After nearly losing their lives being submerged in a sinkhole, Valjean emerges with Marius in his hands as they make their way through the sewers
The Sewers of Paris is the 45th episode of the series. In it, Jean Valjean carries a heavily injured and unconscious Marius through the sewers of Paris while simultaneously evading the police. Eventually, he is allowed outside after a run-in with Thénardier, only to have Javert waiting for him outside.
Synopsis[]
The episode starts where the previous one left off: the barricade at the Corinthe has been destroyed, and the National Guard begin storming the area, killing any revolutionaries they see, and searching for one remaining student: Marius. Meanwhile, Javert is searching amongst the wreckage and bodies for Valjean, and reflects on the moment Valjean set him free at the alleyway, particularly on Valjean's statement that people are able to change themselves and turn over a new leaf. Javert rebuffs Valjean's words, and afterwards, one of his officers calls him over and locate the only possible exit from the barricade: a manhole leading into the sewers. Meanwhile, down in the sewers, Valjean carries an unconscious and injured Marius on his back as he makes his way around the maze of wet and sludged-up tunnels.
At the Rue de l'Homme Armé, Gavroche awakens to find a smiling Cosette watching him from his bedside. Gavroche once again mistakes Cosette for an angel and declares that he has entered heaven. Cosette, teary-eyed, corrects him, stating her name and that he is alive. Once Gavroche realizes his surroundings, he quickly attempts to get up, but stops and winces in pain from the injury to his shoulder. Cosette sets him back down and orders him to lie still. When Gavroche notices Chou Chou and asks why he is present, Chou Chou simply licks Gavroche, while Cosette reflects on her past with the duo. Toussaint soon arrives, and remarks on Gavroche's strong will to live when the doctor examined him. Cosette then states that it was Chou Chou who saved him after being shot. After realizing he was shot, Gavroche once again hastily attempts to sit up, stating that he needs to return to the barricade, as he was fighting there to obtain freedom alongside his compatriots, including Enjolras and Marius. Upon hearing Marius's name, Cosette, shocked, asks for reiteration, to which Gavroche confirms Marius's identity, as well as his boldness, at one point, threatening to blow up the barricade in order to drive the police away. As Cosette reels over the news of Marius, Gavroche further mentions that Valjean was also at the barricade and once again attempts to leave the room, but Cosette again stops him, and volunteers to go in his place. Toussaint refuses initally, but Cosette steadily orders Toussaint to allow her outside, stating that her mother will protect her, to which Toussaint reluctantly submits.
Back in the sewers, a group of officers run through the sewers, using lanters as light. The officer in command notes to his comrads that there were many convicts and escapees who tried to escape via the sewers, only to die due to being trapped underground for so long. A couple of the officers express nervousness being insde the labrynth, but the commanding officer orders them to keep it together, and once they find who they are looking for, they are allowed to shoot at will. Elsewhere, Valjean continues to carry Marius, and eventually comes to a fork in the road. Noting the flow of water down the left fork, Valjean takes that route, hoping it will lead him to the Seine. Not long afterwards, the officers end up at the same fork and notice Valjean's fresh footprints leading towards the left fork, and pursue. Quickly running down the trail, the officers close in on Valjean.
Outside, Cosette hastily makes her way to the barricade to find it destroyed; the National Guard has vacated
Cosette and a kneeling Hucheloup in front of what remains of the barricade
the area, and bodies still lie around the rubble as some loved ones grieve over them. As Cosette makes her way down the rubble, she finds Hucheloup kneeling down in agony in front of what remains of the barricade. In grief, he states that all of the people at the barricade were killed, causing Cosette to gasp. He goes on to say that those killed were rightously fighting for the citizens, rather than for themselves, and yet, they were all killed. In shock, Cosette kneels down beside Hucheloup, and can only utter Marius and Valjean's names in disbelief.
Back in the sewers, Valjean quickens his pace through the tunnels as the officers catch up to him. After running down a stairway, he comes upon a murky, open area, which includes a damaged barrel floating amongst the sewage. As the steps of the officers grow louder, Valjean enters the sewage "lake" and takes refuge behind the barrel, just in time for the officers to arrive. While hiding, Marius's right hand slips and splashes into the sewage, the noise atttracting the officers who fire a few shots at the barrel, with no success. The men fall back and decide to take the other fork from earlier. Once the guards have left, Valjean makes his way to a low archway on the other side of the lake and goes under it. As the officers rush back to the fork, one officer notes that Valjean could have escaped through said archway. The commanding officer then notes that if that were the case, it works out in their favor, as there is a sinkhole created by subsidence collected in a basin, where there is no hope of getting out of. As the narration is spoken, Valjean manages to get himself trapped in the sinkhole, and struggles to get out.
At the barricade, Hucheloup and Cosette are still kneeling beside the wreckage, when Hucheloup asks if the one Cosette has come to look for was a lover or older brother. Hopefully, Cosette grasps onto her mother's pendant and states that Marius isn't dead, causing Hucheloup to gasp and realize the man Cosette speaks of. Cosette continues, re-stating Fauchelevent's description of Valjean regarding his strength, agility, and kindness, and reaffirms that both are still alive, giving a final prayer to her mother to watch over the ones she loves. Back down in the sewers, Valjean continues to sink into the sewage, and, out loud, prays to God to save Marius, just as a small opening from the roof of the room forms, the sunlight pouring through in a single beam directly over Marius and Valjean. Slowly, Valjean and Marius continue to sink deeper into the sewage until the two are completely submerged. Outside, at this moment, a flock of pigeons fly across the sky over the wreckage of the barricade, causing both Cosette and Hucheloup to stand in wonder at the spectacle in front of them. At this moment, also, Valjean emerges from the depths of the sinkhole and lets out a roar of triumph as he holds Marius above him, both surviving the brush with death. Outside, the pigeons have passed, and Hucheloup and Cosette continue to stare at the tattered flag when Hucheloup states that he can hear [the Friends'] voices ("We won't lose hope despite all the times when we faced obstacles.")
Back in the sewers, the two men have made it out of the basin. Valjean lies Marius down as he catches his breath. Still unconscious, Marius winces in pain and Valjean places a hand on his forehead, noting that he has a high fever. He takes out a bottle of liquid, but before pouring it on his shoulder wound, notes Marius's open notepad and reads the content--a note to whoever should find Marius's body to inform his grandfather. Valjean then pours the liquid content onto Marius's wound, and the two trek on. Eventually, Valjean sees the exit gate, and once there, gently sets Marius down on the side and attampts to pull open the gate to no avail, noticing a chain wrapped around the gate with a lock on the other end. From behind, a voice states that [the speaker] has the keys to the exit. Turning around, the voice is revealed to be Thénardier, who believing that Valjean murdered Marius, immediately begins to set up a deal to exchange half the money
A flashback to Thénardier ransacking an unconscious Col. Pontmercy of his wallet at the Battle of Waterloo
Valjean got from Marius for Valjean to exit the sewers. He also goes into detail once again about his participation in the Battle of Waterloo, and how he "saved" a Colonel during the battle. However, this time Thénardier reveals that he was actually ransacking bodies for money at the time, and he just happened to pilfer Colonel Pontmercy's wallet just at the time [Pontmercy] regained consciousness and was mistaken as his benefactor. Thénardier laughs at
Thénardier rips a portion of Marius's revolutionary bandanna, an action that will play a key role later in the series
the ridiculousness and concludes his story by saying that once back in France, he used the money he stole off of Colonel Pontmercy to open his inn at Montfermeil. His story done, the two make their deal, Valjean simply taking a few francs he had brought with him to give to Thénarder. Their deal
Valjean and Marius finally get out of the sewers, only to have Javert waiting for them
done, Valjean carries Marius outside the gate, while at the same time, Thénardier rips a portion of Marius's bandanna, stows it away, and once Valjean passes the gate, closes it and retreats back into the sewers. As Valjean finally steps outside into the sunset, he hears steps approaching him from the right and sees a uniformed Javert standing on the stairway.
Trivia[]
- Goof: At other times the Thénardiers' inn has been shown or [its name] mentioned, it is known as "The Sergeant of Waterloo" (French: Au Sergeant de Waterloo). In this episode (along with episode _), the inn is called "Waterloo Inn". This could have been an error-in-translation, however
Quotes[]
"I have to save a living person. From now on, this young man can take over in my place and protect Cosette. Marius Pontmercy: A young man who is deeply in love with Cosette, and fought for his motherland..."- Valjean to himself while carrying Marius through the sewers
"Marius isn't dead... We promised to meet again... He's still alive somewhere. Father as well! Monsieur Fauchelevent had said this all the time! He said that Father is immortal and that he's the most valiant of all... He said that he holds the strength like Hercules and the swiftness like an eagle. He's not just strong; he's also the most warmhearted of all. He's not a mean person who would abandon me. Both of them are still alive. Mother, please protect over the people who are most precious to me."- Cosette to Hucheloup (and Fantine) hopefully stating that both Marius and Valjean are alive after the events at the barricade
My name is Marius Pontmercy. When I die, please inform my grandfather, M. Gillenormand, who is living at Rue des Filles-du-Calvarie, No. 6, in the Marais.- Marius's note to anyone who should find his body
"Just between us, I also did this kind of thing before. You know about the Battle of Waterloo, correct? At that time, heaps of corpses of soldiers are scattered all over the battlefield. Well... that's where you can get valuables. I pilfered up a huge amount of money from a certain colonel. Yes, if I remember, he's called Pontmercy. But the 'corpse' opened his eyes. 'You revived Colonel Pontmery.' I was mistaken as his benefactor." *laughs* "After I returned to our country, I used that money to open an inn. I named it 'Waterloo Inn'."- Thénardier revealing the full backstory of his "saving" Marius's father at the Battle of Waterloo
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