Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles (2008–2009): Season 2, Episode 11 - Self Made Man - full transcript

NARRATOR: Previously on Terminator:
The Sarah Connor Chronicles:

SARAH:
What does this mean to you?

I keep seeing it, John.
It means something.

Weirdo. Kook. Nut.
I've been reading the dictionary.

I don't sleep.

SARAH: Whatever happened
at the explosion flipped a switch.

You don't know what you do.
I love you, you love me.

-And your name is?
-It's Riley.

What, never brought a girl home?

-No.
-Riley climbed out John's window.

-Now is not the time for this.
-Well, when is the time?



You bring danger into Riley's life.

I'm gonna see Riley
even if everyone thinks it's a bad idea.

I understand that it's a bad idea.

Don't worry about it
and be happy you're a machine.

I'm a machine. I can't be happy.

[PEOPLE CHATTERING]

[BIG BAND MUSIC PLAYING]

[PEOPLE SHOUTING INDISTINCTLY]

[WOMAN SCREAMS]

Anything yet?

I've dumped about 50,000 websites.

There are hundreds of companies
with three dots in the logo.

Organic fruit, candles, dog collars...

...baby wipes, ice cream.



Nothing screams Skynet
like baby wipes and ice cream.

Keep looking.

It is something you saw in a dream.

And written in blood on the wall,
so it means something.

Will you keep looking?

Tomorrow. I'm beat.

You never sleep. Make yourself useful.

Most efficient killing machine
ever invented.

You got her doing laundry.

You do never sleep.

One glazed. One rainbow sprinkle.
One cinnamon twist.

-You never forget, do you?
-No. I don't.

So how was Mexico?

Did you get to see your buddy
down there?

Where's the rest of him?

-He was gone when we got there.
-After you went all that way?

Bummer.

Yes, it was a bummer.

Is your brother
still seeing that crazy blond?

Yes. It's become a problem.

She snuck out the window one night
and left the alarm off.

We got robbed.

No way.

Did you catch who did it?

Everything worked out fine.

That's a pretty Zen attitude.

The robbed that smiles
steals something from the thief.

-You read Othello.
-You asked me to.

Did you like it?

-It was more violent than I expected.
-I should've warned you.

No. Everything worked out fine.

You're not eating your doughnuts.

Oh.... Later.

Do you have A History
of California Field Artillery?

I'm interested in the
muzzle-loading rifles...

...used during the Modoc Indian War.

Uh, in the California room.

ERIC:
I have a big week.

Paper due on Thursday.

Peter the Great's
war with the Turks...

...and the technological modernization
of Imperial Russia.

It's better than it sounds.

What are you looking at?

Him.

I know him.

Not unless you're about, oh,
110 years old.

That photo's from 1920.
See? December 31st, 1920.

What was he doing in 1920?

What is this picture from?

Famous New Year's Eve
speakeasy fire, during Prohibition.

Forty-three people died.

There were rumors someone threw
a Molotov cocktail through the door.

Lots of rivalries
between the different speakeasy clubs.

[CHATTERING]

[SOBBING]

[SPEAKING INDISTINCTLY]

[SOBBING]

I need to know
what happened to him.

[PHONE RINGING]

Hello.

[PHONE BEEPS]

RILEY:
John? Can you come get me?

Where? What's wrong?

341 Grove Way in Van Nuys.

Can you please just come?

[DANCE MUSIC PLAYING]
[PEOPLE CHATTERING]

Most periodicals from the '20s
haven't been transferred to digital...

...so this could take a while.

But fire that big,
there's always survivor stories.

Like with the Titanic.

You know, there's only one Titanic
survivor left: Millvina Dean.

Of course, she was 2 months old
when it happened...

...so her story
isn't particularly instructive.

-You're a very happy person.
-I am?

I don't know that many happy people.

Well, I guess that's my own little
survivor story.

Of course, having bone cancer was like
being the Titanic and the iceberg.

[CHUCKLES]

So why do you wanna
find out about this guy?

I'm interested in the past.

It affects everything in the future.

Those who don't know history
are destined to repeat it.

Or die.

-What's wrong?
-A little cold in here.

It's 76 degrees.

Check this one. D6.

That's him.
That's the guy from the fire.

Who's that other man?

Rudolph Valentino.

The greatest silent-film star
of all time?

Ugh. You kids today
with your rock 'n' roll...

...and your obsession
with medieval siege weapons.

"Rudolph Valentino and Myron Stark
at the premiere of The Sheik. "

What was Stark doing there?

ERIC:
Living it up on the red carpet.

STARK: I enjoyed your film very much,
Mr. Valentino.

Thank you.

I thought your decision
to return the gun to Lady Diana...

...to protect herself from
the caravan of thieves was misguided...

...given that she was a security risk.

Stark is shaking hands with Valentino,
but look at his eye line.

He's looking at that man.

Rupert Chandler.

Check out that hat.

We could search the city and county
records for more on Stark.

-Where are they?
-Basement. Vital Records.

But it's locked
and I don't have the key.

You'll have to come back
in the morning and talk with Barry.

Excuse me. Where are you going?

[DANCE MUSIC PLAYING]

Excuse me.

Hi.

-Looking for someone?
-Uh, yeah, Riley. Blond girl?

Uh.... I barely know Mike's friends.
Gail Silver, Mike's mom.

Oh, hi. I'm John.
Let me help you with these.

[CHUCKLES]

Oh....

-This is the wrong kind.
-You said "beer."

How come you never introduced me
to your friend John?

Because he's not my friend.

He's some loner weirdo
who dropped out of school.

-What are you doing here?
-Just looking for somebody.

And being helpful.
You could learn a lesson from him.

What, like sucking up to Mom?

TV in your room broken?
Hard to relax if you're out here.

I gotcha. I'm going.

I didn't know you could just send
your mom to her room.

Yeah, so? Who you looking for?

Girl named Riley.

I know Riley.

-I got your beer.
-Thanks.

Okay, thanks. Hi.

What are you doing?
You called me all upset.

What's going on?

Oh, that was just-- This guy
was bothering me. That's all.

-Well, I have a car, let's go.
-No, it's cool now.

-Come on, we can hang out.
-Hang out?

I only came to get you.

[SIGHS]

I'm sorry.

It's cool. We can stay.

-Are you trying to get me fired?
-No.

-Then what are you doing down here?
-Looking for records on Myron Stark.

I don't think he was
who everyone thinks.

I let you in, after hours,
whenever you want.

And for you to go and do this?

Exactly what I tell you not to?

-Really not cool.
-Well, I need the information.

And I need this job. You broke the lock.

-I'll fix it.
-Just put it back. Put it all back.

Don't.

[GRUNTING]

I'm sorry.

I shouldn't have gone down there.

Forget it. It's no big deal.

Yes, it is.

We're friends.
I don't really have many friends.

Actually, I don't have any friends.

You? That can't be true.

So did you find anything
out down there?

No.

There's no record of Myron Stark
before the fire.

-Dead end.
-I don't like dead ends.

He could've been an immigrant.

Came through Ellis Island.
Shortened his name.

Worked his way up from nothing.
It's the immigrant spirit.

Single-minded pursuit of a goal.
Never giving up.

Buying into the American dream.

An effective strategy.

Either that or he robbed banks.

What?

Can you show me police records?

MAN 1: Shortly after 2 p.m., a lone robber
held up the La Brea Savings and Loan.

Witnesses say the masked man,
armed with a submachine gun...

...and a daring disregard for human life,
opened fire.

Eight citizens were felled
and did not live to tell about it.

This is the third bank robbed
in recent weeks.

Detective, can you tell us
how much was looted from the vault?

MAN 2: Over 70,000 in cash,
silver and liberty bonds.

MAN 1:
Was the robber injured in the fray?

MAN 2:
Police let fly with a hail of bullets.

The robber was hit with
30 rounds, but escaped on foot.

MAN 1:
How in God's name did he survive?

MAN 2: That has not been ascertained.
A manhunt is under way.

You really think he robbed banks?

It's a very effective strategy.

But why? What did he need it for?

To buy into the American dream.

Stark bought parcels of land
in the San Fernando Valley...

-...Burbank, Sunland, Van Nuys.
-Two days after the last heist.

What'd he do with all that land?

He built houses. I found
this application for a business license.

Construction.

MAN: This is Worldwide News.
Myron Stark versus Rupert Chandler.

A classic David versus Goliath.

Real-estate magnate
and builder Rupert Chandler...

...was the undisputed king
of the expanding San Fernando Valley.

But along came a young upstart,
Myron Stark.

What started as a one-man operation
soon grew into a thriving business...

...that went head-to-head
with the largest builder in the county.

Stark spoke six languages,
paid double his competitors...

...and treated all of his workers equally...

...regardless of their employment history
or citizen status.

Stark himself could always be found
shoulder to shoulder...

...with his workers,
a pickax in his strong hands.

Soon Stark became a thorn
in the side of his rival.

His meteoric rise threatened to topple
the king Chandler from his throne.

Chandler's top foreman, Fred Jeffers,
was recently asked about the rivalry.

To hear Jeffers tell it,
"We're not worried.

Fly-by-nights like Stark come and go.

Chandler's an established company
with contracts booked through 1925.

We'll crush him like a bug."

Upon hearing Jeffers' fighting words...

...Stark was reported to reply simply,
"We'll see."

Here's more on Chandler and Jeffers,
and something really strange.

Fred Jeffers, Rupert Chandler's man,
went missing back in 1925.

Was never found.

What is this?

A 17-round Glock 9 mm semiautomatic.

-Why do you have it?
-In case I need it.

Have you ever used it?

-Yes.
-Are you in trouble?

No.

-Are you afraid of someone?
-Afraid?

No.

I've seen cuts on your face.

There was one last week.
You were wearing makeup, but--

Sometimes I get into fights.

-Why?
-My brother.

There are people out to hurt him.
I protect him.

-Who protects you?
-I do.

Why are we doing this?

Why is Myron Stark so important?

He was doing something
and it doesn't make sense to me.

I need to find out what it was.

None of this makes sense to me.

Not you, not the gun,
not the guy in the photograph.

I know.

I never fired a gun before.

Do you want to?

Sure, but-- Wait.

No. No. We can't do this here.

Grip it with both hands.

Squeeze the trigger slowly.

Slowly.

[LAUGHING]

Oh....

MAN [ON VIDEO GAME]:
Game over!

Oh....

-Yeah.
-Oh, my God, I'm terrible at this.

-John?
-No, I don't know how.

What, you live in a cave? Come on.

What am I supposed to do?

I have no idea.
I just pushed those buttons at random.

And you sucked.

Hey, check you out, Mr. Normal.

Kill him, Alex.

Come on, Johnny.
I'm rooting for you.

Dude, you suck.

Hey, come on. Kill him, Alex.

[LAUGHING]

MIKE:
Boom!

-I'm gonna go. Stay if you want.
-John, wait.

-This was a mistake.
-I'm coming with you.

Whoa, whoa. You're going?
With that weirdo?

Yeah. I'm sorry. We have to go.

No, no, wait.
Give me my lighter back.

Your what?

-You took my lighter.
-No. No.

-Come on, John.
-Give it to me. Give it.

-Get off me.
-Leave her alone.

No one's talking to you, weirdo.

-Don't. Stop.
-Come on.

-Hey.
-Watch out, man.

Give it to me, you screwy bitch.

[GRUNTING]

-John. John.
-Take the damn lighter.

Come on, John.
Let's get out of here. Come on.

I'm out here on Mulholland Drive,
where a hiker has discovered...

...what appears to be the body of a man
who died over 60 years ago.

Tom Jacobs was out
for an early-morning walk...

...when he spotted
a piece of metal in the ravine.

Tom?

TOM: Well, I saw what looked like
the bumper of a car.

But when I got closer I could see...

...that it was one of those
old-timey ones...

...like you see in the movies.
And then I saw the bones.

Personal effects found in the vehicle...

...reveal the remains
to be those of Fred Jeffers...

...a man who disappeared in the 1920s.

Wait. What are you doing?

What do you--? What do you want?

No. Wait. Stop.

No! Aah!

[CRASHING]

"Jeffers' disappearance
was a terrible blow for Chandler...

...who endured a string of tragedies...

...starting with the death
of his son, Will...

...who died on New Year's Eve, 1920."

New Year's Eve, 1920.

Let's get him out of here.

That's Rupert Chandler's boy.

Let's cover him up,
let's get him out of here. Come on.

Will Chandler died in the speakeasy fire.

And Myron Stark was there.

So there must be a connection.

I thought you were gonna kill that guy.

-Why'd you call me?
-Because...

...I wanted you to come.

Weird way of showing it.

Oh, the flirting-with-Mike thing?

I'm a teenage girl, John.
We do that kind of crap to guys we like.

The loner weirdo? I don't get it.

I've never gotten it.

My old foster parents
were these '60s hippies...

...always talking like they were
single-handedly saving the world...

...because they recycled.

They called me "the deviant."

Like, "The deviant got a C in math."

"Should we take the deviant
to see Bruce Hornsby?"

That's why I
came up to you that day, John.

Because I thought,
since you're a weirdo...

...you might get me.

My foster parents
used to call me "the delinquent."

So you did take the lighter.

I like shiny things.

Bad habit.

What happened to your real parents?

They died when I was little.

In a fire.

Why were you in a foster home?
You have your mom.

She was in a mental hospital.

Well, that explains things.

She was engaged once.

He was a pretty cool guy.

It didn't work out...

...but he was kind of
the only friend we had.

A little while ago he, uh,
helped us with something.

There was an accident,
and his new wife died.

And he left.

That's what happens.

I shouldn't be around people.

Is that why you went nuclear on Mike?

No, that's....

That's other stuff.

Do you want to talk about it?

Sometimes, yes.

Mostly no.

But sometimes yes.

I found Will Chandler's obituary.

ERIC: I'm kind of peeing right now.
Can't it wait?

Four hundred people came to his funeral.

-He had a lot of friends.
-His father had a lot of money.

-There's a difference.
-I think Stark killed him.

We don't even know
if they knew each other.

And if Stark wanted to kill Chandler,
why take out 43 innocent people?

It happens.

-Do you ever think about dying?
-About what?

-Or about suicide?
-Why would I think about that?

Because there's something
wrong with you.

Gee, don't ever
look for work as a counselor.

I've never thought about killing myself.

Not for a minute.
It would destroy my mom, for one.

I mean,
I couldn't do that to my family.

To the people who love me. Could you?

Anyways, I'm not sick anymore.

I mean, I have to get a scan
every six months...

...but so far, I'm clean.

Earlier, when I cross-referenced
the names of survivors from the fire...

...this woman's name came up
in a documentary about the Roaring '20s.

It might tell us more about
what happened inside the speakeasy.

Film vault's on the top floor.
You'll have to go alone.

-Why?
-No wheelchair access.

Whoa. Whoa!

-You're really strong.
-I work out.

Wow, look at all this.

DVDs are all right,
but this is the real deal.

Silver nitrate. Raw.

Before filmmakers
figured out all the tricks.

Pure humanity on film.

None of that computer-generated
digital crap they do today.

All these people,
captured, frozen in time.

They never age.

I mean, a hundred years can pass...

...they'll still be here,
still look exactly the same.

Would be nice, wouldn't it?

Freeze yourself in a moment.

The best moment of your life.

Have things never change.

Be beautiful, healthy, strong.

Anyway, don't let me get all
A.E. Housman on you.

[CHUCKLES]

Uh.... The documentary's up there.

We would go out
to the gin joints every weekend.

We'd drink and smoke...

...and dance the black bottom
and the Charleston, the shimmy. Ha-ha.

I was a real bearcat back then.

And I was crazy in love
with this prizefighter.

We were together there,
the night when the fire started.

He was helping everybody out.

And I just remember...

...sitting on the curb, crying.

People said that someone
threw a bomb in the door.

Well, to tell you the truth,
I was pretty zozzled.

That's what we called it then.

But I didn't see a bomb.

Uh....

What I did see was this, um,
flash of blue light and sparks.

Then the craziest thing.

This man, in the middle of the room,
naked as a jaybird.

Well, I don't know...

...maybe I just imagined the whole thing,
who knows?

Probably the liquor talking.

The fire, it was an accident.

Yeah, sounds like there was
some electrical problem.

He didn't mean to kill all those people.

No, of course not.

It's just like in The Wizard of Oz
when the house falls on the witch.

[BIG BAND MUSIC PLAYING]

[CHATTERING]

[GLASS SHATTERING]

[SCREAMING]

[SHOUTING INDISTINCTLY]

Give me your clothes.

[SOBBING]

Hey, where are you going?

I know what he was looking at.

He was measuring the star's
radial velocity...

...the distance in parsecs,
and the Cartesian coordinates.

-What? Why?
-To pinpoint the date.

You can tell the date
by looking at the sky?

Stellar motion can calculate
what the sky will look like...

...for hundreds of years
in the future or the past.

-Why is the date so important?
-It's not.

Unless it's the wrong date.

Myron Stark was in the wrong place
at the wrong time.

"If we cry because the sun
has gone out of our lives...

...our tears can prevent us
from seeing the stars."

Chandler's eulogy for his son?

"Today is a day for mourning,
but it is also a day...

...to remember my son,
a gifted young man with a grand heart.

A budding architect,
his dream was to build Pico Tower...

...on the corner of Third and Pico.

That was his land, the soil where
his dreams were to take root.

It will remain his land forever,
never to be sold or developed.

Instead, his legacy will live on,
in a memorial garden...

...I will plant there in his honor."

That can't be right.

There is a Pico Tower in downtown L.A.
It's an architectural landmark.

We took a field trip there in third grade.

Someone must have built it.

Tax records.

They show Chandler's rivalry
with Stark cost him everything.

His business went under in July 1925.

His assets were auctioned off
to pay off his debt...

...including the property at Third and Pico.

Bankruptcy, tragic accidents,
the death of a beloved son.

It's like the family's cursed.

-Mr. Chandler, I'm Myron Stark.
-Do I know you?

-No, you don't know me.
-Mr. Chandler's in a hurry.

I'm interested
in purchasing a piece of property.

Third and Pico.

-That land's not for sale.
-I'll pay twice what it's worth.

Are you deaf? He said it's not for sale.

Does it say who bought it?
The Pico property?

CAMERON: "M.S."
ERIC: Stark?

So he not only bought the land,
but he designed it himself?

-The building. It's about the building.
-What is?

Stark accidentally killed the man
who was gonna build it.

So he had to build it himself.

Everything he did was to drive Chandler
under and get him to sell that land.

Okay.

There must be a reason
why Stark needed to build it.

You wanna know the really weird thing?

Stark disappeared
two weeks before the building opened...

-...in May of 1927.
-Disappeared?

Fell off the face of the earth.

-Never seen again.
-What's happened at Pico Tower...

...since it was built? Anything important?

-Anything on New Year's Eve?
-New Year's Eve when?

-Any New Year's Eve.
-Not that I can see.

In fact, it's closed now. They had to
retrofit after the last earthquake.

I'm not sure when they're reopening.

Hey.

[INAUDIBLE DIALOGUE]

[MAKES HOLLOW SOUND]

Hey, I thought you left.
What are you doing back here?

Are you all right?

-What happened?
-I'm fine.

-Your brother again?
-I'm fine.

You never touched your doughnuts.

I wasn't hungry.

Your muscles are weak.

It was difficult for you to pull the trigger.

You've lost 8 percent of your body weight
in the past two weeks.

When I carried you to the film vault,
I weighed you.

Wait. What?

This whole night, the entire time,
you've been examining me?

What the hell is going on here?

Your cancer's back.

You have a secondary tumor
in the long bone of your arm...

...and possibly your lungs.

-Are you joking?
-No.

Then you're crazy. You don't know
what you're talking about.

Ewing's sarcoma:
First identified in the 1920s--

I know what it is, okay?
I'm the one in here.

No wonder you don't have any friends.

You can't just do things like that.

You can't just show up
whenever you need something.

You can't carry a gun
and freak people out...

...and walk in the bathroom
when a guy's taking a leak...

...and ask him if he's gonna kill himself.

And you can't just blurt things out
like, "You have cancer."

Especially to someone
who's already had it.

You have no clue, do you?

You have no idea what it's like...

...to have something inside of you.

Something that's damaged.

It's like a bomb...

...waiting to go off.

I need to finish my paper.

You should make an appointment
with your oncologist.

-The tumor's still small.
-Get out.

[FOOTSTEPS APPROACHING]

Where were you all night?

Out.

Carbon chain C24,
lanolin and red dye number 27.

You were with Riley.

We're closed.

Is Eric here?

Eric?

He works the night shift. He lets me in.

I have no idea. They just called
and asked me to come in. Sorry.

Do you like doughnuts?

I have one glazed, one rainbow sprinkle,
one cinnamon twist.

[ENGLISH SDH]