01x04 - To Let Go

[bunniefuu]

(SPEAKING CREE)

(ALINE): You all right?

- (ADAM): Yeah...
- Adam!

(ADAM): ... it's been a long
time since I've seen my brother.

He was always the lucky one.

- (SHUTTER CLICKING)
- This could be our secret game.

(ALINE): Where's Father Kenner now?

(TAYLOR): We don't know.

- Adam!
- (THUDDING)

(SOBBING) Adam! Please breathe...

Adam! (CRYING)

(JAKE): At least someone in our
family should have a happy ending.

(HAUNTING MUSIC)

(JAGGED BREATHING)

(FRENZIED SCREAMING, THUDDING)

(JAGGED BREATHING)

(FRENZIED SCREAMING, THUDDING)

(JAGGED BREATHING)

(WOMAN SCREAMING IN FRENCH)

(HAUNTING MUSIC)

(MUFFLED YELLING)

(BANGING)

It's okay. It's okay.

(FRENZIED SCREAMING)

(GLASS SHATTERING)

(THUDDING)

(MOB CHANTING)

The day you realize the hate

is real, but it was never yours.

(HAUNTING MUSIC)

(MOB CHANTING IN FRENCH):
Sauvage ! Sauvage !

(DISTANT CROWS CAWING)

(GRASS RUSTLING IN THE WIND)

Hey, Taylor.

Sorry but I just got caught up in...

(SIGHING HEAVILY)

I was hoping my mom would come

with me to the Commission meetings.

So we could come see
the old place together.

(SIGHING)

Maybe she's not ready.

(CHUCKLES) That's an understatement.

She said she'd never come
back here, to Manitoba.

Too many memories.

My grandparents planted wheat here.

And they were good at it, too.

Until the government refused
to give Indians permits to sell.

The government starved them out

so they could bail them out
and buy the land for nothing.

(HAUNTING MUSIC)

Mom?

(BREATHING RAPIDLY)

You all right, Taylor?

Uh-huh.

(GRASS RUSTLING)

We lived here with my parents
for a while when I was a kid.

Now everything's gone to sh*t.

Well, we're still standing.

There's that. We should
be heading back soon.

The next session starts back up at two.

(CROW CAWING)

(SPEAKING CREE)

That'd be nice.

Wisdom.

(CROW CONTINUES CAWING)

Why does everything have
to mean two things in Cree?

In Christianity, a crow is God's
messenger that brings bad luck.

That makes so much sense to me.

(FLUTTERING)

We can stay longer if you want.

There's no rush.

(HAUNTING MUSIC)

Mom?

(ERRATIC BREATHING)

You don't look so good there.

(PANTING) Thanks.

I've been having these panic att*cks.

(STAMMERING)

Ah... Fucks sakes.

(PIANO MUSIC ECHOING)

(ALINE GIGGLING)

You look so beautiful.

They looked so beautiful together.

Like nothing could touch them.

I loved that sound.

Sometimes...

it's the beautiful things
that hurt the most to remember.

Tay, come on. We have to leave. Now.

Mom. I look terrible.

Then here, put on another one.

They all look the same.

Poor!

Can we talk about this in

the truck on the way to school?

I'm not going to school until
I have something decent to wear.

Is that right?

I just want one normal thing.

Can't I have one normal thing?

Normal is overrated.

I want something new.

Honey.

Jake and I will be on the
porch waiting for you, okay?

It's not all about you.

Five minutes. That's
all. Grab your lunches,

they're on the table.

Okay, let's go.

(GRUNTING)

Yeah.

Good... I don't know what's
wrong with this family.

Now your father's keeping us.

(SIGHING)

Adam!

Adam!

(TENSE MUSIC)

Mom?!

(CHICKENS CLUCKING)

Mom?

(SOBBING)

Stop! Stop!

(SOLEMN MUSIC)

(WEEPING)

I should have gotten there earlier.

My dad would've still been with us.

(SOBBING)

It's not your fault.

He wouldn't have wanted
you to carry this.

It's not your fault.

(SOBBING)

(SIGHING)

My mom went to the
same residential school.

Really?

(INHALING SHARPLY)

Sorry.

I'm used to making this all about me.

(CHUCKLING)

Once I start crying I can't stop.

That's why I don't start.

I cry all the time.

It's f*ckin' embarrassing.

(LAUGHING)

(ENGINE STARTING)

(CHUCKLING)

Let's go for a beer.

(UPBEAT MUSIC)

So, you married?

Once. But I believe everyone
should be married at least once.

- Mm.
- Now, not married.

You?

Just about.

But his parents didn't approve.

Mm...

Didn't like lawyers.

Wish my son would marry a lawyer.

Didn't like Indians.

Awkward.

Oh, it was.

I have a beautiful daughter
out of it. Ah, the best thing.

- Mm.
- Mm-hmm.

So, what were you going to be?

You mean if I wasn't a ruggedly handsome

forensic anthropologist?

Yeah.

I was gonna be a comedian.

Really?

Seriously.

I'm f*ckin' funny.

And if you weren't lawyer
of the year, a UN delegate,

assembly member, honorary this and that

of other fancy acronyms,

what were you gonna be?

(WOMAN ON STAGE) Taylor?

(CLAPPING)

Maybe a rock star.

Mission accomplished.

(CROWD CHEERING, APPLAUDING)

(MELLOW MUSIC)

How was your trip? Did you have fun?

It was the Royal Commission
on Aboriginal Affairs, Mom...

not a vacation.

Excuse me.

It's a call for change.

We're putting together action
points between Aboriginal,

non-Aboriginal people for the government

and residential schools...

Sounds nice.

(SIGHS)

You're k*lling me.

I know what it's about, Taylor.

Where is everyone?

In their rooms.

Great.

I thought dinner was at .

Well, we didn't know if you'd

make it back since your
train was so delayed.

Excellent. Well, I ended
up catching the plane back.

(GROANING)

Oh, what's for dinner?

Oh, we've got it all covered.
I'm just finishing this up.

God knows we need more doilies.

Pardon me?

Nothing. I'm going to
change. I'll be right back down.

Percy, hey.

What are you working on?

Concert in two weeks.

Ooh. When did you get in?

I thought you were in charge
of Thanksgiving dinner?

Three, this afternoon.

We didn't think you'd be home tonight.

So, you weren't going to eat?

Well, we weren't going to go all crazy,

- if that's what you mean.
- It's Thanksgiving.

Yeah of retro-Mayflower
bullshit, nobody cares.

Geez.

Kokum didn't want me
to go out and find a bird

if it was just gonna be us.

She said she had the
frozen turkey dinners with

the compartments thing.

Hopefully they're not from the s.

Instructions were,

"Very back of the freezer."
That's all I know.

(SNIFFING)

Gross.

You should throw that in the wash.

I will. Later.

Do it now or you'll forget.

You need to learn how to relax.

I am relaxed.

- Okay, I'm not relaxed.
- Mm-hmm.

I'll go put my pyjamas on.

Great idea.

I'll see what I can do
about these turkey dinners.

Cardboard off, ,
poke a hole in the plastic.

Oh my God, I'm getting a flashback.

At least it's not a hot flash.

(SNICKERING, GIGGLING)

I love you, it's good to see you.

Aww.

You should have did
that at the beginning.

I love you.

It's good to see you.

(CHUCKLING)

I'll be down in a few minutes, Okay?

Okay.

(CLATTERING)

I think you should think
about taking a shower.

You should think about knocking.

I did knock.

When did you get here?

Three days ago.

Jake. Mum doesn't want you
drinking and drugging in our house.

Did she say that?

She should.

(EXHALING SLOWLY)

I'm taking a couple days off.

Off what?

- Off of...
- Not working?!

It's hard trying to find another job.

(SIGHING)

So, what's the plan?

The plan...

is to take a couple days off
on the f*ckin' national holiday

of Thanksgiving and then make a plan.

f*ck.

You can't move back in here. I've
already brought up a teenager.

It's not up to you.

It's up to Mum.

Well, we'll see about that.

(SIGHING)

Why don't you go back to school then?

That ship already sailed
when I got f*cked over.

I'm trying to get back into it.

Into what?

Into my art. Into painting.

You know...

life.

Who I am.

Well, I wouldn't wait too long.

Life is passing by.

(LAUGHING)

Wow!

Deep. Deep sh*t, counsellor.

You're always so perfect.

Above us all.

You think you're better than me?

You're not.

You're just some kind of
machine. Stuff sh*t down.

Presses it up in a
complete tight-ass package.

Would you rather I just sit in my room

and feel sorry for myself?

Oh, wait, Jake. That's
always been your job.

What's your job, Tay?

To clean up the f*cking mess!

(PANTING)

(SHOES SQUEAKING)

f*cking dirty squaw.

(WHISTLE BLOWING)

Subtle.

We still got more time on the clock.

Not on my clock you don't.

Go get changed.

(GYM DOORS BANGING)

(GROANING)

How's it going, Taylor?

(EXHALING DEEPLY) Great.

They're not gonna stop.

- We're on the same team.
- Are you?

Supposed to be.

"Supposed to be," doesn't make it so.

They don't say anything about you.

That's because I'm the boss.

You gotta be the boss girl.

You gotta play the same game,

same rules but be better at it.

Be better than them.

Be the best. And don't take sh*t.

Yeah.

Ever!

This is one tough bird.

Tough crowd.

(DISTANT SIREN WAILING)

I think I might take a trip.

Like, go to your room?

(THUDDING)

Ow! Geez, you have pointy
feet for an old lady.

Yeah.

Like, uh... out of the city.

So what's the plan?

Well, that's the beauty of it.

There is none.

Wanna go, Momma?

Get away from all this crochet?

Get out of this crocheted world.

And go way, way out there.

(LAUGHING)

(TENDER MUSIC)

f*ck, you're nuts.

(DISTANT PHONE RINGING)

Whoa.

Do you know what that's the map of?

I don't know.

Red if for former residential
school students who are actively

pursuing civil suit cases
of physical and sexual abuse.

- Blue?
- Cases that went to court in the 's and 's.

And the black ones?

Ah...

Game changers.

. Mowatt vs. Clarke.

Eight former students from
the St. George's Indian

Residential School in Lytton, BC,

put a case forward that the
Anglican Church of Canada

and the Canadian Government
are jointly liable

to the tune of / . They're settling.

,

Mount Cashel Orphanage, Newfoundland.

Non-Aboriginal Orphanage.

Sexual abuse cases paved the way
for residential school victims.

Williams Lake, BC, ,

St. Joseph's Catholic
Church, same thing.

Better get out your black pins.

I just got a call from
a lawyer in Nova Scotia.

John McKiggen. He wants us
to fly to Halifax tomorrow.

There's a Mi'kmaq activist,

a Shubenacadie Residential
School survivor.

Nora Bernard.

She wants to file the first

National Class Action lawsuit

against the Government of Canada

and the four mainstream
Christian churches.

Wait, what does that mean?

It means that all the
residential school, sexual,

physical and cultural
abuse cases in Canada

could all align as one.

This will be the biggest class-action
lawsuit in Canadian history.

But what does it mean for the Churches?

Bankruptcy.

(CHUCKLES)

sh*t.

Sorry.

Have you met?

Not officially.

Katrina's our summer intern.

Wants to see if she
can cut it as a lawyer.

- Hi.
- Hi.

- This is Taylor...
- Whallach. I know who you are.

That's why I'm here.

I'm gonna go to our nine
o'clock in the boardroom.

I'll be right there.

How do you know who I am?

You were on the Royal
Commission for Aboriginal

Peoples that came out of Oka.

I was there.

I was one of the kids in the
cars when the rocks came down.

I'm sorry.

That must have been so terrible.

Do you think the report
will help people understand?

I think the report will
lead to positive things...

a better understanding,
a better relationship

that will help frame the cases
for residential school survivors

that is going to hit like a tidal wave.

Maybe it will be healing.

(TENSE MUSIC)

You don't sound convinced.

They've needed to see us as
less in order to do whatever

they wanted to us, to take
whatever they chose fit.

Truth should be enough, but
it's not part of their history.

Their history is about being
the winner in a rigged game.

Hard to give that up.

- Is that mine?
- Yeah.

That's why we're here.

Smart girl.

Reconciliation can be a bitch.

(ECHOING LAUGHTER)

Aw. Well, you might as well
know what we think of you.

(SNICKERING)

What do you have to say, dirty savage?

(GIGGLING)

I saw her mother coming
in all welfare-like.

Probably just getting out of bed.

(LAUGHING)

f*ck you!

(TENSE MUSIC)

What are you gonna do about it?

I'm gonna rip your
f*cking bitty tits off.

(BANGING)

(BOYS SINGING, GUITAR MUSIC)

It's the greatest love
the world will ever know

Yes. Yes.

Bravo.

By the way, excellent chord work.

Practice, practice makes perfect.

Okay, I think that's all
the time we have for today.

Off you go my little angels.

Good work, lads. Good work.

And um... Oh, Freddie.

Do you want to go over next
week's chord progression?

Yes, Father.

Good. Well, why don't you come

and help me to uh...

clean up a little?

And then we'll go back

to that little space of ours

and practice.

Come on.

You can start with the
pencils, put those away.

Good boy.

Hello. You look very serious.

It's just a little idea
I had about, you know,

shaking things up around here.

Guitar rock choir mass.
It's really not that bad.

(TENSE MUSIC)

Now?

I'll call the diocese.

Uh, um...

I don't know why I'm here. I'm a priest.

I'm not a common criminal.

Unless, of course, starting

a guitar rock mass with a
choir is some kind of offense.

(CHORTLING)

That's supposed to be a joke.

(COUGHING)

Um... would you mind not?

No, it's fine. It's the smoke.

It's just catching in
my throat just a little.

Yeah?

You know, I was going to be
either a priest or a policeman.

Yeah.

(CHUCKLING)

Ah, there you are. Got you.

Yes. That's all we had in my family.

Priests and policemen. I mean,
they're both men of the cloth.

They're both of a higher
calling. Wouldn't you say?

I think I would have made
a lousy policeman, though.

You know?

Ugh, it was just my mother,

she was bent on me becoming
a priest and so, you know,

those were the times one simply obeyed,

back in the day. What about yourself?

(DISTANT SIRENS WAILING)

I like p*ssy.

Any more questions?

Yes. How much longer
do I have to stay here?

Well, my boss is talking to your boss.

And what's that supposed to mean?

Means the guy that I answer
to is talking to the guy

that you answer to.

I answer to God. Yeah?

Well, that's not my department.

It's way above my pay scale.

I'm losing my patience here.

I hear that happens. It's
what you might call...

purgatory.

What does that mean?

Well, when the Church official
shows up with the Church lawyer

and spends more than three hours
in the police chief's office,

that generally means that some
kind of work around is being...

worked around.

But what has that got to do with me?

Oh, I think you know what
it's got to do with you.

Don't you, Father?

(OMINOUS MUSIC)

You don't like me,
do you, Officer Murphy?

(SCOFFING)

We had ones like you in St. John.

Yes, well. Murphy? Isn't that...

Irish.

The best part of me is Mi'kmaq.

You know, three families
from Sainte-Therese D'Avila

came here this morning. More here now.

Stirring up all kinds of stuff.

You know, mothers crying
and fathers mad as hell.

There's obviously been
some sort of misunderstanding.

(COUGHING)

Would you please put that
cigarette out? I can't breathe.

Oh? That's too bad.

Would you like a Coke,
Father? Or are you Pepsi man?

(FOOTSTEPS RECEDING)

(TENSE MUSIC)

We're gonna take him...

(INDISTINCT CHATTER)

Well, no hard feelings, eh?

My mother wouldn't touch that
hand. Now get out of my sight.

(CHORTLING)

(OMINOUS MUSIC)

Mr. James here has the
details of your transfer.

Everything is arranged.

Your Excellency. I would
just like to say that...

Look, I've said it for
you. You have put the sanctity

of our very existence in great jeopardy.

We have to protect
ourselves, Father Kenner.

We need to protect the Church

from those whose actions
thr*aten to take us down.

I hate what you've done.
And what you represent.

But I will pray for you.

(SOLEMN MUSIC)

We've secured another placement for you.

As a Catholic Youth Director in

a remote community in Chile...

(CHEERING, CHATTERING IN SPANISH.)

Padre, Padre!

(THOMAS MILLER): I suspect you
will find it to your liking.

And I hope you find your
place in the sun.

(SEAGULLS SQUAWKING)

(SPEAKING CREE)

It's a beautiful West Coast day.

You have to love the rain to live here.

If I knew you better,
I'd take my shoes off

and show you my webbed feet.

(CHUCKLING)

(SPEAKING AYAJUTHUM)

Come, nephew.

(SEAGULLS SQUAWKING)

(WAVES LAPPING)

The wharf right there?
The salt took that.

Grandma and Bandit, they
were there on the wharf.

We had planned to escape before

they took us to residential school

but my brother went
to get our dog and...

got caught. We had to
leave him with Grandma.

(SPEAKING AYAJUTHUM)

We had no choice. We
had to leave Adam behind.

We narrowly escaped.

(SPEAKING AYAJUTHUM)

He went to residential school

and I was raised with our
parents across the water.

Your father and I tried to
have a relationship, but...

there was so much pain
in the silence between us.

So many things left unsaid.

That distance stretched a lifetime.

(BIRDS CHIRPING)

There's nothing left of
that residential school

your father went to.

It burnt down.

Like all good residential schools.

But some things were meant to last.

Are you ready?

I don't know.

We're all your family.

(SOLEMN MUSIC)

Come.

This is Jake, the son of
my brother, Adam Whallach.

(FIRE CRACKLING)

(SERENE MUSIC)

One of our sons has come home.

(SPEAKING AYAJUTHUM)

... and Solomon Joe... great-grandson...

grandson of (AYAJUTHUM)

Tessa Whallach... (AYAJUTHUM)

Jake... son...

Son of my brother, Adam Whallach.

Welcome home, my nephew.

(DRUMS b*ating)

(SINGING IN AYAJUTHUM)

♪ You are never all alone ♪

♪ We are your family ♪

♪ You are never all alone ♪

(WEEPING)

(FIRE CRACKLING)

The sun always rises.
The darkness always ends.

The mornings are infinite.

And we pray for a new day.

Breathe with me.

(INHALING DEEPLY)

Just let it go.

(EXHALING)

Blow your negative thoughts away.

(BLOWING)

Let go of your fear.

(BLOWING)

And you're under the water
and you look up at the sun.

(EXHALING)

Blow those doubts away.

(BLOWING)

And you blow your trauma away.

And you look up out of the water...

and you let go.

No fear.

(ETHEREAL MUSIC)

Please be all right.

Uncle, he's here.

I know.

They're here.

(SPEAKING DUTCH):

(SPEAKING AYAJUTHUM):

Please be all right.

(EERIE MUSIC)

(HAUNTING MUSIC)

(RATTLING)

(SCREAMING)

Shut the f*ck up!

(CROW CAWING)

(MOANING, GASPING)

(YELLING IN AYAJUTHUM)

(CROWS CAWING, SCREECHING)

(FLUTTERING)

(GROANING)

Sometimes the heaviest things

weighing us down can be
transformed into light.

All we have to do is
look up and recognize

that we were always a
part of something bigger.

We were always a part of the light.

And that light is a part of us.

(ETHEREAL MUSIC)

(DOOR OPENING)

What are you doing?

Taking up embroidery.

Wow.

Never too old to learn.

Now that's radical.

First crochet and now
political embroidery.

I love the warrior.

And the star.

My mother would say,
we're made from the stars.

And that anything is possible

because we're part of
the universe that is good.

I like that.

It's gonna be all right.

The stars tell you that?

Yup.

(SERENE MUSIC)