05x02 - Mei Mei

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Narrator: Previously on AMC's Hell on Wheels.

Collis Huntington: Union Pacific is halfway across Wyoming.

Thomas Durant is winning the race.

That is a problem for this railroad.

(Hits table)

Mr. Chang: Men like you and I make our own fates, our own luck.

The Swede: You are the devil.

Cullen Bohannon: Probably take a devil to finish this road.

Cullen Bohannon: Railroad's my business, Mr.Chang.

Mr. Chang: How we compensate workers is Chinese business.

Mr. Strobridge: Leave the Johns to that Hell's mouth and get back to your desk.

Cullen Bohannon: Never have learned hoto sit behind a desk, Mr. Strobridge.

(Yell)

(expl*si*n)

(Body hits ground)

(Grunting)

(Panting)

(Groaning)

(Breathing heavily)

(Groans)

(Groaning)

(Sighs)

(Fong coughing)

Bohannon! Bohannon!

(Groans)

Cullen: I'm all right.

Okay. All right, let's clean up that mess.

(Groaning)

(Fong groaning)

(Fong coughing)

Cullen: You.

Stay.

Stay put.

(Fong coughs)

(Breathing heavily)

(Continues coughing)

Right here.

All right.

Tie it off.

All right? Like this.

Fong: No need.

No help.

Tie it off!

Right now!

Told you to stay in the damn tent.

(Speaks cantonese)

You lied. You ain't a soldier.

You ain't Si Bing!

Fong Si Bing.

Nah. Soldiers don't lie.

(Speaks cantonese)

Soldier doesn't put their men in danger.

(Speaks cantonese)

A soldier follows orders!

Now tie the damn rope around your waist!

Yeah. Pull it tight.

I do job. Good job.

Si Bing for railroad.

(Rumbling)

(Fong coughs)

Slow.

Real slow.

(Fong gasps)

(Grunting)

(Yelling)

(Cullen struggling)

(Breathing heavily)

Hang on.

(Grunts)

I'm gonna pull you up!

(Grunts)

(Pants)

(Whistle blowing)

(Ringing)

(Men speaking indistinctly)

Ain't no way, or I'd have done it.

(Metal clangs)

Boiler needs flushing.

Boiler's fine.

Cullen: Smoke box?

Strobridge: Practically new.

Bearings?

Swiss watch.

When's the last time you replaced them pistons?

It's gonna take a magician to get her up there, Bohannon.

Well, I ain't no magician.

Trust me when I say it can't be done.

Once the snow melts, you mean.

How?

Sled.

You're gonna have to build it.

Chinamen built the Great Wall, reckon they can build me a sled.

You're gonna need a Chinaman translator, and yours ain't showed up for work today.

I'll talk slow.

For what, Bohannon?

Couple six inches more a day than what we're cutting now?

This race is gonna come down to inches, not miles, Mr. Strobridge.

Couple six inches a day is everything.

That's what my wife keeps telling me.

(Coughs)

Wrong pipe.

She tell you that, too?

Huntington: Mr. Bohannon has proposed to mechanize the removal of the rock from the tunnel shaft and double our shifts to work through the night.

Now that means I have to take my Chinamen off of the snow removal detail east of the tunnel to work in the hole.

Well, if Mr. Bohannon's idea works, well, we'll punch through before the first day of spring.

I need that snow gone.

I need your men to pick up the slack.

Shoveling snow is Chinamen's work.

Eight hundred men free from the sin of sloth.

Your father's words to me.

Words I paid a pretty penny for.

That was the deal, wasn't it, Mr. Gundersen?

A devil's bargain, no doubt.

Huntington: Is there a problem?

I can throw up a wire right now, bring your father in on this, let him know the decreasing value of his word, hmm?

No?

Then that'll be all, sir.

Best bring a coat with you, Mr. Gundersen.

Mmm?

It is bitter cold up in them mountains.

(Tao coughing)

(Inhaling)

Ah Fong.

Bohannon.

Mmm-hmm.

(Man speaking cantonese)

Cullen: Excuse me.

I need a foreman that speaks English.

Today.

What befell Ah-Tao is regrettable, Mr Bohannon.

More so given he's the only one who speaks English well enough.

You speak it well enough.

A shame I am not a railroad worker.

At 19, I was preparing food for the Qing Emperor.

I spent months crafting the perfect recipe, only to see him spit out his first bite and toss me from the palace grounds.

The sweet bean glaze had soured over.

One wrong ingredient can spoil all your hard work, like that.

Next time you want to send a message, you send it to me direct, son.

(Cleaver clatters)

(Men speaking indistinctly)

The job is to dismantle this here locomotive.

Take it apart.

Any little piece that can come off... comes off.

Truck's gotta come off.

Same thing with these here wheels. Off.

Piston rods, connecting rods, brake cylinders, buffer beams, all of it gotta come off.

Get back to work, John.

Cullen: Now once we get her picked apart, we're gonna use the trucking jacks, load her onto the sled, take her up the mountain. Y'all understand?

You understand?

Hoi understand.

All right, good. Tell them.

Tell them.

(Stuttering)

What I just...

sh*t.

Take engine apart.

Every single piece.

Uh... Break... Break it down. Every, every single piece, apart.

Any damn one of y'all understand a word I'm saying?

Huh?

Yeah? Well, if you do, let me hear you say it! Tell 'em.

What in the hell did you tell them?

I say take apart.

You stealing my Chinamen now, Bohannon?

Hey!

Need him.

What for?

Translator.

Ah, hell.

You.

You! Come with me, John. (Speaks cantonese)

Noble little engine, the first locomotive to run on California soil.

Christened by Ted Judah and his wife, 1855.

Mmm.

I was gonna put it in my museum one day.

This here will have to do.

Let's get it done, son. Come on.

(Men grunting)

(Exhales sharply)

(Pratt yelling)

(Men murmuring)

It ain't so bad, is it? Tell me it ain't so bad!

The Swede: Shh.

Well, can you wiggle your toes?

(Gasping)

No?

This one. Little bit? Oh!

(Yelps)

(Sobbing)

The Swede: Oh, sweet God.

(Shushing)

Oh, my Lord.

Get back to work.

We're not working until we're provided for, Brother Phineas.

Faith provides.

(Men murmuring)

Now get back to work.

Faith doesn't put food in our bellies, or clothes on our backs, or boots on our feet.

Perhaps a telegram to Zion to ask for supplies?

Yes. Yes.

I will, I will message my father and I will impress upon Brother Brigham the urgency of our situation.

You have my word.

(Horse neighs)

(Men grunting)

Turn them horses away from the treeline!

Get them away from the treeline!

(Speaks cantonese)

No! Away from the trees!

Away!

Away from the trees!

(Horse neighing)

(Grunting)

Brake that sled!

(Neighing)

Whoa, whoa!

(Grunts)

(Men yelling)

Brake that sled! Come on!

(Grunting)

Damn it. I said away from the treeline!

You speak English or what? Huh?

(Groans)

Fix?

No, it's busted.

No, uh, no fix. No, no brake.

Brake.

No. Chains ain't gonna help, Fong.

Tell 'em to take everything off.

Get what they can down to where the horses are.

I'll go back into Truckee, get what I need to fix this brake.

(Speaks cantonese)

Hey! Uh-uh! I said take everything off.

No fix.

Take apart. Tell them.

You, you. Give me a hand.

Ow.

Fix brake.

Yeah, we'll see.

(Speaking cantonese)

(All grunting)

(All cheering)

Fix brake.

Yeah, fix brake.

(Speaking cantonese)

Mocha?

Mmm... Mocha?

Mocha.

Oh, it's good.

Mmm.

(Groans)

Damn, son. You sure can take a b*ating.

I said you're tough.

You know tough? Well...

Tough? Fight?

You fight?

In the w*r?

You a soldier?

Si Bing.

Si Bing. Soldier?

Yes. Uh, I fight, yes.

Um, you Si Bing?

(Chuckles)

Yeah.

Yeah, me Si Bing. Yeah.

(Grunts)

Mmm.

Go on, take it.

It's American mocha.

(Sniffs and exhales)

(Laughs)

sh*t kicks like a mule. But it'll burn that pain out.

(Coughing)

Give it a sec.

(Fong clears throat)

(Sighs) I was gonna build me a house.

Two stories, fireplace, porch.

The kind that wraps around.

Place I could kick my boots off.

Sit a spell.

Frame it out of something sturdy.

Spruce, maybe.

Something with integrity.

Something that would last.

My house gone.

Village gone.

Family, all gone.

Yeah.

(Coughs)

(Dog whining)

The Swede: Do you like a little more?

(Chuckling) You're a good boy.

Ah.

Phineas: No supplies until spring.

Ah.

I made a promise.

Damn him.

You must not speak this way about the Prophet.

(Scoffs) Why?

I'm his disappointment, and he's cast me off to the cold hell of this mountain.

It is not the Prophet who tests you, Brother Phineas, but Heavenly Father.

As fire tests and purifies gold.

You will bring much praise and glory upon your return to Zion.

This I know.

(The swede chuckles)

You're kind to me, Brother Thor.

But kindnesses will not clad my men's feet, nor put food on their table.

No. This is what faith is for.

And we must practice it with open hearts, not bitter ones.

Come and sit.

Share, share in the fire with me.

Huh? And Oslo. (Chuckles)

(Men speaking indistinctly)

(Sighs)

Would it be terrible inappropriate if I put my arm around you right now?

Fong, get your ass out here!

(Grunts)

Ah! Come on, hop to it!

(Coughing)

Jesus.

Here, lay down.

Mmm, no help. Fong good. Good.

No, you ain't. Come on. Lie down.

No! No...

There ain't no shame in it, son. Let me have a look.

Damn it! You need to be looked to and ain't a damn doctor out here.

(Grunting)

Now hold still.

(Fong coughs)

Oh, these bandages is all wrong.

(Grunting)

Damn it. Hold still.

I'm just gonna redo these dressings.

(Cries)

(Grunts)

Strobridge: Bohannon! What's going on in there?

Please don't say about this. They k*ll me.

Strobridge: Ain't getting any younger, Bohannon.

Fong: Please.

(Cries)

Please?

You stay in the tent. You hear me?

(Sobbing)

Stay in the damn tent.

The hell's the hold up?

Sick list.

Why don't you check him for ticks while you're at it?

I was wearing a pair just like that when a ship bound for California left me stranded in the jungles of Panama.

Traversed the stinking mud, torrential rain, all the while met by alligators, snakes, poisonous lizards, worms.

Oh.

Well, I tell you, sir. Death carried off 10 men a day.

Hmm.

And it wasn't the crocodilians that took them first.

You know what it was, sir?

No, sir. Uh, what was it?

Wet feet.

Wet feet.

But for 39 miles, 60 days, my feet?

Oh, dry.

I can have 300 pairs like that to you and your saints by week's end.

Uh...

Well, you appear unconvinced.

Wealthy in spirit will not send me home with these boots, alas.

$5 a pair. That lift your spirits?

(Stutters)

Give me two months' work, free labor on the grade, boots are yours today. How's that sound?

A price higher than the peaks Mr. Bohannon has condemned us to shoveling.

Four weeks, not a day less.

Two.

Three.

Throw in this, uh, fine American instrument and, uh...

And you've got yourself a deal, Mr Huntington.

Hmm! Well done. (Chuckles)

(Men talking indistinctly)

Any more slack?

All right.

(Breathing heavily)

(Speaks cantonese)

(Speaks cantonese)

(All grunting)

Stop!

(Speaking cantonese)

(Man grunts)

(Chain rattles)

(Grunting)

(Fong grunts)

(Workers yelling)

(Grunting)

(Grunts)

(Coughs)

Right here.

All right.

Tie it off. All right?

Like this.

No help.

Tie it off! Right now!

Told you to stay in the damn tent.

You lied. You ain't a soldier.

You ain't Si Bing.

Fong Si Bing.

Soldiers don't lie.

Soldier doesn't put their men in danger.

_

A soldier follows orders!

Now tie the damn rope around your waist!

(Coughs)

I do job. Good job. Si Bing for railroad.

(Rumbling)

(Fong coughs)

Slow.

Real slow.

(Fong coughs)

(Fong gasps)

(Grunting)

(Yelling)

(Fong grunts)

(Rope creaking)

(Grunting)

(Grunting)

(Panting)

(Rope continues creaking)

(Both grunting)

Cullen: Hang on!

(Grunts)

(Panting)

I'm gonna pull you up.

(Grunts)

(Pants)

(Men speaking indistinctly)

Couple six inches, he says.

Built the Great Wall, he says.

She damaged?

Strobridge: Took it better than you.

Ah.

Get her to the... Get her to the tunnel for me.

Get it there yourself.

Can't.

Where you going?

To find my worker.

No, no, no, you can't.

I got to.

I'm not gonna stand by and watch you risk yourself for some slanty-eyed Jake, especially one's likely dead.

Get it to the tunnel, Jim.

(Sighs)

(Breathing heavily) You alive?

Fong!

You alive?

(Coughs)

Anything broke?

(Both breathing heavily)

Hey, come on.

(Counting in cantonese)

(Yells)

(Coughing)

What's your name?

Mei.

But you must call me Fong.

(Breathing heavily)

Mei.

Si Bing.

(Coughing)

Yeah.

Whoa.

(Chuckling)

Pioneer Day come early, boys!

(The swede laughing)

(Men cheering)

Hey!

You'll go home with the rest of your toes, Brother Pratt.

Thank you.

And thank you, Brother Thor.

Those boots are Heavenly Father's answer to the prayers of the Prophet's son, Brother Pratt.

He alone is responsible for preserving what remains of...

Of your toes. Not me.

Ah, Brother James, yes.

(Chuckles) Mmm-hmm.

Yeah, there you are.

(Train whistle blowing)

(Men speaking indistinctly)

Easy, easy.

(Grunts)

Fong.

Fong?

Your son saved my life today.

(Speaks cantonese)