04x02 - Escape from the Garden

Episode transcripts for the TV show "Hell on Wheels". Aired November 6, 2011 - July 23, 2016.*
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Cullen Bohannon, a former soldier and slaveholder, follows the track of a band of Union soldiers, the K*llers of his wife. This brings him to the middle of one of the biggest projects in US history, the building of the transcontinental railroad. After the w*r years in the 1860s, this undertaking connected the prospering east with the still wild west.
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04x02 - Escape from the Garden

Post by bunniefuu »

Previously on AMC's Hell on Wheels...

You? Don't think your train's gonna make it?

You're married to a k*ller.

God has put me on earth to save your soul.

Pray for me.

I'm sending you west, Campbell.

Wyoming.

I am capable of anything...

I had me a vision that I was leaving this place.

Once outside those gates, I cannot guarantee your safety.

Now open up that gate.

Did you hear me?

I said open it up.

We will have due process, brother Bohannon.

Soldiers approaching!

Soldiers approaching!

[Shouts]

Is this your doing?

Soldiers?

What is your business?

Dr. Major Augustus Bendix requesting assistance.

Well, pass us by, soldier.

Your misfortune is not our own.

A little grain for our horses is all we require.

You already ask too much of my patience!

You of the United States cavalry, known to persecute those of the mormon faith!

True enough in the past, sir.

We now rid this territory of the savage vermin who would burn these walls and take your scalp!

What is it?

Possibly a trick or a trap.

Doesn't look like a trap to me.

Bohannon is a clever one.

What's he got to do with this?

I appeal to your humanity, sir.

Leave us!

You don't know me.

They're itchin' to sh**t.

Elect a target.

Good God, man.

I heard you were taken and k*lled by outlaws.

Mormons... these ones here.

Ready to fire.

Hold your fire.

m*rder is their way, not ours.

I can come back with a company of men and a small piece of a*tillery.

No, I can't.

Won't sh**t my way out of this one.

I got family inside.

Your situation gets curiouser and curiouser, sir.

They're planning his escape.

Now, you do your duty.

My duty's to God.

God speaks through me.

I wonder.

I can leave a horse and a r*fle in the woods for you.

Listen to me.

Don't come back here.

I'm dead to the world. Let's leave it like that.

Good mormons, thank you for your Christian charity.

Don't push it, Bendix.

Your luck is running mighty thin as it is.

Couple days, I'll be free of this place.

Or dead again.

Could be likely both.

Now ride.

[Western folk music]

♪ ♪

Close the gate!

Point that thing down before you sh**t somebody.

When will the army return?

They got no truck with you.

Were you plotting with them?

It's the first time I seen you scared of your shadow, Bishop.

You're here by my hand.

I take responsibility for that.

I told the major you're good, plain people seeking salvation, that heaven's your destination.

You told them that?

In better words.

And I told 'em nothin' about you.

All for me to not recognize providence in our own lives, brother Bohannon.

You came to us at a time when Brigham Young's revelation was for us to build our own railroad.

40 rail and 100 tie don't make a railroad.

Oh, now the... the weather is turning.

Work can commence.

You have the knowledge we need.

Father Hatch, you agree that I kept my word to stayin' to this day?

You have.

Now, some despise you, others see a seed of righteousness.

Praise God.

But I stand for you to stay for the reasons the Bishop has said.

Things are revealed to us who dwell in prayer.

I vote he stays and he takes another wife.

All those in favor of brother Bohannon remaining and becoming one of us, say "Amen"!

All: Amen.

Amen.

Well, go.

Be with your wife and son.

Prepare yourself for baptism with water drawn from the well built with your own hands.

It is for your own welfare that I speak to you in this way.

I believe you believe that.

[Train whistle blows]

[Man yelling indistinctly]

Sordid-looking place...

Worse than down South.

Everybody seems to be carrying a g*n of some kind.

Justice is to be administered quickly and indiscriminately.

[Man shouting]

Milk will be spilled.

That's for sure.

[Sighs]

Uh...

Might one of you gentlemen be John Campbell?

I'm Campbell.

Ah.

Thomas Durant, head of union pacific railroad and chairman of credit mobilier.

Welcome to Cheyenne, gentlemen.

Honor to meet you, Durant.

Quite a place you've built here.

[Chuckles] Yes, well, one day this will be the largest rail hub in the nation.

I have no doubt...

With our help.

Mm. Well, in that case, I hope you've brought bags of money with you.

[Chuckles]

We bring something even more valuable...

Governmental oversight.

Yes. Mm-hmm. [Chuckles]

Uh, why don't we discuss that over lunch?

That will be quite a feat...

Serving under Johnson and now Grant.

You must be the only thing those two agree on.

General Grant and I agree that what this new territory needs is a constitution, regulation, most importantly...

Law and order.

Well, this is still the frontier.

All those things will come in due time.

Well, the future's now, Mr. Durant.

First order of business, I intend to build a courthouse, statehouse, a jailhouse, and a treasury.

Ah.

The four horsemen of civilization, hmm?

A lawyer, a politician, a policeman and a tax collector.

[Chuckles]

I will need to buy land upon which to build.

I will gladly accept cash.

I have plenty of land for sale.

General Grant sent authorization to levy taxes.

If you are proposing to tax me in order to pay me for my land, why don't I just give it to you?

An interesting proposition, Mr. Durant.

[Silverware clatters]

Cheyenne is my city, run by my mayor in support of my railroad.

You sound like an unreconstructed southerner, but we'll remedy all that.

You get your railroad moving west again, and that's what General Grant wants from you.

You let me worry about governing.

I am, after all, the new governor.

Provisional governor.

Ezra.

Ezra!

Lunch!

I hope he's not off into trouble again.

Boy settin' fires and stealin' needs a taste of the whippin' stick.

My father b*at us as children.

Well, you turned out right, church lady and all.

My brothers are violent men, the ones still alive.

Your daddy rode with John Brown, I heard.

There's a place for righteous v*olence, not in the raising of children.

Ezra acting foolish...

That started when Mr. Bohannon went missin', didn't it?

Mm.

The church in Council Bluffs wants me to send Ezra to the orphanage there.

Lately, I think they might be right.

Spare the rod, spoil the child.

Ezra!

Hey! Hey, what...

What in the hell did you do?

You're coming with me, you little bastard!

[Laughter]

[Indistinct chatter]

You're not to be in here.

Why not?

Just because.

Because what?

Because you rinsed me off?

Shh.

Huh? Because you could, what?

Shh.

You and me...

We got a new understandin', Mickey.

I ain't leavin' you and the baby.

Got us a chance to have something different.

I can't be here, Naomi.

I know.

Mama had me in a wagon comin' out.

Father never even slowed the ox.

I got a buckboard put away in the barn that'll get us to Cheyenne.

That's a big city.

We'll get there.

I'll get my railroad job.

We'll live in a caboose.

Is that a tent?

Train car.

Oh.

Woodstove, feather bed, and a door that locks.

I'll get some things, husband.

Cullen?

Huh?

This is the right thing, isn't it?

Only thing.

I have enough credit for the wagon.

Horse is mine.

We voted that you stay.

I voted that I leave.

I won.

There is an old v*olence to Bishop Dutson.

Don't make my daughter a widow.

You know he's capable.

Yes.

See, it ain't me he's scared of.

He's afraid I'll make him see his own true self.

Would you reveal him if you could?

You finally startin' to see he's a fake?

No.

I can't hold that notion.

Excuse me.

You'll be sh*t, you try to leave.

No, I won't...

'Cause I'm takin'
Naomi and little William with me.

You stood by once already and watched one of your children die.

You gonna let that happen again?

Come on.

Don't touch that.

Those horses you let loose cost the railroad $300.

Reverend Ruth will be in debt for the rest of her life to pay for what you did.

Luckily...

You won't be here to see it.

That is a free rail pass to the orphanage in Council Bluffs.

Put it in your pocket.

Do you know what they will do to you there?

They will give you a little bread, and then they will b*at you.

Then they will give you some more bread, and they will b*at you again.

I know.

I grew up in an orphanage myself.

Enjoy your trip.

Mr. Durant?

[Knock at door]

Mr. Durant...

I'm so very sorry.

I don't know what to do with him.

Take him home, love him, and keep him out of my stockyards!

Yes, Mr. Durant.

I will.

Thank you.
[Door closes]

Gentlemen, here's how I see it.

State treasury will displace the casino.

Nice irony.

A culture's largest building reflects what it values most.

Greeks built libraries. Romans built the colosseum.

Now, the state capitol... A nice spot on that rise... Well-drained, above the clutter.

That is a beautiful spot.

Courthouse and jail should be across from the railroad offices.

Testament to law and order for any new arrival.

Yes, indeed.

Second only in size to the capitol.

[Loud thud, indistinct shouting]

Meantime, begin policing the streets.

Public show of our will?

Finding criminals in this town is an easy task.

Find the right one...

A guilty one.

Good day, gentlemen.

[Grunts]

The platens on these Washingtons get stuck from time to time.

You might want to replace the coil Springs.

They tend to rust.

I was a newspaperman myself...

Before the w*r, that is.

Oh.

Well, thank you, mister...?

John Campbell, provisional governor the Wyoming territory by appointment of General Grant.

Well then, you mind if I ask you some questions for the Leader, then, governor?

Not at all.

[Laughter]

[Indistinct chatter]

[Piano music]

♪ ♪

Ain't no man that lucky.

Just the lay of the cards, friend.

Well, maybe you're a son of a bitch cheat.

[g*nsh*t, woman screams]

[Breathing heavily]

You, sir, are under arrest for m*rder of the first degree.

Hey! Hey!

What's this, then?

He was tryin' to swindle me.

Ain't that many 6s in no deck of cards I ever heard of.

Who are you?

Mickey Mcginnes, the owner of this casino and the mayor of Cheyenne.

And I'm your new federal marshal.

I'm charging this man with m*rder.

Check him, Mickey. He had 6s all day.

Just...

Don't move.

You're caught cheatin' around these parts, you're liable to get what you're gonna get.

It's the rule of the law.

[Chuckles] The rule of the law?

Aye.

Everybody knows that.

You ever heard of such a rule of law, judge?

Can't say I have. Huh?

How shall we proceed, your honor?

I believe a trial is in order.

A trial?

An expeditious trial.

[Chuckles]

We'll see about that.

Out the way with ya!

Cheyenne has been touted as the magic city of the plains.

It's my job to govern it into a new era, as I did in the South following the w*r.

You were part of Johnson's reconstruction effort?

Yes.

Part of that success. I was comm...

Uh, which success would that be?

Restoring rich, white southerners back into power or the persecution of the newly freed n*gro?

I was a corrective to president Johnson's lack of resolve in Atlanta.

We bent the city to the national will, as I intend to do in Cheyenne...

With or without the help of Thomas Durant.

[g*nsh*t]

g*nshots are a common occurrence in Cheyenne, Mr. Campbell.

Regarding Mr. Durant, may I quote you on that?

I wish you would.

Bless me, father, for I have sinned.

Only you know my heart.

From the moment you saw me, you knew me.

I bear the mark of Cain.

Please forgive me.

I'm a sinner, a k*ller of men, enslaver of the sons of Adam.

I have defied not only God, but you as well.

Please...

I beg you...

Forgive me.

Yes, my son.

I'm listening.

[Crying]

Lead me to your heart, I pray you, Bishop Dutson.

Father of the ward, gracious one, you know me as you've known me when heaven was young.

Yes. Yes, I know you.

I know your sinful ways.

Come with me away from that path, in God's glorious name!

By your hand, I beseech you to remove my sin debt...

Slaver, k*ller, soldier to keep my fellow man in bondage.

Mississippi, Tennessee, Georgia, only you know my depredations.

Yes, I will take them from you.

Oh, the hurt, the pain, the dead, the graves, oh, the prisons... Andersonville, my greatest sin of all. I'm guilty.

Yes. Yes, you are, my son.

You are evil!

So long God has wanted me to punish you for your atrocities.

And you have. I'm indebted to your righteousness.

Thank you Lord, heavenly father.

What you had to do to save me, what you had to become, the sacrifices you had to make to claim and redeem me, Cullen Bohannon, sinner...

Yes, you shall be redeemed, my son.

Wounded, betrayed, cast out...

You d*ed and yet you were born.

No matter what cost, no matter what sacrifice, it was justified.

Justification, atonement, redemption!

Those that have had to die know this, even by your hand.

God's hands.

Righteous v*olence, the human sacrifice, necessary for you to sit at the right hand of the father, the right hand of God himself.

Dear, sweet, heavenly God, yes!

Bishop Dutson just waiting for you, God's outstretched hand waiting for you to take him.

God works through my hands!

The Bishop's bodily self just waiting for you, for you to take his place for your ultimate transformation.

Waiting as God planned!
[Shouting indistinctly]

You summoned God's righteous strength...

Truth!

And did what you had to do!

Did away with the pretender Dutson...

Away!

So that you could take your rightful place, praise God!

Praise God!

By your hand, you traded your life for his! God's hand!

By your hand, you took his life!

Take!

By your hand, you did away with him who might have come amongst these people as a false prophet.

Yes, a false prophet!

So that now, praise God...

Praise God!

Stand amongst us in his place!

God himself having cleansed you of Bishop Dutson's blood, from these hands!

These hands.

Cleansed, pristine, immaculate hands!

Praise God!

Yes, and I look upon these hands and there is no blood that man can see, not one drop, praise God!

Because...

[Breathing heavily]

It was in a river. Praise God.

A river.

[Crowd murmuring]

[Gasps, breathes heavily]

[Clicks tongue]

[Whistling Dixie]

Praise God!

[Indistinct chatter]

Marshal Jessup, please step forward.

Did you bear witness to the offense of which Mr. Mcguire had been accused?

I did, judge.

Could you please tell the court what you witnessed?

Shortly after entering the casino, I saw this man discharge his p*stol directly into that man out there.

Thank you, Marshal.

What say you, sir?

I'll tell you...

[Groans]

I didn't do nothin' wrong.

Van Dorn...

He was tryin' to take me, and I called him to account.

I was within my rights.

He had a Kn*fe.

You confess to discharging your w*apon into the body of the deceased?

Well, uh...

I sh*t him, but he was comin' at me for namin' him a cheat.

I see.

Guilty.

[Crowd murmuring]

Fetch us a rope, please.

No.

No! No!

What you say about Bishop Dutson is true?

I can't believe that I let him hold our baby.

Yeah, it gave me a fright too.

Does that mean that our marriage isn't true?

You and me...

We swore an oath.

Come on!

What is it?

Cullen.

Shh. Quiet.

Put the baby down.

Put the baby down.

Take this. Hold it under your arm...

Like it's a shotgun, you understand?

Looks like his arm's busted.

Probably ain't lookin' for a fight, but if he is, you get low, cover the baby.

Howdy!

Me and the woman's lookin' to share the path with ya without trouble.

But if it is trouble you lookin' for, I'd be happy to scatter your brains on that road behind you and leave your liver on a stick for the crows.

[Speaking native language]

Do you make trouble because you think Mr. Bohannon will come back and save you?

Or do you make trouble because you miss him and don't know what to do about it?

I'm not sending you to the orphanage.

But you are going to behave.

[Indistinct chatter]

May we begin?

We absolutely may.

Any last words?

Move. Move!

Release that man! Release him!

He sh*t a cheater.

That's no crime here.

Mr. Durant, sir.

Thank God! I thought for sure...

Aah!

Nuh-duh.

Your men have no jurisdiction here.

On the contrary.

We are well within our authority, according to General Grant.

[Choking]

[Gasps]

This is not how we mete out justice in Cheyenne.

It is now.

[Thunder booms]

Tired?

Not if you ain't.

You're thinkin' that Indian's gonna come back.

But we're good here.

I know it.

[Thunder booms]

You ain't afraid?

Not if you ain't.

[Thunder booms]

Good.

[Thunder booms]

Whoa.

Cheyenne?

Cheyenne.

[Clicks tongue]

"Dear General Grant... Upon arrival to Cheyenne, we were able to effect immediate gains in curbing the rampant and notorious v*olence of the place. Mind you, there is still much to be done, but our campaign of pacification has begun. Sadly, I have found Thomas Durant more enamored with being leader of the railway than actually leading it. This could be my own interpretation of the situation, but I think not. Ultimately, the railroad will be one of many jewels in the crown of your administration."

[Clicks tongue]

"However, without sounding overzealous, I recommend strong action here"...

[Grunts]

"By which I promise to bring both unruly institutions to heel... Cheyenne and Thomas C. Durant. With your continued support, I am confident that greatness lies before us in the west. Respectfully yours, John Campbell."

No.

It can't be. It can't be.

Cullen Bohannon!

Cullen Bohannon! [Laughs]

Psalms.

Whew! Look what you got on, huh?

Where you been? Is it you?

Yeah, it's me.

We thought you was dead.

No, I was at the mormon fort.

Oh, I can see that. [Laughs]

Yeah. Here, keep that.

And you come back with, uh...

My wife...

Naomi.

A little Mrs. Cullen, huh?

Yeah.

And a baby.

Ooh-whee. [Laughs]

How do you do?

Now, this here's Psalms.

It appears that the vest Mr. Psalms is wearin' is mine.

No, was yourn.

Elam had your g*n and your belongings when they took you away.

[Laughs] How'd you get it off of him?

Where is Elam?

Elam gone.

Gone?

Where to?

Just disappear.

Took off to find you.

Horse come back...

No Elam.

You know, we reckon he... he dead too.

Well, I got to get goin'.

Yeah.

Who's Elam?

He's, um...
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