01x02 - Mr. Paris Shoes

Episode transcripts for the 2014 TV show "The Knick". Aired August 2014 - December 2015.*
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"The Knick" looks at the professional and personal lives of the newly appointed leader of the surgery staff and the staff at the Knickerbocker Hospital in New York during the early part of the twentieth century.
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01x02 - Mr. Paris Shoes

Post by bunniefuu »

(train rattling)

Good morning, Miss.

Good morning.

Victoria: It seems someone called the Marquesa de Salobrena is coming in for the opening of the season.

Salobreña, dear.

The squiggly mark, it makes a noise.

Oh.

So much young European royalty in New York these days.

They call our money new, but it certainly does attract a crowd.

Sure are some nice shoes.

Thank you.

Some kind of fancy leather.

Must have cost you heavy.

Everything moving forward with the electrification now that Thackery has seen the light?

Well, the crews finished the installation on the operating theater and the wards.

Oh, we're now a modern hospital.

The board must be pleased.

Aren't they?

Where you get a pair of shoes like that?

At a store.

Which one?

Maybe I get me a pair like that.

It's not a very fair position to put a young woman in, August.

I'm sure Cornelia's only doing it because she can't say no to you.

I actually like it. I just...

I wish I didn't feel so...

Say it.

So damn stiff.

Casswell's down on 20?

Tip Top on Madison?

Levasseur.

Le what?

Where's that?

Paris.

Paris?

France.

I know where Paris is, n*gg*r.

(door opens)

Man: You lucky you was next.

Cornelia: I'm afraid no one really takes me seriously.

I'm worried I'm letting you down.


August: Neely, sweetheart... if I didn't think you were up to the task, I wouldn't have put you there.

Yes, I could get any number of men to sit in as my proxy, but no one, not even your brother, thinks the way I do more than you.

If you'd been born a man, you'd be running this whole damn city.

(laughs)

I don't doubt it.

Besides, any bad news delivered to the board or anyone else would just sound sweeter coming from you.

Thank you.

Now finish your breakfast so you're not late.

Aye, aye, Captain.

(laughs)

That all of 'em?

Pouncey: Uh, all that's living.

Got one more here, but he ain't moving.

Naw, he's moving.

He was dead when we scraped him off the ground.

You a doctor? Huh?

Well, as far as I can tell, he's another body delivered alive.

Wheel him in.

That's seven in all.

New building going up near Broad Street.

Me and Pounce must have waited all week for that crane to go, but when it went, boyo, that really did it.

A holy show if I ever saw one.

Schuldheit and Sons, so's you know where to send the bill.

I wager you'll already have your stretcher waiting under me when my day comes, Cleary.

Might just.

Now, Mr. Barrow, it's the end of the month and we need to be settling up.

Counting these seven, that's 22 altogether at two bits per, that's five and half you owe me.

Are you sharing with Pouncey?

Sure.

Just last week I bought him a pint at the pub.

He's a good lad, but he's thick as champ.

Get a bucket, scrub out that blood and see me in my office and I'll have your money.

All right, mate.

This one's dead.

You can drag him to the morgue.

(chuckles)

Looks like you'll be buying one less pint for your friend.

What the f*ck?

I told you he was dead.

Get in.

Let's see here. (mutters)

And one, two, three.

And this is the pathological lab.

My workshop.

Only one in the city.

Other hospitals may frown on studying the dead, but I believe it is the only way to advance our knowledge of the living.

The answers to disease and the body do not lie in house calls.


They're here in a lab where we can experiment and calibrate.

Cancer, syphilis, tuberculosis, all their mysteries waiting to be unlocked and take us soaring into the next century.

They built all this just for you?

The wealth supporting the Knick is endless.

People here want their hospital to be the best.

And they're willing to pay.

All I have to do is ask.

Of course, there are certain obligations that come along with getting what I want.

Such as?

Hiring a new surgical apprentice.

How did you come to know Captain Robertson?

I did some work with him in Nicaragua.

Now he wants you here?

No, that was my idea.

You are legitimizing surgery.

Taking it out of the barbershops and into the future and I want to be a part of it.

You do realize if you choose to join us, the work will be hard and the hours long, the results slow and agonizing, and we will see no shortage of death at our own hands.

But the rewards...

The rewards will be the achievement of it all.

"When the blast of w*r blows in our ears, then imitate the action of the tiger."

Hmm?

Shakespeare.

Never read him.

Catherine: I think the smells are what remind me of him most.

His cologne. His soap.

His cut tobacco pouch.

How are you, Catherine?

I miss him.

I meant to pay a call.

Let us both pretend you mean that.

I failed him, John.

No.

I tried.

(sniffles)


Country weekends, time with the children, dinner parties.

I thought I'd opened the valve for him, but the pressure was still there.

Blame is easy. Truth is harder.

Then what's the truth?

That my dear friend Jules lost sight of the procedure.

Stopped seeing the work, started seeing the death.

Is that the cardinal sin?

You did everything right. You were a fine wife to him.

Once a man shifts his mind from the surgical field to the patient under the drape, it's only a matter of time.

How will it not take hold of you the way it did Jules?

I have ways of getting through.

Check that ligature with saline for leaks, Everett.

It's holding fast.

Dr. Chickering will now cauterize the end of the duct.

(electricity buzzing)

No flame needed.

But does it make toast?

Very good.

(popping)

(men murmuring)

Get it off! Get it off!

Bertie! Bertie!

Gallinger: Nurse Elkins, saline.

Nurse Monk, don't!

(electricity crackles)

(alarm ringing)


Cornelia: My family and I paid more than $12,000 to electrify this hospital.

I am as furious as you are, Miss Robertson.

I gave the man his charge. I am to blame.

Regardless of who's to blame, to my father we both appear incompetent.

If our goal in wiring the place was to showcase our modernity, then might I suggest that k*lling nurses and setting patients afire might undermine the message a bit.

We were just discussing this and I am in agreement with you both.

The contractor must be held accountable.

We should run him out of business.

Or just b*at the tar out of him.

Thack, there is a lady here.

Well, from the looks of her, I'd say she'd take the first bat to the man.

I would if I thought it would help.

I think we should let our attorneys take a swing at him first.

Agreed.

Before we go tying this up in court, allow me to speak to this thief and force him to make good on his contract.

I warn you, Mr. Barrow, do not throw good money after bad.

I give you my word.

I will not spend a penny of the hospital's funds.

You have one week to resolve this.

Thank you for your patience.

Was there something else?

Yes. I've been looking for Dr. Edwards.

Have you tried his office?

Hello?

Algernon?

Yes?

This?

They assigned you this?

With their compliments.

What about the empty space next to Christiansen's old office?

They say they have another use for it.

And your medical work?

I've been ignored mostly and barely been allowed to perform any task beyond the skills of a first year medical student.

And as for my teaching, well...

You can't accept this. You're the deputy chief of surgery.

A position they believe I hold because of your family, Cornelia.

I expect these things.

You're upset because you don't.

Hello, dear.

Thank you.

Oh, would you take a few steps back?

Why?

Please?

Into the light.

Eleanor.

Oh, don't be a stick in the mud.

I'm proud of you.

Look at the camera.

(sighs)

(clicks)

Thank you.

We'll frame that and hang it on the wall above Lillian's crib.

Ready for lunch?

Let me fetch my hat.

Eleanor. Nice to see you.

Likewise.

How's Lillian?

What is she, nine months now?

Mm-hmm.


Oh, she has your looks.

Which is a good thing.

Let's hope she has Everett's brain.

I was sorry to hear about Everett losing the promotion.

It should have been his.

Eleanor.

It's all right, Everett. Let the lady defend you.

You deserve that job. You'll get it eventually.

Would you care to join us for lunch?

Other business to attend to, I'm afraid.

But thank you.

Herman.

When are we getting more cadavers?

We're through our last one and my surgeons seem to feel that practicing a procedure before attempting it actually has merit, at the very least for the patient.

I've been giving it my full effort, but nothing's come loose.

We used to just compete for bodies with Columbia, Cornell, and New York University, but now everyone's training doctors.

What about Cleary's man at the lunatic asylum upstate?

He must have something.

We were outbid.

Cornell is offering everyone triple.

I have checked with every indigent home, prison, and drunkard ward.

I can't seem to win a body.

Well, then offer more.

More than $75?

I need bodies, Herman.

Look, I have a lead on a failing heart at Blackwell Island.

With any luck, he won't survive the week.

And if you need something on which to practice, we do still have a fair number of pigs.

His name is Mr. Gatchell.

35, day laborer.

History of syphilis.

He's suffering from a rapidly growing aortic aneurism, eroding the second, third, and fourth ribs as well as the costal cartilages on the left...

(electricity crackling)

...of the sternum.

Beside Mr. Gatchell is Mr. Olynyk.

40, sea captain, alcoholic.

No history of syphilis.

He, too, is suffering from an aortic aneurism.

Complained of great pain in the right side of his chest to the shoulder when admitted.

Veins are dilated across the entire abdomen.

Diastolic shock can be felt.

Definite murmur can be heard.

Unless that's the damn lights popping on again.

Treatment?

They were each given 10 injections, 250 cc's of a 1% gelatin solution.

Mr. Gatchell responded adequately.

Mr. Olynyk needed a second round.

Injection strength doubled. 17 in total.

Barrow: It's all right. It's all right.

Let's open these shades, nurses, please.

We need more than window light, Herman.

I'm taking care of it.

Today or I will resolve it myself.

Absolutely.

We should prepare Mr. Olynyk for surgery.

He'll likely rupture within a day without it.

We'll ligate the aorta with aneurysmorrhaphy.

Gallinger: I suppose it's preferable to doing nothing.

Thackery: Don't be so sure. It's yet to produce anything but death.

Keep the injections going with Mr. Gatchell.


Edwards: Dr. Thackery, I spent some time at Hôtel-Dieu Hospital in Paris...

Gallinger: Scrubbing the floors, were we?

Working with Dr. Pierre Thibaux.

We experimented using a galvanic procedure on aortic aneurisms and had a fairly good success rate.

Thank you, Dr. Edwards. But if I want your ideas, I will ask for them.

Even if our procedure had a 60% success rate over gelatin and aneurysmorrhaphy, which have zero...

60%? I find that very hard to believe.

Well, let the paper that Dr. Thibaux recently published speak for itself.

As far as I'm concerned, you're only here to keep the lights on with the Robertsons' money.

And from the looks of things, you're not even doing that very well.

Man: You're a ripe stick of sh*t, Barrow.

You want to come after me for your troubles?

You were the contractor.

We've had fires, surges.

A girl d*ed, Clarence.

You won't be laying that at my doorstep.

They come to ask Mulkeen how this came about, and I tell them all about the money you squeezed.

You took the contract.

And you took all the dollars we needed to do it right and true.

That girl's on your head.

I tell 'em so, they'll be shackling you up in no time.

They want to get me for kicking back to you after that, they can have some good luck finding me at my mother's in County Clare.

How much?

It's 1,000 to do it right.

800.

That's piss next to what you took.

It's all I've got left.

I'm robbing Peter to pay Paul.

And Peter still wants his money.

I swear on my children.

900 by the end of the day.

No drafts, cash.

Agreed.
A lot of gashes today.

We should charge on a per stitch basis.

Were you told to monitor me?

What? No.

Of course not.

Mmm.

Those are finer sutures than I've ever done.

Please, try to hold your arm still.

Must you touch her so much?

Unless you expect these stitches to appear by magic, I'm afraid so.

So... is it true that you live in the Tenderloin District?

Yes.

I've been through in the day once or twice, but not at night.

Is it really like they say?

Most everything that humans would do if no one was looking and God didn't judge.

Hmm. I was thinking of going to the Haymarket.

My friend who's been there says it's the most... entertaining dance hall in the city.

I'm guessing your friend will soon have a burning sensation when he urinates.

It's nothing more shocking or exciting than what you see here every day.

Go to the horse races or a boxing match.

Bertie, they're preparing Mr. Olynyk for surgery.

Thackery needs us to scrub in.

Right.

Thank you, Dr. Edwards.

Okay, we are all done here.

You, young lady, were very brave.

I'll return in a moment with the dressing.

Excuse me.

Excuse me, madam?

Your arm needs attention. Where are you going?

The n*gro Infirmary on Minetta.

I can drain it for you right here.

No, you can't.

(paper tearing)

Thackery: A little more suction there, Bertie.

Very good.

Dr. Chickering will now cauterize the anterior wall.

(sizzling)


Well, it seems the old girl's not out to pasture yet.

Might explode, but at least it won't electrocute you.

Perhaps it's not too late for a career in the law.

Oh, cheer up. You've got a much better chance of survival than this fellow.

I've located the aneurism.

It makes the aorta look like it has a balloon on top.

Take a feel, Bertie.

Palpate the distal side.


Won't even stay firm against a pulse.

It's lost all of its form.

It's miraculous it hasn't already ruptured and k*lled him.

It's only a matter of time.

Hunter's ligation?

Resect the weak spot, try to reconstruct?

Yeah, with an aneurysm that large, once we resect it, there won't be much tissue left with which to reconstruct the artery.

We have to try.

We do indeed.

Nurse Pell?

Pell: Holding steady at 110 beats per minute.

Once we clamp the pedicel, we're on the clock as ischemia is very possible.

Where is Nurse Elkins today?

She's taken the shift on the postoperative ward for Nurse Monk.

It seems our young Bertram is unusually aware of Nurse Elkins' whereabouts.

You seem very interested as well.

Clamp it, Everett. Forceps.

You need to hold that while I excise that edge.

It's shredding like paper.

140 beats per minute.

Give me some of that rubber tubing.

Then support the inside of the artery while you sew around it.

There's nothing to work with.

It's in shreds.

Stay cool, Everett.

Just do what you can do and continue to press on.

All right. - Now I'm gonna remove the tubing.

You close the hole behind it.

No, it's not going to hold.

Well, he'll certainly die if we don't try.

All right.

One, two, three.

I'll go to his family.

Thackery: No, I'll go.

Bertie, you will accompany me.

We'll explain how the procedure failed.


It's tough luck, Everett.

He was doomed before he entered.

We were simply attempting to reverse his fate.


There just wasn't enough healthy tissue for the sutures to hold.

Well, we better find a better solution because it's Mr. Gatchell who's next.

What about Dr. Edwards? The galvanic procedure he mentioned?

Forget Edwards. He's a fool.

Yes, but he's a fool who studied with some very fine surgeons.

I'm loath to take up his errand, but dumb luck may have stumbled him into something useful.

And I think we can all agree there is nothing less useful than what we just attempted.


We don't need him, we just need the surgical paper on the procedure.

Dr. Wodsworth has an extensive library in his office on Park Avenue.

He gets all the European journals. We'll look there.

I highly doubt they'll be too keen on sharing it with anyone from the Knick.

Well, then be creative.

Gentlemen.

I take it you're here on behalf of Mr. Collier.

I would really prefer you didn't just appear at my workplace.

Please don't touch that. It's an antique.

You were supposed to meet Bunky this morning.

You owe your weekly.

Of course.

But there has been a tragedy.

Perhaps you heard.

A poor girl was electrocuted.

Um, which...

She could have been eaten by a whale or punched out by Kid McCoy.

He don't care.

You're never too busy for Bunky.

See him by midnight or you won't see the morning.

(laughing)

(girl vomiting) - Woman: There, there.

(girl coughing)


All finished?

All right.

Right.

Be back in a moment, darling.

How is he?

Mrs. Hemming...

(coughs)

...I think you had better call for an ambulance.

(knocks)

Mrs. Hemming: Yes?

Mrs. Hemming.

Cornelia.

Hello.

I was told Cora and your husband were admitted.

What is it?

Typhoid fever.

First Daniel, then a few days ago Cora.

Typhoid? The doctors are certain?

Yes.

And how are you feeling? Any symptoms?

No, but Cora seems to have enough of them for both of us.

I'm so terribly sorry.

I promise you there are no better doctors in the city.

Anything you need from the hospital or my family, please let us know.

Just your prayers.

Cadavers, Herman.

Not now, Thack.

Use the pigs. We have plenty of them out back.

I can't use pigs. It's an aortic procedure.

I need human cadavers.

I'll get them. I'll get them!

Woman: Yes, she came in about 11:00 this morning, but wasn't here very long.

Did someone take care of her arm?

No, she couldn't wait. Said she had to get to work.

Did she sign your registry by chance?

I believe this is her.

Ida Harris.

Yes?

Here are those patient records you requested.

You've been avoiding me.

No, I haven't. I swear.

Take a seat.

Lucy... please don't be nervous.

I'm not.

Maybe you do make me a little nervous.

Well, after your experience with me the other day, that's understandable.

You found me in a sorry state.

And I asked something of you that is beyond what a woman, even a fine young nurse, should be expected to do.

You know, my circus tent is no place for a proper girl.

I was glad to help you.

I wasn't sure I was doing the right thing.

Does that happen to you all the time?

I mean... you were so helpless.

I made a mistake.

I changed my routine and I suffered dearly for it.

It won't happen again.

I'll be much more responsible in monitoring my regimen.

Why do you need it?

Lucy, there is a life we live within the walls of this hospital and one we live outside of it.

And these two lives need not intersect.

Do you understand?

I think so.

You saw me as no one else here has.

I did.

But I have a reputation here in the medical community with my colleagues, and any perceived weakness could diminish their confidence in me as a leader and as a surgeon.

And that in turn could endanger the lives of my patients.

I understand.

What you saw must remain between us.

Of course.

You sure we should put those on?

No one's ever here this time of night.

You've broken in here before?

He collects scrimshaw.

He won't miss a piece or two every now and then.

Keep the details to yourself.

Holy...

What do you think, boy?

He suffers from gigantism.

Yeah, well, the Winslow Warlows could use him as a punter.

Wouldn't even have to use a f*cking cleat.

(laughs)

Oh.

This guy's nutsack's the size of a sailor's duffle.

Huh?

Elephantiasis.

Well, I bet he can squirt.

(laughs)

I think this is it.

At least it could be. It's in French.

(pigs snorting)

This way, please.

This don't feel right.

It'll be fine.

Please.

What part of the hospital is this?

Have a seat.

I'll have to drain this slowly over several hours.

What are you doing?

I'm going to numb the nerve trunks in your shoulder that lead down into your arm.

Have you had cocaine before?

No.

You're going to feel nothing in your arm and wonderful everywhere else.

It's truly a miracle.

(people chatting)

Give me a beer, a whiskey, and whatever else you got back there to get me properly squiffed.

"J.F. Mumford of the New West Side Athletic Club did not fight like an amateur when he met L. Smith.

In the first round, he sent Smith to the floor with a right punch to the jaw.

Now in the third, Smith began by landing some telling blows, but Mumford braced up and soon had Smith in a helpless condition."

Sounds like McCarthy getting b*at about by his wife.

(men laughing)

Oh!

Mr. T. Cleary of County Cork, currently of Park Row, took the fight to M. McCarthy, shutting his mouth and b*ating him with both fists.

Woman: He got what he was looking for, didn't he?

(knocks)

I'm here for Nora.

Sister Harriet: And he has no knowledge you're in this way?

I could never tell him.

He's not the sort of man who... he just gets angry.

He doesn't mean to.

But another child...

I understand.

Does he know where you are tonight?

Oh, Lord, no.

He's at the bakery. Halloran's on Chrystie Street.

He works the ovens from 10:00 to 6:00 most nights.

He can't know.

All right, you needn't worry.

Does it hurt?

A little discomfort.

But your husband will know nothing of it.

I promise.

But will God forgive me?

I don't want to go to hell for k*lling a baby.

He knows that you've suffered.

I believe the Lord's compassion will be yours.

Now, I need you to lay down.

I will make this as painless as possible.

Almost back to normal.

Starting to get some feeling back in this arm yet?

Yes, thank you.

If you have any more problems, come see me.

I will.

My brother-in-law got something wrong with his eye.

Think he could see you?

Absolutely.

(men chatting, laughing)

Barrow: This is a good deal, Bunky.

You don't tell me what's good and what isn't.

You don't tell me anything.

You don't come in here and change my rules.

I own you.

Slaves don't talk back to their masters.

Don't make me put another b*ating on you.

Please don't.

I came here like a man, didn't I?

A man doesn't come to me and beg.

A man doesn't get in the hole nine grand and act like he's got choices.

A man pays.

And I will treat you like a man.

Your weekly is due in two days.

You will pay in two days or you will suffer in two days.

I just need a little more time.

A week at the most.

Two days!

I said two days!

What are you doing? What are you doing?

What are you doing?

Open.

No, no, no.

Open!

(whimpering) Come on.

Open, open, open.

(screaming)

I'll hold on to that as collateral.

(laughs) - (groans)

Well.

Huh. Mr. Paris Shoes.

How they look with a little... poor man's shoe polish on them.

Excuse me.

Uppity m*therf*cker.

Think his ass don't stink.

You think you better than me, hmm?

(train rattling)

(groans)

(gasping)

(woman singing in Chinese)

How many bowls?

Four bowls.

Anything else?

No.

That's enough for me, Wu.

Dr. Thackery thinks that oranges are free here.

You come back soon?

Tonight maybe?

Where else would I go?

(theme music playing)
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