Episode
29: “A Two-Headed Beast”
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(Open in a room at the Bella Union. Con is playing "Ship's Captain" with a whore who’s taking a bath. He grabs her breast and starts talking into it, as though it were the blowpipe on the bridge of a ship)
Con: Engine
room! This is the Captain! Throw coal to the fuckin’ boiler! And a hard right rudder! (laughs) Hello, the galley!
Fuckin’ jeroboam of champagne to the bridge immediately! (Cy
enters, looking surprised) Uh, Mr.
T. Uh, brief uh, idle time, uh, a
harmless, uh, wilin’ away.
Cy: I’m
considering, Con, being Swearengen’s decided a underling’ll represent him in
certain of our mutual transactions, would it be my seemly tactic to do
likewise?
Con:
Hmm.
Cy: I’d
need to know my man had discipline and appetites in fuckin’ harness and the
like.
Con: Well,
what this is, Sir, uh…yesterday, I occasioned to fuck a woman after a
considerable period of abstention, and that seems now to have…throwed me
unawares, uh, into a fuckin’ spasm of sex interest, which I…fuckin’ pray will
be brief.
Cy: Well…I
believe I’ll defer enlisting you in this other aspect.
Con:
Prudent, Sir, till I get well on the other fuckin’ side. (Cy leaves, Con turns and again grabs the whore’s breast) Iceberg
fuckin’ avoided. Looming fuckin’
catastrophe.
(Cut to Hearst’s room at the hotel. Silas is seated,
talking to Hearst while Turner looks on.)
Hearst: Mr.
Tolliver and Mr. Swearengen are…uneasy colleagues.
Silas: I
wouldn’t know, Sir.
Hearst:
That feels to me less than a full verity.
Silas: (pauses)
I don’t know what that means, Mr. Hearst.
Hearst:
That you not knowin’ about any—uneasiness between Tolliver and Swearengen
sounds to me like a lie.
Silas:
Yeah. I guess so.
Hearst:
Better.
Silas:
Would you want me saying my first loyalty was to you, Mr. Hearst, or to verity
instead of Mr. Swearengen? That’d sound like a lie too, and peg me a liar in
the bargain.
Hearst: So
I’ll have to win you away.
Silas: I
guess so.
Hearst:
But I oughtn’t to imagine the process will be quick.
Silas:
Guess not.
Hearst:
Good, Adams. Did he coach you long?
Silas:
Didn’t fuckin’ coach me at all, Mr. Hearst.
Hearst:
Captain Turner. (Turner steps forward)
Turner: Go
tell your friend I know he’s afraid of me.
Silas:
Dority? Big guy?
Turner: I
guess he looks big to you.
Silas: (To
Hearst) Is that what you brought me here for? You want me to take that back to Dority?
Hearst: I
guess so. (Silas sort of rolls his eyes)
(Cut to the back of the Grand Central, Fields is
waiting there as Aunt Lou brings out a covered dish of food)
Fields: Crazy
nigger at the livery’s in your debt.
Lou: Crazy
nigger at the livery ought not plan on this becomin’ no habit.
Fields: No
chance of that. He’s bound for Oregon,
Miss Lady, with the handsome nigger you’re talkin’ to right now, if our luck
holds to the afternoon.
Lou: Get
off your ass and start to walkin’. Your
friend might get to eat that warm. (Lou takes up a broom and starts hitting a
hanging rug to clean it)
Fields: Go
ahead. Put a hole in that thing.
Lou: I’m
measuring the stroke to move you along with the rest of this shit.
Fields:
Much obliged! (leaves)
Lou:
Travel safe.
(Cut to the alley outside No 10. Steve is washing up
in a basin while Tom looks on .)
Steve: Biggest
day of my goddamn life, and I get a fuckin’ spittoon spilled over my head.
Tom: That
you already knocked on its side when you were fuckin’ dozing. I’m glad I did it. I’ve enough blood and guts spilt in my goddamn place, Steve. For a lifetime, you understand?!
If it takes the contents of a spittoon to
make you fuckin’ wash, then so fuckin’ be it!
Steve:
What does washin’ have to do with the other, Tom?
Tom: Well,
to put you on the fuckin’ path, fuckin’ respect yourself, and the fuckin’
occasion, and bring no more fuckin’ shame onto my place, god damn it! (Steve
notices that a group of Chinese are watching him.)
Steve: After
I own the livery, you slanty-eyed bastards, maybe you’d like to come by and
look at me then! Now get the fuck outta
here!
Tom:
Here! (Tosses Steve’s shirt to him) Harry, what time is it?
Harry: Hour
‘n 17 minutes till 10:00.
Steve: 67
minutes until my fuckin’ luck changes forever.
Tom: (Tom
and Harry exchange looks) No harm in him showin’ up early.
(Cut to the bank. Alma is carefully trimming a potted
plant while Merrick sits across her desk.)
Merrick: You’ve
done this camp a great service, Mrs. Ellsworth.
Alma: You’re
very kind. (Carefully trimming the plant.) And yet, Mr. Merrick, in candor,
witnessing the events of late in the east, oughtn’t any depositor pause and
consider before trusting his savings to a bank?
Merrick:
Uh, well, I suppose that’s true. (looks confused)
Alma: Which is why a bank owned locally wishing to
make available funds to organize and develop our community…to build businesses
and homes, and whose deposits are guaranteed by gold not two miles distant from
this building in which we sit, isn’t that why the depositor at the Bank of
Deadwood, having considered, ought come forward in assurance and confidence
Merrick:
Yes! Yes.
Alma: Have you any questions for me?
Merrick: I
have not, Madam. Not, not at the
present moment.
(Merrick leaves, Alma is acting stoned, gazing into
the distance while Trixie looks on with concern. Eventually their eyes meet and
Alma realizes she is being watched.)
(Cut to the Gem saloon, Al, Dan, Johnny and Silas are
sitting at a table)
Dan:
Well,
I guess that argues for me showing Captain Cuntface how goddamn afraid I am.
Al: It
wasn’t after talk between you and Turner?
Silas: (Shakes
his head) Hearst was there when Turner said it, and Hearst I asked did he
want it brought back to you. (Points at Dan) Hearst says to me, “I
guess so.”
Al: “Guess
so” don’t sound like Hearst.
Silas: I’d
said “I guess so” before. I think he
was making small of me.
Dan: What
is there to consider over, Al? That sea
creature Turner called me out.
Al: It’s
Hearst calling you out. I’m trying to
decipher his reason.
Dan: Well,
me seein’ to Turner will not delay your goddamn decipherin’.
Al: Can
you shut up now, Dan, that you fuckin’ couldn’t before?
Dan: He
hurt you, then he calls to you like a dog.
I had to tell him to fuck himself.
Al: Even
as I forbore till I could see to my fuckin’ arrangements.
Dan: Think
they’ll get seen to by the snows? (Al raises his eyebrows at this, Johnny
also looks surprised)
(Cut to the street, where Seth is watching his
timepiece. We also see Steve in the No 10 with Fields looking on, and Hostetler in the hardware store as
Harry looks on. Fields and Harry are also watching Seth. As Seth’s clock hits
10:00, he raises his pistol.)
Fields: (to Steve) Ready your pen.
Steve:
You’re addressing me like a fuckin’ field hand won’t impede me
cooperatin’. (Seth fires his gun)
Fields:
Now go! (Steve signs. Harry Manning looks at his watch and nods to
Hostetler.)
Harry: That—that’s it, Hostetler. (Hostetler
signs)
Steve: (signing) ‘Cause I keep my sense of priority on what the fuck is
important. (He hits the pen on the paper and breaks it, leaving a large splat of
ink on the page) I broke your fuckin’ tip.
(He hands the pen to Tom)
(Cut to the street, we see Merrick and Blasanov
walking together)
Merrick: “Mrs.
Alma Ellsworth, serene and comely principal of the just opened Deadwood Bank,
assured this reporter that depositors need fear no local echo of eastern
financial panics. A locally-owned
bank—“(trips on the boardwalk)
Blazanov:
Careful, be careful.
Merrick:
Thank you. Uh, “Lending to develop
businesses and build homes in the region, and backed by the underground assets
of one of the strongest mining concerns in the Dakota territory, such a bank
cannot help but—“ (trips off the end of the
boardwalk – groans) Do you mind if we, uh, walk on more level ground, Mr.
Blazanov? (they step out into the street again)
Blazanov:
Oh, no no no no. I’ll watch out for
livestock.
Merrick:
Thank you. “Such a bank cannot help but
draw prudent customers in great numbers from every area of our black
hills.” (He puts away his notebook.) Mrs. Ellsworth, being so elevated, so
sweetly radiant in spirit, I wonder if her words resonated with me at the time
as being more poetic and compelling than (Blazanov
watches the 2 familiar Hearst thugs dragging a body into the street and dumping
it) now they seem in cold transcription.
And with the lady herself absent.
Blazanov: (Pointing to the men) This is bad.
Merrick:
To abandon a friend like that when he’s taken by drink.
Blazanov:
I think this is more woeful, Mr. Merrick.
Merrick: (They approach the body and see a knife
buried in the man’s chest. Merrick removes his jacket and throws it over the
man) I shall fetch the
Sheriff, Mr. Blazanov.
(Cut to the Bella Union main room. Leon is entering,
and looks worse for the wear. Cy notices him and sighs)
Cy: Leon.
Leon: Mr.
Tolliver.
Cy: (Waves Leon over to him) That’s a guilty
skulkin’ fuckin’ look on your features, son.
(knocks on the bar) I think by
now you’d be more come to terms with your weaknesses. (Takes the drink Jack poured him)
Leon: Merciless conscience, Sir, since
childhood.
Cy: You’re
buyin’ drugs?
Leon: I
was buying drugs, yes, Sir. That is the
fuckin’ cross my weakness has to bear.
Cy: And do
you bear it for yourself alone, Leon, or long as you’re about it, with others
as well and earn the extra dollar thereby?
Leon: I do
not do that, Sir, no.
Cy: I got
to wonder, son…(shoves Leon down over the
bar) is it you been helpin’ Lila in her fall?
Leon: It
is not, Mr. Tolliver. Lila drops her
own bucket down the well. I’m telling you, Sir! Takin’ a whore o’ yours down, that’s next to directly robbing
you.
Cy: Fella
like me that’s been—indisposed. To show he’s back in play might cut a thief’s
throat.
Leon:
You’re fuckin’ misinterpreting it. I—I
was copping for another but it wasn’t fuckin’ Lila. I was coppin’ for that cunt at the bank.
(Cy appears to realize that this is important
information)
(Cut to the street again, Seth and Charlie have joined Merrick and Blazanov)
Merrick: Their
faces weren’t familiar, the men who left him here.
Charlie: His
name was Pasco.
Seth: (to
the crowd gathered around) Does Pasco have a friend here? (Seth leaves
when nobody responds)
Merrick:
How do you know his name?
Charlie:
Cornishman, talked Union. Worked for
Hearst.
Merrick:
Do you feel there’s a significance to that?
(Seth enters the Gem and approaches the group at the
table)
Seth: The
third of those organizers’ been killed.
Al: (To Dan) You got nothin’ to say to that
or on any other fuckin’ topic. (To Seth) On
Hearst’s orders, you believe?
Seth: A
knife to the chest, body atop Hearst’s works in the thoroughfare. I withdraw from our agreement.
Al: I’d
ask it’s very brief extension.
Seth:
No. No. Or we’re both just fuckin’ cowards.
Al: (standing)
I ain’t no fucking
coward! Though Dan might support your
position. (Al leaves. Dan is sitting and
looks near to bursting with anger. Seth looks at Dan)
Seth:
What’s he talking about?
Silas: Wait
a bit, Bullock. Don’t go for Hearst
yet. You know Al. (Seth,
frustrated, hesitates.)
Seth: I’ve
got the briefest of other bidness.
Silas: See
to it.
Dan: (shaking) Yes, s-see to it,
Bullock.
(In Al’s office, Al sits at his desk and ponders. He
turns and looks at a cabinet, then rolls his chair over to the cabinet and
opens it. We see, sitting on a shelf, the box with the Indian head in it.)
Al: Watching
us advance on your stupid teepee, Chief, knowing you had to make your move…did
you not just want first to fucking understand?
Huh?
(Cut to the bank, Steve is sitting at Alma’s desk, as
Hostetler, Fields and Seth look on.)
Alma: (to Steve) Your
repayment of the loan we make you now, Mr. Fields, whose proceeds purchase Mr.
Hostetler’s livery, is secured by the livery deed itself to be held as
collateral in the possession of the bank until the debt shall be satisfied.
Steve: (grinning) Understood and agreed
to. And don’t lose one second to
wakefulness or worry. I’ll repay in a
timely fashion.
Alma: (To Hostetler) Will you be paid in specie or currency, Mr. Hostetler?
Hostetler:
Gold, please. (Trixie walks over to the safe and takes out a bag and sets it on
Alma’s desk. Alma slides the bag over to Hostetler)
Alma:
Thank you, Trixie. (to Steve) I
don’t suppose a handshake signaling the transaction’s completion is absolutely
required.
Steve: (pauses
and stands) Then I guess we don’t have to do it then. (Another
pause as everyone looks at Steve in wonderment. Steve then approaches
Hostetler) And if you’re hoping to pass as a man before you hightail it to
Oregon, you will return to me that board you made me sign.
(Cut to the Gem, as Davey enters with E.B.)
EB: Thank
you so much for squiring me, these gentlemen being so obviously compelled by
other responsibilities. (Dan looks at E.B. sideways, then takes a
drag on his cheroot.) Such acid scrutiny by former boon companions.
Dan: We
was never your fucking boon companions, E.B.
EB:
Forgive me my confusing, Dan, my own deep feelings for you, with what yours may have been for me. (He
walks up the stairs) I did not offer my hotel to Hearst, which sale has
made me outcast among you. Hearst
forced the transaction upon me.
I miss
our morning coffee. (They all look up at him. He walks to Al’s door and knocks)
Al:
Yeah? (E.B. opens the door and enters.
Johnny sees Davey setting up the secondary bar and gets up.)
Johnny: Bein’ no
one is frequenting the main bar, Davey, what in fuck business you think you’re
gonna do standing behind there?
Davey:
Boss says I’m to attend the auxiliary bar.
Johnny:
The auxiliary bar ain’t made a cunt’s hair bit of business sense since it’s
fuckin’ inception!
Davey: (mutters)
Go on up and set the boss straight.
Johnny:
Hey, you don’t want to take that smart-aleck tone, that fuckin’ attitude with
me, Davey. You hear me?
(Cut to Al’s office)
Al: Hearst
organizes violence between his man and Dority.
EB: Does
he?
Al:
Orchestrates combat between them, mutilates me, plants that organizer’s body
like a flag in the fuckin’ thoroughfare.
EB: That
last is fresh news.
Al: Makes
of me and Tolliver a two-headed beast to savage what might be healthy borne out
of the fucking election and gnaw its own privates off-hours. Plans keep coming to the cocksucker that
their final sum is this: But for what brings income to him, break what he can;
what he can’t, set those parts against themselves to weaken.
EB:
Scoundrel! (Al turns and looks at him.) Hearst.
Al: (sits at his desk.)
The why’s what
fucking confounds me. What’s in his
head, I cannot fucking find in mine.
Don’t suppose you talk to the Captain?
EB: Hails
and farewells, but he never replies.
Al: Or the
cook?
EB: The
negress and I are not intimate.
Al:
Alright, E.B.
EB: May I
ask your plans, Al?
Al: No.
EB: Only
to further their achievement.
Al: No.
EB: All
right.
Al: All
right.
EB: (Putting on his gloves, he gets up and
leaves.) Yeah. (Outside, before
closing Al’s door, he makes a show for the guys downstairs and turns to say to
the part-open door:) Glad to have been of help.
Always available for counsel.
(Cut to the street as a coach pulls up to the hotel.
Jack greets the coach and Bellegard, who is exiting the coach)
Jack: I
dare not think what you’ve been through to reach us.
Bellegard:
It’s been a crucifixion.
Jack: Too
painful, even the merest details. (He walks past Bellegard and steps into the
coach. We see an elderly man laying
down inside who appears ill) Formidable,
even at bay.
Chesterton:
(chuckles) My last camp, Jack.
Jack: As
it may be for us all, young man.
The
place is yearning for elevation, and festering with wealth.
Chesterton:
Oh dear.
Jack:
Augment of cupidity in the Iris, a healthy augury.
Chesterton: We
must help them however we can. (Jack climbs out and the coach driver leans
in to help him out.) Heave ho,
young man, but slowly.
(Cut to the Gem, Al exits his office and steps to the
railing to address Dan below)
Al: It’s past
me. I cannot figure the fuckin’
angle. Go ahead and fucking fight him.
Dan: (smiling) All
right then.
(Cut to Dan’s
room, we see him applying grease to his torso, and in his crotch.
Johnny: What you
want to be carryin’, Dan?
Dan: Nothing I would want found secreted on me,
worse comes to worst.
Johnny:
Well don’t say you ain’t bringing your blade.
Dan:
Naked, visible in it’s fuckin’ sheath and disposable before we join. If he dispenses with his. (He
greases his neck)
Johnny: If it’s
getting to go wrong, Dan, you just drop down flat.
Dan: What
the fuck did you just say?
Johnny:
Drop flat if it’s going wrong, and I’ll blow his fucking head off.
Dan: You
do and it’ll be the last goddamn thing you do on this fucking earth. Going wrong is not the end of fucking
things, Johnny. (puts on his shirt) Fuck no!
I have come back from plenty of shit that looked like it was going
wrong.
Johnny:
All right, Dan. (Dan greases his hair, plastering it to his head) He’s got the
advantage of you there, don’t he? That
short-cropped fucking hair?
(Cut to Hearst’s room. Turner is doing stretching
exercises while he talks to Hearst)
Hearst: Well,
he’s not lacking for brass. (reading
a note that Dan apparently sent over) “Come scare me in the
thoroughfare.” Star City, Captain, you
remember the man’s name?
Turner:
Leonard.
Hearst:
That was a fight.
Turner:
Not how I remember.
Hearst: As
an object lesson to every man watching.
For not much fight, it did not end quickly I suppose is what I’m trying
to say. Do you understand me?
Turner:
Yes, I understand. (grunting)
(In the Gem, Dan comes out of this room, Johnny
behind him. He walks out and pauses when he sees Silas. Silas nods to Dan, Dan
returns the nod. Silas drinks a shot and turns to follow Dan and Johnny
outside. Next we see Dan on the porch
of the Gem, then Turner in front of the hotel. The 2 see each other and each
proceeds to the edge of the street, opposite each other. Dan makes a show of
removing his gun and knife, Turner sees this and does the same. Each steps down onto the street as a wagon
crosses between them. As the wagon passes, they charge each other and slam into
each other in the middle of the street, locked in an embrace. What follows is a
long wrestling match. During the fight, we see Al and Hearst each come out to
their vantage points to watch. There’s is an extended exchange of blows, with
Dan first taking the upper hand, then Turner getting control. Turner gets Dan
on the ground and bites his ear, with Dan screaming. Eventually, Turner has Dan
face down in a mud puddle, drowning him. Turner looks up to Hearst for the OK
to kill Dan. As he has his attention diverted, Dan is able to knock him off
balance and escapes, trying to crawl away as he is vomiting and coughing from
the near-drowning. Turner grabs him again and eventually gets him pinned to the
ground in a strangle-hold, banging Dan's head against some rocks. Dan is near death, as he is able to get a hand free
and grab Turner’s face. Hooking a finger in Turner’s eye, he gouges out
Turner’s eye. Turner is immediately reduced to rolling on the ground, screaming in pain.
Dan is able to get up and hits Turner across the back with a large log. Dan
looks up at Hearst, with a slight grin showing through the blood and muck on
his face. Then Dan turns and looks at Al who gives him a slight nod. Dan takes
the log and delivers 2 death blows to the back of Turner’s head with a great
scream.)
(Night time. Cut to a room at the hotel, we see Jack
who is tending to his elderly friend in bed)
Chesterton: Thank
you, Jack.
Jack: I am
your Jack, Chesterton, but your producer too.
Chesterton:
(nodding) A rigor we’ve always
sustained.
Jack: To
carry a performer through illness when recovery is in prospect is an indulgence
one can sometimes justify. But support
of idleness destined for the grave, that, Chesterton, the narrow economy of our
art does not permit.
Chesterton:
(Thinking Jack is serious) You would have me die destitute?
Jack: You
will purchase your keep with that voice, intrusive and incessantly opinionated,
no vagary of our past has yet stilled.
Chesterton:
The subject?
Jack: We
have but one. In this instance, the
theater is formerly a bordello.
Chesterton:
The eye lines must be all wrong.
Jack: (chuckles) In the morning, it meets with
your atrabilious scrutiny. (Chesterton smiles as Jack is leaving, he
looks very pleased)
Chesterton: Oh…I must rest.
(Jack is coming
down the stairs to the dining room. We see the Countess and Claudia (formerly
“the blonde”), sitting at a table.)
Jack: (bows to
Richardson and E.B. at the desk as he passes. He turns to the ladies and throws his arms up) Bellegarde? (They shake their heads no.) We proceed.
(Bellegard emerges from his room and
starts downstairs) Costumes,
Countess, will you chair?
Countess: Ja.
Jack:
Props and scenery, chair?
Claudia: (nodding to Countess) Only if you serve
as second.
Bellegard: I’m
so so so so sorry. Is costumes taken?
Richardson: (To
E.B.) Are they performing now?
EB: Quiet.
Jack:
Civic relations, I’d appoint myself…without objection? (Claudia and Countess nod)
Bellegard:
Will we continue as if all among us are well when one so plainly is not?
Jack: (irritated)
And what committee, Bellegard, to address the old man’s mortal illness
would you have us fucking form?
Bellegard:
No committee.
Jack:
Committees is the task before us.
Bellegard:
No business as usual.
Jack:
Business and tasks is what we’ll have,
just as you are tardy and ginger on your
bum for the usual fucking reasons, despite your deep personal grief. Not offered as a case for change. Civic relations is me, and we’ll include
here a subcommittee for the renovation of the bordello. Supervision of the work, subcommittee head—(Countess and Claudia both put their hands
up) Countess, done, with thanks.
Civic relations, construction, Claudia.
(Claudia beams in surprise.)
Countess is the second.
Bellegard:
(to the Countess) Hiring laborers.
Jack: A truth divinely writ: we make more devotees of
theater engaging 20 laborers at $2 apiece than two of the same at $20. (Claudia
and Countess clap in approval)
Bellegard:
Busy busy busy. (chuckles)
(Cut to the Gem saloon, Johnny and Silas are seated
as Doc enters)
Doc: Is he
receiving as yet?
Johnny:
Let me go see. (Johnny gets up)
Doc: Tell
him last fucking call. (Silas nods at
Doc) Broken bones mortally interfering with organs is what I would like to
rule out.
Johnny: (knocks on Dan’s door and enters) Doc’s
back, Dan.
Dan: (We see Dan, sitting naked with his back to the door
and his head in his hands) Don’t
need the fucking Doc.
Johnny: Come
on, Dan. Let him look at you. He come back special.
Dan: You
heard what the fuck I said. He wants to
poke around in some innards, tell him
to work on the one I killed.
Johnny: (Pauses) Bottle? (Dan shakes his head no) One of the girls? There’s a clamoring line to see to you.
Dan: Get
the fuck out of here, Johnny.
Johnny:
Sure. (He walks into the saloon, Al steps onto the balcony, Johnny shakes his
head no, then sits down.)
Doc: (to
Johnny) Listen for raspy fucking shallow breathing in the course of the
fucking night. Him going blue too,
would hint to you to fucking come get me.
Johnny:
Definitely.
(Cut to Alma’s room, alone she is preparing her
narcotic drink with a dark powder. She stirs the water and eagerly drinks it
all down. After a pause, she then starts assessing the room, trying to make
things appear “right” for an apparent intended purpose. She turns down the bed
and adjusts the vanity mirror. She checks herself in the mirror, then goes
across the hall to a room where Ellsworth is taking a bath. She stops at the
closed door and hesitates)
Alma: (through the door) Have you ample towels?
Ellsworth: (We see Ellsworth in the tub, washing. He is
surprised) Uh,
ample, thank you.
Alma: Enough
hot water?
Ellsworth:
(nervous) Well,
I could almost wish it cooler.
Alma: May
I help you with your back?
Ellsworth: (getting very nervous now) What?
Alma:
Scrubbing your back.
Ellsworth: (Jumps out of the tub and quickly wraps
up in a towel) Uh, I’m out
now. Thanks anyhow.
(Cut to Sol’s new home. He lies in bed and starts
knocking on the wall behind his head. First with one hand, then the other. We
then see Trixie in her room next door, lying in bed with a book and a
cigarette.)
Trixie: (Shouting through the wall) Does it occur to you, banging repeatedly on the
fucking wall, either I’m not in, which makes what you’re doing stupid, or being
in, don’t want to see you, which makes you a pain in my balls! (Sol nods, resigned) (Trixie now speaking to
herself softly) Doubtless
now nodding agreement like little boy fucking lost. (She gets up, moves a panel
in her wall and then enters Sol’s room through what looks like a wardrobe) What?
Sol: Hello.
Trixie:
You fucking work at the bank.
Sol: I do
now.
Trixie:
Not a noble “Hello” at opening, and regal fucking look-by at the closing up of
shop?
Sol: I’m
at the hardware store all day, Trixie.
Trixie:
I’ll switch with you. Bank’s a Jew’s
proper province anyways—along with the addled self-deceived.
Sol: (confused) Our depositors?
Trixie: The
bank’s founder and president, Chief Officer, as well, of air-headed smugness
and headlong plunges unawares into the fucking abyss.
Sol: I-I
don’t understand.
Trixie:
You wouldn’t. You’re too fucking
healthy-minded. You’ll sit here waiting
for me to materialize from a piece of fucking furniture and think the world is
normal. (sighs) Do you want to get
fucked or not?
Sol:
Please.
(Cut to the hallway at the Ellsworth home, Whitney is
dressed and has exited the bathing room to greet Alma.)
Alma: Your
hair looks like a porcupine.
Ellsworth: Forgot
the brush. (She approaches him and starts stroking his hair.)
Alma: Do you
mind?
Ellsworth: Well,
no no no. That’s…How’s it now?
Alma:
Better.
Ellsworth: Thanks
very much.
Alma: I
haven’t finished.
Ellsworth: Oh,
go ahead then. Go on. Presentable?
Alma:
Very.
Ellsworth: You’re
young for failing eyesight. (She smiles
at him and rubs his cheek with her hand) Spiny too, like a porcupine?
Alma:
Huh-uh. (She shakes her head. He takes her hand in his and kisses her
palm.)
Ellsworth: I
guess it’d be unmanly to fear I may faint.
Alma: (She takes his
head in her hands) Please don’t. (Closes her eyes, and they slowly kiss
.After, she pauses with her eyes closed, then opens them. She appears to be
getting high from the drink. Her focus is poor, and she is gazing off into the
distance a little. After a moment, Whitney notices she is high, looking into
her eyes. His mood changes and he turns away from her.)
Ellsworth: I’ll
make some arrangement.
Alma: (startled) What
do you mean?
Ellsworth: For
my things and the like, arrange to collect my things. (He steps away from her and
then turns back) Will you have me…bring the little one back? (The
mention of Sophia seems to bring tears to his eyes)
Alma: I’ll collect Sofia.
Ellsworth: Don’t
forget. (he leaves, Alma looking stunned)
(Cut to the interior livery, Seth, Steve, Fields and
Hostetler are all turning the place upside down looking for the blackboard.)
Seth: 5
hours looking for this goddamn board.
Hostetler: Come
on, come on, come on, come on, yeah. (He boosts Steve up into the loft)
Steve:
Think this is pretty fucking funny, don’t you, Hostetler?
Hostetler:
No.
Steve: Watch me crawl around here like a
goddamn fool, and you laughing up your fucking sleeve.
Fields:
Hostetler don’t know where the board is.
I’m the one hid it.
Steve: Oh, I believe that. Definitely.
Assistant fucking baboon. You
hid it, he don’t know where and you can’t remember where it is!
Fields: I
wasn’t too drunk not to know I should hide it, but I was too drunk to keep
track of where.
Seth: (Digging
through the hay in a corner) Is this it?
Is this the board? (He holds up board, wrapped in gauze)
Steve: Clean it
the fuck off!
Fields: Well,
yeah. Ha ha ha.
Hostetler: Bring it here. Bring it in.
Steve:
Unwrap that cocksucker! (They unwrap it to reveal that nearly all
the writing has been rubbed off, it is illegible) What the fuck is that
supposed to be?
Seth: Give
him the board.
Steve: You
think I’m a fucking moron? You think
I’m a moron to fall for your fucking lies.
Hostetler: Don’t
you call me dishonest.
Steve:
I’ll call you that and worse. You hand
me that then ride off with the actual board?
Fields:
This is the actual board, wrapped in the cheesecloth that I stole off a horse.
Hostetler: I
never knew this board was took from where I had it until I looked for it during
last night, and that’s when he told me that he had hid it.
Fields: To
keep you from doing something stupid.
Seth: This
is the board! For Christ’s sake, what
difference does the rest of it make?
Steve: I
don’t know it’s the actual board.
There’s no more fucking writing on it! Shall I accept myself as
satisfied, only for Hostetler once escaped to send the real fucking board back
from Cheyenne while he’s laughing up his lying sleeve? (Hostetler
grumbles, and moves to the wall to lean against it. Seth and Fields watching
him.) For Bullock to open the
package and humiliate me? Or for the
fucking bank woman to humiliate me with the true fucking board? Or to revoke my fucking security on my
fucking loan? Or whatever your
fucked-up plan is to make me a fucking cunt!
Hostetler: (He undoes his collar and turns back to
Steve) I will not be called a fucking liar. I didn’t live my life for that.
Fields: Yeah,
fuck you, Steve. (Hostetler walks into the next room) We’re leaving. Talk stupid to our fucking dust! (We
hear a loud gunshot. Seth is surprised, Fields looks as though he realizes what
it was. Seth goes through the door to find Hostetler slumped against the wall
– he has shot himself in the head.)
(Cut to Al’s office as Johnny knocks on the door)
Al: Yeah? (Johnny
enters)
Johnny: I wish
you’d look in on Dan, boss. Not for
being poorly as…down.
Al:
Johnny,
some shit’s best walked through alone.
Johnny:
Dan’s killed people before. You have
too. But neither’ve been solitary
after.
Al:
A fair
fight, something Dan and I have always struggled to avoid, is different. You see the light go out of their eyes. It’s just you left and death.
Johnny: So
that’s why Dan wants to be alone.
Al: He
knows where to find me. (Johnny nods and turns to leave) Sit
down. If you want to. (Johnny
turns and shuts the door, sitting down in a chair. He sits there looking around
for a bit, as Al is leaning in the balcony door. Finally he turns to Al)
Johnny: What're.....what are we waiting for?
Al:
To see
what kind of hell breaks loose.
(Cut to the Bella Union. Hearst is entering, and
appears to stagger very slightly. He moves slowly to the bar and pauses there.)
Hearst: Uh,
Whiskey, please. And leave the
bottle. (Jack pours a shot. Hearst
studies it for a moment) I just saw to the remains of a friend.
Jack: Yes, Sir.
Hearst: (Extending his hand) George Hearst.
Jack: (shaking
Hearst’s hand) Jack Young.
Hearst: Jack
Young.
Jack: Yes,
Sir.
Hearst:
How do you do, Jack?
Jack: How do you do?
(Cut to the Grand Central, as Seth storms in looking
for blood)
EB: Sheriff.
Seth: Is
he up there?
EB: Who?
Seth: Is
Hearst fucking up there, Farnum?
EB: I
cannot say. (Seth turns towards E.B. as though he is about to dispense a beating.
E.B. jumps and quickly starts writing on a piece of paper) I cannot
say. I cannot betray the whereabouts of
an owner-guest. (He pushes the paper to Seth, it says “Bella Union” on it. Seth looks up at E.B. and leaves.)
(Cut to Bella Union, Cy is joining Hearst and appears
sleepy.)
Cy: Mr.
Hearst…I regret not being out here with you before, Sir. Help too stupid to wake me from my nap.
Hearst:
Not at all.
Cy: On
down there now, Jack. At least do that
much right. (He pours a drink and looks at Hearst) Helluva fucking day.
Hearst:
How much do you know?
Cy: I
heard there was a set-to in the thoroughfare.
Hearst:
Did you know it was my man killed?
Cy: Was
that the outcome?
Hearst: My
man was killed, yes.
Cy: I’m
sorry.
Hearst: It
happens. It’s the nature of
things.
Cy: It
don’t lessen the sadness when it’s a friend’s. (Seth walks in) The Sheriff joins us.
Seth:
Whiskey.
Hearst:
The Sheriff recently put me on notice he is vigilant of my possible
transgressions.
Seth: You
sound drunk to me.
Hearst: (Puts down his glass) Whom are you
addressing?
Seth: You. You sound drunk. (mocking Hearst)
Hearst: Do
I?
Seth:
Mm-hmm.
Seth: Did
you just tell me to fuck myself?
Hearst: I
think I did and to shut up or I’ll quiet you myself.
Seth:
You’re under arrest.
Hearst:
Fuck you, and shut up or I will shut you up for good.
Seth: (Draws his gun and points it at Hearst’s face. Hearst
appears stunned) Threatening a peace officer, I’m taking you into custody.
Cy: Don’t
be stupid, Bullock—
Seth:
Don’t you be fucking stupid. (He
takes Hearst by the ear, Hearst yelps in pain as Seth walks him out at
gunpoint. As they pass the doorway, Seth leans over to Hearst’s ear and says:) Fuck
you.
(Seth drags him into the street and towards the jail.
Hearst still appears to be in shock, or too drunk to act. Al notices them on
the street from his vantage in the doorway)
Al: Johnny. (Johnny
steps out onto the balcony next to Al, Al nods towards Seth) The Sheriff
eliminates several of our options. (Merrick steps out from the newspaper
office, he sees what is transpiring and hears Al above. He looks up at Al) Not
a fucking word comes to print.
Merrick:
Understood.
(Close with Seth leading/pushing Hearst down the
street by the collar.)
(This image was included in the episode collection by HBO. It appears to be
either from a deleted scene, or part of the next episode)
The End
Click here for the music from the closing credits
Written
by: David Milch
Directed
by: Dan Minahan
|
Al Swearengen: Ian McShane
Dan Dority: W Earl Brown
Seth Bullock: Timothy Olyphant
Alma Garret: Molly Parker
Ellsworth: Jim Beaver
Doc Cochran: Brad Dourif
Sol Star: John Hawkes
Trixie: Paula Malcomson
Tom Nuttall: Leon Rippy
Cy Tolliver: Powers Boothe
Leon: Larry Cedar
|