Jeremiah (2002) s02e01 Episode Script

1 Previously on Jeremiah Hey, Lee.
Hey! There's a page missing out of Simon's journal.
My position's been compromised.
You have to bring me in.
( Markus ): Valhalla Sector is starting to move.
They're reclaiming bases and building up their resources.
This might be our last chance to put up a united front before they come after us.
You've got to hurry.
You've been followed.
Come on! No! She's hurt because of you and your god damned quest.
Stay the fuck away from her, and stay the fuck away from me! I'm done, man.
In the coming days, we will carve out the framework for our new country and a new future.
( Markus ): The desires that unite us are greater than the forces that divide us.
We have made mistakes, but we have learned from them, and what we have learned most is that we cannot trust our future to those who can only see the past.
Hey, Dad.
I'm home.
Not even hello? I looked for you for 15 years, not knowing whether you were alive or dead, I finally find you, and you don't even say hello? I love you and I've missed you and I've wanted to see you for 15 years But I never wanted you anywhere near this place Because by coming here, you've condemned the world.
God help us both.
( Elizabeth ): Don't blame Jeremiah for this.
Promise me.
Please, Kurdy? Promise me you'll find him.
Okay, I promise.
I'm trying, Elizabeth.
God knows, I'm trying.
( Helicopters approaching ) Aw, sh-- It's been 15 years since a strange disease wiped out all of the adults and left us kids to fend for ourselves.
Now I'm moving ahead, through the past.
I can't let go I'm holding hope so tight It's hard to breathe When the whole world falls I'm gonna put the stars back Back up in the sky Let them all just shine down I'm gonna try I believe we'll find the world together Through your eyes That's all I can see I believe We're looking at forever In a world Where we can be free I Believe ( Door opening ) Who's that? Hey? Jeremiah? Markus? What the fuck are you doing here? You know how you spent the last 15 years looking for Valhalla Sector? Yeah.
I could've saved you the trouble.
They crashed the big meeting in St.
Louis.
They hit us with guns, bazookas, tear gas, tanks, APVs, helicopters, rockets, and I'm pretty sure at least one of them used really harsh language.
Shit.
So did you find your dad? Yeah.
I was right.
He was here.
But it wasn't what you were expecting.
I don't know what I was expecting, Markus.
I was so worried about finding him, it blinded me to everything else.
I mean, every day I would wake up thinking, "today's gonna be the day," and at night I would go to sleep thinking, "maybe tomorrow.
" It was always about the goal.
Nothing wrong with that.
It kept you alive.
Yeah But the thing is I never thought about what happens afterward.
You thought he'd clasp you to his bosom, welcome you home, you'd go fishing, and all would be right with the world.
Yeah.
I know that sounds pretty stupid.
Not for someone who loved his dad as much as you.
If I had five minutes with my dad again, I'd be happy with just those five minutes.
I wouldn't think past that, because I wouldn't care what happened after that, as long as I had those five minutes.
( Footsteps approaching ) Stop pushing.
Erin? Erin, is that you? Yeah, it's me.
I've got a question for you.
Anyone have any spare toilet paper they can roll down here? No.
God says, "you're late.
" God says what? You're late.
I've been waiting here for almost an hour.
Look, man, I've got enough trouble.
I don't need somebody who thinks he's God giving me shit.
I'm not God.
Did I say I was God? Look, you just said-- I said, "God said.
" I just pass along what I'm told.
You want something to eat? Thanks, but I'll pass.
Suit yourself.
You live around here? Just passing through, huh? Like I said, I was waiting for you.
This is where I was told to wait, so this is where I was waiting.
This is so fucked up.
Look, what's the best way out of here? I need to travel east, but I don't want to take the main roads.
It's too exposed.
I don't know.
Oh, God doesn't know the best way out of here? Look, if you're gonna make fun-- Look, I'm just saying-- God knows the way out, but I don't.
All I know is what I'm told to say, okay? It's not like having my ass plugged in to the World encyclopedia of knowledge.
Does God know you say ass? The reason I'm here is to give you a message.
You want to hear it or not? You've got a message? Yes.
For me from God? You wanna hear it? You might as well hit me with it, then, I gotta go.
I've got people to see and places-- God says He says, "stop running.
" He says you're not going to help your friend by running to him.
If you want to help, you have to allow yourself to be given over to those who are chasing you.
Who the hell are you? Who sent you? I told you.
Don't give me that God shit.
Are you working for Valhalla Sector? Are you trying to fuck with me? I'm telling you the truth.
I'm not working for anybody.
I swear.
You think I like this shit? I'm just a guy like you.
I eat, sleep, dream.
I get beat up and I travel around from town to town selling this crap.
I'm just like you Except Once in a while, sometimes I'll go weeks, even months with nothing, but then, either way Sometimes I get these Messages And I do what they say.
You ever think about saying no? Tried it.
Don't ask.
It wasn't pretty.
So don't kill the messenger, all right? I don't have a choice.
I'm just doing a job.
( Helicopters approaching ) God says, "catch you later.
" And what was it exactly you thought you were trying to accomplish? I don't know.
It was just supposed to be a little family get-together.
Later, we were going to go on one of those egg hunts, but Erin wouldn't wear the bunny suit and I couldn't find one that fit me, and then, for no apparent reason, a bunch of party crashers started shooting at us! Shoot! Cooperation will be rewarded.
Resistance will be punished.
Would you like something to drink? Yeah.
In return, will you give us the names of the other individuals involved in your attempt to overthrow the United States government? There is no United States government.
There hasn't been one in 15 years.
This place is the government.
The lawfully established seat of power-- This place is a bad memory.
This place is a testament to everything that was wrong with the old world, a triumph of brute force over basic humanity.
Does it make it easier for you to think of us in that way? Easier? No.
More honest? Fuck, yeah.
Except that it's a lie.
Is it? Tell me your name.
You won't, because your job is to interrogate and intimidate.
You have to be the voice of the machine, anonymous and without compassion.
You still think so, Mr.
Alexander? Do I look like the monster you say I am? I have no desire to harm you, but by the same token, I cannot help you unless you help me.
Give us the names of your associates who were not at the assembly or may have escaped.
Give us their names and their locations, and you will be rewarded.
Just Give us something.
I can do that.
How about this? You want a picture of the future? "Imagine a boot stamping on a human face forever.
" That's a quote, George Orwell, and nice boots you've got there.
Can I have that glass of water now? Is that a no? Hey! Was that a no? Come on.
Let's go.
The President wants to see you.
The President? President of what? The United States, asshole.
United States, Asshole? USA.
The initials are still the same.
Ah, there you are, son.
Thank you for coming.
I didn't have much choice.
Well, don't take it personally.
That's how things are done around here.
Only way we survived-- Discipline, order, following the rules.
You can go now.
Don't get any ideas.
There are five snipers in adjoining rooms watching every move you make.
Kind of like having dinner with your girlfriend's parents for the first time.
I used to tend bar fresh out of college.
Good, clean work.
That's when I learned how to talk to people, and how to listen to them.
You've got to be a good listener.
You don't have any idea who I am, do you? They seem to think that you're the, uh President.
William Emerson, 48th president of these United States.
That's what they used to call it before the Civil War, these united states.
They only started calling it the United States after 600,000 of its sons died trying to define it But they made it what it had to be-- One nation, whole and indivisible.
That's what we're trying to do now, Jeremiah, make the nation whole again.
How can you be the president if the country didn't vote for you? Well, this is what remains of the structure of the United States government.
Every four years, like clockwork, we have elections as mandated by the constitution.
My guess is you've got, what, a couple thousand people here? So you being elected president by a handful of people, that's not exactly democratic, is it? America's never been a democracy.
We're a republic.
The people elect representatives to make decisions on their behalf.
Even before the Big Death, elected officials were chosen by an ever smaller percentage of the population.
You might say this is the logical conclusion to what was going on before.
I'm just saying that to the millions of us who grew up after the death, this You It's all irrelevant.
How do you plan on controlling millions of people with just a couple of thousand? What we lack in numbers we make up for in firepower.
All we need is one thing to solidify our position.
Your father knows How the Big Death works.
Now, we've tried to figure it out, but so far, we've come a'cropper.
We need the key to the virus.
Your daddy, he's refused to give it to us.
We've threatened him, rewarded him, given him lab space and enough rope to hang ten people.
Well, others say we didn't go far enough But killing him wouldn't do anybody any good, now, would it? What we have to decide right now is what to do about you.
See, your father is not expendable.
We need his expertise.
There are others who would say you are highly expendable But you're his last surviving son.
I imagine it'd be a hard thing deciding between saving your son's life And giving us the information we need, a hard thing indeed.
Best if you talk him into doing the smart thing, Jeremiah.
Best for everybody involved.
You understand me, son? Hey, uh They want me to talk to you, you know, to, uh Try to get you I didn't mean to mess things up by coming here, Dad.
I just missed you.
Part of me I mean, I had to, because I needed to know if you were still alive, and I needed I just missed you, Dad.
I wrote you.
I wrote you all the time.
I know.
I know.
Well You've grown a bit since the last time I saw you.
Well, I'm a little taller, but I'm still working on the growing part.
Still stubborn.
Why didn't you come back, Dad? Michael and me, we waited.
Every time we heard a noise at the window, we'd run over, you know, thinking it was you.
The lights went out.
The food ran out.
We walked.
We started walking.
We walked forever But Michael He was strong, Dad.
You would've been proud of Michael.
Jeremiah He never gave up, see, and I just I turned my back on him.
It was just for a second, dad.
It was just a second, I swear, and I'm sorry.
I'm sorry.
Jeremiah Jeremiah, the fact that you survived, one of you survived, is a miracle.
I'm not going to give you forgiveness, because none is required.
You did nothing wrong, son.
The fact that you are still alive is all that matters to me.
I'd given up hope, until Ezekiel told me-- Dad-- Oh I'm sorry.
I, uh I saw the soldiers outside and I thought there was trouble.
Yeah, that'd be me.
Liberty, I'd like you to Meet Jeremiah, my son.
So you're Jeremiah.
Oh, well.
What "Oh, well?" What the hell is that supposed to mean? I thought I'd be more impressed.
To hear Ezekiel talk, you're 12 feet high and you shoot lightning bolts out of your butt.
No lightning bolts, but I'm a little taller when I'm standing on my charisma.
He's got spirit.
I do like that.
I'll take two.
Jeremiah, I'd like you to meet Liberty Kaufman, my assistant.
Meaning I carry Petri dishes around and try not to break anything.
The only reason I'm here is because nobody else wanted the job.
The only reason you're here is because you're the only one I trust.
Which is kind of funny, considering I'm not exactly easy to get along with.
Really? I'm stunned.
And I like to collect bright shinies, even when they're not necessarily, you know, mine, and sometimes I start fires, small ones.
It's, you know, a thing I do.
Hold it right there.
God says this is your last chance.
Keep running and you die, your friends die, everyone dies.
Stop running.
Stop running! Don't move! That's a long drop, Kurdy.
You going to give it a try anyway, or you going to come quietly? Cuff him.
Wait for me at the chopper.
I'll be there in a second.
Just want to have a private conversation.
Okay, listen up.
There's only two ways this can end.
The first way, I shoot you in the head and walk away.
Yeah? What's the second? You have to trust me.
I'll take the bullet.
Damn it, Kurdy, you're such an-- You sold us out! I didn't.
I swear.
Bullshit! You were spying on us.
You were keeping tabs on everything we were doing.
I admit that.
Yeah, well, bra-friggin'-vo.
You want to go ahead and admit you stole the page out of Simon's journal? It wasn't the right time for you to find out about the brothers, and I wasn't reporting back to Valhalla Sector, not completely, anyway.
I gave them just enough to keep them happy so they wouldn't yank me out, but I wasn't working for them.
I was working for Jeremiah's father.
I didn't know Devon was his dad, at least not at first, but I was playing both sides of the street, trying to protect Jeremiah, Markus, everybody at the Mountain, including you.
Look, I can prove I'm telling the truth, but you're going to have to trust me, at least for a little while.
Why, Lee? Because I'm going back to Thunder Mountain and I need your help, so I was hoping you'd stop running before one of my guys shot you, because with you dead, I've got nowhere to go.
How'd it go? Ezekiel was right.
I should never, ever have come here.
But you got to see your father again.
Wasn't that the point? No, the point was him getting to see me.
They wanted us to see each other again, to be able to touch each other, hold each other.
After a while, time, distance, they make the heart forget.
They wanted you to both know what was at risk when they threaten to take it away.
It's not fair to use the heart against itself.
It's not fair at all.
They're going to hurt you, aren't they? We're coming in low to avoid the radar target.
I told the pilot to put down half a mile from Thunder Mountain.
We'll walk in the rest of the way.
What's so important back at the Mountain? You want to see Markus alive again? Then you'll just have to wait.
I don't think you'd believe me anyway.
Like that would be different from anything else you've ever said? You have any idea how hard these last few years have been for me? I didn't want to lie to Markus, but there was no other way.
I had to protect him from himself until the time was right.
We're coming in on the target.
Take us down.
Screw this up, do anything I don't like, and I will kill you.
I thought we were going through the front door.
I thought that's why you needed me.
Getting in, that I can do.
Getting out alive, that's where I'll need you.
I thought this part of the Mountain was restricted.
It is, which means we shouldn't be disturbed.
Enter this code-- 7-1-7-5-4.
Markus? Markus isn't here.
He's been taken prisoner.
What? How did he-- Who the hell is that, and what is she doing in there? Her name's Meaghan Lee Rose.
She's got the virus responsible for the Big Death.
It's still alive inside her.
What the f-- She's a carrier.
It doesn't kill her, but she can spread it to anyone she touches.
Markus thought nobody knew, but I know everything that goes on here.
What happened to Markus? What he said, is it true? Yes.
Oh.
Oh, I gotta get somebody-- No.
I want to hear what he has to say about Markus.
Please? Did you have a chance to talk to your son? And? My decision remains the same.
Don't do this.
My son is still a citizen.
He has rights.
We're in a state of national emergency unprecedented in this country's long history.
Certain rights have to be set aside until we can get the machine running again, and some fine young men will have to lay down their lives for the good of that machine Whether they like it or not.
I want you to know I'm sorry for what's about to happen.
I wish there was some other way, but there isn't, son.
There just isn't.
Don't call me son.
You're not my father.
He's my father.
And it doesn't matter 'Cause I've had my five minutes.
I understand you've been asking how a small population can control a much larger one.
How did England, a tiny island nation, hold onto India and Africa and millions of subjects, so many they say that the sun never set on the British Empire? If I thought we were going to have a quiz, I would have studied, okay? You have to have an edge, something the other side doesn't have, and then the proper application of what the Germans used to call Schrecklichkeit.
Do you know what Schrecklichkeit means, Jeremiah? It means frightfulness.
Once we have the vaccine, once we control the virus that causes the Big Death, we can inoculate our people and we can let everyone above know that unless they cooperate We have the option of sectioning off one area at a time and releasing the virus.
Schrecklichkeit.
Not that we'd actually use it.
That's a lie! I've seen your tac maps! Your plan relies on wiping out a couple of cities to prove that you have the virus! A small demonstration.
No, it's cold-blooded murder! Everyone up there is doomed anyway, doomed to live lives of brutality and hopelessness, doomed to die without purpose.
What difference does it make how it happens? Until we get this country back on its feet, everyone who opposes us is expendable.
Everyone.
It's called preparing the battlefield, doctor.
That's why the Big Death is more humane.
It only kills people old enough to oppose us, and leaves the infrastructure intact.
You can't control the virus once it gets loose.
We'll be careful to control the situation.
That's what you thought last time.
That's how the damned thing got loose in the first place.
If you re-introduce the virus to the world outside, it'll be the end of everything, you asshole, the end of everything.
Well, it's an old argument.
It's about time we resolved it.
This is going to hurt, Jeremiah, but it's for the good of the country.
Yeah, well, fuck you.
No! No, dad.
Don't do it, dad.
He's not the President.
There are a lot of other bases out there just like this one, and they all probably have their own president.
They could-- When me and Kurdy were on the road, Dad, we saw a lot of guys, they allthey all thought they were the boss, and they were just guys, dad Just guys on the road.
Just guys on the road-- Well, so you didn't kill me while I was out.
I commend you on your restraint.
Don't thank me, thank her.
Besides, I kill you now, we don't get any answers.
Now, why'd you want to come back here, Lee, and what does she have to do with this? Untie me, give me my gun back, and I'll tell you.
Not a chance.
Look, why can't you just tell me-- If I leave this to you, you'll never pull it off, because you don't have the guts.
I said-- I'm not talking to you, Lady Death.
Excuse me? Who the hell do you think you are? You think you can come in here, tell me that the man I love is being tortured, maybe he's alive, maybe he's dead, and you dare treat me like I'm a piece of fucking furniture? You call me lady death.
Well, damned straight.
What touches me dies, and if Markus is gone and there's nothing you can do to bring him back, understand that I will claw my way through this glass, and where I walk, death will follow until everyone in this whole fucking world is dead, because nothing matters to me anymore.
Do you understand that? Nothing! You'd do all that if Markus was dead.
Would you do half as much to get Markus out alive? Yes.
Anything? Anything.
Okay, Lee, what the hell is going on? There is a way to get Markus and Jeremiah out of Valhalla Sector.
How? Let's do it.
I thought I was dead.
You must've had a hard life to think this was heaven.
The life I've had, I don't think heaven's in the cards.
Don't start moving, okay? All the nerves in your body are pretty screwed up right now.
Took almost an hour before you stopped twitching like a fish out of water.
Thanks for the image.
Look, Libby I wanted to apologize.
Earlier, when I was talking to my dad in there, we were in kind of a rough spot, you know.
When you walked in, it was difficult.
I'm okay with that.
I thought you were going to apologize for staring at my tits.
I wasn't staring at your tits.
Yeah, you were.
You know, I'm a grown man, and I know where I'm looking, okay, so I was looking at my dad, I was looking around the room, but I wasn't staring at your tits.
I meant right now.
Oh, now It's all the shiny things, you know, and it's the-- I didn't say I minded.
Is there any more like you back home? One isn't enough? One's plenty.
So, uh What, you collect these? Yeah.
I wandered for a really long time before they found me and took me in.
I guess I wanted something tangible to remind me of where I'd been, what I'd seendone.
I'm a pack rat, what can I say? Jeremiah, are you okay? I'm good.
We showed them, didn't we, dad? It's only going to get more painful, more dangerous.
You don't know what these men are capable of doing to you.
I lost Ezekiel, I lost Michael, I lost your mother.
I can't lose anybody else.
I--I'm going to give them the virus.
It's the only way-- Devon, you can't.
If I work with them.
Maybe I can talk them out of a demonstration, at least make sure it's controlled.
You can't control it.
You said so yourself.
If it gets outside-- If I don't, they're going to kill you, Jeremiah.
Don't you understand? You are the only thing I care about.
I can't watch you die.
Everybody dies, Dad.
There's nothing we can do to change that.
No But you've got to go out clean.
See, Dad, if my living means thousands of people, maybe even millions die if this thing gets loose, I don't go out clean.
Now, I never thought that I'd amount to much out there, and worst of all was the thought that I would never see you again, but I've seen you.
Now, I don't know what is going to happen next, but together, we can save the world just by saying no.
It'd make me proud, Dad, and they could never take that, and I'd go out clean.
I've got to go out clean.
Promise me.
I love you.
No shit.
Mr.
President, I've got something I want you to see.
We just made contact with one of our operatives in Thunder Mountain.
This may be the solution to our problem.
We're bouncing the frequency off one of our remaining satellites, so it's catch-as-catch-can.
Lee, can you hear me? Yes, sir.
Good evening, Mr.
President.
What is it, son? Sir, I've made contact with elements within Thunder Mountain, and they're willing to make a deal.
In exchange for Markus, Erin, Jeremiah, and his father, they're willing to give us the key to the Big Death virus-- The vaccine, everything.
And what if they're bluffing? See for yourself, sir.
As you know, there should be no one here at the Mountain over the age of 30 or so.
Just a second while I transfer video feed.
Her name's Meaghan Lee Rose, age 43.
In the last days of the Big Death, she received a test vaccine against the virus.
As you can see, it worked.
She's still alive, and she's cured.
If you analyze her blood, you can break down the changes created by the vaccine and synthesize more of it.
Sir, we checked the computer records.
A Meaghan Lee Rose was brought to Thunder Mountain around that time.
They verify that she was carrying the Big Death, but that's all we got before everything shut down.
The only way that she could still be alive was if they had a working vaccine.
But if they had it, why didn't they tell anyone? The scientists responsible for finding the vaccine died before the final results were in.
After that, the only ones left were kids.
Markus has been keeping her as his own personal secret, figuring once he took over the rest of the country, he could get someone to analyze her blood, come up with the vaccine and use it for his own purposes.
That's why we have to get there first, sir.
Whoever controls the Big Death controls the future.
All right, tell them we have a deal.
Keep the line open.
I'll be back in a minute to work out the details.
Risky, General.
If we give them Devon and it turns out we can't properly analyze this woman's blood, we're back where we started.
Not at all, sir.
They've asked us for four people.
That's a lot of people, and who in this big wide world gets everything they ask for? original source: peritta synced and corrected: quinnell