
Where am I?
Don't you recognize your own home?
Zeus welcomes you, strangers.
How many are you?
Half a dozen.
In need of a meal?
And supplies.
For the road.
Where are you headed?
We need pigs.
We're going all the way to Pylos.
Are you pilgrims?
Do we look like pilgrims?
I don't see well.
Zeus demands I offer you a meal, but these pigs aren't mine to sell.
Oh, don't worry.
We're not paying.
Give my greetings to your mother.
Tell her I'm sorry.
I'm sorry for Troy and for everything that.
I'm sorry I had no news of your father.
No, you had news.
Not of where he is, but who he is.
And now more than ever, I hope to one day meet him.
Where are your watchdogs, old man?
I'm burning their bodies.
Can Zeus offer you food and drink, stranger?
Were you attacked?
The dogs saved your farmhands.
Oh, we burned his brothers first.
What happened to Ithaca?
Darkness.
Zeus's law smashed to pieces.
A kingdom without a king since my master died.
Your master?
Odysseus.
Hero of the Trojan War.
But Odysseus is alive.
No more!
Telemachus.
He's in danger and I can't help him.
There must be others in Ithaca that would help Odysseus's son.
How is this controlled by suitors?
No one is still loyal to Odysseus.
What about the queen?
Beautiful, wise Penelope.
Held hostage by the worst men.
Soon to be forced into marriage.
What could she do without even her son?
Here, drink.
What's the danger to Telemachus?
He's on his way back from Sparta.
The suitors send bandits to Pylos to ambush him at the temple.
Give me food for the road.
You'll never catch up with the bandits.
If I can get to Pylos before Telemachus arrives, I can warn him.
Why are you helping?
If I tell you, don't be angry.
I served with Odysseus at Troy.
Really?
He was a harsh taskmaster.
But fair.
Fair and worthy of following.
You loved him.
Like a son?
Well, he's not dead.
Is she coming home?
Soon.
Bringing vengeance?
Bringing it all.
Don't talk.
We don't want people realizing who you are.
Well, maybe we shouldn't have brought a guard.
We'll be glad we did if we have trouble on the road.
Find that beggar.
Your men must wait out here.
The weapons too.
Zeus welcomes you strangers.
Have you traveled far?
Not that far.
You're here to rest for the night.
We're here to make sacrifice to Athena.
And whatever hospitality you can offer might be considered.
Of course.
Get that beggar out of here.
He has a message for me.
You may have sent you.
Yes, sir.
But what's the message?
He's private.
He's a man of pri…
He's a man of praise.
This is your moment to leave, old man.
Go, stranger.
I already spared one old man this week.
But he was blind.
I won't spare…
No!
It's not bad for a beggar.
No one's born a beggar.
We'll take this priest's robes.
Put them over your armor.
Help me with his body.
We have to leave him.
No.
We have to slip out.
That's not how you honor the dead.
That is how you stay alive.
He was my teacher.
He might have been Athena in disguise.
His name was Mentor.
And when you are safe, we'll travel to the unknown west.
And we will honor him.
These men were sent by the suitors.
There will be more of them we need to get on the road.
By night?
Safer than staying here.
Mentor's at the heart of Athena's oldest temple.
For now, we'll honor him in flame.
So how does a beggar come to know Mentor?
I told you.
I wasn't always a beggar.
You have wise eyes.
Athena's eyes… Don't look for gods in men.
You'll just be disappointed.
Well, then tell me who you are.
My name is Sinon.
I'm an old soldier who fought under your father at Troy.
You knew my father?
I've been taking orders from him for longer than I care to remember.
Wait, he's alive?
He's alive.
Well, where is he?
He's close by.
He sent me ahead to assess the situation.
Well, Mother's not gonna believe it.
No, you can't tell her.
What, nothing?
Tell her.
Tell her he decided it's time she remarried.
He doesn't need to test my mother.
How can he doubt her?
He doesn't.
But she has every reason to have forgotten him.
Are there any loyal servants?
Some.
Why, Odysseus shows himself all.
We need to gather the suitors at the palace.
That's never a problem.
You have gifts for Menelaus?
Yeah, on my ship.
Good.
Come back as a prince.
Call a banquet.
I'll be there.
What will you do at the banquet?
Beg.
The clearest view of a man is from below.
How many suitors are there?
Dozens.
If all of his men are like you, then… He doesn't have any men.
But it's just you?
And you.
Telemachus is back.
What?
Telemachus is back.
Who's saying this?
Everyone's the… Where's Telemachus?
My queen!
Surely your place is up there.
Is it true?
Leave her home.
I'm back.
I thought tonight we could celebrate.
If we have anything left to celebrate with.
Don't worry.
My brave suitors will shower us with gifts to honor your return.
So glad to see your safe return.
Glad to see you on your feet.
It's about time we took you back to the palace.
What did you hear about your father?
Nothing.
A story is from the war, but no one knew what happened to him after he left Troy.
I'm sorry, Mom.
Everyone in Sparta is talking about a coming catastrophe.
An age of darkness brought on by people from the sea, violating Zeus' law.
Some stories are true.
Our civilization is collapsing.
Menelaus is concerned that we can't raise an army with an empty throne.
So we came up with a plan.
What plan?
The one way to get the suitors to leave.
It's time for you to choose.
You want me to remarry?
If you remarry, the other suitors will leave.
And then I'm only dealing with one of them.
I'm almost of age.
I'll tell the elders that I learned of a deceased's death in Sparta.
Menelaus will back me up and they'll let me assume the throne.
So you deny your father and I leave my home and go live with one of these snakes.
That's your plan.
Would you have a better one?
Lock the door, set a fire, and burn the bastards.
Do you think if I remarry, life goes back to the way it was?
That world is gone.
And in this one, they're not giving up power to you or Odysseus.
If he returned, he'd have to kill him.
Like you will.
If I kill them, their families will demand revenge.
I'd be exiled.
And without me, the throne will be lost.
Because only a man can sit on it.
Empty throne?
I've been sitting on that empty throne for 20 years!
My knowledge, my years of experience, that's all
nothing compared to the bristles on your chin.
Do you want peace?
Or do you want revenge?
I want Odysseus!
Dance!
Sing, muse of a face!
A face!
A fleet!
A war!
At Troy!
Sing, muse of a man!
A man!
At Troy!
You may as well go ahead.
Odysseus.
You should bury him up on the cliffs.
Where you met.
You're Odysseus.
You're my father.
I'm a beggar.
And you
are the worthy
beautiful son of Odysseus.
Of whom
when you do finally meet.
He will be so proud.
Welcome home… stranger.
Because the darkness of victory
shrouds the rightest of legends.
And make bars the blind beggars of us all.
Accept the hospitality of Zeus.
Get the strangers some food.
No, sir.
I'll just make their ends with a bowl.
Had to invite another one of these filthy plate lickers today.
What's one more beggar at this feast?
We need to kill him before he ever gains his position with the elders.
How?
Get him to grab one of the weapons.
Isn't that the same young pup you used to be?
When we come back tonight, let me cut his tongue.
Fuck off, Olaf.
Please.
It's been days since I've eaten.
I told you to fuck off.
You can't be generous with food that's not even yours.
There's no room in your bowl.
Yes, there is.
So there is.
There you go.
I suppose you want something from me now.
No.
I have something for you.
You have something from me?
You have something from me!
What could a filthy old plate licker like you possibly have that I could want?
Actually, it's yours.
I was asked to return it.
It's not mine.
No.
Where did you get this?
Don't turn your back on me!
Continuous.
You can't treat a beggar like that.
It's Zeus's law.
Zeus's law?
You think this is a god?
You think this is a god in disguise?
Are you?
Are you a god?
A plate licker?
No.
I'm a veteran of the Trojan War.
A veteran of the Trojan War.
And what's your name, veteran?
Sinon.
Does that name mean something to you?
No.
I use it to honor the bravest young man I ever met.
Sinon?
I'm not just Shepard's boy.
I never remember that.
Yeah, yeah, he wanted you to take his place.
Where does he find this?
Where he'll soon be.
And where is that?
Hades.
Enough!
The feast is done!
The scope… is not mine!
My queen would like to speak with you.
Stay till everyone's left in the fires of the…
Hello, traveler.
My queen.
Melanthal?
Have Eurykleia washed the stranger's feet?
That's not necessary.
My husband insisted we honor guests as family.
You know of a deceased?
My husband?
Of course.
Who are the souls?
And the songs probably seem silly.
They make me cry.
Why?
For what was lost.
The lives?
And the years.
Everything.
Did you know Eurykleia, said Troy?
I did.
Was there some detail of how he dressed, something he wore?
He wore a strange pin.
Strange.
Beautiful.
But out of place.
Describe it.
I'll get more water.
It was a beautiful gold pin.
A figure of Athena encircled by vines.
Did he wear it often?
He never took it off.
How is it that you made it home when Odysseus could not?
I'm not home.
Not yet.
Why not?
It's not always an easy thing, a homecoming.
That's as true for Odysseus as for me.
The Odysseus I knew would have found or fought his way back to me no matter what.
What if the Odysseus you knew lost his way?
What if, one night, in a strange city, he saw things that made him think the home
he knew couldn't possibly be there anymore?
What if, when he left the belly of the horse,
and opened the gates of Troy,
he saw ten years of rage pour into that city in one night?
No!
We left them a gift.
An offering of peace that they took into their home.
We violated all that's ever sacred between people.
And turned a fight into a hunt.
No!
To burn the walls of Troy was to burn the world entire, including his home.
What if he knew that very night,
as he walked through fires of anarchy and pain,
and in the days of sweaty celebrations to follow,
what if he knew exactly what he'd done?
What all of you had done?
One man's idea.
One man's trick.
To break Zeus' law forever.
We lived in a world of palaces and trade.
A language blind to its beauty, until we broke it.
You were the people from the sea?
Yes, my queen.
The breaking of Zeus' law is spreading like plague.
Our age of bronze is collapsing.
And maybe he couldn't bear to see the ruins of what he'd done.
Anywhere.
Least of all, his home.
Odysseus is alive.
And he'll be here when you need him most.
I've been living in his ruins long enough.
Bring the suitors at dawn.
Remove the arms from the hall.
In a few hours, one suitor will be happy, and the rest, angry, vengeful men.
Ron draws a man on so he'll have no weapons at the trial, and the doors will be locked.
I'll marry whoever completes my challenge.
How will we take on the suitors?
Not we.
Their blood belongs on my hands.
Or you'd face exile.
Won't you?
Just make sure they can't get those weapons.
I'll see to it.
Even unarmed, there are so many of them.
And you won't have a weapon.
Well, I'll have a weapon.
Your mother's seen to that.
Gather the servants you trust.
Lock the arms in the upper storage room.
She seems interested in the outcome.
But what's the trial?
For years, while my husband's been gone, you've
commandeered this palace for your feasting.
Your excuse was you wanted to win my hand in marriage.
As I listen to you party, and fight, corrupt my servants, and disrespect my
home, I've wanted nothing more than for.
Odysseus to return and see all this for himself.
But last night, I realized he's not here now.
He never will be.
So, I stand ready to marry anyone here who can string this
hunting bow and shoot an arrow through those twelve axes.
Step up.
And show me who you are.
Eumaeus.
Who's first?
Give me the bow.
It can't be done.
Hey, you.
It's a boy I saw Odysseus do with ease.
Then you do it.
I'll wait my turn.
Why don't we warm the bow and oil it?
This bow hasn't been strong in years.
Your turn.
There's no need.
The queen has made her point.
We can't replace Odysseus.
Some of us have always known that.
Some of us would have followed that great man, Detroit, if he'd let us.
But he never came back.
So choose the best of us here.
All of us who failed your test.
I haven't.
Somebody get these beggars out of here.
The doors are locked until the trial's over.
The trial is over.
I want to try.
He has a right to try.
If he won't, he may as well.
You're making a mockery of your mother's wishes.
My mother's wishes are for you all to burn.
He's an old archer.
Look at the expert at work.
Hold that.
Forget it.
Friend, that's enough.
You're a dis.
Surely your place is down there.
Is it him?
It's him!
Where are the weapons?
They're up a storm.
Get them!
They're gonna kill us all!
I told you.
Too loud, cowherd.
Get the doors!
Spear!
Thought you could kill us all.
As long as I kill you.
Finish this.
Dad!
I'll kill you!
When you get to Hades…
Tell my men I will head west and honor them.
And tell Cenon… I gave you back your shame.
What happened?
Did he beat them?
Is he dead?
We broke the fragile bonds between men.
And for centuries of darkness to follow
the stories of Troy… will only be sung.
What is this, Willa?
What is this?
Willa, you get back.
At last.
The end.
To see my beloved Ithaca.
One last time.
No.
No, no, you can't.
You can't.
Not now.
Not now, please.
Every single one of us.
You can't die.
Not death.
Exile.
Telemachus will be king.
We'll head into the unknown west.
Take your fastest ship… and greatest crew… and head for the horizon.
Chasing the escaping sun.
Why will the stories only be sung?
Because songs will be all they have to remember those of us who could write.
Civilization will rise again.
A new dawn will break over the darkened world.
And our mistakes will once again be forgotten.