04x05 - After

[bunniefuu]

"Once upon a time"...

The beginning of many a story

and yet the ending of every tale.

To tell a story in a way that matters,

it should begin with "now."

Now is the story of two children at play

in the midday sun.

Laughter unaware of love,

until right this moment, until now.

[UPLIFTING MUSIC]

Now is the living
picture of a perfect day,

blissful and ignorant of tomorrow.

♪ ♪

Now is the middle of the story.

A good life behind, another ahead.

♪ ♪

Until finally,

now is the ending of now.

The time once upon a life was lived.

[DRAMATIC MUSIC]

"Forever after" is rarely happy.

♪ ♪

[THUNDER BOOMS]

[FLICKERING]

♪ ♪

_

Please, just a moment longer.

[ECHOING] Our Red Forest is in danger.

Those who wish to destroy me
are searching for a w*apon.

Something ancient built by Primaries,

somewhere in the past.

♪ ♪

- How can I serve you?
- Find it before they do.

And I shall return to you
your perfect moments...

forever.

♪ ♪

[DRAMATIC MUSIC]

♪ ♪

[BREATHING HEAVILY]

[BITTERSWEET MUSIC]

♪ ♪

What is it?

Oh...

I can't stop trying to figure it out...

How I fit into all this.

Serpent. Demon.

Jones found my birth certificate.

♪ ♪

- What did it say?
- [SCOFFS]

It was filed months after I was born,

When my mom dropped me off with my dad.

Said her name was Marion Woods.

Just a name. That's it.

Let's go back.

Jones says it's too dangerous.

My causality is paramount.

If the w*apon really
was meant for me to find,

she doesn't want to
mess around with before.

We keep moving forward until the end.

♪ ♪

The end.

What is it?

All this talk about the end, and...

♪ ♪

You and I never talk about after.

♪ ♪

[BEEPING]

[UPBEAT FOREIGN-LANGUAGE MUSIC PLAYS]

♪ ♪

[WHIRRING]

[YAWNS]

[COMPUTER ALERT BEEPING]

[DRAMATIC MUSIC]

♪ ♪

Holy sh*t!

- [KNOCK AT DOOR]
- Guys, I found something!

Come on, out of bed! Let's move!

Besides, I know what
you're doing in there.

Better be careful this
time. Butt stuff only!

♪ ♪

Voilà! Ta-da!

[CLEARS THROAT] This is July , .

What do you see?

"Climb the steps, ring the bell."

- You found it.
- Yes!

Couldn't help but notice the dead guys.

♪ ♪

- Who are they?
- Unidentified.

Two men sh*t to death.

The police at the time believed

it was related to organized crime.

But in the late ' s,
a series of reports

related to the Cold
w*r became declassified.

They were Soviet spies.

- What are they doing?
- Trying to buy a w*apon.

Their communiqué
from the KGB to Moscow,

intercepted by the FBI,
said that the seller

was to meet them with a w*apon,

which they described as ancient
and of unimaginable power.

♪ ♪

Unimaginable power!

♪ Mystery MacGuffin ♪

♪ We're going on a hunt ♪

Primaries from somewhere,
"somewhen" in olden times,

built us a w*apon to
break the cycle, right?

Something Her Bitchness hadn't foreseen.

This could be it.

♪ ♪

. It's all we got.

- I'll go with you.
- Guys!

Guys, what about the artist
formally known as Primary?

BOTH: No.

[THE LOVIN' SPOONFUL'S
"SUMMER IN THE CITY"]

♪ ♪

♪ Hot town, summer in the city ♪

♪ Back of my neck getting
dirty and gritty ♪

♪ Been down, isn't it a pity? ♪

♪ Doesn't seem to be
a shadow in the city ♪

♪ All around people looking half dead ♪

♪ Walking on the sidewalk
hotter than a match head ♪

♪ But at night, it's a different world ♪

♪ Go out and find a girl ♪

♪ Come on, come on,
and dance all night ♪

♪ Despite the heat, it'll be all right ♪

♪ And, babe, don't you
know it's a pity... ♪

Report says they're in room .

The manager said is occupied,

so it won't be as easy to get the jump

when the seller arrives.

Well, the time of death
is in an hour or so.

Hey, what are you doing?

What do you think I'm doing?

Okay, there are two ways this goes.

One, you go in there
looking for the w*apon.

And what do you know?
Bang, bang, loop, loop.

It was us who k*lled
the Russians all along.

Two, surprise... it's the
Army of the Monkeys...

Olivia's final suckerpunch.

I can't sit here any longer.

Let's go stretch our legs,

peek in the window or something.

[DRAMATIC MUSIC]

- No rushing in?
- No.

I just want to get a breath
of good old fresh air.

Promise.

Come on, it's a nice night.

Hmm?

Bullshit.

♪ ♪

Nice wheels.

Think it's our Russian spies?

Only if they want to draw
attention to themselves.

[DISTANT CLATTERING]

sh*t.

They're running.

♪ ♪

God damn it.

We're too late.

♪ ♪

Must have got out through the window.

♪ ♪

Cassie.

♪ ♪

Whoever k*lled them wasn't the seller.

[TELEPHONE RINGING]

♪ ♪

Hello?

Who is this?

♪ ♪

You called us.

You don't sound Russian.

Why would we?

You have the money?

Yes.

I'm on my way.

No. Change of venue.

Uh, there's been some local heat.

- We're moving.
- Where?

Manhattan. Emerson Hotel, suite .

♪ ♪

: .

[LINE CLICKS, DIAL TONE DRONES]

What the hell are you doing?
What if this is a trap?

Then they're walking into ours now.

If we're lucky.

And history has proven we're not.

We don't get this w*apon,
there is no history.

Come on.

♪ ♪

[CAR HORN HONKS]

All right, it's almost : .

- You'd better go.
- Go where?

Well, I've been doing some thinking.

We know I make it far enough

to get that splinter
suit working again, right?

Future assh*le?

Right, so, if causality
can work against us,

that means it can work for us,

which means I should be all right.

Listen, present-day assh*le,
we're doing this together.

No, there's no way this
guy's coming here alone.

We need eyes in the lobby.

Nobody can leave here
with that w*apon except us.

♪ ♪

[ELEVATOR BELL DINGS]

[INDISTINCT CHATTER]

Of course I'm sure.

I hung my coat on the
g*dd*mn rack when I came in.

- You have a thief in this hotel.
- My deepest apologies, ma'am.

I'm sure it's a simple mistake.

[HIGH-PITCHED WHIRRING]

Excuse me.

♪ ♪

[KNOCK AT DOOR]

I'm coming.

♪ ♪

Sorry about that. [CLEARS THROAT]

♪ ♪

Where is it?

Talk first.

♪ ♪

You want a drink?

♪ ♪

We have, uh, whiskey or whiskey.

[SNIFFS]

♪ ♪

Whiskey. Neat.

♪ ♪

[INDISTINCT CHATTER]

♪ ♪

[DOOR CLOSES]

The seller's in suite .

♪ ♪

[g*n COCKS]

♪ ♪

The Widow.

♪ ♪

Take her.

♪ ♪

I won't be long.

[ELEVATOR BELL DINGS]

♪ ♪

[GLASSES CLINK, DISTANT CLATTER]

[CHUCKLES]

♪ ♪

You're not Soviet. This I know.

Did you k*ll them?

Money's all that matters.

♪ ♪

Show me.

♪ ♪

[ARM SNAPS]

♪ ♪

Tell me...

do you even know what you are buying?

A w*apon.

So claimed the Ahnenerbe.

Then again, no one
really knows what it is.

I have a man waiting
in the bar downstairs.

He will give you a case made of lead.

Your w*apon is inside.

♪ ♪

[g*nshots]

[LID CLANGS]

♪ ♪

- No.
- [WHEEZING]

No, James. Are you sh*t?

[CONTINUES WHEEZING]

James. Can you talk?

[WHEEZES]

Can you squeeze my hand?

Squeeze my hand. Come
on, squeeze my hand.

♪ ♪

- [CHOKING]
- Stay with me.

- Look at me.
- [CHOKING]

Oh, God.

It's poison.

♪ ♪

[WHOOSHING]

Dr. Railly!

What happened? Mr. Cole's signature...

I need you to send me back earlier,

to the beginning of the day, now.

- Why?
- He's dying.

I'm losing Mr. Cole's
tether. I can't pull him back.

- What's happening to him?
- He was poisoned.

- Symptoms of induced paralysis.
- His vitals are fading.

Send me back earlier. I can warn him.

Give me a few hours,

and I can send you back
well before, days even.

We have to send her back now.

Mr. Cole's causality... If
he dies before we send her,

our timeline may shift.

You need to go back
before his tether breaks.

Minutes earlier is the best I can do

without recalibrating.

Do it.

Dr. Railly, the risk of...

- Paradox, I know.
- Ready.

Initiating.

[WHIRRING]

[ELECTRICITY FLICKERS]

[DRAMATIC MUSIC]

♪ ♪

[ELEVATOR BELL DINGS, TELEPHONE RINGING]

[INDISTINCT CHATTER]

Of course I'm sure.

I hung my coat on the
g*dd*mn rack when I came in.

- You have a thief in this hotel.
- My deepest apologies, ma'am.

I'm sure it's a simple mistake.

[HIGH-PITCHED WHIRRING]

Excuse me.

[INDISTINCT CHATTER CONTINUES]

♪ ♪

[TELEPHONE RINGING]

[g*n COCKS]

♪ ♪

What are you doing here?

Seller's gonna be here any minute.

What happened to you?

Moments from now, I'm gonna
find you in here dying.

The Tall Man's father... the
one from the revival in ' ...

He's here for the w*apon, too.

I need you to go downstairs,

get other me, and go back to .

♪ ♪

- Did I get the w*apon?
- No.

- You're going to die.
- The seller was here?

- He dies, too.
- You're here now.

We can change things.
We have the advantage.

[KNOCK AT DOOR]

♪ ♪

I'm not going.

Don't do this to me.

[KNOCK AT DOOR]

Be right there!

♪ ♪

Listen, we need the w*apon.

It's the only thing that matters now.

It's not all that matters.

[KNOCK AT DOOR]

I'm coming.

♪ ♪

Sorry about that. [CLEARS THROAT]

Where is it?

Talk first.

♪ ♪

You want a drink?

♪ ♪

- We have, uh...
- sh*t.

- Whiskey or whiskey.
- [ELEVATOR BELL DINGS]

♪ ♪

[g*n COCKS]

♪ ♪

I'm guessing you didn't take the stairs.

♪ ♪

[DISTANT CLATTER]

♪ ♪

[GASPS]

[g*n COCKS]

He's grown feet and inches

in the decade since we last met.

But you, not a day.

♪ ♪

Traveler.

♪ ♪

Well done, son.

Last we met, you spoke of love

I have seldom felt since my own.

My first wife...

Isabella.

Aah!

Lived on the same street,

played the same games,

loved the same things.

Each other, most of all.

Married and passed in the same house.

I lost my faith there

but found another.

I didn't want Heaven.

I wanted her.

And there's no tomorrow

but yesterday...

in the Red Forest.

It's no happily ever
after. It's destruction.

It's freedom.

We live here in the past tense,

trapped inside memory's perceptions.

The after in the Red Forest...

One can arrange moments
into whatever you please.

[DRAMATIC MUSIC]

Jacks and pick-up sticks

on the same floor you dance on...

♪ ♪

Where she never has to die.

♪ ♪

Before the day is done,

I imagine you'll understand.

♪ ♪

[g*n COCKS]

♪ ♪

Now, now...

if you would be so kind.

♪ ♪

Face each other.

♪ ♪

Now kneel.

♪ ♪

Mm, I know that look.

I see those eyes.

They used to be mine and hers.

Look long enough,

and eventually the light goes out.

[BRIEFCASE OPENS]

♪ ♪

Where is the w*apon?

You'd have to ask him.

[CHUCKLES]

♪ ♪

The business of religion

is transformation...

Person into better person,

body into spirit.

♪ ♪

What I once thought was...

supernatural,

my son found in nature.

♪ ♪

His Bible is botanical.

♪ ♪

There's a balance to nature.

Medicines and poisons.

[GRUNTING]

♪ ♪

What one thing does,

the other undoes.

[GASPS]

[GRUNTS]

♪ ♪

Amen.

[SPITS]

- In a moment...
- [SPITS]

Neither of you will be able to move.

Your blood will feel
like acid in your veins.

Your lungs will cease to function.

Unless...

♪ ♪

You counteract it with this.

♪ ♪

[SQUEALS SOFTLY]

Where is the w*apon?

- [GAGS]
- Cassie.

[GRUNTS]

♪ ♪

Speak while you still
have use of your tongue.

[GRUNTS] Downstairs.

He said there was a
man. With a lead case.

It's where the exchange
was supposed to happen.

♪ ♪

Choose...

you or her.

Her.

♪ ♪

I'm sorry you'll have to see this.

But when the forest is red,

this is a memory you can rewrite

however you wish.

♪ ♪

[WHEEZING]

[WHISTLING]

[CASSIE GASPING]

♪ ♪

James, I'll come back.
We'll do it again.

- We'll get it right this time.
- Get the w*apon.

[BREATHING HEAVILY] You can't do both.

- Dr. Railly, the risk of...
- Paradox. I know.

- Ready.
- Initiating.

[WHIRRING]

What if her plan doesn't work?

Dr. Adler, I need to
you to program a jump

before his tether breaks.

The best I can do is hours earlier.

Do it. There's something missing here,

something that can
give us the upper hand.

Ms. Goines, can you find it?

Me?

We got two dead Russians,

a seller of some kind of w*apon.

Of unknown origin.

- Monkeys.
- And poison.

So to splinter him back would be futile.

Okay, so we have to get help back then.

But we can't call the authorities.

Wait. What?

That declassified report from
the late ' s... who filed this?

- It's redacted.
- Yeah, there's...

There's some flowery
sh*t in here for a Fed.

Listen. "We must face this world.

Learn its ways. Watch it.

Be careful of too hasty
guesses at its meaning.

In the end, you will
find clues to it all."

That's a quote... H.G.
Wells, "Time Machine."

Berlin Wall.

Cole said he had a friend
who loved H.G. Wells.

Agent Robert Gale. He was FBI.

sh*t to death in , but this is .

Unfortunately, he's long dead.

[UPBEAT ROCK MUSIC]

- Unless...
- Something would have had to...

Change.

♪ ♪

[INDISTINCT CHATTER, BELL DINGING]

[TELEPHONE RINGING]

♪ ♪

Y-you must be Jennifer?

[CLEARS THROAT]

Oh, uh, right. Uh, bartender.

I took a cab uptown from the Bronx.

- Uptown from the Bronx?
- [GRUNTS]

Smelled like springtime after the rain,

so I'd like a martini,
stirred, not shaken, with, uh...

No, four. Four olives on the side.

Is this really necessary?

Good. Now listen.

My name is Jennifer Goines. And I'm...

From the future. I know.

Okay. My friends Cole and Cassie...

Are in trouble. Got it.

And now we have to be
very careful because of...

The Army of the Monkeys?

This ain't my first rodeo, sister.

Fine! Worst spy ever!

First question... How
are you still alive?

[DRAMATIC MUSIC]

. That's when you die...

sh*t in East Berlin,
trying to cross the wall.

[g*nf*re]

Sometimes you just have to go it alone.

Gale. Gale!

- This is for you.
- What is this?

- Fate.
- [g*nf*re]

♪ ♪

[COUGHING]

[SPEAKING GERMAN]

Easy, easy. Easy.

[LAUGHING]

♪ ♪

[GRUNTS, LAUGHING]

Fate, my ass.

[LAUGHS]

[ENGINE RUMBLING]

[ENGINE STOPS]

It's a real gas guzzler, that one.

[d*ck FLOOD & THE PATHFINDERS
"I DIDN'T SEE YOU STANDING THERE"]

♪ ♪

[SUSPENSEFUL MUSIC]

♪ ♪

Psst. We're running out of time.

Cole and Cassie are
probably here already.

Relax.

Wait until the Tall Monkey Man arrives.

Grab him after he kills
our Commies in there.

He'll never get near Cole or Cassie.

And, Jesus, would you
please stop pacing?

Hey, there's a lot at
stake here, pops, okay?

My friends, the fate of the universe,

time and space.

On that wall in there is a message

passed down to me through eons.

I know. "Climb the
steps and ring the bell."

Ding! I got to know what it means.

♪ ♪

[SIGHS]

♪ ♪

I could just ask them.

I could go right now and
ask them before they die.

No, you can't.

Monkeys are gonna ice them anyway.

- We've got time.
- What are you doing?

♪ ♪

Are you insane?

♪ ♪

Yes.

Sorry to bust in on you
guys. Just one question...

"climb the steps, ring the bell,"

what does it mean?

♪ ♪

sh*t...

What the hell is wrong with you?

♪ ♪

Oh, Jesus, Mary, and Joseph. It's us!

We're the reason they
find the room like this.

It's an oops loop.

All right, well,
that's it. The jig's up.

As soon as Cole and Cassie come in,

we tell them exactly what's going on.

No, negatory!

We need to save our
friends and get the w*apon.

So we got to make them think
nothing's changed, then?

Okay.

♪ ♪

God damn it. Of course it was me.

Stupid me. Loopty-doopty me.

♪ ♪

Oh, sh*t.

- Come on. Come on.
- Okay.

We got to go, now, now!

- Oh, God.
- Wait, would you...

- Oh!
- [LAMP SHATTERS]

sh*t.

No, no, no! But this...

- Come on!
- I got to close the door.

God damn it.

Oh, my God. This means the
Monkeys were never here.

- Did you lock the door?
- [THUD]

♪ ♪

They must have got out
through the window.

[WHISPERING] Oh, my...

There's no way to get the
w*apon and stop the poison.

[WHISPERING] I planned for that.

- What is it?
- Easy, toots.

I'm FBI.

[DISTANT CAR HORN HONKS]

[NORMAL VOICE] My guy at
the Bureau says most likely

Cole's gonna need this...
Activated charcoal.

It takes a minute to work,
but it'll soak up the poison,

stop it from getting
into his bloodstream.

Then we got to hit him with this...

Pralidoxime chloride.

That'll get him breathing again.

- Is this gonna work?
- Maybe.

Maybe? Maybe's not good enough.

Psycho, it's quarter to : .

The Emerson's minutes
away. Maybe's all we got.

[ENGINE TURNING OVER, REVVING]

[GASPING]

[WHISTLING]

[DRAMATIC MUSIC]

♪ ♪

Mr. Shaw.

♪ ♪

Where's the w*apon?

♪ ♪

FBI! Nobody move!

[DISTANT SIREN WAILING]

♪ ♪

We'll see each other again...

when the forest is red.

♪ ♪

Don't.

Freeze, now!

♪ ♪

Get the w*apon. You can't do both.

♪ ♪

Jennifer!

Are you Cassie one or Cassie two?

- What?
- It doesn't matter. Okay.

You need to give him this,

but make sure it absorbs for a minute,

and then you got to
inject him with this.

♪ ♪

I'm about to walk through that door.

- If I don't find him like this...
- I never show up.

The w*apon.

Downstairs, man with a lead case.

♪ ♪

[DOOR OPENS]

[LID CLANGING]

♪ ♪

- [COLE GROANS, WHEEZES]
- No.

No, James. Are you sh*t?

James, can you hear me? Can you talk?

- [WHEEZES]
- Can you squeeze my hand?

♪ ♪

Squeeze my hand. Stay with me.

- [CHOKES]
- Oh, God.

It's poison.

[ELECTRICITY FLICKERS]

[WHOOSHING]

[SYRINGE PLUNGES]

♪ ♪

James, come on.

James. Come on, breathe.

Breathe!

♪ ♪

[GRUNTING]

♪ ♪

[INDISTINCT CHATTER]

♪ ♪

Hi.

Um, your buddy's dead.

Now, you... you could gamble,

and we could do the
whole sh**t thing,

but spoiler alert... You die.

Or you could just hand it over.

You pick.

♪ ♪

Excellent choice.

♪ ♪

Deacon!

♪ ♪

Why are you doing this?

This isn't you.

Oh, it's me.

I'm exactly where I want to be.

♪ ♪

[CLICKS TONGUE]

♪ Don't you ♪

♪ Forget about me ♪

[CRYING] No.

[GRUNTING] Breathe!

Come on! Come...

[DRAMATIC MUSIC]

James, breathe!

- [SEAGULLS CRYING]
- Breathe!

[GRUNTING]

Don't leave me.

- [GASPS]
- [GASPING]

[COUGHING]

[GRUNTING]

♪ ♪

Well...

look who's back from the dead.

[CHUCKLES]

[DISTANT CAR HORN HONKS]

[LIQUID POURING]

Hey, uh, Glum and Glummer...

cheer up.

Not every win is a victory.

This might have been our last chance.

You said this w*apon was ancient, right?

So, uh, why not go back earlier,

to when it was found?

A do-over?

The seller did mention
something about a group

it belonged to.

The Ahnnen... Ahnnener.

Ahnenerbe.

♪ ♪

The Ahnenerbe?

♪ ♪

The Ahnenerbe was a pseudo-scientific

institute in the Third Reich
dedicated to researching

the archaeological and cultural
history of the master race.

We dismissed them for what they were...

Wack jobs looking for
magic to win the w*r.

But there is that...

Something the, uh, SS
called "Die Glocke."

♪ ♪

"The Bell."

♪ ♪

What if while the Nazis were
digging around the world,

they found something?

Something that was
intended for you.

Your Primary w*apon.

♪ ♪

That comes from a interrogation
of an SS officer at Nuremberg.

Read the description.

"An object made of metal,

carvings of unknown symbology,

possessing unknown
radioactive properties

that have a unique effect...

on time."

Just so we're clear,

we're talking about going
back to World w*r II.

♪ ♪

Whatever you need, you
know where to find me...

or when... when to find me.

You've done enough. Go live your life.

We'll take it from here.

Be careful back there.

[ELECTRICITY FLICKERING]

[WHOOSHING]

♪ ♪

[CHUCKLES]

♪ ♪

Thank you... for everything.

♪ ♪

I mean this in the best possible way.

- I hope I never see you again.
- [CHUCKLES]

♪ ♪

[WHOOSHING]

♪ ♪

[CHUCKLES] That...

is just so g*dd*mn cool.

[LOUNGE MUSIC]

♪ ♪

[INDISTINCT CHATTER, BELL DINGING]

This new mission is so
profoundly dangerous...

To us, to causality, to time.

I want to go.

[DRAMATIC MUSIC]

♪ ♪

No.

♪ ♪

There's something else I need you to do.

♪ ♪

I know what I put you through.

- I'm sorry.
- Are you?

[SIGHS]

Look at this place.

We're running out of
chances to end this thing.

- And what about after?
- We break the cycle.

Reset time. No Red Forest.

I mean us.

What's left for us at
the end of all this?

A memory... maybe?

The alternate timeline

of a little boy from Philadelphia?

♪ ♪

I saw something today.

♪ ♪

After everything went black...

I saw water.

♪ ♪

I think it was the Keys.

♪ ♪

It was beautiful. It felt...

perfect.

♪ ♪

Nothing could feel like
that unless you're there.

♪ ♪

I don't know what it was.
It was a hallucination...

♪ ♪

- Your brain deprived of oxygen.
- Or it was...

♪ ♪

After.

You can call it whatever you want.

But at the end of all this,
there is one simple truth.

♪ ♪

We can save the world,
or we can save each other.

♪ ♪

We can't do both.

Cass...

We always knew this
is how it was gonna be.

♪ ♪

[SIGHS]

Before the day is done,

I imagine you'll understand.

♪ ♪

Witnessing my wife die the way she did,

I wouldn't wish it upon anyone else...

unless I thought they might see...

That without time's will, its shackles,

there is the after of the Red Forest,

where one...

never has to choose anything...

over the ones they love.

Doesn't that sound right to you?

♪ ♪

Yes.