Saints and Strangers (2015) s01e01 Episode Script

1 WILLIAM BRADFORD: They called us pilgrims.
But today we are thieves.
We trust in God's design.
Our faith helped us to cross an ocean.
Faith and a contract with strangers, the Merchant Adventurer Company.
Without whose support, we could not afford the journey.
They came for fortune.
We came for God.
To build a new life.
To worship as we pleased, free from persecution.
Starved and desperate, 102 passengers arrived in the New World, guided by the Lord.
But there were some things God neglected to mention.
MYLES STANDISH: Move! For the shore! [arrows whizzing.]
STEPHEN HOPKINS: Musket! [thunder.]
[coughs.]
OAKES: Hold him.
Hey, watch this.
First time at sea, Mr.
Bradford? I have seen you and your lovely wife at the rail often enough.
Spewing into the wind.
W.
BRADFORD: It is not my first time.
I have sailed from England to Holland and back several times.
OAKES: With all due respect, sir, such as that's a Sunday outing on the Thames.
Not that you would desecrate the Sabbath by taking pleasure in it, if you catch my meaning.
W.
BRADFORD: I am not certain that I do.
OAKES: Well, how shall I put it? The worst is yet to come.
W.
BRADFORD: We have come this far and not lost a single soul.
We will endure.
OAKES: And a week from now? When the water is nothing but scum at the bottom of the barrels and the scurvy rips through your congregation like grease through a goose, will you endure then? W.
BRADFORD: By God's grace, we will.
OAKES: I wager that before we make landfall that l'll be sewing half your people into shrouds and tossing 'em overboard.
W.
BRADFORD: I hope you are not so inconvenienced.
OAKES: Not at all.
It would be my pleasure.
W.
BRADFORD: Good evening to you both.
ALDEN: Why do you talk to the man like that? OAKES: I sailed to Jamestown with Blackwell Separatists.
High and mighty, such as these.
180 of 'em packed together like herrings.
No freshwater, scanty rations.
'God will provide, God will provide.
' 130 of 'em died en route.
God has chosen them, alright to die of scurvy and the flux, and their own pride and self-righteousness.
And He will choose these, too.
[crying.]
[people coughing.]
ELIZABETH HOPKINS: Don't lie to me! ELINOR BILLINGTON: My boys do not steal! E.
HOPKINS: Well, I saw it with my very own eyes! Look at them! They've barely shed an ounce since they've been on this journey.
E.
BILLINGTON: Watch your words, you bitch! If my speech offends thee, Mrs.
Bradford, stop your saintly ears.
My boys are of hearty stock, plain and simple.
E.
HOPKINS: Does it mean nothing to you that I am with child? Have you no charity? You are a mother! W.
BRADFORD: I know it troubles you, but God chose these strangers to be our partners in this venture.
DOROTHY BRADFORD: God and the Merchant Adventurers Company.
W.
BRADFORD: We needed their investment to finance the voyage.
We could not manage it on our own.
D.
BRADFORD: But we're stuck with them.
Fortune hunters.
Criminals even.
They do not fear God as we do.
They do not keep the Sabbath.
This is not what I imagined when we left Holland.
W.
BRADFORD: Perhaps God is testing us.
D.
BRADFORD: We have sold our house and all we own.
Left everything and everyone we know behind.
How much more can He test us? W.
BRADFORD: As much as He needs.
As much as we can bear.
D.
BRADFORD: William.
I worry constantly if we've done the right thing.
W.
BRADFORD: There is no wrong in this journey.
We are Pilgrims.
D.
BRADFORD: How can you say we are not wrong? We left our child behind.
W.
BRADFORD: At least for now.
Until it is safe, until he is old enough.
D.
BRADFORD: But I miss him so.
W.
BRADFORD: I miss him, too.
D.
BRADFORD: Will we all be together again in this world? W.
BRADFORD: Have faith.
This voyage is what God intends for us.
D.
BRADFORD: Then, 'tis as you say, husband.
We are Pilgrims.
CHRISTOPHER JONES: 'Tis slow going, Mr.
Clark.
At this speed, it'll be another month till Virginia.
JOHN CLARK: Had we sailed in August, Captain.
JONES: If wishes were horses.
CLARK: We'd be riding these westerlies home, instead of beating our heads against them.
JONES: 'Tis not just the wind that bothers me.
Tension mounts belowdecks, and unlike water, it can only seep up.
GILES HEALE: Mr.
Carver, your wife's gums are gingival.
They're like paper.
I could put my finger through them.
[coughs.]
How long have your teeth been loose? CATHERINE CARVER: Some weeks now.
JOHN CARVER: Catherine.
And you've not told me? C.
CARVER: You have more important matters to worry over than my teeth, dear husband.
HEALE: You have scurvy, Mrs.
Carver.
But you are not alone.
It is rampant.
J.
CARVER: What can you give her for it? HEALE: If I could, a lemon.
Anything other than beer and ship biscuit for sustenance.
Proper rations, medicine, all the things that we lack.
That's what l'd give her.
No, the cure for her and everyone else suffering is to get off this damn vessel and onto dry land.
S.
HOPKINS: Doctor? Mrs.
Carver.
Please.
Please, come quick.
[screaming.]
D.
BRADFORD: It's alright.
E.
HOPKINS: Oh, God! D.
BRADFORD: It's alright.
Her spasms come ever quicker.
It's alright.
E.
HOPKINS: Damn this ship, damn you, Stephen Hopkins, you lying bastard! S.
HOPKINS: I dare say her wit remains intact.
E.
HOPKINS: Do you find humor in this? S.
HOPKINS: No, no, no, I merely mean to bring some lightness into E.
HOPKINS: Get out! [screaming.]
HEALE: Mrs.
Carver is a midwife.
D.
BRADFORD: In Holland, I have assisted the midwives often.
HEALE: Good.
Follow Mrs.
Carver's lead.
Mrs.
Hopkins.
D.
BRADFORD: Stop it.
[screaming.]
MARTIN: Who attends her? JONES: The ship's surgeon, Mr.
Heale, and a midwife.
Have you been below deck, Mr.
Martin? MARTIN: I have not.
JONES: 'Tis vile.
The Mayflower was never meant to carry passengers.
'Tis a cargo ship meant for wine and woolens, not women and children.
MARTIN: We all must make do.
JONES: 102 souls crammed in a hold meant for hogsheads of butter and beer.
'Tis a filthy, stinking kennel.
It's fit for a bitch to birth a litter, but not a woman to have her baby.
MARTIN: I hope all goes well.
STANDISH: You better hope so.
Hopkins and his wife expected this baby to be born in Virginia, not at sea.
MARTIN: What has that to do with me? STANDISH: You know nothing of the men your company have contracted for this settlement? MARTIN: Only yourself, Mr.
Standish, due to the endless, self-aggrandizing tales of your time in battle.
STANDISH: It's Captain Standish, Mr.
Martin.
And while I have killed men in the field of battle, it's not me with whom you should be concerned.
Huh? Huh? He knows nothing of the soon-to-be father down below.
The Captain here was even reluctant to let him on the ship.
MARTIN: Why is that? STANDISH: Well, because Stephen Hopkins is a notorious hothead.
He led a mutiny in Bermuda.
Sentenced to hang.
Cheated the gallows.
Somehow talked his way out of it.
MARTIN: Well, if the Captain saw fit to allow him on the ship, l'm sure we have nothing to fear.
STANDISH: Well, the Captain here will not be held responsible for the, for the endless delays that have resulted in this baby being born at sea in squalid conditions.
No, that rests solely on you and the Merchants Company.
If aught goes awry with his wife and child, Hopkins will know damn well who to blame.
[screaming.]
GILES HOPKINS: Is she going to die? CONSTANCE HOPKINS: Our mother did when she had you.
S.
HOPKINS: Hush! That's not fair.
It was not your brother's fault.
Your mother succumbed to an unseen weakness.
Your stepmother is stronger than she was.
She's not going to die.
[screaming.]
D.
BRADFORD: It's okay.
C.
CARVER: You're doing so well.
Just breathe.
D.
BRADFORD: It's okay.
[screaming.]
There you go.
It's alright, you're almost there.
HEALE: Yes.
Yes.
D.
BRADFORD: That's it.
HEALE: Oh.
Yes.
Oh, very good.
D.
BRADFORD: That's it.
[baby cries.]
[laughter, cheering.]
JONES: The baby lives.
MARTIN: That is good news, indeed.
D.
BRADFORD: It's a boy.
C.
CARVER: Here you go.
E.
HOPKINS: Stephen Hopkins! S.
HOPKINS: You see? I told you your stepmother was strong.
Ha! [thud.]
[screaming.]
ALDEN: Put it right there.
That's it.
JONES: What's happened, Mr.
Alden? ALDEN: It's fractured, Captain.
JONES: If it cracks completely, this ship will flounder and break apart.
ALDEN: l'll do what I can, but I don't have the means to fix it proper.
W.
BRADFORD: Well, what is it you need, Mr.
Alden, to make this repair? ALDEN: Something to hold it in place long enough to bind it.
WINSLOW: We have our screw jacks for building houses.
Will that help? ALDEN: It's worth a try.
Will you go and fetch it? W.
BRADFORD: We cannot do that.
JONES: This ship will sink! WINSLOW: It is the Sabbath, sir.
W.
BRADFORD: We cannot work.
S.
HOPKINS: Lord, grant me patience! Show me where it is, l'll fetch the damned thing myself! JONES: Will it hold? ALDEN: For now.
ALDEN: But it will require more repair than this.
JONES: Well done, Mr.
Alden, well done.
We were meant to land at the mouth of the Hudson.
The northernmost part of Virginia.
MARTIN: Yes, where we have the patent for our colony.
JONES: Mm-hmm.
Now, we are on course to here, Cape James.
And with the broken beam and the weather, it's likely that this is as far as we'll get this winter.
MARTIN: We cannot plant our colony wheresoever we please.
STANDISH: You heard Captain Jones.
We cannot reach Virginia.
BILLINGTON: But we have a place in Virginia.
W.
BRADFORD: If God sees fit to deliver us further north, to this shore, then maybe this is where He intends for us to make our plantation.
S.
HOPKINS: Perhaps he's right.
For there, we are no longer bound into previous agreements.
W.
BRADFORD: Mr.
Hopkins, this is not the time to do this.
MARTIN: Everyone knows your history, sir.
And though you are a notorious mutineer, you remain under contract no matter where we land.
S.
HOPKINS: Oh, I beg to differ.
WINSLOW: We are bound together in this venture, Mr.
Hopkins, your people and ours.
We need to make a common cause for a better life, for all of us.
S.
HOPKINS: Common cause? With us? With those that you call strangers? WINSLOW: We mean no offense by it.
BILLINGTON: The hell you don't! W.
BRADFORD: Mr.
Martin, will the Merchant Adventurers Company honor our claim to this new territory? MARTIN: I cannot say.
We will only know that once the Mayflower returns to England, and a fresh ship arrives to replenish the colony.
S.
HOPKINS: A year from now.
BILLINGTON: 'Tis too risky.
What if the Crown evicts us then? All our toil would have been for naught.
J.
CARVER: Our situation has changed entirely.
We will need a new agreement.
MARTIN: I cannot negotiate a new contract on behalf of the Company.
J.
CARVER: Not with the Company, sir, between us.
Every man, saint and stranger, even the servants.
F.
BILLINGTON: What do the servants got to do with this? J.
CARVER: Because they will share the risk of settling in unknown territory.
I propose a compact that pledges our fealty to the Crown, establishes our claim to these new lands, and establishes our governance therein and by which we shall all be bound.
W.
BRADFORD: Aye.
WINSLOW: Aye.
W.
BRADFORD: Mr.
Hopkins.
Does it suit you? S.
HOPKINS: It is certain.
Bound together.
STANDISH: Captain Jones.
How many days are we from land? JONES: I cannot say exact.
We haven't had a clear night sky, or seen a star since setting sail.
I can only make a run for it.
E.
HOPKINS: So, will you sign it? S.
HOPKINS: For a clean start, I will sign it, yes.
I mean, the compact will only govern conduct amongst ourselves.
As far as l'm concerned, we're on our own.
E.
HOPKINS: On our own in unsettled land.
S.
HOPKINS: Yes.
E.
HOPKINS: So you alone will defend us against the savages? S.
HOPKINS: I assure you I will protect my family, as I always have.
E.
HOPKINS: You assured me that this baby would be born in Virginia.
S.
HOPKINS: Do you trust me? I need to know, I need to hear it.
I need to hear it from your lips.
Do you trust me? E.
HOPKINS: Yes.
MAN: Man overboard! MAN: Man overboard! Man overboard! JOHN HOWLAND: Help! Help! Help! S.
HOPKINS: What happened? Who's gone over? W.
BRADFORD: John Howland! Carver's man! HOWLAND: Help! [coughs.]
OAKES: Hey, serves him right, wandering the deck during a storm.
'Tis a shame, I thought for sure you'd be the first to go.
W.
BRADFORD: You are a despicable man, Mr.
Oakes! [coughing.]
You're okay, Mr.
Howland? HOWLAND: Yes.
W.
BRADFORD: The just hand of God was upon our brother and servant, John Howland, that night.
The just hand of God reached into the depths and pulled him from a certain death.
We do not know why.
The just hand of God has also touched another, a proud and profane young man, Mr.
Oakes.
It pleased him to smite this young man with a grievous disease from which he died in a desperate manner.
We do not question the will of God.
Let us pray for this young man.
[wings fluttering.]
MAN: Land ho! MAN: Aweigh the anchor! W.
BRADFORD: Dorothy, we made it.
Look what the Lord hath brought.
Having undertaken for the glory of God and the advancement of the Christian faith and honor of our King and country, a voyage to plant the first colony in the northern parts of Virginia.
In the presence of God and one another, covenant and combine ourselves together in a civil body politic, unto which we promise all due submission and obedience.
In witness whereof we have hereunto subscribed our names at Cape Cod.
The 11th of November, in the year of the reign of our Sovereign Lord, King James, 1620.
JONES: You could anchor a thousand ships in this harbor.
[speaks native language.]
F.
BILLINGTON: Any sign of them yet? STANDISH: Who, sir? F.
BILLINGTON: Savages.
The damned savages.
E.
BILLINGTON: 'Tis said the savages flay their captives alive with the sharp-edged shells of fishes.
C.
CARVER: Hush, now.
E.
HOPKINS: And roast their tender parts and eat them with great delight, so my husband tells me, and he should know.
He had much contact with them in Jamestown.
C.
CARVER: Stop that foolish talk.
No harm will come to our men.
MAN: Two, three, ho! Ho! Ho! J.
CARVER: O blessed God of Heaven, who has brought us over the vast and furious ocean and delivered us from all the perils and miseries thereof.
We give to you our hearts and our hands this day.
We dedicate ourselves to your work.
S.
HOPKINS: Fresh water! A steady stream! Gather the barrels! [laughs.]
F.
BILLINGTON: Look at this.
They're everywhere.
[laughs.]
W.
BRADFORD: We've done it, John.
God willing, we've done it.
J.
CARVER: Indeed, we have.
STANDISH: Let's be thankful when we've made it back alive.
Till then, we move quickly.
Gather what you can! But for your own preservation, do not leave my sight.
HOWLAND: Mrs.
Bradford? Mistress Carver is indisposed and wonders if you'd keep young Jasper for a few hours until she's feeling more herself.
D.
BRADFORD: Of course.
Have you eaten today? Come on, then, let's get you a biscuit.
I wish there were more.
JASPER MORE: 'Tis good.
D.
BRADFORD: You know, I have a little boy, too.
MORE: Where is he? D.
BRADFORD: With my parents.
We thought him too young to come.
He is only three.
MORE: My sister Mary is four.
Will you send for him when he is four? D.
BRADFORD: I hope so.
MORE: My parents will send for me.
At least our mother will.
Elinor says our father does not want us anymore.
MAN: They've returned with bounty! [cheering.]
MAN: There's plenty for all! WOMAN: We're gonna eat tonight! E.
BILLINGTON: Come here! W.
BRADFORD: There is food, water, and natural bounty.
S.
HOPKINS: 'Tis a new world for sure, all there for the taking.
D.
BRADFORD: Is it safe for settlement? STANDISH: I would not go as far as to call it safe.
But in time, I can make it so.
F.
BILLINGTON: Well, there's plenty other shrimp out there from which you can make an army.
STANDISH: At the very least, the savages won't see us coming.
[laughter.]
E.
WINSLOW: Husband, we are desperate to wash and bathe, even a little.
WINSLOW: Captain, what say you? STANDISH: I think given what these women have endured, any kind of bath would be welcome.
WINSLOW: Hear, hear.
[laughter.]
D.
BRADFORD: Did you hear that? E.
WINSLOW: What? D.
BRADFORD: I saw a child, in the woods.
E.
WINSLOW: 'Tis the wind, dear.
[gasping.]
W.
BRADFORD: What is it? What is it? D.
BRADFORD: He's not breathing.
John, I saw him, he's dead.
W.
BRADFORD: It's just a dream.
D.
BRADFORD: No, no.
W.
BRADFORD: Come now.
D.
BRADFORD: He was an infant.
He was frozen to the touch.
I knew his face.
W.
BRADFORD: It was just a dream, an infernal dream.
John is well.
D.
BRADFORD: Well, how can you know? W.
BRADFORD: Because I know.
D.
BRADFORD: How? He's thousands of miles away.
W.
BRADFORD: Because I trust that God wants for us to be a family again.
D.
BRADFORD: What if God wills something else? What if my dream is true? W.
BRADFORD: Your dream is nothing but a dream.
Soon I will go ashore.
I will find a place for us to settle and we will make our home, and we will send for our son.
You have my word.
J.
CARVER: Be quick about it.
We must settle on a place to build before dark.
F.
BILLINGTON: Why do the savages not show themselves? W.
BRADFORD: Perhaps because they are not here.
S.
HOPKINS: Surprise me, Mr.
Bradford, Mr.
Winslow, that you of all people cannot smell them.
W.
BRADFORD: How is that, sir? S.
HOPKINS: The savages, they stink.
Of bear grease and pitch and rotted earth, the Devil himself.
WINSLOW: Your nose must be more familiar with infernal odors than ours, Mr.
Hopkins.
S.
HOPKINS: Well, of course.
I have been abroad in the world, seeking my fortune, not hiding in Holland with my bible.
J.
CARVER: You go too far, sir.
S.
HOPKINS: My manners are crude.
I mean only to say that you have not soldiered, any of you.
WINSLOW: No, we have not soldiered, sir.
Nor have we stood trial for mutiny.
STANDISH: Come, there is no need now for this disputation.
We move on.
We need to find a place for settlement.
You smell them still, Mr.
Hopkins? S.
HOPKINS: I have it in my nostrils.
They are all around us.
J.
CARVER: There's no life here.
STANDISH: Nonetheless, keep your eyes sharp.
[crow squawking.]
W.
BRADFORD: Have you found something? S.
HOPKINS: Yes.
Tell me this, Mr.
Bradford.
Do you smell it now? W.
BRADFORD: This desecration is unwise.
We should not ransack their sepulchers.
S.
HOPKINS: These people aren't Christians.
Therefore there's no desecration.
Ha ha ha! Indian corn.
F.
BILLINGTON: A Godsend.
W.
BRADFORD: Wait.
It is most likely seed corn for planting, come spring.
S.
HOPKINS: But the village is abandoned.
W.
BRADFORD: What if it is not? S.
HOPKINS: But we are starving, man! W.
BRADFORD: What if they plan to return? We have stolen their very sustenance and disturbed their graves.
S.
HOPKINS: Well, surely we were meant to find this, were we not? All part of God's plan? WINSLOW: No doubt.
The question is, were we meant to take it? S.
HOPKINS: You are too subtle for me, sir.
W.
BRADFORD: God is testing us.
F.
BILLINGTON: God is blessing us.
He keeps us from starving.
S.
HOPKINS: Ah, and look, we're not the only people who take things, unless you think these savages have learned how to forge iron.
WINSLOW: We could offer them full recompense.
We have beads and truck on the ship.
W.
BRADFORD: Yes.
But nothing with us.
STANDISH: Whilst you debate, I fear we are being watched.
Hmm? WINSLOW: We will return, William, and provide them full satisfaction.
W.
BRADFORD: Very well, make haste.
[clattering.]
[whooping.]
[whooping.]
[whooping.]
[whooping.]
S.
HOPKINS: Standish.
STANDISH: Move! For the shore! Move, move, run! [hollering.]
[arrows whizzing.]
Run! Run! [whooping.]
[arrows whizzing.]
[whooping.]
S.
HOPKINS: Musket.
MAN: Yes, sir.
STANDISH: Hopkins? Ready your weapons! S.
HOPKINS: Winslow.
MAN: Push off! Push off! MAN: Push! Push! S.
HOPKINS: God's design, Mr.
Bradford? W.
BRADFORD: God's design, Mr.
Hopkins.
And by God's grace, we survive.
STANDISH: Fire! [gunshots.]
D.
BRADFORD: You could've been killed.
W.
BRADFORD: Yes, but I wasn't.
D.
BRADFORD: Not today.
But how can we settle in a land teeming with savages? W.
BRADFORD: They had every reason to bring us harm.
It was bad business, taking their corn.
D.
BRADFORD: Then why did you do it? W.
BRADFORD: Because we are starving.
D.
BRADFORD: Well, I will have none of it.
W.
BRADFORD: Dorothy! D.
BRADFORD: But it is here.
And do God willing, it will help Jasper.
I hope you're hungry.
L've brought you something warm and delicious.
Come, eat.
This will warm you.
MORE: Mama? [crying.]
C.
CARVER: May I sit with you? [sobbing.]
D.
BRADFORD: He was a sweet child.
He suffered for the sins of others.
And now he's gone to join his heavenly father.
W.
BRADFORD: He most certainly has.
D.
BRADFORD: William.
What if we never see our son again? What if he is dead? How would we know? We wouldn't, would we? Not for years.
W.
BRADFORD: John is fine, watched over by God and your mother.
A most formidable pair.
Be of good cheer.
I shall return to thee soon with glad tidings of our new home.
D.
BRADFORD: Must you go this time? W.
BRADFORD: I go for us.
It will be a few days, at most, God willing.
D.
BRADFORD: Please come back soon.
W.
BRADFORD: Yes.
As soon as I can.
STANDISH: I smell your brimstone, Mr.
Hopkins.
W.
BRADFORD: As do I.
[cracking.]
F.
BILLINGTON: Dear God in Heaven! STANDISH: Something monstrous has happened here.
WINSLOW: Satan's work.
S.
HOPKINS: Or God's.
W.
BRADFORD: How so God's work, sir? S.
HOPKINS: The Devil holds sway in this New World, does he not? WINSLOW: It would seem so.
S.
HOPKINS: Very well.
If we are part of God's plan to conquer Satan WINSLOW: Then he has done our work for us.
S.
HOPKINS: Exactly so.
Everything is part of God's design, is it not? STANDISH: God's design or not, this place is not fit for settlement.
On we go! W.
BRADFORD: Will it serve, Captain? STANDISH: 'Tis a natural fortress.
Easily defendable.
S.
HOPKINS: It's already cleared by the savages.
WINSLOW: If this place is another burial site, we should not disturb it.
We should find another place.
F.
BILLINGTON: I see no bones, no graves.
W.
BRADFORD: This is where God intends for us to be.
S.
HOPKINS: And what makes you so certain, Mr.
Bradford? W.
BRADFORD: My faith, Mr.
Hopkins.
God is guiding us, every step, every turn.
And he led us to a spot that serves all our needs, does it not? S.
HOPKINS: Yes, I suppose it does.
STANDISH: Are we resolved then? W.
BRADFORD: Aye.
J.
CARVER: Aye.
WINSLOW: Aye.
S.
HOPKINS: Aye.
F.
BILLINGTON: Aye.
J.
CARVER: What shall we call it then? This place? S.
HOPKINS: Mr.
Bradford seems so certain this is God's will, let him name it.
W.
BRADFORD: New Plymouth.
We shall call our colony New Plymouth.
[distant thunder.]
This is senseless.
It offers no protection.
F.
BILLINGTON: You're welcome to wait outside, Mr.
Bradford.
S.
HOPKINS: Or pray for the rain to cease.
J.
CARVER: Friends, please.
We have found a home we will share.
WINSLOW: And will there become a time when you will cease making fun? S.
HOPKINS: Unlikely, my friend.
W.
BRADFORD: We should make for the shallop, get back to the ship.
We have much to share.
STANDISH: I would not advise walking these woods at night.
We'll get back soon enough.
[thunder.]
ALDEN: Mistress.
D.
BRADFORD: Any sign of them? ALDEN: As I said before, l'll alert you first thing.
D.
BRADFORD: And I asked you already this night? ALDEN: They won't return tonight, not in this weather.
But surely in the morning.
D.
BRADFORD: In the morning, you say.
ALDEN: Yes.
In the meantime, l'd advise you get out of this rain.
D.
BRADFORD: It's fresh air I need.
Fresh, clean air.
W.
BRADFORD: We have found it! Where we shall plant our colony! What has happened? Where's my wife? J.
CARVER: William.
W.
BRADFORD: What, what ? Why is she not here? J.
CARVER: It has pleased God to take her home.
JONES: She slipped over the side last night.
W.
BRADFORD: How can that be?! ALDEN: The deck was icy, sir.
W.
BRADFORD: You saw it? ALDEN: I spoke to her just before.
W.
BRADFORD: What was she doing on deck? ALDEN: Awaiting your return.
[singing.]
ALDEN: Why do they not sing? S.
HOPKINS: They do not celebrate Christmas.
It's not found in the Scriptures, they say.
F.
BILLINGTON: Isn't it? S.
HOPKINS: I myself have not made a study of the matter.
F.
BILLINGTON: Damned nonsense.
Of course it is.
Not celebrate our Savior's birth? What kind of Christians are they? S.
HOPKINS: Hardheaded.
W.
BRADFORD: Thank you.
S.
HOPKINS: 'Tis hard work.
W.
BRADFORD: 'Tis God's work.
S.
HOPKINS: You still believe, do you? God's will and all? W.
BRADFORD: Without belief, sir, l'd have nothing.
[distant whooping.]
STANDISH: Get the women and children inside now! MAN: Get inside.
Do as I say! MAN: Where is your mother? MARTIN: We have so many ashore now.
This must be near the last trip.
We have much to build.
ALDEN: Aye.
WINSLOW: Sickness abounds aboard the ship.
A floating damnation, it is.
J.
CARVER: These are our brothers and sisters in Christ.
They deserve not a sailor's fate, but a burial befitting children of God.
Goodwife Allerton there.
Poor Isaac is surfeited with grief.
These two are together.
Mullins.
ALDEN: Priscilla? J.
CARVER: No, mother and father.
Priscilla lives.
HOWLAND: The second More child.
Elinor.
Eight years of age.
J.
CARVER: Here lies the main thoroughfare.
This, the common house, and farmland twixt the households.
S.
HOPKINS: The houses rise too slowly, Carver.
Many lay abandoned in their early stages, their builders just taken ill.
WINSLOW: Everyone save the crew has left the Mayflower.
If we don't accommodate with more housing soon, we will freeze to death.
We can't continue to pile in the common house, lest the sickness spread.
J.
CARVER: How many are we this day? F.
BILLINGTON: Breathing or with the Lord? J.
CARVER: They are all with the Lord here, Billington.
A head count of the living, if you please, Mr.
Winslow.
WINSLOW: 59 this morning.
F.
BILLINGTON: Might want to wait an hour before committing to a number.
There will surely either be fewer houses needed or fewer hands to build them.
W.
BRADFORD: We go by families, then.
J.
CARVER: Yes.
Yes.
Good, thank you, William.
A household will comprise of a woman, children in her care, and husband.
F.
BILLINGTON: Ah, good.
Every man for himself.
That's what l've been saying all along.
J.
CARVER: Not quite.
It's true we work harder when we work for ourselves, but not by ourselves.
S.
HOPKINS: Perhaps the men, then, those without a wife, can be distributed amongst them.
J.
CARVER: Yes, balance the help.
WINSLOW: Carver.
Of the living, our women number only nine.
J.
CARVER: Nine homes to start, then.
W.
BRADFORD: Seven.
J.
CARVER: Very well.
Seven to start.
We grow from there.
S.
HOPKINS: The forest watches us, gentlemen.
MARTIN: Watching us starve.
Freeze.
Die! [coughing.]
JOAN: I love you.
LIZZIE: No.
No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no! C.
CARVER: There now.
LIZZIE: They are all I have.
C.
CARVER: Not so.
Mr.
Carver and I shall watch over you.
You will not be alone, dear girl, I promise you.
[sobbing.]
WHITE: Mr.
Bradford, you are not well.
Come and rest.
W.
BRADFORD: l'm fine, Mrs.
White.
Please, tend to those who need it most.
STANDISH: Where's the war, gentlemen? J.
CARVER: In our hearts, Captain Standish.
In our hearts, 'tis noble work you do here.
STANDISH: A musket comes more natural.
J.
CARVER: To that end, Mr.
Billington has offered to teach me and my attending to hunt.
The broth for the sick runs thin, could benefit from fresh game.
STANDISH: I did not authorize this.
J.
CARVER: I beg your pardon? F.
BILLINGTON: Carver is governor, Standish.
Don't need your say-so.
STANDISH: Yes, well, as captain of the military, l'll keep the armory.
You've taken those muskets without my approval.
F.
BILLINGTON: This is my musket.
STANDISH: Yeah, well, you're still short three.
F.
BILLINGTON: Not as short as some.
J.
CARVER: Please, gentlemen, Mr.
Howland and I are in need of instruction.
Might we tempt you to join the excursion, so that you may supervise our handling of the weapons? STANDISH: Yeah, I could be tempted.
F.
BILLINGTON: Good, then.
Might even learn something.
Take your purchase, boy.
So, with a comfortable blind and a clear vantage, now, take your shot, load it into the pan.
Close it, then.
Now the musket ball.
Take the scouring stick, reverse it, reverse it, scour down your charge.
Now, take your purchase, gentlemen.
STANDISH: Billington, they need to place their match cord.
F.
BILLINGTON: I was testing them.
STANDISH: Of course.
Match cord, place into the hose.
J.
CARVER: Such as this? STANDISH: That's right.
Push it harder.
Right here.
Okay.
That's it.
Good.
Yeah.
[gunshot.]
F.
BILLINGTON: Ha ha! STANDISH: Billington! F.
BILLINGTON: Ha ha! Fetch it, boy.
J.
CARVER: The Lord blesses us with supper! F.
BILLINGTON: For one of us at least.
J.
CARVER: I beg your pardon? F.
BILLINGTON: Like you said, we all work harder when we work for ourselves.
JOHN, JR.
: A hearty supper we will have.
F.
BILLINGTON: Same goes for you, boy.
You want a hearty supper, you kill it yourself.
STANDISH: Billington! You are a knave of the first order! Self-serving is one thing, but to deny your own child? You disgust me! F.
BILLINGTON: I don't look to impress you, Standish.
And l'll raise my boys any way I see fit.
STANDISH: Careful, Billington.
Of the five muskets here, yours is the only one that's fired.
Take heed.
F.
BILLINGTON: Do you threaten me? [whooping.]
STANDISH: Shh! [whooping.]
Run.
Run! F.
BILLINGTON: Move it, boy.
Quick! STANDISH: All move fast! MAN: The savages are coming! STANDISH: Run! They're coming.
J.
CARVER: The savages are coming.
W.
BRADFORD: Put the crosses inside.
STANDISH: Positions! Ready the cannon! W.
BRADFORD: Get the women and children in the common house and keep them calm.
[hollering.]
[distant gunshot.]
[shouting.]
J.
CARVER: Standish, wait.
Look.
S.
HOPKINS: The savages scorch the earth.
They shriek and scream worse than an Irish banshee.
Fills a man's mind with hellish visions.
STANDISH: It's exactly what they mean to do.
W.
BRADFORD: Will they move to attack us? S.
HOPKINS: l'll wager they will when they feel ready.
For now, they'll just test our mettle whenever they may.
STANDISH: Our mettle is sound.
It's our numbers that worry me.
J.
CARVER: Half the colony is dying, the whole of us starving.
Might we implore Captain Jones to aid in our defense? STANDISH: Jones would sooner boil soup in a chamber pot than surrender his men to aid in our purpose.
No.
We are alone in this.
WINSLOW: The winter has yet to do its worst, I fear.
You are pale to be sure.
Have you eaten today? E.
WINSLOW: This will be my first sustenance, thank God.
WINSLOW: Truly, you are the hand of an angel to tend so to the sick.
But you must not neglect yourself.
Do you hear me? E.
WINSLOW: Aye.
WINSLOW: Aye.
WINSLOW: Standish will have us sitting watch each night.
You know, that will be the way going forward.
Elizabeth.
Elizabeth.
Is it worth it? All this starvation? The anguish? God tests us further than I can sustain.
W.
BRADFORD: God doles out hardship only to those with faith strong enough to withstand it.
WINSLOW: Perhaps he's mistaken me for someone stronger.
W.
BRADFORD: Let's get you some water.
WINSLOW: This New World's water runs clean, but it sits not well with me.
W.
BRADFORD: Come then, let's find you sustenance.
WINSLOW: Beer? W.
BRADFORD: Oh, would that we had any left, many lives might be spared yet.
WINSLOW: God damn Captain Jones to hell for his sin of gluttony.
A bounty of ale he holds in the belly of that ship.
W.
BRADFORD: Perhaps we can find something to barter with him.
J.
CARVER: We bring provisions, sirs.
'Tis a humble offer we set before you, but it's all we have to compensate for what we ask of you.
JONES: 'Tis humble indeed.
What would you ask? W.
BRADFORD: Our numbers dwindle.
Many are sick and starving and would benefit from hearty drink.
CLARK: Come for our beer, have you? W.
BRADFORD: Only so much as you might spare.
CLARK: This here isn't worth us sparing a drop.
Were you my own father, you should have none.
J.
CARVER: Captain, 'tis you who commands.
Please.
Our children are dying.
JONES: Look around you, holy man.
We're dying.
CLARK: This misery is our recompense for bearing you people across the sea.
JONES: And as it stands, if we were to part with our provisions now, we would not have enough for our return journey.
J.
CARVER: I beg of you, sir.
JONES: Death and starvation do not discriminate.
But I must.
ALDEN: Here are more from Goodwife Carver.
MULLINS: There.
Is it not a woman's work you do, Mr.
Alden? ALDEN: I beg your pardon? MULLINS: Washing linens, preparing broth.
ALDEN: Aye.
MULLINS: Woman's work.
ALDEN: Well, I aim to help where I may, Miss Mullins.
MULLINS: Surely an able-bodied man as yourself would be better suited thatching a roof or the like.
ALDEN: If it comes to it that a roof needs thatching, l'll be there.
MULLINS: A gust of wind cleared a space in our roof last night.
ALDEN: Oh? I shall see to it.
MAN: Savages! Savages are here! F.
BILLINGTON: Mr.
Carver! The savages are coming! J.
CARVER: Where are the rest of them? STANDISH: Likely a diversion.
SAMOSET: Welcome, Englishmen! [children laugh.]
MAN: Boys.
WINSLOW: Here.
Peas.
Green English peas.
Try it.
J.
CARVER: I am Governor Carver.
You speak English? SAMOSET: English, yes.
Samoset.
J.
CARVER: Samoset.
Ah.
Do you live in these woods? SAMOSET: Samoset live up far north.
Monhegan.
S.
HOPKINS: He's not even from these parts.
Who taunts us week after week here? Who's watching from the forest? W.
BRADFORD: Easy, Hopkins.
You'll frighten him.
J.
CARVER: Are there others who would do us harm? Who are our neighbors? SAMOSET: English here.
Patuxet.
This Pokanoket.
King Massasoit.
W.
BRADFORD: Massa SAMOSET: Massasoit.
J.
CARVER: Massasoit.
SAMOSET: This Nauset.
King Aspinet.
His people, you steal corn.
J.
CARVER: Ah, uh SAMOSET: You take corn.
Not good.
W.
BRADFORD: Yes, we knew it to be wrong.
F.
BILLINGTON: l'd do it again.
There for the taking.
SAMOSET: I go.
J.
CARVER: l'd say his demeanor impressed.
STANDISH: Aye.
Easily the most civilized savage there ever was.
W.
BRADFORD: Did it not vex you, Mr.
Standish, his knowledge of the corn? WINSLOW: It was wrong to take it.
S.
HOPKINS: We'd have starved otherwise.
WINSLOW: We're starving still.
J.
CARVER: What's done is done.
We shall seek out those whose corn we took and offer restitution.
HOWLAND: Surely he must have been cold.
S.
HOPKINS: Do not marvel at that man's garb.
Do not marvel at his language.
Do not marvel at his demeanor.
That man was not here to taste our victuals.
That man was here today for a single purpose.
To count us.
Count our dead.
Count our living.
That man was a scout.
W.
BRADFORD: Surely no hostile would initiate by breaking bread.
S.
HOPKINS: Let not your godly naïveté cloud your judgment, sir.
You see it as breaking bread, in actuality, he was sampling the meagerness of our sustenance.
STANDISH: They know our numbers diminish.
S.
HOPKINS: That is why they've waited so long to show themselves.
F.
BILLINGTON: They've been waiting for us to starve.
S.
HOPKINS: And now, we have been counted.
We have been weighed.
We have been measured.
Lord knows what follows next.
W.
BRADFORD: We've positioned all able-bodied men at the posts you've designated, but there remain gaps.
STANDISH: No gaps.
They expect our numbers to be diminutive.
We must manufacture a presence.
S.
HOPKINS: Aye.
Let us make use of all bodies, able or not.
MARTIN: Gun, boy.
F.
BILLINGTON: Here you are, Mr.
Martin.
JOHN, JR.
: Surely he will die if we leave him out here? F.
BILLINGTON: He will die regardless.
Come, boy.
[clanging.]
STANDISH: Women and children within! Men, to your posts! Move! Move! Move! Move! Move! Steady! Steady, I say! W.
BRADFORD: What is he doing? F.
BILLINGTON: A foul omen, mark him.
He brings an evil omen upon us.
SQUANTO: I am Squanto.
The last of my people in Patuxet.
Mark the earth where I plant these fish.
In this spot, will your corn now grow.
You are hungry and the great Massasoit of the Pokanoket would feed you, teach you to feed yourselves.
We, the People of the First Light, come as friends.
STANDISH: We? Of whom do you speak? J.
CARVER: In the name of our own King James of England, we welcome you, King Massasoit.
SQUANTO: Massasoit is honored.
J.
CARVER: Very good, then.
We would like to present to you with some gifts.
WINSLOW: Yes.
First, two knives comprised of fine steel with ornate design as a symbol of strength, a symbol of trust.
WINSLOW: And these beautiful copper chains of great worth, made of copper.
SQUANTO: Massasoit and his warriors have set down their bows as you requested.
They ask why you still carry your muskets.
STANDISH: This is our territory.
You do not come into my house and tell me what I may or may not do.
W.
BRADFORD: Let but a few of us sit and converse that we might settle on a more formal agreement, hmm? W.
BRADFORD: That neither he nor any of his should do hurt to any of our people.
That if any of his did hurt to any of ours, he should send the offender, that we might punish him.
If any did unjustly war against him, we should aid him.
If any did war against us, he should aid us.
Yes.
J.
CARVER: Mr.
Howland, bottle of aqua vitae that our guest may drink.
Settled, then.
You are welcome here as friends.
SQUANTO: Massasoit is greatly honored.
J.
CARVER: Oh.
SQUANTO: These are family.
Beans, corn, and squash.
We plant them together as one.
Corn, she is strong and tall.
She helps bean by allowing her to grow up her stalk.
Bean gives corn the nutrients she needs to grow healthy.
Squash, her large leaves help keep the soil moist and prevent weeds from growing.
W.
BRADFORD: For months, we struggled to catch a single eel.
Squanto trods into the shallow lagoon and emerges with a bundle.
J.
CARVER: Oi, here, here.
STANDISH: Hasn't been a meal like this since we boarded the Mayflower.
SQUANTO: Have they no food on the ship? STANDISH: Not like this.
Maybe they'll trade with you now, eh, Bradford? You.
You are the warrior of the group, hmm? Quiet even in his own tongue.
SQUANTO: He says you wouldn't understand.
[laughter.]
W.
BRADFORD: Where is everyone? JONES: Half our crew is gone.
Sickness and hunger caught up with us by winter's end.
W.
BRADFORD: We bring food and freshwater.
JONES: Oh.
CLARK: Who is it? ALDEN: Illness has taken his sight, l'm afraid.
W.
BRADFORD: 'Tis a friend.
Here.
Drink.
CLARK: We shouldn't be here.
Shouldn't have come.
W.
BRADFORD: It has been the Lord's path for us.
CLARK: Us.
You.
A floating coffin.
I know you, friend.
W.
BRADFORD: And I know you.
[hammering.]
WHITE: You must drink, Mr.
Winslow.
The sun will take its toll.
WINSLOW: Yes, it will.
WHITE: Here.
WINSLOW: Thank you.
WHITE: Will you take more? WINSLOW: Yes.
Thank you.
MAN: Winslow! Master.
Master Carver.
WINSLOW: Help! HOWLAND: Just when we thought we got the best of death, you succumb.
My master.
Now alone, I fear my purpose has died along with the man I served for so long.
LIZZIE: Not so, Mr.
Howland.
It is the service of the Divine that gives us both purpose and salvation.
The Carvers took me in when my family passed.
Now they are both gone.
And I am alone again.
But I have the Lord, and so have I purpose.
Everyone else can vanish in an instant.
But He is constant.
HOWLAND: That He is.
W.
BRADFORD: Hello.
SQUANTO: Hello.
W.
BRADFORD: Bring you news that you linger so? SQUANTO: The other English would make you governor of this place.
W.
BRADFORD: They send you to tell me this? SQUANTO: No.
But it is I who finds you here.
L've seen you many times at this place.
W.
BRADFORD: Ever resourceful, Squanto.
You have been invaluable to us.
SQUANTO: Do you long for your home? W.
BRADFORD: I long to see my son again.
This sea that stands between us is the same water that took my wife from me.
I shall never cross it again.
No, I do not long for my home.
I am home.
SQUANTO: Yet here you are alone.
W.
BRADFORD: As long as I have the Lord by my side, I shall never be alone in this life.
SQUANTO: Is the Lord with you now? Four times have I crossed this ocean.
Not once by choice.
In my time away, I felt great sadness being alone.
A stranger in a new world.
With great joy, I finally returned.
Only then did I truly learn what it is to be alone.
I sat not far from this place and wept into the waters that carried me so far away.
That day I longed for my home.
And yet, I was already home.
W.
BRADFORD: That's the last of it, Mr.
Jones.
All we can spare till next month.
JONES: There's no need to spare again.
We set sail in three days.
S.
HOPKINS: Three days, you say? JONES: The crew were in good health, middling spirit.
The weather is fair.
It's time to go home.
W.
BRADFORD: Well, then may God be with you on your journey.
JONES: We have room aboard for any of you who wish to return with us.
You helped us in our time of need, we would extend a hand the same.
W.
BRADFORD: Our place is here.
JONES: And what of those of you who are not propelled by the Divine? This is a chance to escape the anguish of this bay.
There's no shame in surviving.
Speak to your women before committing to this foreign land.
Think about it, men.
We could use you in particular, Mr.
Alden.
MULLINS: Anxious to leave us, are you? ALDEN: Just returning, I am.
MULLINS: Mr.
Hopkins said you'd be departing with the ship to England.
ALDEN: Oh.
Yes.
MULLINS: So? ALDEN: So? MULLINS: Are you anxious to leave us, then? ALDEN: They have use for me.
Jones wants me.
Anxious to leave, I am not.
MULLINS: You would go where you be wanted.
ALDEN: Aye.
MULLINS: Where you be needed.
ALDEN: Aye.
MULLINS: Then 'tis worth saying you might be both those things here in Plymouth.
ALDEN: Both those things being? MULLINS: Wanted.
ALDEN: And? MULLINS: Needed.
W.
BRADFORD: After a trying winter when these two God-fearing fixtures in our community endured loss of their beloveds, a period of renewal is now upon us.
In the civil union of Edward Winslow and Susanna White we find a moving lesson in faith.
Faith in the Lord, and faith in each other.
We came here for different purposes, but we've established a certain bond, which I suspect is now unshakable.
So may it be with this most intimate bond between Susanna White and Edward Winslow.
So may it be with the bond between us and the neighboring peoples.
And so let us now look upon this new season with the utmost determination and faith.
MAN: Ohh! W.
BRADFORD: Squanto, is this man familiar to you? [speaking native language.]
STANDISH: Well, spit it out, man, what says he? SQUANTO: They have taken a boy.
They have taken a boy from this village.
F.
BILLINGTON: Who does this? Who does this?! Who does this?! SQUANTO: Aspinet, leader of the Nauset.
He sends a message with this man.
The English stole corn from their stores.
You took from them.
Now they have taken from you.
F.
BILLINGTON: No! No! MAN: Standish, we are overwhelmed here.
W.
BRADFORD: Is the boy still alive? Today we celebrate the friendship between our peoples.
MAN: Have you not heard the news from Jamestown? A massacre.
SQUANTO: With this he says you are weak.
WEMATIN: Squanto lies! WHITE: I will watch over Wematin for you.
He will be safe with me.
W.
BRADFORD: And the fear instilled in our enemies.
[yelling.]
Let us answer fire with fire.