The English (2022) s01e01 Episode Script

1
[dramatic music playing]
[Cornelia] Without you,
I'd have been killed
right at the start.
That's how we met.
That's why we met.
It was in the stars.
And we believed in the stars.
You and I.
Out there, back then,
it didn't matter where we came from,
Europe or Russia.
Since Plymouth Rock,
to you we were all just the same.
We were all just
The English.
It's funny then,
that after all these years,
I only have one word left.
A Pawnee word.
Your word
SOUTHAMPTON
[Cornelia] "I cherish you."
[Cornelia] And in between
I wanted to kill a man
for the murder of my child.
You wanted back your land
stolen from you.
But the difference between what we want
and what we need,
well, that was something we both
had yet to learn.
[dramatic music playing]
1890 THIRTEEN YEARS BEFORE
[gunshot]
[crows squawking]
Bet you knew it,
even 'fore you squeezed the trigger!
You done it buddy, shit!
[chuckles]
You dead eyed son of a bitch.
[dramatic music playing]
NEWLY CREATED TERRITORY
OF OKLAHOMA
FORMERLY INDIAN TERRITORY
[dramatic music playing]
[woman screams]
[Cam] You got him?
You fuckin' got him!
- [gunshot]
- [woman screams]
[Captain Grann] Who is he?
That there, sir
- [gunshot]
- [woman whimpers]
That there is Running Hawk.
Led the Fetterman fight, '66.
Was him put Lonnie Myers' eyeballs
up on a rock.
It was us said
we'd do the same to him some day.
'Cept now I gone
and clean blown his face off.
S'okay.
Got us a couple of spares.
[dramatic music playing]
[gun cocks]
Orders were, round them up,
send them on their way.
What we just done.
Do it again
if you care to look the other way.
[man] Mother!
[dramatic music playing]
Not today.
Says who?
[Eli] Says me.
[Scott] How so?
It's my last.
[dramatic music playing]
[spits]
You are one of them!
[dramatic music playing]
[Captain Grann] Right, round her up
and get her out of here.
How's that you kill one, follow another?
Something like.
[dramatic music playing]
[gunshot]
[dramatic music playing]
[Eli] What d'you want?
[sighs]
I'm sorry about yesterday.
But he had it coming.
- Long time.
- Yes, sir.
Lonnie and me, we was 16.
Joined up greenhorns together.
What they did to him
that could've been me.
Coulda been
Could've been any of us.
How long you been in?
Longer than you.
[Cam] What you gonna do now?
North.
- Back to your Res?
- [Eli] Nebraska.
- The Loup.
- Why?
Born there.
[Cam] But that ain't Pawnee land no more.
[Eli] Don't want it all, just a few acres.
[Cam] Which they won't give you.
Homestead Act.
That ain't for you.
Section Two:
Persons having performed service
in the army of the United States,
may make a claim.
I intend to.
[Cam] Smoke dreams for the fireside.
Lonnie's brother, Billy Myers.
Remember him?
[Eli] Uh-hmm.
[Cam] I hear he's up there.
- [Eli] Nebraska?
- Wyoming.
Caine County or some such.
You might wanna look him up.
Ain't looking to.
[Cam] But if you do,
you tell him we finally got him.
We finally got Lonnie's killer.
So long, sergeant.
The best First Shirt I ever served.
Just you remember,
in there you been one of us.
But out here
you're one of them.
[dramatic music playing]
[theme music playing]
EPISODE 1: WHAT YOU WAN
& WHAT YOU NEED
ONE WEEK LATER
[Richard] There are many
who can welcome you to the real America,
but only one who can truly mean it.
[accordion music playing]
HOTEL
[dramatic music playing]
HIGH PLAINS, KANSAS
Why? Why do you have to drive
so bloody fast?
Because I told him to.
Why?
- Indians.
- Like I said.
What, what Indians?
- Ghost dancers.
- Like I said.
Dancing Indians
that's something to be afraid of?
It is when they stop.
[Drew and Simon chuckle]
Well, I didn't see any.
[Richard] Well, now you can.
What did he do?
Drew!
What'd he do?
[Drew] I don't know, Mr. Watts.
What did the shit-sniffer do?
[Richard] I'll tell you what he did.
He walked straight into my hotel
and he asked me for a drink.
That's what he did.
Even said please, as I recall.
No, ma'am, you don't have
to mark him down for his manners,
just the color of his skin.
Who beat him?
[clears throat]
You're most welcome.
Do you speak English?
What can I do?
[groans]
[dramatic music playing]
You alone?
Yes.
Anyone in there with you?
[Cornelia] No.
Nothing you can do.
Because I'm a woman?
Not your fight.
Don't pick it.
I'll give you ten dollars to cut him down.
Ten dollars to clean him up
and then ten more to see him on his way.
Lot of money.
And by the look of things, you need it.
I'm not unversed
in matters of business, sir,
so be aware I am not
the haggling type.
Oh, I'm not about to haggle
with you, ma'am.
Then we are agreed.
I'm just waiting for the full extent
of your parlous situation
to clarify upon your tender mind.
[accordion music playing]
[groans]
[Richard] She always so mouthy?
[Sebold] Like a coon-dog down a gurney.
[dramatic music playing]
Get this thing turned round.
[coughs]
You're leaving.
[Eli] Where?
[Richard] Back to Ellsworth.
I didn't come from Ellsworth.
That's as close to Hell as I can think of.
You walk?
- To my horse.
- Oh, no.
To him.
My bag?
Payment for the ride.
You already got my horse.
And I can get me 25 for a scalp.
Your call.
[dramatic music playing]
[chain rattling]
[dramatic music playing]
[gurning]
Tell her to put it on.
[dramatic music playing]
[immediate music playing]
I seen it.
Been with us a while.
[Sebold] Damn it.
Why is it you people
always got to see things first?
I saw it too!
Maybe I didn't get the need to say it.
It's us they want?
Uh-hmm.
Well, we ain't never gonna outrun them.
Team's beat.
[screams]
[horses neighing]
[sighs]
Whoa!
Shouldn't never have agreed
to that turnaround.
Why did you?
Indians?
[Eli] If they are,
go easier on you if you take these off.
Nice try.
You a scout?
Was.
You ain't no Apache, Pawnee then.
I've walked with the Pawnee.
- What name do you go by?
- Eli Whipp.
[Sebold] No, fool.
Pawnee name.
Ckirirahpiks.
"Wolf
Wounded."
When you get given that?
Massacre Canyon.
[Sebold] Hell, yeah, against the Sioux?
So, tell me,
which Indian is it you actually do like,
seeing as you seem to fight
against them all?
We had enemies long before you turned up.
And the good gumption
to choose our side when we did!
Not so clever though on reckoning
we'd end up doing the same to you!
Less Wounded Wolf than Whipped Dog,
wouldn't you say?
That how you come by your English name?
Never say how
a thing's gonna turn out 'til it does.
They ain't Indians.
[horses galloping]
They're still trouble.
[horses neighing]
Bit of a home inventor.
You tried before?
Nope!
Yes, sir!
One way or another,
gonna show him some balls.
[suspenseful music playing]
Oh, Hell.
My enemy's enemy.
You Pawnee sure know a thing about that.
[dramatic music playing]
- How many rounds?
- [Sebold] Ten.
Spent two on a jack-rabbit.
Then you missed.
Yes, I did.
[dramatic music playing]
Friends?
Where're you headed?
Ellsworth.
[spits]
Late for Ellsworth.
Starting to feel that way.
- What you doing with him?
- Taking him in.
What for?
Killing a woman.
English woman.
Eh, don't look like you're taking him in.
[Sebold] See, Sir, uh,
I wasn't sure who you was
and I thought to have all the help
I can get.
We'll take him.
- Where?
- Nearest tree.
You too, you get in our way.
[Sebold] Well, now I
I was looking to get a reward.
Dead Indian's the best you're gonna get.
I didn't kill no English woman.
Didn't need to.
I'm happy to do it here.
Wait a moment now!
This is a commercial business! Huh!
I can't have you spreading him
all over my prime asset.
- Shouldn't have picked him up.
- You're on horseback, I'm up here.
Odds sit with me.
[lead horseman] Hmm, you think?
Come to bets, boy, it's three to one.
What d'you say?
[lead horseman] I said
it's
three
to
- one.
- I'll take it.
- Oh, Hell!
- [gunfire]
[horse neighs]
- [gun cocks]
- [gunfire]
- [gun cocks]
- [gunfire]
- [gun cocks]
- [gunfire]
[dramatic music playing]
Well, I am certainly pleased with that!
That woman really dead?
Will be.
- And you were gonna pin it on me?
- [Sebold] Well, that was the plan.
Well, I didn't know you like I do now.
[groans]
That's gonna kill you.
At least I've got time to think about it.
"Deborah Crawford"
where in the Hell did that name come from?
[Sebold] Hmm, you're right.
[grunts]
[gun clicks]
Maybe somethings're
better left forgotten.
[dramatic music playing]
[gunfire]
[dramatic music playing]
[instrumental music playing]
[Richard] This light, that dress,
you remind me of my wife.
But not the bleeding?
That too.
Where is she?
You looking to plead your case
to a better angel?
- I don't have a case.
- I don't have a wife.
You're gonna kill me.
[exhales deeply]
[crying]
I'm not I'm not
I am but I'm not for the reasons
that you think.
[sniffles]
I'm
I'm just so angry.
[Richard] Yup.
But can't help but wonder on the cause.
Someone killed my child.
- Ah
- And now I'm gonna kill him.
Were.
Actually, not even then.
Not now, not then, not ever.
Because that's the kind of man he is.
How did he know?
Ain't no tremor he can't feel.
Sometimes I think he dug
that mind of his so deep,
Devil just skipped out,
jumped straight into his heart.
Certainly that's how I learnt
to get so light on my feet.
You surely didn't hear me, now did you?
- Where?
- Everywhere.
I had so many choices.
And I surely question Southampton?
Oh, it was closest.
Liverpool's quicker, every time.
Still, Havana must've been a pleasant jig.
New Orleans.
Noticed you cut out St Louis;
shame, they got a bridge down there,
it's quite the marvel.
Oh, my, gadding about
with all that unbanked cash,
like dragging a stink-line for a skunk.
Couple of times we had to intervene
on your imminent demise.
Why bother?
He wanted journey's end here.
We're in the middle of nowhere.
The real America.
Maybe see if I can't plant
a cottonwood, or some such,
on top of you, make you a part of it.
If it's any consolation,
I hate him too.
Profit or loss,
there's nothing he don't think
sits either side of a ledger.
You'll be in there somewhere.
Know I am.
From the Saville Row suit
to the Burlington Brogues.
He has me gussied up
like a punked arse come Sunday prayers.
And I hate him for it.
Yes, ma'am, I do.
Let me go.
[Richard] In truth,
I've mostly learnt to absorb
my belittlement
confine my thoughts merely to my contract,
a contract which,
despite its sulfurous stink,
I find myself quite willing to uphold.
That is, bar, the odd hidden cost.
I get them from time to time.
Just give me a chance to spit in the soup.
Pathetic really, but there you go;
what else is left to the humbled servant?
You want to rape me?
I'm realistic
when it comes to issues of consent.
Then fuck a horse.
Useful thought.
What with the nights' drawing in.
Prairie oysters.
I'm gonna kill you.
They really are very good.
Not now.
Not then. But
but I will.
You'll have to come back
from the dead to do it.
I will.
Then, uh, might you consider
coming back as my horse?
[cheerful music playing]
[exhales]
Mind the big ones.
Not quite the woman I expected.
You're everything I'd expect of a man.
[gasps]
[groaning]
[thuds]
[dramatic music playing]
[squeezebox music playing]
[music stops]
Keep playing.
You run, I'll stalk you down.
It was my job.
[music continues]
Where's the other one?
Let's just leave.
Didn't come back for you.
[snoring]
Huh?
[Cornelia] Someone wants to see you.
- Who?
- Him.
[indistinct shouting]
[Drew] No!
No, no, no.
[Drew sobbing]
[Drew groaning]
My bag.
- [Drew] What?
- Where is it?
Uh, I Box, uh, boss.
Keep him stood.
[squeezebox music playing]
Can I Can I stop playing now?
[Eli] No.
My fingers, they gone all bubbly.
[dramatic music playing]
A Baptist, when I was a boy,
gave me my white name.
Eli Whipp.
Wanna know why?
I'm good with rope.
You called me "Shit sniffer".
[Drew] Did I?
Weren't my name.
Maybe that's one for you to wear.
Please.
Oh, I ain't gonna kill you.
Let the horse decide.
See if you gave him enough to drink.
Let him go.
[Drew] No.
[Drew sobbing]
[water bubbling, splashing]
Huh.
That was
That was Thank you.
[Eli] For what?
[Cornelia] Well, if you hadn't come
they were going to
[Eli] Your business, not mine.
Ah, but then it became yours,
so thank you.
And now it's not.
Is that what you came back for?
- [Eli] Hmm?
- Your horse.
And this.
[Cornelia] What's in it?
Medicine.
You ill?
[Eli] Only without it.
Ah, magic.
Not a trick.
Oh no, no, I didn't say it was.
You see, this is
this is a lock of my son's hair.
- Powerful.
- [Cornelia] Yes.
It got me this far.
And now I've met you.
I'm leaving.
So
So, what do I do?
Take your pick.
The one I rode in on's pretty good.
What about my things?
[Eli] Take what you need.
I need everything.
Difference between what you need
and what you want
is what you can put on a horse.
Where are you going?
North.
[Cornelia] Would you like to know
where I'm going?
- No.
- I'm going West!
Caine County, Powder River. Wyoming.
That's North.
Oh.
[Eli] A month's ride, at least.
Your voice, English?
[Cornelia] Yes.
Go back to English.
Oh no, I can't do that.
[Eli] Up to you.
They know you got that?
And now you won't make ten miles.
It cannot be that this whole country's
only full of killers and thieves.
Look, will you help me?
- No.
- [Cornelia] Please!
I got what I came for.
No, I don't believe
you came back just for that.
I backed up that horse!
Woulda happened anyway.
But I did it!
- [Eli] Your choice.
- What about this afternoon?
It wasn't your fight, this isn't mine.
No.
I mean that we're here at all.
When only this afternoon
you were tied up there,
I was lying down over there,
both about to get killed
and yet here we are.
And it's everyone else that's dead.
Like it was magic.
Like it is magic!
You did not just come back for that bag.
Or if you did, the bag made you do it.
This is my medicine.
My family's.
And this is mine.
This is my son's.
He is dead now.
And up on Powder River,
there is a man trying to forget
that he ever existed.
So I'm gonna go up there, to remind him.
And when I have,
it'll be the last thing he ever hears.
I swear it!
Lady, how long have you been
in this country?
[Cornelia] Two weeks.
And how many killings have you seen?
Four.
In two weeks?
Well, I've lived here my whole life.
I've lost father, mother, wife,
sons, daughters, friends.
Family.
I've seen villages razed
and I've razed them myself:
men, women and children,
shot, cut, stuck, hung.
I've seen Hell and I've made Hell.
And I'll carry it from here
to the sky beyond.
But don't expect me to care for one boy.
Please.
Please.
Can you shoot?
If I have to.
Oh, you'll have to.
Them all been waiting for you.
[gun cocks]
Like they knew you was coming.
Yes.
- [Eli] You know how to dry it?
- [Cornelia] Hmm?
You can't carry a wet pig.
Not from here to Kearney.
[Cornelia] Where's that?
North aways.
From there you're on your own.
So not just killers and thieves then,
has one such as you within it.
Been both,
likely both again.
[Cornelia] How do you do?
Better on my own.
[laughs]
No, what's your name?
- I have many.
- [Cornelia] But which do you like?
None.
That's something else we share.
Mine's Cornelia Locke,
Lady Cornelia Locke.
That make you a wife of a chief?
Daughter.
I've never been married.
Never will be.
I'm also a Scorpio.
Do you know about that?
- What?
- [Cornelia] Your star sign.
Um, in London it's all the rage.
I'll tell you about it.
Mine's about revenge.
Can't help but think yours is too.
[acoustic music playing]
Aim for the head.
[gunshot]
[singer] Some say I got devil ♪
Some say I got angel ♪
But I'm just a girl in trouble ♪
I don't think I'm in danger ♪
Don't think I'm in danger ♪
No, I know I'm not in danger ♪
But some have tried to sell me ♪
All kinds of things to save me ♪
From hurting like a woman ♪
And crying like a baby ♪
Something like a woman ♪
Crying like a baby ♪
And all the things ♪
That I have seen ♪
Qualify me for ♪
A part in your dream ♪
Qualify me for ♪
This dream ♪