Manhattan (2014–2015): Season 1, Episode 8 - The Second Coming - full transcript

Previously on Manhattan...

You've got a nuclear physicist
carrying your water?

Dr. Theodore Sinclair.

We had no idea you were a physicist.

Let me guess,
something's recapturing neutrons.

Reactor fuel.
What if reactor plutonium isn't pure?

Frank always assumes the worst.

You were married when I met you.

He wanted to start a new life.

He was naive.

What did you do at work today?



Trick question.

If somebody asked that on the phone,
I'd have to cut in.

Let us play.

You want me to sleep with...
They're all whores?

It's $2.50 for last night.

So what happens now?
We go back to being sworn enemies?

Well, as long as we're both stranded,
how about a drop to drink?

Or we could skip the drink.

I have to go back to the office.

What's wrong?

I don't know yet.

ID, please.

Hello?

Helen.



Well, look what Schrödinger's cat dragged in.

I spent the last two weeks
checking the alpha neutron reaction

of every element on the periodic table.

You want a gold star?

Beryllium, fluorine, boron, they're all fine.

Then I started to wonder,

how much plutonium-240
is mixed in with the 239?

Maybe we got a problem
with spontaneous fission.

It's 5:00 a.m.

I read a paper on the nuclear shell model.

It theorized that even-numbered isotopes

have a higher spontaneous fission rate
than odd.

I read that paper. I know the guy who wrote it.

Are you gonna invite me in?

Sure. You can whisper fission rates
in my ear.

Tell me secrets
you can't share with your wife.

I'll laugh at your jokes,
and you'll loosen your tie.

Maybe we could have a drink,
see what happens.

Darn. I'm fresh out of whiskey.

Who was that, a Christmas caroler?

- No, just a soldier looking for a good time.
-Hmm.

Operator.

This call will be monitored
for your protection.

Hello? Is anyone there?

Ripped By mstoll

Anyone heard of Stephen Blackpool?

What about Bill Sikes?

Crosley, you must know some of these guys.

Allow me to hazard a guess.
Is Wilkins Micawber on the list?

- Uh, right here.
- Yep.

He a friend of yours?

He emigrated to Australia
to embark upon a new life.

Unshackling himself
from the chains of his own history.

Well, then how did he wind up

in the British delegation
to the Manhattan Project?

He didn't. It's a codename.

They all are.

Invented by Charles Dickens
a century ago. No?

So they know
how to choose pretentious pseudonyms.

Let's hope that
they know something about physics.

A British scientist is worth two Americans.

Two-point-two, to be precise.
It's just like converting kilos into pounds.

Your countrymen are bringing
quite a dowry with them.

More than two years of research.

They've had an atomic program
since Hitler was in art school.

If we can recruit them,
we'll finally have a fighting chance.

They've got to give us at least one Brit
for implosion.

Oppenheimer barely tolerates our existence.

You really think he's gonna up
and hand us Nicholas Nickelby?

Oppenheimer's not going
to hand us anything.

He's letting the Brits choose
which group they join.

No offense, but who's going
to choose this group over Thin Man?

The Brits had 30 scientists
working on implosion the past year.

They did?

All we have to do is show them
how far we've gotten on these test shots,

and they'll come running.

Frank, if you'll accept the advice of a native,

there is an art
to seducing a proper Englishman.

Crosley's right.

Akley's probably fattening them up
with filet mignon as we speak.

Crosley, you must have shared a dorm room
at Eton with half of these guys.

Yeah, and shared a manservant at Oxford
with the other half.

Yeah, I suppose I could serve
as your cultural liaison.

I can find my own way out.

Not that you're not delightful company.

Isn't that Frank's wife?

Dr. Winter!

Dr. Winter?

I hope this isn't a hanging crime.

You can release the prisoner
into my custody.

Sir, she's un-credentialed.

She is a card-carrying member
of the Botanical Society of America.

I will see
that she doesn't blow up any bridges.

So what did you do to get sent upriver?

I made an appointment at the security office.

Most of us spend our off hours
avoiding the security office.

I don't have off hours or on hours.

Because I don't have a job
because the Army won't let me.

That doesn't sound so bad.

If I had a six-month furlough,
I'd catch up on my reading.

I wasn't looking for an intelligence post.

Apparently, I don't even have clearance
to laminate badges.

They say I failed my polygraph.

Did you tell them
you were thrilled to be here?

Let me look into it.

Don't bother.

I stopped believing in Christmas miracles
a long time ago.

Abby, where are you going?

I just punched out.

I switched to the early shift.

Can you punch back in?

What? No.
No, I'm taking a day trip to Santa Fe.

- You can shop for pottery tomorrow.
- No, I can't.

Santa Fe isn't going anywhere.
This is important.

I'm not shopping.

I know you won't approve,
but I'm going to see Mother and Daddy.

Your parents live in Massachusetts.

I got a letter.

They're going to a millinery convention
in Los Angeles on the California Limited,

and it stops in Santa Fe.

- I'm going to surprise them.
- Jesus, Abby.

I'm going to ride one stop, 72 minutes,

and then I will get off the train,
and I'll take the bus back to Santa Fe.

I know it's against the Army rules,
and I know we could get into trouble...

Fine.

Fine?

But before you go, I need you to arrange
an outgoing telephone call.

All right.

With no one listening.

Even you.

Just stay away from him.

No, Shirley, I'm not gonna discuss this
with you anymore.

I don't want you standing
under the mistletoe with that creep.

I need to cut in.

I need to make a call from this telephone
right now.

Here. Here's $18. Buy her a honey-baked ham.

Operator.

Charles Isaacs. I need an outside line.

Just a moment, please.

Is this the reactor building?

Put me through to Daniel Ellis' office.

- Hold for Mr. Ellis.
- No, no, no.

No, I need to speak
to his secretary, Theodore.

Tell him it's Mr. Donaldson calling.

Are you alone?

Nobody's monitoring this call.
We have exactly five minutes.

There is something
that I need you to do for me.

They don't look like
they've been ravaged by a light breeze,

much less the Blitz.

Englishmen never let a little thing
like the apocalypse rumple our suits.

This may be harder than I thought.

Akley seems to have quite a head start on us.

Who's the ringleader?

We get him, the rest will fall like dominoes.

The bloke with the cigar
is Philip Bantliff,

but he barely got a second from Cambridge
in Statistical Mechanics.

He can't balance an egg on a spoon,
much less opposing thermodynamic forces.

That's Brooks Matthews.
He's a third-rate experimental hack.

I'm sorry to say this.
They sent us Man United instead of Arsenal.

Speak American.

The A-team stayed home.

What about him?

- We don't want him.
- Who is he?

- His name is Hogarth.
- William Hogarth?

He started the British
implosion project. He's the guy we need.

You know him?

We're acquainted, yeah.
But believe me, Frank...

Well, good. We'll all have high tea.

Can you show me your big smile
for Grandma and Grandpa?

Big smile. Big, big, big. Good.

Okay. Ready?

No, we said no disturbances.

It's a special delivery.

Ta-da!

- Abigail!
- Daddy. hi!

What in God's name are you doing here?

A month with barely a phone call,
now you scare us half to death.

- I'm so sorry.
- Come sit with your bubbe.

- You look beautiful, sweetheart.
- Aw.

- Such a boy.
- Have a seat.

Have you had an easy trip?

Joey, come here. Come here.

Miriam.

- Miriam.
- Come here.

It's okay.

Dr. Hogarth.

I'm Frank Winter.
Glad you made it across the Pond.

Yes, Dr. Winter.
Nice to put a face to the reputation.

Don't believe everything you hear.

Oh, no, I've read your work.

We're delighted to be here,
to be anywhere other than there.

I believe, um...

I believe you know Paul Crosley.

- Dr. Hogarth.
- What a long time it has been, Paul.

Why don't we catch up
over dinner tonight?

Lovely.

You got a call at the switchboard, Chuck.

Must have been a prank.
Guy said he was Christopher Columbus.

- Did he leave a message?
- Yeah, he said to tell you 400,000.

Is he expecting you?

Dr. Isaacs?

It won't work.

Thin Man. I just got a message

- from Theodore Sinclair.
- Who?

It's not gonna work.
Not with reactor-bred plutonium.

Sit down. Sit down.

Charlie, 600 scientists vetted the math.
Four of them have Nobel medals at home.

But their numbers don't account
for reactor plutonium.

It's not pure. It contains Pu-240.

We'll survive a little cork in our wine.

I read a paper once.
It theorized that even-numbered isotopes

have higher spontaneous fission rates
than odd.

- Whose paper?
- So I got Sinclair

to test a sample from the reactor.

- As long as it's under 300, we're fine.
- It's 400,000.

It'll pre-detonate. Like a bad fuse.

Why did you tell me?

Um... What?

Let's be honest with each other.

You don't really want
the project to succeed, do you?

I mean, you made that pretty clear
since the moment you got here.

So Why'd you tell me?

It's my job. I made a commitment.

There are higher commitments.

You could have sat back, stayed quiet,
watched Thin Man fail.

And let Heisenberg beat us to the punch?

If we fall short
with the combined brain power

of all the Allies and a floating line of credit
from the United States government,

isn't there a chance
that Werner Heisenberg will fall short, too?

Of course.

And if we fail, and Heisenberg fails,
it'll never get built.

We could all go home.

You could have kept quiet.

But instead,

you walked into my office,
and you sounded the alarm.

I thought you should know.

And now I do.

And now we'll reorganize all of our resources

toward finding a solution.

And when we do drop the bomb,
and make no mistake, we will drop it,

all those lives will be on your head, Charlie.

But now I know
That 20 centuries of stony sleep

Were vexed to nightmare
by a rocking cradle,

And what rough beast,
its hour come round at last,

Slouches towards Bethlehem to be born?

- Sir?
- You should have kept your mouth shut,

you goddamn, ungrateful,
conniving little Jew.

Dr. Isaacs?

Never mind.

It can wait.

So this is Aunt Esther's family?

Esther's on my side, sweetheart.

The Perlmans are your mother's cousins
back in Minsk.

The ones with the textile factory?

We thought they'd all made it out,

but that letter arrived
just before we left home.

Malka and the little girl got left behind.

The postmark was from June.

Now they say
the whole ghetto has been liquidated.

What kind of word is that?
It's like a sale at Filene's.

But what were they doing
in the ghetto to begin with?

Aren't they very well-to-do?

We've called half of Washington
trying to get information.

You're always warning me
about jumping to conclusions.

I'm sure your cousins
will turn up sooner or later.

Probably in a shallow grave.

Little corn has big ears.

I hope he's listening.

Children need to know
what kind of world this is

that treats good Jews like poultry.

Your father sheltered you too much.

Now let it go, Miriam.

You could never stand any ugliness.

Forgive me if I'm not interested

in gloomy gossip
about people I've never even met.

You haven't seen me or Joey in six months,

and this is how
you want to spend our time together?

Now it's our fault that we haven't seen you?

Joey's going to be in a holiday pageant.

He's playing the little lamb in the manger.

He's Jewish, Abigail.

Well, so was Jesus.

And I know you won't believe it, Daddy,
but Charlie's been an absolute star at work.

And what is his work exactly?

You know I can't talk about it.

But a lot of very smart
and important people seem to think

that Charlie is going to help end the war.

Maybe Charlie can help us.

He's got such an important government job,

maybe he can find out
where they've sent Malka.

Arrange some kind of special visa,
I don't know what.

- No.
- We'll pay whatever it costs.

My love, my love,
there is nothing that Charlie can do.

We've got 18 minutes till Albuquerque.

What, you're getting off?

We have a suite
at the Huntington in Pasadena.

Daddy, I don't know.
If they even knew I was here...

Open up, please.

Mrs. Isaacs, would you please come with me?

Now.

Mrs. Isaacs, this is a serious infraction.

I would think a switchboard operator

would know security regulations,
chapter and verse.

Absolutely, sir, I do.

Well, then you see my confusion.

A day pass to Santa Fe
is not a ticket to California.

I wasn't going to California, sir.
Just to Albuquerque.

Mrs. Isaacs, if you and your husband
are having a marital dispute...

No, it's nothing like that, sir.
Colonel Cox, I...

There has been...

There has been a terrible tragedy.

I don't know if you heard
what happened in Minsk.

I have family there, and my cousin Malka...

Well, she's really more like a sister to me.

Now, now.

I know it was wrong, sneaking off like that,

but I was trying to help my family
through a difficult time,

and I'm prepared to accept my punishment.

- There have to be consequences.
- Poor Malka.

I used to send her hand-me-downs
every year.

I guess there's no need for those dresses
wherever the Nazis have taken her.

It's just so hard not knowing.
If only we had some answers.

All right. All right, listen,

given the circumstances,
I think we can let bygones be bygones.

Go home and get some rest, Mrs. Isaacs.

Thank you, sir.

Three-martini lunch?

Principal wants to see you in his office.

The St. Louis Kid.

We missed you today at lunch with the Brits.

Lunatics.

You all right?

You look like you just saw
the Ghost of Christmas Future.

I think I'm coming down with something.

I used to get the flu every winter recess.

Here.

Kills the germs.

You wanted to see me, sir?

You know what I do for a living, Charlie?

I'm in upper management.

I spent 15 years at a university,
dreaming about invisible particles,

and suddenly, they handed me the keys
to a world war.

Explain that.

There's gonna be some changes around here.

'Cause the Brits are joining Thin Man?

No, this is bigger than
a bunch of shell-shocked theoretical men.

Now that the reactor's up and running,

I'm gonna be back and forth
between Chicago, DC,

God knows where else.

We're through designing. It's time to build.

The design is locked?

Now, I know that you've had your differences

with some of the rest of the group,
Lancefield in particular.

That's gonna have to change.

I'm appointing a number two

to mind the shop,
get the Brits up to speed while I'm away.

Now I mentored Tom Lancefield in Chicago

and have watched him become
a fine physicist in his own right.

He's the natural choice.

But he's not my choice, Charlie. You are.

Sir?

Promise me
you're gonna work on your people skills,

or you'll wind up like Frank Winter.

Don't get your hopes up.
Title doesn't come with a raise.

I'm not sure what to say.

Well, say that you won't make me look bad

in front of the President of the United States.

You have your hand on the rudder,
a staff of 600 at your beck and call.

You just got a promotion.
It wouldn't kill you to smile.

Can I think about it?

I'm not sure I'm management material.

You know, I'm getting a little tired
of this waffling, Charlie.

Desperate times require men of conviction.

You have till tomorrow
to decide if you're one of them.

They say he was antisocial
and knew nothing about people.

Typical of a Cambridge man.

He did die a virgin, after all.

But I've always believed Isaac Newton
to be a humanist in his way.

The law of universal gravitation
applies to men, just as to objects.

Consider the two of us.

Yes, quite a coincidence.

Oh, no, Paul. You and I after so many years

have been drawn together
once more by the cosmos for a reason.

Dr. Akley plied me with an 1896 Margaux

which he'd been holding in his collection
since before the war.

But then, that's mere table wine
in Lord Crosley's cellar, isn't it?

Lord Crosley?

He didn't tell you?

George Ill deeded his great grandfather

more land in Mayfair
than the Duke of Westminster.

- An exaggeration.
- Please.

A few well-placed fire bombs,

and your man here is sitting on the throne,
Dr. Winter.

I'll make sure and curtsey.

Ah.

Bring us the sweetest,
wettest bottle you have, love.

And let me know if you'd like me
to go down in your cellar to pick it out.

We have a very limited list, sir.

But I'll bring you the check.

Put it on Paul's tab.

Paul joined you at the National Physical Lab
after Oxford, correct?

First in his class.
How could I have turned him down?

His work was excellent,

but his company was beyond compare.

He used to regale my wife and family
with tales about,

what was it, Woburn Abbey?

You recall all those Christmases
you spent with us?

Still cleaning the foie gras out of my arteries.

- How is Mrs. Hogarth?
- Dead.

My condolences.

There was a time when I hoped
Crosley would take a shine to my daughter.

Do you think
maybe we should call it a night, gentlemen?

I, um... We have an early start.

A night cap.

There are a few things
we should discuss with Dr. Hogarth.

Perhaps Lord Crosley's right.

I have an 8:00 meeting with Dr. Akley
I should prepare for.

One drink.

Dr. Hogarth,

I'd like to talk to you
about your work on implosion.

I enjoyed getting to know
the Thin Man team today.

But it's been a long winter
for a lonely widower in Europe,

and there's one comfort
Akley declined to point me towards.

Sit back and relax.
There are no wrong answers.

Stanley Church.

Do I know you?

You interviewed a woman
maybe nine months back, Liza Winter.

Denied her clearance.

I'm prohibited from
discussing security procedures.

Yeah, I figured you'd say that.
Look, I wouldn't bother you,

but this is a good woman
with something to offer.

I think you've made
a recommendation in error.

I don't make recommendations.

I interpret physiological data
and pass the findings on to my superiors.

You've never passed along a false positive?

- If you'll excuse me, I have to get home.
- What for?

Not like you have a wife waiting up for you.

I'm sorry?

We have an acquaintance in common.

Corporal Hayden from the ordnance division.

He mentioned you a while back.
Thought we'd have a lot to talk about.

A couple of middle-aged bachelors.

I'm not sure of what you're implying.

I think we're all entitled to a secret or two,
don't you?

Now, listen, you do me a favor.

Pull Liza Winter's file,
give that physiological data a second look.

I don't know what you think she lied about...

She registered a fail on question 17.

What's question 17?

"Have you ever received treatment
or been institutionalized

"due to a disorder of the mind?"

How are your mother
and His Highness, the Hat King?

Still trying to shake me from the family tree?

They're good.

How was work?

Good.

Be 1960 before these noodles cook.

You're a nasty Yankee whore,
aren't you?

Sounds like
he'll make a great addition to the team.

Better have a suitcase full
of super-compression calculations for us.

If he's been working on implosion
for 18 months,

I bet he's got designs
for a working model by now.

All right, that's it. I've heard enough.

You let me know when Big Ben strikes 12.

Americans, so delicate.

Pussy got your tongue?

Bring me another.

I'm having such a delightful time
with the implosion group tonight.

And Lord Crosley will happily pay,
won't you?

Not exactly Suleiman's harem, is it?

This is the entire menu?

What a wholesome
and unsullied creature you are.

Thank you.

Let us correct that immediately.

- Isn't that Fritz's lady friend?
- Jeannie.

Poor Fritz.

I'm going.

Perhaps the three of us could
get along together.

Experience...

Not her. You can't have Jeannie.

I'm working, Crosley.

In your presence, Paul,
I believe I can have anything I want.

Not her.

Here, Jeannie, take this, please.
Take the night off.

The slave would do well
not to poke at the lion.

Oh.

She named him Henry, by the way.

Wanted your son to have a decent name
before she gave him away.

Little Henry never did have a title, did he?

What was your father's again, Paul?

Best ironmonger in Liverpool?

Does that pass to a child out of wedlock?

Lucy thought you'd return eventually.

But I should have known
you'd wash up on American shores.

What's the problem here?

Your man is a confidence artist, Frank.

He conned my daughter
into believing he was 1,000 things he isn't,

most importantly,
that he was the kind of man

who doesn't flee England
when he fathers a child.

All right, night's over.
You can both settle this when you're sober.

No, no, no, this is just fine.

And by the way, Dr. Winter,

no one from the delegation
is joining your group.

Not one of the men.

Dr. Hogarth, please.

Whatever my mistakes,
you lived through the bombings.

You know implosion is the way forward.

- You have to help us.
- No, I do not.

You would let Hitler win this war...

No, I do not know implosion
is the way forward.

It's a fantasy, a dream.

Not with super-compression
and a solid sphere.

We are just months away
from a fully functioning...

Theory which we've already disproved.

If you spent more time working,
less time groping Army girls...

There's that American hubris.

My Christmas gift to you,
I'll send over our research.

When you examine our papers,

you'll find that shockwave control
is mathematically impossible.

I imagine you're already fighting
with propagation.

Soon you'll see the chaos is untamable.

Implosion is like a man.
The closer you look,

the more you'll realize
just how little you know about him.

Even if your group weren't
full of misfits and liars, Dr. Winter,

a thousand geniuses
couldn't master implosion

in a thousand millennia.

Get this limey prick out of here.

- So, you traded away the afternoon shift?
- Hmm.

I thought you and Frenchie
were attached at the hip.

I prefer to spend afternoons with my son.

Well, she asked me to give this back to you.

Dr. Hogarth is right about me.

None of that's my business.

Doesn't mean he's right about implosion.

Just because they couldn't do it, Frank,
doesn't mean you can't.

The problem with us Brits,
we are too beholden to our past.

You Americans, you barely have one,
so it can't hold you back.

There's a reason you invented
things like motor cars and airplanes.

Hubris cuts both ways, Frank.

But it doesn't control shockwaves.

Hogarth sent over his papers this morning.

There's a boy out there somewhere,

and, um,

I'm a part of him, or he's a part of me.

I thought I had spent the last two years
trying to pretend he didn't exist.

Maybe it's knowing that he does exist

is what brought me here in the first place.

I know I'll probably never meet him,
and if I did, he'd probably hate me.

But, um...

I don't know. I...

I suppose I still want to make him proud.

Ch.

- Ma'am, I'm sorry to bother you.
- So much for bygones.

If you're here to arrest me,
I'm going to have to resist.

My son's asleep, and I don't have a sitter.

No, ma'am,
the colonel doesn't know I'm here.

May I come in?

How can I help you, Private?

Cole Dunlavey.

I knew a Jewish fella back in Iowa,
Mr. Kripke.

Used to hire me
to paint his fence every summer.

Paid me $10 just for a day's work.

When my dad got sick, Mr. Kripke would
help us get the crop in the silo.

Well, he sounds like a lovely man.

I don't like to eavesdrop,

but I heard your conversation
with the colonel.

I know how important family is
in the Hebrew faith.

Hmm.

I file the intelligence reports.

This is everything we have
on the situation where your people are.

You said that not knowing
was the hardest part.

Hmm.

The Bible says that the Lord rained fire
on Sodom and Gomorrah.

I don't know what he's gonna rain on Berlin.

- Hey.
- Hey.

Are you putting an addition on the house?

Frank had them drawn up last year
as a Christmas gift.

Plans for a greenhouse back in Princeton.

A woman must have money
and a room of her own.

I have my shack.

But I've given up on the paycheck.

Frank's not here.

Yeah, I just left him at the office.

But about that paycheck,

you can pick up your security badge
in the morning.

They'll find you a job.

The whole thing was
just a misunderstanding.

- Really?
- Yeah.

It turns out the polygraph machine was
on the fritz that day.

You didn't have to do that, Glen.

In fact, I asked you not to.

Did they show you my file?

It's none of my business.

I see.

You're all right now.

Aren't you?

If I had known,
I would never have brought Frank into this.

I never would have dragged you
to the middle of nowhere.

Yes, you would have.

Frank knew, and here we are.

But I'll take the job. Thank you.

Because here we are.

Did you eat already?

My cousins are dead.

What?

The Perlmans on my mother's side.

Jesus.

I'm sorry.

Were you close?

No, I never met them.

If I had seen them on the street,
I would have walked right past.

Were they in an accident or...

No, they... They were in Europe.

I don't see
how they could have escaped with a toddler.

Did you know that in Minsk
the Germans allot each Jew

one-and-a-half square meters
of living space?

The adults, I mean.

The children were marched into the forest
and buried alive.

Where'd you hear that?

There are more
than a million people missing.

Like they just vanished
off the face of the Earth.

I don't even know
how to think about a number like that.

You shouldn't be thinking
about that stuff, Abby.

Why? Because I'm too fragile
to stomach the truth?

No, because there's no point
getting worked up

when there's nothing you can do about it.

What did Dr. Akley say about the problem?

What problem?

Whatever you were talking about
with that man in Tennessee.

- You listened in on the call?
- Charlie, if something's wrong...

Everything's fine.
Whatever you heard, forget it.

You're right.

You're right. I can't do anything
about what's happening over there,

but you can.

There's something I need to tell you.

There's a problem with Thin Man.

What?

The spontaneous fission rates
of plutonium-240,

they're higher than 239.

Rates are always higher
in even-numbered isotopes.

I know. You wrote a paper about it.

I told you
I read everything you ever published.

It's 400,000.

Akley's bomb will pre-detonate.

We're dead in the water.

We are, too.

What?

Implosion won't work either.

Not without an army of scientists.

So what are we going to do about it?

Ripped By mstoll