Hell on Wheels (2011–2016): Season 5, Episode 14 - Done - full transcript

- Tell me you haven't
melted it down and sold it already.

(SCOFFS)

The Union Pacific provides
the final spike,

the Central Pacific nails it down,
like we agreed.

- I agreed to hold a ceremony

at the location of your choosing.

Collis, the heaviest thing
you've lifted to date is a dessert spoon.

- You think my masculine capabilities
are insufficient, sir?

- I think you'd rather not
answer that question

in front of 200
of Washington's finest.

(DURANT CHUCKLES)



(EXHALES)

(GROANS)

(BOTTLE ROLLS)

(SNORING)
- Mr. Lee?

Mr. Lee?

Wake up. Translate that.

(SIGHS)
- Need sleep, Bossman.

(GROANS)

- Translate.

- Address.

In Ningpo.

- An address?

China?

- Ribbed with iron,



clad in silver,
and crowned with gold,

this spike will wed the oceans.

Telegraphs

in every major city

will buzz to life
with the knowledge

America's transcontinental
railroad is now complete.

At the fall of my hammer,

the operator will tap out
a three dot transmission.

The message?

One word...

Done.

- Whiskey.

(MICKEY): You don't need
another drink, mate.

(GROANS)
- Hair of the dog.

- Give the man a drink!
- Pipe down, ya traitor.

- What'd you say?

- For the love of Josephine,
can't a man sleep?

- Whiskey damn it.
- I called you a traitor.

And we don't serve CP here.

- Call me traitor again.

- It's over, there ain't no sides.
All right?

Except the side of whiskey.

- Just give him a drink,
for God's sake, Mick.

- Ah, shut up, Patrick.

- I told you all, there ain't no UP
and there ain't no CP, God damn it.

- Oi, the hell there ain't.

Job or no job,
I'm a Union Pacific man.

- Your pasty Mic ass'd still be
down a mine shaft if it weren't for me.

- Call me traitor again.

- Can y'all keep your voices down?

- I don't work for you,
Bohannon.

- You mean the winning side?

- Hand to God,

the next man
who asks me for a drink,

I swear I'll throttle him.

- Whiskey.

(GRUNTS)

(CLAMORING)

(BRASS BAND PLAYING)

(APPLAUSE)

(GRUNTING)

(SILENCE)

(MUSIC RESUMES)

(APPLAUSE)

(DURANT): Thank you, thank you.

(GUNSHOT)

- What the hell is this all about?

Mr. Bohannon?

- Mick?

- I...

(LAUGHING)

(ALL LAUGHING)

- Hell if we know.

- Congress requests
your presence in Washington

to testify against Thomas Durant

on charges of bribery,
fraud and corruption.

- Well, shit.

(THEME MUSIC PLAYING)

I ain't going to Washington.

- You've been summoned by Congress.

- You tell Congress
I've a railroad to see to.

Supplies to send west--
- The railroad is finished.

President Grant is determined

to see all those guilty of corruption
over its building punished

to the full extent of the law.

- Uh-huh.

- You're not yet an old man,
Mr. Bohannon,

but you are no longer young.

I advise you to reflect

on what it is you decide to do next,

whose company you choose to keep.

Your subsequent venture

will likely determine
the shape of your life.

A subpoena is not a request.

A cavalry escort
can be arranged if need be.

(DOOR OPENS)

- I'm buying out your stake
in the railroad.

- But I'm not selling.

- I've been indicted.

News will hit the papers tomorrow.

I want no record
of your involvement in the Union Pacific.

- I helped build
the Union Pacific.

- You're associated
with the Dead Rabbits.

I'm compelled to cut ties.

(SCOFFS)

Your stock value by tomorrow
will plummet.

Stick around,
then you'll be broke or in jail or both.

- I've buried bodies for you.

(SIGHS)

- I hope you don't want
a kiss goodbye, McGinnes.

I'm not your father.

- I hope you hang.

(SNICKERS)

(DOOR OPENS AND CLOSES)

- Eva, here you are.

- Sheets don't wash themselves,
Ms. Ellison.

Need all the girls on their backs.

Tricks'll dry up soon
as the workers leave.

Hey!

You want a roll, go round
the front, wait your turn.

- Oh, Eva, that's not a John.

That's my editor
from the Chicago Tribune.

He's very interested in you.

- I ain't on the menu.

- No, he's interested in your story.

He wants me to help you
write it, in a book.

- Folks don't wanna read about a whore.

- It would be a story
about a survivor

and folks will love it.

Folks will love you.

- That ain't been my experience.

- This could be a way in for you.

- Into what?

- Society.

If that's what you want.

Or anything, really.

A best-selling authoress
can write her own ticket.

- Slow down, Mr. Bohannon, pack light.

I need you back in San Francisco

as soon as you're finished
with this Washington business.

- That well's deeper than you think.

Careful you don't fall in.

- They're interested in Durant, not me.
- No, they're a hound with a scent.

Once they've chewed through Durant,
they'll come sniffing after us.

- I'm ahead of that problem.

- It was you, lit that little bonfire
in the CP depot last night, huh?

- I got something for you.

To commemorate the golden spike.

Only four like it in the world.

Go ahead, put it on, Mr. Bohannon,
you've earned it.

Once you're back
in San Francisco,

we'll get started on
the Southern Pacific.

- Shortline?
- Uh-uh.

She doesn't have the romance
of the transcontinental,

but don't write her off.

She's just the beginning.

Plenty of roads to build yet.

Oh, see that?

Railroad man,
through and through!

(CONDUCTOR): All aboard!
(TRAIN WHISTLE BLOWING)

(CONDUCTOR SHOUTING
INDISTINCTLY)

(BELL DINGING)

(TRAIN RATTLING)

(BELL TOLLING)

- Thank you, sir.

- Mr. Bohannon?

Archibald Romans,
Senior White House Staff.

I'm here to invite you
to President Grant's gala this evening.

- I ain't much for galas.

- In celebration of the completion
of the railroad.

- I come to testify, Mr. Romans,
not socialize.

- The President has asked
for you personally, Mr. Bohannon.

- Grant knows I'm in town?

- Your stay at the Willard Hotel
has been compensated.

Might I suggest you get
yourself checked in and...

cleaned up before the soiree?

(CLASSICAL MUSIC PLAYING)
(CHATTERING)

- I assume you've been
corralled into testifying

at this circus tomorrow.

- I'm not at liberty
to discuss the hearing, Thomas.

Congratulations on driving
the golden spike.

- I stand accused of bribing
government officials.

That's officials like you.

Now, I would advise you
to say nothing.

We're all in this together, Stephen.

(CHUCKLES)

- You've been away,
so, allow me to fill you in.

You're poison in this town.

And very much in this alone.

Now, if you'll excuse me.

- Now these hands...

have built things.

- Ma'am.

You're Cullen Bohannon, aren't you?

The man of the hour.

Quite an accomplishment,
this railroad of yours.

- Thank you ma'am.

- You're more handsome
than I ever imagined.

You must tell me everything
about the Wild West.

They say it isn't safe

for a respectable woman.

- I'm sorry.

I'm not in the right place.

- Margaret, your husband
is asking for you.

- Oh, George, he's a bore.

- And he's hopeless without you,
my dear.

Can't begrudge
poor Margaret for flirtations.

That's her husband.

Colonel George Armstrong Custer.

Damn impressed with your accomplishment
on the railroad, Mr. Bohannon.

Ten miles in a single day, was it?

- Well, had me one hell of a crew.

- You've the guts and countenance
of a good soldier, sir.

Who did you serve?

- I rode under General
Nathan Bedford Forrest.

- Confederate.

- That's right.

- Shit, I led the charge
against you boys at Bull Run.

Had you outnumbered and outgunned,
but God damn if you didn't give us

one hell of a steeplechase.

- Where I come from, an ass-whooping amounts
to more than just a steeplechase, Colonel.

- Come over here, boys.

I want you to meet
the Grayback son-of-a-bitch

who built ten miles
of iron road in a single day.

To Mr. Cullen Bohannon...

Toughest whoop-ass
on the transcontinental railroad.

(ALL LAUGHING)

- Thank you.

He looks at me and he says,
"What's a poodle?"

(LAUGHTER)

Oh, now.
- Oh, at ease, gentlemen.

Mr. Bohannon.

You've met the Colonel, I see.

- Bohannon here was just
explaining the difference

between a bloodhound and a poodle.

I got that right, Captain?

- Good enough for a Yankee.

- Have you boys heard how to tell
a good Yankee from a bad one?

Mr. Bohannon?

- Why, that's simple,
Mr. President.

All the good Yankees go home.
(LAUGHTER)

- Let's go get some real food.

- Yes, sir. Nice to meet y'all.

- Ah.

Oh, yes.

Go ahead, eat it.

Those frilled dainties
they're serving up there

aren't fit to feed men.
- Mmm.

- Coffee?
(LAUGHS)

- Mmm-mmm.

Now,

if you brought me down here
to talk about Thomas Durant--

- Oh, I have a Senator who will testify
to taking bribes from Doc Durant.

Bad fruit left over from
the previous administration.

I don't need your help cleaning house.

- We just here for the coffee then?
- Mmm.

(INHALES SHARPLY AND EXHALES)

I'd like to make you a Colonel
in the Fourth Cavalry.

You'd be the Undersecretary
of the Western Territories

for the United States Army.

Your job would be to protect
the railroad you've built

from all present threats.

- You mean Indians.
- All threats, Mr. Bohannon.

Cutthroats and train robbers.

Cattle rustlers along
the Texas border.

And, yes, renegade Indians.

- I ain't no Indian killer.

- You're smart enough to prevent
bloodshed where possible, and...

not afraid to get
your hands dirty when necessary.

You'd report to the
Secretary of the Interior.

- Sounds like you're asking me
to wear Union Blue.

- I'm asking you to wear
an American uniform.

Your country needs you,
Mr. Bohannon.

Don't deny who you are.

- I'm a railroad man.

- Bullshit.

You're a soldier.

Lost without a war to fight.

Ah, damn.

I've got to go make a speech.

Think it over.

- Yes, sir.

(SIGHS)

(SCOFFS AND CHUCKLES)

(SIGHS)

- A backwoods rebel right at home
in the nation's capital,

I never thought I'd see the day.

- Ain't nobody more surprised
than me, Doc.

Never thought I'd see the day you'd be
itching for a train back to Hell on Wheels.

- They've turned a Senator.

Several, probably.

I don't know who,
but whatever hog they've got tied

will squeal loud and clear.

- Mmm.

You've gotten outta
tighter spots than this.

- Grant needs a scapegoat.

I'm out of allies.

Maggie Palmer was right.

- She was a good woman.

- I loved her.

- They brought me here to testify.

- Say whatever you want.

Enjoy your newfound favor

because it will be over in an instant.

Those men you were
laughing with in there,

they're not your friends.

They'll bleed you dry,

toss you out
with yesterday's newspapers.

(TRAIN WHISTLE BLOWING)

- I came to cash out my 10%.

- I've got a big labor contract
at the docks in San Francisco.

I thought you'd come along.

- I ain't a labor contractor.

- Well, we'll keep the whores, then.

Hell, we'll import
new ones from France.

I've big plans, Eva.

We're only expanding.

- We ran a good enterprise.

I'll always be thankful for that.

But we're bad for each other, Mickey.

Josie...

Shea--
- That was business.

Come to San Francisco.

- We stick together,
it's a matter of time

before one of us devours
the other one,

and you know it.

- Here you go, then.

Good luck to you.

- Me leaving's the closest thing we got
to a happy ending.

- Sounds like you've got it all sorted.

- Don't go sour on me.

- See yourself away.

(DOOR OPENS)

- The President will see you now.

- ...property,
and free political opinion...

You've reached a decision.

- Perfect fit.

Anything else, sir?
- No. No, thank you.

(DOOR OPENS)

(DOOR CLOSES)

(SIGHS)

- Your name and title for the record.

- Cullen Bohannon.

Stakeholder and chief engineer,
Central Pacific Railroad.

- Your current title, sir.

- Colonel, 4th Cavalry,
US Army.

- I'll cut right to it, sir.

Have you ever witnessed Thomas Durant
offer an elected official a bribe,

in form of stock or cash
in exchange for favorable legislation?

- The transcontinental railroad

could not have been built
without Thomas Durant.

- That wasn't an answer.

I'll ask again.

As a former employee
of the Union Pacific,

did Thomas Durant
ever voice his intention to

or offer any bribes
to an elected official?

- The transcontinental railroad could not
have been built without Thomas Durant.

- Mr. Bohannon, you have sworn an oath

before this committee
under penalty of perjury.

We have a dozen Senators on record

saying Thomas Durant
attempted to bribe them.

Are you disputing
their account of the facts?

- The fact I know to be true

is that the transcontinental railroad

could not have been built
without Thomas Durant.

- This committee has the authority
to hold you in contempt, Colonel.

- You have the right
to detain me, Governor,

but that won't change the fact

that the transcontinental railroad
could not have been built

without...
(BOTH): Thomas Durant.

- Thank you, Colonel.
That'll be all.

- The lecture circuit
won't know what hit them.

First stop, Council Bluffs,
day after tomorrow.

- But the book isn't written yet.

- The book will come,
don't worry about that.

- In the meantime, your face tells the story
better than any book.

- Maybe we should go over the details.
- Yes.

Walk us through it, Mrs. Toole.

You were headed west
with your family

when you were attacked
by Wild Mojave...

- Yavapai.
- Sorry?

- It was...

(SIGHS)

We was attacked by Yavapai.

Apache.

Then they traded me to the Mojave
for three blankets and a horse.

- Three blankets and a horse.

The price of a human soul.

Great detail. Possible title.

Remember that, Ms. Ellison.

So, the Mojave marked your face
and made you their slave.

- No. Not exactly.

(CHUCKLING)
- How would you describe it?

- They...

Everyone had marks but...

- The point is to let Mrs. Toole

tell her story in her own words.

Go ahead, Eva.

We won't interrupt.

- It was hard at first

because I missed my momma.

But then I had me a Mojave...

Had me a Mojave sister and...

I'm sorry, this dress
just don't seem to fit right.

(STUTTERS): But the dress
is part of the story,

it indicates you...
you've been saved.

- Saved from what?

(SCOFFS)

- From a life of savagery, of course.

The marked face and the dress,

we can't have one without the other.

- Not now, Ed.

- I can't do this.

- Eva, we'll get a different dress.
- No, it ain't the dress.

- The railroad is finished, Eva.

What else will you do?
This is the best that you can hope for.

(SCOFFS)

Oh, God, I...

I'm sorry. I...

- I love you, Louise.

But I promised myself
I'm done whoring.

Good luck in Chicago.

(GUNSHOTS)

- You're one hell of a shot.

- Plenty of practice.

- Too bad for the Apache.

That's where you're heading, right?
Arizona territory?

- Ship out tomorrow.

- Apache women are turned on by gore.

Fornicate like rabbits
once the killing's done,

you barely have to force them.

Got myself a few trap trophies
from Arizona,

had 'em stitched into coin purses.

- No.

It ain't that kind of assignment.

Just bringin' a couple
of renegades is all.

- Grant tell you that?

He's a politician,
I suppose he has to.

You're a killer.

You know what happens
in the fog of war.

Gotta go see to the wife before I go.

Keep up with my conjugal duties,

lest she turn to the postman.

You got yourself a girl?

That's for the best.
Keeps you focused.

Don't worry about Grant's bullshit.

You'll ship out,
kill some Injuns,

blam, blam, blam,
then ride back to Washington a hero.

Nothing better.

(DOOR OPENS)

(DOOR CLOSES)

(PRIEST): Bless you, my son.

How long has it been
since your last confession?

Are you a soldier?

It's all right, my son.

No man is without sin,
but you can be forgiven.

Do you seek salvation?

Do you wish to be saved?

(SNIFFLING)

(LAUGHING)

- Thank you.

Thank you.

- Thomas Durant will invoke
his fifth amendment right

as secured by the constitution
of the United States.

- Mr. Durant,
we have sworn testimony

corroborating the charges against you.

Am I clear you are choosing
to let these charges go

unanswered by you here today?
- Mmm-hmm.

- As is your constitutional right,

so long as you're aware
the record of history

will remember Thomas Durant
as a criminal.

- The record of history?

- That's right, Mr. Durant.

- My client will invoke his right--
- The record of history will read, however,

the handful of overfed
Senators in this room

who choose to write it.

I'm not interested
in the record of history.

- Mr. Durant, please.

- I am interested in reality.

Not the one bandied
inside the halls of Congress,

but the one I witnessed
with my own eyes out west.

Five years ago,

the American people,
torn apart by war,

cried out into the darkness
and turned a hopeful ear

to the void for an answer.

Americans needed a dream

and I gave them one.

A transcontinental railroad
that would unite

this nation and its people.
(TRAIN WHISTLE BLOWING)

Dreams don't come pretty,

they don't come clean

and they sure as hell don't
come simple...

They come true.

Truth delivered by lies is no less true,

and dreams made reality
by falsehood are no less real.

1,776 miles of iron track,

that is what I delivered!

Track upon which thousands
of wheels will now revolve

carrying on their axles
the wealth of half the world.

- Final destination,
San Francisco!

(DURANT): Drawn by
the iron horse,

darkening the landscape
with his smoky breath,

announcing to the world
with its piercing scream

that we are a great people
who can accomplish great things.

Yet the American people,

driven by their cowardly
representatives in Washington,

are in need of a villain.

So here I sit,

elected by you,

to play my part...

The part of the scapegoat.

The patsy, sent into the wilderness

so that men sitting in this room

can lay their sins upon my back,

and claim they themselves are clean.

Men enjoying immunity while
enriching themselves on the backs

of those who
sacrificed everything

to make manifest America's destiny.

Blood has been spilled.

Lives have been lost.
Men have been ruined.

I saw it, and I survived.

I will not return from the wild
having made America's dream a reality

only to have six bureaucrats
in starched collars judge

the manner in which
I realized that dream.

Put me on trial,
lock me in prison,

erase me from the record.

For history is written
in pencil...

and the truth is carved
in steel across this nation.

And one truth above
all others is this...

Without me and men like me,

your glorious railroad

could never have been built.