Lovecraft Country (2020) s01e07 Episode Script
I Am.
1
[gentle music playing distantly]
[tense music]
Come on, light up.
[groans]
Goddamn it!
Mama!
Pumpkin, I asked you to stay in the car.
Mama, I don't think
we're supposed to be here.
What does this have
to do with Pop's death?
He was here.
[sighs]
I'm sorry.
I just can't figure it out.
They need to tilt based on
how they rotate on their axis.
[curious music]
[soft chime]
[sweeping music]
[liquid bubbling]
Did you kill them?
No, they were already dead.
I just transformed
their blood into a potion.
- [exhales deeply]
- Ruby, it's okay.
You have been lying
to me this entire time.
Nothing that has happened
since I met William
shit, you has been real.
What you know of William is true.
Captain Lancaster did try to kill him,
and in fact he succeeded.
So this has
this has been about
revenge for your dead lover?
Yes.
I want revenge for William.
But I want so many other things too.
[scoffs]
Just listen, please. Please.
My father was a leader in
the Order of Ancient Dawn.
What the hell is that?
It's a group of powerful
men who wield magic.
They don't allow women to join.
I begged my father to teach
me anyway, but he refused.
I sought William out to seduce
him into being my teacher,
to prove I could be better than the son
my father wished he had, but
the more William taught me,
the more I realized how silly it was
to limit my pursuit of magic
around impressing my father.
William's spell, which I completed,
was the beginning of bigger ambitions.
I could be so much more.
Do things most people
couldn't even imagine.
Like fuck me.
As a man.
I never lied to you.
The words may have
come out of William's mouth,
but they were mine.
I wanna know everything.
Right now.
No more secrets, no more half-truths.
Every fucking thing.
The whole truth involves lost pages
from the Book of Names and your family.
[dramatic music]
[screaming]
[breathing heavily]
[bell dings]
You been up here all night?
I translated about half the pages.
The ceremony at Ardham was complicated.
They had this symbol,
written in chalk all over the lab,
which makes me think it's important.
And then they had all these
weird mechanical elements
I-I've never seen before.
It's not as simple as
just saying the words.
Titus and Samuel and that entire lodge
spent decades studying this stuff,
and they all died in failed
attempts at casting these spells.
Not you.
Not Hanna.
She managed to escape the fire,
ran right out the front door.
How you know she ran out the front?
[curious music]
[sighs] I don't, not really.
This'll probably sound crazy, but
I think I had a dream
about her this morning.
Were you in the lodge
while it burned around you?
I might've had the same dream.
Uh, Hanna's standing in the doorway.
I felt like I'd been
chasing after her, and I'm
What?
You're what?
I'm, um, not scared.
Even though the house
is burning around me.
How are we having the same dream?
I think Hanna might be
trying to tell us something.
Warn us maybe.
But I can never hear her. Could you?
She doesn't say anything in mine.
She's just standing in a doorway
smiling with that book.
What book?
All the things to take
when you're pregnant
and running out of your
master's burning house,
and you stop to grab a
The Book of Names.
No, it can't be.
If Hanna escaped with the book,
wouldn't there be magic in your family?
I barely know anything
about my mama's side.
She's the only one who
survived the riots in Tulsa.
[exhales deeply]
If the Book of Names is still out there,
that's not just some more spells.
That's instructions on how to cast them.
Christina's going after the pages.
We gonna get the whole damn book.
Listen to me, honey, listen to me
I, I need your lovin' oh, can't you see
-Let's do it -Let's do it
-Let's do it -Let's do it
-Do it, do it -Let's do it
Let's do it
Ah, baby, let's make some love
Baby, let's make some love
Oh, come on, baby Love me tonight.
Well, good morning.
Morning.
I figured since I spent the night,
I could at least make breakfast.
No, what you figured,
since this was the first
time I let you spend the night,
you would make a big old
production out of breakfast.
Drop the needle in that record for me.
- Yes, sir.
- [chuckles]
[soft vocalizing]
There's nothing in your
cabinets but whiskey,
so I went to the store.
On the way, I ran into this woman
with this cute little African scarf.
Would you believe, she said
she got it at Marshall Field's.
[laughs]
I ain't never seen not one colored
go into that store.
That was Bernice.
My neighbor.
It was at the bus stop.
She didn't see me come in or out of here.
What's this, pork?
I don't eat pork.
They ain't have no beef
sausage down there?
The Queen of Sheba
herself don't eat beef sausage.
When'd you get off of pork?
Why are these grits so runny, Sammy?
I-I like my grits firm.
You you know this.
What you gonna moan about
next, that the coffee is too wet?
Too much sugar in it.
Why is it that every time you
feel like we're getting too close,
you make it a point to show
me you don't care about me?
Did I say that, Sammy?
Don't put no goddamn words in my mouth.
No, I'm not gonna let you
play me crazy this round.
Hey, Sammy.
Wait. I'm sorry.
[softly] Excuse me.
So it is true.
You are a faggot.
I'm still your goddamn daddy!
And you'll respect me!
Get outta here!
You get out!
Don't you ever call me
out of my fucking name!
Did Mama know?
Yes.
[somber music]
Why y'all come here?
[huffs]
[grunts]
[breathing heavily]
I, uh
I asked him how he found
out about your mama's family.
He said she had a cousin
that survived the riots too.
He tracked a friend of
hers down in St. Louis.
We get Woody, yeah?
It's only a three-hour drive.
Okay, yeah.
He said he had to whup
my ass so I wouldn't be soft.
[chuckles]
That's not the real fucked-up part.
The fucked-up part is
I told myself it was
because he cared about me.
Wasn't never about me.
He was beatin' my ass, whuppin' my ass,
beatin' my ass 'cause he's a
[ragtime music playing]
Thank you for babysitting, Ruby.
- I know it was last-minute.
- No, it's no big deal.
I had to get out of the place I
was staying for a bit anyway.
Dee, you ready to go over the checklist?
It's all there.
Don't need to go through
this stupid checklist.
This was a tradition with her father.
Checklist topped off by a
travel comic for the road.
Well, I'll get her to
invite some friends over,
have a party while Mom is away.
Pick up her spirits.
All right.
Thank you, Ruby.
[engine starts]
Hey, Aunt Hippolyta, you
heading out some place?
A guide trip.
We were hoping we could
borrow Woody for a day or two.
Well, obviously you can't.
- It's important.
- So is my trip.
We just sent out a new print,
and Uncle George would not
want you driving around here
Did George put you in charge of the guide
before that sheriff you say shot him?
No.
Then I sure as hell don't
need your permission
to do guide work.
Back up.
[tires squeal]
Looks like we're taking
the bus to St. Louis.
Shit, yeah.
If we leave now and get to
the house and pack a bag,
we can maybe get there on time.
Yeah.
Or I can go by myself,
if you want to stay,
talk to your sister.
[children playing distantly]
So where have you been staying?
How many days after I moved out
did you start to care?
Ruby.
Things have just gotten
away from me a little bit lately.
Do tell.
Doesn't matter. It's no excuse.
Our last fight was one of our worst,
and it was my fault.
I should have told you about
the money coming from Mama.
All these time I've spent
thinking about all the
things I hated about her,
it never occurred to me that
I could actually become her.
I may not be a hustler like her,
but I tried to hustle you.
For that I'm sorry.
[gentle music]
I never heard Mama
apologize in all her life.
So maybe y'all aren't exactly the same.
[upbeat music]
[singing in French]
[singing along in French]
Hi.
Ah.
Let me get you some more
macaroni and cheese, baby.
[chuckles]
Excuse me.
- Ms. Osberta.
- Hmm?
How'd you know my cousin Ethel?
Our husbands served on the deacon board
at First Baptist Church.
Sherman and I were married for 30 years.
So y'all met at church
and just stayed friends?
Mm-hmm, yes, oh, yes. [chuckles]
Not long after Sherman went on to glory,
Ethel's husband passed too.
It was hard,
and we just didn't want to be
two lonely widows anymore.
So one day Ethel said to me, "Bertie"
That's what she always called me
said, "Hey, Bertie, I
don't know what's left
for two old gals like us,
but this sure ain't it."
[both chuckle]
But you asking about
your mama's people, huh?
Lord, Ethel loved to talk about them.
They were so close growing up. So close.
She ever
say anything about the Book of Names?
I don't recall that. Oh, wait.
You know, I do think there
was some kind of family book,
but from the way Ethel talked about it,
I thought it was something
like a photo album.
Mm-hmm.
Or a family Bible or something like that.
That might be it.
I've been trying to track it down.
I was wondering, did she
tell you anything about it?
I'm sorry.
It's gone, baby. It's gone.
Those white folks burned up everything
in the massacre.
You ever saw a photo
of your cousin Ethel?
No, ma'am.
Well, let me get that photo album then.
Uh-uh, don't get up. Don't get up.
[suspenseful music]
[laughter]
- That's ten.
- Ooh!
Y'all didn't even make board.
When's Bobo coming back?
'Cause he know how to play.
Damn, I can't concentrate. I'm hungry.
- Mm-hmm.
- When's dinner?
Let me check.
Don't want you two to have any excuses
next time we kick your asses.
[laughter]
Don't you dare ask me
when dinner's gonna be ready.
All right, fine. [chuckles]
But you you never told me
where you've been staying.
I'm still on the North Side.
Hmm. With a white man, then?
Seems to me you oughta be
concerned with your own love life.
Your boyfriend paying you rent yet?
'Cause Atticus seems to be the only
man from the South Side without a job.
So what does he do to keep himself busy?
Oh, he's a big help around the house.
That house needs as
much help as possible.
[laughs]
It looked like you and Mr. Fix-It
were trying to hit the road earlier.
Tic just had family
business in St. Louis.
Why didn't you go?
Because I had my own
family business here.
- [scoffs]
- What?
Get over here. Taste this.
Tell me what it's missing.
Ooh.
What's in there, garlic?
What is wrong with
You love garlic!
I might be developing some
of your allergies or something.
That or you're pregnant
with Junior Mr. Fix-It.
[distant laughter]
[uneasy music]
Oh, Jesus.
Oh, that's the church's woman's
retreat I was telling you about.
Guess who that is.
[phone rings]
Who could that be at this hour?
[ringing continues]
[ominous music]
Hello?
One moment.
For you, baby.
Hello?
Hippolyta's had Hiram's
orrery the entire time.
She must've taken it from the house.
How you know that?
I'm looking right at the damn thing.
It has, like, a set of coordinates
engraved in the top.
The way she was acting earlier,
I think she knows we lied
to her about Uncle George.
Shit.
[dramatic music]
She ain't on a guide trip.
If she's going where
this thing's leading her,
she's in danger.
[dramatic music]
[machine whirrs]
[machine winds down]
[mysterious music]
[energy pulsating]
Mass, rotation, velocity, and radius.
Mass, rotation, velocity, and radius.
The length of time it
takes for each planet
to travel around two suns.
433, 124
[wondrous music]
[loud bang]
Captain Lancaster appreciates it a lot,
keeping an eye on this place.
Hey, sir, what makes
this machine so special?
How the hell did it get turned on?
[dramatic music]
Over there. Let's go.
Speak up, gal! Who are you?
Sir, I-I just got lost on the road.
Don't lie to me.
How'd you know how to turn this thing on?
[loud bang]
Larry, is that you?
- Atticus!
- [gunshot]
-Oh, shit.
No!
[gunshot]
[dramatic music]
[screams]
[soft whooshing]
[screams]
[otherworldly music]
Tic?
Atticus?
[bright chimes]
[disquieting music]
[exhales deeply]
[gasps]
[mysterious whirring]
Who are you?
What are you?
I am.
Where am I?
What are these things in my arms?
You can't keep me here.
You are not in a prison.
No, no! No, let me out!
Let me out! Let me out!
Somebody help me!
Somebody! Somebody help me!
Salt in the air on the beach.
Sufficient oxygen.
I didn't get dizzy when
I wasn't in the ship.
Is it a ship? Am I on another planet?
The sand was strangely springy.
No, I was lighter.
Not like Orithyia Blue on Mars,
but just enough to feel it in my tendons.
Gravity turned down just a notch.
Come on, come on.
What would Dad say?
Gustav Mie.
He warned of gravity
shifts in the future.
There's no known
planet with sustainability.
Was she human?
Sixty-four number settings.
From zero, zero, zero to 999.
[wondrous music]
Makes the total possible combinations
[grunts]
[gasps]
Ten to the 192nd
power.
Sixty-three trillion
celestial
panoramas.
[yells]
[dramatic music]
[yells]
[electronic whooshing]
Let me go!
You are not in a prison.
Where do you want to be?
[groans]
Name yourself.
[laughs]
Name yourself.
What the fuck are you talking about?
Where do you want to be?
Name it. Who do you want to be?
Name it. Name it.
I want to be dancing on stage in Paris
with Josephine Baker.
Go. Go.
[jazz music playing]
Ahh. Ah.
Presenting Miss Josephine Baker!
[cheers and applause]
[applause]
[whistling, applause]
Stop your gawking and do the moves.
[applause]
[crowd whistling]
[cheers and applause]
See, go!
[crowd shouting, applause]
We rehearse for 12-hour
days, and for what?
You make us all look bad.
The manager must stop
with the American girls.
They always make us look bad.
And this one's the worst.
Clearly not ready for the big time.
You ought to take your ass
back to wherever you came from.
Listen, chert!
Chert.
Now, we've all had those nights, even me.
Lord, you should've seen my ass
back at Old Chauffeur's in St. Louis.
But you've got to come correct tomorrow.
Now, here's the step. [scatting]
[giggling] Yes.
You're not in America anymore.
You've got to loosen up.
[scatting]
[gasps]
Loosen up.
["Lady Marmalade"
by Patti Labette playing]
Hey sister, go sister
Soul sister, go sister
Hey sister, go sister
Soul sister, go sister
He met Marmalade down in old New Orleans
Struttin' her stuff on the street
She said, hello, hey Joe
You wanna give it a go?
Mm-hmm, gitchi gitchi, ya ya, dada
Gitchi, gitchi ya ya here
Mocca chocolata ya ya
Creole Lady Marmalade
[applause]
Salud.
Got a match?
Oh.
Hmm.
Got that look again.
Nights like this, I burn
so bright, I feel like a star.
You are a star.
No, no, chert, not like a movie star.
Anyone can be that.
Me, I feel like the stars
in the black of space
magnificent, ancient,
and already extinguished.
Most of the girls never
notice when I get like this.
You know just where to look.
You've found that same
thing in yourself, haven't you?
Being here has only shined the light
on that old dead feeling.
Hmm.
They don't call it the
City of Lights for nothing.
Now that I'm tasting it
freedom
Like I've never known before,
I see what I was robbed of back then.
All those years,
I thought I had everything I ever wanted,
only to come here and
discover that all I ever was
was the exact kind of Negro woman
white folks wanted me to be.
I feel like they just found
a smart way to lynch me
without me noticing the noose.
Don't it just make you angry?
Furious.
Sometimes, I just
I want to kill white folks.
And it's not just them.
I hate me.
Hate me
for letting them make me feel small.
And I hate
Who else do you hate?
So
Miss Hippolyta,
what are you gon' do with all that anger?
I am Hippolyta.
I am Hippolyta.
I am Hippolyta!
[whooshing]
[screaming]
All that screaming won't save you now.
You're not making a baby.
You're in a fucking fight.
[breathing heavily]
[yelling]
When you fall to the ground in defeat,
you may find yourself
asking, "Why am I here?
Why should I bother
getting up when I know Nawi
is a great warrior, and I cannot win?"
Well, I will tell you why you're here
and why you must get up.
You are here because
you did not believe them.
Your whole life, they
told you you were free,
and when they said that,
they meant you were free
to cook their food,
free to raise children,
their children, free to work for them.
They even lied to you and told you
you were free to run the world.
[groans]
But it is still their world.
You are here because you knew
that all they offer was the freedom
that a well-kept slave
could ever ask for.
Now, I cannot tell you
what true freedom is.
You have got to find that for yourself.
But today, you are still
too afraid to go looking.
But I, Nawi, will strip that fear away
one blow at a time.
Now get the fuck up!
[all grunting]
And raise your sword!
[yelling]
[inaudible]
[both grunting]
[triumphant music]
[fighters pounding spears, chanting]
["Fire" by Mother's Finest playing]
[all yelling]
You can run to the jungle
You can't hide
Run to the mountain
Oh, you can't hide
Run to the sea, yeah
You can't hide
Brother man we gotta
be free now from the fire
From the fire
From the fire Fire
Fire
Well, you better be careful
'bout the things you do
'Cause somebody's watching
[vocalizing]
[grunts]
We are here
because we did not believe them
when they told us
our rage was not ladylike.
We did not believe them
when they said our violence goes too far.
We did not believe them when they said
the hatred that we feel for
our enemies is not godlike.
They say that to women like us
because they know what
happens when we are free,
free to hate when we must,
free to kill when we must,
free to bring destruction when we must.
That is our freedom, that is our prayer,
no matter what they think of us
after we grind them into the dust.
That is our love!
[all cheering]
[sweeping music]
[soldiers yelling]
I am Hippolyta.
George's wife.
[swords clashing]
[gentle music]
[whooshing]
What are you looking at, George Freeman?
My wife.
But it was when I was trying to escape
that white room I told you about
that I realized that it
wasn't another planet at all,
and it wasn't a time machine.
Remember, I read you
some of that one article
- about the many worlds.
- Mm-hmm.
That's when I knew that the equations
in the many worlds
theory had to be accurate.
I certainly thought they
might be before, but never,
never could I have
imagined anything like this.
Baby, a world
where I can name myself anything.
So is is this real then?
If you're on another planet Earth,
am I still here right right now?
I don't know what
exactly it all means.
But
God, it feels real.
- That's what matters.
- Yes.
And after all your adventures,
everything you saw,
you still named yourself my wife.
[gentle music]
What's wrong?
I think now I can name
this thing that's been
eating at me quietly, so quiet.
Sometimes, I thought I was tired,
Sad, or
missing you when you
were out on the road,
but really, I was
I was angry.
So angry.
Because for so much of my life,
I've been shrinking.
When I was a kid, I
thought I was big enough
to have every right to name
something out of this world,
and then I just started shrinking myself.
By the time I met you,
I'd already gotten so small.
And I thought you knew
how big I wanted to be.
I thought you saw me.
But you just stood by
and let me shrink myself more for you.
Hey, uh, Hippolyta
Hippolyta, why didn't you
you tell me you felt this way?
I tried.
I tried so many times.
I tried. You you had to see that.
May-maybe I did, but I-I-I
I fell in love with you
because you were so curious,
and I knew deep down
inside, there was a
there was a discoverer in you, but
[pensive music]
You're right.
I let you,
helped you shrink
so we could have a family,
so that I could go
and do what I had to do
and know that you were
safe at home, waiting for me.
I'm so sorry.
I see now what that cost you.
[tender music]
I see you now,
Hippolyta Freeman.
And I want you to be
as big as you can be.
I am Hippolyta.
Discoverer.
[otherworldly music]
[whooshing]
I'm not real. I'm just like you.
You don't exist in this society.
[aliens chirruping]
If you did, your people wouldn't be
seeking equal rights.
You're not real.
If you were, you'd have some status
among the nations of the world.
[beeping]
So we're both myths.
I do not come to you as a reality.
I come to you as the myth.
[warm music]
Because that's what Black people are.
Myths.
I got curious.
Now that you've named yourself,
we can fully integrate
you into our society.
You no longer need the
devices on your wrists.
Is the change permanent?
Yes.
And if I don't change,
can I go back through that portal
that brought me here, back home?
Yes, we can send you back to your Earth.
Home.
Feels like the wrong word.
How can I fit in everything
that I am now
into that place?
That Hippolyta.
She was so small.
But Dee
She needs me.
Hmm.
[whooshing]
[wondrous music]
[grunting, gasping]
Aunt Hippolyta?
[distant siren wailing]
Aunt Hippolyta?
[siren approaching]
Come on!
[siren wailing]
[dramatic music]
[siren growing louder]
[Alice Smith's "Sinnerman" playing]
Oh, Sinnerman
Where you gonna run to
Sinnerman
Where you gonna run to
Sinnerman
Where you gonna run to
All on that day
Well, I run to the rock
Please hide me
I run to the rock
Please hide me
I run to the rock
Please hide me
All on that day
But the rock cried out
"I can't hide you"
The rock cried out
"I can't hide you"
The rock cried out
"I ain't gonna hide you"
All on that day
"I said," Rock
"What's the matter with you, Rock
Can't you see I need you, Rock"
Devil was waiting
All on that day
Power
Power
I cried power
I cried power
I cried power
I cried power
[gentle music playing distantly]
[tense music]
Come on, light up.
[groans]
Goddamn it!
Mama!
Pumpkin, I asked you to stay in the car.
Mama, I don't think
we're supposed to be here.
What does this have
to do with Pop's death?
He was here.
[sighs]
I'm sorry.
I just can't figure it out.
They need to tilt based on
how they rotate on their axis.
[curious music]
[soft chime]
[sweeping music]
[liquid bubbling]
Did you kill them?
No, they were already dead.
I just transformed
their blood into a potion.
- [exhales deeply]
- Ruby, it's okay.
You have been lying
to me this entire time.
Nothing that has happened
since I met William
shit, you has been real.
What you know of William is true.
Captain Lancaster did try to kill him,
and in fact he succeeded.
So this has
this has been about
revenge for your dead lover?
Yes.
I want revenge for William.
But I want so many other things too.
[scoffs]
Just listen, please. Please.
My father was a leader in
the Order of Ancient Dawn.
What the hell is that?
It's a group of powerful
men who wield magic.
They don't allow women to join.
I begged my father to teach
me anyway, but he refused.
I sought William out to seduce
him into being my teacher,
to prove I could be better than the son
my father wished he had, but
the more William taught me,
the more I realized how silly it was
to limit my pursuit of magic
around impressing my father.
William's spell, which I completed,
was the beginning of bigger ambitions.
I could be so much more.
Do things most people
couldn't even imagine.
Like fuck me.
As a man.
I never lied to you.
The words may have
come out of William's mouth,
but they were mine.
I wanna know everything.
Right now.
No more secrets, no more half-truths.
Every fucking thing.
The whole truth involves lost pages
from the Book of Names and your family.
[dramatic music]
[screaming]
[breathing heavily]
[bell dings]
You been up here all night?
I translated about half the pages.
The ceremony at Ardham was complicated.
They had this symbol,
written in chalk all over the lab,
which makes me think it's important.
And then they had all these
weird mechanical elements
I-I've never seen before.
It's not as simple as
just saying the words.
Titus and Samuel and that entire lodge
spent decades studying this stuff,
and they all died in failed
attempts at casting these spells.
Not you.
Not Hanna.
She managed to escape the fire,
ran right out the front door.
How you know she ran out the front?
[curious music]
[sighs] I don't, not really.
This'll probably sound crazy, but
I think I had a dream
about her this morning.
Were you in the lodge
while it burned around you?
I might've had the same dream.
Uh, Hanna's standing in the doorway.
I felt like I'd been
chasing after her, and I'm
What?
You're what?
I'm, um, not scared.
Even though the house
is burning around me.
How are we having the same dream?
I think Hanna might be
trying to tell us something.
Warn us maybe.
But I can never hear her. Could you?
She doesn't say anything in mine.
She's just standing in a doorway
smiling with that book.
What book?
All the things to take
when you're pregnant
and running out of your
master's burning house,
and you stop to grab a
The Book of Names.
No, it can't be.
If Hanna escaped with the book,
wouldn't there be magic in your family?
I barely know anything
about my mama's side.
She's the only one who
survived the riots in Tulsa.
[exhales deeply]
If the Book of Names is still out there,
that's not just some more spells.
That's instructions on how to cast them.
Christina's going after the pages.
We gonna get the whole damn book.
Listen to me, honey, listen to me
I, I need your lovin' oh, can't you see
-Let's do it -Let's do it
-Let's do it -Let's do it
-Do it, do it -Let's do it
Let's do it
Ah, baby, let's make some love
Baby, let's make some love
Oh, come on, baby Love me tonight.
Well, good morning.
Morning.
I figured since I spent the night,
I could at least make breakfast.
No, what you figured,
since this was the first
time I let you spend the night,
you would make a big old
production out of breakfast.
Drop the needle in that record for me.
- Yes, sir.
- [chuckles]
[soft vocalizing]
There's nothing in your
cabinets but whiskey,
so I went to the store.
On the way, I ran into this woman
with this cute little African scarf.
Would you believe, she said
she got it at Marshall Field's.
[laughs]
I ain't never seen not one colored
go into that store.
That was Bernice.
My neighbor.
It was at the bus stop.
She didn't see me come in or out of here.
What's this, pork?
I don't eat pork.
They ain't have no beef
sausage down there?
The Queen of Sheba
herself don't eat beef sausage.
When'd you get off of pork?
Why are these grits so runny, Sammy?
I-I like my grits firm.
You you know this.
What you gonna moan about
next, that the coffee is too wet?
Too much sugar in it.
Why is it that every time you
feel like we're getting too close,
you make it a point to show
me you don't care about me?
Did I say that, Sammy?
Don't put no goddamn words in my mouth.
No, I'm not gonna let you
play me crazy this round.
Hey, Sammy.
Wait. I'm sorry.
[softly] Excuse me.
So it is true.
You are a faggot.
I'm still your goddamn daddy!
And you'll respect me!
Get outta here!
You get out!
Don't you ever call me
out of my fucking name!
Did Mama know?
Yes.
[somber music]
Why y'all come here?
[huffs]
[grunts]
[breathing heavily]
I, uh
I asked him how he found
out about your mama's family.
He said she had a cousin
that survived the riots too.
He tracked a friend of
hers down in St. Louis.
We get Woody, yeah?
It's only a three-hour drive.
Okay, yeah.
He said he had to whup
my ass so I wouldn't be soft.
[chuckles]
That's not the real fucked-up part.
The fucked-up part is
I told myself it was
because he cared about me.
Wasn't never about me.
He was beatin' my ass, whuppin' my ass,
beatin' my ass 'cause he's a
[ragtime music playing]
Thank you for babysitting, Ruby.
- I know it was last-minute.
- No, it's no big deal.
I had to get out of the place I
was staying for a bit anyway.
Dee, you ready to go over the checklist?
It's all there.
Don't need to go through
this stupid checklist.
This was a tradition with her father.
Checklist topped off by a
travel comic for the road.
Well, I'll get her to
invite some friends over,
have a party while Mom is away.
Pick up her spirits.
All right.
Thank you, Ruby.
[engine starts]
Hey, Aunt Hippolyta, you
heading out some place?
A guide trip.
We were hoping we could
borrow Woody for a day or two.
Well, obviously you can't.
- It's important.
- So is my trip.
We just sent out a new print,
and Uncle George would not
want you driving around here
Did George put you in charge of the guide
before that sheriff you say shot him?
No.
Then I sure as hell don't
need your permission
to do guide work.
Back up.
[tires squeal]
Looks like we're taking
the bus to St. Louis.
Shit, yeah.
If we leave now and get to
the house and pack a bag,
we can maybe get there on time.
Yeah.
Or I can go by myself,
if you want to stay,
talk to your sister.
[children playing distantly]
So where have you been staying?
How many days after I moved out
did you start to care?
Ruby.
Things have just gotten
away from me a little bit lately.
Do tell.
Doesn't matter. It's no excuse.
Our last fight was one of our worst,
and it was my fault.
I should have told you about
the money coming from Mama.
All these time I've spent
thinking about all the
things I hated about her,
it never occurred to me that
I could actually become her.
I may not be a hustler like her,
but I tried to hustle you.
For that I'm sorry.
[gentle music]
I never heard Mama
apologize in all her life.
So maybe y'all aren't exactly the same.
[upbeat music]
[singing in French]
[singing along in French]
Hi.
Ah.
Let me get you some more
macaroni and cheese, baby.
[chuckles]
Excuse me.
- Ms. Osberta.
- Hmm?
How'd you know my cousin Ethel?
Our husbands served on the deacon board
at First Baptist Church.
Sherman and I were married for 30 years.
So y'all met at church
and just stayed friends?
Mm-hmm, yes, oh, yes. [chuckles]
Not long after Sherman went on to glory,
Ethel's husband passed too.
It was hard,
and we just didn't want to be
two lonely widows anymore.
So one day Ethel said to me, "Bertie"
That's what she always called me
said, "Hey, Bertie, I
don't know what's left
for two old gals like us,
but this sure ain't it."
[both chuckle]
But you asking about
your mama's people, huh?
Lord, Ethel loved to talk about them.
They were so close growing up. So close.
She ever
say anything about the Book of Names?
I don't recall that. Oh, wait.
You know, I do think there
was some kind of family book,
but from the way Ethel talked about it,
I thought it was something
like a photo album.
Mm-hmm.
Or a family Bible or something like that.
That might be it.
I've been trying to track it down.
I was wondering, did she
tell you anything about it?
I'm sorry.
It's gone, baby. It's gone.
Those white folks burned up everything
in the massacre.
You ever saw a photo
of your cousin Ethel?
No, ma'am.
Well, let me get that photo album then.
Uh-uh, don't get up. Don't get up.
[suspenseful music]
[laughter]
- That's ten.
- Ooh!
Y'all didn't even make board.
When's Bobo coming back?
'Cause he know how to play.
Damn, I can't concentrate. I'm hungry.
- Mm-hmm.
- When's dinner?
Let me check.
Don't want you two to have any excuses
next time we kick your asses.
[laughter]
Don't you dare ask me
when dinner's gonna be ready.
All right, fine. [chuckles]
But you you never told me
where you've been staying.
I'm still on the North Side.
Hmm. With a white man, then?
Seems to me you oughta be
concerned with your own love life.
Your boyfriend paying you rent yet?
'Cause Atticus seems to be the only
man from the South Side without a job.
So what does he do to keep himself busy?
Oh, he's a big help around the house.
That house needs as
much help as possible.
[laughs]
It looked like you and Mr. Fix-It
were trying to hit the road earlier.
Tic just had family
business in St. Louis.
Why didn't you go?
Because I had my own
family business here.
- [scoffs]
- What?
Get over here. Taste this.
Tell me what it's missing.
Ooh.
What's in there, garlic?
What is wrong with
You love garlic!
I might be developing some
of your allergies or something.
That or you're pregnant
with Junior Mr. Fix-It.
[distant laughter]
[uneasy music]
Oh, Jesus.
Oh, that's the church's woman's
retreat I was telling you about.
Guess who that is.
[phone rings]
Who could that be at this hour?
[ringing continues]
[ominous music]
Hello?
One moment.
For you, baby.
Hello?
Hippolyta's had Hiram's
orrery the entire time.
She must've taken it from the house.
How you know that?
I'm looking right at the damn thing.
It has, like, a set of coordinates
engraved in the top.
The way she was acting earlier,
I think she knows we lied
to her about Uncle George.
Shit.
[dramatic music]
She ain't on a guide trip.
If she's going where
this thing's leading her,
she's in danger.
[dramatic music]
[machine whirrs]
[machine winds down]
[mysterious music]
[energy pulsating]
Mass, rotation, velocity, and radius.
Mass, rotation, velocity, and radius.
The length of time it
takes for each planet
to travel around two suns.
433, 124
[wondrous music]
[loud bang]
Captain Lancaster appreciates it a lot,
keeping an eye on this place.
Hey, sir, what makes
this machine so special?
How the hell did it get turned on?
[dramatic music]
Over there. Let's go.
Speak up, gal! Who are you?
Sir, I-I just got lost on the road.
Don't lie to me.
How'd you know how to turn this thing on?
[loud bang]
Larry, is that you?
- Atticus!
- [gunshot]
-Oh, shit.
No!
[gunshot]
[dramatic music]
[screams]
[soft whooshing]
[screams]
[otherworldly music]
Tic?
Atticus?
[bright chimes]
[disquieting music]
[exhales deeply]
[gasps]
[mysterious whirring]
Who are you?
What are you?
I am.
Where am I?
What are these things in my arms?
You can't keep me here.
You are not in a prison.
No, no! No, let me out!
Let me out! Let me out!
Somebody help me!
Somebody! Somebody help me!
Salt in the air on the beach.
Sufficient oxygen.
I didn't get dizzy when
I wasn't in the ship.
Is it a ship? Am I on another planet?
The sand was strangely springy.
No, I was lighter.
Not like Orithyia Blue on Mars,
but just enough to feel it in my tendons.
Gravity turned down just a notch.
Come on, come on.
What would Dad say?
Gustav Mie.
He warned of gravity
shifts in the future.
There's no known
planet with sustainability.
Was she human?
Sixty-four number settings.
From zero, zero, zero to 999.
[wondrous music]
Makes the total possible combinations
[grunts]
[gasps]
Ten to the 192nd
power.
Sixty-three trillion
celestial
panoramas.
[yells]
[dramatic music]
[yells]
[electronic whooshing]
Let me go!
You are not in a prison.
Where do you want to be?
[groans]
Name yourself.
[laughs]
Name yourself.
What the fuck are you talking about?
Where do you want to be?
Name it. Who do you want to be?
Name it. Name it.
I want to be dancing on stage in Paris
with Josephine Baker.
Go. Go.
[jazz music playing]
Ahh. Ah.
Presenting Miss Josephine Baker!
[cheers and applause]
[applause]
[whistling, applause]
Stop your gawking and do the moves.
[applause]
[crowd whistling]
[cheers and applause]
See, go!
[crowd shouting, applause]
We rehearse for 12-hour
days, and for what?
You make us all look bad.
The manager must stop
with the American girls.
They always make us look bad.
And this one's the worst.
Clearly not ready for the big time.
You ought to take your ass
back to wherever you came from.
Listen, chert!
Chert.
Now, we've all had those nights, even me.
Lord, you should've seen my ass
back at Old Chauffeur's in St. Louis.
But you've got to come correct tomorrow.
Now, here's the step. [scatting]
[giggling] Yes.
You're not in America anymore.
You've got to loosen up.
[scatting]
[gasps]
Loosen up.
["Lady Marmalade"
by Patti Labette playing]
Hey sister, go sister
Soul sister, go sister
Hey sister, go sister
Soul sister, go sister
He met Marmalade down in old New Orleans
Struttin' her stuff on the street
She said, hello, hey Joe
You wanna give it a go?
Mm-hmm, gitchi gitchi, ya ya, dada
Gitchi, gitchi ya ya here
Mocca chocolata ya ya
Creole Lady Marmalade
[applause]
Salud.
Got a match?
Oh.
Hmm.
Got that look again.
Nights like this, I burn
so bright, I feel like a star.
You are a star.
No, no, chert, not like a movie star.
Anyone can be that.
Me, I feel like the stars
in the black of space
magnificent, ancient,
and already extinguished.
Most of the girls never
notice when I get like this.
You know just where to look.
You've found that same
thing in yourself, haven't you?
Being here has only shined the light
on that old dead feeling.
Hmm.
They don't call it the
City of Lights for nothing.
Now that I'm tasting it
freedom
Like I've never known before,
I see what I was robbed of back then.
All those years,
I thought I had everything I ever wanted,
only to come here and
discover that all I ever was
was the exact kind of Negro woman
white folks wanted me to be.
I feel like they just found
a smart way to lynch me
without me noticing the noose.
Don't it just make you angry?
Furious.
Sometimes, I just
I want to kill white folks.
And it's not just them.
I hate me.
Hate me
for letting them make me feel small.
And I hate
Who else do you hate?
So
Miss Hippolyta,
what are you gon' do with all that anger?
I am Hippolyta.
I am Hippolyta.
I am Hippolyta!
[whooshing]
[screaming]
All that screaming won't save you now.
You're not making a baby.
You're in a fucking fight.
[breathing heavily]
[yelling]
When you fall to the ground in defeat,
you may find yourself
asking, "Why am I here?
Why should I bother
getting up when I know Nawi
is a great warrior, and I cannot win?"
Well, I will tell you why you're here
and why you must get up.
You are here because
you did not believe them.
Your whole life, they
told you you were free,
and when they said that,
they meant you were free
to cook their food,
free to raise children,
their children, free to work for them.
They even lied to you and told you
you were free to run the world.
[groans]
But it is still their world.
You are here because you knew
that all they offer was the freedom
that a well-kept slave
could ever ask for.
Now, I cannot tell you
what true freedom is.
You have got to find that for yourself.
But today, you are still
too afraid to go looking.
But I, Nawi, will strip that fear away
one blow at a time.
Now get the fuck up!
[all grunting]
And raise your sword!
[yelling]
[inaudible]
[both grunting]
[triumphant music]
[fighters pounding spears, chanting]
["Fire" by Mother's Finest playing]
[all yelling]
You can run to the jungle
You can't hide
Run to the mountain
Oh, you can't hide
Run to the sea, yeah
You can't hide
Brother man we gotta
be free now from the fire
From the fire
From the fire Fire
Fire
Well, you better be careful
'bout the things you do
'Cause somebody's watching
[vocalizing]
[grunts]
We are here
because we did not believe them
when they told us
our rage was not ladylike.
We did not believe them
when they said our violence goes too far.
We did not believe them when they said
the hatred that we feel for
our enemies is not godlike.
They say that to women like us
because they know what
happens when we are free,
free to hate when we must,
free to kill when we must,
free to bring destruction when we must.
That is our freedom, that is our prayer,
no matter what they think of us
after we grind them into the dust.
That is our love!
[all cheering]
[sweeping music]
[soldiers yelling]
I am Hippolyta.
George's wife.
[swords clashing]
[gentle music]
[whooshing]
What are you looking at, George Freeman?
My wife.
But it was when I was trying to escape
that white room I told you about
that I realized that it
wasn't another planet at all,
and it wasn't a time machine.
Remember, I read you
some of that one article
- about the many worlds.
- Mm-hmm.
That's when I knew that the equations
in the many worlds
theory had to be accurate.
I certainly thought they
might be before, but never,
never could I have
imagined anything like this.
Baby, a world
where I can name myself anything.
So is is this real then?
If you're on another planet Earth,
am I still here right right now?
I don't know what
exactly it all means.
But
God, it feels real.
- That's what matters.
- Yes.
And after all your adventures,
everything you saw,
you still named yourself my wife.
[gentle music]
What's wrong?
I think now I can name
this thing that's been
eating at me quietly, so quiet.
Sometimes, I thought I was tired,
Sad, or
missing you when you
were out on the road,
but really, I was
I was angry.
So angry.
Because for so much of my life,
I've been shrinking.
When I was a kid, I
thought I was big enough
to have every right to name
something out of this world,
and then I just started shrinking myself.
By the time I met you,
I'd already gotten so small.
And I thought you knew
how big I wanted to be.
I thought you saw me.
But you just stood by
and let me shrink myself more for you.
Hey, uh, Hippolyta
Hippolyta, why didn't you
you tell me you felt this way?
I tried.
I tried so many times.
I tried. You you had to see that.
May-maybe I did, but I-I-I
I fell in love with you
because you were so curious,
and I knew deep down
inside, there was a
there was a discoverer in you, but
[pensive music]
You're right.
I let you,
helped you shrink
so we could have a family,
so that I could go
and do what I had to do
and know that you were
safe at home, waiting for me.
I'm so sorry.
I see now what that cost you.
[tender music]
I see you now,
Hippolyta Freeman.
And I want you to be
as big as you can be.
I am Hippolyta.
Discoverer.
[otherworldly music]
[whooshing]
I'm not real. I'm just like you.
You don't exist in this society.
[aliens chirruping]
If you did, your people wouldn't be
seeking equal rights.
You're not real.
If you were, you'd have some status
among the nations of the world.
[beeping]
So we're both myths.
I do not come to you as a reality.
I come to you as the myth.
[warm music]
Because that's what Black people are.
Myths.
I got curious.
Now that you've named yourself,
we can fully integrate
you into our society.
You no longer need the
devices on your wrists.
Is the change permanent?
Yes.
And if I don't change,
can I go back through that portal
that brought me here, back home?
Yes, we can send you back to your Earth.
Home.
Feels like the wrong word.
How can I fit in everything
that I am now
into that place?
That Hippolyta.
She was so small.
But Dee
She needs me.
Hmm.
[whooshing]
[wondrous music]
[grunting, gasping]
Aunt Hippolyta?
[distant siren wailing]
Aunt Hippolyta?
[siren approaching]
Come on!
[siren wailing]
[dramatic music]
[siren growing louder]
[Alice Smith's "Sinnerman" playing]
Oh, Sinnerman
Where you gonna run to
Sinnerman
Where you gonna run to
Sinnerman
Where you gonna run to
All on that day
Well, I run to the rock
Please hide me
I run to the rock
Please hide me
I run to the rock
Please hide me
All on that day
But the rock cried out
"I can't hide you"
The rock cried out
"I can't hide you"
The rock cried out
"I ain't gonna hide you"
All on that day
"I said," Rock
"What's the matter with you, Rock
Can't you see I need you, Rock"
Devil was waiting
All on that day
Power
Power
I cried power
I cried power
I cried power
I cried power