Salem (2014–2017): Season 1, Episode 2 - The Stone Child - full transcript

John investigates what's really going on in Salem as the fear of witches living in the town escalates. Mary puts her plans into action.

Previously on "Salem"...

Isaac: Saw a dusty fella
walking into town today.

I couldn't believe my eyes.

It was John Alden.

Mary: You told me he was dead!

John: This is my vow.

I will come back for you.

Tituba: What's John Alden

compared to all that lies before you?

Mary: [Screams, gasps]

Giles: You come back for
one thing and one thing only.



She's Mary Sibley now.

And she's the richest woman in Salem.

Mary: Time for your feeding.

- George: [Grunts]
- Mary: [Grunting]

[Stomach gurgling]

George: [Groans]

Giles: Precious Salem caught
up in a stinking witch panic.

Cotton: The devil was never going to let

a promised land be built
here without a fight!

Man: [Screams]

Anne: I'm not afraid of the dead,

nor the living for that matter.

Woman: [Screams]

John: What is it that these witches want?



Cotton: A country of their own.

Mary: I waited for you. Years and years.

Giles: I was there the night you did it.

Mary: It's all that I have left of him.

[Screams]

Giles: That was John Alden's baby.

Are you gonna tell him, or am I?

Cotton: She will show us the witch.

Mercy: [Screams]

Mary: Who saw us?

Mr. Hale: And I will tell you again.

I do not know.

Mary: The witch hunt has begun,

and we will be running the trials.

Cotton: Are you guilty...

Or not?

Giles: [Groans]

Cotton: Most of those who
have ever lived are now dead.

All but very few must surely burn in hell.

We may someday over-people
this vast, empty new land,

but I fear that we have
already over-peopled hell.

So that, as it is written in Isaiah,

"hell hath enlarged herself."

And is now called...

America.

I have been in Salem a fortnight,

and I have already hung three witches.

Is this the price of
building heaven on earth?

I have laid my hands upon
his most deadly servants...

The witches.

Or have I?

I obeyed every one of your instructions.

I even pressed a possibly
innocent man to death.

I still taste his
spattered blood on my lips.

Please, lord, I beg thee.

Give me a sign.

[Squawks]

["Cupid carries a gun" plays]

♪ Pound me the witch drums ♪

♪ witch drums ♪

♪ pound me the witch drums ♪

♪ pound me the witch drums ♪

♪ the witch drums ♪

♪ better pray for hell ♪

♪ not hallelujah ♪

.:Sync, corrected by caioalbanezi:.
.:web dl sync snarry:.

[Flies buzzing]

[Wood creaks]

Isaac: [Grunts]

Forgive me.

[Buzzing continues]

[Birds squawk]

Gloriana: Have you lost your lust for life?

Don't tell me that you are full up.

Cotton: Perhaps some
holes cannot be filled.

Gloriana: Really, my lord?

Which holes are those?

Cotton: The ones we dig for ourselves.

Gloriana: What weighs
so heavy on you, love?

Cotton: By the taste
of it, my father's boot.

Gloriana: [Laughs]

You're a big boy now.

Grown men don't fear their fathers.

Cotton: You don't know my father.

Gloriana: Everyone knows your father.

Cotton: Precisely.

Woman: No, you can't go in there!

Cotton: Captain Alden!

No! No! No!

Gloriana: Leave him alone!

John: Get out.

This is how you wipe the
innocent blood off your hands?

- On the ass of a whore?
- Cotton: Giles Corey never pled!

Ergo, we don't know he was innocent!

[Screams]

John: Give me one good reason

why I don't put you in the ground.

Cotton: Sir, I cannot.

I've been expecting the
angel of death since I was 10.

I didn't see him myself,
but I knew from the look

in grandfather's eyes just before he went,

the angel bore a most terrible face.

Quite like yours, I expect.

So come, angel.

You find me fully prepared

to burn like a human candle for eternity

in a pit of burning black
tar with all the other damned.

John: Burning black tar?

I thought hell was fire.

Cotton: A common misconception.

Hellfire burns like fire

but is the consistency
of thick black pitch.

What?

What have you seen?

John: Not sure.

Hell on earth, maybe.

Get dressed.

I've got something to show you.

[Horse neighs]

Cotton: Where are we going?

John: The woods.

Cotton: To what end?

John: You have the moral
compass of a meat ant,

but you do know something about witches.

I saw them.

Just like mercy Lewis described them.

Animal heads and all.

Mr. Hale: Captain Alden.

As magistrate of Salem, I
hereby place you under arrest

for violent remonstrations
in the common last night.

You shall face charges of
disorderly, riotous mischief

and incitement to mayhem.

John: Talk to Isaac.
He'll show you the way.

What are you gonna do, Hale?

Press me to death just
like you did to Giles Corey?

Mr. Hale: I suggest you take
that up with your new friend,

the reverend, as it
was his doing, not mine.

Away with him.

[Grunting]

Mary: You've had a busy night.

When were you planning to tell
me you'd arrested John Alden?

Before or after you hang him?

Mr. Hale: The man is a loose cannon.

He threatened the selectmen
in front of half the town.

Mary: If he's a problem, he's my problem.

Mr. Hale: With all due respect,

he could become a problem for us all.

Mary: My husband controls
Salem, and I control him.

You do nothing without my say.

With all due respect.

Mr. Hale: Yes, ma'am.

Mary: Concern yourself
with one thing, Mr. Hale...

Find out who broke our circle.

Head back to the woods.

Find the seer.

His eyes were there.

Isaac: It was right
here we saw the witches.

Cotton: Captain Alden saw all this, too?

Isaac: Yeah.

And something else...

Something I ain't seen before.

They stabbed a bird...

A white dove.

I killed more than a few pigeons myself,

and a dove ain't nothing
but a prettier pigeon,

but this felt different.

I can't say why...

Like it was the saddest
thing in the world...

To bleed a dove to death.

Just the one dove.

Cotton: Of course. Like a witch's cauldron.

Isaac: A tree? Like a cauldron?

And folks say Isaac's touched.

Cotton: Got you.

[Gasping]

[Panting]

Militia man: Mrs. Sibley.

- Mary: Open it.
- Militia man: Yes, ma'am.

Mary: Now leave.

Salem still hangs men for what you did...

Threatening the selectmen.

John: Nothing stopping them.

Mary: I'd never let that happen.

John: And where was that compassion

when Giles Corey was
being crushed to death?

Mary: You're free to go.

But the selectmen urge you to
leave Salem and never come back.

John: The selectmen...

Or Mary Sibley?

Mary: I am trying to save you.

You don't belong here.

John: And neither do you.

Mary: I told you... I can't leave.

John: Well, last time I checked,

your husband was in no shape to stop you.

Mary: [Breathes deeply]

Your confidence astounds me, Captain.

But did you imagine that
I would welcome you back

with tears of joy?

How incredibly naive you are.

You're too late.

It's over.

I don't want you here.

John: I almost believe you.

Mary: Get out of Salem... now...

Or you will hang.

Beggar girl: Sir.

[Gasps]

[Girls murmuring]

[Screaming]

Bridget: All right, you can do this.

Hannah: [Gasps] I can't do it.

- It's too big.
- Bridget: Yes, you can.

I have gotten bigger
babies out of smaller girls.

Mary: Not this baby out of this girl,

not until she tells us
the name of the father.

Bridget: Mrs. Sibley, excuse me,

but this baby has got to come out.

Mary: Salem won't shoulder another bastard.

Anne: [Scoffs]

Mary: What are you doing here?

Anne: My friend Bridget teaches me

the wonders of God's own creation.

- Hannah: [Groaning]
- Bridget: Hannah,

will you tell us the name of your man?

Hannah: I cannot, Miss.
He'll lose his apprenticeship.

He ain't allowed to
marry for some years yet.

Mary: That is his problem, not Salem's.

Hannah: [Groaning]

Bridget: Mary, you're a woman.

You were even a poor one once.

But now you're Mary Sibley.

For once, use your
position among the puritans

to help one of your own.

Hannah: [Groaning]

Mary: No man is worth it, child,

or if he is, he would
rather you tell us his name

than die trying to protect him.

Hannah: [Screams, grunts]

Billy!

It was Billy bailyn,
the Cooper's apprentice.

Bridget: Just relax. Stay with me.

- Hannah: [Groaning]
- Bridget: All right, Hannah.

I want you to give me a big push.

Hannah: [Screams]

Bridget: Almost there!

- Hannah: [Screaming]
- Bridget: That's it.

Big push. Well done!

Mary: [Gasps]

Bridget: Keep going.

- Hannah: [Moaning]
- [Baby crying]

Bridget: That's it.

Oh!

Hannah: [In distance] Help me!

[Baby crying]

Woman: It's going to be all right.

Excuse us, madam.

Come on, now. In you go.

[Bird calling]

Mr. Hale: [Panting]

[Gasps]

Petrus, really.

You ought to wear a little bell.

Petrus: And you, Magistrate, need none.

We heard you the moment you left the road.

[Sniffing]

Come.

Mr. Hale: I had a bit of
trouble finding the place.

Seemed to recall you having
been farther north last time.

Petrus: Perhaps I was, magistrate Hale.

Eyes are for seeing,

not for being seen.

That's why your kind come to me.

You find me when you need me.

So, what do you need?

Mr. Hale: Someone broke our
circle in the woods last night.

We need to know who saw us.

Petrus: Ah. Full buck moon?

Uh-huh.

You were there that night,
weren't you, little friend?

Time to wake up.

What did you see?

[Blows]

[Clicking tongue]

[Blows]

Tell Mary Sibley we will find out

who was in the woods last night,

but it takes time.

[Indistinct whispering]

Woman: Lord...

[Speaking indistinctly]

Mary: Have our prayers been answered?

Has the poor girl improved?

Bridget: We should not
be praying for God to do

what we can accomplish ourselves.

Mercy Lewis is not suffering
the work of witches or demons,

but some natural malady
or fever of the mind,

yet she hangs here like an animal.

Mary: She broke her
ropes three times at home,

not to mention her father's arm.

She bit off her own finger

- and tears at her flesh.
- Mercy: [Groans]

Mary: Mercy must be protected
from herself and we from her.

There's no better place to do
both than in the house of God.

Bridget: I think the selectmen
are exploiting her condition

to create fear in Salem.

This so-called "witch panic"

is yet another attempt by
the puritans to control us.

Mary: Miss Bishop, please...

Be careful of the words that you speak.

To less sympathetic ears,

they could sound like the
words of the devil himself.

Bridget: I'm... sorry
if my words were harsh.

Sometimes, my tongue runs ahead of my mind.

Mary: It's understandable.

These are trying times for all of us.

Mercy: [Groans, sighs]

Mary: [Sniffles]

Tituba: Careful, mistress.

Your tears may sour the milk.

Mary: There was a time

that I might have suckled
something other than a toad.

Tituba: It doesn't matter now.

What matters is, who will be next?

The grand rite has begun,

and the earth cries out for innocent blood.

Mary: I know well my duties.

Attend to your own.

Tituba: Your duties and
seeing that you fulfill them

is my duty, like it or not.

Mary: I've made my choice.

But we need more than another victim...

We need a sign.

And I know just the
person to deliver us both.

Our Cotton Mather is quite
obsessed with signs...

Wrote chapter and verse on them.

But there is one sign they
dread more than any other.

The sign of a monstrous birth.

Tituba: You would do such a thing?

Mary: No, I have no need

to pluck a single leaf
from the tree of life

when a leaf is already dead on the branch.

There's a girl out there

who carries death inside.

I could smell the baby,

floating dead and malformed
in her mother's womb.

Don't weep for her.

She never tasted a single bitter
breath of life's betrayals.

Yet her brief flicker of life

will burn like a comet over earth

when I make of her a sign...

Of the doom that's come upon Salem.

Do you know what I enjoy most, George?

Turning the good souls of
Salem against one another,

like the rabid dogs you trained them to be.

George: [Grunts] The only
thing that keeps me alive

is the look on your face

when John Alden finds
out what you really are

and throttles you with his bare han...

[Muffled screaming]

[Choking]

Mary: Just think, George.

I need only kill nine more innocents

before full hunter's moon, and
my grand rite is complete.

- Kitty: [Wailing]
- Mab: Shh!

Shh! Shush now, Kitty.

If lying with old fat Fred didn't kill you,

delivering his child won't, neither.

Kitty: [Crying]

Mab: Shh!

Kitty: [Grunting]

[Screaming]

Mab: Shh! Shh!

Kitty: No! It feels like
it'll tear me in two.

- [Crying]
- Mab: It's almost time.

Go fetch Bridget.

Shh!

Kitty: [Moaning]

[Door hinges creak]

Gloriana: [Gasps] Miss Bridget!

I was just coming to get you.

Bridget: I heard poor Kitty's screams.

Kitty: [Screaming]

Mab: Kitty, Kitty, Kitty.

- Kitty: [Screaming]
- Mab: Shh!

Gloriana: Nothing to fear now.

Miss Bridget's seen more babes
through the narrow gate than any.

Bridget: Don't fret, child. The
baby's just the wrong way 'round.

It is a simple thing to turn it.

Kitty: [Grunting]

No! Aah!

[Screaming]

No! No! No! No! [Screaming]

She's hurting my baby! [Screams]

Aah!

[Groaning]

[Coughs]

- Gloriana: [Shudders]
- Bridget: Oh!

Cotton: You witnessed a
real witches' sabbat...

Something no witch hunter has
ever seen with his own eyes.

All of our images and
accounts come from confessions,

some... rather more believable than others.

John: It's this one.

Cotton: Mm.

If this is true, it's
far worse than I thought.

John: What's it say?

Cotton: No Latin, Captain?

Oh, of course not.
You've no time for books.

"Ritum magni."

The grand rite...

The greatest secret of the witches.

All we have are scraps of
rumors of failed attempts.

Unfortunately, there are no books
by witches... only witch hunters.

John: Mm.

So all of these books...

Tell you exactly nothing.

[Clattering]

Isaac: Stop it.

You fight each other. Who fights them?

Cotton: He has a point.

John: So, where do we begin?

Cotton: Inside the tree, I
found what fuels their work...

Like the wood of a fire.

See, everything the witch does
is powered by two things...

Lust and death.

The lust they provide for themselves,

but they must look
elsewhere for the dead parts.

The town would be aware if
their own Salem burial ground

was being disturbed by corpse grinding.

John: So where do they get them?

Cotton: Isaac, if you'd be so kind

as to explain to the captain your duties.

Isaac: I got all
kind of duties...

Packages to deliver.

I also deliver the unwanteds to the crags.

John: The unwanteds?

Isaac: You know, Indians,
slaves, criminals...

Pretty much anybody ain't fit
to be laid in Salem ground.

Cotton: This is where the witches harvest.

And at the risk of another thrashing,

it is also your best hope

of reclaiming your friend's remains.

John: You dumped his body into the crags?!

Giles Corey built half this town,

and you threw him into a goddamn ditch?!

Let's go.

Cotton: Where?

John: To get Giles out of that shithole.

Mary: All of Salem is
diminished by your loss.

I can only imagine your suffering.

Kitty: Thank you, Mrs. Sibley.

Mary: The others said
that you were frightened...

You thought that someone
was trying to hurt your baby?

Tell me what happened.

Tell me.

I'm going to tell you something.

I've never told anyone before.

I, too, have lost a child.

Oh, I know the pain you feel.

I feel it even now.

You must tell me what happened

so that your child did not die in vain.

I promise you...

No harm will come to you.

Tell me.

Kitty: I felt the presence of evil...

And...

Mary: Go on.

Kitty: I saw a foul hag.

And she was touching my belly.

Mary: What of the midwife?

What of her?

Kitty: They were one and the same.

[Flies buzzing]

Isaac: Two times in as many nights?

Two times too many.

[Whimpering]

John: Show me where you dumped his body.

[Buzzing continues]

Jesus Christ.

Isaac: [Vomiting]

- [Coughs]
- John: Where is he?

Isaac: There.

John: You do not lay a hand on that man.

Isaac: [Grunting]

John: [Grunting]

[Door opens]

Cotton: [Clears throat]

[Door hinges creak]

Mary: Oh, forgive me.

Ordinarily, this would be George's domain,

but my husband... His condition...

I fear that the very sight
of this would stop his heart.

Cotton: Mrs. Sibley, please...

Calm yourself.

What is wrong?

Mary: Oh, a most terrible thing...

A sign.

Cotton: A sign?

Mary: Yes, just as you
described in one of your books.

A monstrous birth.

Cotton: What?

Here in Salem?

Mary: Delivered by
our very own midwife...

Bridget Bishop.

Cotton: And
where is...

What has become of this
monster now? Where is it?

Mary: In this very room.

Mr. lamb floated it in a bottle. I...

[Sighs]

Cotton: By the wounds of Christ!

The mere sight of this would
pierce our dear lord yet again!

You were right to send for me.

This is most terrible.

Mary: But what does it portend?

What is this a sign of?

Cotton: There can be no doubt.

This is nothing less than a
declaration of war upon us

by the devil himself.

Mary: [Breathes sharply]

Reverend...

Is there anything we can do?

Cotton: I will do whatever is in my power

to protect Salem...

And you, madam.

Mary: I thank God you're here, Reverend.

We would be lost without you.

[Bells tolling]

Anne: Father, please wait.

[Panting]

Father, you know Bridget.

How could you think her guilty of this?

Mr. Hale: It isn't a
matter of what I think.

Anne: Father.

John: Another rush to judgment, Mather?

Cotton: Quite the contrary, I fear.

It is judgment that is
rushing towards all of us.

Behold the warrant of judgment.

For our sins, individual and collective,

he has signed the seal of Satan,

a message straight from hell

to herald the arrival
of the devil in Salem.

And who delivered his message for him?

Bridget Bishop.

Did you or did you not

deliver this monster from that girl?

Bridget: Yes, but...

Cotton: Did you or did you not

minister to this girl while she carried it?

Bridget: Yes, sir, but I minister...

Cotton: Did you or did you not

frequently dose her
with physics and potions

and herbal concoctions
of your own devising?

Bridget: Sir, that is
what I do, but I did not...

Cotton: And did you or did you not
place your hands upon her belly,

pressing this way and that just
before the thing came out?

Bridget: I was
turning the babe so...

Cotton: Aye, but turning it into what?

- Anne: Stop!
- [Audience murmuring]

Whatever that poor stone child may be,

you are the true monster!

Mr. Hale: I apologize for my daughter.

The accused is a dear friend of hers.

But I share her concern.

You would accuse a woman...

A woman whom we all know and trust,

who never did anything but help other women

to deliver their babies and
care for those who no one wanted?

And now, suddenly, we're
to believe she's a witch?

Cotton: The devil is patient.

And so are his servants...

Our friends, our neighbors...

Till, finally, they
are called to serve him.

Bridget Bishop,

you have delivered a
monster into the world.

You were seen in your true guise,

the night hag, by your victim.

And even those who were
duped by your innocent image

could still sense the palpable
stench of evil around them

as you destroyed a babe
in the cradle of life...

A sign of your master's
declaration of war upon us.

How do you plead?

Bridget: I did no such thing.

I'm innocent!

Oh, you must believe me... I am...

John: I'm a little confused, Mather.

Did Bridget make that sign...

Or did God?

No. No, no, no. Wait. I remember.

God told the devil, and
the devil made her do it...

Have I got this right?

No? Maybe I'm just not as smart as you.

I haven't read all those books,

but I have seen a few things in the world.

And in this world, bad things happen,

generally with no more meaning
than the roll of a dice.

Cotton: This monstrosity...

It's just an unlucky roll of God's dice?

John: Probably the unluckiest I've seen.

Cotton: Well, then, we have a most
profound difference of opinion.

John: We do.

But you would hang a woman on your opinion.

Cotton: And on yours, you would
let an agent of the devil himself

walk free to do more malice.

John: Then put her on trial, too.

Don't just stop there.

There were others with her.

Or maybe they're all responsible.

Gloriana: No, you can't! It's not my fault!

John: It's not your fault?

No, I think that you're probably right.

I think... and I know this is
unthinkable to you, Mather...

But maybe, just maybe, it's no one's fault.

[Audience murmuring]

We all know that killing is different.

Killing is always someone's fault.

The stones aren't dry from
the blood of Giles Corey,

and now you are willing to hang a woman...

This woman, Bridget Bishop...

And, hell, throw in a few
whores for good measure...

And for what?

[Audience murmuring]

Mary: Perhaps it's time
we heard from Mercy.

Isn't that right, reverend Mather?

Isn't she bound to react

in front of the guilty witch or witches?

Cotton: My father and
all the experts agree...

Mary: Then take them to her.

Cotton: Them?

Mary: Captain Alden is quite right.

All may be guilty.

Take the midwife and the three whores, too.

[Audience murmuring]

Mercy: [Groans]

[Groans]

[Groans]

Bridget: [Gasps]

Mercy: [Groans]

Bridget: [Screaming]

[Crying]

Mary: Shall we vote?

[Crying]

Lord...

You who sees and knows our secret hearts

must know that I am innocent.

Please, please, please give them

some visible sign of this simple truth.

Please.

[Sobbing]

[Gasps]

[Rope creaks]

[Choking]

[Bird cawing]

John: Well done.

Another innocent killed.

Cotton: I do not think so.

But even if I did...

Let the lord add it to my already
lengthy list of mortal sins.

I must pay any price,

spill my own or any other's
blood to stop the witches.

John: I don't think I've
ever seen such a mixture

of reason and bullshit in a man.

Cotton: If you only knew what I know...

John: What?

I'd crush a man or hang a
woman, then drink myself blind

and bury myself into a whore
like there's no tomorrow?

Cotton: If we do not stop these foul hags,

there will be no tomorr...

Anne: You monster!

- John: Stop!
- Anne: [Grunting]

Mr. Hale: What a mess
you've made of things.

We were nearly ruined by
a single sound argument

from a man you can't seem to let alone.

I question now why we let you begin this.

Mary: Why?

Because this is the
fulfillment of all our dreams...

Vengeance for centuries of oppression.

Too late for doubts now, Hale.

We are all in this together.

Mr. Hale: Yes, and we shall
all burn together at this rate.

You're too young to understand
the risk you're taking.

I saw my entire family burned at the stake.

I tasted their ashes in my mouth.

I have no desire to taste my own...

- Or my daughter's.
- Anne: [Crying]

Mary: Well, perhaps you old-world witches

are simply too scared or too scarred...

To claim this new world.

Not me.

Mr. Hale: I'm not alone.

The elders have their doubts, too.

Mary: All your fears are unnecessary.

Innocent blood flows and
will continue to flow.

Results, Mr. Hale, are all that matter.

And speaking of results,
what of your errand?

Mr. Hale: Petrus assures us
we'll soon know who saw us.

Mary: Hm.

[Insects chirping]

Petrus: [Humming]

[Indistinct conversations]

Lamb: Oh, um... sorry, Miss Hale,

but, uh, you know the rules.

There's, uh, no women allowed after dark.

John: It's all right, lamb.

According to Mather,
these are the end times.

I think we can make an
exception for tonight.

What are you looking at?

Anne: You're just like them...

Happy to discuss and debate,

but too afraid to take any real action.

Why are you even in Salem?

Where's that fire I saw in your eyes

the night they killed your friend?

[Table thuds] [Gasps]

John: What do you want from me, Miss Hale?

Anne:
Justice...

For Giles Corey, for Bridget Bishop,

and for all the other innocent victims

soon to come from this madness.

Someone must do something!

What?

John: You just remind me
of someone I once knew.

Anne: What happened to them?

John: I wish I knew.

[Insects chirping]

Mary: Here
uninvited...

You must have stayed too
long with the Indians.

It's made you more... savage.

John: No. Less patient.

There's something I think you should know.

- Mary: You're leaving Salem?
- John: To the contrary.

Anne Hale reminded me
Salem deserves better.

It always did.

Mary: Really?

I thought you hated this place.

John: I thought so, too.

But it turns out it wasn't
Salem that I hated...

Rather, the people who run it.

Fella told me something today...
He said it was a damn sight easier

to break things than to fix them.

Mary: And you intend to fix things.

John: Maybe.

Mary: How do you plan on doing that?

John: There's an extra seat
on the board of selectmen...

A seat with the Alden name.

Reckoned maybe it was time I claimed it.

Might just be one voice,

but it is a start.

[Door opens] Tituba: [Clears throat]

John: I'll be seeing you.

[Mouse squeaking]

[Squeaking continues]

[Mouse squeals]

[Blood dripping]

[Crunching]

[Door hinges creaking]

[Tapping]

Anne: Go away, cat.

You'll ruin my work.

[Scrape]

.:Sync, corrected by caioalbanezi:.
.:web dl sync snarry:.