The Underground Railroad (2021) s01e03 Episode Script

1
- [low rumble]
- [trembling breaths]
[footsteps]
[Cora] It can't be.
[Ellis] Sorry, ma'am, but it is.
You can't just leave me here.
The station agent will be along.
I'm sure of it.
I wish I could give you more,
ma'am, but this all I got.
It'll tide you over for a while.
[metal clinking]
Where you come from, miss?
Georgia.
[huffs]
You a long way from Georgia.
Must be made of tough stuff.
[grunts softly]
You take care yourself now,
Miss Cora.
- [steam hissing]
- [horn blows]
[heavy clanking]
[metallic screeching]
[water dripping]
[low rumble]
[echoing down tunnel]
[distant clacking]
[dripping]
[dripping intensifies]
[trickling]
[slurping]
[echoing down tunnel]
[Martin] Who goes there?
[glass shattering]
This station is closed.
I'm sure you saw
the track ends there.
And there are things here
you'll need to know,
whether you engage me or not.
You the station agent?
Yes, but
I'm not accepting
any more passengers.
I only came to leave this behind
for whomever comes through.
But I'm here.
You're duty-bound to aid me.
[Martin] Your name?
[Cora] Cora Randall.
From Georgia.
My mama named Mabel.
Run off before me.
Run away with a friend.
Two friends.
I see.
And-and who were they?
C-Caesar
and Lovey.
We took the Underground to
Griffin back in South Carolina.
Should've stayed there.
- [low rumble]
- [water dripping]
[metal clinking]
Where is your mama?
She a freedwoman?
Can she claim you?
There's plenty
of fresh water and light.
I've hidden provisions
all about.
I'll send word
as soon as I am able.
Could be a month, could be more.
[Cora] No, no, no, no, no, no.
I can't stay here.
I can't. I just won't.
There's no place
for you here, you see?
No. No.
[whimpers]
[sighs]
[water dripping]
[Cora's breath trembling]
If we do this
I am not your master,
but you must obey me.
You understand?
- [frogs ribbiting]
- [insects trilling and buzzing]
- [low humming]
- [night birds calling]
[carriage rattling]
- [carriage stops]
- [hooves clopping]
[horse grunts]
[heavy breathing]
[Martin] It will
be sunrise soon, but
you need to see this.
[horse neighs]
They call this
the Freedom Trail.
The bodies go
all the way into town.
[Cora] But why such horror?
[Martin] A sign, warning.
North Carolina outlawed Negroes.
They are simply not allowed
nor tolerated.
- [Cora] Even slaves?
- [Martin] Especially slaves.
The savagery
a man is capable of
when he believes
his cause to be just.
We must continue on.
[horse snorts]
- [whip cracks]
- [horse neighs]
[carriage rattles]
♪
- [birds chirping]
- [chatter in distance]
- [rooster crows]
- [goat bleating]
[hammering]
[bell rings]
[children laughing]
[indistinct chatter]
♪
[children laughing]
- [dogs barking]
- [horse grunts]
[horse grunts]
[Cora] This is it?
No, no. [shushes]
[horse neighs]
You must wait.
[creaking]
[wooden latch closes]
[squeaking]
[cow moos]
[hammering in distance]
[chickens clucking]
[indistinct chatter in distance]
[breath trembling]
[footsteps approaching]
[man in distance] Next one up!
[breathing heavily]
[Cora gasps]
We must hurry.
- [dog barking]
- [hammering]
♪
[shaky breathing]
[sighs]
[door slams]
- [door opens]
- [doors shuts]
[Ethel] Martin?
[footsteps]
- Martin?
- Ethel?
What?
[Martin] There's something
I need to tell you.
What is it you need to tell me?
What is it you need to tell me?
I had no choice, but
What is it you need to tell me?
- Please, Ethel, calm down.
- Where is it?
Where did you put it?
Calm down.
Ethel, you'll scare her.
[sighs]
You just got us all killed.
I told you to hurry.
[door slams]
Ethel? Ethel,
I couldn't very well
leave her there to die.
So you brought her here?
For us to die with her?
- I did no such thing.
- Out, out.
I did no such thing!
[breathing heavily]
[creaking]
[footsteps]
You remember,
do exactly as I say.
[breathing heavily]
Ethel?
Ethel.
I had no choice.
I had no choice, Ethel.
♪
- [clunking]
- [creaking]
[Martin] Please, this way.
It's very important you don't
disturb anything in this attic.
I'll bring, uh, food up at night
after our house girl leaves.
And, uh, I'll empty
your cis pot as well.
Girl?
You said there were
no Negroes here.
Irish took your place.
Can't expect these people
to suddenly
learn to do for themselves.
And your wife?
She gonna turn me in?
Oh, no, no, no, no, no.
You saw on the trail
if they catch you here,
they hang us all.
I'm sorry.
You're not my worst secret.
I have no choice
but to trust you.
Daddy built a false ceiling.
[Martin coughs]
You need to stay
up in the crawlspace
unless I expressly
give you permission
to be down in the attic.
Remember, Grace will guide you.
Foot goes in here.
I came up here before
so she's prepared
for your arrival.
Just hang it.
[creaking]
[wood slides, clunks]
[footsteps]
You don't fit up here.
I sleep by the front.
You can have anything
across from me.
[whispers]
"Grace will guide you."
You Grace?
Chamber pot's behind you.
I keeps it covered with a rag.
Specially in summer.
Summer?
- How long you
- Stop.
[floorboard creaks]
That one
It's loud.
Remember that.
[floorboard creaks]
Thank you.
Wasn't a gift.
I don't want to end up
hanging from no tree.
♪
♪
[Ethel] Come down here.
Come down here now.
[crickets chirping]
[inhales deeply]
I figure a nigger's got to eat.
Here.
Thank you.
Aren't you hungry?
Yes'm, I am.
Where's Mr. Martin?
He's sleeping.
Thank you.
Martin probably
neglected to warn you
we have an Irish girl
that comes by and by.
Fiona.
They're all liars, you know.
If she hears you, she'll turn
us in, and they'll kill us.
Yes'm.
To make hell hotter,
our daughter and her husband
are coming by
for the ceremony tomorrow.
They can't know you're here,
either, you understand me?
I understand.
How long will it take
for y'all to get me out of
- [Cora grunts]
- [clattering]
You stupid
stupid thing.
While you are up there,
not a sound.
Not a single, solitary sound.
[choir] In death, O Lord ♪
Abide with me ♪♪
[Jamison] I awoke this morning
full of vigor
knowing that today
we would gather here
once again
at the site of
our community's founding
to celebrate our good fortune.
Our purity.
To thank and celebrate
our heroic protectors.
Put your hands together, y'all.
[applause]
[chuckles]
Today, we have the pleasure
of welcoming a new recruit.
A young man from a fine family
who joined the ranks
of the night riders
this very week.
Come on up, Richard.
Let them have
a look at ya. Come on.
There we go.
Don't be shy.
[chuckles]
How do you do, Richard?
- Fine, sir.
- [scoffs]
Just fine, huh?
[groans]
I'll tell you what, now.
Young Richard here
is doing more than fine.
Oh, yes, now.
Plenty more than fine.
[woman yelps]
[groans]
[sobs]
[Jamison] To hear tell it,
Richard was searching
the hold of a steamship
and found this rascal
hiding below.
Louisa is her name.
[sobbing]
She absconded in
the confusion of the great state
of North Carolina's
reorganization,
believing that she could escape
the logic of our system.
Now, in the deathless dark,
our Southern heritage
lies defenseless and imperiled,
- susceptible to contamination
- [Louisa sobbing]
by heathens like Louisa here.
Eager to sprout 50 more
little niggers to lie about
pock up our state.
To that, I say no.
[shaky breathing]
Not here
in the great white state
of North Carolina.
Pure in every way
as the Lord intended
in his vision of his people
before the Black Plague
was imported to our shores.
Some, like our
our brothers yonder
in South Carolina,
have embraced the notion
of nigger uplift.
[scoffs]
I'll say it's harder
to teach a nigger to reason
than a hog arithmetic.
[congregation laughs]
But then, we don't
teach hogs arithmetic
- in this great state, now.
- [laughter]
- Do we?
- [congregation] No, sir.
[Jamison] That's right.
- Hogs
- [Louisa whimpering]
we slaughter.
[muffled scream]
So why should niggers
be any different?
[Louisa groans]
[Louisa yelps]
[groaning]
- [Louisa shrieks]
- [gasps]
- [Louisa groans]
- [congregation applauds]
[breathes shakily]
Should've told you
about that part.
I'm gonna get us out of here.
I promise.
Yeah, but
where's it for us to go?
[indistinct chatter]
[clanking]
[Ethel] Pardon.
Thank you.
You're sweet to help, Mother,
but you should enjoy the party.
I always do, dear.
That's what you have Fiona for.
You take care to trust
these micks any more
than you would trust
a common nigger, Jane.
[Jane] Mother.
[Ethel] What?
I've said nothing
that is untoward
or untrue.
[Jane] Fiona, I'll tend to that.
Please go eat your supper.
[Martin] Well, Jane most
certainly takes after her mother
- in that regard.
- [man] You don't have to
tell me twice, sir.
- I may have noticed.
- You might have noticed.
Without speaking
too out of turn
- Gentlemen.
- Yeah.
What do we have here?
These here are apricots,
Mother's recipe,
and these are ginger.
- Thank you, ma'am.
- Very kind of you. Thank you.
- Lovely.
- Thank you, ma'am.
But
the Republicans
are gaining speed,
and I have to say,
they have several
persuasive arguments.
After that old
Missouri Compromise horseshit,
we need all the help we can get.
Pardon my language, missus.
Oh.
I'm not the one with, uh,
the delicate ears in this house.
- [chuckling]
- [Jamison] Is that so?
No. Thank you, ma'am.
My ears are
just fine, Constable.
But they do bristle
at the sound of war
and
and death.
Who spoke of death?
No one.
I was just, uh
just remembering
that girl out there.
[Ethel] Pardon me.
You take offense
at our ceremony, Martin?
No, no, I-I take no offense.
Wouldn't be here if I had.
I've seen Oklahoma,
Indiana.
Have you, Constable?
No. Afraid I haven't.
Hmm.
I don't see the point.
North Carolina is
God's vision of America.
As he intended.
Pure.
So, then, what has you
a-bristling, my friend?
Excuse me?
- What has you
- I have no problems
with our shared prerogative.
But I do sometimes wonder
if maybe we should
reconsider our methods.
[chuckles]
Indeed.
- [bell chiming]
- [birds chirping]
[door opens]
[indistinct chatter]
[dog barking]
[bell continues chiming]
What's that?
What kind of seeds is that?
Okra.
Okra?
Why you carrying around okra?
'Cause they mine.
My mama sowed 'em.
And her mama.
So you a planter?
I knew it, Cora.
I could feel it.
- You got soil all in your
- [distant door creaks open]
[shushing]
They going to the grave
to see Mr. Martin's daddy.
Fiona the witch
ain't here, neither.
You should plant 'em, you know?
Ain't no point in
carrying 'em around like that.
Ain't what they meant for.
[dog barking in distance]
[footsteps]
[crash downstairs]
[door creaking]
Shh. Stop.
[door creaks shut]
[footsteps]
[clattering downstairs]
[rattling]
[scoffs] Cheap fucking thing.
[sighs]
[rattling nearby]
[breathing heavily]
[floor creaking]
[creaking]
Place smells like
piss and camphor.
[footsteps downstairs]
[door opens and closes]
I hate her.
I hate all of them.
♪
[sighs]
[panting]
[grunts]
[grunts]
[panting]
[bird squawks]
♪
♪
♪
[coughs]
[coughing]
[footsteps approaching]
- Mr. Martin?
- Yes, Fiona?
Would you like me
to return later
and empty the tub
when you're done?
N-No, no, no,
that'll be just fine.
I-I'll, uh thank you, uh
I-I'll tend to that
after the culling.
[Fiona] As you wish, Mr. Martin.
Have a good day, now.
You as well, Fiona.
[door opens and closes]
[footsteps approaching]
I brought chicken.
Bring me the box.
[panting]
Something wrong with my body.
I need fresh air.
Ethel and I are headed
to a book culling later.
You two should take a bath.
Do you hear me?
I'm coming on sick.
Th-The water may not have
held its warmth, but
I hope you'll find it suitable.
We'll leave the fire
going in the hearth.
Just don't
don't walk about with candles.
Bath time, miss.
Let Grace be your guide,
as always.
You said a month.
It's been much more.
We need to leave here.
Look at me.
Look at me.
Skin all dry, gums bleeding.
We can't last
up here in the winter.
I'm gonna, I'm gonna bring you
a glass of lemon juice
every morning,
- and you need to drink it.
- No. You can
you can get us into the wagon,
take us to the railroad,
and maybe we can just
wait and see what they
I can't! I told you
not to come here, didn't I?
I told you.
I begged you.
[sighs]
Forgive me.
Ethel's waiting.
[door closes]
[choral singing]
[crickets chirping]
[indistinct chatter]
[applause]
[Jamison] So the Scripture says:
"And it came to pass,
as soon as he had made an end
of offering the burnt offering,
that Jehu said to the guard
and to the captain,
'You go in and slay them.
Let none come forth.'
And they smote them
with the edge of the sword,
and the guard
and the captains cast them out
and went to the city
of the house of Baal.
And they brought forth
the images
out of the house of Baal
and burned them.
And they brought forth
the images
out of the house of Baal
and burned them."
Burn them,
my brothers and sisters.
Be like Jehu.
I rebuke this sinful text
in the name of the Lord.
- [all] Amen.
- You have no place here.
[all] Amen.
"And they brake down
the images of Baal,
and they brake down
the house of Baal,
and they made it
a draughthouse unto this day.
Thus Jehu destroyed Baal
out of Israel.
And they brought forth
the images
out of the house of Baal,
and they burned them.
And they brought forth
the images
out of the house of Baal,
and they burned them,
and they burned them,
and they burned them."
Can I get an amen?
[all] Amen!
One more.
Give me another "amen."
- [all] Amen!
- [Jamison] Amen.
Amen.
We have been baptized in fire.
And the Lord is with
each and every one of you.
[Cora singing softly
in foreign language]
[breathing deeply]
[panting]
[Grace] Cora?
[shuddering]
[groaning]
Here, some water.
I can't. I can't.
[shudders]
[groaning]
♪
[coughs]
[groans]
Fiona, would you mind
getting me some bitters?
Of course, sir.
[coughing]
[retching]
[gasps]
- Martin!
- [Fiona] Mr. Wells.
- Don't touch him! Martin!
- Ethel, please, no.
- Stay away! Stay away!
- Let's go.
It's a pox
if I've ever seen one.
I should stay and clean up.
Sure to get it if it hadn't
been through you already.
Wouldn't surprise me if I was
the one what gave it to him.
Killed half a village
down in Hispaniola.
- Who'll look after the house?
I can still cook
- No, that won't be necessary.
When Martin is better,
I will send for you.
[door slams]
[crickets chirping]
♪
[fireplace crackling]
I'd pity you
if you weren't
already so pitiful.
What other option did we have?
[door slams]
♪
[sighs]
[rooster crows]
[Ethel] My parents taught me
"We are all in need
of our Savior's grace."
Wouldn't be very Christian of me
to let a heathen in my house
and not share the Lord's word.
It's been shared, ma'am.
Mr. Wells got me
a Bible to read.
[Ethel] And you understood it?
Without proper instruction?
[lively chatter outside]
I don't know
[Cora grunts]
why the world
is the way it is.
In some ways
we are all God's children,
and yet he's damned
some more than others,
whether the Irish or
niggers, lepers
and the insane.
But
the answer
is always in Scripture.
It's why the Lord
has brought you here.
Please.
Let me read to you.
"For he established
a testimony in Jacob,
and appointed a law in Israel,
which he commanded our fathers,
that they should make them
known to their children.
That the generation
to come might know them,
even the children
which should be born,
who should arise and
declare them to their children.
That they might set
their hope in God
and not forget the works of God
but keep his commandments.
That they might set
their hope in God."
My dear.
You are damned.
That much is certain.
But if you'll follow me
and listen to the Lord,
you, too, can be saved.
It's the word of God.
You see?
I see
the wicked in you, girl.
In your kind.
Your being here
it's God's will.
He sent you.
He sent you to me.
And I am grateful.
♪
♪
[door opens]
[door shuts]
[gasps]
[Martin retching]
[coughing]
[horse neighs]
[Martin coughing]
♪
[squishing]
In the name of the Father,
the Son
the Son and the Holy Ghost.
[Jamison] They live
in that house.
[lively chatter]
Check that one.
Morning.
[coughing]
Martin.
What you doing now?
Working on your memoirs?
[Martin] Not quite,
Constable, not quite.
Uh, this gentleman here is after
a very particular bit
of property,
a nigger run all
the way from Georgia.
That's good and well,
but o-of course, Constable,
you know there are
no niggers here,
and, as you can see, I am,
uh, quite infirm with pox.
It's best the patroller
- not risk contamination
- I'm no patroller.
[Ethel] Yea, though I walk
through the valley
of the shadow of death,
I will fear no evil,
for thou art with me.
Thy rod and thy staff
they comfort me.
[Jamison] And the nigger girl
Mr. Ridgeway is in pursuit of
is responsible
for the murder of a white boy.
- [Ridgeway] That's right.
- So
Martin, we must grant him
a look at each house.
[coughs] Well,
as I s-said
[coughing]
Hey! Get your hand off me.
Thou preparest
a table before me
[men arguing outside]
[Martin] You should not allow
this gentleman to risk his life.
- [Jamison] No, we are not
- [Ridgeway] Back on the porch!
[Martin] Why don't you come
back another day, sir?
Why don't you come back
another day, sir?
- [Jamison] Would you just get
back up on the porch right now?
- [Martin coughing]
Please get back up on the porch
right now. Sit down. Martin.
Here. Get up.
♪
♪
This nigger!
He snuck into my house!
Help me, help me!
[crowd clamoring]
[Jamison] Now, look here,
look here.
This man is
an officer of the law,
and the nigger here with him
- is just to do with
as he pleases, now, y'all!
- [Fiona] Liar!
I knew they was hoarding
some kind of filth in there!
[Jamison] The boy is with him.
Martin and Ethel have accounted
for themselves, and I have
no reason to doubt their word.
[Fiona] Then why would she make
such a big roast
[Cora] It's gonna be all right.
It's gonna be all right.
[Fiona] Who was eating
all that food, huh?
And he he was always
looking up at the ceiling.
What was you looking at, huh?
[Homer] I saw her going up
in the attic, boss!
It must be searched.
- No. Please, please.
- It'll be searched.
- Out of my way.
- Please, sir.
- I said out of my way!
- Please, sir.
- Come on, let's search.
- I beg you. Please.
[onlookers gasping]
♪
Get her!
[guns cock]
- [gunshot]
- [shouts]
What the hell is that?
- I'm sorry. I'm sorry.
- What the hell is that?
- I'm sorry. I'm sorry.
- [Ridgeway] Now listen here!
This here is my property
to make good with
by the powers granted to me
under the laws and governance
of the state of Georgia
and the federal union.
- [man] Hang her.
- [man 2] Like hell it is!
[man 3] Get that nigger
away from here!
[woman] Keep North Carolina
pure!
- With pleasure. With pleasure.
- [man 4] Get her!
[Ridgeway] Come on,
move, come on.
What about them?
What about them?
- [woman 2] Hang her!
- What about them?!
Hold, hold.
How did it get here?
Huh?
How did it get here?
The rail the railroad.
[crowd heckling]
- [man 5] Traitor!
- [woman 1] Keep North Carolina
pure!
[woman grunts]
- [man 1] Hang her.
- [woman 2] Hang her!
- [man 4] Get her!
- [Jamison] Pick her up!
- He leads me
beside quiet waters.
- [man 6] Ready to get up?
I will fear no evil.
He leads me
beside quiet waters.
I will fear no evil.
Get out of my way!
- [man 7] Blasphemer!
- [man 8] Burn the witch!
[crowd clamoring]
[screams]
[screaming]
♪
[Grace screaming]
- [horse neighs]
- Get in there!
[horse neighs]
Step up.
[carriage stops]
[Martin sobbing]
Where is it?
- That is a pile of rubble.
- It's there.
It's there. I swear it.
He done something to it.
[Ridgeway] Huh?
What have you done?
Huh?
What have you done?!
What have you done?!
[yelping]
I damned it. I
I I damned it with dynamite.
- No.
- [sobbing]
No, no, no.
- No!
- Hey!
- [crying]
- [Ridgeway] Get up!
Get up!
I will damn you!
To goddamn hell!
[sobbing]
[Cora crying]
[panting]
[grunting]
[sobbing]
I'm sorry.
I'm sorry. I'm sorry.
I'm sorry.
[crying]
I'm sorry.
- [low rumbling]
- [water dripping]
[low rumbling continues]
Cora, I'm sorry!
I'm sorry.
Forgive me, Father.
[sighs]
Well, go ahead.
Speak it.
How'd you find me?
Find you?
See, that's the thing.
I do not think that I did.
I think
you found me.
I truly do.
♪
[Marvin Gaye: "Wholy Holy"]
Wholy ♪
Holy ♪
Come together ♪
Wholy holy ♪
People, we all
gotta come together ♪
'Cause we need the strength ♪
Power ♪
All the feeling ♪
Wholy ♪
Holy ♪
Oh, Lord ♪
Get together ♪
One another ♪
Wholy holy ♪
Wholy holy ♪
We proclaim love ♪
Our salvation ♪
Oh-oh, ooh ♪♪
♪
♪
♪