Crossbones (2014): Season 1, Episode 5 - The Return - full transcript

Your assignment is to eliminate the pirate,

Blackbeard.

There are so many places
to hide, so many islands,

so many coves and inlands.

The English, they've got Kate.

She'll send him here directly,

and with his men and his guns.

If you wish to live, you
must prepare to evacuate.

It's remarked upon that
you never go outside.

I find it vexing.

A Hellburner is a weapon of
indiscriminate destruction.



What does the Commodore
want with such a thing?

Slaughter for the sheer exhilaration.

One word in the right ear, you would hang.

What do you want?

I want your money.

I know you think highly of her.

She thinks highly of you too.

I want you to help me rob someone,

and I don't want him to know
he's been robbed until

it's too late.

He's alive.

I saw him.

Will you help me, Antoinette?

Will you speak to me now, Antoinette?



Where's Edward?

Speak to me now, Antoinette.

Will you speak to me now?

Tell me where he is.

And now?

Will you speak to me now?

_

I'm not going in there.

It's dark.

Well, then make yourself scarce.

Find a place to...

Hide.

Ugh.

What are you doing?

I didn't like it out there.

Is this what you know, it seems to be?

If it seems like gunpowder, then yes.

Shouldn't you douse the lamp?

Well, I should certainly
be mindful not to drop it.

I never saw so much.

What could the Commodore want with it?

He intends to desolate
and lay waste the English.

And using the submersible.

We can't allow that to happen.

Then what do we do?

I don't know.

Surely, one long fuse and a match,

and you could blow
the entire stockpile sky high.

Not so, unfortunately.

I took my bearings as I
advanced through the tunnels.

This facility lies directly
under Santa Campa?a.

If we destroy the gunpowder,
we destroy the town

and everyone in it.

This is beyond my control.

I have to warn them.

I have to return to Jamaica.

Commodore,

I've been pondering your condition.

As have I, you can be most assured.

What did you conclude?

Some years ago I had
business in Constantinople,

during which time I witnessed several cases

of demonic possession.

I'm not possessed by demons, Mr. Lowe.

There are those who beg to differ.

I believe that what the credulous mind sees

as satanic possession is
more often than not a malady

similar to your own.

And?

And several times I saw
such maladies treated.

Successfully?

Yes.

How?

With an instrument called a trephine.

And what does one do
with such an instrument?

One drills a hole in one's skull.

Well, I have many devices
that can open a man's head.

Except the trephine does so with delicacy

and accuracy and to
cure rather than to kill.

Heathens believe the
procedure releases evil spirits.

I believe it relieves pressure
on the meat of the brain.

And you have one?

No.

They're not easily come by,
nor in common use.

There's a fellow in Jamaica.

Charlie Rider could
easily acquire it for you.

No.

I need Rider to know about
this like I need...

a hole in the head?

Hmm.

I could improvise a device.

I could have James Balfour's
clock-making tools repurposed.

You'd open my skull
with clockmaker's tools?

If you'd have me do so.

I most certainly would not.

And besides, I need Balfour to
know about this even less

than Rider.

Then I'm not sure what to suggest.

There are various drills and chisels.

Drills.

And chisels, indeed.

Drills and chisels.

Wait here.

What is he asking
the surgeon to do, exactly?

I do not know.

I could not hear.

It's not in his nature
to keep secrets from me.

He knows.

How could he?

How could he not?

How could he not what, Charlie?

Off you go now.

Commodore.

He's out of sorts.

Perhaps because you know
longer seem to trust those

closest to you.

I'm bewildered you'd think so.

Then tell me, what were
you conspiring with the surgeon?

Conspiring?

There's only one soul
with whom I conspire, my lady,

and that's yours.

As long as we both shall live,

I'll never conspire with another.

Simply because I've taken
Tom into my confidence,

why must that imply
that I trust you any less?

Trust isn't like a pound of butter.

It's not as though I only
have so much of the stuff

to measure out.

Lowe makes my blood run cold.

Perhaps that's for the best,

since your blood seems to have been running

uncharacteristically hot of late.

Is your face known in Jamaica?

Not especially.

Why?

Nenna will take you there, to Jamaica.

You'll acquire a trephine,
and you'll return,

and nobody must know.

Not Nenna, not Selima, not Charlie Rider.

Nobody.

You trust me to do this?

No.

But I trust your desire for Kate Balfour.

A jolly stick is like a compass.

It'll always guide a man home.

You're leaving, I hear.

Clearly, it's inconceivable that a secret

should ever be kept in this place.

Do you plan to return?

Of course.

Why? What's wrong?

- Are you lying?
- Why would I be?

Because it's in your nature.

You've lost me.

Who are you, Tom?

Really.

A surgeon.

You know what I am.

Why are you so afraid to speak the truth?

I'm far from afraid.

I'm speaking the truth.

I'm baffled that you, of all people,

should think me other than I am.

I, of all people, have
some idea of what you are.

I, of all people, know that
you were abroad the night

that Alain Mersault was lost.

You were skulking around,
breaking into my warehouse,

stealing God knows what
for God knows what purpose.

I don't know what you want me to say.

What business do you have in Jamaica?

I'm returning to Jamaica
because I was asked to.

This isn't of my choosing.

I'm beginning to wonder if anything you
do is anything but of your choosing.

It would be nice if it were so.

What do you think my business might be?

Betrayal.

- Of whom?
- This island, these people.

I have no intention of betraying anyone.

Prove it.

It's difficult to prove yourself

to be what you truly are.

Still, I'd ask you to try.

What's wrong?

Will you slice my throat to shut me up?

If I chose to betray this
place, you'd be lost to me.

So please understand there
is no cause I wouldn't betray,

no belief I wouldn't disavow

simply to be here seeing you every day.

So enough of this.

Enough.

So?

He wouldn't betray the Commodore's trust.

I suggest you take a leaf
from the same book.

Well, perhaps you're losing your mastery

between the sheets.

He's just a better man
than you take him for, Charlie.

Better than you, certainly, in all regards.

I know this must be crushing.

All those months of unease,
lying alone in your bed,

just thinking of the lunatic
risk that you were taking.

Thieving from thieves.

Men who would slit you open

from navel...

To throat...

If they knew what you'd done.

Oh, and now look at you.

So exposed and helpless.

I'm sorry, Nenna.

I truly am.

But I know there's more.

And I want all of it.

Forgive me, Nenna.

The Commodore has asked
for a moment with you.

News from Cuba.

The treasure fleet
will depart in four days.

The game is afoot, then.

Ha!

I don't want to stay here by myself.

Take me with you.

I would if I could, but I can't.

So let me say this.

Carry on as normal.

But if the day comes that you must leave,

do so with great dispatch.

Take nothing and no one.

Hide.

Why?

Why? What's going to happen?

To innocents such as you, nothing.

The English will send ships.

They'll lay siege,

and they'll offer a king's
pardon to all who cooperate.

No one will be hurt
that's not worthy of it.

And who are you to say
who's worthy and who's not?

These people hate your country, Tim.

They'd kill innocents with their bombs

simply for being who they are.

Do you want that on your conscience?

What about all the people you've killed

simply because you were told to?

Do you have that on yours?

No, Mr. Fletch,

because conscience isn't
one of the burdens I carry.

But if you wish to add yourself
to the long list of names

I've slaughtered and forgotten,
then betray me, I beg you.

Are you ready?

Mm-hmm.

I'll see you soon, Mr. Fletch.

Be good.

He intends to desolate
and lay waste the English.

We can't allow that to happen.

Not all those unflattering
legends about me are untrue.

Ms. Ajanlekoko.

Please come in.

How's our progress?

It's been very slow, I'm afraid.

Although, I do think I found a property

that might interest you.

The finest plantation
this side of Carolina.

Of course, you need a white man to run it.

Do you need assistance?

I'm sorry?

Are you able to...

what?

Read?

Well...

you think what I currently am
is all I am or ever shall be.

Do you know where I was
born, Mr. Morrissey?

Do you know where I was raised?

Do you know what I had
to do to become free?

No.

To you, I am an unlearned girl,

unschooled, unpracticed.

If I have offended you, I am very sorry.

Oh! Oh.

The quality of mercy is not strained.

It dropeth as the gentle rain from heaven

upon the place beneath.

It is twice blessed.

It is mightiest in the mightiest.

It becomes the throned monarch
better than his crown.

This is perfect.

This is exactly what I want.

Acquire it for me.

It may take a moment
to determine their value.

Oh, there's no urgency.

He says he'll return.

Oh, he'll return, most certainly.

You trust him so much.

I do.

Most people pretend to be
better than they are,

and to be kinder and more gracious,

and have compassion in their hearts.

Mostly it's lies.

Mr. Lowe pretends to be coldhearted,

to have love for no man, nor any loyalty.

And he's lying?

Indeed, he is.

I hope you're right.

I am.

James?

Where were you?

Half the world away.

Scotland.

Come.

My lord, are the mechanisms ready?

No.

Oh, I thought for a moment
you'd said, "no."

I did.

I think I did.

I intended to, certainly.

Indeed you did.

Pardon my levity.

Do try to concentrate, Edward.

I'm sorry, my lord.

Henceforth, you shall have
my undivided scrutiny.

Excellent.

It's not ready.

The calibration's off just a hair.

It takes too big a knock.

See? Intact.

My lord, I know you eschew the clock.

Oh, I live by God's time, sir.

The rising and setting of the sun.

The call of the...

yes, yes.

But I must sail soon
to enact a great endeavor.

So please, I beg you, do what you can

with these as quickly as you possibly can.

I've been thinking about
the day we were married.

Do you remember the vows we made?

Of course I remember.

You promised to be true to me.

James.

You promised to love and to honor me

and to be true unto death,

and I promised the same.

Please, James, not now.

It's I who broke my vows.

I swore to put you above
all things, but I didn't.

I put politics above you.

God and the king.

At the time, it seemed
like the right thing to do.

In retrospect, it looks like cowardice.

You're many things; never a coward.

Oh, I was.

We should have been happy together,

living the life I promised you.

Instead I took your love and your loyalty,

and I soaked it up like a sponge.

And I gave nothing in return.

I used you as a mirror to my own vanity.

And I owe you a great debt.

An entire life unlived.

No.

You're my husband, and it's my...

duty?

I want to see you happy, Kate.

Whatever it takes.

Do you understand?

Whatever it takes.

Tom Lowe.

Back from the undiscovered country.

We thought you dead.

Gone down with the Petrel.

Not so.

Thanks be to God.

So what became of her, the Petrel?

She was attacked and taken.

Taken by whom?

A ship called The Reaver

under the command of Charles Rider.

And where have you been since she was took?

With Edward Teach.

He's alive, then?

To believe in something in the face of

universal opposition can be exhausting.

There were days, weeks,
when I doubted my sanity.

A predicament with which
I am not unfamiliar, sir.

No, I suppose not.

Always saying one thing
and believing another.

What a curse for a man to number
that among his talents.

Now, tell me about him.

Shoo. Shoo. Shoo.

What's wrong?

It's not enough.

It must be.

Not at current rates.
I'm truly sorry, miss.

Is it at least enough to begin
the process of securing deposit?

It is enough for that, yes,

if I defer my broker's fee,
which I'm most happy to do.

Then begin the process.

How much more do I need?

This property is mine, Mr. Morrissey.

How much more do I need, exactly?

And by when?

He seems genuinely to love his people.

His people?

He considers himself a king now?

In all but name, though he'd deny it.

Not a merry king.

There's always something of
the melancholy about him.

He dwells excessively
on depravities he's committed

and on enormities to
which he's borne witness,

which is, I think, why he's
decided to leave an alternative.

An alternative to what?

The world as is.

And what form does this alternative take?

A nation without kings.

Where all men and women,
all casts and creeds, are equal.

Yet in this nation
without kings, he is king.

It's a place of many paradoxes.

Being the dominion of
a madman, it would be.

He's many things,
but he's far from a madman.

This homicidal bedlamite?

This imposter king?

With respect, sir, I'm not
sure which agency makes him

any less a king or any more
homicidal than this fellow.

This fellow?

Your king, sir.

Indeed.

And you and I both have
dipped our toes in the ocean

of blood spilled in his name.

The difference being
he was appointed by God,

and Blackbeard by himself.

Commodore Teach.

I'm sorry?

They don't call him by that name.

Why have you done this,
retreated to the shadows?

You'd come so far.

I have no power over it.

I am a slave of my own
fear of leaving this house.

There are no slaves on this island.

If only.

I need you to heed me now.

I need you to hear three things.

The first is that I admire you
more than I love you,

and I love you a good deal.

The second is that I'm dying.

Of what?

Does it matter?

Of course it matters.

Is there any hope?

There's always hope.

Then Lowe...

truthfully, what kind of errand

do you think I'd send him on
if not a doctor's errand?

And what kind of secret do
you think I'd keep from you,

except one that would 'cause you sorrow?

The third thing you need to
hear is that the day will come

when this island needs a new leader.

Edward, no.

Let's put these thoughts on one side and...

no.

I will not have this conversation.

Well, I need to have it.

And there's no one but you to have it with.

Charlie rider.

Nenna.

There's no one else.

It's an absurd proposal.

The people have no love for me.

Serve them, and they'll come to.

They fear me.

They fear the unseen.

I do not want you to die.

Well, in that much,
at least, we stand united.

Selima, without you, it's finished,

all of it.

And I'll leave nothing behind me

but ghoulish folklore.

But I have neither appetite

nor aptitude for leadership.

Then trust me.

When I wake, the
first thing I feel is fear.

The second is shame for feeling it.

But we cannot allow ourselves
to become servants

to what we can't change.

We must determine to become
midwives to what we can.

You can't serve these people
if you can't come to terms

with their presence.

And you can't do that alone
in a darkened room.

You can't.

In many ways, it's a rough and ready place.

But in some, it's agreeable,

bound together in common cause.

Self-interest, theft, murder.

Indeed, there's no disputing
they're thieves and killers.

I, myself, saw what they did to the Petrel.

And I've seen a good deal more since.

But they're also united in aspiration.

There's a common sense
that their base nature

is in a process of transformation.

You're treading
perilously close to blasphemy.

There's only one being
can transform our base nature,

and that being is not Edward Teach.

I merely seek to report what I saw, sir,

as I was ordered.

As a matter of fact, what you were ordered

was to kill teach on sight.

This is?

Selima Al Sharad.

And what's her place in this leper kingdom?

She's teach's advisor and confidant.

Confidant?

They're intimate?

Extremely.

He loves her, then?

In as much as he's capable of such a thing.

Good.

Katherine Balfour.

Mm.

So this land of the free is quite the haven

for wretches, would-be regicides,

and turncoats of all color.

It is.

Then what brings you back?

Why now, Tom, after all these months?

I've been gathering intelligence.

At this point, you'd be wise
to impress me with it.

Teach has a map of military posts.

I believe you should expect
an attack on English interests,

which could be stopped if you
were to arrest Blackbeard,

Rider, and a number of others.

Where is it, this island?

I'd like teach to see
the living skin stripped

from every man, woman, and child

who took shelter there with him.

Forgive me, sir, but annihilation

of the entire island
does seem a touch excessive.

I'd assumed there'd be the usual pardon

for those who cooperated.

Well, I neither sought, nor do
I welcome your assumption.

Sir, the people of this island are...

are what? Innocent?

As good as you or me.

But I make no claim to be good.

And by God, neither can you.

What I am and what I pray
you still are is the king's man.

Are there one or two,
at least, that might be spared?

Perhaps. Who?

- Katherine Balfour.
- Yes.

I think we can agree to that.

And the husband?

That won't be necessary.

Any others?

My loblolly boy, Timothy Fletch.

He's been as loyal as any man could be.

Then he's earned his life.

I don't want to see it when it happens.

I want to be far away.

You'll be sent back to England
with a notice of commendation.

This will be the making of you, Tom.

You'll be able to step out of
the shadow of your own infamy.

You look troubled.

I must admit to feeling
a certain responsibility

to these people, having lived
with them for a while.

Lived with them, or simply among them?

I confess to not being quite sure.

Then let it be a comfort
for you to be reminded that

you've done far worse things
than you are about to do,

and Edward Teach is a monster!

Now, where is he, Tom?

I have your word on Kate, Fletch?

They will be safe. You have my word.

And may God forgive me if you're lying.

He's here.

I imagine you're in need
of a hot bath and a good dinner

to feel like an Englishman again.

Very much, sir.

Except you're no longer
an Englishman, Mr. Lowe,

if you ever truly were.

I'm sorry?

The island to which you have
pointed is Strachan Atoll.

There's nothing there but sand and wind,

which I know to my cost,

having once set foot there myself.

I'll do my job, Mr. Jagger,

and I'll deliver Blackbeard to you,

but I will not do so
at the expense of people

who've done neither me nor you any harm.

Left! Left!

Keep formation!

I need to acquire
a trephine with some urgency.

And some bandages, if you'd be so kind.

Stand aside, madam!

Fire when you have a shot!

Very close now! Very close!

There he is!

How much?

No charge.

That's enough.

Come home now.