Original subtitles

Translation and timing by: @anditendshowyoudexpect(.tumblr.com)

Episode 18 HEARTS OF FOUR

This is the list of drugs

Mr. Sviridov ordered from the pharmacist.

Yakov Platonovich asks why he would need them

and in such a large amount too.

Camphor, ipecacuanha, calomel, opium... cocaine.

What a strange combination.

I've been racking my brain for half an hour and I don't get it.

You know, Doctor, I had this bizarre dream last night.

There was Professor Sviridov in a medieval doctor mask.

You know, the one with a long beak.

A plague doctor mask.

Of course, this sounds crazy... But look:

Camphor helps breathing.

Ipecacuanha eases cough.

Calomel expels the bile.

Opium alleviates nausea and helps you sleep.

And cocaine maintains the heart function.

I don't understand.

Think about it. What disease requires a patient

to take so many drugs

in order to maintain strength?

Pestis.

Plague.

Are you taking an interest in botany, Nikolai Vasilievich?

Traditional medicine, Yakov Platonovich...

Common folks are just as clever as you and I.

What ailment are you treating?

I am expelling... toxic substances.

The Sunday fair is a treasure trove of life!

Are you intent on driving me insane today?

Yakov Platonovich, you have no idea how many interesting things they have there.

This is the most interesting thing. Read it.

Right. What do we have here?

This letter will be given to you by Alex.

You may remember him from our alma mater.

Just like I, he was forced to flee Odessa after certain events...

What events are those?

An attempt on General Strelnikov's life in 1882.

You probably don't remember that.

No, I do. He was shot point-blank,

by some Narodovolts, I think.

Or something like that.

But what does it have to do with Khavkin?

I read in the archives that

he was a member of the Odessa cell of Narodnaya Volya.

Most likely was involved in that assassination.

But they were unable to prove his guilt at the time

and he was only expelled from university.

Read the rest.

I met him in Lausanne and enticed him to join me in Paris.

He will bring you what you were asking for.

Khavkin writes he enticed this Alex to join him,

so maybe he enticed Sviridov as well?

I suspected the English, when I should have been looking at the French.

Look, suppose the professor refused to go with that Alex...

Then-- - Or he agreed.

- What? - Or he agreed.

Perhaps Alex brought him a passport

or money or both.

And all this show, with the telegram

was staged to cover their tracks.

But the professor is dead.

Anna Viktorovna saw his spirit.

Yes. He's dead.

But we don't know how it happened.

Why are you ruling out the possibility of an accident?

I am not ruling it out!

But Dr. Milz says the professor was a true patriot.

Well, sometimes people change their convictions.

Yes... herbs and will, expel my ills...

Anna Viktorovna!

Good day, Andrey Petrovich.

Would you like a lift?

No, thank you.

It would be my pleasure. Please, do me the honor.

Very well.

How are you doing, Andrey Petrovich?

I'm trying to come to terms with your rejection.

I hope my rejection won't ruin our friendship?

Shtolman will deceive you.

You will be unhappy, just like I am.

And two unhappy people will always find support in one another.

Anna Viktorovna.

Anton Andreyevich. Yakov Platonovich.

Dr. Milz thinks he knows what disease

Sviridov wanted to treat with this list of drugs.

What disease is that?

- Plague. - Plague?

Plague is incurable, Anna Viktorovna,

do you think I'm that ignorant about medicine?

I'm not. - Damn right. - Yes.

Anton Andreyevich, if Professor Sviridov did invent a vaccine,

these drugs would be used to maintain the health of his test subjects.

If Sviridov did make such progress in his research,

anyone could have kidnapped him

to get their hands on the formula.

Even Uminski!

He conspired with Larisa,

they murdered the professor and took the body to the woods!

Then they stole the formula to sell it abroad for--

for a massive amount of money!

A vaccine against the Black Death...

If it does exist, you can't put a price on it.

Besides, the family life of these four is far from idyllic.

The professor and Uminski's wife affair is a motive.

Let's go to the Sviridovs.

Let's go, let's go! He who hesitates is lost!

There you go.

- Thank you. - Goodbye. - Goodbye.

Mademoiselle Polina, has my order arrived?

- It has, just this morning. - Excellent.

Give it to me, please, hurry.

THE ART OF LOVE

I'll come back in the evening, I don't have the time now.

Pardon me.

Gentlemen, do you have news about my husband?

Unfortunately, not yet, Larisa Ivanovna.

But we remain hopeful.

Please.

I would like to ask you again:

On what has the professor been working lately?

I already told you, Mr. Shtolman:

I stay out of my husband's business,

so I can't help you.

But you-- you must have known.

Was Mr. Sviridov developing an anti-plague vaccine?

That would be great but alas--

You must have heard that Mr. Khavkin in Paris...

He already tried to develop one.

But unfortunately, the vaccine proved to be ineffective.

I believe this is because plague

is of a different nature than, say, cholera.

We just can't defeat it by vaccination. Unfortunately.

Personally, I can add that my husband

would never repeat Khavkin's failed experiment.

I can vouch for that.

Then who is Alex Feldman?

A friend of Afanasiy's.

Has your husband met with him recently?

Yes, he visited a week ago.

He was here literally an hour, didn't even stay for dinner.

Did he bring something for the professor?

I don't know, letters perhaps.

They were in his study, once again:

I stay out of my husband's business.

Mr. Uminski, where is your wife?

She lives here, in this house, doesn't she?

I would like to speak to her.

I would be happy to introduce you, but, unfortunately, she isn't here right now.

She left for Mikhaylov to see her aunt.

When?

Sunday morning.

So, the morning after your husband disappeared.

I don't know, I think she--

Address.

You're going to write down the address here for me.

All right.

I kindly ask you, Madame Sviridova and you, Mr. Uminski,

not to leave town.

This has come in today.

You've read the stories about Sherlock Holmes, haven't you?

Awfully fascinating!

Is that the detective who sits by the fireplace smoking a pipe

and solving crimes? - That's the one.

You have to read his new short novel.

Sir Conan Doyle's writing is so captivating

and Mr. Soykin's translation is beyond praise.

Oh, you know, Pelageia Ivanovna,

I find it all hard to believe.

A detective has to feel the earth under his feet, dig it for evidence, if you will.

He has to expose himself to danger, only then will he be any good.

For example, I'm going to Mikhaylov now

on a very serious, important assignment.

Can you promise to be careful?

Yes, you don't need to worry,

I'm not a rookie.

You know, I think Mr. Rebushinsky may be in love.

Rebushinsky, in love?

I wonder with whom.

I don't know, but he ordered a few books on the subject.

One of them is titled The Art of Love: How to Conquer a Woman.

So, Mr. Editor studies love from books...

Well, it is understandable:

the thing any person in love fears the most is rejection.

How do you know what a woman will say to your confession?

Does this book give the answer to that?

In love, just like in the detective work, one must know how take risks.

If you don't risk, you'll never know.

Yakov Platonovich!

I see you at last.

Haven't you seen me today already?

Someone might see us here.

I'm sorry.

Is there any news?

On Professor Sviridov's case.

About a week ago, he met with a Mr. Feldman,

who had been traveling from China to St. Petersburg through Paris

and stopped in Zatonsk for a night.

He delivered something to the professor, perhaps...

a foreign passport, although I don't want to believe it.

Did you question his wife...

and his assistant?

They are clearly hiding something.

Anton Andreyevich is going to Mikhaylov tomorrow...

to interview... Uminski's wife.

She might clarify something.

Did you say Mikhaylov?

Yes.

How odd...

Anna Viktorovna, can I see you alone, somewhere where no one can disturb us?

I have so much to tell you.

I have... an idea.

My niece isn't and can't be here.

But her husband assured me she had gone to see you.

- She isn't welcome in this house. - Why is that?

She married, without my blessing,

that godless man, Uminski.

Such heresy...

believing in those bacteria and microbes!

And you don't believe in bacteria, do you?

I don't believe them doctors at all.

They mix that pestilence in their jars and then infect people themselves!

Come on, what are you talking about?

Why would they do that?

So that we pay them for their medicines!

I like these woods!

It's so beautiful and quiet here,

and we are completely alone!

I wish we didn't have to hide from prying eyes.

I must admit, I for one like these secret rendezvous of ours!

You are such a romantic, Anna Viktorovna!

Shall we stop here?

Why?

You'll see.

I love you.

That professor of theirs...

created a remedy for plague.

Did he now?

And he's going to infect himself with this plague.

Is that what she said? A "remedy for plague"?

That's what she said.

And I told her I don't want to see her in this house ever again.

Honestly, I don't understand you... A remedy for plague!

It's a good thing!

But that professor created this plague

in his jars in the first place!

Where else would it come from for him to infect himself?

Indeed, where would it come from?

Thank you, you've been a great help.

Have a nice day!

Tell me, my dear...

What is this herb?

This one? This is thyme.

What is it for?

It helps against curses and evil forces.

Evil forces? Hah!

That's what the police is for.

If only you had a herb that could make a criminal

confess his guilt immediately

without playing games with us...

Then you should take purple loosestrife, sir,

it even makes evil spirits cry*. (*the Russian name literally means "cry-herb")

I see. But I'm here for something else.

Do you happen to have...

yellow sweet clover?

What would I need it for? Plenty of it growing all around here!

Where?

In the vacant lots, in the quarries...

In the quarries?

Thank you.

Sir!

Maybe take some purple loosestrife anyway, sir?

All right!

Where are all the horses and the coachman?

Here you are.

Take the horses away!

Who are you? What's going on?

Several horses in the stables have been diagnosed with glanders.

There's a possibility of an epidemic.

Glanders?

It's a very dangerous disease.

The horses you have rented for your ride may also be infected.

You will have to stay here for a few days.

I am placing you in quarantine.

That's nonsense! You have no right.

I am a judicial investigator, my name is Shtolman.

My name is Wolf

and I head the sanitary brigade of the Imperial Institute of Experimental Medicine.

I also have certain authority.

Yakov Platonovich, Mr. Wolf is right.

It really can be transmitted to humans.

With lethal outcome.

I will have you accommodated in the hotel at the horse stud farm.

Come...* in. (*She uses the informal verb ending, but then adds the formal one after a pause anyway)

I couldn't not come.

Who is it?

Come in.

How are you settling in, ma'am?

Thank you, everything is great.

What are you doing here, Mr. Shtolman?

Please go back to your room and stay there until the end of the quarantine.

Why would I do that?

If one of you is infected, you could infect the other as well.

We came together!

So what?

Mr. Shtolman. Please.

I sent a telegram to Zatonsk, as you requested.

Thank you.

Good night, Anna Viktorovna.

Night.

Yegor, what the hell!

The wheel came off...

- I can see that. - Got to fix it.

Go on and fix it then.

That Fedka! He's going to get it...

What about Fedka? Did he break the wheel?

Well, there was an incident

with this carriage, Anton Andreyevich.

There you go... incident.

It was stolen and then returned.

What do you mean, stolen? When?

Stolen on Saturday night, returned on Sunday.

Wait. Why didn't you tell me before? I asked you about that night,

and you didn't say a word about this.

Well, you didn't ask about this, Anton Andreyevich.

You asked if anybody had driven to the Sviridovs.

And nobody drove to the Sviridovs.

On Saturday or on Sunday.

Man, Yegor...

Find Fyodor as soon as we get back

and bring him to the precinct right away, got it?

Got it. What's not to get?

Well, what about Sviridov?

Did you find out anything?

What happened to him?

I saw his spirit.

Afanasiy Nikitich is... dead.

I'm afraid so, Doctor.

I'm sorry I didn't tell you sooner.

But... he hasn't been found.

You could be wrong...

My god.

Well... let's see

what kind of miraculous potion this is.

There...

Whom shall we test for a confession?

Shall we have some tea?

I would love to, sir.

Sit, man, sit.

Drink your tea and tell me about your life.

This is one strange tea, sir.

What's so strange?

Just your regular tea. Chinese.

My relatives sent me some.

It's good for you, you'll be as good as new.

- Sir! - What is it now?

Baker Ivashkin is getting stroppy in his cell again.

A bucket of cold water!

He'll get sober at once!

That will teach him to row with his neighbors in the middle of the night--

Let's go, I'll deal with that Ivashkin!

Why are you kicking up a fuss?

Come on, bring that bucket over here.

Go!

Good day, Anton Andreyevich.

Yes, good day.

How was your trip?

Great, great.

Maria Uminskaya last visited her aunt six months ago,

so she isn't in Mikhaylov.

Which means her husband lied.

No doubt about that.

Fetch you Fedka immediately.

- Yes, sir! - Is that the same Fedka?

- Which one? - Your boy from the fair.

No, no, it's a different Fedka. Another surprise for you.

Oh, my soul is burning! And something is choking me, choking...

Before our Lord, I can see that I'm not worthy of this uniform.

I should have stepped aside, let Panteleyev have this job.

He wanted it so much...

He wanted it so much, while I...

Scoundrel... I kept bucking for promotion...

Oh... grievous are my sins...

What are you saying, sir?

Serving under your command... Everybody should be so lucky!

Quiet! Don't contradict me!

My fault, my fault... I'm demoting myself.

I'm appointing myself... the duty officer.

Get out of my seat!

But how-- who's going to take your place, sir?

You are.

I've been watching you...

Now then... try this on.

Take yours off. Go on!

Nikolai Vasilievich, what's going on here?

Justice is being restored.

This is the man who deserves to have my job.

Come here for a minute.

Have you and the chief been drinking? - Negative, sir.

Let me smell your breath.

He brought some strange tea, and, well.

What tea?!

Oh, for god's sake... Nikolai Vasilievich!

Your Excellency, sir.

I'm no excellency anymore...

I'm just a duty officer now.

We were very good friends. He was a great man.

So this is a great loss for the Russian science.

I have no doubt

that were he alive, he would have finished his anti-plague vaccine.

But Khavkin worked on such a vaccine, and it turned out to be ineffective.

Sviridov knew his work.

Maybe he discovered a mistake and tried to correct it.

I don't think so, Doctor.

He would rather have told Khavkin about that mistake.

Yes, he wasn't the one to take credit for someone else's work.

Then what was he working on?

A serum.

Think about it.

If Khavkin tried to create a vaccine and failed,

then nothing prevented Sviridov from creating a serum.

An antidote for those already sick.

So, he tried to run an test,

but the serum didn't work. - Of course!

He could die within days, no, hours.

Pneumonic plague sometimes develops very quickly.

Yes, but to contract plague, he had to get the pathogen somewhere.

Yakov Platonovich said that a week ago

a Feldman had visited the professor.

Who came from Hong Kong.

And there's a plague epidemic in Hong Kong right now.

That's what he brought him!

It was the pathogen.

Sir, coachman Kruglov is here.

- Bring him here. - Go on in.

Take a seat, Fyodor.

There, Yakov Platonovich.

A coachman of the town carriage rental agency,

Kruglov, Fyodor.

He has a curious story to tell us, don't you, Fyodor?

Yes, sir. Only I didn't do anything!

Nobody is accusing you of anything.

Just tell us everything you know.

You might even get a reward.

In that case...

So it was last Saturday.

I finished my shift and I felt like, you know...

Wet my whistle. - I get it.

I went to the tavern, met with the guys, we had a bit to drink...

I go out and the carriage is gone!

- Gone? - Gone!

I even sobered up right there!

It costs a ton, I'd never pay it off!

I didn't go home, I thought the wife would kill me,

spend the entire night in the tavern.

I crawl out in the morning

and it's there, as though no one had ever taken it!

I even thought maybe I'd just imagined it, being drunk and all.

Well, maybe you were that drunk?

No, sir, the right wheel axis sagged

and I found money under the seat!

How much?

Well, the thief was generous, he paid me back well.

But who would need to go to the quarry in the middle of the night?

What makes you think it was driven to the quarry?

There was red clay on the wheels

and there's only one place with this clay near the town.

Yes, there's an abandoned quarry by Petersburg Tract.

Exactly.

I wonder if the professor was taken in that direction.

There it is, our mysterious carriage.

The ghost carriage.

They put the professor on it,

took him outside the town, killed him

and buried him in the quarry.

Bring your carriage over, we'll need it for identification.

Here's your reward!

We're going to the quarry, Yakov Platonovich!

Good day, Larisa Ivanovna.

To what do I owe your visit?

Tell me as it is, please.

Has Afanasiy Nikitich been working on an anti-plague serum lately?

I don't know what you're talking about.

You understood my question very well.

Lara, we have visitors?

Doctor, it's good to see you.

Arkadiy Konstantinovich...

I would like to know what you did with Afanasiy Nikitich's body.

Is it buried safely?

It's red, Yakov Platonovich!

Sir, over here! Sir! I think this is it!

Get to it!

What kind of absurd accusations are these, Doctor?

Why are you here?

We've been worrying day and night because of Afanasiy Nikitich's disappearance,

and we hope he'll be found!

He's been dead for several days now.

And both of you know this for a fact.

And how do you know that?

I have talked to him.

Oh, I think I recognize you,

you're Anna Mironova. The medium.

The local celebrity.

How odd. You look like a well-educated young woman.

- She is. - Doctor!

Do you really think I'm going to believe these fairytales?

Listen to me: your husband's spirit is here right now.

And he wants to tell you that we're wasting precious time.

Larisa Ivanovna,

if your husband did indeed die from plague

and the police find and dig up his grave,

an epidemic will break out.

Is this what you want?

Eureka!

Gentlemen... It's yellow sweet clover!

Yellow sweet clover, gentlemen!

Gentlemen... yellow sweet clover!

- Wait! Wait, stop! Step away from there! - Yellow sweet clover, gentlemen!

Stop! Stop! Stop!

Mr-- Mr. judicial investigator...

I want to confess to the murder of Professor Sviridov!

I'll explain everything, just tell your men not to touch the grave!

It can be fatal! - Stop!

Stop! There's plague there!

We planned and prepared for a long time.

The experiment was to start on Saturday.

Are you ready to take notes, Doctor?

I hope this day will make history, Professor.

The drugs from Lurye have been delivered.

Excellent. Masha, put them on the table

and don't forget to tell Lara

to pay Solomon Yakovlevich tomorrow.

You will stay behind the door at all times

and check on my condition every hour.

The most important thing is keeping thorough notes.

Khavkin had to repeat the experiment three times

for his results to be trusted.

And he was using volunteers, unlike us.

Masha, what are you doing?!

Two volunteers is better than one.

Afanasiy, I want to be a subject of this experiment with you.

You have taken it after all.

It tastes like water.

Finish it.

What other woman could dare do this?

We'll drink the maiden's rosy breath

...filled, perhaps... with death.*

*From A Feast in Time of Plague by Aleksandr Pushkin.

Afanasiy!

You're still with us? - Lara, don't come in!

We all prayed for the pathogen brought from Hong Kong to turn out to be dead.

But it worked.

And it worked much faster than we'd expected.

And making a new serum

would have taken at least a month.

It's a pneumonic plague, it's developing rapidly.

Are you sure, Professor?

Don't ask stupid questions, Arkasha.

I have been studying this disease all my life.

It won't be long until we infect the entire town.

Make sure Larisa Ivanovna is ready.

There was a gun in the house.

We couldn't take our carriage.

Of the servants, we could count only on Natasha.

Professor saved her son's life once.

And you borrowed the carriage left outside the tavern.

Wait! Wait, I'm going with you!

- Larisa, you're insane! - Do you want to join us in the grave?

We are contagious!

I'm at no greater risk than Arkadiy!

Stay! I'll come back for you, I promise! Go!

Afanasiy...

Is this why the servants gave different versions of the time when the carriage left?

Yes.

Then I came back for Larisa, like I'd promised.

Farewell, Larochka.

Farewell, Arkasha.

I hope you will continue my research

and make sure it doesn't end up in wrong hands.

Larochka...

You have always been too sensitive.

Don't let me down, Doctor.

I wouldn't want to die in agony.

I apologize. I'm sorry...

I'm sorry.

We...

buried the bodies,

I piled rocks over the spot,

took Larisa home,

and returned the carriage.

That was when I met you and you said you'd been hunting.

Yes, I'm sorry--

At night, we burned everything

the professor and Masha could have touched... in the lab.

But you should have burned their bodies as well.

Yes, you are absolutely right, but unfortunately, we didn't have the time.

And bodies stop being contagious eventually.

You just can't dig up the grave for some time.

Yakov Platonovich. Anton Andreyevich.

I have known Dr. Uminski for years.

He is a fine doctor and a decent person.

There was no element of crime in his actions.

What are you going to do, gentlemen?

Well, this is a little... too much, gentlemen!

Trust me, this will be the best solution.

Am I to understand that you suggest hiding the fact of the professor's disappearance?

- Yes. - No.

If I may remind you, Nikolai Vasilievich,

kidnapping is just a hypothesis.

Sviridov could have gotten into some kind of accident.

Personally, I believe he left Zatonsk of his own volition

Really. On what grounds?

Well, the servants have stated unanimously that

the professor was having an affair with his assistant's wife.

Right.

By the way, we never found her whereabouts.

- Yes. - No.

I believe they left together!

Excellent, excellent.

So, they abandoned their hateful spouses and ran away together.

Well, it does ring true.

I think so too.

How are you feeling, Nikolai Vasilievich?

I slept like a log.

No more traditional medicine, gentlemen.

No more infusions or potions.

Only medical science, gentlemen.

You know, I meant to ask you...

When you spoke to my husband...

Did it feel like... like he was angry with me?

Is something bothering you?

Yes, it suddenly occurred to me that he might have thought

that I was lying when I told him I wasn't jealous of him and Masha.

That in truth I hated them both

and lived with Arkadiy just to get back at them.

But it isn't true, is it?

Of course not.

Our feelings had long grown cold and we lived as good old friends.

But when the Uminskis came into our life...

I'm just saying Afanasiy might have thought that.

It was good to see you, Larisa Ivanovna.

Likewise.

HEARTS OF FOUR

Translation and timing by: @anditendshowyoudexpect(.tumblr.com)