Taboo (2017–…): Season 1, Episode 4 - Episode #1.4 - full transcript

The assassin we sent
to kill Delaney is dead.

The British want you dead.

I stitch you up
and you give me information.

I will cede sovereignty of Nootka
Sound to whichever nation

offers me their monopoly.

All the tea in China.

As Horace Delaney's widow,
I also own half of the trading post

at Nootka Sound. And I believe
Nootka is of value to the King.

If you are in contact
with the King,

then you are already
in grave danger.

I hope I can trust you to keep
the secrets of the past buried.



I am your sister.
Let all else lie.

You take the minutes
and you log every meeting.

I want that information.

You think your
father's kid feeds himself?

Now you're back,
I want payment.

- We were given your name.
- I am not a courtesan.

Give her to me!

There appears to have
been a misunderstanding.

She stabbed the Duke
of Richmond.

They knew she was not a whore
and that she would fight back.

And now they have
a good reason to come for her.

Open this door,
by order of the King!

James! James! They are here!
James, for God's sake!

What's happening?!



They will want you to sign
their papers or you will hang.

Hang for what?
Saving my honour?!

You must hold out.
You will hold out. Look at me.

These men are from the Crown.
I will warn the East India

- and they will free you.
- What are you talking about?

You must go with them now.
I will be with you when you're inside

and you will know it.

Hold out.

Hello!
Come with us!

I got another one for ya!

Aren't you a pretty one?!

Come on!

This is allocated.
The famous Lorna Bow.

Think of the queue
that'll form.

An actress, no less.

No. No! Don't leave me!
No, please!

You will answer
to God for this.

Probably. And for the
many other evil tasks

I have carried out
for the King of England.

And the Prince Regent.

There was a misunderstanding.
The Duke was given the wrong name.

Each ribbon represents
a reason not to comply.

As each ribbon is untied,
a reason disappears.

Let me explain.

Under English law, as Delaney's wife,
you have the legal right

to contest his will,
on the grounds of insanity.

There's a copy of a marriage
certificate. Horace Delaney.

A legal precedent from 1755.

Now, that is an application
to contest the will,

which we've already drawn up.
The granting of leave

for that application,
by King's Counsel.

Bravo.

And the successful outcome
of that application,

dated one month from now.

Congratulations.

And finally...

an agreement to assign your share
of the Nootka trading post,

smoke house and tanning factory
to the possession of the British Crown.

Or...

a conviction for attempted murder,
for which you hang.

No, this really
is terribly simple.

Exposed as you are,
in this hell.

You're weak.
Men of all kinds.

Your hands shackled.

A key and a pen
are your only weapons.

So, you take this pen
in your hand, you sign your name

and I turn the key
and you dress and you leave...

with £1,000 for your trouble.

I have been told...

to await a better offer.

James said...

James?! Oh, James.
James.

My God. I see.
So soon.

You can go.

My wife is a strange fish.

I talk to her about my work,
when we sit up in bed at night.

Her belief is that James Delaney
is in league with Satan.

I believe that to be true, too.

So, as we...
explore ways

to make you change your mind...

these next few hours...

we will be doing God's work.

Hurry up!

Miss Bow.

I can find my own carriage.

Mr. Delaney has
business...

but he instructed me to make
sure you get home safely.

Did he say "home"?

I don't quite recall.

Miss Bow, if you please.

We had a fucking agreement!

Common cause!

I saw the papers with my own eyes.
The assignation they were trying to

make her sign gave Nootka
to the Crown and only the Crown.

Fucking snakes!

If we didn't have so much
shit on the Duke of Richmond,

- they would have had her.
- Who tipped you off?

Anonymous note.

Delaney.

He's turning London
into his own private bear pit.

And what are we,
the bear or the dogs?

Shit!

And that fat pig
Prince Prinny plays the fool,

so he can better play the game.

I'll pop him.
I swear to God.

I'll burst him,
like a pig's bladder.

Get a message to Coop.

Tell him we withdraw our negotiators
from the India talks.

The Prince Regent has decided
to decline your offer.

- For crying out loud, Godders.
- He will not offer you a monopoly.

So...

doesn't that mean
the game is up, James?

No, it's just begun.

What else?

The hand was raised.

They talked about gunpowder.

Pettifer said if Delaney
Trading Company wanted to trade

with the Indians at Nootka,

the only merchandise you could
possibly use would be gunpowder.

Wilton pointed out that
in times of war,

the production of gunpowder
is controlled by the Crown.

You will not be granted
a licence to purchase.

Your name is already
on a blacklist.

You will not get a single grain
anywhere in England.

So, now...

is the game up?

When they speak of you,
there is such hatred now.

Before, they laughed.

They stopped laughing out there.
That's good.

That's a good thing, Godders.

James.

For God's sake.

The Art Of War.

Poor motive,

poor strategy...

poor outcome.

They can't kill you,
but they will crucify your name...

and crucify all those
around you.

But I don't keep anybody around me
that doesn't deserve what they get.

Does that include me?

Yes, that includes you.

Only half a man.

Thank you.

Now, finally, here,
I'm introducing chlorine gas

to a solution of sal ammoniac.

Ladies, beware,
these are corrosive substances.

They will ravage your dresses.

So, the combination produces a yellow,
oily fluid that will

explode with sunlight
or heat or mere motion.

In order to show you most simply
and safely its explosive effect,

I use this instrument...

to transfer...

very carefully...

just a few drops.

And, again, beware.

Use your hand
to protect your eyes.

The vessel is often shattered to atoms,
by sheer force.

Terrific!
Magnificent!

Mr. Cholmondeley.

I cancelled my appointment.

Blamed a headache.

Exposure to excitable
chemical fumes, I imagine.

As a doctor, I ought to make
sure you're fully recovered.

Something in your eye.

Do you have a husband?

Dead.

Thank God.

What did he look like?

A toad.

I have a question.

It concerns chemistry.

I hope now is not inconvenient.

Wait!

I wrote a fucking book
about chemistry.

If you've got any questions
about chemistry, then read that.

I already did. I was very impressed.
That's why I'm here.

I have a use for you.

You know, semen not ejaculated
at the point of passion

turns to poison
and narrows the mind.

Eventually, you become an ape.

So, ejaculate.

Then, we can talk of business.

Is that gold?

Has the semen
yet turned to poison?

I believe you invented a chemical
process for verification.

Yeah.

So, what exactly is it you
would use me for?

I got a carpenter to take down those
boards and put up a new door.

You should try a key next time.

They've turned
a few things over.

We should bill the King.

- She's back, yes?
- Aye.

How does she seem?

The same.

But then, she's an actress.

You knew they were coming
to take her, didn't you?

All part of the plan.

I have things to do.

We're all just part
of the plan, aren't we, sir?

Buy her some flowers.

Flowers.

You said I'm a weakness.

I wasn't weak.

I will fix that.

I'll get Brace to fix that.

In the cell,
I called you "James".

I think that surprised
them most.

Certainly surprised me.

If your intervention
had been ten minutes later,

I would have been raped.

But the consequence for you
was worth the risk to me, yes?

You see me as I am.

All of those that I gather
are damned.

It's just part
of a company policy of mine.

Perhaps now you will understand
why it is better for you to leave

and let this business
run its course.

Is that why you let it happen?
To teach me a lesson?

No. That was to teach the King a lesson.
And the Company.

But if you're absolutely
resolute on staying...

then I may agree to incorporate
you into the organisation.

Oh.

Oh, I see.

I've passed a test.

No.

I will join the League
of the Damned.

A group of people
who are drawn together,

with a willingness
to do exactly as I say.

We are the ships,
you are the river.

First, I need you
to bring me a trunk

full of my father's belongings.

I'm actually very tired,
Mr. Delaney.

Your conspiracies
have made it a very tiring day.

I'll fix that.
Sleep on it.

Deliver us from evil,

for thine is the kingdom,
the power and the glory,

for ever and ever.
Amen.

John Company and the King
are back at war.

The resolution again recedes.

Fuck him!

You woke me.

Please don't.
Your coat's all wet.

And you're wet, too.

Who's in there?

Who's in there?

Where he leads, I will follow.

Where the fuck are we?

My new factory.

I flagged him
down at St Pancras.

I told him two shillings.
I guessed you'd pay.

Hold on.

Nitrous oxide.

They call it "laughing gas".

I provide it for entertainment
at society parties.

It's good money.

Last night, it was, eh...

Oh, fuck,
I can hardly remember.

Duck hunters and whores
dressed as ducks... I think.

I had to partake of my own supply,
just to get through it.

Pweugh!

Anyway...
show me this cow shit.

Hmm...

Pigeon shit?

Yeah, it's better.

Now...
wood.

Some birch,
but it is mostly hazel.

Oak is better.

There's not enough oak
on the heath, dear boy.

So, buy offcuts
from the shipyard.

Nothing we use
can be purchased openly.

What about piss?

I'm sorry?

Human urine's by far
the best for leaching the ash.

Especially if there
are traces of alcohol.

How many humans live here?

Three.

- Where are they, by the way?
- I sent them away this morning.

Do you own this farm?

Ask no more questions now
and talk to me only of chemistry.

My simple question is,
is it possible to achieve it here?

If you mix the pigeon shit
and the cow shit

at a ratio of around 60:40
in favour of the pigeon.

I'd have to do tests.

Then, if you burnt
all that stack of wood today,

you could soak the ash
in 50 gallons of human piss

and leave it for a minimum of a year.
Then, my friend,

you would, indeed,
have gunpowder.

I don't have a year.

Well, I have a theory that the
introduction of several barrels

of saltpetre that have already
been refined at the start of the process

can cut the leaching stage
down to four weeks.

"Theory"?

Yes, but my theories
are always right.

As far as I know, there is only
one place where one can find

- refined saltpetre.
- Two.

The bat caves of Burma,
where the bat shit refines itself,

or the warehouse of the East
India Company at Wapping Wall.

Except, they're not selling,
at the moment.

War going on.

Two wars, actually.

Or have we already
won one of them?

You're hired,
Mr. Cholmondeley.

And as for your saltpetre,
I will get it for you.

Hm?

He's the one.

Who are you?

I told your friends...

Nootka Sound is not for sale.

Come on, then.

How the hell can you walk
around a house this old

without making a noise?

Because I own it,
and I know every creak in it

and I can move around it
without waking it up.

When was the last time you set
foot inside a church, sir?

The lady asked me to wake her
because she had a costume fitting.

I guessed you wouldn't want
her going out.

No, the lady is free to come
and go as she pleases.

The Crown will protect her
from the Company.

And the Company will protect
her from the Crown.

- And you are the joint in the seesaw.
- Mm.

By the way, I found
your red roses in the mud

when I threw
out the oyster shells.

- Who's this?
- Who the hell's what?

Brace, do not believe
that I will not know

when you reseal my letters.

Countess Musgrove is,
let me think, sir...

1,550 places above you
in the social hierarchy of London.

Her husband is a little,
fat German prick and she fucks...

You forgot to wake me.

Fucks what, Brace?

Countess Musgrove has a reputation
as a lady of uncertain origin, sir,

who in the past used her beauty
to beguile men of great influence,

thereby improving her position
in society.

She also allows and even encourages
the closed and turning waltz.

A ball.

And why would she invite
a man who cannot dance?

Perhaps she likes oddities
and curiosities.

Or if she knows you're
in the house in the light,

you cannot be outside lurking
in the garden in the dark scaring people.

There is another letter, sir.

Perhaps related to the first.

- This came from the same post?
- Aye, sir.

The Americans.
Wanting a place on the seesaw.

Well, it is an invitation for two.
Miss Bow?

Do you dance?

Where is she?

Where's Helga?

I'll get her.

Winter said you
looked impressed.

I am.

Oysters mask the smell of sex.

You like that.

Mm.

Yes, I might have a use
for that, actually.

You may need to bring a couple
of girls to the Dolphin with you.

Now, shut for the evening.

You're busy tonight.

Right, a request to hire men
and boats to collect barrels

from the Prospect of Whitby pub

and ferry them up the Fleet
River to Hampstead.

Mm-hm.
Mm-hm.

Barrels will contain...

whores' urine.

And that of the customers.
Thruppence a barrel.

I want you to sign
that right now

before whatever it is
in your blood wears off.

And I'm planning a robbery.

At last. Back in the world
of reason and rationality.

Who are we going to rob?

Elizabeth.

Violet.

- And Mary.
- Thank you so much.

Now, if you will
excuse me, ladies.

Come on.

Posy for the lady?

Much obliged, kind sir.

For you.

There's other business afoot tonight,
none of which concerns you.

Miss Lorna Bow.

Mrs. Lorna Delaney.

And Mr. James Delaney.

Judging by the horror on the faces
of the ladies, you are known.

Yes, and judging by the shame
on the face of some of the men,

so are you.

Oh, if only I had been a whore,

I might have been as rich
as Countess Musgrove,

who I presume is that creature.

Hello. Hello. Hello.
Hello. Hello.

Hello. Hello. Hello.
Hello. Hello.

Hello.
Not hello.

- Who the hell is that?
- I've no idea.

And who the hell was that?

- Why are you here?
- Because I was invited. You?

Because my husband was invited.
He has business of theirs in Berlin.

Ah, but it is a bit unexpected,
isn't it? It's unusual.

I knew that when you saw me,
you would come to me

and I realise
that is how it always is.

You always drive me...

It is a bit unexpected that we
were both invited, is it not?

That we were invited,
both together.

And if they invited us both,
then they probably know.

Who knows?

Who knows?

Our American friends.

Ah! You feel me, don't you,
when I break in?

- No.
- Yes, you do.

- No.
- You do. You feel me.

And I could come more often,
but I spare you.

Then spare me.

I went to a doctor,

he took me to a priest who had
been to a mission in Africa.

- Yes, what did he say?
- He said that you visit as animals.

He couldn't even look at me
after I'd told him.

When I left England,
I thought I was mad,

but they taught me how to use it.
Now it's a gift.

It's the devil.

Now, amongst other things,
I am also a doctor.

And I'd say the lady
is in danger

of catching more than
just a chill out here.

Your half-sister.
Am I right?

You're quite a prize,
Mr. Delaney, quite a prize.

I was told what you did
to our first resort.

Opened him up like a bull.

Nice work.

Now, I make no moral judgments.

And besides, Carlsbad said
to say that you can have her.

You can have her
as part of the deal.

Part of our second offering.

So why don't you just take her?

Just take her with you.

No more hiding.

We can guarantee you safe passage,
anonymity...

new worlds.

But look, if you don't want
to deal with the obstacle,

we can certainly take care
of that for you.

Say her husband gets drunk.
No surprise. Falls from a bridge

or something.

Let me just make the point...

from an American point of view.

Love is now part of the deal
that we are offering

over and above that which is
on offer from your countrymen.

Hm?

I'll leave that with you.

And don't worry
how we know so much. Hm?

We just know so much.

I were stowed'way from India
on the Fairlie.

And I'm full with thirst
and the temptations of the Tropics

and have a great
need to ease 'em.

Pearl's good, isn't she?

Get in, come on, get in.

Good evening.

I'm just a complete stranger,
plying my wares,

offering the gift of hysteria
before the night is over.

That stranger
that you've never met,

is he part of your
League of the Damned?

Well, we could at least try?

Sorry.

- Would you like to dance?
- No.

Careful.
Careful.

He said a few drops.

Give it here.
Give it here.

Get back. Get back.
Get back.

Get the saltpetre!

Keep moving.

Keep moving.
Two more.

Come on, keep moving.

Right.
Come on, go, go, go, go, go!

Move, move! Get out!
Go!

You know James Delaney?

No.

What? You mean in the way that no-one
really knows James Delaney?

Yes.

I've only not known
James a little while.

But I have the feeling you've not
known him a little longer.

- We were children...
- Oh!

Thank you.

If I were to have intentions
regarding James,

would I need to be wary of you?

No civilised woman would have
intentions regarding him.

And you would not need
to be wary of me.

We have the same father.

You are in every way
an unopened box.

Just when I think it's empty,
I hear a tiger roaring inside it.

I want you to bring the trunk
with my father's belongings tomorrow.

I thought you might have gone.

Oh, you mean you waited?
For me?

No...

I wanted to finish my pipe.

I want you to bring my father's
possessions tomorrow

- or our association is finished.
- James Delaney?

The Countess Musgrove.

I don't dance.

A gentleman called Colonnade
told me that you do.

As hostess, I thought I would dance
the outrageous dance

with an outrageous guest.

Yet I do not dance, madam.

Well, then we shall disappear.
Come on.

The Countess Musgrove.

Just do as I do
and all will be well.

As a rule, I do this trick
with a beautiful woman...

Ooh!

...and a chimpanzee.

In the absence of a chimpanzee,
a gorilla will have to do.

Please, madam, please, sir,

take a deep breath...

and step into the beyond.

One wonders if they will ever
be seen again!

I did my research on you.

Genevieve Decoux.

From New Orleans.

Please, Mr. Delaney,
we do not have much time.

You sent the giant to kill me?

The outcome persuaded us
you should be courted instead.

What will the gorilla do
with the lady, one wonders.

Eat her, perhaps!

Oh, where did they go?

Countess, I know
this is business.

And I think I know who you are.

But know this.

I control the timing of this.

At all times
your life is in our hands.

As is your name in mine.

Carlsbad.

Oh, it seems we have one...

but not the other...

- Where is my gorilla?
- Get back in there, Lady Musgrove,

and find that humping gorilla
of yours.

I was told you wanted tea.
A monopoly.

- Fanciful, of course.
- Hm.

I want to meet with
the Embassy in Paris.

Oh, no.

You assign to the United States,
where someone will kill you.

This time,
we will be more artful.

Hm!
You will need to be.

Your own sister.
Oh, goodness!

Is he here?

Is this real?

Why's he here? Is it him?
You should get away.

Why is he here?

You fu...
you fucked her!

He fucked her.

He fucked her!

He fu...

You need some air.

James.
Please, don't.

James?

James?

You call this thing James?

You don't call him anything
but nigger!

You fucked her.

And you lay your hands on me
in my society!

I know I will have
my satisfaction.

I declare it!

I challenge James
Delaney to a duel.

At dawn...
to the death.

To the death.

Do you accept?

Do you accept?!