Timeless (2016) s01e02 Episode Script
The Assassination of Abraham Lincoln
1 Everyone thinks they know the man, but nobody knows Lincoln.
He was a wrestler, for one.
300 fights, only lost once.
What do you know about Lincoln? I'm his bodyguard.
Why aren't you guarding him, then? He's next door, watching the play.
Hey, Mr.
Booth.
Wife's been asking when we're gonna be seeing you on stage again.
Soon.
[suspenseful dramatic music.]
[muffled play dialogue.]
You crave affection.
You do.
Now, I have no fortune, but I'm spilling over with affections, which I am ready to pour over you like applesauce over roast pork.
[laughter.]
I am aware, Mr.
Trenchard, that you are not used to the manners of good society, and that alone will excuse the impertinence of which you are guilty.
Don't know the manners of good society, eh? [laughs.]
Well, I guess I know enough to turn you inside out, old gal, you sockdologizing old man-trap.
[laughter.]
[gunshot.]
[women scream, crowd commotion.]
[dramatic music.]
[audience gasping.]
Sic semper tyrannis! The South shall be free! Who was that on the phone? I have to go.
Now? Where? Something came up at work.
No, no, you can't just Lucy.
What the hell's gotten into you? Who's Amy? I'm I'm I'm sorry.
I'm sorry.
Amy Amy is a friend.
And, uh, she's from work, and she needs my help.
Okay? Mm-hmm.
Come here.
I really am glad to see you.
Okay.
Don't don't forget about tomorrow night.
Yeah.
[background chatter.]
So Flynn took out the Mothership again, huh? Where'd he go? I don't know.
I just got here.
Hey.
- What's changed in your lives? - Wh Since we got back from 1937, what has changed for you? I just had an unsuccessful evening with a girl, so nothing, really.
Why? What's wrong? My sister's gone.
Gone? Gone where? Gone as in erased from history.
Something that Flynn did or we did to the "Hindenburg" has changed my family.
My mother isn't sick anymore, and my sister was never born.
Lucy, we have a dossier on you, and it doesn't say anything about a sister.
Look, this is her right here.
You wore this on the trip back to 1937? That is incredible.
You took it from a timeline where your sister existed, carried it here, to where she doesn't.
I do not share your excitement, Mr.
Mason.
Whatever changed, you have to change back.
- Change it back.
- I'm sorry, Lucy, but Flynn is hours ahead of us.
- We don't have time for this.
- Why not? We have a time machine, don't we? Flynn could be decimating history right now.
Our reality could change like that any second.
- You need to go.
- Not until we figure this out.
- Lucy - Hey.
You dragged her into all this.
She just lost her sister.
Give her a damn minute.
Flynn went back to April 14, 1865.
Now, you need to get moving, and you need to eliminate Garcia Flynn.
Are we clear? [tense music.]
Yeah.
Yeah, okay.
Wait, what's April 14, 1865? The assassination of Abraham Lincoln.
Hey, uh, I can try to figure out what happened to your sister, if you want.
How? Something happened on the "Hindenburg" that affected your parents somehow.
I can look for a connection, you know, try to see what changed.
Tell me your parents' names, birthdays, anything that can help.
You would do that for me? Come on.
- Here.
- Yeah, okay.
[sighs.]
[somber music.]
[sighs.]
This is crazy.
Garcia Flynn.
[sighs.]
He went straight for Anthony.
He knew he was the project leader, the best of our only two pilots.
So how did Flynn know so much about us, our vulnerabilities? Is there a problem? What do they do with these recordings? Why does Rittenhouse even need them? Don't speak that name out loud ever again.
[PA announcement in background.]
[suspenseful music.]
Trick-or-treat.
Trust me, no one is more worried than I am that I am not a real soldier.
Where did these getups even come from? Civil War re-enactors club.
No wonder they smell like sweat and loneliness.
- Okay, uh whoa, whoa! - Sorry.
Just sit.
[sighs.]
Here.
Let me.
I was really hoping I'd never have to get in this damn thing again.
Lucy, I'm sorry about your sister.
Thank you for backing me with Agent Christopher.
Trust me.
We're gonna fix it.
We're gonna fix everything.
[dramatic music.]
Prepare for launch sequence.
Life support systems currently online.
[mutters.]
[dramatic musical build-up.]
We really should get some paperweights.
[insects chirping.]
[mechanical power-down thrumming.]
Tell me this gets easier.
It doesn't.
[soft music.]
[popping, whistling.]
What's all that? The Civil War just ended.
They're celebrating.
[people cheering.]
Praise to Lincoln! Mr.
Booth.
I'm quite the admirer of yours.
Oh? What production did you see me in? "Richard III"? Oh, I'm not talking about a play.
I know what you're about to do.
[dramatic musical sting.]
I think I can help.
Yah! [soft music.]
- [horse whinnies.]
- [background chatter.]
Check out that swagger.
The Civil War just ended.
Slavery's outlawed.
African-Americans thought their future was bright which pretty much ends tonight when Lincoln's shot.
So what do you think Flynn is up to? He's got to be here to change the assassination.
- But how? - I don't know.
But I do know exactly where John Wilkes Booth's going to be, so we start there.
Best guess, he takes us to Flynn.
[dramatic music.]
So Booth walks into Ford's Theatre at exactly 10:00 a.
m.
, huh? Not 9:56, 10:07? Hundreds of books have been written about Booth's movements today.
Let me guess.
You read them all.
And wrote one of them.
So why is Booth coming here now? What, is he scouting for tonight? No, he's an actor.
He knew Ford's Theatre like the back of his hand, used it as his mailing address, picks up his mail at exactly 10:00 a.
m.
- An actor.
- Pretty well known too.
But his brother, Edwin, was literally the most famous actor in America.
John never quite measured up.
So this is like if Donnie Wahlberg assassinated the president? Pretty much, actually.
Come on.
Hey, keep an eye out, huh? If you find Booth or Flynn, come get us fast.
Let's go.
[dramatic instrumentals.]
Right this way.
Hello.
Any of your books tell you where the mailboxes were? No.
Let's split up.
- Okay.
- Okay.
- You want - No, I got it.
Okay.
You all right there, Sergeant? Yes, I am.
[clears throat.]
A sergeant.
And just fine.
What's your name? Um, Denzel Washington.
I'm Nicholas.
Whereabouts you from? - Chicago.
- Oh.
You was free when you signed up.
You got kin or young folk still in bondage? No, my my family was all born free.
So y you read and write good, huh? Pretty good, yeah.
[laughs.]
That's how you got them stripes.
Hey, boys, get on over here.
Old Denzel's gonna write our notices for us.
We need you to write something for the newspaper.
You go ahead and start with mine.
I I can't write that.
"The Colored Tennessean" prints them free.
Uh, Nicholas Biddle, 2nd Regiment, Colored Infantry.
[chuckles.]
That's me.
Nicholas Biddle of the 2nd Regiment, Colored Infantry, wishes to learn the whereabouts of his wife and four children.
The children are Selia, Sarah, Elizabeth, and Adam Lee.
My wife's Anne, and the last I seen her was in a sale pen of a human trader named Robert Clark, Atlanta.
[somber music.]
[suspenseful music.]
Oh, pardon me, miss.
I'm General Grant's aide.
You're Robert Todd Lincoln.
Have we met? No.
[laughs.]
I I admire your father.
Pleased to meet you, Miss Juliet Shakes man.
Are you an actress? No.
Yes.
Not a very good one.
Just starting out.
Something rarer than an actress: a modest one.
[laughs.]
General Grant was supposed to attend tonight's play, but he can't make it and I have to return his tickets.
Well, I'll take the tickets to the box office for you.
I'd like to leave a note too with the general's apologies.
Of course.
Take your time.
You know, my father's coming to the play tonight.
Have you seen it? It's not very good.
No? Should I tell him not to come? Having President Lincoln for a father, what is that like for you? He casts a long shadow, but it's not one I mind living in.
I'm proud of him, he's done some great things.
I agree.
And he's just getting started.
So what are you gonna do once you find your family? I'm gonna work me a piece of my old master's land.
You think the man who owned you is just gonna give you his land? No, I think President Lincoln's gonna make him.
It's all smooth sailing from here on out.
What's that supposed to mean? Uh, I'm sorry.
Nothing.
I didn't [ahem.]
I didn't mean anything.
What regiment you in? Uh, the 4th.
Colored.
- Hmm.
- Infantry.
4th Colored.
Yeah, I never, uh, never heard of it.
Whereabouts y'all fight? We fought all over.
See, this ain't no real uniform.
You pretending to be a solider, huh? [dramatic music.]
After what we went through? Why, so you can get you a girl? Look like some big hero? Yeah, go on, you lying rat! Miss Shakesman? It has been a pleasure.
I'll see they get it right away.
Please do, yes.
[ominous music.]
John Wilkes Booth.
Robert Lincoln.
I I saw you on stage here last month.
Of course.
Why are you here? My father invited General Grant to see tonight's play, and I'm helping him escape it.
I assume you know Miss Shakesman.
- John Booth.
- She's an actress.
Really? Where do you perform? I'm new to the profession.
And very humble.
Miss Shakesman, do you know that Mr.
Booth's brother saved my life on a train platform just last year? Pulled me out of the path of an oncoming train.
It's a true story.
- Amazing.
- That's Edwin.
- Always the hero.
- Yes, sir.
The Lincolns owe the Booths a great debt.
[ominous music.]
So we're 1,000% sure we can't just shoot this asshat, save Lincoln here and now? Believe me, I want to.
It might change things too much.
Like maybe there'll be a lot less lynchings.
- [sighs.]
- I'm serious.
I'm serious.
I just met some black soldiers.
We know Lincoln's death It's gonna be a disaster for them, not to mention my great-great-grandparents.
Don't look at me.
I'm with him.
[sighs.]
Look, I understand, but we don't know the consequences.
It's too risky.
It's our job to protect history.
Yeah, rich white guys' history.
A lot of my history sucks.
Look, I know it seems crazy, but maybe we can change things for the better.
Psst! This is the Herndon House, where Booth meets with his conspirators.
What conspirators? - [gasps.]
- Get back, get back! When I shoot, you run.
Stay low.
- Don't stop for anything! - But what about you? - [bullets ricocheting.]
- I'm right behind you.
Go! Go! Ah! Ah! - What happened? - Nothing.
Come on! Go! Your brother looks to be at the fag end of things.
Poor digestion's all.
I thank you very much, ma'am.
Thank you.
Oh! Where the hell is Rufus with the supplies? You need a real doctor.
To do what? Leech me? Oh! Ah Get this off me.
Okay.
Ah, ah.
This would take 15 minutes to patch back home.
Here, I'm gonna die of sepsis.
[door opens.]
- You get it? Okay.
- Yeah.
Oh! Rufus, you're up.
My knife's in the pocket.
You gotta sterilize it over the lamp.
Um what? The bullet's still in there.
It's just under the skin, but you gotta take it out.
Why me? Because you work with your hands.
Yeah, on circuit boards.
Think of me as a circuit board that's gonna die if you don't help.
Don't look at me.
I faint.
[groans.]
So those weapons Flynn has.
Why does he need that kind of firepower, huh? Lincoln gets killed anyway.
I don't think it's just about Lincoln.
Lincoln's death was part of a much larger conspiracy to kill the four most powerful men in government in one fell swoop: Lincoln, Vice President Johnson, Secretary of State Seward, and General Grant.
It would have been devastating, but the other shooters never followed through or just failed outright.
Well, that's before they had semiautomatic weapons.
[tense music.]
Exactly.
What if Flynn is trying to help them succeed? They would cripple the Union, maybe revive the Confederacy.
Hell, Johnson and Grant are supposed to become presidents.
America as we know it would be unrecognizable.
Okay, so how do we stop all that? One problem at a time.
Grant takes a train out of town at 6:00.
I need to make sure he's on it.
You take care of Wyatt.
We're gonna need you tonight.
This is gonna be the worst game of Operation ever.
Zzzzz! [laughs.]
Go on.
[metallic clanging.]
[clanging.]
Thank you, sir.
Miss Shakesman? Mr.
Lincoln.
What are you doing here? Following you, it seems.
I'm a lucky man, then.
What happened to the train? Technically speaking, it broke.
Oh.
Much to General Grant's dismay, he and I will be seeing a play tonight.
No! Like I said before, it's a terrible play.
The general will hate it.
[laughs.]
Maybe.
But the general and I are already committed.
But is there any chance that you'd like to see a terrible play? What? Excuse me for being forward, but would you come as my guest? You'd improve the evening a great deal.
We've met twice in one day.
That can't just be a coincidence.
Do you believe in fate? [light music.]
I'm at the National.
The National.
At 7:00, then.
[both laugh.]
We really have to stop meeting like this, Lucy.
You son of a bitch.
My sister is gone, disappeared because of something you did to the "Hindenburg.
" It's war.
I lost my whole family.
Because you murdered them.
Rittenhouse murdered them.
I asked about Rittenhouse, and no one's never heard of him.
Rittenhouse isn't a him.
It's a they.
And that's why I'm here: to right some wrongs.
By shooting up half of Washington? Trying to destroy America outright? I'm not trying to destroy America.
I'm trying to save it! Lucy, one day you are going to help me.
Or what? You'll kill me? That's not a threat.
It's your future.
So accept it, and stop trying to interfere.
What are you trying to do? What does this have to do with Rittenhouse? Tell me! Don't get in my way again.
[tense music.]
Is it unsanitary if I throw up on you now? Um you went shopping? Robert Lincoln invited me to a play.
A play? You mean the play? General Grant's gonna be there tonight.
Flynn sabotaged his train.
You saw Flynn.
I saw him leaving the train station.
The point is, Grant's gonna be there tonight, and I've gotta save him.
How, exactly? I don't know.
I'll, uh, get Grant out of the balcony before Booth shows up somehow.
I'm pretty sure we can come up with a better plan than that.
Will these help? [breathing heavily.]
And I assume with all that, we're gonna save everybody but Lincoln? Rufus All you have to do is open your mouth to save him.
And you're just gonna let Booth shoot him in the head? Do you think any of this is easy for me? My whole life, I've idolized Lincoln.
When I was a little girl, I would memorize his speeches.
Well, then do something.
We would come back to an entirely different world.
Who knows if it would be better or if there would be anything left to come back to at all? The present isn't perfect, but it's ours.
Awful as it is, what happens to Lincoln is meant to be.
What about my wife? 'Cause by your logic, you're saying that bad things like my wife's death are meant to be.
You wouldn't use the time machine to save her either? [solemn music.]
Wow.
You are saying that.
So your sister is supposed to live, and my wife is supposed to die.
- Is that it? - That's not fair.
You just lost your sister, and you're gonna sit next to Robert Lincoln and let him lose his father? Never seen nothing like it.
Where'd you get these? We're Prussian.
We make good guns.
Sic semper tyrannis.
The South shall be free.
Use this instead.
It's ugly.
It fires 17 bullets.
You won't need the knife.
I like the knife.
Just take it.
The Derringer is more dramatic.
Now, I appreciate the weaponry you provided us, sir, but I have staked my fortune and fame on this spectacle, and I will see it through as I imagined it.
[dramatic music.]
[knocking at door.]
Mr.
Robert Todd Lincoln downstairs for Miss Shakesman.
I'll be down in a minute.
Um Now, please.
You'll save Secretary of State Seward? And you'll save Vice President Johnson? Yeah, we got it.
Lucy, just think about who you save.
[gentle music.]
You wouldn't treat him as some other people would when you found out that he was not the inheritor of that fortune.
Not the heir of the fortune? No.
[laughter.]
You people bark up the wrong tree about the old man's property.
Which he left to you.
Well no.
[laughter.]
He's always late.
Oh? I wish I could be sure of that, for I have been cruelly disappointed in that particular.
Yes, but we are old friends ["Hail to the Chief" playing.]
Miss Shakesman.
Allow me to introduce my mother, Mary, and my father, the president.
Father, please meet Juliet Shakesman.
Miss Shakesman, how do you do? It's a great pleasure to meet you.
[applause.]
[indistinct friendly shouting.]
[ominous music.]
So all I got to do is save the vice president of the United States.
Sure, no probs.
[chuckles.]
Relax.
This Atzerodt guy shows his face, just point him out to the vice president's bodyguards.
They'll do the rest.
The gun's just in case.
What if I freeze? You won't.
I, um [clears throat.]
I grew up on the west side of Chicago, and there was a there was this kid, Rich Tannen, who used to come after me.
But I wouldn't fight.
There was no flight either.
I just stood there.
It was biological.
Then he just beat the crap out of me.
Rufus I don't know you that well.
But in the last two days, you helped us break out of jail.
You held a knife to a Nazi's throat.
And you pulled a bullet out of my gut without puking.
You won't freeze.
I'm scared.
I wouldn't go into battle with you if you weren't.
[dramatic music.]
A woman of my age Be you a woman of your age? [laughter.]
[coughing.]
- Are you all right? - Oh, I'm just - I'm just a little nervous.
- Would you like some water? [suspenseful music.]
[laughter.]
Here, allow me.
Oh, no, no.
I'll get it.
[laughter.]
- [dialogue continues.]
- [laughter.]
- [dialogue continues.]
- [laughter.]
[laughs.]
- Good God! - General General Grant, please forgive me.
Are you all right? I'm quite all right, yes.
[ahem.]
Excuse me.
- I'm so sorry.
- You seem tickled to death.
- [laughter.]
The tall guy who gave you the gun.
Where is he? [tense music.]
Why do I always get the big guys? [both grunting.]
Father! Father, hurry.
Oh, my goodness! - [gunshots.]
- [woman screams.]
What's going on? Mr.
Secretary.
[tense music.]
Hey, Mr.
Booth.
Wife's been asking when we're gonna be seeing you on stage again.
[intense suspenseful music.]
Soon.
My friend's drunk.
[chuckles.]
Unhand me! Grant's gonna be in there too.
You're gonna need more than one bullet.
Take it! I set this course nigh on four years ago and do not now submit my destiny for your approval, nor [sighs.]
Actors.
[suspenseful music.]
Now, some other gals and their mothers would go away when they found that out, but you value fortune, Ms.
Gusty.
[whispers.]
Robert.
Yes.
[door opens.]
- [sighs.]
- [play dialogue continues.]
Miss Shakesman.
[laughter.]
Mr.
Trenchard [dialogue continues indistinctly.]
It's not such a bad play.
I'm offering her my heart and my hand.
It's certainly not what I remembered.
[laughs.]
[laughter.]
[tense music.]
Well, if it ain't Sergeant Denzel Washington.
Excuse me.
Why would you be sneaking around the vice president's hotel with this? Hey, boys, look who I found.
Listen to me, Nicholas.
I just need to talk to his bodyguards.
I'm not trying to hurt the vice president.
I'm trying to save him.
Oh, you are, huh? From what? There is a man in here who is going to kill him.
Now, boys, hear that? The fake sergeant say he fixing to stop a man from killing the vice president.
Excuse me.
[dramatic music.]
He's gonna shoot him! [gasps, screams.]
I wouldn't do that! [crowd commotion.]
- Move! - Somebody call a doctor! Buy you a drink, Sergeant? I'm not a soldier.
You are in my book.
Don't know the manners of good society, eh? Well, I guess I know enough to turn you inside out, old gal, you sockdologizing old man-trap.
[laughter.]
When I think of all I've thrown away today in hard cash, I am apt to call myself some awful hard names.
$400,000 [dramatic musical sting.]
No! Mr.
President! No! [screaming.]
[dramatic music.]
[people scream.]
[crowd gasping, yelling.]
The tall man who shot Lincoln, I saw him earlier with John Wilkes Booth, whispering about something.
I'd look for Booth.
Excuse me, Officer.
Yes, ma'am.
Thank you.
- Johnson? - Alive.
Hey.
Seward's okay.
- What about - Grant's safe.
But Lincoln Is the President safe? Where is the President now? What happens now? Please tell us something! [solemn music.]
Is the President well? [shouting indistinct questions.]
He's gone.
I am so sorry.
Thank you for saving General Grant.
The whole country thanks you.
I wish I could have saved your father.
There was nothing you could have done.
I have to go.
Robert.
Listen.
Don't go south.
You find your family, and you head up north.
It's gonna be all right.
All right? The man helped us, freed us, and they killed him for it.
It'll never get better.
It does.
I promise you.
It's not gonna be easy, but it does get better.
Flynn's back in the present.
Let's go home.
I decided I was gonna let it happen.
But then I called out to warn him.
It was too late.
It's one thing to talk about history like this abstract thing.
But when the man gets shot right in front of you I tried.
[melancholy music.]
[engines thrumming.]
- Wyatt needs a doctor! - Get a medic! [indistinct over PA.]
Pressurization Thank you.
You okay? [overlapping shouting in background.]
Who shot Lincoln? President Abraham Lincoln was assassinated by a tall unknown gunman using an unknown gun on April the 14th, 1865.
But it's all changed.
The gunman used to be John Wilkes Booth.
Now it's Garcia Flynn.
Well, the assassination was planned by John Wilkes Booth as part of a larger conspiracy.
Booth was hunted down and killed.
The mysterious gunman also attempted to shoot General Grant, but he was saved by an obscure actress named Juliet Shakesman.
Never seen again though there is a high school in Point Pleasant, Ohio, named after her.
But what's it say about me? I saved Vice President Johnson.
No, says he did.
All that guy did was get shot.
Well, besides the fact that you let Flynn go, it's good work.
But history changed.
That's not how it's supposed to be.
It's close enough.
Is it? What if something changed somewhere because of what we did? Maybe someone else lost their sister.
Flynn didn't destroy America or the world.
Take the win.
Psst! Your father, Henry Wallace.
Your mother, Carol Preston.
Two children: you, Lucy, in 1983; and, according to you, your sister was born in 1990.
So how did the "Hindenburg" change it? Well, to get straight to the point, Henry never married Carol.
You're saying my father never married my mother? As far as I can tell, they never even met.
Instead, Henry married the granddaughter of Irene Doehner, a girl who should have died in the "Hindenburg" but didn't.
That explains why my mother doesn't have lung cancer.
Dad got her smoking.
But since they never married, she never smoked, no cancer.
It also explains why Amy was never born.
Right, because my parents never met.
But they're still my parents.
Keep going.
So wait a minute.
How was I born? You're almost there.
Yeah, you got it.
Carol's my mother, but Henry isn't my father and never was.
My mother's been lying to me my whole life.
[soft rock music.]
I'm not recording them anymore.
I don't care who Rittenhouse is.
Lucy and Wyatt trust me, and I am not spying on them.
Rufus.
Who took you out of West Chicago and sent you to MIT? Who bought your mother a house and a car and Oh, yes, that's right Brought you into one of the most important scientific projects of all time? And I am grateful for all of that.
Well, gratitude doesn't repay your debt.
Those recordings do.
When people run in circles It's a very, very Mad world The doctor who did this sucks.
Mad world It wasn't a doctor.
I'll get you stitched up.
We'll have you home by tonight.
Who should we call to pick you up? I'll call a cab.
[overlapping chatter.]
- Hey, congrats.
- [applause.]
Wait, wait, wait, wait.
Me first.
Hold on.
Well, you're late to your own engagement party.
My engagement party.
Ha ha.
The way you ran out yesterday, and now this.
And I'm not supposed to worry.
I'm sorry.
It's just been a little hectic.
I see.
So did you help out your friend Amy? I'm still working on it.
Well, please go freshen up and find your engagement ring.
Mom.
[sighs.]
I need to talk to you about something.
About Dad.
What are you not telling me? What? Are you serious right now? You bring this up on today, of all days? I need a drink.
Mad world Mad world Hello, beautiful.
I missed you.
Mad world Hello.
He was a wrestler, for one.
300 fights, only lost once.
What do you know about Lincoln? I'm his bodyguard.
Why aren't you guarding him, then? He's next door, watching the play.
Hey, Mr.
Booth.
Wife's been asking when we're gonna be seeing you on stage again.
Soon.
[suspenseful dramatic music.]
[muffled play dialogue.]
You crave affection.
You do.
Now, I have no fortune, but I'm spilling over with affections, which I am ready to pour over you like applesauce over roast pork.
[laughter.]
I am aware, Mr.
Trenchard, that you are not used to the manners of good society, and that alone will excuse the impertinence of which you are guilty.
Don't know the manners of good society, eh? [laughs.]
Well, I guess I know enough to turn you inside out, old gal, you sockdologizing old man-trap.
[laughter.]
[gunshot.]
[women scream, crowd commotion.]
[dramatic music.]
[audience gasping.]
Sic semper tyrannis! The South shall be free! Who was that on the phone? I have to go.
Now? Where? Something came up at work.
No, no, you can't just Lucy.
What the hell's gotten into you? Who's Amy? I'm I'm I'm sorry.
I'm sorry.
Amy Amy is a friend.
And, uh, she's from work, and she needs my help.
Okay? Mm-hmm.
Come here.
I really am glad to see you.
Okay.
Don't don't forget about tomorrow night.
Yeah.
[background chatter.]
So Flynn took out the Mothership again, huh? Where'd he go? I don't know.
I just got here.
Hey.
- What's changed in your lives? - Wh Since we got back from 1937, what has changed for you? I just had an unsuccessful evening with a girl, so nothing, really.
Why? What's wrong? My sister's gone.
Gone? Gone where? Gone as in erased from history.
Something that Flynn did or we did to the "Hindenburg" has changed my family.
My mother isn't sick anymore, and my sister was never born.
Lucy, we have a dossier on you, and it doesn't say anything about a sister.
Look, this is her right here.
You wore this on the trip back to 1937? That is incredible.
You took it from a timeline where your sister existed, carried it here, to where she doesn't.
I do not share your excitement, Mr.
Mason.
Whatever changed, you have to change back.
- Change it back.
- I'm sorry, Lucy, but Flynn is hours ahead of us.
- We don't have time for this.
- Why not? We have a time machine, don't we? Flynn could be decimating history right now.
Our reality could change like that any second.
- You need to go.
- Not until we figure this out.
- Lucy - Hey.
You dragged her into all this.
She just lost her sister.
Give her a damn minute.
Flynn went back to April 14, 1865.
Now, you need to get moving, and you need to eliminate Garcia Flynn.
Are we clear? [tense music.]
Yeah.
Yeah, okay.
Wait, what's April 14, 1865? The assassination of Abraham Lincoln.
Hey, uh, I can try to figure out what happened to your sister, if you want.
How? Something happened on the "Hindenburg" that affected your parents somehow.
I can look for a connection, you know, try to see what changed.
Tell me your parents' names, birthdays, anything that can help.
You would do that for me? Come on.
- Here.
- Yeah, okay.
[sighs.]
[somber music.]
[sighs.]
This is crazy.
Garcia Flynn.
[sighs.]
He went straight for Anthony.
He knew he was the project leader, the best of our only two pilots.
So how did Flynn know so much about us, our vulnerabilities? Is there a problem? What do they do with these recordings? Why does Rittenhouse even need them? Don't speak that name out loud ever again.
[PA announcement in background.]
[suspenseful music.]
Trick-or-treat.
Trust me, no one is more worried than I am that I am not a real soldier.
Where did these getups even come from? Civil War re-enactors club.
No wonder they smell like sweat and loneliness.
- Okay, uh whoa, whoa! - Sorry.
Just sit.
[sighs.]
Here.
Let me.
I was really hoping I'd never have to get in this damn thing again.
Lucy, I'm sorry about your sister.
Thank you for backing me with Agent Christopher.
Trust me.
We're gonna fix it.
We're gonna fix everything.
[dramatic music.]
Prepare for launch sequence.
Life support systems currently online.
[mutters.]
[dramatic musical build-up.]
We really should get some paperweights.
[insects chirping.]
[mechanical power-down thrumming.]
Tell me this gets easier.
It doesn't.
[soft music.]
[popping, whistling.]
What's all that? The Civil War just ended.
They're celebrating.
[people cheering.]
Praise to Lincoln! Mr.
Booth.
I'm quite the admirer of yours.
Oh? What production did you see me in? "Richard III"? Oh, I'm not talking about a play.
I know what you're about to do.
[dramatic musical sting.]
I think I can help.
Yah! [soft music.]
- [horse whinnies.]
- [background chatter.]
Check out that swagger.
The Civil War just ended.
Slavery's outlawed.
African-Americans thought their future was bright which pretty much ends tonight when Lincoln's shot.
So what do you think Flynn is up to? He's got to be here to change the assassination.
- But how? - I don't know.
But I do know exactly where John Wilkes Booth's going to be, so we start there.
Best guess, he takes us to Flynn.
[dramatic music.]
So Booth walks into Ford's Theatre at exactly 10:00 a.
m.
, huh? Not 9:56, 10:07? Hundreds of books have been written about Booth's movements today.
Let me guess.
You read them all.
And wrote one of them.
So why is Booth coming here now? What, is he scouting for tonight? No, he's an actor.
He knew Ford's Theatre like the back of his hand, used it as his mailing address, picks up his mail at exactly 10:00 a.
m.
- An actor.
- Pretty well known too.
But his brother, Edwin, was literally the most famous actor in America.
John never quite measured up.
So this is like if Donnie Wahlberg assassinated the president? Pretty much, actually.
Come on.
Hey, keep an eye out, huh? If you find Booth or Flynn, come get us fast.
Let's go.
[dramatic instrumentals.]
Right this way.
Hello.
Any of your books tell you where the mailboxes were? No.
Let's split up.
- Okay.
- Okay.
- You want - No, I got it.
Okay.
You all right there, Sergeant? Yes, I am.
[clears throat.]
A sergeant.
And just fine.
What's your name? Um, Denzel Washington.
I'm Nicholas.
Whereabouts you from? - Chicago.
- Oh.
You was free when you signed up.
You got kin or young folk still in bondage? No, my my family was all born free.
So y you read and write good, huh? Pretty good, yeah.
[laughs.]
That's how you got them stripes.
Hey, boys, get on over here.
Old Denzel's gonna write our notices for us.
We need you to write something for the newspaper.
You go ahead and start with mine.
I I can't write that.
"The Colored Tennessean" prints them free.
Uh, Nicholas Biddle, 2nd Regiment, Colored Infantry.
[chuckles.]
That's me.
Nicholas Biddle of the 2nd Regiment, Colored Infantry, wishes to learn the whereabouts of his wife and four children.
The children are Selia, Sarah, Elizabeth, and Adam Lee.
My wife's Anne, and the last I seen her was in a sale pen of a human trader named Robert Clark, Atlanta.
[somber music.]
[suspenseful music.]
Oh, pardon me, miss.
I'm General Grant's aide.
You're Robert Todd Lincoln.
Have we met? No.
[laughs.]
I I admire your father.
Pleased to meet you, Miss Juliet Shakes man.
Are you an actress? No.
Yes.
Not a very good one.
Just starting out.
Something rarer than an actress: a modest one.
[laughs.]
General Grant was supposed to attend tonight's play, but he can't make it and I have to return his tickets.
Well, I'll take the tickets to the box office for you.
I'd like to leave a note too with the general's apologies.
Of course.
Take your time.
You know, my father's coming to the play tonight.
Have you seen it? It's not very good.
No? Should I tell him not to come? Having President Lincoln for a father, what is that like for you? He casts a long shadow, but it's not one I mind living in.
I'm proud of him, he's done some great things.
I agree.
And he's just getting started.
So what are you gonna do once you find your family? I'm gonna work me a piece of my old master's land.
You think the man who owned you is just gonna give you his land? No, I think President Lincoln's gonna make him.
It's all smooth sailing from here on out.
What's that supposed to mean? Uh, I'm sorry.
Nothing.
I didn't [ahem.]
I didn't mean anything.
What regiment you in? Uh, the 4th.
Colored.
- Hmm.
- Infantry.
4th Colored.
Yeah, I never, uh, never heard of it.
Whereabouts y'all fight? We fought all over.
See, this ain't no real uniform.
You pretending to be a solider, huh? [dramatic music.]
After what we went through? Why, so you can get you a girl? Look like some big hero? Yeah, go on, you lying rat! Miss Shakesman? It has been a pleasure.
I'll see they get it right away.
Please do, yes.
[ominous music.]
John Wilkes Booth.
Robert Lincoln.
I I saw you on stage here last month.
Of course.
Why are you here? My father invited General Grant to see tonight's play, and I'm helping him escape it.
I assume you know Miss Shakesman.
- John Booth.
- She's an actress.
Really? Where do you perform? I'm new to the profession.
And very humble.
Miss Shakesman, do you know that Mr.
Booth's brother saved my life on a train platform just last year? Pulled me out of the path of an oncoming train.
It's a true story.
- Amazing.
- That's Edwin.
- Always the hero.
- Yes, sir.
The Lincolns owe the Booths a great debt.
[ominous music.]
So we're 1,000% sure we can't just shoot this asshat, save Lincoln here and now? Believe me, I want to.
It might change things too much.
Like maybe there'll be a lot less lynchings.
- [sighs.]
- I'm serious.
I'm serious.
I just met some black soldiers.
We know Lincoln's death It's gonna be a disaster for them, not to mention my great-great-grandparents.
Don't look at me.
I'm with him.
[sighs.]
Look, I understand, but we don't know the consequences.
It's too risky.
It's our job to protect history.
Yeah, rich white guys' history.
A lot of my history sucks.
Look, I know it seems crazy, but maybe we can change things for the better.
Psst! This is the Herndon House, where Booth meets with his conspirators.
What conspirators? - [gasps.]
- Get back, get back! When I shoot, you run.
Stay low.
- Don't stop for anything! - But what about you? - [bullets ricocheting.]
- I'm right behind you.
Go! Go! Ah! Ah! - What happened? - Nothing.
Come on! Go! Your brother looks to be at the fag end of things.
Poor digestion's all.
I thank you very much, ma'am.
Thank you.
Oh! Where the hell is Rufus with the supplies? You need a real doctor.
To do what? Leech me? Oh! Ah Get this off me.
Okay.
Ah, ah.
This would take 15 minutes to patch back home.
Here, I'm gonna die of sepsis.
[door opens.]
- You get it? Okay.
- Yeah.
Oh! Rufus, you're up.
My knife's in the pocket.
You gotta sterilize it over the lamp.
Um what? The bullet's still in there.
It's just under the skin, but you gotta take it out.
Why me? Because you work with your hands.
Yeah, on circuit boards.
Think of me as a circuit board that's gonna die if you don't help.
Don't look at me.
I faint.
[groans.]
So those weapons Flynn has.
Why does he need that kind of firepower, huh? Lincoln gets killed anyway.
I don't think it's just about Lincoln.
Lincoln's death was part of a much larger conspiracy to kill the four most powerful men in government in one fell swoop: Lincoln, Vice President Johnson, Secretary of State Seward, and General Grant.
It would have been devastating, but the other shooters never followed through or just failed outright.
Well, that's before they had semiautomatic weapons.
[tense music.]
Exactly.
What if Flynn is trying to help them succeed? They would cripple the Union, maybe revive the Confederacy.
Hell, Johnson and Grant are supposed to become presidents.
America as we know it would be unrecognizable.
Okay, so how do we stop all that? One problem at a time.
Grant takes a train out of town at 6:00.
I need to make sure he's on it.
You take care of Wyatt.
We're gonna need you tonight.
This is gonna be the worst game of Operation ever.
Zzzzz! [laughs.]
Go on.
[metallic clanging.]
[clanging.]
Thank you, sir.
Miss Shakesman? Mr.
Lincoln.
What are you doing here? Following you, it seems.
I'm a lucky man, then.
What happened to the train? Technically speaking, it broke.
Oh.
Much to General Grant's dismay, he and I will be seeing a play tonight.
No! Like I said before, it's a terrible play.
The general will hate it.
[laughs.]
Maybe.
But the general and I are already committed.
But is there any chance that you'd like to see a terrible play? What? Excuse me for being forward, but would you come as my guest? You'd improve the evening a great deal.
We've met twice in one day.
That can't just be a coincidence.
Do you believe in fate? [light music.]
I'm at the National.
The National.
At 7:00, then.
[both laugh.]
We really have to stop meeting like this, Lucy.
You son of a bitch.
My sister is gone, disappeared because of something you did to the "Hindenburg.
" It's war.
I lost my whole family.
Because you murdered them.
Rittenhouse murdered them.
I asked about Rittenhouse, and no one's never heard of him.
Rittenhouse isn't a him.
It's a they.
And that's why I'm here: to right some wrongs.
By shooting up half of Washington? Trying to destroy America outright? I'm not trying to destroy America.
I'm trying to save it! Lucy, one day you are going to help me.
Or what? You'll kill me? That's not a threat.
It's your future.
So accept it, and stop trying to interfere.
What are you trying to do? What does this have to do with Rittenhouse? Tell me! Don't get in my way again.
[tense music.]
Is it unsanitary if I throw up on you now? Um you went shopping? Robert Lincoln invited me to a play.
A play? You mean the play? General Grant's gonna be there tonight.
Flynn sabotaged his train.
You saw Flynn.
I saw him leaving the train station.
The point is, Grant's gonna be there tonight, and I've gotta save him.
How, exactly? I don't know.
I'll, uh, get Grant out of the balcony before Booth shows up somehow.
I'm pretty sure we can come up with a better plan than that.
Will these help? [breathing heavily.]
And I assume with all that, we're gonna save everybody but Lincoln? Rufus All you have to do is open your mouth to save him.
And you're just gonna let Booth shoot him in the head? Do you think any of this is easy for me? My whole life, I've idolized Lincoln.
When I was a little girl, I would memorize his speeches.
Well, then do something.
We would come back to an entirely different world.
Who knows if it would be better or if there would be anything left to come back to at all? The present isn't perfect, but it's ours.
Awful as it is, what happens to Lincoln is meant to be.
What about my wife? 'Cause by your logic, you're saying that bad things like my wife's death are meant to be.
You wouldn't use the time machine to save her either? [solemn music.]
Wow.
You are saying that.
So your sister is supposed to live, and my wife is supposed to die.
- Is that it? - That's not fair.
You just lost your sister, and you're gonna sit next to Robert Lincoln and let him lose his father? Never seen nothing like it.
Where'd you get these? We're Prussian.
We make good guns.
Sic semper tyrannis.
The South shall be free.
Use this instead.
It's ugly.
It fires 17 bullets.
You won't need the knife.
I like the knife.
Just take it.
The Derringer is more dramatic.
Now, I appreciate the weaponry you provided us, sir, but I have staked my fortune and fame on this spectacle, and I will see it through as I imagined it.
[dramatic music.]
[knocking at door.]
Mr.
Robert Todd Lincoln downstairs for Miss Shakesman.
I'll be down in a minute.
Um Now, please.
You'll save Secretary of State Seward? And you'll save Vice President Johnson? Yeah, we got it.
Lucy, just think about who you save.
[gentle music.]
You wouldn't treat him as some other people would when you found out that he was not the inheritor of that fortune.
Not the heir of the fortune? No.
[laughter.]
You people bark up the wrong tree about the old man's property.
Which he left to you.
Well no.
[laughter.]
He's always late.
Oh? I wish I could be sure of that, for I have been cruelly disappointed in that particular.
Yes, but we are old friends ["Hail to the Chief" playing.]
Miss Shakesman.
Allow me to introduce my mother, Mary, and my father, the president.
Father, please meet Juliet Shakesman.
Miss Shakesman, how do you do? It's a great pleasure to meet you.
[applause.]
[indistinct friendly shouting.]
[ominous music.]
So all I got to do is save the vice president of the United States.
Sure, no probs.
[chuckles.]
Relax.
This Atzerodt guy shows his face, just point him out to the vice president's bodyguards.
They'll do the rest.
The gun's just in case.
What if I freeze? You won't.
I, um [clears throat.]
I grew up on the west side of Chicago, and there was a there was this kid, Rich Tannen, who used to come after me.
But I wouldn't fight.
There was no flight either.
I just stood there.
It was biological.
Then he just beat the crap out of me.
Rufus I don't know you that well.
But in the last two days, you helped us break out of jail.
You held a knife to a Nazi's throat.
And you pulled a bullet out of my gut without puking.
You won't freeze.
I'm scared.
I wouldn't go into battle with you if you weren't.
[dramatic music.]
A woman of my age Be you a woman of your age? [laughter.]
[coughing.]
- Are you all right? - Oh, I'm just - I'm just a little nervous.
- Would you like some water? [suspenseful music.]
[laughter.]
Here, allow me.
Oh, no, no.
I'll get it.
[laughter.]
- [dialogue continues.]
- [laughter.]
- [dialogue continues.]
- [laughter.]
[laughs.]
- Good God! - General General Grant, please forgive me.
Are you all right? I'm quite all right, yes.
[ahem.]
Excuse me.
- I'm so sorry.
- You seem tickled to death.
- [laughter.]
The tall guy who gave you the gun.
Where is he? [tense music.]
Why do I always get the big guys? [both grunting.]
Father! Father, hurry.
Oh, my goodness! - [gunshots.]
- [woman screams.]
What's going on? Mr.
Secretary.
[tense music.]
Hey, Mr.
Booth.
Wife's been asking when we're gonna be seeing you on stage again.
[intense suspenseful music.]
Soon.
My friend's drunk.
[chuckles.]
Unhand me! Grant's gonna be in there too.
You're gonna need more than one bullet.
Take it! I set this course nigh on four years ago and do not now submit my destiny for your approval, nor [sighs.]
Actors.
[suspenseful music.]
Now, some other gals and their mothers would go away when they found that out, but you value fortune, Ms.
Gusty.
[whispers.]
Robert.
Yes.
[door opens.]
- [sighs.]
- [play dialogue continues.]
Miss Shakesman.
[laughter.]
Mr.
Trenchard [dialogue continues indistinctly.]
It's not such a bad play.
I'm offering her my heart and my hand.
It's certainly not what I remembered.
[laughs.]
[laughter.]
[tense music.]
Well, if it ain't Sergeant Denzel Washington.
Excuse me.
Why would you be sneaking around the vice president's hotel with this? Hey, boys, look who I found.
Listen to me, Nicholas.
I just need to talk to his bodyguards.
I'm not trying to hurt the vice president.
I'm trying to save him.
Oh, you are, huh? From what? There is a man in here who is going to kill him.
Now, boys, hear that? The fake sergeant say he fixing to stop a man from killing the vice president.
Excuse me.
[dramatic music.]
He's gonna shoot him! [gasps, screams.]
I wouldn't do that! [crowd commotion.]
- Move! - Somebody call a doctor! Buy you a drink, Sergeant? I'm not a soldier.
You are in my book.
Don't know the manners of good society, eh? Well, I guess I know enough to turn you inside out, old gal, you sockdologizing old man-trap.
[laughter.]
When I think of all I've thrown away today in hard cash, I am apt to call myself some awful hard names.
$400,000 [dramatic musical sting.]
No! Mr.
President! No! [screaming.]
[dramatic music.]
[people scream.]
[crowd gasping, yelling.]
The tall man who shot Lincoln, I saw him earlier with John Wilkes Booth, whispering about something.
I'd look for Booth.
Excuse me, Officer.
Yes, ma'am.
Thank you.
- Johnson? - Alive.
Hey.
Seward's okay.
- What about - Grant's safe.
But Lincoln Is the President safe? Where is the President now? What happens now? Please tell us something! [solemn music.]
Is the President well? [shouting indistinct questions.]
He's gone.
I am so sorry.
Thank you for saving General Grant.
The whole country thanks you.
I wish I could have saved your father.
There was nothing you could have done.
I have to go.
Robert.
Listen.
Don't go south.
You find your family, and you head up north.
It's gonna be all right.
All right? The man helped us, freed us, and they killed him for it.
It'll never get better.
It does.
I promise you.
It's not gonna be easy, but it does get better.
Flynn's back in the present.
Let's go home.
I decided I was gonna let it happen.
But then I called out to warn him.
It was too late.
It's one thing to talk about history like this abstract thing.
But when the man gets shot right in front of you I tried.
[melancholy music.]
[engines thrumming.]
- Wyatt needs a doctor! - Get a medic! [indistinct over PA.]
Pressurization Thank you.
You okay? [overlapping shouting in background.]
Who shot Lincoln? President Abraham Lincoln was assassinated by a tall unknown gunman using an unknown gun on April the 14th, 1865.
But it's all changed.
The gunman used to be John Wilkes Booth.
Now it's Garcia Flynn.
Well, the assassination was planned by John Wilkes Booth as part of a larger conspiracy.
Booth was hunted down and killed.
The mysterious gunman also attempted to shoot General Grant, but he was saved by an obscure actress named Juliet Shakesman.
Never seen again though there is a high school in Point Pleasant, Ohio, named after her.
But what's it say about me? I saved Vice President Johnson.
No, says he did.
All that guy did was get shot.
Well, besides the fact that you let Flynn go, it's good work.
But history changed.
That's not how it's supposed to be.
It's close enough.
Is it? What if something changed somewhere because of what we did? Maybe someone else lost their sister.
Flynn didn't destroy America or the world.
Take the win.
Psst! Your father, Henry Wallace.
Your mother, Carol Preston.
Two children: you, Lucy, in 1983; and, according to you, your sister was born in 1990.
So how did the "Hindenburg" change it? Well, to get straight to the point, Henry never married Carol.
You're saying my father never married my mother? As far as I can tell, they never even met.
Instead, Henry married the granddaughter of Irene Doehner, a girl who should have died in the "Hindenburg" but didn't.
That explains why my mother doesn't have lung cancer.
Dad got her smoking.
But since they never married, she never smoked, no cancer.
It also explains why Amy was never born.
Right, because my parents never met.
But they're still my parents.
Keep going.
So wait a minute.
How was I born? You're almost there.
Yeah, you got it.
Carol's my mother, but Henry isn't my father and never was.
My mother's been lying to me my whole life.
[soft rock music.]
I'm not recording them anymore.
I don't care who Rittenhouse is.
Lucy and Wyatt trust me, and I am not spying on them.
Rufus.
Who took you out of West Chicago and sent you to MIT? Who bought your mother a house and a car and Oh, yes, that's right Brought you into one of the most important scientific projects of all time? And I am grateful for all of that.
Well, gratitude doesn't repay your debt.
Those recordings do.
When people run in circles It's a very, very Mad world The doctor who did this sucks.
Mad world It wasn't a doctor.
I'll get you stitched up.
We'll have you home by tonight.
Who should we call to pick you up? I'll call a cab.
[overlapping chatter.]
- Hey, congrats.
- [applause.]
Wait, wait, wait, wait.
Me first.
Hold on.
Well, you're late to your own engagement party.
My engagement party.
Ha ha.
The way you ran out yesterday, and now this.
And I'm not supposed to worry.
I'm sorry.
It's just been a little hectic.
I see.
So did you help out your friend Amy? I'm still working on it.
Well, please go freshen up and find your engagement ring.
Mom.
[sighs.]
I need to talk to you about something.
About Dad.
What are you not telling me? What? Are you serious right now? You bring this up on today, of all days? I need a drink.
Mad world Mad world Hello, beautiful.
I missed you.
Mad world Hello.