Harlots (2017) s02e04 Episode Script

1 Me and my men are to see that this establishment does not continue trading as a bawdy house.
They left at first light.
We found this in Kitty's hair.
If you find that garment, you'll find her killer.
Miss Wells, may I tempt you out for a drive? Lord Fallon's made me another offer.
He's sending for me tonight.
If you doubt your man's affections, it's not because of me.
Tell your mother to send my things.
I'm stopping here.
I'm trying to act against Quigley yet I find myself doing her bidding.
I want to destroy Lydia Quigley.
So do I.
Then we'll be allies on one condition: that you have nothing to do with my brother.
The only charge that remains against Mrs.
Quigley is running a brothel.
Now, will you pay her penalty or not? If you do this, you cease to be mine.
Never knew when to keep quiet, did you? (DRAMATIC MUSIC) (UPBEAT THEME MUSIC) That old crone went down like a drunk.
Yeah, she'll be an Irish beauty this morning.
Two black eyes.
You little gubshite! Enough! Remember you're on trial.
One more trip, you're back at Cheapside.
(GLASS SMASHING) What's that? Is it angry culls? (DRAMATIC MUSIC) Shit.
(BABY CRYING) That hellion Quigley! Did you see anything? Aye? - No, Missus, nothing.
- Nothing.
(CROWD COMMOTION, CHATTER) Fanny, I need you to go and fetch Nancy.
Jacob, you're coming with me.
You two stay here.
- Clean this up.
- Yes.
Mind you don't cut yourselves.
Or each other! (SIGHS) (CHURCH BELLS TOLLING) You are manna from heaven.
Perhaps forbidden fruit tastes sweeter.
My sister told you not to associate with me.
And yet you were determined to bed me.
One might assume the two are connected.
A bientôt, Miss Wells.
You'll be returning.
To you, yes.
To this chintz-pit, never.
(DOOR OPENS AND CLOSES) (DRAMATIC UPBEAT MUSIC) You didn't come to me last night.
Anticipation is half the joy.
You're teasing me, Lord Fallon.
(DOOR OPENS) This is Miss Wells and she will be your mistress.
You will treat her as if she were my wife.
(CROWD CHATTER) What about her? (SULTRY MUSIC) No, no, not Sally Perkins.
She's a beauty, but she's got the flap dragon.
What about her? She has three meals a day and they're all gin.
Oh, well, then the dark one.
Cor, she's a diamond.
I thought we needed variation.
Do you know how many blonde blowses there are in Soho? I just ride the pole better than any of them.
Don't let a little competition scare you.
Bare-knuckle fighters earn a king's ransom, you know that.
Where would you hold it, if I fought? Right here.
Chalk circle for a sparring ring.
Land blows like you land buttock and you might just win.
(UPBEAT SULTRY MUSIC) How much for a brush with Miss Lennox? I'm not her pimp.
Well, come on then.
Come on! (LAUGHTER) I need you to mind him.
There's been an attack on the house.
You've baited Quigley again.
She was at the Pleasure Gardens with Mrs.
May.
Called me Little Maggie.
That's why I hit her.
(LAUGHING) Well, she probably had it coming.
You stay close to your pa today.
What about you? (DRAMATIC MUSIC) I heard you battered the old moth.
Bet she was fluttering all night thinking about ways to chaw you.
This is just the start.
(QUIGLEY GASPS) Mrs.
Quigley, your face.
Oh.
The Marquess left satisfied, I trust.
He enjoyed me but not our surroundings.
It's like rutting in a doll's house.
I cannot stand another day here.
That Justice has my business in a chokehold.
The whole of London's corrupt and he thinks he's different.
Perhaps we should test his virtue.
(LAUGHING) (CROWD CHATTER) The court has been known to take funding from a variety of sources and endow it to worthy causes.
Hospitals, almshouses.
To what are you alluding? Well, we would like to support your endeavors.
Bribery is an illegal practice, Mrs.
Quigley.
You cannot keep me from my own home! I am not, I am simply forbidding you from operating within it.
Good day.
That man is an impediment.
We must make it our duty to remove him.
The Marquess could eat him alive if he wanted to.
Then we must make him want to.
Hunt cannot bar us from Golden Square as long as we stay chaste within it.
Go back and gather the girls.
We'll send word to Abbadon to prepare the house.
I have business with this harridan.
I'd almost forgotten about you.
Leave me alone, Quigley.
You make my blood run cold.
I think probably that's the rags you're wearing.
Where are you living, under a wagon? Mrs.
Wells has shown us kindness and charity, virtues you know nothing of.
You're staying at Greek Street? (LAUGHS HAUGHTILY) Mrs.
Wells will have you praying with your knees upward in no time.
I work for God alone.
You work for me when I tell you to! (TENSE MUSIC) (HORSE WHINNIES) Charlotte? (PANTING) It was her, wasn't it? The windows.
Now you be careful because your head is in the lion's mouth.
Why? If the blood running through it is Quigley's.
You're as reckless as I am.
That's why you'll always be a Wells woman.
She coming for me again? She lets nothing slip.
Do you have her trust? I'm close.
You get inside her mind, like a madness.
I want to know every sick notion she spits up.
You're our Trojan horse, Charlotte, and you're inside Troy's gates.
- I don't have an army.
- Not yet, but I'll gather one.
Now you find a spark and I'll light it and we'll burn her to the ground.
(DRAMATIC MUSIC) (TENSE, SEDUCTIVE MUSIC) (GIGGLING) (PANTING) (EXCLAIMS) There are people like you at the palace, you know? The entertainment for royalty.
You're the only king I know of.
King of Old Compton Street.
(LAUGHS, GROWLS) This house is just the beginning, you know.
You should see the finery of my mother's.
My inheritance, of course.
Look what we found! A new blackbird for our menagerie.
Long way from the docks.
I might finally wash the sailor's brine out me gullet.
Oh, isn't she comely? She's sublime.
This is the sort of girl we should be recruiting, not that half-pint.
Why does a white wagtail want black whores? Men come here for something different and pay a fine penny for it.
That's right.
This is a house of exotics.
(GIGGLING) Tighten your stays and paint your faces, ladies.
You're going a-hunting for cuffins.
Yes! (DRAMATIC MUSIC) Morning.
What have you been up to? Oh I have been in the guts of a goddess.
The celestial Miss Wells.
What? Well, you seemed so captivated by her, I wanted to see what all the fuss was about.
- And did you? - Mm.
I've never known a harlot who seems to enjoy the act as much as the money.
It's her job, perhaps she's just good at it.
Hm.
Why does it disturb you so? Hm? Hey.
Where are you going? Isabella? You seem to think I have some unnatural lust for Miss Wells.
Perhaps I should find out if you're right.
Your broken windows aren't my business.
Once you're on her list, you're never off.
Even if I end up dead, you're next.
Why should I do anything for you? You nearly sent me to the sky yourself.
I never should have endangered you.
You were my best girl once.
I'm sorry.
(SCOFFS) Well, I'll be dicked.
An apology from Margaret Wells.
Go to the Justice.
Say what you know.
- Hello, my dear.
- What is this gaudy mob? My darling boy.
I see you've brought the whole zoo.
Not a zoo, mother, but an aviary of rare and exotic delights.
Cherry here can flirt the fortune out of a miser's hand.
And how are you selling this foreign fowl? Emily Lacey warned us about you.
She said you were a mildewed bloodsucker.
You won't make a penny in her house.
It's my house.
Then put your scold in her bridle.
If she smears or maligns me again, even to these jades, I will make good my threat.
Am I clear? Come on, my doves.
I could do things for you, maypole.
Come and see me.
Over here! (CROWD CHATTER) You must bite back.
Send your men folk to tamper with the wheels of her coach.
(MARGARET LAUGHS) Mrs.
Scanwell, how un-Christian.
Business is our best defense.
There is no protection like a house full of rich men.
When I get them in, don't you scare them away.
Why are you so shaken, Mother? We must find a shield of our own against Quigley's evil.
(BIRDS CHIRPING) (SOFT, TENSE MUSIC) That's it, tattle to your master.
(DOOR OPENS) Lady Isabella.
I came for a moment with Miss Wells.
Ah.
Miss Wells' time comes at a price.
You promised.
He paid me 100 guineas.
Oh, I should have known.
A harlot can always be bought.
My body, yes, but not my mind.
He takes everything that is mine and makes it his.
I live in a chamber of mirrors and his is the only reflection I see.
Then you must shatter it.
- I can't.
- You can.
You locate a weakness and you press.
Did you learn that from Mrs.
Quigley? She's the only one I wish to break.
How can I help? (DRAMATIC MUSIC) She wants me to get close with your brother again.
I understand.
Is there anything else you want? You've already paid.
I My brother's card party, tomorrow.
Two o'clock.
Bring the bitch.
(CLOCK CHIMING) There have been mutterings about you, Fallon.
That our vessel is leaking.
That you are the fissure.
I have righted any wrongs I may have caused.
A Spartan does not blunder.
The High Priestess was endangered by a baying bawd, but I have silenced her.
- How? - I have a hostage.
Her own daughter.
She is exquisite.
And totally in my thrall.
(DOOR OPENS) Miss Lucy Wells.
Lucy, this is the Marquess of Blayne.
Pleasure, my lord.
Madam.
Enjoy your evening.
Where are you going? Out.
Well, Fallon, it seems we're going out.
(TENSE MUSIC) I've secured us an invitation to the Marquess' gathering tomorrow.
Clever cat.
What was your son's girl doing here? That's not for you to know.
There's only two things you could have wanted with her.
First, to join your house.
But she'd be a black swan in a white flock and I can't see that pleasing you.
Second you want eyes in Charles' house.
(LAUGHS) Well, ponder this she rejected my proposition.
The gleam of Golden Square may have scared her off.
I'll take her some coins and tell her she's safe with us.
I've never seen so much powder in my life.
Well, the bigger the wig, the smaller the pintle.
Big or small, you stroke until they're gushing gold.
(SOFT HARP MUSIC) Let's go elsewhere.
Did you hear, Fallon? Your keeper has spoken.
We're staying.
You will be the light that luminates this room.
Ma, what are you doing here? You never come here.
Showing off my new girls.
There was an attack on the house this morning.
We have to pay for new windows.
An attack? Is anyone hurt? All are safe and we won't be daunted.
You look like a queen.
And I am nothing but her loyal subject.
Lord Fallon.
(CROWD CHATTER) Fallon has a minx in his house who gives him orders like a major.
Go over and take a slice of her.
I want to see how the boy reacts.
My lord, Fallon will not Fallon, I have friends for you to meet.
Are you Fallon's new pony? Pray tell, the rest of us going to be allowed a ride? (LAUGHS) Sorry, my lord, but you couldn't afford a share in me.
(CROWD CHATTER) I see I'm filling your eyes, my lord.
How about we fill those hands? You're not to my fancy.
Come now, my lord.
You haven't even had a taste.
(DRAMATIC MUSIC) Come here, filly.
I want to see what tricks you can do.
Do you need a lock to your hide? (GLASSWARE CLATTERING) Damn you, Lidington, keep your hands off her or I'll brand them myself.
Mrs.
Wells.
That man, his buttons are the same.
We need to see the Justice.
He's asleep.
- Well, wake him.
- What's so pressing? What madness is this? (STUTTERING) It's the middle of the night.
Lord Lidington.
That is his name.
The man who murdered my girl.
He left his button in her hair.
The button I gave you.
You've done nothing about it.
Lord Lidington.
(SNIFFLES) (HOOVES CLOPPING) Are you all right? He doesn't scare me.
What does scare you? (SOFT, SEDUCTIVE MUSIC) Not tonight.
Why? I want you to ache for me.
What does the devil want now? I'm not here for Mrs.
Quigley.
Oh, you still have thoughts of your own? I'm not who you think I am.
- Pretty little fuck-puppet.
- Emily.
I'm working against her.
She finds that out she'll pull out your beef and spread it across Soho.
That is why I need your help.
Help you? You want to gamble your life on bad odds, go ahead.
But I got a house of me own and girls to fill it.
Why would I risk all that? Because she plots to tear it apart.
What do you mean? Ask your girl.
The tall one.
(DRAMATIC MUSIC) Nell, get in here.
If I'm right, Quigley sent for her and offered her money to spy on you.
Is it true? She wanted me to seduce her son and drip poison in his ear, but I denied her.
Why? Quigley can keep her money.
That old ghoul gives me the chills.
She'll never leave you alone.
Not until you're mad or dead.
(STREET COMMOTION) So she gave you this house to tie your tongue? I'm the only soul still breathing who knows her truth.
(SOFT DRAMATIC MUSIC) My knowledge pains her like a maggot in a wound.
She wants to cut me out.
You let me and my children move into a house built on sand.
No.
No.
I'm going to end it.
- I'm going to make this house mine.
- How? I'm going to send Dame Death to the gallows.
(GRUNTING, MOANING) You're a nasty, dirty, cunny rat! Your cock is a hungry fiend! Filthier! Your balls are the devil's arms.
Filthier! Your mother was a thieving troll.
Filthier! (GRUNTING) I mean no offense, but that was really, really expensive.
Well, I am.
Because I'm exotic.
- Not exotic to me.
- You're not getting a discount.
But you didn't enjoy it.
That's not what I'm paid for.
Let me pleasure you for free, and you can pretend I'm whoever you want me to be.
(DOG BARKING) You said you'd treat me as your wife.
But I'm not your wife, I'm your whore, and you will treat me as such.
And how would you have me do that? Well, I see you're playing the courtesan.
Yes.
Lucy is quite at ease here.
I assume that's why you've come.
To make certain of her comfort.
About the dispute last night.
It was nothing, Ma.
Lord Lidington.
Is that man a friend of yours, Lord Fallon? Certainly not.
He's a drunk and a fool.
I assure you, he'll never come near your daughter again.
You stay away from him.
I'm happy, Ma.
Don't fret.
Let me show you out.
Don't remember you chasing Charlotte around like this.
You're different creatures.
What does that mean? The way you went for that man.
I fear for you.
Leave me alone, Ma.
(CROWD CHATTER) Your guests, Isabella.
I thought you'd be glad to see your whore.
Marquess, a pleasure.
We don't mean to rankle you.
We would be honored to enter your games, if you will allow us.
We're playing Bestia.
Pertinent, given our beastly host.
Your proficiency at cards precedes you, Miss Wells.
You drained my sister of a significant sum, did you not? Well, indeed.
Miss Wells' deft hand will impress you no end.
Please.
You have an instinct for violence.
I can see that in you.
I want to show you how to use it.
Gioco.
You saw my sister last night and I saw yours.
What a strange dance we're all doing.
Gioco.
Why do you and your sister jostle like you do? Well, the dynamic of a family is hard to explain.
How did you end up at Quigley's house when your mother has one of her own? My family's dynamic is as inexplicable as yours.
Then why do you not have a keeper? My last one was killed.
Understandably, it has put me off.
Of course.
It's your pot, Blayne.
Oh.
When I bleed this rich room dry, how about I push the profits your way and you come and stay with me? I would like to have you as mine, Miss Wells.
You have until the end of the game to decide.
(UPBEAT FOREBODING MUSIC) Gioco.
Gioco.
Four cards.
A risk-taker.
In battle, it is the cowards who run the most risk.
And bravery is a rampart of the defense.
You know your Roman philosophy.
I always preferred it to the Greek.
The Greeks invented rational thought.
Hm.
But the Romans had a greater empire.
(LAUGHS) I don't believe we've been introduced.
Mrs.
Quigley is a bawd.
She's quite famous in her field, did you know that, my lord? Lord Dodds is the Lord Chief Justice.
It seems to me so odd that a woman of your beauty and breeding is not married.
Do you not long for children? Ah, look, I win the trick.
(LAUGHS) Would you take a turn around the room with me, Mrs.
Quigley? (CROWD CHATTER) Are you trying to have me hanged? You are playing with fire.
And who lit the tinder? Perhaps I'm tired of behaving.
Hm, and perhaps I shall tire of keeping the secret of your bastard child! And reveal how you've been fleecing me for years? I wonder what penalty Lord Chief Justice would impose for the crime of extortion.
(DRAMATIC MUSIC) (CLEARS THROAT) I'll see the Justice.
Well played, sir.
So, have you made your decision? About what? I want to be Miss Wells' keeper.
It's an attractive offer but I value my freedom.
600 a year.
Harcourt, you're being vulgar.
Vulgar? You invited the brothel to the party.
Very well.
All that to have you right now.
Show me to your rooms.
I now know why you revere our Latin forebears.
My lord? They welcome prostitutes without moral qualm.
Ah.
Lord Dodds, my home is a sanctuary for young ladies.
So it's discreet.
We could take a tour should it arouse your interest.
Hm.
Miss Lacey cannot be seen here.
Her life is precariously balanced.
I have issues to settle here in court.
Her story concerns Lydia Quigley.
I am sick of hearing that woman's name.
I have also been a victim of her crimes.
I I urge you, Justice, come with me.
She said there was a pack of hounds coming for me.
Do you know who they were? Just that once they took me, I wasn't coming back.
Is it enough? I need your assurance that you'll stand up in a court of law and give evidence publicly against Lydia Quigley.
Do I have your word? You do.
(DARK MUSIC) You do.
Oh yes.
(DRAMATIC MUSIC) Ah.
(QUIGLEY LAUGHS) Good evening, constables.
Let me introduce you to Miss Anne Pettifer.
Sharp as a tack, but sweet as a peach.
A pleasure to meet you, my lord.
I mean no offense to Miss Pettifer, but I see no woman in this room who is superior to you, Mrs.
Quigley.
Oh.
I prefer a riper fruit.
(SOFT UPBEAT MUSIC) (LAUGHS NERVOUSLY) Again.
(SWORDS CLANKING) (LAUGHS) Very good.
(DRAMATIC MUSIC) More aggressive.
(QUIGLEY LAUGHS) I haven't done this for quite some time.
We can be as slow as you like.
(LAUGHING) (EXCLAIMING) Fuck me.
Now.
(MOANING, PANTING) (QUIGLEY EXCLAIMS) Oh, Justice Dodds! Tally-ho, Mrs.
Quigley! Tally-ho! (MOANING, GASPING) Mrs.
Lydia Quigley, you're under arrest for Get out! Never in my life have I (STUTTERING) We have a warrant for Mrs.
Quigley's arrest.
Clear the flesh markets of Covent Garden, strip the streets of vice and pox, close the slum brothels, but these bawdy houses are our bawdy houses and you will not take our whores! I am sorry, Lord Dodds, but this arrest is not for Be gone or I will boot you from the law courts and into the Thames.
Oh, Doddy! Charlotte.
Don't fear, he's spent all his anger on me.
- Stay a moment.
- I need a drink.
I'll accompany you.
You don't want to go where I'm going.
Where? Home.
(DOGS BARKING, MAN YELLING) Come here! (WOMAN YELLING) Where's Quigley? It is no use.
- What happened? - She is like a weed.
Cut her down and she grows back stronger.
What do you mean? She has the Lord Chief Justice between her thighs.
(MAN YELLING) (DRAMATIC MUSIC) You got a spark in your throat tonight.
I'll either be free or dead tomorrow.
Either way, a sore head won't matter.
Come on.
Nance, put your money on Webster.
He's a cub.
Could be a lion.
I haven't seen you like this for years.
Ladies and gentlemen, may I have your attention, please? You are about to witness a clash of fabled fighters! (CROWD CHEERING) Billy "The Badger" O'Reilly! (CROWD CHEERING) Noah "The Storm" Webster! (CROWD CHEERING) Place your bets now! Three, two, one! Fight! - Come on, you! - Yeah! Here, place your bets.
(CROWD COMMOTION) She's eluded us this time.
The Justice failed.
But we're your sisters in arms now and I won't let any harm come to you.
(CROWD JEERING, YELLING) Just this way.
(LAUGHING) What a sad sight.
Is there no business for you in Lilliput? Your son's doxie plans to sell you to the Justice.
- How do you know? - Heard her myself.
Why have you come to tell me this? You chose the wrong girl for your spy.
I think the world of your son, and he takes delight in me.
I will prize them apart like a wishbone.
(TENSE, MYSTERIOUS MUSIC) (CHEERING, JEERING) We each have our own boiling rage against her.
(CROWD CHEERING, YELLING) We cannot let it fog our sight.
We need to fight like her.
Cold-hearted? Calculated.
We strike once and we strike right.
We're a five-headed beast now.
You just tell us when to roar.
(SOFT GUITAR MUSIC) (CROWD CHEERING)