Alias Grace (2017) s01e04 Episode Script

I wonder what has been causing your loss of sleep.
What makes you say that, Grace? GRACE: You have dark circles under your eyes and it looks as though you haven't slept a wink.
Oh, Nancy, this is Grace.
Mr.
Kinnear, my master - (BODY THUDS) - is a gentleman of a fine Scottish family.
- I am Thomas Kinnear, your new employer.
- Watch yourself.
GRACE: I could see there was no love lost between McDermott and Nancy.
(GRUNTING) You'd only need breaking in like a colt and then you'll go as good as the rest of them.
I'm the man for the job.
GRACE: It's strange to reflect that of all the people living in that house, I was the only one of them left alive in six months' time.
MCDERMOTT: Hang her! (THEME SONG PLAYING) (WHIPPING) (SCREAMING) (GROANING) See, that's what happens when you take an extra piece of bread for your breakfast.
Don't try that, Grace.
(KNOCKING ON DOOR) GRACE: That evening was so beautiful, it made a pain in my heart.
It's when you cannot tell whether you're happy or sad.
But I thought that if I could have a wish, it would be that nothing would ever change and we would stay that way forever.
GRACE: Good morning, Dr.
Jordan.
Good morning, Grace.
(CLEARS THROAT) I am just reading James McDermott's confession.
He says, "Grace was very jealous "of the difference made between "her and the housekeeper whom she hated, "and to whom she was very insolent and saucy.
" He claims you said What, is she better than us? That she is to be treated like a lady, and eat and drink of the best? She is not better born than we are, or better educated.
This is a different story than the one you told me.
What do you think of when you hear that, Grace? I've heard it before.
I think it's bad luck to laugh at the dead.
The dead don't like being laughed at.
Would you like me to continue on where we left off yesterday, sir? Yes, please, Grace.
NANCY: Smell this.
Isn't it lovely? And then I put on some hair pomade.
It gives the hair a wonderful shine.
Will you brush my hair out for me, Grace? Yes, with pleasure.
That feels most luxurious.
You have a good touch, Grace.
Your hair reminds me of my friend's hair.
NANCY: What friend is that? An old friend.
We will need a chicken tonight.
Captain Boyd and Colonel Bridgeford are coming around to dine.
Have McDermott kill one for us.
Of course.
Won't we need two chickens? There will be six to dine with the ladies.
There will be no ladies.
The wives of these gentlemen never condescend to darken the door of the house.
And I myself will not be taking dinner with them.
All they do is smoke and drink and talk of the fine deeds they did in putting down the Rebellion.
Just do as I asked you.
(DOOR OPENS AND CLOSES) (CHICKENS CLUCKING) McDermott? McDermott? James? McDermott? Grace? What are you doing in McDermott's loft? We need him to kill a chicken.
Oh.
He has probably gone drinking in town.
(DOOR CLOSES) I can't find McDermott.
He is always going off when he is needed.
You'll have to kill the chicken yourself, Grace.
Oh, no.
I can't do it.
I've never done it before.
There's a first for everything.
I can pluck it once killed, but I cannot shed the blood of a living thing.
Don't be a silly goose, Grace.
It's easy enough.
You just take the ax and give it a strong whack right through the neck.
Nancy, I cannot bear the thought of it.
Don't come back without a dead bird.
And hurry! Mr.
Kinnear likes his meals on time.
JAMIE: What's the matter Grace? Could you please kill this chicken for me? There is nothing easier.
I would be glad to do it.
You are so squeamish and tender-hearted.
Thank you, Jamie.
I don't have anything to give you for it, but I will remember it in the future.
I will help you any other time you might need it.
That bird needs to go in the oven.
I see you have made a conquest.
- What do you mean? - Jamie Walsh.
He has a bad case of puppy love.
He used to be my admirer, but now I see he is yours.
He's not much of a catch for me.
He's only a boy.
Well, a worm will always turn.
Will you go down to the cellar and fetch another jug of wine? I don't like spiders.
(DOOR CREAKS OPEN) (LAUGHING IN THE DISTANCE) (MEN TALKING INDISTINCTLY) (LAUGHING CONTINUES) And she was screaming.
"My farm! My life!" And do you remember? Tom says, "Your burning farm is not your problem.
- "It is your disgusting rebel husband.
" - (ALL LAUGHING) I thought I could educate her.
One can learn valuable lessons at the most difficult times.
Where did you find this one, Tom? Anymore growing on the tree where she came from? And if so, are they ripe yet? What have you done with Nancy? Is she locked in a cupboard somewhere with the rest of your Turkish harem? (ALL CHUCKLING) You should look to your fine blue eyes, my dear, Nancy might scratch them out if old Tom so much as looks at you sideways.
She's a fiery little rebel that one.
Her last name is Montgomery.
Just like the tavern where the rebels gathered.
You best be careful you don't fall under her influence.
At that time, Montgomery himself was in the United States, having escaped from Kingston Penitentiary in a most daring manner.
So it is possible for such a thing to be done.
I don't think Captain Boyd was a real captain.
Some of these men took up their titles just for having got their two legs around a horse on the day of the Rebellion.
What about Mr.
Kinnear? I don't know and I don't ask.
But if he had, it certainly would have been on the side of the Government.
My best friend's family lost their farm to the government troops.
I don't know and I don't ask.
(MEN LAUGHING) I'm getting too fat.
Now, we must and should pray for Divine Grace.
We should not be puffed up in vanity and think that our prayers might have any effect.
The first is the last and the last is the first GRACE: "There are many whited sepulchers "walking around in our midst.
"Fair on the outside, "but filled with rot and corruption within.
"We should guard against complacency "and should not let our lamps go out.
"Because no man knows the day and the hour thereof.
"We must await in fear and trembling.
" And what did you think of this sermon, Grace? I thought to myself, if you could not get Divine Grace by praying for it, or any other way, or ever know if you had it or not, then you might as well forget about the whole matter and go about your own business.
Because whether you would be damned or saved was of no concern of yours.
There is no use crying over spilt milk if you don't know whether the milk is spilt or not.
And if God alone knows, then God alone can tidy it up.
Thinking of such things makes me drowsy.
MINISTER: We will be saved by Divine Grace alone.
And no efforts on our part or any good works that we might do.
Divine Grace (WHISPERS) It's an outrage.
An outrage.
Let's go.
I can't stand being stared at.
GRACE: I thought, these are cold and proud people and not good neighbors.
They are hypocrites, they think the church is a cage to keep God in, so he will stay locked up there and not go wandering about the Earth during the week poking His nose into their business and looking into the depths and doubleness of their hearts and lack of true charity.
They believe they need only be bothered about Him on Sundays when they have their best clothes on and their faces straight, and their hands washed and their gloves on, and their stories all prepared.
But God is everywhere, and cannot be caged in, as men can.
Where were you yesterday? I finished my morning chores.
It's none of your damn business where I went.
You have no right to come and go and vanish off the face of the Earth just when you might be wanted most.
Well, how was I supposed to know? I can't read the future.
If you could, you would see that you will not spend much more of it in this house.
You are to leave at the end of the month.
Now go take care of the horse.
Unless you consider such a thing to be too far beneath Your Royal Highness.
(DOOR OPENS) (DOOR CLOSES) (DOOR OPENS) (SIGHS) I'm just as glad.
I do not like being ordered about by a woman.
And it's much worse considering what type of a woman she is.
I don't care to stay a moment longer with such a parcel of whores.
What do you mean by that? Do you not know that Nancy and Mr.
Kinnear sleep together? It's no secret.
All the neighborhood knows of it.
That cannot be true.
You can scarcely see the nose before your own face.
Nancy had a baby when she was working over at Wrights' farm by a young layabout who ran off and left her.
The baby died thanks to midwife's mercy.
Mr.
Kinnear hired her and took her in anyway, which no respectable man would have done.
It was clear from the first what he had in mind.
Once the horse is out of the stable, it is no good shutting the barn door.
(MUMBLES) A woman once on her back is like a turtle in the same plight.
She can scarcely turn herself right side up again and then she's fair game for all.
I don't believe you! (DOOR OPENS) (DOOR CLOSES) Although I protested, it came to me that for once he was telling the truth.
And I was ashamed of myself for letting myself be tricked and imposed on in that fashion.
For being so blind and foolish.
(WHISPERING) (GIGGLING) GRACE: I'm sorry to say that after this, I lost much of the respect I'd once felt for Nancy, as being older, and the mistress of the house.
You've missed behind the hutch.
- Why don't you do it? - Grace! Since nothing is ever good enough for you.
Do it yourself.
Or can you not bend down in that fine dress? How dare you! How dare I what? (BOTH GRUNTS) Why is McDermott not helping you with that, Grace? Is it too heavy for you? It is my task to do, sir.
Here, I'll carry it up for you.
Oh, no, sir.
I cannot allow it.
(CHUCKLES) It is up to me what will be allowed or not.
I am the master of the house, am I not? Yes.
Come then, Grace.
I will take it upstairs for you.
(SLURPS) (GRUNTS) Nancy plans to turn me away before the month is up and withhold my wages.
If she treats me this way, she will soon treat you the same.
We need to join together and demand our rights.
(TOM LAUGHING) I hate all Englishmen.
Mr.
Kinnear is a Lowland Scot.
It's the same thing.
They are all thieves, whores, stealers of land.
They grind down the poor wherever they go.
They deserve to be knocked on the head and thrown down the cellar.
Both of them.
And I'm the man for the job.
GRACE: I thought this was just a way of talking, as he was always a boaster.
My own father, when drunk, had often threatened me in this way but had never in fact done so.
The best thing at such times was just to nod and agree with him, and to take no further notice.
So you did not believe him, at first? Not at all.
Nor would you, sir, if you yourself had been listening.
I took it all for idle threats.
Before he was hanged, McDermott said that you were the one who put him up to it.
He claimed that you intended to murder Nancy and Mr.
Kinnear by putting poison in their porridge, and that he repeatedly refused to help you.
(WHISPERS) You are such a coward.
I will not be part of it.
You'll go straight to hell and I will not join you.
It is the simplest thing in the world.
We needn't even get any blood on our hands.
GRACE: Who told you such a lie? It's written in McDermott's confession.
Just because a thing has been written down, sir, does not mean it's God's truth.
I mean, you're quite right about that, Grace.
But all the same, what do you say to it? Well, sir, I think it's one of the silliest things I've ever heard.
Why do you say that? If I wanted to put poison into a bowl of porridge, sir, why would I have needed any help from the likes of him? I could have done it all by myself, put some into his own porridge too, into the bargain.
It won't take anymore strength than the adding of a spoonful of sugar.
You are very cool about it, Grace.
Why would he say that about you if it was false? Perhaps he wanted to shift the blame.
And I suppose he wanted me to keep him company.
The road to death is a lonely highway, and longer than it appears, even when it leads straight down from the scaffold, by way of a rope.
And it's a dark road, with never any moon shining on it to light your way.
You seem to know a good deal about it, for one that's never been there.
I too was condemned to be hanged, I thought I would be.
When you yourself are to go the same road, you must take your bearings of it.
True enough.
Nor would I blame poor James McDermott.
Not for such a wish.
I would never blame a human creature for feeling lonely.
Have you often felt lonely, Grace? Yes.
In the asylum.
And in the penitentiary when there are punishments for things especially.
What sort of punishments? (BREATHING HEAVILY) (DOOR RATTLING) (SCREAMING) (SCREAMING) And in the asylum, the doctors and the orderlies themselves often took liberties.
These things made me feel like I was alone in the world.
Is it true that you were in a delicate condition when you left the asylum? That is what they told me, sir.
Must have been very difficult for you.
Could we change the subject please, sir? Of course.
(INHALES SHARPLY) Did you feel lonely at the Kinnear Farm? I remember one day in particular.
It was my birthday.
(DOOR OPENS) NANCY: Happy Birthday, Grace.
For your room.
Thank you, Nancy.
You may have the afternoon free.
Thank you.
But, I wouldn't know what to do with myself.
I'll stay at home and finish polishing the silver.
Nonsense.
You should go for a walk in the country around.
Here.
You may borrow my hat.
(DOOR OPENS) (DOOR CLOSES) Mr.
Kinnear intends to be home all afternoon.
She wants you out of the way.
Careful.
There are many vagabonds out on the roads.
A girl as flighty as you needs protection.
I'll be just fine.
Thank you.
(DOOR OPENS AND CLOSES) GRACE: There is something depressing to the spirits about a birthday, especially when alone.
I had no idea in my mind of where I should go.
And it struck me at once how very solitary I was.
I had no friends, and if you looked at things in the cold light of day, I was indeed alone in the world, with no prospects before me except the drudgery I'd been doing.
And although I could find a different situation, still it would be the same sort of work, from dawn to dusk, with always a mistress to be ordering me about.
I reflected that the very birds were strangers to me, for I did not even know their names.
And for some reason, that seemed to me the saddest of all.
(TWIGS BREAK) Oh, Jamie.
You startled me.
Happy birthday.
I saw you crying.
Why are you sad, Grace? I have no friends here.
I'm your friend.
Do you have a sweetheart, Grace? - I do not.
- I would like to be your sweetheart.
And when I'm older and have saved the money for it, we will be married.
Jamie, I am a great deal older than you.
A year and a bit.
Jamie, I don't know why, but a girl of 15 or 16 is accounted a woman.
A boy of the same age is still a boy.
Thank you for your offer.
I'll consider it.
Here.
I'll make you a daisy crown.
(GIGGLES) (INDISTINCT CHATTERING) You are the May Queen.
I will have to be the July Queen as it is July.
(CHUCKLES) May I give you a kiss on the cheek? Yes.
But only one.
Thank you, Jamie.
You've made my birthday a fine occasion after all.
I should be going home.
My father will be wondering where I am.
Good afternoon, Grace.
Who was that man you were with in the orchard then? What were you doing with him? It was only young Jamie Walsh.
We were making daisy chains because it is my birthday.
What's that wilted flower doing in your hair? It looks very silly.
So, you were rolling about in the grass with the errand boy.
Well, he should have his brains knocked out for that.
I'd do it for him myself if he wasn't such a baby.
Such a fine cradle-robber you are.
GRACE: I was doing no such thing.
I felt as though the afternoon had not been mine at all, and not a kind and private thing, but had been spied upon by every one of them.
Exactly as if they'd all been lined up at the door of my bed chamber, and taking turns looking through the keyhole.
And how did that make you feel, Grace? It made me feel very sad.
And also angry.
(WHISTLING) Jeremiah.
(CONTINUES WHISTLING) Well, Grace, I told you I would come.
I'm very glad to see you, Jeremiah! Aren't you going to invite me in? (BOTH CHUCKLE) Here's to your good health, Grace.
I wanted to celebrate the end of my life as a peddler with you.
Are you no longer a peddler? Not after today.
I'm going to be a hypnotist.
(CHUCKLING) There is a real appetite for it now more than ever.
- Thank you for coming.
- Hmm.
Are you happy here? The house is a beautiful one.
But in a quiet and removed situation.
It is quiet.
But Mr.
Kinnear is a liberal gentleman.
With a gentleman's tastes.
They say in the neighborhood he has a hankering for servant-girls.
I pray you do not end up like Mary Whitney.
It is a sad story what happened to Mary.
But for you, Grace, a stitch in time saves nine.
You know that Nancy was the servant of this household, not so long ago, doing the same rough and dirty work that you do now.
I did not know that.
When a man gets a habit, it is hard for him to break it.
Like a dog gone bad.
Once a sheep is killed and the dog gets a taste for it, it must kill another.
I don't like all this talk of killing.
Come away with me, Grace.
I do not like the feeling here.
Come away? What do you mean? You would be safer with me than you are here.
Where would we go? We could go to the United States.
What's it like there? Well, in many ways, it's the same as here.
There are rogues and scoundrels everywhere, they merely use a different sort of language to excuse themselves.
There they pay great lip service to democracy, just as here they rant on about the right order of society and loyalty to the Queen.
And yet the poor are poor on every shore.
But when you cross that border, it's like passing through air.
The trees are the same on either side and we can go through those very trees tonight and not pay any Customs duties.
Wouldn't we be breaking the law? Aren't laws made to be broken? These laws were not made by me or mine, they were made by the powers that be so that they could profit.
We would be harming no one.
- What would I do? - Travel with me.
You could be a medical clairvoyant.
I could help you into trances and instruct you in what to say.
I know by your very hand you have a talent for it.
Yeah.
You have the right look for it.
And you could earn twice as much one day than you do scrubbing floors here in two months.
Of course, you would need a new name, a French one, perhaps, something foreign.
The people on this side of the ocean would have a very hard time believing that a girl with a simple name like Grace had mysterious powers.
Wouldn't that be a deception and a cheat? (SMACKS LIPS) No more than at the theater.
If people wish to believe a thing, if they long for it and depend on it to be true, is it cheating to help them to their own belief? Or is it not rather a charity, a human kindness? A new name would pose no problem for me.
I have no great attachment to my own as it was my father's.
Shall we shake on it then? I won't conceal from you, sir, that the idea was greatly tempting.
Jeremiah was a handsome man.
And I recalled that I was to marry a man with a J to his name.
And I also thought of the money I might have and the clothes I could buy with it, and perhaps some good earrings as well.
But then I had remembered what had happened to Mary Whitney.
Would we be married then? (CHUCKLING) What would be the need of that? Marriage never brought anything good, as far as I see.
If two are of a mind to keep together, then they will, and if not, then one will run off and that's the long and short of it.
I think I had better stay here, then.
In any case, I am too young to be married.
Please consider it, Grace.
I am willing to help you, and care for you.
And I tell you truly, you are surrounded by dangers here.
(DOOR CLOSES) And who the devil might you be? What the devil is he doing in the kitchen, Grace? He is a peddler and well known to me.
Mr.
Kinnear will be annoyed to find out that you have been wasting good beer and cheese on a common rogue of a peddler.
Mr.
Kinnear would not refuse an honest man a cold drink on a hot day.
JEREMIAH: I should be leaving.
(CLEARS THROAT) I will come back soon for your answer.
And I hope for your sake as well as my own that it will be yes.
Thank you for coming, Jeremiah.
He has a low, foreign look about him.
I suppose he came sniffing about you like a bitch in the heat.
Kindly remove yourself, so I can get on with the supper.
GRACE: Several days later, the doctor paid us a visit.
Doctors are like crows.
When you see two or three of them gathered together, you know there is a death in the offing, and they are discussing it.
With the crows, they are deciding which parts to tear open and make off with, and so it is with the doctors.
- I do not mean you, sir.
- Hmm.
As you have no leather bag or knives.
(CHUCKLES) Well, Grace.
And where is your mistress? She is not at all well.
She is lying down upstairs.
But if there is anything to be brought to you, I can do it myself.
I shall like some coffee if that is not too much trouble.
It's no trouble, although it might take time.
I have to build the fire again.
When it is ready, bring it in to me.
Thank you, Grace.
(FOOTSTEPS APPROACHING) Are you feeling all right? Yes.
What are you doing stirring up the fire? Mr.
Kinnear wants me to make him some coffee and take it into him.
But I always take in his coffee.
Why did he ask you? Because you yourself were not here.
I was only trying to spare you the work as you said you were feeling ill.
I'll take it in.
And, Grace, this afternoon I would like you to scrub this floor.
It's very dirty, and I am tired of living in a pigpen.
(RETCHING) Clean it up.
(WIND HOWLING) Don't walk on my clean floor with your mucky boots.
Don't you have anything better to do? You're not paid to stand there and gawp.
Oh, I'm sorry, sir.
(CHUCKLES) There's no harm done.
What is it? What are you doing here? Scrubbing the floor, ma'am, as you ordered me to.
You're talking back.
I am sick of your insolence.
All I wanted was a second cup of coffee.
I'll make it.
Grace, you can go.
Where am I to go, ma'am, with the floor only half done? Anywhere out of here.
And for God's sake, pin up your hair.
You look like a common slut.
I will be in the library.
Close your mouth.
You'll catch flies.
Go get yourself cleaned up.
I need you to help me with a new dress.
None of my old ones fit anymore.
GRACE: All at once it came over me what was the matter with her.
I'd seen it before.
She was in trouble.
Stop staring at me.
GRACE: I felt my heart going hard like a hammer.
It cannot be.
Did Mr.
Kinnear know that she was pregnant? I could tell he did not know.
And I wondered what he would do when he found out.
Boot her into a ditch.
Marry her.
I had no idea.
What did you hope for? I cannot rest easy with either of those futures.
I wished Nancy no harm, but all the same it would not be fair for her to end up a respectable married lady with a ring on her finger.
It would not be right at all.
Why? Why would that not be right, Grace? Because Mary had done the same as her, and had gone to her death.
Why should one be rewarded and the other punished for the same sin? (THUNDER RUMBLING) GRACE: When the weather is like that, you can hear your own heart beat.
It is like hiding, and waiting for someone to come and find you, and you don't know who that person will be.
(RUMBLING CONTINUES) Why can't we have proper cooked food? Like the steaks and peas they're eating in there.
New peas do not grow on trees.
You ought to know who would have the first choice of them.
In any case, I'm Mr.
Kinnear's servant, not yours.
Well, if you were mine, you would not last long.
You are such a foul-tempered witch.
The only cure for you is the end of a belt.
Ill words butter no parsnips.
(RAIN PATTERING) (INDISTINCT CHATTERING) (NANCY GIGGLES) NANCY: Stop it.
Stop it.
KINNEAR: Has the cat got your tongue? Why are you so pensive tonight? NANCY: I am worried about the servants.
KINNEAR: Which of the servants? NANCY: Both of them.
Well, of course, there are three servants in the house.
Not two.
You are a servant yourself.
Thank you.
It is very kind of you to remind me of that.
- Now, I must go.
- (CHUCKLING) No.
I have my duties in the kitchen to attend to.
Then you must stay where you are.
It is your master's command.
(LAUGHS) I suppose that is what I am paid for.
Oh, shh.
Why are you worrying about the servants? Is the work not getting done? No, work is getting done, but in McDermott's case, only because I stand over him with a whip.
He's insolent.
I've given him his notice.
I never liked him.
What about Grace? Grace is quick and tidy about her work, but, lately, she has become very quarrelsome.
I am thinking of giving her her notice as well.
There is something about her that makes me quite uneasy.
I think she's not quite right.
Several times, I've heard her talking out loud to herself.
KINNEAR: Hmm.
She is certainly a handsome girl.
She has a naturally refined air and a pure Grecian profile.
If I put her in the right clothes and told her to hold her head high and keep her mouth shut, I could pass her off as a lady any day.
I certainly hope you would never say such things to her.
It will turn her head and give her ideas above her station, it would be no favor to her.
You've never had such agreeable opinions of me.
Well, I have opinions of you that are absolutely filthy.
Now, you, you, you Here! Come back here, you dirty girl.
- You do as I say - (GIGGLES) No or I will have to catch you and when I do, I will have you I've got you now.
(THUNDER RUMBLING) GRACE: The rain was loud and oppressive.
And I heard a whisper which sounded as close as if it were inside my ear.
VOICE: (WHISPERING) It cannot be.
Whisper That whisper.
That whisper And then Then I had a very strange dream.
(BREATHING HEAVILY) I saw headless angels in bloody robes.
They were sitting in silent judgment upon Mr.
Kinnear's house, and on all within it.
The sheets I'd hung the night before had blown into the trees.
It was very unlike me to forget a white laundry that I'd worked so hard at.
The nightdresses and shirts did indeed look like angels without heads.
It was as if our own clothing was sitting in judgment upon us.
And I could not shake the feeling that there was some doom on the house, and that some within were fated to die.
If I was given the chance right then, I would have run off with Jeremiah, and better for me if I had.
But I did not know where he had gone.
I did know that I was walking around outside in the night without knowing it.
And my heart sank at this.
I remember looking up at you after I told this story, Dr.
Jordan.
And I remember that it did my heart good to feel I could bring some pleasure into a fellow being's life.
And I thought to myself, I wonder what you will make of all that.