Hell on Wheels s05e04 Episode Script

Previosuly on AMC's Hell on Wheels.
I belong to them.
That's why I hide.
This is America.
Ain't nobody belongs to nobody.
They are good men with families.
Good men with families get fired every day.
They've taken money from our pockets, food from our bellies, and roofs from over our heads.
Whose side are you on anyway? Same side as you.
Railroad's.
Are we being cheated? They need to be taught a lesson's what they need.
Go back to your tents.
I want justice.
Whoa.
Last stop.
End of the line.
'Cept you, Sam.
You owe me a drink.
Two whiskeys.
Plus whatever he's having.
Bottle's right there.
Guess I don't feel much like pouring.
It's all right, we'll just, uh, head right up I've got money, if that's the holdup.
Show him the money, Sam.
Me thinks you best be on your way, miss.
Assuming that's the appropriate way to refer to you.
Tell you what.
You don't want to sell me nothing, I'll bet you for it.
I'll bet you a dollar I can knock you out in one punch.
All right.
So So the bet's on you knocking me to the floor.
Unless you don't want to muss that pretty smile of yours.
All right, then.
One punch.
One dollar.
And, uh, what happens when I don't go down? I imagine you boys have thoughts on that already.
And what about the sprightly poodle who's follow Two whiskeys, you said? Plus whatever he's having.
Stagecoach Mary, is it? Proper name's Mary Fields.
Well, Miss Fields Welcome to Laramie.
Open it up.
You boys is leaving town.
Leaving town where? Anywhere but here.
Come on.
Ain't no time for that.
Let's go.
Come on.
What're you Jakes looking at? Shut your mouth, Matt, for Christ sakes.
Up.
Now.
Go! Back.
Hey! Back! Back.
Back up! All right.
Let's load 'em up.
Tunnel ain't gonna build itself.
Tao? Mr.
Tao.
You choose to let the murderers go free? Law chose.
Now, load up.
Uh Let's go to work, John.
I said, let's go to work! I said get up on that damn train! I said, load 'em up.
Mr.
Tao, get these men up on that train.
No, uh-uh.
No, that ain't the way.
Guess you made your point with your little speech right there.
I thought I made it back in the railroad office.
Men don't work, they don't get paid, and neither do you.
Those men just learned that a white man can kill a Chinese man, and all he'll get is a free ride out of town.
I can't change the law.
Get your people back to work.
After you address our list of demands.
Enforcement of the agreed-upon eight-hour workday.
Your personal guarantee to stop the beatings.
Five dollar raise, per worker, per month.
You want them to get paid more, stop skimming their wages.
The strength of your workforce derives from the integrity of your workers, Mr.
Bohannon.
You must show them the respect they deserve.
You mean, the respect you deserve? Mmm.
I have one other demand.
A modest stake in the Central Pacific Railroad.
Say Two percent.
Yeah.
No, I I'll give you the workday and curtail the beatings.
But No raise and no stake.
Get the men back to work today.
My request for a stake is non-negotiable.
Sorry.
Ain't on the list.
Men in America are compensated based upon their value.
Until you acknowledge mine, your railroad will not move another inch.
Central Pacific's new route through Utah.
They got their eyes on the coal fields, Mr.
Durant.
Here, east of the Great Salt Lake.
Well, those California cretins won't be through the Sierras by the time I reach Weber Canyon.
Our progress on the C.
P.
has sped up since Bohannon took over the work.
That fustilarian backstabber! You know, he lied to my face and before my back was turned, he joined the enemy.
I haven't forgotten that.
I will grind him and Huntington to dust when I meet them at the California border.
Yes, sir.
Good morning.
He's in a meeting.
It's a private meeting.
Any chance he'll have a comment for me today? None whatsoever.
How's Abby? Miserable.
How's the life of a freelance writer? Equally miserable.
Look, Marty, I'm not asking for keys to the safe, just who's on the other side of that door.
Surveyor.
Came with a map case.
Does it bother you that the board chairman of the Union Pacific is meeting with a surveyor while his chief engineer has to wait outside? The "chief engineer" will not be disparaging the Union Pacific chairman on the record for you today.
I can wait.
All right.
Well.
Lovely to see you, Miss Ellison, as always.
Never speak to this woman.
I hear the railroad has commissioned a new survey.
Have you decided on a terminus? You should stay out of the sun.
You're starting to freckle.
- Get off him.
- She ain't going anywhere yet.
Customer's asking for her special.
A rich one, too, not the usual mick trash staining your sheets.
Let me off, Johnny.
Oh.
You want to stick your prick in the merchandise, you pay like every other mutt.
Clean yourself up.
Customer's waiting.
Something's real sore down there.
Ah, Christ, Eva I want Shea out of my parlor house.
No.
The girls are complaining, the customers are complaining, and he's costing us money.
Another flush customer just came in, looking for Josie, and I had to send him out 'cause Shea broke her money maker.
Aren't you supposed to fix those kinds of lady troubles? He also busted Ginny's door, - roughed up the professor.
- You knew what you were getting into.
And he stole three bottles of good liquor.
And that was just this week.
- He's my cousin, Eva.
- I want him gone.
He's there to keep the girls in line.
And by the by, you've got bigger problems.
Take's light for the second time this month.
You think new doors and lost business don't cost something? You're lucky it ain't worse with all Shea's mess.
He's my cousin.
Then you better get used to this.
There you go! Get in there, Dutch! I've got a wager on ya! Come on, help me break this up.
No, sir.
Got no taste for Irish beef.
All right, everyone, cut it out! Everyone back to work.
Oh! Fist fights and associated wagers will be conducted on your time, not mine.
Oh, piss off, pork belly! Pack up your shamrocks and hobble your mick mouth off to whatever shit hole spawned you.
You're fired.
You, too.
- Mr.
Durant, that ain't hardly fair - And we have a third! Do we want to try for four? Now, the only people I see not flapping around like dim-witted ducks are the freedmen.
Now, unless you want them to take your jobs, I suggest you get back to work.
Now! All right, fellas, back to work.
I will not lose this race because you cannot be trusted to handle a bunch of Irish pissants.
They hit me in the mouth.
The only thing worse than a weak-backed leader is a shit-brained engineer.
Now, I want you back in the office buried in bridge designs.
At least you can't embarrass me there.
Just give Chang his stake if that's all he's really after.
By the time he cashes out, I'll have diluted his shares so far underground he'll have to pick 'em up at Canton.
Still makes him an owner.
I saw a monkey once dressed up as a doctor.
Think he really was one? I could settle this by noon with a dozen men with ax handles.
Beat crew can't work and we ain't got scabs.
Gentlemen, just get my railroad working.
I don't care how you do it.
Find the incoming freight schedule.
Chang's asking for an ownership stake in the railroad.
He's prepared to let you sit here until he gets it.
He ain't gonna get it.
Now, Huntington won't approve the raise, but I'll guarantee the rest of what you want.
Help me convince the men it's the best they're gonna get.
I cannot help you.
When this thing goes bad, I wouldn't count on him.
Have it your way.
Brother Rigby found him this morning.
.
Rot spread through his leg.
Do the other saints know? I wrote a sermon.
- I tried to, anyway.
- Good, good, good.
I want to hold the service tomorrow.
- Yeah? - I just need an opinion.
Well, of course, Brother.
Yeah.
- Brother.
- Yeah? Surely you can read your own hand.
Sometimes, I get the letters confused when I look at them.
Mmm.
Let me look, yeah? Phineas, have you tried memorizing your words? Father said I'd never be able.
At six years old, my, uh My mother took me to the House of the Lion, so I could read him the Good Book.
Hmm.
It was the first time I was to read to him, and I was Very nervous.
I didn't get ten words out before he stopped me.
Made my mother take me away.
It was two years before I even saw him again.
Perhaps the trouble is you was not born to merely read the words of our forefathers.
Perhaps Perhaps you was born to speak from the heart.
Mmm? Hmm.
Hold it.
Lock it up.
Mr.
Bohannon, I have paid for these goods.
Surely you don't think you can This train belongs to the Central Pacific.
This depot is property of the Central Pacific.
This cargo is impounded by the Central Pacific until further notice.
I said, lock it up, son.
You think you can starve us out? Hmm, I think you're trespassing.
This is how you show us the respect we ask for? Nothing a man respects more than an empty stomach.
This won't get the men back to work.
Will if they want to eat.
Shake hands.
Hey.
Last I saw, those two fools were trying to kill each other.
Paddy's been spending time with a whore Dutch fancies.
- They're due for a chat.
- Huh? You know these men backwards and forwards, McGinnes.
Aye, sober and drunk.
How would you like a job supervising them? I'm not a railroad worker, nor do I intend to be.
What, you wouldn't appreciate the security of regular, government-backed wages? If it's a loyal foreman you're looking for, to take care of your boys, that's a service I can provide.
For $20 a man.
Three-Piece Duffy charged half that God rest his soul.
Your railroad is slowing down ever since Bohannon buggered off.
Bullshit.
I'm making 5 miles a day.
Over flat prairie.
What happens when you hit the Rockies? I'll tell you what.
I'll give you the first man, starts tomorrow for 15.
You like the results, I'll bring in the rest for the full 20.
Ten for him.
- And fifteen for the rest.
- I'm not negotiating.
I know you're flush and Johnny's got plenty of other things he can do with his time.
Ow! Almost got it.
There.
He's been looking for that.
Keep Shea out of your room.
He ain't your beau.
He ain't so bad once you get to talkin' to him.
I don't care how he is.
I want your clam working.
My clam's been working well enough to pay for your silks and furs.
Mickey's take was light again.
Hmm.
I ain't in the mood, Josie.
Hey, I didn't steal anything! I swear.
Eva, I don't have it.
I told you.
Hey, quit it.
Hey! What's this? Huh? I'm not stealing from you.
Don't mistake me for soft, Josie.
Or stupid.
That's what we did, me and Cyrus and the boys.
We pooled our money together.
Gonna own us a nice piece of land here in Laramie.
Ain't no forty acres and a mule.
Nah, it ain't that now, but rumor got it, Laramie gonna be the new railroad hub.
Yes, sir.
Old Psalms ain't gonna be digging grade forever.
- I spent my whole life on the plantation.
- Mmm.
And I ain't never settling down again.
Yeah.
Look here.
Each one's got a story.
Mighty fine collection you got there.
Well, this just what I came up here with.
You ought to see what's in the coach.
Hmm? You inviting me for a ride? Well, now, there's a mouth.
Huh? Now you're talking about my mouth.
And we only just met.
- Shame on you, now.
- Mmm-hmm.
Shame is to meet a woman beautiful as you and not learn her name.
Her name's Mary Fields.
Miss Ellison, ain't you in the wrong place? Louise Ellison, I'm a journalist covering the railroad.
I was just hoping to ask you a few questions about the man you brought to town this morning.
He had a map case with him.
We was just in the middle of a conversation I'll tell you what you want to know, you give me that pretty hair comb.
How's that? The one with the case is Sam Ammerman.
Brought him back and forth a few times.
Back and forth from where? California.
Where the other railroad at.
Mr.
Ammerman brought a map case from the Central Pacific? You know, I like you better with your hair down.
Come in.
Where you been? Busy.
I'm not paying you to wear that girl down, John.
Nothing'd wear her down.
She's a good craic, that one.
Tomorrow, you start a new job.
Railroad foreman.
Hell, I do.
Business is growing, and I need you out there.
I came to this shitehole to have some fun.
Not rouse my ass watching buggers pound spikes.
You've plenty of money there.
Hire someone.
We don't want to hire someone.
Do it yourself then.
Do you know which one of these piles stocks the bar? Pays the bartenders? Runs the games, the whores? Never been much for figures.
That's right.
You've got other talents, John.
And right now, I need you to employ them out there on the railroad.
Can you do that for me while I handle this? Sure, Michael.
I can do that for you.
Good.
We done? Here's some money.
Would you ever go and get that tooth fixed? What shitebrain started a fight yesterday? We already settled things.
My name is Johnny Shea, and I'm your new foreman.
This is what happens if you screw off on my watch.
Now, back to work! You heard him, fellas.
Let's go.
Mr.
Chang is arming men to come get the food.
It won't end well if he does.
There may be another way.
I can show you.
These men came to Gold Mountain to provide for their families in Guangdong.
In China, it's a tradition for a man's family to look after his grave.
We provide our loved ones with food, money Everything he might need in the afterlife.
But, if there is no one to care for him, he wanders as a ngor gui.
Hungry ghost Forever.
That's, uh, Yao Pak Na.
He's got a wife and four children in Yunping.
So, as long as he's here, they will never be able to care for him.
If living Chinese can't have the same respect as white men, maybe the dead can.
Honor the ones who gave their lives for your road, I think they will go back to work.
Release my shipment, there will be no bloodshed.
Come closer, Chang.
I can't hear you.
The Chinese will not return to work until our demands are met.
It's all right.
Go and get your supplies, Mr.
Chang.
Now on Railroad carries the cost of freight to ship the Chinese bodies back to their home villages in China.
Well, they come here by the boatload for free, you expect me to pay to ship their bodies home at cost? It's cheaper than a million dollar raise, ain't it? Mr.
Bohannon, you'll make an executive yet.
Gentlemen.
My fellow Saints, we're gathered under the eyes of Heavenly Father to celebrate a life And to mourn the death of one of our own, tragically taken from us in the wilds of California where we now reside.
Brothers, we are far from home.
Far from our friends and loved ones.
Far from the families who raised us.
Out here, we must build our own family, create a new home.
We must watch out for each other above all else.
Otherwise we are living in a world plagued by sin, by sorrow, waiting for far-off help that may never come.
Come on, you dirty-minded hellers.
Move your bones! A world where we cannot trust the men behind us.
We must provide the boots for our feet.
The clothes for our back.
We must be our brother's keeper.
We must take charge of our fate, and fortune, under the watchful eye of Heavenly Father.
Ya! Get back inside.