Mercy Street (2016) s01e06 Episode Script

James Green? You're hereby placed under arrest.
The vacant executive officer position? My recommendation will be to appoint Dr.
Foster.
What? - Leave with me.
- I can't.
I's waiting for my Gabriel.
That hospital you have access to we're going to blow that place to kingdom come.
Miss Dix? Our mission grows, Miss Phinney.
The war will not end soon.
I fear that is so.
Fear? Oh, don't do that.
The dark menace of the future makes cowards of us all, and the past is a thing which each of us must overcome in her own way.
Is that not so, my dear baroness? Have I disappointed you? Have you disappointed yourself? It has not been as I expected.
Oh.
It never is.
But we need places of healing and mercy now more than ever.
So, you must fight through it the hardships, the resistance, the futility.
There is nothing here without you.
Miss Phinney? It's been four hours.
You asked for me to wake you.
Yes, matron.
Thank you.
Not worth it? The executive officer is second in command to me, with a direct link to the surgeon general.
Administration, paperwork Not for me, major, really.
Foster, I beseech you.
It's good for your career.
Does the position have influence over staffing decisions? No.
I-I-I mean yes.
Why? The steward has to go.
Oh, my, the dog with his bone.
Bullen is a disgrace to this hospital.
Nothing is beyond him deceit, larceny, lechery.
So, you don't like him much? I'll discuss it with Bullen, and I'll insist on improvement.
It's a half-measure, sir.
We cannot fire our steward, Foster.
Not right now.
Listen to me.
We are soon to have a visit from the president and the first lady.
The Lincolns? It's on the quiet, Jed.
Now, until the muckety-mucks have come and gone, I need this place to run smoothly, keep up appearances, and I need you to be my executive officer.
- There's my man.
- Mm.
There's my man.
Mm-hmm.
Our mission here is growing.
Moving forward, I would like a daily report from each ward detailing all continuing patients, the condition of the newly admitted, and available beds.
If any of your boys are in need of supplements or special meals they are not receiving from the cook, come and see me.
Is it true? About Dr.
Foster? Is he to be the executive officer? That's the word from the chief.
Well, now we have a head nurse and an executive officer.
We are prepared for anything.
As I believe Miss Nightingale once said, we are all in this together.
Isn't that so, Miss Hastings? Mister? It's me, Belinda.
I done brung you some food and some ginger-root tea.
Be good for your bones.
This is the worst hotel I've ever stayed in.
There's evil in this place.
I've been here before to see my brother.
You don't remember? They fed him pork and greens and made him a fine suit to show hisself.
That was 9 no, it was, uh 11 years now.
They took him to market.
It was a A sunny day Burning hot.
Remember I see'd the sweat running down 'round his collar.
And I never see'd him again.
Well, maybe you will before too long.
The ladies is all worried for you.
And Mr.
Junior out there arguing with the warden man.
Arguing what? 'Bout getting you free.
Here.
Drink.
Surely the union administration is not in the habit of imprisoning frail, harmless, old men! My job is to lock up who they tell me to lock up and let go who they tell me to let go.
Get him to sign, son.
It ain't worth all this.
Nurse Mary.
Private Starks.
The boy came with the post.
Um, I can't Make out the words.
Would you like me to read it? Mm.
"My dearest Philip, I do not know if you are alive or dead.
I hope for the best, of course.
Yet I feel compelled to write this letter to to say how much I miss you And pray for your safe return.
I cannot predict what the future holds, but I trust you will remain strong And we will see each other again before too long.
" And then she signs it.
A good girl, my Addy.
If she can't get here, then, by God, I'll rise from this bed soon enough, and I'll get to her if it takes my last breath.
Private Starks, how are you? Better now, sir.
Well, the wound seems to be improving, but it's a long road yet.
You my doctor now? What happened to that other one? Oh, stop it! Dr.
Hale! Hold on! I'm about to remove another shred of ball metal.
Dr.
Hale, step away, please! Has that man been anesthetized? - This one? No.
- Why not? - Pain is cathartic.
- It doesn't sound cathartic.
We have our separate methods, sir.
It is not up to the surgeon to it is not up to the surgeon.
It is up to the standard of the hospital, - and the standard here - There's no standard in this hospital.
There is now.
How many patients do you think I move through here in the time it takes for you to tenderly hold one boy's hand, sing him a hymn, and beseech him to be brave? Do you truly believe that your humanity is so much better than my proficiency? Chloroform will be used to ease pain except where it is clearly not indicated.
I do not want to hear of one more patient having a catharsis under your care.
Now give him the drug.
- Oh, Jimmy, how did he look? - How is he? - What did he say? - Now, now.
I spoke to the warden.
There's nothing he can do, but Oh, they're all so treacherous.
- But I have a plan.
- What did your father say? I only saw him briefly.
Belinda sat with him awhile.
Oh.
He got a strong will.
He ain't gonna let it break him.
But he ain't gonna sign that paper, neither.
You ask me, it's time he did.
Listen here.
As man of this house now, I want to discuss what we should do next.
We need to appeal to the provost marshal Colonel Sinex.
He overruled the administrator last time, and perhaps he will do it again.
- You and Alice do that.
- Yes.
I'll go see Frank.
Frank? Frank Stringfellow? He's back in Alexandria.
It's all very secret, Mother.
He's with the knights of the golden circle.
The knights? Really? Their methods have become a bit extreme.
The yanks are just as extreme.
Frank may be able to help.
He has ways.
Mm.
All right, we have our missions.
Circumstances may challenge us, but we are still the Green family.
All right? Very good, ladies.
I'll just sit here and whistle "Dixie.
" Mr.
Griffin, I have a terrible pain in my molar.
Not now, Emma.
I can't see you.
Please.
I've come about my father.
We need your help.
Why don't you ask one of your Yankee pals? The chaplain, for instance.
Frank, my father's unwell.
He could die in there.
It's a war, Emma.
We all could die.
I'm sorry.
I-I-I didn't mean to what's important is for each of us, in his own way, to remain loyal to the cause.
That's what I'm doing, that's what your father is doing, and I hope that's what you're doing 'cause it doesn't always look that way to me.
Laudanum drops thrice daily, Miss.
And come back tomorrow.
Dr.
Hale.
One of the few of your ilk I welcome with open arms.
Mr.
Bullen.
You and your friend nurse Hastings you know how things work don't fight the system.
I appreciate that.
And she she's a nice ripe one, ain't she? Well, uh that's kind of you to say.
What do you need, doctor? Need? Oh, I don't know about need.
I was, um I was just wondering have you been informed of Dr.
Foster's new hospital policy pertaining to expanding the use of chloroform? I heard something about it from the great man himself.
Came down here and explained it all to me, right after I got my what for from major summers.
Summers? Pertaining to what? Pertaining to my decorum.
It seems the new executive officer don't like me.
What with the new head nurse making her own meals for the men and now him lording over us, what's to become of us poor, innocent workers toiling away down here? My concern exactly, which got me thinking it'd be a terrible strain on the new executive officer were there to be a sudden shortage of chloroform.
How's that gonna solve anything? You ask me, this Foster's got to go.
Think of chloroform as being our own Fort Sumter.
Before long, the battle will prove too great, at which point, he will be replaced by another.
Given your loyalty, I will be sure to enlist you as a close, personal associate and make sure both our needs are always met.
Yeah.
You're kind of a weasel, ain't you? Mm.
Do we have a deal? You're late.
Well, I was expecting a a longer ovation.
It was "The Lady of Lyons" tonight.
It's not Shakespeare.
So? I've got the office set up.
We're moving in supplies, a little each day, to avoid detection.
There's no time for all that.
You need to be swift.
Those bastards could change his schedule at any moment.
What if he shows up sooner than planned? We can't miss out just because you were being cautious.
We're going to blow king Lincoln and his whole damn government straight to hell.
You understand your role? I am a little lamb, upset and confused by the loss of my father.
Perhaps a tear or two.
And a little less rage.
I am willing to do whatever needs be done to free papa.
But that does not mean I will enjoy groveling to these blue bullies.
Men are allowed to fall prey to their emotions, Alice.
We women must be stronger than that.
You seem on the road to recovery.
I had me some sassafras root.
Seemed to help.
Did the doctor give you that? No.
I had a friend bring it to me.
That your husband? You got any chil'ren, Miss? We were not so blessed, no.
I got me a little boy Gabriel, 7 years of age.
I ain't seen him in 15 months and 10 days.
Samuel say we find each other again, me and Gabriel.
You are fond of Sam? Got angry with him.
Now he gone.
It's better this way until things change.
He's better off elsewhere.
I been in Alexandria over a year now, dreaming my boy find me here, doing everything I can to make it so.
Anything.
There's no shame in trying to save your child.
I been thinking I should pick up and leave, try to find my Gabriel from some other place, someplace ain't so troubled.
My late husband gave me this.
It's a mayflower.
They're abundant where I'm from in Boston.
Sure is pretty.
There's a community of free Negroes there, on beacon hill.
Find Miss Elizabeth McAndrew.
We went to school together.
She lives on Boylston.
Show this to her.
She'll help you find your way and your little boy.
You ain't got to do this.
No real good comes out of doing what we have to do.
It comes out of doing what's right.
The provost Marshall will see you now.
Thank you.
At long last.
Smile as if you mean it.
Colonel Sinex likes pretty girls.
What can I do for you? We were hoping to see Colonel Sinex.
Sinex has been reassigned.
Re-assigned? There was a virus of corruption spreading through this town.
The army desires order, so here I am colonel Gregory, the new provost marshal.
State your case.
That's my favorite.
How did you know? You are a man of exquisite taste.
All decisions flow from that.
Ah.
From the moment of occupation onward, you've been a true friend to my family and our interests, and I want to thank you for that.
You're quite welcome.
And I wonder if I might not offer up a service.
Another one? I have heard that fallen union soldiers are not being properly buried in confederate territory, bodies dropped into the ground with no benediction, no recognition, some never buried at all.
It's a terrible thing, it is.
Perhaps you would allow me to send our coffins South so that all soldiers in this terrible war might be buried with honor.
You'd provide the coffins? And the transport.
Our furniture company's barge has been grounded since the union came to Alexandria.
It wasn't requisitioned? Well, sir, they haven't found it yet.
But I could use it to move the coffins as well as anything else.
Well, that seems a kind gesture, Mr.
Green.
I have to wonder how that would benefit you.
My father sits in jail.
If you could perhaps put in a word for his release, mention our largesse, our unbiased generosity your father is a victim of his own intransigence, sir.
There's nothing I can do about that.
I will gladly accept your offer, however.
Our boys need to be buried properly.
Indeed, sir.
Green family furniture built in Alexandria will find its way to the Southern battlefields on a mission of mercy.
In prison as if he were some common criminal, a thief.
How long has it been? Almost two weeks.
Can you imagine? This is how we see honest Abe for the tyrant he is families torn apart, innocent men put in jail.
Maybe you should write the president a letter.
What good would that do? I want to say it to his face.
Say what, exactly? I'd tell him that you cannot create a union by force.
I'd tell him that my father, as godly and honorable a man as has ever walked the earth, has been unfairly maligned, all for the want of a signature on a piece of foolscap.
And I'd tell him that I'm fearful For myself And for my family for all of us.
He'd be a fool not to listen.
I better get these to the laundry.
Yes.
Glad to see you're awake.
Have I been sleeping long? Most of these past few days.
My wife come yet? No, not yet.
You got a husband ma'am? He died before the war.
Was his death long or or quick? Long and then quick.
He struggled mightily.
I sat by him all that time, and then when the moment finally came I wasn't there.
I'd gone out for some supplies.
When I came home, he was gone.
Don't take that on yourself.
Maybe he chose it like that.
Maybe Maybe he didn't want you to go through it.
Where has all the quinine gone?! If I was quinine, where would I be?! Have you seen the rogue today? Not to worry.
I'm gonna show him the folly of his ways.
You missed your moment, Byron.
That's unfair.
How was I to you missed your moment.
The union army is suddenly very conscientious about the interior decor of the hospital.
That's what happens when presidents visit.
Why, dear me, what one-armed wonder thought of leaving that there? Sorry, ma'am.
Well, clean it up now.
You, sister, our lady of dysentery find me quinine.
I need quinine for a boy lying in pain.
Miss Hastings, allow me to help unhand me! I'll not have your viper paws upon me.
Oh, Miss Phinney? Oh, my, do forgive me.
I'm so sorry.
I have this lovely, fine-boned Vermont boy, regal in bearing, who requires quinine, and but I can't seem to find any anywhere.
Those scoundrels have swiped it.
Miss Hastings.
Bad morning? There he is Sir Galahad.
Here to sweep me off my feet? No, but I will escort you to your room.
Oh, how brash! How utterly caddish! Please, Miss Hastings, you're making a scene.
A scene? An executive scene? Is that your executive assessment as the new executive officer? Miss Hastings, please Oh, he is a snake in the grass.
"I am not military, oh, but now I am.
" "I don't want the job.
Oh, dear me! Now I have it!" And on top of it, to insult a lady, to make accusations about her intentions.
I don't believe I ever What an ego must reside behind those cold, hard eyes.
- No! - Oh, my.
Miss Hastings! Pardon me.
I am not myself today.
Alice, be calm.
I will invite this new colonel over for dinner, and we will woo him into changing his mind.
Woo him? We Green women have our ways.
That's as good as letting Papa rot behind bars.
Lower your voice, please.
If no favors are to be paid us, then for now, we must follow the rules.
That is all we ever do follow their rules.
And what has it gotten us, Mother? - What did it get Tom? - Alice.
- If you want to sit idly by - I am hardly idle.
and let them run roughshod over us, you may do so.
But I swear I will not submit! I will do my part to defend who we are! Alice! Miss Hastings is safely in her room being plied with coffee.
You must dismiss her.
You are the head nurse, Mary.
And you are the executive officer Jed.
What would Miss Dix say? Miss Dix is not here.
So, Miss Hastings should be kept on? With a reprimand.
She's a skilled nurse, and, to be fair, it was one mistake.
We all make mistakes, don't we, doctor? "Doctor" is it now? We're going backwards.
Now, about your patient he's worsening? Yes.
It's a very sad thing.
You seem awfully attached to him, considering he's a traitor.
He deserted because he was losing his wife To another man.
I read it in a letter.
Private Starks doesn't know.
You kept it from him? I'm trying to keep him alive.
Good afternoon, private.
Press against my hand.
It hurts.
Atrophy of the gastrocnemius.
Private, breathe easy.
Continuing to the semitendinosus.
The muscles in his leg have atrophied considerably.
But there is perhaps something we could do.
If we were to cauterize the peroneal nerve, it should alleviate much of the pain.
Would it save him? Well, let's hope so.
We'll need a hot iron, the small scalpel set, and chloroform.
It is quite a painful procedure.
Uh, this morning the steward said we had no more chloroform.
What? Th-that's not possible.
He said we'd have no more until July.
Prepare the cautery.
I'll see to this.
Chloroform where is it? Chloroform? Don't play the fool with me, man.
We run out.
Won't get another shipment for a fortnight.
My fault, Dr.
Foster.
Must have counted wrong.
You haven't counted wrong since you dropped out of your mother's diseased womb.
I need that anesthetic! Need? I don't know about need, doctor.
Some say pain is cathartic.
Hale he put you up to this.
I never said that.
You didn't have to, you imbecile.
I'm sorry, son.
I'm unable to put you under.
I'll try to be quick.
Quick.
Frank, may I speak to you? Bad time, Alice, really.
Why? Are you hatching some master plan in there? You can come in, but only for a minute.
No chaperone.
Are you out alone? War has a funny way of changing all the rules.
What is it you need, Alice? To be of use to do my part in the struggle.
I have a proposition.
I've entered into an agreement with the union army to send coffins to the battlefields.
Now, the coffins travel South empty, presumably, but I have the opportunity to fill them.
Go on.
We fill the coffins with anything our boys might need munitions, goods, gold smuggle it right past the blue bellies in the same box they'll soon end up in.
Shipping downriver in my barge.
You interested? That we are.
Tomorrow.
I'll send my workers away.
Meet me at the factory with the goods.
Little Jimmy Green.
Done good.
We knew it wasn't so.
What wasn't? Well, what everyone says about you.
Well, Jimmy Green! There he is.
How the hell are you? Not bad, Hayward, under the circumstances.
I heard about your father.
It's a tough break.
Talk to someone on your side about getting him out.
I've had no luck.
Well, you're the man of the house as long as he's in the pen, so it's up to you, really.
How's that? All they want's a signature from the man in charge of the family.
Sign it for him.
He'll be free.
We went to school together, played together.
And now look at you in that uniform.
You think this all will be forgotten, that everything will be good for your family after this is done? Greens aren't traitors.
Greens don't capitulate.
That's not who we are! Give my regards to your sister.
I'm only saying Your father's not getting any younger in there.
It has all come to naught.
Emma's filled with passionate outrage.
Jimmy Junior is nowhere to be found.
Even our Alice has turned gloomy and impertinent.
She stormed out on me in a fury.
My dear we are unraveling without you, James.
We are in disarray.
This is all temporary, I assure you.
The tide of war is in our favor.
Jeff Davis will march on Alexandria, and I will I will be free, free to go about my business with my family at my side, proudly.
I fear by then your family will be broken.
What would you have me do? Sign it.
Sign the oath and come home.
Please.
Sign it.
I cannot.
Then we are lost.
You fool! I told you no smoking near the barrels.
It's time.
We got to start moving those things into the hospital.
Do you think father will get out of jail soon? I sure hope so.
If there was something more I could do, I certainly would.
Oh, I knows it.
He knows it, too, 'cause that's the woman you is now.
If the chance come, you gonna take it.
More and more Negroes headed north, I hear.
Do you ever think about leaving us, going someplace else? Well, this been home so long.
Hard to leaving now.
Good.
Because we'd miss you so terribly.
Did you or did you not instruct Bullen to sell the chloroform? Sell? That is h-hardly the point.
Well, I believe it is.
The point has to do with the methods of practicing medicine which are espoused by individual doctors Please, Hale.
and whether or not anyone, even the executive officer, - has the right to enforce practices - He does because I say he does! based on theories which are not universally held! The man is a martinet! What in God's name is wrong with you, Hale? I have no idea what happened to your chloroform.
Then you and Bullen need to get your stories straight.
In the meantime, I intend to find a suitable replacement for you.
Ah, you see, sir? A martinet.
Now, now, Foster a doctor who understands scientific medicine, who sees that anesthetic is not a luxury, but a necessity.
There's no room in this war for doctors like you.
That's n what do you - Oh, you can't mean - Adjust your outlook.
Make amends.
You may be able to save your job.
There's nothing else to say.
Fully loaded, boys.
You got vision, Green.
Be awful useful down where the fight is.
I have obligations here.
Smart, rich, devoted to the cause we could use more like you.
We'll be at the landing at 9:00 tonight, after dark, loading up these treasure chests.
You want to join the fight, you meet us there.
Your family will understand.
Hell, they'll see you as a hero.
Frank, what are you doing? I need to see you.
After the way you spoke with me the other day? I'm sorry for that.
I am.
Will you meet me today at our spot, say, 4:00? I usually stay here until all the men are settled in for the night.
It must be 4:00.
By the tree, please.
You cannot be late.
Are you all right? Why, yes, of course, only I-I miss you, and I need to see you.
But I if you care about me, Emma Green, you will not make me beg.
Promise? I promise.
Now I have some things I need to take care of, starting downstairs, some supplies I need for the dental office.
From our kitchens? 4:00.
Don't be late.
They won't let me in anymore.
They've changed the rules.
You're a good boy, Jimmy.
They say this place is haunted.
I never took stock in such talk, but I think it's true.
At night, you can hear the voices and sometimes the whips cracking.
It's only dreams, Father.
Maybe God thinks it's a sin, slavery.
Maybe we're paying penance now.
It seems that way at times.
It's like we're being punished.
Progress is being made.
McClellan's in retreat.
He's beating it back to Harrison's landing.
Good.
That's good.
And, father, come closer.
I'm working with some men who are expert in aiding the cause spies.
We're smuggling goods for our boys inside of Green family coffins.
I intend to go down with them tonight to help put an end to this damn war once and are you a fool? You'll only make a mess of things, Jimmy.
They are impressed with me.
They're using you.
They want me to fight with them.
Your job is here with the family.
For once in your life, son, rise to the occasion.
What I do with these men could help turn the war in our favor at long last.
Maybe then you will be proud of me.
This puts us right under the lobby.
Quiet! Abel?! Abel?! Abel, you down here?! What in hell's this all a Keep going.
They'll be here soon.
How is he? At least the pain has passed.
You've done right by this man.
I can't just leave him.
You mustn't let yourself be so affected.
I can't! I sent a telegram to his wife.
I implored her to come.
Pardon me.
They's all lining up outside.
Yes.
He's on his way.
I's obliged, nurse Mary, for the mayflower a-and the lady in Boston.
I'm glad they could be of use to you.
Y-you hear any word of Samuel? I'm sorry.
I haven't.
Well, i-if you do, please tell him where he can find me, i-if he wishes it.
Godspeed to you.
Mr.
Bullen? Ain't seen him.
Everybody's getting ready for the visit.
Mr.
Bullen? I come for my pay.
I's owed three weeks worth.
Help.
Help.
Help? Like you was gonna help me? What I'm owed no more, no less.
I don't know how you came to be like this.
All I know is the Lord, he work in mysterious ways.
Will Mama be here, Grammy? Not much further.
Come on.
I was wondering if you might be feeling as firm and articulate today as you were the other day when we spoke.
If you were, say, to find yourself before president Lincoln himself I doubt he'd speak to someone like me.
Oh, on the contrary.
He might invite it.
I must run out for an engagement that can't be missed.
And miss this opportunity? H-he's a fair-minded man.
He may be your best chance of getting your father out of jail.
Senior staff, line up now.
Quickly! - They have it in for me.
- Foster.
The jig is up.
I'll have to go serve on the front - where the fighting is.
- There, there, Byron.
We'll find a way to right this ship.
Mother.
What's happened? Your father he's being moved to the old capitol prison.
I fear we shall never see him again.
Aurelia? Mama? Aurelia? Sign there.
I, Alice Felicity Green, vow allegiance to the knights of the golden circle and to the government that will be formed in a golden crescent of slave-owning territories made from the confederate states and circling the Gulf of Mexico.
Aurelia! We're here! Aurelia! Mama! Mama! This is your moment.
You're missing the party.
He won't be long now.
Philip? Addy you came.
Philip, it's I dreamt you would.
You got no idea how much I missed you.
Got too much to bear, to never see you again To die here, alone, without my lovely You will not be alone.
You did all you could.