Timeless (2016–2018): Season 1, Episode 2 - Episode #1.2 - full transcript

Everyone thinks they know the man,

but nobody knows Lincoln.

He was a wrestler, for one.

300 fights, only lost once.

What do you know about Lincoln?

I'm his bodyguard.

Why aren't you guarding him, then?

He's next door, watching the play.

Hey, Mr. Booth.

Wife's been asking

when we're gonna be
seeing you on stage again.



Soon.

You crave affection. You do.

Now, I have no fortune,

but I'm spilling over with affections,

which I am ready to pour over you

like applesauce over roast pork.

I am aware, Mr. Trenchard,

that you are not used to the
manners of good society,

and that alone will
excuse the impertinence

of which you are guilty.

Don't know the
manners of good society, eh?

Well, I guess I know enough

to turn you inside out, old gal,

you sockdologizing old man-trap.



Sic semper tyrannis!

The South shall be free!

Who was that on the phone?

I have to go.

Now? Where?

Something came up at work.

No, no, you can't just...

Lucy.

What the hell's gotten into you?

Who's Amy?

I'm... I'm...

I'm sorry.

I'm sorry. Amy... Amy is a friend.

And, uh, she's from
work, and she needs my help.

Okay?

Mm-hmm.

Come here.

I really am glad to see you.

Okay.

Don't... don't
forget about tomorrow night.

Yeah.

So Flynn took out the
Mothership again, huh?

Where'd he go?

I don't know. I just got here.

Hey.

- What's changed in your lives?
- Wh...

Since we got back from
1937, what has changed for you?

I just had an unsuccessful evening

with a girl, so nothing, really.

Why? What's wrong?

My sister's gone.

Gone? Gone where?

Gone as in erased from history.

Something that Flynn did or
we did to the "Hindenburg"

has changed my family.

My mother isn't sick anymore,
and my sister was never born.

Lucy, we have a dossier on you,

and it doesn't say
anything about a sister.

Look, this is her right here.

You wore this on the trip back to 1937?

That is incredible.

You took it from a timeline
where your sister existed,

carried it here, to where she doesn't.

I do not share your
excitement, Mr. Mason.

Whatever changed, you
have to change back.

- Change it back.
- I'm sorry, Lucy,

but Flynn is hours ahead of us.

- We don't have time for this.
- Why not?

We have a time machine, don't we?

Flynn could be
decimating history right now.

Our reality could
change like that any second.

- You need to go.
- Not until we figure this out.

- Lucy...
- Hey.

You dragged her into all this.

She just lost her sister.
Give her a damn minute.

Flynn went back to April 14, 1865.

Now, you need to get moving,

and you need to eliminate Garcia Flynn.

Are we clear?

Yeah.

Yeah, okay.

Wait, what's April 14, 1865?

The assassination of Abraham Lincoln.

Hey, uh, I can try to figure out

what happened to your
sister, if you want.

How?

Something happened on the "Hindenburg"

that affected your parents somehow.

I can look for a connection, you know,

try to see what changed.

Tell me your parents' names, birthdays,

anything that can help.

You would do that for me?

Come on.

- Here.
- Yeah, okay.

This is crazy.

Garcia Flynn.

He went straight for Anthony.

He knew he was the project leader,

the best of our only two pilots.

So how did Flynn know so much about us,

our vulnerabilities?

Is there a problem?

What do they do with these recordings?

Why does Rittenhouse even need them?

Don't speak that
name out loud ever again.

Trick-or-treat.

Trust me, no one is
more worried than I am

that I am not a real soldier.

Where did these
getups even come from?

Civil War re-enactors club.

No wonder they smell like
sweat and loneliness.

- Okay, uh... whoa, whoa!
- Sorry.

Just sit.

Here. Let me.

I was really hoping

I'd never have to get in
this damn thing again.

Lucy, I'm sorry about your sister.

Thank you...

for backing me with Agent Christopher.

Trust me. We're gonna fix it.

We're gonna fix everything.

Prepare for launch sequence.

Life support systems currently online.

We really should get some paperweights.

Tell me this gets easier.

It doesn't.

What's all that?

The Civil War just ended.

They're celebrating.

Praise to Lincoln!

Mr. Booth.

I'm quite the admirer of yours.

Oh?

What production did you see me in?

"Richard III"?

Oh, I'm not talking about a play.

I know what you're about to do.

I think I can help.

Yah!

Check out that swagger.

The Civil War just ended.

Slavery's outlawed.

African-Americans
thought their future was bright...

which pretty much ends
tonight when Lincoln's shot.

So what do you think Flynn is up to?

He's got to be here to
change the assassination.

- But how?
- I don't know.

But I do know exactly where John
Wilkes Booth's going to be,

so we start there.

Best guess, he takes us to Flynn.

So Booth walks into Ford's Theatre

at exactly 10:00 a.m., huh?

Not 9:56, 10:07?

Hundreds of books have been written

about Booth's movements today.

Let me guess. You read them all.

And wrote one of them.

So why is Booth coming here now?

What, is he scouting for tonight?

No, he's an actor.

He knew Ford's Theatre like
the back of his hand,

used it as his mailing address,

picks up his mail at exactly 10:00 a.m.

- An actor.
- Pretty well known too.

But his brother, Edwin, was literally

the most famous actor in America.

John never quite measured up.

So this is like if Donnie Wahlberg

assassinated the president?

Pretty much, actually.

Come on.

Hey, keep an eye out, huh?

If you find Booth or
Flynn, come get us fast.

Let's go.

Right this way.

Hello.

Any of your books tell
you where the mailboxes were?

No. Let's split up.

- Okay.
- Okay.

- You want...
- No, I got it.

Okay.

You all right there, Sergeant?

Yes, I am.

A sergeant. And just fine.

What's your name?

Um, Denzel... Washington.

I'm Nicholas. Whereabouts you from?

- Chicago.
- Oh.

You was free when you signed up.

You got kin or young
folk still in bondage?

No, my... my family was all born free.

So y... you read and write good, huh?

Pretty good, yeah.

That's
how you got them stripes.

Hey, boys, get on over here.

Old Denzel's gonna
write our notices for us.

We need you to write something
for the newspaper.

You go ahead and start with mine.

I... I can't write that.

"The Colored Tennessean"
prints them free.

Uh, Nicholas Biddle, 2nd Regiment,

Colored Infantry.

That's me.

Nicholas Biddle of the 2nd Regiment,

Colored Infantry,

wishes to learn the whereabouts

of his wife and four children.

The children are
Selia, Sarah, Elizabeth,

and Adam Lee.

My wife's Anne,

and the last I seen
her was in a sale pen

of a human trader named
Robert Clark, Atlanta.

Oh, pardon me, miss.

I'm General Grant's aide.

You're Robert Todd Lincoln.

Have we met?

No.

I... I admire your father.

Pleased to meet you, Miss...

Juliet Shakes... man.

Are you an actress?

No. Yes.

Not a very good one.

Just starting out.

Something rarer than an actress:

a modest one.

General Grant was supposed
to attend tonight's play,

but he can't make it and I
have to return his tickets.

Well, I'll take the tickets
to the box office for you.

I'd like to leave a note
too with the general's apologies.

Of course.

Take your time.

You know, my father's coming
to the play tonight.

Have you seen it?

It's... not very good.

No?

Should I tell him not to come?

Having President Lincoln for a father,

what is that like for you?

He casts a long shadow, but it's...

not one I mind living in.

I'm proud of him, he's
done some great things.

I agree.

And he's just getting started.

So what are you gonna
do once you find your family?

I'm gonna work me a
piece of my old master's land.

You think the man who owned you

is just gonna give you his land?

No, I think President Lincoln's

gonna make him.

It's all smooth
sailing from here on out.

What's that supposed to mean?

Uh, I'm sorry. Nothing.

I didn't......
I didn't mean anything.

What regiment you in?

Uh, the 4th. Colored.

- Hmm.
- Infantry.

4th Colored.

Yeah, I never, uh, never heard of it.

Whereabouts y'all fight?

We fought all over.

See, this ain't no real uniform.

You pretending to be a solider, huh?

After what we went through?

Why, so you can get you a girl?

Look like some big hero?

Yeah, go on, you lying rat!

Miss Shakesman?

It has been a pleasure.

I'll see they get it right away.

Please do, yes.

John Wilkes Booth.

Robert Lincoln.

I... I saw you on stage here last month.

Of course. Why are you here?

My father invited General Grant

to see tonight's play,

and I'm helping him escape it.

I assume you know Miss Shakesman.

- John Booth.
- She's an actress.

Really? Where do you perform?

I'm new to the profession.

And very humble.

Miss Shakesman, do you
know that Mr. Booth's brother

saved my life on a train platform

just last year?

Pulled me out of the
path of an oncoming train.

It's a true story.

- Amazing.
- That's Edwin.

- Always the hero.
- Yes, sir.

The Lincolns owe the
Booths a great debt.

So we're 1,000% sure

we can't just shoot this asshat,

save Lincoln here and now?

Believe me, I want to.

It might change things too much.

Like maybe there'll
be a lot less lynchings.

I'm serious.

I'm serious. I just
met some black soldiers.

We know Lincoln's death...

It's gonna be a disaster for them,

not to mention my
great-great-grandparents.

Don't look at me. I'm with him.

Look, I understand,

but we don't know the
consequences. It's too risky.

It's our job to protect history.

Yeah, rich white guys' history.

A lot of my history sucks.

Look, I know it seems crazy,

but maybe we can change
things for the better.

Psst!

This is the Herndon House,

where Booth meets with his conspirators.

What conspirators?

Get back, get back!

When I shoot, you run. Stay low.

- Don't stop for anything!
- But what about you?

I'm right behind you.

Go! Go!

Ah!

Ah!

- What happened?
- Nothing. Come on! Go!

Your brother looks to
be at the fag end of things.

Poor digestion's all.

I thank you very much, ma'am.

Thank you.

Oh! Where the hell is
Rufus with the supplies?

You need a real doctor.

To do what? Leech me?

Oh! Ah...

Get this off me.

Okay.

Ah, ah.

This would take 15
minutes to patch back home.

Here, I'm gonna die of sepsis.

- You get it? Okay.
- Yeah.

Oh!

Rufus, you're up.

My knife's in the pocket.

You gotta sterilize it over the lamp.

Um... what?

The bullet's still in there.

It's just under the skin,
but you gotta take it out.

Why me?

Because you work with your hands.

Yeah, on circuit boards.

Think of me as a circuit board...

that's gonna die if you don't help.

Don't look at me. I faint.

So those weapons Flynn has.

Why does he need that
kind of firepower, huh?

Lincoln gets killed anyway.

I don't think it's just about Lincoln.

Lincoln's death was part
of a much larger conspiracy

to kill the four most powerful
men in government

in one fell swoop:

Lincoln, Vice President Johnson,

Secretary of State
Seward, and General Grant.

It would have been devastating,

but the other shooters
never followed through

or just failed outright.

Well, that's before they
had semiautomatic weapons.

Exactly.

What if Flynn is trying
to help them succeed?

They would cripple the Union,
maybe revive the Confederacy.

Hell, Johnson and Grant are supposed
to become presidents.

America as we know it would
be unrecognizable.

Okay, so how do we stop all that?

One problem at a time.

Grant takes a train out of town at 6:00.

I need to make sure he's on it.

You take care of Wyatt.

We're gonna need you tonight.

This is gonna be the
worst game of Operation ever.

Zzzzz!

Go on.

Thank you, sir.

Miss Shakesman?

Mr. Lincoln.

What are you doing here?

Following you, it seems.

I'm a lucky man, then.

What happened to the train?

Technically speaking, it broke.

Oh.

Much to General Grant's dismay,

he and I will be seeing a play tonight.

No!

Like I said before, it's a terrible play.

The general will hate it.

Maybe.

But the general and I
are already committed.

But is there any chance

that you'd like to see a terrible play?

What?

Excuse me for being forward,

but would you come as my guest?

You'd improve the evening a great deal.

We've met twice in one day.

That can't just be a coincidence.

Do you believe in fate?

I'm at the National.

The National.

At 7:00, then.

We really have to
stop meeting like this, Lucy.

You son of a bitch.

My sister is gone, disappeared

because of something you
did to the "Hindenburg."

It's war. I lost my whole family.

Because you murdered them.

Rittenhouse murdered them.

I asked about Rittenhouse,

and no one's never heard of him.

Rittenhouse isn't a him. It's a they.

And that's why I'm here:
to right some wrongs.

By shooting up half of Washington?

Trying to destroy America outright?

I'm not trying to destroy America.

I'm trying to save it!

Lucy, one day

you are going to help me.

Or what? You'll kill me?

That's not a threat.

It's your future.

So accept it, and stop
trying to interfere.

What are you trying to do?

What does this have
to do with Rittenhouse?

Tell me!

Don't get in my way again.

Is it unsanitary if
I throw up on you now?

Um... you went shopping?

Robert Lincoln invited me to a play.

A play? You mean the play?

General Grant's gonna be there tonight.

Flynn sabotaged his train.

You saw Flynn.

I saw him leaving the train station.

The point is, Grant's
gonna be there tonight,

and I've gotta save him.

How, exactly?

I don't know.

I'll, uh, get Grant out of the balcony

before Booth shows up... somehow.

I'm pretty sure we can come
up with a better plan than that.

Will these help?

And I assume with all that,

we're gonna save everybody but Lincoln?

Rufus...

All you have to do is open
your mouth to save him.

And you're just gonna let
Booth shoot him in the head?

Do you think any of this is easy for me?

My whole life, I've idolized Lincoln.

When I was a little girl, I
would memorize his speeches.

Well, then do something.

We would come back to an
entirely different world.

Who knows if it would be better

or if there would be
anything left to come back to at all?

The present isn't perfect, but it's ours.

Awful as it is,

what happens to Lincoln is meant to be.

What about my wife?

'Cause by your logic, you're saying

that bad things like my wife's death

are meant to be.

You wouldn't use the time machine

to save her either?

Wow.

You are saying that.

So... your sister is supposed to live,

and my wife is supposed to die.

- Is that it?
- That's not fair.

You just lost your sister,

and you're gonna sit
next to Robert Lincoln

and let him lose his father?

Never seen nothing like it.

Where'd you get these?

We're Prussian. We make good guns.

Sic semper tyrannis.

The South shall be free.

Use this instead.

It's ugly.

It fires 17 bullets.

You won't need the knife.

I like the knife.

Just take it.

The Derringer is more dramatic.

Now, I appreciate the
weaponry you provided us, sir,

but I have staked my fortune and fame

on this spectacle,

and I will see it
through as I imagined it.

Mr. Robert Todd Lincoln downstairs

for Miss Shakesman.

I'll be down in a minute.

Um...

Now, please.

You'll save Secretary of State Seward?

And you'll save Vice President Johnson?

Yeah, we got it.

Lucy, just...

think about who you save.

You wouldn't treat him
as some other people would

when you found out that he was not

the inheritor of that fortune.

Not the heir of the fortune?

No.

You people bark up the wrong tree

about the old man's property.

Which he left to you.

Well... no.

He's always late.

Oh?

I wish I could be sure of that,

for I have been cruelly disappointed

in that particular.

Yes, but we are old friends...

Miss Shakesman.

Allow me to introduce my mother, Mary,

and my father, the president.

Father, please meet Juliet Shakesman.

Miss Shakesman, how do you do?

It's a great pleasure to meet you.

So all I got to do

is save the vice
president of the United States.

Sure, no probs.

Relax.

This Atzerodt guy shows his face,

just point him out to the vice
president's bodyguards.

They'll do the rest. The
gun's just in case.

What if I freeze?

You won't.

I, um...

I grew up on the west side of Chicago,

and there was a... there
was this kid, Rich Tannen,

who used to come after me.

But I wouldn't fight.

There was no flight either.

I just stood there. It was biological.

Then he just beat the crap out of me.

Rufus...

I don't know you that well.

But in the last two days,

you helped us break out of jail.

You held a knife to a Nazi's throat.

And you pulled a bullet out
of my gut without puking.

You won't freeze.

I'm scared.

I wouldn't go into battle
with you if you weren't.

A woman of my age...

Be you a woman of your age?

- Are you all right?
- Oh, I'm just...

- I'm just a little nervous.
- Would you like some water?

Here, allow me.

Oh, no, no. I'll get it.

- Good God!
- General...

General Grant, please forgive me.

Are you all right?

I'm quite all right, yes.

Excuse me.

- I'm so sorry.

You seem tickled to death.

The tall guy who gave you the gun.

Where is he?

Why do I always get the big guys?

Father!

Father, hurry.

Oh, my goodness!

What's going on?

Mr. Secretary.

Hey, Mr. Booth.

Wife's been asking

when we're gonna be seeing
you on stage again.

Soon.

My friend's drunk.

Unhand me!

Grant's gonna be in there too.

You're gonna need more than
one bullet. Take it!

I set this course nigh
on four years ago

and do not now submit my
destiny for your approval,

nor...

Actors.

Now, some other
gals and their mothers

would go away when they found that out,

but you value fortune, Ms. Gusty.

Robert.

Yes.

Miss Shakesman.

Mr. Trenchard...

It's not such a bad play.

I'm offering her my heart and my hand.

It's certainly not what I remembered.

Well, if it ain't Sergeant
Denzel Washington.

Excuse me.

Why would you be sneaking around

the vice president's hotel with this?

Hey, boys, look who I found.

Listen to me, Nicholas.

I just need to talk to his bodyguards.

I'm not trying to
hurt the vice president.

I'm trying to save him.

Oh, you are, huh? From what?

There is a man in here

who is going to kill him.

Now, boys, hear that?

The fake sergeant say

he fixing to stop a man
from killing the vice president.

Excuse me.

He's gonna shoot him!

I wouldn't do that!

- Move!
- Somebody call a doctor!

Buy you a drink, Sergeant?

I'm not a soldier.

You are in my book.

Don't know the
manners of good society, eh?

Well, I guess I know enough to
turn you inside out, old gal,

you sockdologizing old man-trap.

When I think of all I've thrown
away today in hard cash,

I am apt to call
myself some awful hard names.

$400,000...

No! Mr. President!

No!

The tall man who shot Lincoln,

I saw him earlier with
John Wilkes Booth,

whispering about something.

I'd look for Booth.

Excuse me, Officer.

Yes, ma'am. Thank you.

- Johnson?
- Alive.

Hey.

Seward's okay.

- What about...
- Grant's safe.

But Lincoln...

Is the President safe?

Where is the President now?

What happens now?

Please tell us something!

Is the President well?

He's gone.

I am so sorry.

Thank you for saving General Grant.

The whole country thanks you.

I wish I could have saved your father.

There was nothing you could have done.

I have to go.

Robert.

Listen.

Don't go south.

You find your family,
and you head up north.

It's gonna be all right.

All right?

The man helped us, freed us,

and they killed him for it.

It'll never get better.

It does.

I promise you.

It's not gonna be easy, but...

it does get better.

Flynn's back in the present.

Let's go home.

I decided I was gonna let it happen.

But then I called out to warn him.

It was too late.

It's one thing to talk about history

like this abstract thing.

But when the man gets
shot right in front of you...

I tried.

- Wyatt needs a doctor!
- Get a medic!

Pressurization...

Thank you. You okay?

Who shot Lincoln?

President Abraham
Lincoln was assassinated

by a tall unknown
gunman using an unknown gun

on April the 14th, 1865.

But it's all changed.

The gunman used to be John Wilkes Booth.

Now it's Garcia Flynn.

Well, the assassination was planned

by John Wilkes Booth as
part of a larger conspiracy.

Booth was hunted down and killed.

The mysterious gunman

also attempted to shoot General Grant,

but he was saved by an obscure actress

named Juliet Shakesman.

Never seen again...

though there is a high
school in Point Pleasant, Ohio,

named after her.

But what's it say about me?

I saved Vice President Johnson.

No, says he did.

All that guy did was get shot.

Well, besides the
fact that you let Flynn go,

it's good work.

But history changed.

That's not how it's supposed to be.

It's close enough.

Is it?

What if something changed somewhere

because of what we did?

Maybe someone else lost their sister.

Flynn didn't destroy
America or the world.

Take the win.

Psst!

Your father, Henry Wallace.

Your mother, Carol Preston.

Two children: you, Lucy, in 1983;

and, according to you, your
sister was born in 1990.

So how did the "Hindenburg" change it?

Well, to get straight to the point,

Henry never married Carol.

You're saying my father
never married my mother?

As far as I can tell,
they never even met.

Instead, Henry married the granddaughter

of Irene Doehner,

a girl who should have
died in the "Hindenburg"

but didn't.

That explains why my mother
doesn't have lung cancer.

Dad got her smoking.

But since they never married,
she never smoked, no cancer.

It also explains why Amy was never born.

Right, because my parents never met.

But they're still my parents.

Keep going.

So wait a minute.

How was I born?

You're almost there.

Yeah, you got it.

Carol's my mother,

but Henry isn't my father and never was.

My mother's been lying
to me my whole life.

I'm not recording them anymore.

I don't care who Rittenhouse is.

Lucy and Wyatt trust me,

and I am not spying on them.

Rufus.

Who took you out of West Chicago

and sent you to MIT?

Who bought your
mother a house and a car and...

Oh, yes, that's
right... Brought you into

one of the most important scientific
projects of all time?

And I am grateful for all of that.

Well, gratitude doesn't
repay your debt.

Those recordings do.

The doctor who did this sucks.

It wasn't a doctor.

I'll get you stitched up.

We'll have you home by tonight.

Who should we call to pick you up?

I'll call a cab.

Hey, congrats.

Wait, wait, wait, wait.

Me first. Hold on.

Well, you're late to
your own engagement party.

My engagement party. Ha ha.

The way you ran out
yesterday, and now this.

And I'm not supposed to worry.

I'm sorry.

It's just been a little... hectic.

I see.

So did you help out your friend Amy?

I'm still working on it.

Well, please go freshen up

and find your engagement ring.

Mom.

I need to talk to you about something.

About Dad.

What are you not telling me?

What? Are you serious right now?

You bring this up on today, of all days?

I need a drink.

Hello, beautiful.

I missed you.

Hello.