Damnation (2017) s01e09 Episode Script

1 Previously on "Damnation" Hello, Connie, we're very happy to welcome you here.
Melvin Stubbs, Tanner Phillips These bastards are gonna shit their robes once it gets out in the Labor Bulletin.
They bring in uniform shipments from Woodbury County.
That's my father's company.
DL and I are going to Woodbury to see what's going on.
Show me where that black horse spreads her legs.
If your brother's doing something he shouldn't, I need to know.
Pa knows.
- I told him you were leaving.
- You told him? [GUNSHOT, WOMAN SCREAMS.]
What's going on here? I'm tired of Uncle Sherriff Don's shortcuts.
It's time for old-fashioned law and order.
Two agitators for the price of one.
String them up.
[TENSE MUSIC.]
[GRUNTS.]
See what you're making me do? Please.
Let them go.
We were just packing up and leaving.
We're not putting up a fight here.
Shut your damn mouth, preacher.
This is between me and him.
I worked every day to build you boys a life.
You think you just get to walk away for the first piece of ass to catch your eye? I don't want the life you've built.
That's not your choice to make.
Seth, what is he saying? Who is this man? I'm his father.
- No! - No, no, no! [SCREAMS.]
[GRUNTING.]
Go on, girl.
One shot.
Cynthia just pull back the hammer, take a breath, and pull the trigger.
[GUN CLICKS.]
I can't do it.
That's so-called Christians for you All talk and no action.
[BODY THUDS.]
[DISTORTED.]
Give the boy some room.
[BREATHES HEAVILY.]
I know what you're going through right now, son.
I felt it when I lost your mother.
But in the end, make you a stronger man.
Good! Get it out of your system! [GUN CLICKS.]
Why, you ungrate - [GUNSHOT.]
- [GRUNTS.]
Hell, son you're me all over again.
[GRUNTS LOUDLY.]
[GROANS.]
[BREATHING HEAVILY.]
[BREATHING HEAVILY.]
[SOMBER PIANO MUSIC.]
[HOOFBEATS APPROACHING.]
What the hell's going on? [SOMBER MUSIC.]
Seth, what just happened? [STAMMERS.]
Is she Cynthia's dead.
So is her father and Pa.
Everyone's dead because of you.
Go on.
Do it.
I got it coming.
[GUN COCKS.]
[BREATHING SHAKILY.]
Well, go on and do it! [WHIMPERS.]
Pa would.
[SCREAMS.]
We got to get you out of here.
The law'll think you killed everyone.
They'll lock you up and throw away the key.
[GROANS SOFTLY.]
[CLACKING.]
Always knew you Turners were trouble.
Up and killed seven different souls, including a preacher and your own damn father.
No, no.
[STAMMERS.]
I didn't do this.
You're under arrest, son.
No, I No, you don't understand I swear to y'all I didn't do this.
I swear it wasn't me! I didn't do this! It wasn't me! I didn't do this! [INDISTINCT CHATTER.]
This so-called preacher is nothing but an agitator who uses religion to incite violence.
He's the reason your grocery shelves are empty.
He's the reason your children are going hungry.
He's the reason that we're having to do this right now.
[DRAMATIC MUSIC.]
Tell them to end the strike, and this all goes away.
Big talk from someone who's got to hide behind a mask.
[WESTERN-STYLE GUITAR MUSIC.]
[CAR DOOR SLAMS.]
[ENGINE TURNING OVER.]
No! No! [HORN BLARING.]
- Get off him.
- He's mine, boy.
Get Sam Jr.
out of here! - Come on, get in! - Go! [INDISTINCT SHOUTING.]
Get 'em! Get 'em! [WESTERN MUSIC PLAYING SOFTLY.]
Does your family know? That this is what you do? I was supposed to take over the family business one day.
My father started teaching me the ins and outs when I was still a girl.
One day, the gals who worked for us decided to unionize.
I thought it made all the sense in the world.
Father didn't.
So he brought in strikebreakers and made me watch as those bastards beat on my friends until they were bloodied and broken.
So, yes, my family knows what I do.
They're the ones who put me on this path in the first place.
Mm.
Do they know about the pamphlets you've been writing? What makes you think I'm writing those? You mean besides the Hopkins name? [CHUCKLES.]
Well Mmhmm.
Hand-cranking pamphlets is one thing, but, uh But our newspaper is how we'll really spread the word.
Should we dig around the county some more, see what's going on? We should get back to Holden.
I didn't leave Seth on the best of terms.
Plus, we need to print that next edition.
Now, once we print those Black Legion names, all bets are off.
- Are you ready for that? - Of course I am.
If Babbage gets wind, you'll lose your job.
But I'll have my soul.
[INDISTINCT CHATTER.]
I can't get ahold of Raymond.
Those bastards somehow sprung young Sam out of his cell.
God knows what else they're up to.
Oh, hell, they might even be raiding one of your side businesses.
[SIGHS.]
Don't let me keep you from your priorities.
Maybe I'll finally learn how to fend for myself.
Bess, it's not that simple.
Having a child out of wedlock, a child of divergent heritage.
Well, I guess that's the price you pay for knocking up a black whore.
What in God's name are you talking about? Oh, you know what I'm talking about.
No, I don't.
Before I escaped that hellhole orphanage, I snuck into the office I saw my file.
It turns out my white father, Don Berryman He dumped me off accompanied by an anonymous Negro woman in wanton dress.
[MELANCHOLY MUSIC.]
Your grievances have been duly noted.
But for now Let's just focus on getting you out of town.
You're finally cooling down.
Connie, someone's coming.
[DRAMATIC MUSIC.]
Sam! [WHIMPERING.]
[BOTH LAUGHING SOFTLY.]
Are you okay? Yeah.
[LAUGHS.]
I don't know how, but I'm okay.
Martha, have you heard from Amelia? No.
What is he doing here? [GUN COCKS.]
You murdered my husband and framed my son for something he didn't do.
God may forgive you for that, but I won't.
Martha.
Well I ain't asking for your forgiveness, nor do I particularly want it.
But there are worse men than me out there, and they're looking for your son.
So maybe don't be so picky on who you consider good company, ma'am.
The strikebreaker's right.
They'll be coming here now all of them looking for all of us.
We best get prepared to defend ourselves.
I'm not sure this is what my employer had in mind.
What did your employer have in mind? Saying, "Pretty please, don't start a Commie revolution?" You want civil stability? Well, that takes muscle.
And lucky for you, a hundred more men are headed to Holden from other counties right now.
More men like yourself? We got "legion" in the name for a reason, Mr.
Dyson.
Or did they not teach you that in whatever fancy college you went to? You were right all along, Melvin.
We need a change around here.
You remember that when you cast your ballot tomorrow.
Vote for Stubbs, change your life.
I don't get it.
Why was our Pinkerton shooting at your men? Because that Pinkerton and the preacher are in cahoots.
Probably have been this whole time.
[SNIFFS.]
Well, we'll root 'em out.
Start by cutting the phone lines.
Before you do [ROTARY DIAL CLICKING.]
Please connect me to Martin Eggers Hyde, PhD.
I need to update him on the situation in Holden.
[GRITTY WESTERN MUSIC.]
[ENGINE REVVING.]
Hey! - Hey, hey, whoa, whoa.
- Slow down.
[DOG WHIMPERS.]
Where are you heading in such a hurry? Heading out of town.
Clearly, you fellas are running things now.
Yeah? And who are you taking with you? Well, if a man has his pooch and his music collection, he can start fresh just about anywhere.
Hey, they're piling up over here! Let him through.
The moonshiner, too.
[ENGINE TURNS OVER.]
The Devil's gonna chase me Come on, move up.
Move.
Let's go.
Mm, mm It's my ticket home Mm, mm It's my ticket home Mm, mm I appreciate the help, Eddie.
Boss, I'll be inside if you need me.
[GUN COCKS.]
Sheriff? Oh, I forgot to mention I invited some friends over, keep us company until things settle down.
Raymond why are you hiding out here with the girls? I Oh, put your big-boy pants on, Raymond, and tell your uncle what you've done.
Uncle Sheriff Don Mm-hmm? [DRAMATIC MUSIC.]
I made a bad decision.
Mm-hmm.
[INDISTINCT CHATTER.]
Thank God Amelia's in Woodbury County.
If she wasn't Eh I'm sure your missus can survive on her own.
Besides, lightning don't strike twice.
What happened back home with Cynthia You don't get to say her name.
You know you act like you're the only one who lost something that day.
I lost everything.
And what did you lose? A brother.
A future.
You're the one who squealed.
Yeah, and you're the one who never told her who you really were Cynthia Jo Rainey And what kind of danger she was in.
But, brother, I've reckoned with it.
I have paid for the sins of my past.
What about you, hmm? Can you say the same? Why are the farmers letting grocery shipments through? Let 'em through.
Come on, let 'em go.
It's not farmers.
What business you two have in town? Just driving around with my friend here.
Telling her about the novel I'm writing, You fellas fans of Willa Cather or Sherwood Anderson? Check the car.
I don't trust these two.
Well, look-it here.
How about that? Looks like we just caught ourselves a couple agitators.
I believe in small-town values Trust, neighborliness, and a little humility before God Almighty.
And yet, I find my name and my My friends' names being attached to this This Black Legion.
Is that the plan To publish wholesale lies on the eve of the election? If they're lies, then why did those Black Legion goons bring us to you? Lady, I'm suspecting no one's taught you a woman's proper place.
Mr.
Stubbs! [DRAMATIC MUSIC.]
Amelia had nothing to do with this.
That notebook is mine, so are the newspapers.
She had no idea.
Well, I'll be damned.
The twerp's a gentleman! You so-called journalists are all the same Born liars and a blight on our democracy! [GLASS SHATTERING.]
[THUD.]
[PANTING.]
I tried talking reason.
But I guess reason just won't work.
Fellas! Put them anywhere I don't have to listen to them! - Come on.
- There you go.
No sign of the cowboy or his whore in town.
They're in thick with that preacher and those farmers.
Probably all shacked up out at the Riley's farm collective.
Not for long.
[SIGHS.]
My God, I love this town.
But it's sure not the same one we grew up in, is it? It still can be.
As long as no one knows who we are, we can do whatever it takes to defend this place.
We're making an example out of those farmers so this don't happen again.
The Black Legion They burning barns and killing livestock.
There must be hundreds of them.
They taking over this town.
[CAR DEPARTING.]
Victor, you got some nerve stepping on this farm after breaking our strike and getting Wendell killed.
I know.
But my family ain't done nothing wrong.
And none of us have much chance if we don't got good weapons.
Where'd you get all those? A man defends his country in the Great War, he's entitled to a few keepsakes.
He appears able-bodied.
We can use him and his arsenal.
The other women and children are inside.
Go on.
Who is she? Widow from Kentucky.
Kentucky must be its own place.
Hey, so when do you think the Black Legion's gonna come for us? Well, Melvin Stubbs is smart enough to use the darkness to their advantage.
Melvin Stubbs? He's the Black Legion's grandmaster, and it sounds like he's called in reinforcements.
Yeah, and if he and his boys come back here with a couple rusty pitchforks and a flyswatter, we'll be just fine.
Come on, let's go, y'all! You seen that artillery gun, right? Miss Widow Lady up there's got the right idea.
Gonna need a lot more than this.
[INDISTINCT CHATTER.]
[SOFT SCRATCHING.]
[SIGHS.]
Well if nothing else, this should make an interesting chapter for your debut novel.
[CHUCKLES.]
Chapters are a bit Victorian for my taste.
They are? I'm working on something more modern an impressionistic, stream-of-consciousness, coming-of-age bildungsroman told from the point of view of a small Iowa farm town.
Want to hear the working title? Why not? I've got the time.
"God's Body.
" DL Sullivan, I would love to read that.
Good because it's dedicated to you.
It is? "For Amelia Davenport, ingenium secreto.
" [CHUCKLES.]
"The secret genius"? [GENTLE MUSIC.]
I may have written a couple poems for you as well.
We have to maintain the vehicle perimeter for as long as we can.
[GUN COCKS.]
All right, you and Victor You're gonna stay here, guard the food stand.
You two I want you over at the south side of the barn, plug those gaps, go! And, you You coming up on the roof with me.
Let's go.
[INDISTINCT CHATTER.]
Are you and Martha ready to protect the other women and children inside? We've made our preparations.
I must admit, I'm a little perplexed that you trust a man like that.
Amelia told me about her first husband and the tragic fire in Marion County set by a strikebreaker.
Such a horror.
Amelia told you about Sal and the fire? I certainly hope you were able mete out some retribution on that strikebreaker.
I never got the chance.
- What do you mean? - Someone else got to him before I could even think about revenge.
You mean you didn't kill him? [SCOFFS.]
No, I didn't.
It's almost dark.
You best get ready.
Look! [OMINOUS MUSIC.]
[INSECTS CHIRPING.]
[TENSE MUSIC.]
[GUNSHOT.]
Jesus.
Where the hell'd that come from? - [INDISTINCT CHATTER.]
- Hey! Over there! God, there must be a hundred of them.
Clever sons of bitches.
[INDISTINCT SHOUTING.]
Now! [SHOUTING AND GUNSHOTS CONTINUE.]
What's wrong, Mother? It wasn't him.
The Preacher isn't the bad man.
[GLASS SHATTERS.]
[SIGHS.]
[SOFTLY.]
There are too many bad men.
I can't stop them all.
[DRAMATIC MUSIC.]
What if I've been wrong About everything? It's okay.
My daddy said we don't always have to be right.
[GASPS.]
Your daddy [GASPS.]
[SOBS.]
[INDISTINCT SHOUTING.]
I'd advise you to maintain your focus.
You and I can have our little dance after [GUNSHOT.]
If that's what you want.
- [GUNSHOTS.]
- Here we go, boys! [ENGINES REV.]
There's more.
Where are they coming from? We will not stop until we've destroyed all of your food and darkened the soil with your traitor blood! [WHISTLES.]
[GUNSHOTS.]
Victor we got to fall back.
They're too close.
All right, cover me.
I'm going down.
How do you know I won't just shoot you while I'm at it? I suppose I don't.
[JOVIAL LAUGHTER AND CHATTER.]
It's high time we talked about her.
About who? You know.
Your mother's name is Pearl Louvin.
We met in a juke joint [CHUCKLES.]
Outside Memphis, Tennessee.
Ah, I was already engaged at the time.
Uh, Edna she came from money, and I was a an ambitious young man who didn't, so it seemed like the smart play until I heard your mother's voice.
And, you know, we tried to make it work.
When you were born, I I'd travel to see both of you.
Mm.
But a year and a half in, it was clear how impossible it all was.
I was a married white man, and your mother was Always on the road.
[TURNTABLE SQUEAKING.]
On the road for what? She wasn't a prostitute, Bess.
Your mother is a singer.
Goes by Memphis Pearl.
When we brought you to the orphanage, she just finished performing.
That's why she was in, uh "wanton dress.
" For what it's worth [EXHALES SHAKILY.]
It It broke both of our hearts to leave you like that.
I know we didn't do right by you.
But you should know it was love.
It was love that brought you into this world.
I'll leave you two alone, huh? [BLUESY MUSIC PLAYING ON RECORD PLAYER.]
Sometimes I feel Like a motherless child Sometimes I feel Like motherless child A long way From home, oh A long, long, long way From home [GUNSHOTS ECHOING.]
Oh, and sometimes I feel like I'm A long, long, long Go! Go! Get out of here! It's that cowboy! Kill him! I feel like I'm almost Go, go, go! Go! Get out of here! Go! [GUNSHOTS.]
Oh, oh, oh [GUN CLICKING.]
[GUNSHOT.]
[BODY THUDS.]
Mmm A long, long, long Hey, they're burning the food! [GUNSHOT.]
From home A long way Oh, shit.
From my home [DISTANT DOOR CREAKS.]
Do you hear that? [DRAMATIC MUSIC.]
[DOOR OPENS, CLOSES.]
All right, we're moving y'all.
What the hell? [GUN COCKS.]
You're gonna lead us out of here, okay? [OBJECT SHATTERS.]
Hey, hey, stop him! Good Lord, DL, where did you learn to shoot like that? Annie Oakley and a sharpshooting Argentinean dwarf named Furious Joe both took a liking to me.
Carnival life It's a long story.
Follow me.
- [GRUNTS.]
- [GASPS.]
You two done gone and done it now.
[OMINOUS MUSIC.]
[INDISTINCT SHOUTING.]
Everyone inside! Now! [GUNFIRE CONTINUES OUTSIDE.]
Go! [LOUD GUNSHOTS.]
[BANGING ON DOOR.]
[MAN GRUNTS.]
[FURNITURE SCRAPING.]
We don't take out that machine gun, we don't stand a chance.
[GLASS SHATTERS IN THE DISTANCE.]
I got something that will do it.
But I'm gonna need a distraction to get close enough Something to draw their fire away from me.
I'll distract them.
They're after me anyway.
No.
I'll do it.
[GUNFIRE CONTINUES OUTSIDE.]
Trust me.
I owe it to you.
Preston You do right by your family.
[GUNFIRE CONTINUES OUTSIDE.]
I'll do right by mine.
[DRAMATIC MUSIC.]
I'll get their attention.
[INDISTINCT SHOUTING.]
We got them cornered! Bust inside, take them out! Victor, give me those.
Why? If we survive all this, Gayle and the kids are gonna need you.
[INDISTINCT SHOUTING OUTSIDE.]
He's going for the artillery gun! Take him out! [GROANS.]
Take him out.
He's still coming! [ENGINE SPUTTERING.]
[BANGING ON DOOR.]
[GUNSHOTS.]
You don't get to do that.
[GUNSHOTS.]
[ENGINE SPUTTERING.]
[LEVER GRINDING.]
[INDISTINCT CHATTER.]
Run! My whole life I've been playing the angles, as if I could outsmart my own life.
Look what its wrought for you, for this county.
What do you mean? All I've been doing is preparing this county for industrialists to take it over.
After you gave me the Duvall name, I had that young reporter do some digging.
It turns out, this is what the Duvalls do.
They hire muscle to clear whatever land they want, doesn't matter if it belongs to a man of God or not.
A few years back, this cowboy you're so fond of killed a preacher and his daughter in Colton Creek, Wyoming, along with five others.
No, that wasn't Creeley.
He was framed.
Not according to the Wyoming papers.
What is it? I got to find Creeley.
Go, go! - Get in! - Let's go! Get in the truck! Come on, drive! Come on! Let's go! Seth.
Whoa, whoa, whoa.
Whoa, whoa, whoa.
Whoa, whoa.
- Ah.
- [HORSE NEIGHS.]
[SOLEMN MUSIC.]
DL.
What's it say? They have Amelia.
If I don't hand myself over, they say she's next.