Manhattan (2014–2015): Season 1, Episode 7 - The New World - full transcript

Previously on Manhattan...

We're about to have
our very own plutonium factory.

If our colleagues don't wipe

the Confederate States
off the face of the Earth.

You leave for Tennessee tomorrow morning.

I just saw Charlie
this morning at the gate.

With Helen Prins and a mountain of luggage.

Who is Helen Prins?

Hope you're not too lonely,

all by yourself on that business trip.

I should have brought a book.



You've got a busy day, Mr. Ellis.

If it would be helpful,
I can walk our guests through the plants.

Compartmentalization, Theodore.

I don't think Washington would like that.

But I could use some coffee.

It's Private Dunlavey, right?

Don't pretend you know anything about me

just because you put a bullet
through my dad's mathematician.

You know, I've seen you before.
I think we're neighbors.

Ah. What a small town.

- Music.
- That's right, music.

The reactor will be
fully operational within a day.

We gave you a list of 22 major hazards
to resolve before we go critical.

And the Army intends to give your list
the consideration it deserves.



- When?
- Just as soon as we're critical.

I'm surprised they bothered to call.

You look terrible, by the way.

'Cause you kept me up all night.

- You know you talk in your sleep?
- That's ridiculous. What did I say?

I have no idea.
You were speaking Flemish or whatever.

Dutch?

I banged on the wall.
Apparently, you can sleep through anything.

Why send us 2,000 miles if they're just
gonna ignore everything we tell them?

The US Army is a fickle mistress.

Excuse me. Excuse me.

Mr. and Mrs. Donaldson.

The reactor's just shy of criticality.

Twelve hundred
and forty seven channels loaded.

One more, and the curtain comes up.

I wouldn't take a bow just yet.

You'll be the one taking a bow.

For whatever reason,
you're still Uncle Sam's favorite nephew.

Honor of initiating criticality is yours.

- We're not interested.
- Suit yourself.

No, wait.

Gentlemen, after nearly a year at sea
braving perilous waters,

we pioneers, we fearless navigators
have arrived at the New World.

Mrs. Donaldson.

What?

Somebody's got to sail
into the history books.

It might as well be a woman for once.

Better hope the natives are friendly.

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If I die of embarrassment today,

do you promise
not to bury me in this uniform?

You look fine.

If you're gonna force me to go,
the least you can do is be honest.

You look like a leprechaun.

But you're our leprechaun.

It's all wrinkled.

- Why didn't Paloma iron it?
- 'Cause Paloma doesn't work for you.

And even if she did,
she hasn't shown up for two days.

Well, so much for my hygiene badge.

She's never even been late before.

I'm gonna go check on her.

What did you say?

I already have a day pass to Santa Fe.

I'll pop by
and make sure that Paloma is all right.

You can't even communicate
with those people.

Not that you would have noticed,

but I've actually picked up quite a lot
of Español in the past six months.

You know, there are some days

when Paloma's just about
the only person I have to talk to.

- I'll drive you.
- What?

You shouldn't go by yourself.
You could blow a tire out there.

- Shouldn't you be at work?
- Ah, just take an hour.

Glen can hold down the fort.

Writing in your diary?

Just taking notes for my report to Dr. Akley.

You know what your problem is, Charlie?

I'm stuck in Tennessee with the wrong wife?

You've got no sense of adventure.

You need to enjoy life's unpredictability.

I'll take predictable over reckless every time.

You and Mrs. Isaacs must have
a lot of fun in the bedroom.

Do you know
where they built the first nuclear pile?

Of course. Chicago.

Under the bleachers of the football stadium.

They were afraid
they'd take out half of Illinois.

Do you know what happened?

They changed the world
and toasted with martinis.

Gentlemen, we have reached the shore,
criticality!

Are you gonna stand around
licking your wounds,

or should we get a celebratory drink?

-It's 9:00 a.m.
Predictable.

Anyway, it's a dry town.

Why do you think
my suitcase was so heavy?

You packed a bottle of booze?

Four.

In case we have to bribe somebody.

That's not good.

Tell me again how it happened in Chicago.

- This is a level-one alert.
- Shit.

Proceed to your designated safety areas.

You're in early.

Past lunchtime in London.

And probably raining,
but I see you're not wearing a slicker.

I've been first in
every day this week actually.

Not that it does me any good.

Trying to make myself indispensable,
and who does Frank send to Site X?

- The girl with the pearl earring.
-Did you ever stop and think

he didn't send you because
you've made yourself indispensable?

Did Frank say that?

Glen, well, is it true?

The opposite of a fact is a falsehood,

but the opposite of one profound truth
may well be another profound truth.

What does that mean?

I don't know. I haven't had my coffee yet.

Hello.

I'm sorry. I knocked. Nobody answered.

I'll buy it, whatever you're selling.

I work at the switchboard.

That's a criminal waste of beauty.

Face like that,
you belong on the prow of a ship.

Um...

Is this building 12?
I have a telephone message for Helen Prins.

She's not here by any chance, is she?

No, no, afraid the canary
has flown the coop.

- Chesterfield?
- I don't smoke.

Do you know when Mrs. Prins might be in?

- Or is it Miss Prins?
- Doctor, actually.

You Americans hand out advanced degrees
like mash notes.

No, I wouldn't wait around
for Helen too long.

She's parlayed her looks
into a subsidized vacation

while the rest of us here toil in the dust.

So she's pretty, then?

Yeah, I suppose so,
in an irritating sort of way.

I hope it's not urgent.

- What?
- Your message.

Ch.

I could pass it on for you if you like
if you recite it very slowly.

This evening perhaps over a stiff drink?

Hey, what do we know
about the gamma emissions from...

Glen Babbit, may I introduce to you
the lovely and talented...

Mrs. Isaacs.

You shouldn't be in here.

Excuse me.

We removed the control rods
to reinitiate the reaction.

But you still don't know
what triggered the shutdown?

We'll sort it out when we get all the data.

- When will that be?
- Soon enough.

Anyway, we'll be up and running
in two shakes of a lamb's tail.

What's that?

Sir, the temperature is rising in the core.

- How fast?
- Five degrees a second.

Turn on the spigots.
Let's give it a cold shower.

Fuel slugs liquefy at 1,132 centigrade.

We could melt down
in less than five minutes.

Fail-safe countermeasures
prevent any core melt accident.

We told you there were risks.
Nothing about a nuclear reactor is fail-safe.

This is just a minor hiccup.

You've got to get
all these people out of here.

Son, I understand you got a PhD and
a healthy sense of your own importance,

but this isn't a college lecture hall.
This is a factory.

So why don't you step off the floor
and let the experts do their job?

You coming?

Hello?

- Hello, Paloma?
- She's not here. Let's go.

Hello?

Liza, what are you doing?

Isn't it Odd?

Paloma spends every day inside our home.

I've never even seen hers.

We shouldn't be here.

Actually, you know
what this place reminds me of?

Do you remember that little cabin
you used to take me to?

Before Callie.

Near Mt. Shasta.

You know, this is your kind of place.

Wood fires, starry skies,

outhouse.

I'll be in the car.

Paloma...

Oh, God. I'm sorry.

There's been a death.

- What's your evacuation plan?
- We got a population of 50,000.

I'm not gonna cause pandemonium
over a technical glitch.

You know, we've been here a year managing
this reactor just fine without you people.

It wasn't critical yet.

Something must have built up in the reactor.

What are the byproducts
of the fission reaction?

- That's not my domain.
- Is it yours?

Byproducts are someone else's job.

- Fine, whose?
- Whose?

Sinclair.

- Who is Sinclair?
- His assistant.

- Theodore's last name is Sinclair?
- So?

Dr. Theodore Sinclair?

You've got a nuclear physicist
carrying your water?

Dr. Sinclair, we had no idea
you were a physicist.

You're in good company.

- Now, if you'll excuse me.
- What? Where are you going?

Chicago, Anchorage, far away from here.

- We need your help.
- You geniuses came to save us, right?

You don't need a secretary
to tell you your business.

A secretary who was nominated
for the Forbes prize.

If I recall, I lost to you.

You can't leave. The core temperature
is nearly at 1,000 degrees.

Why do you think I'm leaving?

So that's it? You're jumping ship?

The last time I tried to help you,
Ellis barred me from the reactor room.

If they're determined to sink,
they can do it without me.

I have no idea why you stayed here
working for that hayseed,

but my guess is
you're proud of that reactor.

You're probably the only reason
it's running.

- It's not.
- Well, it could if you'd help.

You're gonna let
a year of your life melt down?

Let me guess.

Something's recapturing neutrons
faster than we can supply them.

And poisoning the reaction.

I warned them about this.

You're looking for an isotope
with a large neutron capture cross section.

At least 2.2 times 10 to the 6th barns.

There's iodine-135.

- Six percent of fission byproduct.
- And highly unstable.

It could be breaking down
into something else.

Xenon?

135 would have an enormous
neutron absorption cross section.

I've studied the xenon isotopes.
135 doesn't exist.

Neither did a continuous nuclear reactor
until today.

Sometimes the most crucial elements
in a reaction are pretty much invisible.

Sometimes they're barely allowed
in the building.

Oh, Paloma.

I'm very sorry for your loss.

Did you know her brother
was in the Pacific?

Did you know she had a brother?

She said that
they can't even give him a proper burial

because the military
didn't send the body back.

They never do.

But it means something different to them.

Their whole religion is based in this land
where their people are buried.

She has a crucifix on her wall.
I think she's a Catholic.

Yes, so are we technically.
Frank, all I'm trying to say is

this whole godforsaken place
is important to them.

Is everything all right?

I'll ask him.

She wants to know
if you have your security pass.

It means nothing,
the fact that he didn't tell you.

I'm sure it slipped his brain.

I asked Charlie explicitly.
He said he was alone.

Well, maybe the Blackshirts
wouldn't permit him to tell you.

Is this everything you brought?

There's no way
I'm going to Rose Akley's potluck.

I can't face those vultures.

Oh.

Self-pity is bad for your complexion.

They live for gossip.
They probably knew already

that Charlie was off gallivanting
with Hester Prins before I did.

She's a physicist.
She probably doesn't even own a mirror.

Supposedly, she's very fetching.

And you.

You are ravissante.

If your husband prefers hamburger to filet,

he deserves an empty stomach.

We're gonna enjoy a night
to ourselves. Hmm?

And my husband won't even notice I'm out.

Really? I've never heard a couple
more satisfied with one another.

Am I playing to the back of your house?

Ah.

Well, at least
my comédie de vaudeville is convincing.

You're acting?

Hmm.

Only get to the top of that hill
climbing alone.

Oh.

Maybe you can help me.

I don't...

The button.

Ugh.

Nope.

- No.
- I told you it wouldn't fit.

It's fit for no one but a grandmother.
Toss it in the bin.

You'll borrow something of mine.

Rose Akley won't stand
for anything too risqué.

Oh, we're not going to the potluck.

The pussy is away,

let us play.

And leave your wedding ring.

Mmm-hmm.

You still haven't told me what you need
with a truck full of day laborers.

I'm afraid that's above
your security clearance, Private.

You have an hour on the clock.

Sixty minutes,
and then I'm rounding them up.

Attention, please.
All vehicles entering the motor pool

must hold updated vehicle passes
for security purposes.

You want me to add more fuel
to a reactor that's already hot?

Taking fuel out is
what caused the temperature to rise.

So you believe that
this'll get rid of the neutron problem?

Your secretary believes it,
and I believe your secretary.

- How long will it take?
- A hundred slugs?

My guys will be loading till morning.

Enjoy the honeymoon suite.

I think their sacred land
is just over that hill.

Excuse me. So the shrine is over there?

But you'll have to wait here.

We won't be long.

They wanted me to stay with you.

You don't have the authority
to witness the releasing rite.

Thank you for your help.

Every soldier deserves a proper funeral.

Do you know Robert Frost, Professor?

My wife reads it.

"Before I built a wall I'd ask to know
What I was walling in or walling out

"And to whom I was like to give offense"

They say good fences
make good neighbors.

Maybe I just never met the right fence.

They don't listen to negro music
at the Brooklyn Country Club?

Brookline. I don't think we belong here.

You're not a possession.
You don't belong one place or another. Hmm?

Pardon me.

Isn't it fun?

Oh.

Couple beers for you ladies?

Oh, have you got anything harder?

- Still's cooking a little 80 proof.
- Ooh.

Probably scare you some up
if you save me a dance.

Sorry, it's very loud in here.

She's Anne. I'm Diane.

We're WACs. Just transferred to the Hill.

This could be my last drink.

Relax. Theodore was right
about the xenon-135.

The temperature is coming down.

All these people, two neutrons away
from kingdom come,

-and they don't even know it.
-You're being melodramatic, you know that?

The workers will cool down the pile,
and we'll try again.

We could go AWOL. Go home.

We can't fly back to the Hill
until the reactor is online.

I wasn't talking about the Hill.

So, I know you're not from Missouri.

Your family Still in Holland?

My mother, she's buried there.

My father fled to London. Hates the food.
End of story.

Yours?

Mom's in St. Louis.

Dad's in Jefferson City.

Inmate 7297 at the state penitentiary
last time I checked.

Why am I telling you that?

My wife doesn't even know.

What are the odds that we charbroil
the state of Tennessee tonight?

We're just cogs in a machine.

But say you're Oppenheimer.

You have power to redraw
the map of civilization forever

or put a match to it.

I found out I was pregnant last year.

Classics professor at Princeton.
Wanted to marry me.

Two weeks later,
Frank asks if I wanna become

the only female physicist at Los Alamos.

Classics wouldn't come,

so I laid down on a metal table
in a duplex in Teaneck.

That must have been a complicated choice.

When the war is over,
you'll get tenure wherever you want.

Even Theodore. He'll be fine.

Academia chooses a black man
over a woman every time.

I'll fight to get an adjunct job
at Podunk Junior College.

But I don't give a shit.

Because for however long the war lasts,

I get to do what I love.

If I were Oppie,

I'd wait for a year from now,
become the world's most famous scientist.

I'd pose for Life magazine,

and then I'd run for office.

To President Prins.

It's unlucky to toast with water.

We'll have to go to my room.

Oh, getting a little close.

Here you go.

Cooked up special just for you. 90 proof.

Ah, that's about 80 proof too much for me.

Oh, thought you were an Army girl.

Stop.

So, I say...

I tell Frank it'll never work
with a hollow sphere, never.

He says to me, "Well, if the Wrong brothers
can fly a plane..."

The Wright brothers.

- What?
- The Wright brothers.

You said the Wrong brothers.

I was wrong about the Wright?

Never in a million years
would I have thought

that something with a density of 19.5 grams
a cubic centimeter would compress.

I mean, you can't blow in a can of beer
without spattering some beer, right?

Speaking of which,

what's a girl got to do
to get a drink around here?

Oops.

Late night selling cookies?

We had rehearsal
for this stupid campout tomorrow.

We have to serenade the soldiers.

Well, you have a very nice singing voice.

I look like Shirley Temple.

I'm not a child.

Please don't make me do this anymore.

I'm afraid your mother's calling the plays
on this one.

It's your fault we're here in the first place.

Hey.

What are we looking at?

- I don't know.
- Oh. Yes, you do.

Taurus.

You remember how Taurus looked
from New Jersey?

You could barely even see Electra.

Look. Look how bright that is.

This isn't our home, Callie.

This whole neighborhood,

it's just cheap plaster and wood.

In a couple years,
we will be back in Princeton.

And this, this'll all be Indian land.

Like it never happened.

We just gotta get through it.

Any way we can.

We should use this yard more.

What?

I got you. I got you.

Oh.

It's okay. It's all right. Come on.

- It's all right.
- No.

Abby.

- We're just fine here. We're fine.
- Abby, come on.

- Don't worry about it.
- We're going home.

- No, I want to dance.
- Hey.

What did you give her?

I'm having...

Hate to interrupt you and the missus.

We filled every channel,
overpowered the xenon.

Temperature's constant now. Army says go.

You're still not gonna make any changes
to safety before you light her up?

Are you drunk?

Not nearly enough for this.

Go ahead.

I'm having fun.

Too much... Too much fun for one night.

I just want to dance, El.
Why won't you dance with me?

- Dance?
- Mmm-hmm.

Okay.

Primary cooling system
team leader reports status green.

Air valves 10 to 24 report all green.

Status normal.

All primary pumps report green.
Standing by.

I thought you weren't supposed
to be in here.

They told me I could come back

if I stick to my own business
and respect my superiors.

I assume you're responsible?

The least we could do.

Your friend asked why I stay here.

This is as close as I can get

to wherever you people are building
what we both know you're building.

I wish I could talk about it.

I can't get this past the censors.

But you can deliver it to Frank Winter.

I know his neutron reaction work.
He should see mine.

If he found a way to get a woman there,
he can find a way to get me.

No offense.

A rising tide lifts all boats.

Attention, all plant personnel
are required to pass through the safety zone

prior to entering or leaving the facility.

Mrs. Abby?

I'm gonna make a sandwich for Joey.
Are you hungry?

- What time is it?
- It's 12:00.

- Uh, I'm feeling a bit under the weather.
- Okay.

Oh.

Are you intentionally hitting every bump?

What's that noise?

What the hell?

- What are you doing?
- It's not me.

Something's wrong with the car.

Damn it.

Brand-new car.
Hasn't even needed an oil change.

Christ, fuel line is full of water.

Son of a bitch at the station
must have diluted the gas.

Oh, even a Cadillac won't run
if the fuel's no good.

Reactor fuel.

Nuclear cars? Wouldn't file a patent just yet.

We've been designing a bomb

based on plutonium
two geniuses cranked out with a cyclotron.

- So?
- So a reactor is different.

Iodine, xenon, who knows what else.
Chemical by-products. Water in the gas.

What if reactor plutonium isn't pure?

Frank always assumes the worst.
Implosion model could run on crude oil.

He's got my brothers
And my sisters

In his hands he's got my brothers
And my sisters

In his hands he's got my brothers
And my sisters

In his hands
He's got the whole world in his hands

He's got the sun and the rain

In his hands
He's got the moon and the stars

In his hands
He's got the wind and the clouds

In his hands
He's got the oceans and the seas

In his hands
He's got you and he's got me

In his hands
He's got the whole world in his hands

I saw you hanging around our house.

I'm on night patrol. We're supposed
to keep the neighborhood safe.

Is there a lot of suspicious activity
around my bedroom window?

Are you a peeping tom or something?

You flashed me.

Well, now it's your turn.

What?

Show me what's under your shirt,

or I'll scream.

Paloma, I...

Everything okay?

Well, she quit.

She said that after yesterday,

she wasn't comfortable
working for us anymore.

What did you say?

I told her vaya con Dios
and gave her 20 bucks.

What was I supposed to say?

Well, I'm sure we can get a replacement.

We never needed a maid in Princeton.

He wanted to kidnap the princess.

So Zeus disguised himself
as a giant white bull, Taurus,

and he carried her on his back
across the ocean to Crete

where he raped her basically,

and she never saw her family again.

How do you know so much?

We had a telescope in Princeton.

Where is that?

It's where I'm from,

where I'm going back to.

Not too soon, I hope.

- Thanks for the ride.
- Sure.

So, what happens now?

We go back to being sworn enemies?

Hair of the dog?

I got two bottles of whiskey
burning a hole in my suitcase.

No. Thank you.

- See you around.
- Yeah.

Well, well, well.

I would give you a hero's welcome,

but as you can see, I have my hands full
with this pile of work you left behind.

Is Frank here?

Hardly. No. No, it's just me.

Well, as long as we're both
stranded here in the desert,

how about a drop to drink?

Or we could skip the drink.

Hi.

How was wherever you were?

Not home.

I love you, Abby.

Oh, wow.

I have to go back to the office.

Now?

What's wrong?

I don't know yet.

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