01x06 - How It Is With Brothers

[bunniefuu]

Previously on Penny Dreadful: City of Angels...

So then they went back to the beach house, stayed all night.

We know how this is going to end, don't we, Randolph?

What do you know about Kurt?

Don't you ever ask anyone else about Kurt again.

Nice tie.

I couldn't be r*ped one more time, Peter.

Your best buddy, Jimmy Reilly, he was m*rder*d last night.

So let's call it what it is: a declaration of w*r.

I will f*cking sh**t you both.

Rio!

Rio!

Hands up, son.

Mateo!

Did you k*ll James Reilly?

With these two hands.

Run!

Long night.

Long night.

Don't b*at yourself up.

Guy gave you the slip.

It happens.

Seen him around before?

The guy who got away?

Never.

Well, we got this one.

Only a matter of time till we find the rest.

Come on, son.

For Reilly?

This little piece of sh*t?

Take it easy.

This w*tback piece of sh*t that you put back on the street?

We brought him in, didn't we?

Just him, or did he have help?

We'll determine that when we question the suspect.

Yeah, we sure will.

All right, get him back into the cooler.

You remember the cooler, don't you, Paco?

Yeah, I think you do.

- Hey, step back, Murphy.

- The f*ck you say?

He's our collar.

We'll handle the questioning.

Your collar?

He's probably your g*dd*mn cousin!

You saw what they did to him last time.

If you hadn't stopped him, Reilly would still be alive.

What if you hadn't done that sh*t in the first place...

Hey, hey!

That's enough!

Come on, you, let's go.

Let's go.

What do we got?

Kid was staying at a flop off North Main with three other suspects.

We went in hard.

The rest got away.

- Can we ID them?

- Fly Rico and his girl.

Third one's a blank.

Young guy.

Might be new to their crew.

Got a witness who saw the four of them jump Reilly the night his body dropped: Reilly's girl from Sonoratown.

Two-bit junkie.

Try that in court.

What's the kid say?

Nothing yet.

Well, that's what you got, then, nothing, until he talks.

I'll make him talk, Captain.

He's from my neighborhood.

I know how he thinks.

I can get him to open up.

And that's why I put you on the Hazlett case, but look where it got me.

We got a dead cop, Captain.

You want to find out what really happened to him or just b*at a confession out of the first scared kid we put the bracelets on?

Kid ready for us?

Michener and Vega get first cr*ck.

Speaking Spanish We got a machine.

I know you're scared, Diego.

It's okay.

I'm not gonna hurt you.

I just need to go over what happened, get your side of the story.

You want, I can find your mom when we get done here.

You guys live over the baker in Alhambra, right?

Last time you were in here, I helped you out, didn't I?

And I'd like to help you again, but we know what you did.

We know.

So for me to help, you gotta own up to it.

You saw those guys out there.

They're Reilly's boys, and they don't give a sh*t about why you did it, how you might have been justified.

But if you don't talk to me, it'll be out of my hands, and those guys will get their turn, and I don't have to tell you how that's gonna go.

Son, this isn't a put-up job.

We can make our case already.

Reilly b*at the sh*t out of you right here, in this room.

I saw it, and so did a dozen other guys.

So we know you had a reason for wanting him dead.

And we got a witness who puts you at the scene when he got rolled.

The girl down in Sonoratown, and she'll testify.

She won't have a choice.

Reilly's mob will make damn sure of it.

Motive and a witness: that's enough to convict right there.

First that family from Beverly Hills turns up in the river, then the riot.

And four God-fearing white police officers end up in the morgue.

Now we got another dead cop.

Half the city's out for blood just like those bull necks in the squad room.

And all they want is someone to blame...

...someone who looks like you and me.

So when they find him, when they find you, they won't be content to just put you away.

They're gonna try and send you to the gas chamber.

They just built a brand-new gas chamber up at San Quentin.

You know that?

Been up there to see it yet, Lewis?

No.

Read in the paper they painted it seafoam green.

Supposed to be soothing.

That's where you're gonna end up, Diego, unless you play it straight with us, and I mean right now.

We can talk to the DA if you come clean, but you can't get cute, you understand me?

You can't try to pass it off.

You were the one.

You k*lled him.

You gotta admit that you k*lled him.

Or maybe we got it wrong.

Maybe it wasn't you did the k*lling.

Boss never does the dirty work, right?

So I'm guessing it wasn't Rico.

And it wouldn't have been the girl.

This is a waste of time.

But what about the other guy?

He got a name?

Look, we have enough to convict you right now.

Okay.

Okay?

Okay.

I'm thirsty.

I'll take that Nehi.

Like to have a white man fetch a drink for me just this one time.

Sure thing, kid.

Coming right up.

He doesn't know.

Man, I been sitting here trying to figure it out.

Are you a cop pretending to be Mexican or a Mexican pretending to be a cop?

But now I get it.

You don't even know yourself.

- He's my brother.

- Right.

No, can't let your hermanito go to the gas chamber, just me.

I told you, I'll talk to the DA.

You're here.

He's not.

Yeah, funny how it happened like that.

It doesn't f*cking matter how it happened.

You're here, now, and burning Mateo, man, that's not gonna save you.

That's not gonna do sh*t.

I'm not gonna burn him.

I won't have to, because you're gonna help me.

Help you?

Get me the key when they take me down to the lockup, ese.

What, they don't let the w*tback handle the keys?

That's not my job.

Or whatever the f*ck.

You got the badge.

You got the g*n.

You figure out how the f*ck we do it.

You're not walking out of here, no matter what I do.

What if I get the g*n?

Maybe you leave it lying around here someplace, or we get in a scrap, I knock you down, and I take the damn thing.

- They'll k*ll you.

- Then at least I get a g*dd*mn fighting chance.

Even if they light me up, I'm taking a few of these bastards with me.

That's for damn sure.

sh*t.

They hate you worse than they hate me.

You're still trying to figure out which side you're on, but those m*therf*ckers out there, man, they decided a long time ago.

That's it, baby.

Them or Mateo.

You gotta f*cking choose.

Not interrupting something, am I, boys?

Extra butter and molasses.

Must be important.

Can't a mother just do something nice for her girl?

Depends on the mother.

We used to make do with shortening and sorghum syrup out in the circuit.

You remember?

It tasted just as good.

Ha!

Because we were hungry.

Mmm.

We were always hungry back then.

Mm.

Did you ever wonder if I got lonely back in those days?

Because I did.

Of course I did.

So what did you do?

I remembered my purpose, that I wasn't living just for myself and what a privilege it is not to live just for yourself.

It doesn't feel like such a privilege to me.

Well, because you take it for granted, like the butter and molasses.

And what if I have...

feelings for Detective Vega?

Strong feelings?

Stronger than your feelings for God?

God wouldn't ask me to choose.

God asks a great deal from those that he touches.

Think of Jesus.

I'm not Jesus.

No, you're Sister Molly.

Sister Molly is just the one on the stage.

Is that what you told him?

It's just a line, dear.

It's a silly slogan you like to repeat.

I've known you all of your life, and there's only ever been one of you.

That's all I ever see, just you.

No, I'm not sure you do see me.

It will be your flock who makes you choose, not God.

They need to feel as if you're married only to the church.

Without that, your power over them will be lost.

Or yours will.

Yes, both of ours...

and the soup kitchen and the girls' home, the medical clinic, the gift drive at Christmas...

...to say nothing of the salvation you offer to all of those who come to you in need, all the good work you do in the world.

All of it can go away.

Is that what plain old Molly wants?

Where did you learn to do that?

Near Hamburg, the mouth of the Elbe.

First thing they teach you in Gestapo training.

I'm just kidding.

I grew up in Hermosa Beach, learned to swim before I could walk.

Got my first board not long after that.

I didn't know h*tler was recruiting in Hermosa.

My favorite thing in the world used to be paddling out just past the break in Hermosa Pier or Long Beach, turning around to look at the strip of clean white sand under a blue sky.

Then the mongrels came.

Mongrels?

The Chinks, sp*cs, spades, you name it.

More and more of them every year.

I used to see the way they were overrunning this place and wonder, "Why does nobody say anything?

Why is this allowed?" And then I heard about the Fuehrer, and I read Mein Kampf.

Finally, here was someone speaking the plain truth.

Felt like such a relief.

I knew then that I'd move to Berlin, that I could be happy.

Were you...

happy there?

I was...

until I earned my Gestapo commission and they gave me my first assignment: to come back here to this filthy city I thought I'd never have to see again.

I love this city.

Do you know who I saw yesterday just walking down Robertson?

Fred Astaire.

Just like that, there he was.

He looked just like himself.

That's what I wanted to be, a dancer like that, a song and dance man, Fred Astaire or Eddy Cantor.

But I'm too big.

That's what I love about LA.

That you saw Fred Astaire?

That I could be Fred Astaire.

LA doesn't care who you are when you arrive.

It only cares about who you make yourself into.

Let us be frank with each other for once, Linda.

You haven't been happy.

We both know it.

But you're the one deciding this for both of us.

Because the fault is mine.

I haven't been able to give you what you need to make you happy.

But is happiness everything?

Because I can be happier.

If that's what you want, I can change.

I can...

What about the boys?

They need a mother.

That Mexican maid, she's not a mother.

They will have a mother.

If you think you are bringing that German whore into my house to take care of my children, to satisfy your filthy fantasies in my bed...

- Lower your voice.

- I won't let you take my boys.

You can't stop me.

You are a drunk.

I am a doctor.

No authority in the state will side with you.

You will be checking in to a sanitarium to be treated for intemperance and hysteria.

You're having me committed.

I can assure you, it is a facility of the highest medical standards and also that you will go there without even a hint of unpleasantness if you ever wish to speak with the boys again.

You think that little harlot...

Elsa.

Her name is Elsa.

I know you, Peter.

You might feel strong right now, but you're not.

Oh, believe me, you're not.

♪ They're writing songs of love ♪ ♪ But not for me ♪ ♪ All lucky stars above ♪ ♪ But not for me ♪ ♪ With love to lead the way ♪ ♪ I found more clouds of gray ♪ ♪ Than any Russian play ♪ ♪ Could guarantee ♪ ♪ I was a fool ♪ ♪ To fall and get that way ♪ ♪ Hi-ho, alas, and also ♪ ♪ Lack-a-day ♪ ♪ Although I can't dismiss ♪ ♪ The memory of his kiss ♪ ♪ I guess he's not for ♪ Me.

Vega have you draw up that kid's walking papers?

Uh, Detective Murphy, he wanted me to...

f*ck Murphy.

No big shock when you've seen him before, I know.

Think about it if you hadn't, if you were just some working stiff on a jury, let's say.

So...

you're looking at these with Officer Reilly's widow sitting ten feet away and his three kids, all scrubbed up, bright and pink in their church clothes, and the greasy little spic who did it, he's sitting there too, and you gotta decide what to do with him.

This guy, you don't know.

Name's Luther Jones.

k*lled some people in Nevada last year.

And this...

is after they pulled him out of the gas chamber in Carson City.

Looks like he had fun in there, doesn't it?

The gas they use, cyanide, I guess it turns your skin purple.

They strap you to the chair in just your underwear so none of it gets caught in your clothes.

That's how nasty the sh*t is.

And they tell you to take a few deep breaths when it starts because that will make things go quicker...

...but nobody does that.

Just an instinct, I guess.

You know the stuff's gonna k*ll you, so you try not to breathe, but that just makes it take longer, makes it hurt, like someone's squeezing your chest in a vise.

Luther here, took him a good ten minutes to die.

Diez minutos.

That's how you want to go, Diego?

Do you f*cking hear me, cabrón?

I'm trying to f*cking help you.

I hear you.

Thing is, I didn't k*ll anybody.

You want me to say I did, you're gonna have to come across this table and b*at it out of me.

Damn, you look angry enough to do it too.

Am I making you angry?

Let's hear it your way, then.

So come on, tell us what happened.

It's Friday night.

You got a face b*at to raw pulp by the cops and your whole life in front of you.

So what's a nice kid like you go and do if you're not down in Sonoratown making an extra hole in Reilly's windpipe?

I was with my brother.

Your brother?

All right.

And he'll tell it the same if we ask him?

Oh, sure, he will.

He's my brother, right?

He'd do anything for me.

Just how it is with brothers, you know?

You got a brother, Officer?

What did the two of you do that night?

Went down to the river, tried to catch ourselves something to eat, you know?

Help out our ma on account of money's tight right now.

Sure.

Like to drop a hook in the water myself from time to time.

I don't f*ck with fish.

Can't dig on no animal that don't blink, you know what I mean?

Nah, we go down there for birds.

These little mud hens, nervous little f*ckers.

That's how you catch 'em.

You just lay back in the reeds, wait till they get up out the water.

Then you jump out real quick.

You scare 'em bad enough, and they just faint, fall down and lie there like a bitch.

Must be the stupidest f*cking birds in the world.

Then you stroll over, nice and easy, and you snap their damn neck.

Taste pretty good, though, the way my ma cooks them up.

They're playing dead.

That's what they're doing, not fainting.

Playing dead.

Play dead, get dead.

Just don't seem like a real bright move.

That's all I'm saying.

So...

this is like what, a f*cking parable?

Hey, man, I'm just talking.

I like talking to you.

Better than Mr.

Angry over here.

Hey, Angry, I'm getting kind of parched again.

How about this time, you go and get the Nehi so me and him can keep up the chitchat?

We're done with all that sh*t.

No, we're just getting started.

I like talking, and I got a lot more to say, believe me.

Give us the room for a minute, would you, Lewis?

Tell you what, kid.

You just sit tight.

Me and Detective Vega, we're both gonna go see about that soda.

Hey.

Come on over here.

We'll get in a scrap.

That's the only way.

I get that g*n.

What the f*ck's happening in there?

He's full of sh*t.

You think?

Doesn't seem to like you much.

Yeah, well, he can get in line.

What did he say when I was out of the room?

What do you think he said?

The same damn thing they all say, that I'm a f*cking traitor for wearing a badge.

That kid might be an assh*le.

He might think you're an assh*le.

But he didn't k*ll anybody.

- You don't know that.

- Sure, I do.

You look into his guts, it's not there.

He's no k*ller.

He f*cking is.

I know he did it.

He'll get what he deserves, you know what I mean?

Hey, how's it going in there?

Did you get your little cousin to sing yet, Vega?

Me, I like to hear a w*tback sing.

♪ La cucaracha, la cucaracha ♪ Where the hell is everybody?

Turning the whole damn city upside down, looking for those other Pachuco bastards.

All except us.

Captain told us we should stick around.

And why the f*ck would he do that?

Go ask him yourself.

We got him talking, Captain.

And what's he saying?

Told us how mud hens play dead when they get surprised.

Terrific.

My daughter taught her f*cking poodle to do that.

It's a start.

You know how this works.

How it works is, I give you two straight arrows first sh*t because that's the kind of world I wish we lived in, and then, like countless well-meaning precinct captains before me, I give in to reality.

Murphy's drunk in reality.

How it works is, you find me a patsy to take the Hazlett rap like I told you to do, and Reilly never gets k*lled, and that poor dumb kid never winds up in the cooler in the first place, but you didn't do that, did you?

So now we got another problem, and it just has to get solved one way or another, because that's just how it works.

Fine, we'll solve it.

I told Murphy he was on at the top of the hour.

That gives you nearly 45 minutes.

Charlie, you're not really afraid of Mr.

Karloff, are you?

Ah, well, ah, no.

But you've got to admit, he's no Santa Claus.

Charlie, did I hear you say you were going home?

How's a wooden dummy make it on the radio?

You ever wonder about that?

Ahem, Charlie, won't you say hello to Mr.

Karloff?

Uh, hello.

Well, good night.

Oh, no.

Don't run away.

I want to talk to you.

Well, I really should go home...

It's the only station we get out here, baby.

- Hey, it's okay.

- I'm going in there!

- Cálmate, ese.

- It's not right!

- This ain't church.

- I'm the one who...

We all did it together.

We all didn't cut that cop's throat.

You gave me the razor.

I did the cutting.

And I'm not gonna let Diego swing for it.

- He's swinging already.

- She's right.

And there's a reason for it.

He's my friend.

But now we have to say good-bye to our friend.

You're different than him.

He got caught because that's who he is, and you got away for the same reason.

Speaking Spanish You're not welcome here.

I think you better step aside, miss.

Let her in.

How did you find us?

No me importa what kind of trouble you're in, Mateo.

Come home now.

Hmm?

Mama, I...

It doesn't matter what you've done.

Do you hear me?

God already knows.

All that matters is what you do now.

Hmm?

These people are not your family, Mateo.

Please.

Por favor.

She's right.

You're not welcome here.

A piñata party!

That's good!

How many whacks you think it'll take?

Depends on what we use for a stick.

I ain't wearing no blindfold.

I want to see his face.

I'm keeping his teeth for Reilly's kid as a present when he gets a little older.

What do you think we get when we bust him open?

Candy?

Ought to ask Vega.

He's gotta know, right?

There you are, Angry.

You get me a soda pop?

I was just telling our friend here how long I've been doing this, sitting in rooms just like this, talking to guys like him.

A long time...

Too long, probably.

But you know one thing I learned in all that time?

Guy tells you a story, there's usually something in it.

I mean, even when he's bullshitting you, when he thinks he's not giving you a damn thing, most of the time, he actually is.

Like with your little story about the mud hens, for example.

You know the funny part with that one?

The part that doesn't fit, the brother.

You're making up a bullshit story like that.

Why put the brother in?

Gee, I don't really know.

Probably means something, would be my guess.

Like maybe your brother's mixed up in this thing with Reilly somehow.

You mean like what, like maybe he's the other guy, the one Mr.

Angry chased out of that apartment?

Yeah, for example.

Nah, not my brother.

Not my brother.

What if we go out and get him, though, run him in here and put him through his paces, just see what he has to say?

Yeah, what if?

Ruin his day, I promise you that.

Hey, man, how long we gonna do this?

Not much longer.

Captain gave us another maybe half an hour.

Then those other boys get to have at you.

Murphy and all them.

I told you how this sh*t was gonna go.

- I told you... - I told you, m*therf*cker!

You're not the one doing the telling here!

I told you!

What did you tell us, Diego?

f*ck you, puto.

What do you want to tell us?

I ain't got no f*cking brother.

How's that?

My brother's dead.

I'm sorry to hear that.

Yeah, he's dead, real dead.

I sure do miss him too.

Hell of a thing, to lose a brother.

Why'd you put him in the story, then?

What about Reilly?

What's it got to do with Reilly?

Nothing.

You want to know about the other guy?

I'll tell you who the other f*cking guy is.

We're not doing this!

You k*lled him.

Say you k*lled him!

Tiago!

It's your brother.

The fourth guy.

Your brother.

Mateo.

His name is Mateo.

Your f*cking brother.

And you didn't tell me!

How many times have I stuck my neck out for you?

You think anyone else in this g*dd*mn precinct would've taken you on, would've trusted you?

You should've told me.

He slit a cop's throat.

What the f*ck could I tell you?

The truth!

So you could do what?

What were you gonna do?

What are you gonna do?

He was there when I sh*t Raul.

He saw it.

He just got so...

...angry, and I can't even blame him.

What he did to Reilly, that didn't have sh*t to do with Reilly.

It was about me.

He was a good kid before all of this.

What about that kid in there?

He's not my brother.

That's too easy.

You think it's easy?

You think any of this sh*t is easy?

This is my family.

For you, it's easy.

You got nobody.

f*ck you!

You say nothing.

Sit up straight and look at me, kid.

We've talked a lot of sh*t in this room today, haven't we?

But you and me are gonna get on the level right now.

I grew up back East, myself, Jersey City.

But it wasn't so different from Belvedere Heights, to be honest: just crowded and poor.

My old man delivered ice across the river in New York.

Ice was a big deal in those days.

Only rich people could afford it, so that's who he delivered to.

And sometimes I'd go with him in the wagon to these big-money neighborhoods uptown, mansions and swank apartment houses, and everything was just so clean.

That's what I remember most: whole damn world was knee-deep in horse sh*t back then but not Fifth Avenue, not Uptown.

It's like the horses up there didn't sh*t at all.

It's different now...

No more horses...

Except that it's not really any different.

You know what I mean?

Poor folks will always be left with the sh*t...

...whatever the sh*t is, and there ain't a damn thing God or Franklin Roosevelt will ever do to change it.

Take a man like James Hazlett.

Big construction outfit, big house in Beverly Hills.

Guy like that turns up dead on the wrong side of town with his dead wife and kids right next to him?

Well, that's a big old steaming pile of sh*t, the kind that only ever leads to more and more sh*t: the riot, four dead cops, eight dead Mexicans, Reilly cuffing you to that chair.

sh*t begets sh*t...

...begets sh*t.

And now...

just look where we are.

But if you go back to the beginning, Hazlett was the beginning.

You k*lled him.

What?

Him, the wife, the kids.

Reilly too, of course.

I know you want to talk about Tiago's brother, but I don't give a f*ck about Tiago's brother, and neither should you.

All day, you been playing this like a gambler sitting on a full house, but let me tell you what cards you're really holding.

You're going to San Quentin, and you're not coming out.

That's gospel already.

All you still get to decide is whether you go as a rat or as a g*dd*mn legend.

Now, that seems like a pretty simple choice to me, but let me spell it out for you.

Rats don't do so well up in Quentin.

They tend to hang themselves with the bedsheets after the rest of the cons have f*cked them bloody for a while.

But guys who take the weight, they have it pretty good up there.

And the more weight they take, the better they have it.

Scrawny little half-pint like yourself who dumped a whole family of swells in the river, then went out and slit a bad cop's throat, who signed his name to all of that just to take the heat off his neighborhood and make sure his pals got away scot-free?

Guy like that might just be the king of San Quentin, might just get his picture up in every bodega in town.

A hero to his people...

...assuming word got around about what he did, and I can see to that, believe me.

We'll see to it.

Or just like that, I'll make sure everyone knows what kind of rat you are, if that's the way you want to go.

Up to you.

You got about five minutes to make up your mind before those other guys come in here and start putting cigars out on your tongue.

You k*ll them all?

All by yourself?

That's the smart play, kid.

You're doing the right thing.

Michener and Vega!