03x04 - The Game

[bunniefuu]

Previously on AMC's Hell On Wheels...

Tell me about Moretti...

How do you know about Moretti?

She's beautiful.

It's our custom to marry your brother's widow, become a father to his child.

You stay away from my family!

Chief of Police, Union Pacific Railroad.

Did you k*ll our man, son?

Tell me the truth!

History always sides with the winner.

This ain't over.

Indeed, it is not.

[Mule brays]

[Mule brays]

[Women shouting in the distance]

[Mule brays]

[Shouting continues]

Squaws!

Jimmy Two Squaws?

Jimmy Two Squaws?
[g*nsh*t]

[Horse whinnies, mule brays]

Holster your hardware and declare your intentions.

[g*nsh*t]
[Mule brays]

'Twould behoove you to oblige.

[p*stol safety clicks]

We're with the railroad.

Looking for a guide to take us through Indian territory.

Haden send you?

He's my surveyor.

Says you speak Kiowa.

Now what do you want with the Kiowa?

Just trade.

Haden says the Kiowa got a copse of spruce.

Well, the Indians around these parts say that you took heads off of peaceful women and children.

Thems was Bluecoats. That wasn't me.

And they was acting on behalf of the railroad.

And they ain't here right now. I don't want no bloodshed.

Where you from, boy?

Union Pacific Railroad.

No.

No, no, no. I mean where was you borned at?

sh*t.

Meridian, Mississippi.

I knew it.

[Women shouting indistinctly]

Yes, sir, you got Mississippi river water on your tongue.

Me, I'm from Louisiana.

My daddy was a fur trader.

My mama was a slaver's daughter in New Orleans.

I used to go to New Orleans once a year before the w*r.

Cotton farmer?

No, failed tobacco.

I used to stay at the St. Charles Hotel right there on the avenue.

Well. Huh.

I went through there once myself.

Had me a sazerac.

Hey, how 'bout you lower that r*fle?

You know, your surveyor Haden, he ain't half-bad for a mud chicken.

And the Kiowa got spruce.

But now, Chief Red Bear, he ain't an easy man to bargain with.

I need you to translate for me.

Pay is in gold eagles.

Hmm.

The last man that paid me in coin gave me pesos back in Santa Fe.

The Kiowa scalped him, and they rolled his people back to Chihuahua.

You can keep your gold eagles.

But now, I can't leave my Squaws here empty-handed.

Well, what would appease?

Well, I reckon that they would be happy with your mule here and the contents of its pack.

Red Bear ain't got no use for no white man groceries.

[Clicks tongue]
Come on.

[Mule brays]

All right, then.

What?

He--he ain't right in the head.

We need him.

What you need me for?

You got someplace else you'd rather be?

Mm-hmm, I could think of a few place.

[Women shouting indistinctly]

Let's ride.

I got business with Red Bear.

[Shouting continues]

Go, go.
[Shouting continues]

He gonna get us k*lled.

Well, that's why you're here.

So he don't.

[Western folk music]

♪ ♪

Yeah, I got me a young Squaw and an old Squaw.

And the young Squaw is lazy.

But the problem is is that the old Squaw used to be the young Squaw, and she's lazy too.

And now, all they do is fight about who's doing what.

And neither one of them is doing anything but fightin'.

And that's why I sleep on the roof.

Oh, now, I might go down there if I want a little jackrabbit stew or-- or if I feel my sap a-rising.

How about you back there?

You got you a woman there, sourpuss?

And a baby girl.

Then what the hell are you doing out here for?

Putting food in they mouth, roof over they head.

Mm.

You know what the Kiowa do to strangers?

They like to set fires.

Fires to your hands, fires to your face, fire to your chest.

Hell, I seen a Texan one time stark naked, tied to a post.

And they had relieved him of his scalp, his fingers, and his plums.

But then, they shoved hot coals under his skin.

They watched him slow roast.

Good thing you ain't a stranger, then.

No, no, I am not.

I'm family.

Red Bear is my father-in-law.

[Steam whistle blows]

[Wheels screech]

Put the big bells on the bottom of that fork, will ya?

[Steam whistle blows]

Big ones over there.

[Steam whistle blows]

For Christ's sake, McGinnes, I didn't die.

You were locked up in the clink last I heard.

I wintered on Hudson.

Surely, no one will begrudge a man his past in this citadel of freethinkers.

Mr. Durant.

What brings you to Hell on Wheels?

[Wheels screech]

Engine fire?

A spark ignited the hay car and the blaze spread.

We lost an entire shipment of ties.

Kinda interesting, you showing up here, what with Mr. Bohannon gone and all.

Relax, Mickey.

I am just a stockholder checking in on his investment.

[Bell ringing]

"Hotel."

[Rings bell forcefully]

The New York Tribune.

Hmm.

Madam, I once had the displeasure of meeting its editor, Horace Greeley.

Utopian, whig, vegetarian.

I hear he has Karl Marx writing for him now.

Have you read Das Kapital?

[Scoffs]

The ignorant ravings of an overeducated gasbag.

I would like a room, your largest suite.

The suite's taken.

By whom?

Her.

Miss Ellison.

Miss Louise Ellison of the New York Tribune.

Uh...
[Clears throat]

Thomas C. Durant of Credit Mobilier.

I know who you are, Mr. Durant.

Oh, perhaps, um, I could compose a statement for you.

I'd be happy to read it.

You can usually find me here when I'm not at the end of the hall... in the suite.

[Knock at door]

The man of the house is out.

The man of the house is dead.

I just wanna see the child.

You have my word.

No harm'll come to either of you.

All right. You can see her.

But then you gotta leave.

Just say the word.

Hey.

[Baby fussing]

Oh, come here now.

[Laughs]

Isn't she gorgeous?

Spit of her father.

Puts me in mind of my son.

You have a son?

Patrick.

He and his mother were taken by the influenza.

I know a little about what you've been through.

Hey.

Elam wouldn't want you here long.

[Baby fussing]

Elam's a decent fella, Eva, a testament to his race.

But that child doesn't belong to him.

She deserves better.

As do you.

You don't know what I deserve.

I know your past.

And I don't judge it.

[Baby crying fitfully]

Everyone deserves a fresh start.

Come away with me to New York.

We'll get married.

This wee one will be raised a clean catholic instead of some black bastard's bastard child.

I asked you to leave.

[Sighs]
Your heart knows what's right.

I can wait.

[Baby fussing]

[Indistinct shouting]

Don't touch them pistols or draw a breath unless you want an arrow through your throat.

Tell 'em we came to trade.

[Speaking Kiowa]

[All whooping]
Oh!

This is Red Bear. He wants your horse.

I need my horse.

Well, the trouble is I owe him a horse.

Well, give him your horse.

He likes yours better.

This buckskin that he wears, it holds the ashes of his eldest son who was k*lled by the cavalry.

You tell him I lost a son to the Bluecoats too.

Tell him.

[Speaking Kiowa]

He can have the horse.

[Speaking Kiowa]

What about the trees?

[Both speaking Kiowa]

[p*stol clicks]

[Speaking Kiowa]

Well, he says you can take the one-leggeds, but only if you can b*at his son and braves at a game of stickball.

Stickball?

Red Bear learned it off of some Choctaw.

He's made it an initiation rite for his fiercest braves.

Look, Jimmy looking out for Jimmy.

We don't know what he telling them, getting us into.

Railroad needs them trees. I gotta play.

You do what you want.

It ain't what I want.

But I'll do it.

Tell him we'll play for the trees.

Uh...
[Speaking Kiowa]

[Speaking Kiowa]

[All ululating]

[Grunts]

Papa says I'm the best at finding nests.

Ah.

I have a sharp eye, he says, as good as any eagle's.

Don't fall and cr*ck your head, for an eagle is a noble bird, an excellent predator and one who is not above eating carrion when he must.

Papa's very wise.

That's why we're moving to Fort Smith.

I can't reach it.

[Groans]

All right, closer to the edge we go.

[Chuckles]

And what is the wisdom of moving to Fort Smith?

We were called there by Brigham Young.

Their bishop was k*lled when one of the gentiles tried to steal his youngest wife.

And now, they are a flock without a shepherd.

Huh, will your father be that shepherd?

Papa's gonna be a bishop.

A bishop?

He'll be the most powerful man in all of Fort Smith.

Hmm.

[Sighs]
I got the eggs.

Ha!

Should we go back?

Nah.

Let us find another nest, huh, eagle eye?

You can tell me more about your Papa, hmm?

[Rhythmic drumbeats]

Oh. Here come your opponents.

[Snorts]

Their mamas know they're out here?

That scarred-up one is Red Bear's son.

They have raided and k*lled red and white alike.

It'd be a mistake to underestimate him.

[Speaking Kiowa]

He's gonna give you another player to even the odds.

He's a c*ptive from another tribe.

[Speaking Kiowa]

This is little raven. He's gonna play with you.

He's a good warrior.

[Speaking Kiowa]

Get out there. Go on out there.

[Drumming continues]

Let's go.

Come on.

[Whooping]

[Grunts]

[Groans]

[Whooping]

What tribe did you say he was from?

Arapaho, his was the village where your Bluecoats took them heads.

[Groans]

[Whoops]

[Whooping]

[Tense orchestration]

♪ ♪

He's dead.

I reckon game over.

No, you can't leave. The game just started.

Yeah, well, it just ended.

If you walk off that field, they will k*ll you.

Lose or quit, you die. Told you before.

Didn't I?

Come on now.

Jimmy fixed this up to settle his gambling debts.

He probably betting against us too.

All we got to do is outlast these braves.

I'll deal with Mr. Two Squaws when all this is said and done.

[Whooping]

[Groans]

[Groans]

[Groans]

[Sighs]

Whoo, hee!

[Groans]

All they tryin' to do is k*ll us.

You think so?

We got to k*ll them here with these here sticks.

Be ye live or be ye dead, I'll grind your bones to make my bread.

Fee, fum, foe, foy.

I smell the blood of a Mormon boy!

I'm gonna get you!

I'm gonna get you.
[Laughs]

[Sighs]
That's Papa's hat.

[Sighs]

So it is.

You like it?

Yeah.

Big boy. My turn to hide.

I'm sorry, Sara.

I have a new girl who needs the cot.

Good luck to you both.

Sara, why aren't you in bed?

Mickey's kicking me out.

Fellas, come on. Let's go.

Yes, sir.

Mattress, sheets, the lot, burn it.

Mickey.

Why are you throwing her out?

I told you.

I can't have her dying here.

I gave her train fare to Omaha. She can see a doctor.

No, a doctor ain't gonna do nothin' for her.

Take everything, boys.

She's gonna die bad, Mickey.

I know.

Thank God for Mr. Toole, aye?

Mr. Toole?

Mm.

If he hadn't married you, it might be you on your way to Omaha for some sick bed.

You think I don't know that?

You might wanna keep it in mind.

I know Declan's called on ya.

[Baby fussing]

Sara.

In Omaha, there's a lady doctor, Dr. Borthwick.

He took care of me.

He'll take care of you too.

Thank you, Eva.

Good luck.

Eva.

A drop of water in the desert.

You're looking well, Mr. Durant.

Freedom agrees with me.

No doubt you heard about my troubles.

Well, you're here now.

Oh, uh, I had the baby.

So I see.

A Madonna and child for the new world.

I've just been reading about you.

Sorry?

Hmm.

Is that-- is that supposed to be me?

Well, the sketch is not very good.

But the--the article's not bad.

Take it home.

Eva, what is it?

Mr. Toole's brother is in Hell on Wheels and he wants this child.

And sometimes...

I'm not a very good woman, Mr. Durant.

That is rubbish.

I will never forget you holding my hand as I lay bleeding out on my desk, through pain, laudanum, every accompanying indignity.

You are an exceptional woman who is in a vexing situation.

What should I do?

I have something for you.

A baby gift.

What? A piece of paper?

Stock in Credit Mobilier.

Now, it is worth more on some days than others so don't cash it until you have exhausted all options.

Thank you.

Hmm.

[Whooping]
[Groans]

[Grunts]

[Groans]

[Whooping]

[Ululates]

[Singing in native language]

That's his death song.

Send him to the spirit world with honors.

[Groans and sighs]

I won't k*ll a kid over... some damn game.

Tell him.

[Speaking Kiowa]

[Tense orchestration]

♪ ♪

[Sighs]

[Speaking Kiowa]

What's he saying?

You have shamed the chief, his son, and his people.

Oh, yeah?

What's that?

Fire.

Fire.

[Groans]

[Crows chirping]

What we gonna do now?

[Sighs]
I don't know.

Where's Jimmy?

I don't know.

I told you not to trust him.

What you want me to say, Elam?

Damn it, I threw in with you.

I gave you every damn chance to back out, didn't I?

You should've k*lled that Indian.

Didn't seem right somehow.

After all them men you k*lled?

Well, this is how we gonna die?

'Cause you picked today to stop killin'?

[Sighs]

[Sighs]

How long before Bohannon gets back?

I'm not sure, sir.

He's ridden out to Indian territory to get timber.

Huh.

So... that's his solution to the tie shortage?

Take wood from the savages.

Uh, it would seem so.

Yes.

Tell me about his latest transgressions.

Well, he hasn't really done anything wrong.

Really?

That is a matter of perspective, Mr. McGinnes.

But this is Bohannon we're talking about.

Surely he's k*lled somebody.

Oh, he did hang a Mormon youth.

Really?
[Chuckles]

Well, tell me more about his hanging a child.

I'm pleased you're taking an interest in the word, Anderson.

[Sighs]

Something happened while I was resting in the wagon.

I had a dream that I was--
I was awake.

You had a vision.

I was surrounded by love and people who I felt was my family, but I had never met them.

You saw the celestial kingdom.

Perhaps heavenly father has blessed me with a-a testimony for Joseph Smith.

I knew it was his will that we found you.

We must teach you the gospel principles.

[Laughs]

Once you commit to keeping the commandments...

I'll be honored to baptize you.

The honor will be mine, friend.

[Chuckles]
The honor will be mine.

Would--would've like to seen the Pacific Ocean.

Eva and me never got to get married.

Elam...

I'm sorry.

[Tense orchestration]

♪ ♪

God...

[Inaudible]

[Groans]

[Horse neighs]

Red Bear says that you can take all the timber that you need.

Who I gotta k*ll now?

Oh, now, it ain't like that.

You can have your horse back.

I don't understand.

Well, they say that three balances out the home.

Maybe them other two'll quit fightin'.

You sayin' we can ride up outta here?

Yep.

What about Red Bear's shame?

Oh, Red Bear is happy.

He just want to see his children happy, e-especially Buffalo Face here.

Is that his daughter?

Yeah.

He's been trying to get her married off for a long time now.

Married?

Well, I said I'd do it if he'd let you boys go.

[Sighs]
Well, thank you.

Congratulations.

Eh, thank you.

[Sighs]

Oh.

I-I suppose they're gonna have to call me "Jimmy Three Squaws" now.

I suppose so.

Jesus.

I don't know what you're doing with Durant, brother.

And I don't wanna know.

Then why are you lurking about in the rain then?

I just wanna warn you that, whatever it is, you're on your own.

Don't come running to me when this turns into trouble.

I'm through pulling you out the fire.

You're a long way from Boston.

[Scoffs]

A long way.

[Upbeat folk music]

♪ ♪

I heard you were out brokering with hostiles.

If you've come for my funeral, you come too soon.

You got your lumber?

Yep.

Was it worth the trouble?

Wasn't no trouble at all.

[Chuckles]

Yes, indeed.

Miss Ellison.

Eh, care to join me for breakfast?

Are you ready to give me that statement?

Well, first, I would like to refute this article you've written about my successor.

Coffee?

Just because you don't like what you read, Mr. Durant, doesn't mean it isn't true.

[Sighs]
[Laughs]

Cullen Bohannon is not the man of integrity you have painted him as.

No?

No.

What do you know about him that I don't?

Well, he's a m*rder*r for one thing.

[Dry chuckle]
He k*lled at least five men in a revenge-fueled fever.

Thank you.

Those are serious allegations.

"Captain Daniel Johnson, Private Prescott..."

Uh, you might want to write these down.

[Clears throat]

Prescott? Johnson?

"Lieutenants Wustner and Tanner, "and a Sergeant Frank Harper, all members of the 13th Ohio Infantry."

Ah, look into it.

I will.

Who knows?

Maybe Greeley will even bring you in from the wilderness.

Hm?
[Chuckles]

That sounds like a fable.

More like a joke.

There I was, tied up, burning alive, all for a bunch of railroad ties.

[Sighs]

Prayed to God.

He didn't answer me.

This crazy feller, he-- he upped and saved me by marrying a bearded Squaw.

[Giggles]

Think that's funny?

[Laughs]

Yeah.

And how do you know it wasn't God who saved you?

'Cause it was Jimmy Two Squaws and Buffalo Face.

God can have a sense of humor too, Mr. Bohannon.

Well, it is one hell of a big one, then.

Crew'll be around in an hour to take down that steeple, all right?

[Laughs]

[Door opens]

What you doin', woman?

We need to pack up and go.

Bohannon's moving the camp.

Will you read this to me?

"Amidst the dirt and debauchery of the sin-laden railroad camp known as Hell on Wheels, a woman of exceptional strength and beauty has built herself a second chance."

You sellin' me a dog.

No.

It truly say that?

Truly, it does.

"Eva Toole, formerly Eva Oates, "endured a rough childhood on the Texas frontier 'fore her family fell victim to a vicious Indian att*ck in 1853. Eva's subsistence life of servitude ended seven years later when she was spotted by a soldier at Fort Yuma. But her return to civilization did not mark the end of her hardships."

Yeah? Well, go on.

I wanna hear what folks in New York are readin' about me.

"Eva found herself in the Nebraska territory, a cut-rate railroad dove."

Yeah, that means "whore."

I know what it means.

"But calamity has not dimmed this remarkable woman's spirit."

Oh, she crazy.

That part true.

The strength and beauty part too.

"Eva's back in Hell on Wheels, "where she offers care and comfort to the prostitutes she once suffered alongside, "and to the-- the freeman lover with whom she's set up house."

[Lightning crashes]

"Freeman lover"?

That's what I am to you?

No, of course not. You're my man.

That's not...

Anybody been here while I was gone?

I just let him in...

You let him in?

For a minute, and then I-I told him to leave.

That's why you care so much about what folks think of you in New York?

No.

'Cause you wanna run away with him?

I don't wanna run away--

You've been thinkin' of it.

You actin' different ever since he showed up--

No, I ain't, Elam. Elam!

Elam, wait!

Elam!

I wanna show you something, Elam.

Elam.

I don't wanna run away with him.

I wanna run away with you.

But I can't stay here.

Now, look. Durant gave me this.

And he said this is our ticket outta here.

I can't stay here, Elam.

Eva, look at us. Where we gonna go?

I can't sleep at night because my heart's thumping so hard.

You scared of what?

I'm scared that something bad is gonna happen if we stay here.

I told you I'd protect you and our little girl--

No, that's not it.

I'm--I can't stop thinking about Toole and what he done.

And sometimes, I get scared that I'm gonna hurt the baby.

No, you ain't gonna do that.

You ain't gonna hurt--

But what if I do?

You ain't gonna hurt our baby.

You're not gonna hurt our baby.

That's not you, Eva. That's not you.

What I read in there, that's you.

That's who you are. At least it was before this--

Yeah, before the baby came.

Not no more.

Mr. Bohannon, I need to speak with you.

A source has given me some information about your past.

That source be Thomas Durant?

What does the 13th Ohio Infantry mean to you?

You want a railroad story?

I just made a deal with the Kiowa to harvest spruce off their land.

Now this is gonna be the first time we're making our own ties.

That's unprecedented.

Is it true you k*lled five men in cold blood?

That's not a railroad story.

I got a town to move.

It is a railroad story, Mr. Bohannon.

Is it true?

Did you do it?

[Screams]

Where is she?

Where's my baby?

Where'd she go? Where's my baby?

Have you seen my baby?

Where is it?

My baby's been taken!

[Indistinct clamor]

Elam!

My baby.

She was right there.

We'll find her!

Ow!

Where is she?

Elam.

[Tense folk music]