Manhattan (2014–2015): Season 1, Episode 12 - The Gun Model - full transcript
Previously on Manhattan...
I gave you the velocity distribution problem
because I think you're the only man
here who's capable of solving it.
You are a once-in-a-generation mind.
There's a problem with Thin Man.
So what are we gonna do about it?
The plan is to prove implosion
works before the plutonium arrives.
To put everybody around you in jeopardy?
Sorry to hear about Glen.
Went to go do admin
work for Oppenheimer?
Helen, there's something I need to ask you.
Oh, shit.
Are you...
- This is just work.
- Of course it is.
I need you to put some papers
into their house.
To make it look like Lancefield hid them.
I don't even know who I'm talking to.
So you're framing them for something.
Dr. Akley. I apologize.
It's about a problem we've been
working on in implosion.
Implosion is Frank Winter country
and the border is closed.
I believe your border is wide open.
Ripped By mstoll
Christ.
You spooked me.
I thought everyone
had cleared out for the night.
"Boldly they rode and well,
"Into the jaws of Death,
"Into the mouth of Hell."
You know that one?
No, sir.
Will you let me know
if you see anything out of the ordinary?
Nothing's amiss here.
Thank you, Edgar.
Reed.
What time is it?
It's late as far as the javelina are concerned.
You're in the doghouse, huh?
I warned you.
Secrets have a way of coming out.
Get dressed.
We're going for a drive.
I wouldn't know a javelina
if it ran right past me.
It won't.
They can sniff you out from 100 yards.
So how are we supposed to shoot one?
We're not shooting wild pigs, Charlie.
They taste like shit and they look
too ugly to put on a wall.
Dr. Akley?
A combat historian I know
found out a fascinating detail
about our American G.I.s on the front line.
Is that right?
We're fighting an army
convinced it is a master race
destined to dominate all of mankind,
an army that puts your women
and children in concentration camps.
But do you know
what four in five of our soldiers do
when given the chance to fire
at these wretched people?
They intentionally miss.
80% of our soldiers
can't bear the idea of shooting someone,
even their worst enemy.
I doubt I'd be able to.
And yet you shot me in the back.
Sir,
whatever you heard...
Charlie, you know how long
we've been working on the gun model?
Almost a year.
Seven hundred years.
The Chinese invented
firearms in the 13th century.
We've been refining them ever since.
Thin Man is just the next evolutionary stage,
so why are you trying to sabotage her?
Sir,
Thin Man was never gonna work.
With the plutonium that
they are making at Site X,
Thin Man will predetonate.
The spontaneous fission rate is too high.
- That might be true.
- No, sir, it is true.
But, Charlie, we're not
using the plutonium at Site X.
I was there. I saw the factory.
What you saw at Site X was a pilot plant
designed to work out the kinks.
I wasn't in Washington, D.C. this week.
I was in Washington State
touring the new reactor
that will make
the weapons-grade plutonium.
The Army calls it Site W.
But why would we think that
their plutonium would be any cleaner?
Because Enrico Fermi
personally designed the reactor.
I have the fission rates on my desk.
It's as good as cyclotron plutonium.
It's as good as pure.
You've been manipulated
by a brilliant but misguided man.
Frank Winter is using you
to destroy Thin Man.
Did Frank know about Site W?
He has the same security clearance
as I do, at least for now.
But why wouldn't he have told me?
Charlie, I don't care if implosion
wins this war or Thin Man.
I don't care if Hitler swallows a shotgun!
Every man on this Hill
is fighting the same war
except Frank, who's too busy
fighting for his own place in history!
Tell me, whose idea was it
to hijack Thin Man in the first place?
Whose idea to try and dupe
the most powerful army in the world?
- Yours?
- No.
Was it Frank's brilliant idea
to send Helen Prins over
- to spy on Thin Man as well?
- She wasn't involved.
Frank's had you on her strings
since the minute you got here.
He used her to squeeze
the plutonium out of you.
He sent her to Site X in order to tempt you.
What about Tom Lancefield?
Is he mixed up in all this?
Lancefield found out.
Frank said we had to get rid of him.
Jesus, Charlie.
Sir, I am so sorry.
It's okay.
It's okay.
Right now, we have to figure out
a way to keep you safe.
Last night,
I pulled every requisition
that's come out of my office
in the last two months.
Every order co-opting our resources
for use on implosion.
Your signature is on all of them.
Plain as day.
Jesus.
The Army uses the same ammo
for decent, misguided men
as it does for spies.
You're implicated in a conspiracy
to sabotage the most expensive and
the most secret project in military history.
And if it comes out, you're the only one
that it will trace back to.
And meanwhile,
the man who's truly responsible for all this
could get away soot-free.
How long does it take Dr. Oppenheimer
to walk 300 feet from his office?
Where is he?
Well, they have central AC
and no dust storms at the White House,
so you can hardly blame
the man for extending his stay.
Don't worry.
I'll take notes.
Gentlemen, we've just gotten word
that more than a gram of plutonium
will be shipping imminently
from the graphite reactor at Site X.
How imminently?
Within a week.
Well, don't forget the postal service
doesn't deliver on Sundays.
Solid plutonium buttons will be traveling
by train in a sealed titanium case.
Carried by whom?
That's need-to-know information.
The last time we shipped plutonium,
a sweaty-palmed junior professor
nearly got himself killed at a truck stop,
so forgive me if I'd like
a little background on the person
we're entrusting with 100 times as much
of the scarcest resource on the planet.
He's a heavily-armed lieutenant in
Tennessee's 5th Ranger Battalion,
the most combat-ready unit
in the United States Army.
That good enough for you?
The train from Knoxville to Santa Fe
takes 34 and a quarter hours.
Two-thirds of the 50 stops
appear on every world map.
And do you know where
the highest concentrations
of German nationals in
this country happen to live?
The Santa Fe Railroad sold them
a few hundred thousand acres
of farmland at the turn of the century.
We need soldiers in
army trucks, aerial support.
We need a convoy that can protect itself
in case it falls under enemy attack.
That operation will delay
the shipment by weeks.
If we fumble this ball,
we won't be looking at delays.
The game will be over.
Glen?
It's a reasonable point.
This week, I found out
that a subordinate of mine
was stealing Thin Man secrets
from under my nose, a man that I trusted.
Now imagine if a traitor like Tom Lancefield
were to catch wind of our shipping plans.
Now I think that it's time
that we all faced reality.
There are spies on this Hill.
Helen, I'm busy.
With what?
- Not now.
- Okay, when?
Dr. Prins.
Just the physicist I wanted to see.
How was your trip, sir?
I wanna tell you something, Helen.
Whatever the reason that Charlie
recruited you into Thin Man,
I'm lucky to have you on my team.
Oh...
Thank you, sir. I'm so glad to be here.
You ever hear that old song,
I'm Gonna Dance Wit De Guy Wot Brung Me?
No.
I know that Frank brought you to this dance,
and I know you feel loyal to him.
For whatever reason,
he inspires that in people.
Oh, sir, I'm very grateful.
He inspired it in me.
Did you know that Frank gave me
my first job out of graduate school?
- Really?
- Even back then, he had a unique mind.
He was brilliant. He was iconoclastic.
I looked up to him.
And then he picked a squabble
with the department chair,
and, uh, I leapt to his defense and
next thing I know, Frank's AWOL
and I'm left flapping in the Chicago wind.
It taught me a valuable
lesson about politics.
And about Frank.
Well, he's not the easiest guy to work with.
Great men are not always good men.
There's a storm coming.
Now, Charlie won't admit it,
but I think you're involved in this mess.
I'm gonna protect Charlie.
I'd like to protect you.
But I can't help you unless
I know that I can trust you.
Let me ask you something.
Did you even know
what you were getting involved in?
Sir, I was coerced.
Speeches will be limited to five minutes
so that we may hear from as
many candidates as possible.
Well, she has got my vote.
- Who does?
- Mrs. Winter.
It's about time we had
a fresh face on the town council.
Colonel's gonna wish he were
back in the Solomon Islands.
Do you think you could
get me a meeting with her?
I have a few issues
I'd like to talk to her about.
The new George Zucco
picture came out in November,
and they still haven't
shown it in the theater here.
Oh, and Jeannie is very concerned
about the curfew in the women's dorm.
Whoa, whoa. Hey, Frank.
Where is everybody?
I'm starting to feel like the 10th little Indian.
No idea.
Well, if this were a movie,
one of us would be the killer.
Frank!
It doesn't make any sense.
Charlie has as much to lose as we do. More.
I don't know if he told Akley
or if somebody else did,
but Akley knows.
He's got Charlie in his corner,
he now thinks he has me.
He's lining you up
to take the fall for everything.
Let's get ahead of this.
We'll sound the alarm on Thin Man.
No, we need proof.
Well, we'll show them that
Baritol can vary the burn rates
and how to consolidate the shock waves.
It's just a theory.
We need a gram of plutonium from Site X
to prove Thin Man won't work
and implosion will.
I know some people at Site X.
I could probably get them
to rush the shipment.
You don't have the authority for that.
I'll just tell them I'm acting
on Akley's orders.
You lie to the Army,
it won't make a difference
what the testing shows.
You'll be damaged goods
for the rest of this war.
Gertrude.
Gertrude.
Is the Colonel here, yet?
Shall I show you how to
use the intercom again, Mr. Babbit?
I think Heinrich Himmler loves me
more than this intercom.
Gertrude.
Gertrude.
Sir, you have a visitor.
Send the Colonel in.
Never was one for fruit salad
on my dress shirts.
Or marching for that matter.
Sorry, I won't be but a minute.
Paul.
I heard they moved you in
with Oppenheimer's rock collection.
How do calcite and pyrite
fare as office mates?
They're quieter than the janitorial staff.
Glen, I need a transfer.
I can supervise production in Site X.
Or I can man one of the teams in Manhattan.
I thought you were committed to implosion.
Whoever we once worked for,
Frank has become someone else.
What happened?
I accepted his demands.
I put my complete faith in him.
And what do I get in return? I'm made a fool.
He trusted Helen.
He even trusted Charlie Isaacs.
But not me.
You're not the only one.
He didn't tell you, either?
You know, I thought
maybe that's why you left.
You brought him here in the first place.
And this is how he repays you.
I'll see what I can do about the transfer.
That bastard Akley won't have me, either.
No good deed on this Hill goes unpunished.
I even had the gall to say
that I can't be trusted.
Even after I...
Even after you what?
Even after I told him the truth
about Frank and Isaacs.
You told Akley?
What does Isaacs have that I don't?
- Switchboard.
- I need an outside line.
Washington, DC. The White House.
I need to speak to Robert Oppenheimer.
- Identification number?
- G-11 .
One moment.
The call could not be completed.
Then put me through to
the Pentagon switchboard.
Sir, you do not have
authorization to call off the Hill.
That's ridiculous. G-11.
I've got tier one security clearance.
I'm sorry, your clearance
has been downgraded.
What? By whose order?
I do not have authorization
to share that information.
To ensure a wider representation
among our rapidly expanding population,
the town council has seen fit
to expand our ranks for the coming term.
Today we'll be hearing
from several candidates.
Mr. Epstein.
Friends, neighbors,
our way of life on this
happy Hill is under attack.
And we all know who is to blame.
Dairy cows.
That's why all our milk
tastes like sagebrush.
Maybe if President Roosevelt
had a baby to feed, he'd realize...
I was bird-watching. I wasn't lurking.
And for my opponent to suggest
that I'm some kind of Peeping Tom
is, frankly, outrageous.
Glen, how's it feel to finally be able
to move freely between buildings?
Can we review your concept
on the plan we discussed?
The, eh, plutonium transport.
I think we can strong-arm the Army
into releasing a convoy in the next few days.
Leave those with my girl. I'll get back to you.
Honestly, Glen, I don't think that
what we discussed is sufficient.
We have to consider
more extreme measures.
Even if it means pushing
the delivery back a few more weeks.
And finally we have Mrs...
Excuse me, Dr. Liza Winter.
Hello.
Some of you may know me
from my work at the medical clinic.
Or as the wife of one of
the group heads in the tech area.
But I suspect I am best known for
throwing a tantrum in the military offices
and an unauthorized
bonfire in my own backyard.
You see,
I have a condition.
Don't worry, it's not contagious.
My doctor tells me that
I have a neurotic character.
Which, when properly medicated,
as it is now,
is no more neurotic
than any other in this room.
And now I can see that you are wondering
why I'm sharing this information with you.
I don't believe in keeping secrets anymore.
You see, I've lived on this Hill
for over a year, and I've been watching
how the Army deploys information control
to erode our community.
Colonel,
you have packed 4,000 civilians
into an army base zoned for 400.
You have asked us to live
without bathtubs and stoves,
reliable electricity, fresh produce,
and that's fine.
I think we all agree
we're happy to make those sacrifices
of modern conveniences
if it's gonna help us win this war.
But our boys overseas, they are fighting
and they are dying
to defend our constitutional rights.
Now is the time for someone to explain
precisely what rights we have
when we live within these fences
and what recourse we have if we feel
those rights have been abridged.
I believe that the war for American values
is being waged right here on this Hill.
I believe transparency
is the lifeblood of democracy.
I'm asking for your vote.
You and your wife in the same day.
Lucky me.
Site X was supposed to be
shipping the plutonium this month.
I need you to tell me
when it's scheduled to arrive.
You don't have the clearance
for that information anymore.
Then get Secretary Stimson on the phone.
It was his office that
downgraded your clearance.
Apparently you pissed on the wrong
fire hydrant this time, Dr. Winter.
I know that plutonium is ready.
I talked to Tennessee weeks ago.
I can't help you.
Thin Man won't work.
What?
Twenty years from now,
every government on this planet
will know how to design a bomb,
but they won't be able to build it
because purifying plutonium to a base level
takes more manpower and resources
than building the pyramids.
Thin Man needs fuel that's 100 times
more pure than even we can make.
It is completely impossible.
That's a troubling theory.
Just as it was troubling to hear
your other 15 theories over the past year
for why your model is better than Akley's.
This isn't a theory.
When the plutonium arrives, it will be a fact.
Thin Man will predetonate.
You're talking about work
that isn't yours, Frank.
About a group that isn't yours.
How did you come to know
something like that?
I have it on good authority.
No one knows the penalties for violating
compartmentalization better than you.
G-2 has been in this office
almost every day asking me
whether you or your friends
are Commies or spies.
If you feel something needs to be reported,
I suggest we get them in here
before you say another word.
- Gertrude.
- Yes, sir?
Get me an outside line.
A reminder. All residents are expected to
make their best effort to conserve water.
The military appreciates your cooperation.
Hello.
Hello.
I'm sorry, but I think this is my house.
They told us we were taking over 128B.
I'm Evelyn.
My husband and I
just drove in from Berkeley.
We're so relieved to finally be here.
Looks like they left in kind of a hurry.
What's wrong with you?
Wake up.
Damn it.
He can split the atom,
but ask the man to tie a Half Windsor...
Mmm.
I can fix my own tie.
You know, Elsa picked out
Albert's clothes for him
until the day she died.
Men like you shouldn't
waste your brains on apparel.
Honey,
I'm not Albert Einstein.
No,
he didn't liberate Europe.
Can I ask you something?
Anything.
You know, General Eisenhower
might win this war without us.
We might not even need the gadget.
There's always the Japanese.
Anyway, I was just thinking, um,
maybe we should just go back to Chicago.
Honey.
You are sweet, but we both know
they're going to call you to Washington,
and you can't refuse the President.
Imagine all the dinner invitations.
I'm exhausted just thinking about it.
- I don't know about that.
I wish you weren't so modest,
at least with me.
Dr. Akley.
There's a call for you.
Director of Operations at Site X.
He says he needs to speak
with you immediately.
Mrs. Isaacs. ls he here?
What the hell are you doing here?
Someone will see you.
- Meet me at the armory in 30 minutes.
- Fine.
You gonna leave me sitting on
my ass like you did yesterday?
You need to leave.
It's true.
You've been listening to Akley.
I've been listening to reason.
- What did you tell him?
- Nothing.
Nothing he didn't already know.
Ch.
I never should have knocked on your door.
I guess Reed Akley's figured out
a way to rewrite the laws of physics.
Prevent Thin Man
from blowing up in his face.
Actually, he has.
It's a new reactor up in Washington.
- I think you've heard of it.
- What, Site W plutonium?
That's his magic bullet?
The only thing Site W has
on Site X is a river view.
A factory is a factory.
They'll never make plutonium
Thin Man can use.
- Akley told me you'd say that.
- Oh, Jesus. You can't trust him, Charlie.
Oh, but I can trust you?
Implosion works. We both know that.
Implosion works in theory.
You have no idea what we'll find out
when the plutonium arrives.
Listen to me.
Akley manipulated the Secretary
into suspending my security clearance.
But you, you can push operations
to get that plutonium here immediately.
Right.
- Because it's always up to me.
- Wha...
Every detonator, every requisition,
every inch of Primacord,
they all trace back to me. Why is that?
We're talking about winning a world war.
You're thinking about signatures on forms?
- You set me up.
- God, I should have known it.
I should have known you would fold
at the very first sign of resistance.
Get the hell out of my house.
Yeah, you're right.
I should give you time
to say goodbye to your wife.
'Cause when the Army
and G-2 find out about this,
they'll be knocking on your door.
But not for the first time, right, Charlie?
You lied about Babbit.
- You lied about Richard Lavro.
- You forced me to lie.
Do you...
Do you really think they'll care?
You know what I think?
You've compromised every
member of your group.
You alienated your mentor.
A year in this desert
has driven your wife insane.
So your name has to be on the bomb
or you did it all for nothing.
I am not gonna be the last casualty
of Frank Winter's ego.
Abby, I don't know what you heard, but...
I heard plenty.
I made a mistake.
I listened to the wrong man.
Dr. Akley gave me an opportunity
and I betrayed his trust.
But,
he's given me a second chance.
A clean slate.
There's no such thing as a clean slate.
For any of us.
There is.
I lost my bearings for a little while, that's all.
There's no difference.
What?
Between Frank Winter and Reed Akley.
That's not a choice.
One tried to destroy our marriage,
the other dragged us into
this trap in the first place.
- I'm not sure which is worse.
- Abby.
You are a pawn
in some kind of political game.
And you made me a pawn, too.
I framed a man and his wife, my friend.
And for what?
I told you, I listened to the
wrong person, but I'm fixing it.
But the man I married had his own mind.
What happened to him?
What happened to you?
When was the last time that
you told me that you loved me?
You barely touched me in months.
I'm going home, Charlie.
You can't. The Army won't allow it.
I looked into it.
There's one way that they will.
What Way?
If we're divorced.
The problem is that neither Clark Kent
nor Bruce Wayne has a sense of humor.
I know their parents died,
and that's really sad, but...
Honestly, even I get
tired of superhero orphans.
Exactly.
They should make a comic book about you.
You already have an origin story, right?
I do?
- Remember how the Flash got his powers?
- Yeah.
He inhaled heavy water vapors
in the laboratory.
Didn't you inhale something, too?
I do have an origin story.
- Dr. Babbit?
- Sorry to interrupt.
Oh, God, are you two...
No. I need your help.
There he is.
I've been looking over all your concerns.
Now, our muzzle velocity
is 910 meters per second.
Barrel pressure is sitting in the range
of 75,000 pounds per square inch.
- But we can do better.
- Sir...
If we extend the barrel, the plutonium
can reach a higher rate of speed,
but there are only
two airplanes on the planet
that can clear the ground
with an 8,000-pound bomb.
- Neither can accommodate a longer barrel...
- Dr. Akley.
- What is it?
- I can't continue on the project.
I've thought long and hard.
- Today is my last day.
- Charlie.
- It's not accepted.
- Sir, I appreciate your generosity...
My generosity is the only thing standing
between you and a firing squad.
Under the circumstances,
I don't think two weeks notice
is a hell of a lot to ask.
If you have to report me to Oppenheimer,
I understand, but I am done.
Just like that?
I wish I'd done it six months ago.
What about our boys in uniform?
70,000 of them headed for Europe.
- You don't care what happens to them?
- You'll have to finish without me.
I can't.
Charlie,
we are gonna beat
Werner Heisenberg, the two of us.
Why the hell do you think
I recruited you in the first place?
A New Approach to Nuclear Cosmology.
You changed the way
we think about the universe,
the way we think about
the creation of the elements.
You can fix Thin Man.
I thought Thin Man wasn't broken.
It's not. It just needs some modifications.
You knew.
What?
You knew Thin Man was going to fail.
Jesus, Charlie.
- There's no certainties in nuclear science.
- You knew.
You knew and you kept it a secret.
The plutonium from Site W,
it's no different from Site X plutonium, is it?
- Of course, it is.
- Prove it.
Charlie...
You said you had the fission rates
on your desk. Show them to me.
Even if you had the clearance,
you have to trust me.
I don't.
Admit that you're lying
or I walk out that door.
I can't fix this on my own.
- But the two of us together...
- My God.
Charlie, don't walk away from me
when I'm talking to you!
Charlie, don't walk out that door!
You're clear. Go ahead.
Yeah. We're here to pick up
a delivery for Dr. Oppenheimer.
Dr. Sinclair.
Did you have any trouble
finding our little Hill?
I had trouble finding a taxi in
Santa Fe that would pick up a negro.
Is that all you brought?
1.12 grams of plutonium.
Plus every stitch of clothing I own.
I left Tennessee as soon as you called.
Where is Dr. Oppenheimer?
Don't worry.
He'll catch wind of this soon enough.
You said you were calling on his authority
and that he would find me
a permanent position here.
Dr. Sinclair, you have
a bright future on the Hill.
And that makes one of us.
Wait, what about me?
Dr. Winter.
- I hear they're making a movie.
- I'm sorry?
A nervous-looking fellow was here.
He asked me to return that to you.
Oh, thank you.
- Hey.
- Hey.
What you doing here?
Um...
I had nowhere else to go.
I'm the one who told Frank
about you and Akley.
I know.
But you didn't tell Akley about me.
I forced you into this in the first place.
I made my own choices.
What happens next?
There is no next.
In 24 hours, I'll be off this Hill
one way or the other.
Do you have a place to sleep?
Charlie.
Frank.
Did Isaacs send you?
No.
What do you want?
The only thing that any of us wants.
What do you want from me?
Your help.
With Thin Man.
Thin Man is dead.
Then we'll bring it back to life.
You'll imagine a way.
You did the best you could, Reed.
But your bomb won't run on imagination.
You don't have to do this.
Just talk to Oppenheimer.
Tell him why the gun model won't work.
By the time the plutonium gets here,
you will look like a goddamn hero.
It's already here.
It's in the metallurgy lab.
Oppenheimer's office arranged
an accelerated delivery.
It appears you still have a friend on this Hill.
We both have blood on our hands.
If the Army finds out what happened here,
you and I are gonna end up
in the brig together.
But not if we make a unified front.
This project won't survive without us.
So we talk to Robert tonight,
together.
We let him know that implosion
is the only way forward.
You'd work with me?
If it gets us there before the Germans,
I will work for you.
Reed, in a few months,
this won't be about burn rates
and shock waves and supercompression.
It'll be about advising
the Army and the White House
on how to use the most powerful weapon
in the history of mankind.
And I think you and I both know
I don't belong in a room with the President.
Come on.
Let's go to the metallurgy lab.
Frank.
What would you have done
if you thought that
implosion might not work?
Let it go.
Six months from now,
all anyone's gonna remember
is that we built it.
Reed!
Reed!
Ripped By mstoll
I gave you the velocity distribution problem
because I think you're the only man
here who's capable of solving it.
You are a once-in-a-generation mind.
There's a problem with Thin Man.
So what are we gonna do about it?
The plan is to prove implosion
works before the plutonium arrives.
To put everybody around you in jeopardy?
Sorry to hear about Glen.
Went to go do admin
work for Oppenheimer?
Helen, there's something I need to ask you.
Oh, shit.
Are you...
- This is just work.
- Of course it is.
I need you to put some papers
into their house.
To make it look like Lancefield hid them.
I don't even know who I'm talking to.
So you're framing them for something.
Dr. Akley. I apologize.
It's about a problem we've been
working on in implosion.
Implosion is Frank Winter country
and the border is closed.
I believe your border is wide open.
Ripped By mstoll
Christ.
You spooked me.
I thought everyone
had cleared out for the night.
"Boldly they rode and well,
"Into the jaws of Death,
"Into the mouth of Hell."
You know that one?
No, sir.
Will you let me know
if you see anything out of the ordinary?
Nothing's amiss here.
Thank you, Edgar.
Reed.
What time is it?
It's late as far as the javelina are concerned.
You're in the doghouse, huh?
I warned you.
Secrets have a way of coming out.
Get dressed.
We're going for a drive.
I wouldn't know a javelina
if it ran right past me.
It won't.
They can sniff you out from 100 yards.
So how are we supposed to shoot one?
We're not shooting wild pigs, Charlie.
They taste like shit and they look
too ugly to put on a wall.
Dr. Akley?
A combat historian I know
found out a fascinating detail
about our American G.I.s on the front line.
Is that right?
We're fighting an army
convinced it is a master race
destined to dominate all of mankind,
an army that puts your women
and children in concentration camps.
But do you know
what four in five of our soldiers do
when given the chance to fire
at these wretched people?
They intentionally miss.
80% of our soldiers
can't bear the idea of shooting someone,
even their worst enemy.
I doubt I'd be able to.
And yet you shot me in the back.
Sir,
whatever you heard...
Charlie, you know how long
we've been working on the gun model?
Almost a year.
Seven hundred years.
The Chinese invented
firearms in the 13th century.
We've been refining them ever since.
Thin Man is just the next evolutionary stage,
so why are you trying to sabotage her?
Sir,
Thin Man was never gonna work.
With the plutonium that
they are making at Site X,
Thin Man will predetonate.
The spontaneous fission rate is too high.
- That might be true.
- No, sir, it is true.
But, Charlie, we're not
using the plutonium at Site X.
I was there. I saw the factory.
What you saw at Site X was a pilot plant
designed to work out the kinks.
I wasn't in Washington, D.C. this week.
I was in Washington State
touring the new reactor
that will make
the weapons-grade plutonium.
The Army calls it Site W.
But why would we think that
their plutonium would be any cleaner?
Because Enrico Fermi
personally designed the reactor.
I have the fission rates on my desk.
It's as good as cyclotron plutonium.
It's as good as pure.
You've been manipulated
by a brilliant but misguided man.
Frank Winter is using you
to destroy Thin Man.
Did Frank know about Site W?
He has the same security clearance
as I do, at least for now.
But why wouldn't he have told me?
Charlie, I don't care if implosion
wins this war or Thin Man.
I don't care if Hitler swallows a shotgun!
Every man on this Hill
is fighting the same war
except Frank, who's too busy
fighting for his own place in history!
Tell me, whose idea was it
to hijack Thin Man in the first place?
Whose idea to try and dupe
the most powerful army in the world?
- Yours?
- No.
Was it Frank's brilliant idea
to send Helen Prins over
- to spy on Thin Man as well?
- She wasn't involved.
Frank's had you on her strings
since the minute you got here.
He used her to squeeze
the plutonium out of you.
He sent her to Site X in order to tempt you.
What about Tom Lancefield?
Is he mixed up in all this?
Lancefield found out.
Frank said we had to get rid of him.
Jesus, Charlie.
Sir, I am so sorry.
It's okay.
It's okay.
Right now, we have to figure out
a way to keep you safe.
Last night,
I pulled every requisition
that's come out of my office
in the last two months.
Every order co-opting our resources
for use on implosion.
Your signature is on all of them.
Plain as day.
Jesus.
The Army uses the same ammo
for decent, misguided men
as it does for spies.
You're implicated in a conspiracy
to sabotage the most expensive and
the most secret project in military history.
And if it comes out, you're the only one
that it will trace back to.
And meanwhile,
the man who's truly responsible for all this
could get away soot-free.
How long does it take Dr. Oppenheimer
to walk 300 feet from his office?
Where is he?
Well, they have central AC
and no dust storms at the White House,
so you can hardly blame
the man for extending his stay.
Don't worry.
I'll take notes.
Gentlemen, we've just gotten word
that more than a gram of plutonium
will be shipping imminently
from the graphite reactor at Site X.
How imminently?
Within a week.
Well, don't forget the postal service
doesn't deliver on Sundays.
Solid plutonium buttons will be traveling
by train in a sealed titanium case.
Carried by whom?
That's need-to-know information.
The last time we shipped plutonium,
a sweaty-palmed junior professor
nearly got himself killed at a truck stop,
so forgive me if I'd like
a little background on the person
we're entrusting with 100 times as much
of the scarcest resource on the planet.
He's a heavily-armed lieutenant in
Tennessee's 5th Ranger Battalion,
the most combat-ready unit
in the United States Army.
That good enough for you?
The train from Knoxville to Santa Fe
takes 34 and a quarter hours.
Two-thirds of the 50 stops
appear on every world map.
And do you know where
the highest concentrations
of German nationals in
this country happen to live?
The Santa Fe Railroad sold them
a few hundred thousand acres
of farmland at the turn of the century.
We need soldiers in
army trucks, aerial support.
We need a convoy that can protect itself
in case it falls under enemy attack.
That operation will delay
the shipment by weeks.
If we fumble this ball,
we won't be looking at delays.
The game will be over.
Glen?
It's a reasonable point.
This week, I found out
that a subordinate of mine
was stealing Thin Man secrets
from under my nose, a man that I trusted.
Now imagine if a traitor like Tom Lancefield
were to catch wind of our shipping plans.
Now I think that it's time
that we all faced reality.
There are spies on this Hill.
Helen, I'm busy.
With what?
- Not now.
- Okay, when?
Dr. Prins.
Just the physicist I wanted to see.
How was your trip, sir?
I wanna tell you something, Helen.
Whatever the reason that Charlie
recruited you into Thin Man,
I'm lucky to have you on my team.
Oh...
Thank you, sir. I'm so glad to be here.
You ever hear that old song,
I'm Gonna Dance Wit De Guy Wot Brung Me?
No.
I know that Frank brought you to this dance,
and I know you feel loyal to him.
For whatever reason,
he inspires that in people.
Oh, sir, I'm very grateful.
He inspired it in me.
Did you know that Frank gave me
my first job out of graduate school?
- Really?
- Even back then, he had a unique mind.
He was brilliant. He was iconoclastic.
I looked up to him.
And then he picked a squabble
with the department chair,
and, uh, I leapt to his defense and
next thing I know, Frank's AWOL
and I'm left flapping in the Chicago wind.
It taught me a valuable
lesson about politics.
And about Frank.
Well, he's not the easiest guy to work with.
Great men are not always good men.
There's a storm coming.
Now, Charlie won't admit it,
but I think you're involved in this mess.
I'm gonna protect Charlie.
I'd like to protect you.
But I can't help you unless
I know that I can trust you.
Let me ask you something.
Did you even know
what you were getting involved in?
Sir, I was coerced.
Speeches will be limited to five minutes
so that we may hear from as
many candidates as possible.
Well, she has got my vote.
- Who does?
- Mrs. Winter.
It's about time we had
a fresh face on the town council.
Colonel's gonna wish he were
back in the Solomon Islands.
Do you think you could
get me a meeting with her?
I have a few issues
I'd like to talk to her about.
The new George Zucco
picture came out in November,
and they still haven't
shown it in the theater here.
Oh, and Jeannie is very concerned
about the curfew in the women's dorm.
Whoa, whoa. Hey, Frank.
Where is everybody?
I'm starting to feel like the 10th little Indian.
No idea.
Well, if this were a movie,
one of us would be the killer.
Frank!
It doesn't make any sense.
Charlie has as much to lose as we do. More.
I don't know if he told Akley
or if somebody else did,
but Akley knows.
He's got Charlie in his corner,
he now thinks he has me.
He's lining you up
to take the fall for everything.
Let's get ahead of this.
We'll sound the alarm on Thin Man.
No, we need proof.
Well, we'll show them that
Baritol can vary the burn rates
and how to consolidate the shock waves.
It's just a theory.
We need a gram of plutonium from Site X
to prove Thin Man won't work
and implosion will.
I know some people at Site X.
I could probably get them
to rush the shipment.
You don't have the authority for that.
I'll just tell them I'm acting
on Akley's orders.
You lie to the Army,
it won't make a difference
what the testing shows.
You'll be damaged goods
for the rest of this war.
Gertrude.
Gertrude.
Is the Colonel here, yet?
Shall I show you how to
use the intercom again, Mr. Babbit?
I think Heinrich Himmler loves me
more than this intercom.
Gertrude.
Gertrude.
Sir, you have a visitor.
Send the Colonel in.
Never was one for fruit salad
on my dress shirts.
Or marching for that matter.
Sorry, I won't be but a minute.
Paul.
I heard they moved you in
with Oppenheimer's rock collection.
How do calcite and pyrite
fare as office mates?
They're quieter than the janitorial staff.
Glen, I need a transfer.
I can supervise production in Site X.
Or I can man one of the teams in Manhattan.
I thought you were committed to implosion.
Whoever we once worked for,
Frank has become someone else.
What happened?
I accepted his demands.
I put my complete faith in him.
And what do I get in return? I'm made a fool.
He trusted Helen.
He even trusted Charlie Isaacs.
But not me.
You're not the only one.
He didn't tell you, either?
You know, I thought
maybe that's why you left.
You brought him here in the first place.
And this is how he repays you.
I'll see what I can do about the transfer.
That bastard Akley won't have me, either.
No good deed on this Hill goes unpunished.
I even had the gall to say
that I can't be trusted.
Even after I...
Even after you what?
Even after I told him the truth
about Frank and Isaacs.
You told Akley?
What does Isaacs have that I don't?
- Switchboard.
- I need an outside line.
Washington, DC. The White House.
I need to speak to Robert Oppenheimer.
- Identification number?
- G-11 .
One moment.
The call could not be completed.
Then put me through to
the Pentagon switchboard.
Sir, you do not have
authorization to call off the Hill.
That's ridiculous. G-11.
I've got tier one security clearance.
I'm sorry, your clearance
has been downgraded.
What? By whose order?
I do not have authorization
to share that information.
To ensure a wider representation
among our rapidly expanding population,
the town council has seen fit
to expand our ranks for the coming term.
Today we'll be hearing
from several candidates.
Mr. Epstein.
Friends, neighbors,
our way of life on this
happy Hill is under attack.
And we all know who is to blame.
Dairy cows.
That's why all our milk
tastes like sagebrush.
Maybe if President Roosevelt
had a baby to feed, he'd realize...
I was bird-watching. I wasn't lurking.
And for my opponent to suggest
that I'm some kind of Peeping Tom
is, frankly, outrageous.
Glen, how's it feel to finally be able
to move freely between buildings?
Can we review your concept
on the plan we discussed?
The, eh, plutonium transport.
I think we can strong-arm the Army
into releasing a convoy in the next few days.
Leave those with my girl. I'll get back to you.
Honestly, Glen, I don't think that
what we discussed is sufficient.
We have to consider
more extreme measures.
Even if it means pushing
the delivery back a few more weeks.
And finally we have Mrs...
Excuse me, Dr. Liza Winter.
Hello.
Some of you may know me
from my work at the medical clinic.
Or as the wife of one of
the group heads in the tech area.
But I suspect I am best known for
throwing a tantrum in the military offices
and an unauthorized
bonfire in my own backyard.
You see,
I have a condition.
Don't worry, it's not contagious.
My doctor tells me that
I have a neurotic character.
Which, when properly medicated,
as it is now,
is no more neurotic
than any other in this room.
And now I can see that you are wondering
why I'm sharing this information with you.
I don't believe in keeping secrets anymore.
You see, I've lived on this Hill
for over a year, and I've been watching
how the Army deploys information control
to erode our community.
Colonel,
you have packed 4,000 civilians
into an army base zoned for 400.
You have asked us to live
without bathtubs and stoves,
reliable electricity, fresh produce,
and that's fine.
I think we all agree
we're happy to make those sacrifices
of modern conveniences
if it's gonna help us win this war.
But our boys overseas, they are fighting
and they are dying
to defend our constitutional rights.
Now is the time for someone to explain
precisely what rights we have
when we live within these fences
and what recourse we have if we feel
those rights have been abridged.
I believe that the war for American values
is being waged right here on this Hill.
I believe transparency
is the lifeblood of democracy.
I'm asking for your vote.
You and your wife in the same day.
Lucky me.
Site X was supposed to be
shipping the plutonium this month.
I need you to tell me
when it's scheduled to arrive.
You don't have the clearance
for that information anymore.
Then get Secretary Stimson on the phone.
It was his office that
downgraded your clearance.
Apparently you pissed on the wrong
fire hydrant this time, Dr. Winter.
I know that plutonium is ready.
I talked to Tennessee weeks ago.
I can't help you.
Thin Man won't work.
What?
Twenty years from now,
every government on this planet
will know how to design a bomb,
but they won't be able to build it
because purifying plutonium to a base level
takes more manpower and resources
than building the pyramids.
Thin Man needs fuel that's 100 times
more pure than even we can make.
It is completely impossible.
That's a troubling theory.
Just as it was troubling to hear
your other 15 theories over the past year
for why your model is better than Akley's.
This isn't a theory.
When the plutonium arrives, it will be a fact.
Thin Man will predetonate.
You're talking about work
that isn't yours, Frank.
About a group that isn't yours.
How did you come to know
something like that?
I have it on good authority.
No one knows the penalties for violating
compartmentalization better than you.
G-2 has been in this office
almost every day asking me
whether you or your friends
are Commies or spies.
If you feel something needs to be reported,
I suggest we get them in here
before you say another word.
- Gertrude.
- Yes, sir?
Get me an outside line.
A reminder. All residents are expected to
make their best effort to conserve water.
The military appreciates your cooperation.
Hello.
Hello.
I'm sorry, but I think this is my house.
They told us we were taking over 128B.
I'm Evelyn.
My husband and I
just drove in from Berkeley.
We're so relieved to finally be here.
Looks like they left in kind of a hurry.
What's wrong with you?
Wake up.
Damn it.
He can split the atom,
but ask the man to tie a Half Windsor...
Mmm.
I can fix my own tie.
You know, Elsa picked out
Albert's clothes for him
until the day she died.
Men like you shouldn't
waste your brains on apparel.
Honey,
I'm not Albert Einstein.
No,
he didn't liberate Europe.
Can I ask you something?
Anything.
You know, General Eisenhower
might win this war without us.
We might not even need the gadget.
There's always the Japanese.
Anyway, I was just thinking, um,
maybe we should just go back to Chicago.
Honey.
You are sweet, but we both know
they're going to call you to Washington,
and you can't refuse the President.
Imagine all the dinner invitations.
I'm exhausted just thinking about it.
- I don't know about that.
I wish you weren't so modest,
at least with me.
Dr. Akley.
There's a call for you.
Director of Operations at Site X.
He says he needs to speak
with you immediately.
Mrs. Isaacs. ls he here?
What the hell are you doing here?
Someone will see you.
- Meet me at the armory in 30 minutes.
- Fine.
You gonna leave me sitting on
my ass like you did yesterday?
You need to leave.
It's true.
You've been listening to Akley.
I've been listening to reason.
- What did you tell him?
- Nothing.
Nothing he didn't already know.
Ch.
I never should have knocked on your door.
I guess Reed Akley's figured out
a way to rewrite the laws of physics.
Prevent Thin Man
from blowing up in his face.
Actually, he has.
It's a new reactor up in Washington.
- I think you've heard of it.
- What, Site W plutonium?
That's his magic bullet?
The only thing Site W has
on Site X is a river view.
A factory is a factory.
They'll never make plutonium
Thin Man can use.
- Akley told me you'd say that.
- Oh, Jesus. You can't trust him, Charlie.
Oh, but I can trust you?
Implosion works. We both know that.
Implosion works in theory.
You have no idea what we'll find out
when the plutonium arrives.
Listen to me.
Akley manipulated the Secretary
into suspending my security clearance.
But you, you can push operations
to get that plutonium here immediately.
Right.
- Because it's always up to me.
- Wha...
Every detonator, every requisition,
every inch of Primacord,
they all trace back to me. Why is that?
We're talking about winning a world war.
You're thinking about signatures on forms?
- You set me up.
- God, I should have known it.
I should have known you would fold
at the very first sign of resistance.
Get the hell out of my house.
Yeah, you're right.
I should give you time
to say goodbye to your wife.
'Cause when the Army
and G-2 find out about this,
they'll be knocking on your door.
But not for the first time, right, Charlie?
You lied about Babbit.
- You lied about Richard Lavro.
- You forced me to lie.
Do you...
Do you really think they'll care?
You know what I think?
You've compromised every
member of your group.
You alienated your mentor.
A year in this desert
has driven your wife insane.
So your name has to be on the bomb
or you did it all for nothing.
I am not gonna be the last casualty
of Frank Winter's ego.
Abby, I don't know what you heard, but...
I heard plenty.
I made a mistake.
I listened to the wrong man.
Dr. Akley gave me an opportunity
and I betrayed his trust.
But,
he's given me a second chance.
A clean slate.
There's no such thing as a clean slate.
For any of us.
There is.
I lost my bearings for a little while, that's all.
There's no difference.
What?
Between Frank Winter and Reed Akley.
That's not a choice.
One tried to destroy our marriage,
the other dragged us into
this trap in the first place.
- I'm not sure which is worse.
- Abby.
You are a pawn
in some kind of political game.
And you made me a pawn, too.
I framed a man and his wife, my friend.
And for what?
I told you, I listened to the
wrong person, but I'm fixing it.
But the man I married had his own mind.
What happened to him?
What happened to you?
When was the last time that
you told me that you loved me?
You barely touched me in months.
I'm going home, Charlie.
You can't. The Army won't allow it.
I looked into it.
There's one way that they will.
What Way?
If we're divorced.
The problem is that neither Clark Kent
nor Bruce Wayne has a sense of humor.
I know their parents died,
and that's really sad, but...
Honestly, even I get
tired of superhero orphans.
Exactly.
They should make a comic book about you.
You already have an origin story, right?
I do?
- Remember how the Flash got his powers?
- Yeah.
He inhaled heavy water vapors
in the laboratory.
Didn't you inhale something, too?
I do have an origin story.
- Dr. Babbit?
- Sorry to interrupt.
Oh, God, are you two...
No. I need your help.
There he is.
I've been looking over all your concerns.
Now, our muzzle velocity
is 910 meters per second.
Barrel pressure is sitting in the range
of 75,000 pounds per square inch.
- But we can do better.
- Sir...
If we extend the barrel, the plutonium
can reach a higher rate of speed,
but there are only
two airplanes on the planet
that can clear the ground
with an 8,000-pound bomb.
- Neither can accommodate a longer barrel...
- Dr. Akley.
- What is it?
- I can't continue on the project.
I've thought long and hard.
- Today is my last day.
- Charlie.
- It's not accepted.
- Sir, I appreciate your generosity...
My generosity is the only thing standing
between you and a firing squad.
Under the circumstances,
I don't think two weeks notice
is a hell of a lot to ask.
If you have to report me to Oppenheimer,
I understand, but I am done.
Just like that?
I wish I'd done it six months ago.
What about our boys in uniform?
70,000 of them headed for Europe.
- You don't care what happens to them?
- You'll have to finish without me.
I can't.
Charlie,
we are gonna beat
Werner Heisenberg, the two of us.
Why the hell do you think
I recruited you in the first place?
A New Approach to Nuclear Cosmology.
You changed the way
we think about the universe,
the way we think about
the creation of the elements.
You can fix Thin Man.
I thought Thin Man wasn't broken.
It's not. It just needs some modifications.
You knew.
What?
You knew Thin Man was going to fail.
Jesus, Charlie.
- There's no certainties in nuclear science.
- You knew.
You knew and you kept it a secret.
The plutonium from Site W,
it's no different from Site X plutonium, is it?
- Of course, it is.
- Prove it.
Charlie...
You said you had the fission rates
on your desk. Show them to me.
Even if you had the clearance,
you have to trust me.
I don't.
Admit that you're lying
or I walk out that door.
I can't fix this on my own.
- But the two of us together...
- My God.
Charlie, don't walk away from me
when I'm talking to you!
Charlie, don't walk out that door!
You're clear. Go ahead.
Yeah. We're here to pick up
a delivery for Dr. Oppenheimer.
Dr. Sinclair.
Did you have any trouble
finding our little Hill?
I had trouble finding a taxi in
Santa Fe that would pick up a negro.
Is that all you brought?
1.12 grams of plutonium.
Plus every stitch of clothing I own.
I left Tennessee as soon as you called.
Where is Dr. Oppenheimer?
Don't worry.
He'll catch wind of this soon enough.
You said you were calling on his authority
and that he would find me
a permanent position here.
Dr. Sinclair, you have
a bright future on the Hill.
And that makes one of us.
Wait, what about me?
Dr. Winter.
- I hear they're making a movie.
- I'm sorry?
A nervous-looking fellow was here.
He asked me to return that to you.
Oh, thank you.
- Hey.
- Hey.
What you doing here?
Um...
I had nowhere else to go.
I'm the one who told Frank
about you and Akley.
I know.
But you didn't tell Akley about me.
I forced you into this in the first place.
I made my own choices.
What happens next?
There is no next.
In 24 hours, I'll be off this Hill
one way or the other.
Do you have a place to sleep?
Charlie.
Frank.
Did Isaacs send you?
No.
What do you want?
The only thing that any of us wants.
What do you want from me?
Your help.
With Thin Man.
Thin Man is dead.
Then we'll bring it back to life.
You'll imagine a way.
You did the best you could, Reed.
But your bomb won't run on imagination.
You don't have to do this.
Just talk to Oppenheimer.
Tell him why the gun model won't work.
By the time the plutonium gets here,
you will look like a goddamn hero.
It's already here.
It's in the metallurgy lab.
Oppenheimer's office arranged
an accelerated delivery.
It appears you still have a friend on this Hill.
We both have blood on our hands.
If the Army finds out what happened here,
you and I are gonna end up
in the brig together.
But not if we make a unified front.
This project won't survive without us.
So we talk to Robert tonight,
together.
We let him know that implosion
is the only way forward.
You'd work with me?
If it gets us there before the Germans,
I will work for you.
Reed, in a few months,
this won't be about burn rates
and shock waves and supercompression.
It'll be about advising
the Army and the White House
on how to use the most powerful weapon
in the history of mankind.
And I think you and I both know
I don't belong in a room with the President.
Come on.
Let's go to the metallurgy lab.
Frank.
What would you have done
if you thought that
implosion might not work?
Let it go.
Six months from now,
all anyone's gonna remember
is that we built it.
Reed!
Reed!
Ripped By mstoll