Underground (2016–2017): Season 2, Episode 5 - Whiteface - full transcript

- Previously on Underground...
- Rosalee?

There's one man I know motivated

to pluck the petals

off the Black Rose.

Who among you is feeling bricky tonight?

I seen you.

You're still the snake of a slave driver

you was when you left Macon.

Those who make peace
impossible make violence inevitable!

You got chillun?

They were the best thing in my life.



Little girl ran away.

Just kill yourself.

Go, go! Come on. We got you.

I hear this is the best
traveling minstrel.

Already sold out for the entire run.

Have you heard anything
about the patron, Mr. Powell?

What is this?

Why, hello!

I'm Master White.

And I've been growin' cotton
on this land

since my granpappy blew on the hornpipe

for good old King George.

Oh, come here, you pretty little number.

The good Lord's Bible



tells me I must lay down
with the lamb...

Good evening.

It's like I'm looking in a mirror.

My name is Chester Whittingham,
of Philadelphia's Whittinghams.

Welcome to the city of brotherly love.

Did he just...?

Now, our good founder William Penn

bent over at least three rivers

to get this premium plot of land.

Now, he set out to be a holy experiment.

And Lord, did he experiment

with every hole he could find.

Where do you think that crack
in the Liberty Bell came from?

Dear Mr. Still.

I apologize for my lapse

in our correspondence as of late.

But your letters have been
of great comfort.

Particularly as I stand on the precipice

of tremendous uncertainty.

It's hard to untether how much
I care about the cause

with how far I am willing to go for it.

While I admire Georgia's

resilient efforts towards peace,

the fervor and forthrightness

of John Brown's followers
is hard to deny.

It speaks to the anger
that has consumed me

since John's death.

Georgia Goodwin.

We know she's in here.

Go around to the back door.

Where is Georgia Goodwin?

Valentine, what's happening?

It's the police; they're coming up.

Come on.

Get in.

Rosalee.

Everybody out of your rooms, downstairs.

If you got your papers on you,
we need to see 'em.

Are you Georgia Goodwin?

You have no right barging in here.

Shut your mouth.

Get down here.

Move.

You all right?

- Is this your wife?
- No.

She fit the description
but she says she ain't her.

I got a warrant here with
Georgia Goodwin's name on it.

- Where is she?
- What is the warrant for?

Fraud, state of Virginia.

Harboring a fugitive of the law,

that's what y'all are doing.

Keep it up.

And I guarantee all of you
a trip across the river

to my jail, but what I can't guarantee

is that y'all will make it back.

Nobody's leaving here without a fight.

Is that right?

Don't do anything stupid now.

Stop.

I'm Georgia Goodwin.

Get on it then.

In my desk, there's a black envelope.

Bring it to the jailhouse.

Just you.

Free papers.

Who bring unu this shame?

Speak, girl.

Who give unu the devil blood?

The ancestors bring unu back from dead.

They want unu speak.
Who poisoning we people?

See? That poison ain't save unu.

It's got you shaking and sweating.

All of we save unu from that water.

You ain't got no family but we.

Unu can speak to we.

Embrace we.

Then we can embrace her.

This ain't about me speaking.

Y'all don't really want that.

'Cause then half of y'all standin' here

would have to admit
to takin' the devil's blood.

This ain't even about what I done.

It's about shamin' others
so they don't do anything

you don't want them to.

This here ain't family.

I wish I talked when
they been to shame me.

Sometimes it be harder to
stand up to those you close to.

All them, even me father,

want you for just smile
pretty, be innocent.

Don't care what ya done,

long as everything seem okay.

Sometimes I want to hurt myself.

Not like what ya done.

Just maybe... slashin' my face.

Force everyone to look at
how it feel on the inside.

That's the worst kind of control.

Destroying yourself 'fore they can.

They go on talk about why
you try for drown yourself.

One say you was laying

with the massa where you come from.

Say that why the mistress sent you away.

She jealous.

It true?

Mostly.

But it ain't the why.

I want you teach me.

I want you teach me how for
get massa for do what I want.

Why?

What Hicks done to me,

I ain't got no power to stop it.

And I want some.

No one threw
anything at the stage today.

I say that's cause for celebration.

Join us, Mr. Powell?

I've got other business,

but chase the bottom of a bottle on me.

Ah.

I went looking for you backstage.

Should have known you'd be out
here front and center.

Is everything in order for tonight?

And our out-of-town guests?

Settling into
the hotel suites you provided.

The food.

The chefs are skinning
all manner of beasts

to feast on as we speak.

- And the balloons.
- Arrived this morning.

They've overtaken the parlor.

It's hard to believe

there's just air
in those things, isn't it?

Especially considering how much it costs

to ship them all the way from London.

It doesn't sound like

you're ready for a party, Francis.

A party is you, me and Devi
on a rainy night in Mayfair.

Your grand entry

into Philadelphian society
tonight's spectacle,

just like this show.

How long do you think you can
keep this going on?

- Money's of no concern.
- Then what is?

Winning.

I saw you winning... with Devi.

What are you doing here?

Calling all this attention to yourself.

We're not in London, anymore.
You're poking a bear.

I'm putting the bear down.

We're gonna be late for our
appointment with the tailor.

I don't need another new suit.

I'm not gonna be
in attendance for this one.

And why is that?

'Cause I feel like I'm watching a man

carefully tie his own goddamn noose.

And I haven't been
in America long enough

to want to watch you hang.

Georgia.

Are you okay?

We need to move the cargo.

What, they suspect we're a station?

But the sheriff said "fraud."

The arrest was due to a family matter.

- I will handle it.
- Georgia.

We don't have time to waste.

I saw your papers.

You've been passing.

If you tell me what's going on,

maybe I can help you.

It's none of your business.

Hey, nigger.

You ain't fooling nobody.

We're watching you.

- How dare you?
- Elizabeth, don't.

Let's just go inside.

Run and hide.

We'll be waiting.

What happened to you?

You used to be the best tracker
south of the Ohio.

Now it looks like you
couldn't find your dignity

if I drew you a map.

Yet here I sit on a bucket of shit

with a proposition for you.

As irony has it...

I think it's irony, anyway...

I have a need to track down

your white whale.

Negro girl named Rosalee.

Mulatto, well-made.

I know who she is.

All you got to do to get
your freedom back...

is take hers away.

Give him a bath before you
put him on one of my horses.

Why didn't you tell us?

What would you have said if I had?

I would have told you
that what you're doing is crazy.

Mm-hmm. And you
would've tried to stop me.

- Going on runs with Harriet...
- I need to learn

- how to steal my family back.
- ...putting yourself

and the baby in danger.

I was being careful.

Careful?

Rosalee, look at yourself.

You almost died.

What were you thinking?

I was thinking about this baby.

When I realized I was even carryin',

I was already on the road with Moses,

learnin' so much.

This didn't even seem real.

It was still just me.

Everybody
and everything I called home...

gone.

And I knew if I could learn
a little more from Moses,

maybe I could have it all back.

Then my belly started to grow, and...

it got very real.

Every time I saw myself...

holdin' this baby,

Noah's baby,

he was right there with me.

My mama was right there with me.

I need 'em, not just for me...

for both of us.

I feel so scared.

I can't do it alone.

Rosalee, listen to me.

You are not alone.

But if you kill this baby trying
to get the rest of them back,

you will be.

Mama taught me how to make this

'fore she cross over on home
to the ancestors.

I can't believe you ain't
never had bread pudding.

Don't matter what I ain't had.

It's about what the massa ain't.

You ain't like the girls
he used to, and that's good.

But I ain't like you.

They don't like dark skin.

How you think I got here?

You want me to get you some water?

I'm fine.

Come on,

let me fix your hair.

What's wrong with it?

The hardest part ain't got nothin' to do

with the way you look.

You got more than enough
to get somebody into your bed,

but you got to keep 'em there.

How I do that?

All men feel like nobody listen to them.

- That's where you start.
- Ooh, but what about...

Shut your mouth and listen.

That's how you find out what he love.

Then you let him teach you 'bout it.

Men like to feel
like they showin' you things

ain't nobody else has.

I just pretend I like whatever he like.

No.

You got to find something real
in the lie.

It's only believable
if there's a part of you in it.

You teach your daughter this here?

Nah.

I taught her to keep her head down.

I did it so she wouldn't have to.

And what happened to her?

She ran away.

I have to say,

you haven't left behind much
of a paper trail, Mr. Pullman.

My man in Georgia is usually
pretty good at background work,

but he found next to nothing on you.

Your father, on the other hand...

there was a bit more on him,

his being military and all.

Dishonorable discharge
from the Georgia Militia.

Did he not agree with President Jackson?

I ain't one much for history.

Yet here you are

hunting an old bounty.

Huh.

What are you writin'?

I'm told you have a son.

I can clean up the rest, thank you.

Mmm.

I know you're thinkin'
about that bottle.

When you're gonna get some.

That's good. That's what I want.

A man who wants. A man who needs.

A man who acts.

If I am going to cut a dog loose,

especially where we're going,

I am going to want a dog that can bite.

You can still bite, can't you?

I can write a letter, if you want.

To your son.

We'll ride out with the wagons

in both directions.

If anyone's still watching the house,

that should draw them away.

You wait 20 minutes,

then move through the tunnel
with the men.

Thad and Elliot, take one wagon.

You head east.

Elizabeth and I will go west.

Just like always,

you ride like there's nothin' to hide.

You're going with them?

Two to a wagon makes more sense.

And they have no idea
what they're riding into.

You didn't tell them.

It's not my secret to tell.

They know the risks of moving cargo.

Today's revelations don't change that.

Maybe you're right.
Maybe nothing happens tonight.

But it's reckless.

You're risking their lives
to keep your secret.

It might make things easier on
you, but it's not fair to them.

Is that what you think?

That I do this because it's easier?

I don't know what to think.

You won't talk to me.

What was your mother's favorite color?

Blue.

You would be surprised how many
times, in passing conversation,

someone asks you a detail
about your mother.

I made the details up
so that I wouldn't slip.

Where she was educated.

The length of her hair.

Her favorite pianoforte.

And those details eventually
amount to a person.

And when I close my eyes at night

and I try to remember my real mother,

it gets harder.

Every time.

And I'm terrified
that one of these nights

I'm going to close my
eyes and see nothing.

The minute that these men
took up the cause,

the minute that they called
themselves abolitionist,

they put a target on their back.

I've lived with one most of my life.

There's nothing easy about this secret.

Miss Georgia?

There's a man at the front door
asking for you.

Are you expecting any more visitors?

Friends of the enslaved,

friends of the cause,

I welcome you to my home.

I imagine my sudden appearance

in your great city

raises a lot of questions.

In less polite crowds, the
question I can always count on

pertains to my face, this scar.

A reminder of my own time in bondage.

I wish I had some dramatic tale
of revolution and defiance

to explain it, but...

truth be told, I got this

because my master was a crap shot.

He and a friend were going on
about this story.

A fellow puts a-an apple
on his son's head.

Shot it clean off.

Soon enough, my massa put $100

against his knocking
a McIntosh off of my head.

He got close.

Trust me, he got close.

But that $100 he lost

got me taken to the forge.

And them embers reminded
a nigger like me

what happens when you take money

out of the pocket of a white man.

What I've learned
on my journey to freedom

is there is nothing in your past

you cannot forge into a weapon.

What I got right here was
a lesson in how to hurt them.

It's all about the money.

They ain't nearly so much cruel
as they are greedy.

They are slaves to capitalism.

That's why I offered my home
to Mr. Still.

My story

to you.

But most importantly...

...my money to the cause.

This is our weapon.

This is how we hurt them.

I was playing a role.

Wore white powder... three layers.

Rode the train all the way to Canada

as Harriet's massa.
Ain't nobody stop us.

She said to me,

"Act like you own the world,

and that's exactly
how they gonna treat you."

Hmm.

I'm sorry.

I've... been talkin' this whole time.

Come on now. Tell me.

What happened to you?

Who took you?

Oh, it don't matter. I'm here now.

Just want to put all that behind me.

There's something I got to tell you.

Noah...

I, um...

What?

I'm going back to get Momma and James.

Back-back... back to Macon?

But you hurt.

I'm healin'. Gonna be fine soon.

And it ain't gonna be
like when we ran the last time.

I know all the routes, all
the safe houses and stations.

We gonna have help
every step of the way.

I made a plan with Harriet.

Save up every little bit
they give me at that hospital.

Bought two train tickets to Atlanta.

Same one we put Boo on.

It can take us there the whole way.

With... with-with me playing your slave?

Just like I did with Harriet.

Train leave in five days.

You aimin' for Christmas?

You steal 'em Christmas night,

be three more days
'fore work start up again.

We be in a safe house Carolina way

by the time they even notice we gone.

Oh, Rose, that...

sounds like a good plan.

But ain't nothin' ever go as planned.

I know.

And I know... I don't
seem like much now, but...

Noah, I'm strong.

You found your way

back to me just in time.

Noah, I know together
we can do anything.

Oh, I hate animals.

Especially horses.

Why can't he just be
like the other buckra

and stay up in the big house?

I'll do all the talkin'.
You just listen.

Take this.

- Are you okay?
- I'm fine.

- Maybe we should come back another time.
- No.

That's just what we need.

Stop it, boy. Hey, go on, get.

Sorry, master. Sorry.
Didn't mean to disturb.

Dog probably just smelled the food.

- What are y'all doing 'round here?
- I wanted to say

sorry for how I was the other day.

You could have had me
punished, but you didn't.

Miss Clara here was kind enough

to help me make something
sweet to thank you.

What is it?

It's called bread pudding.

You like horses?

I ain't never seen one
as pretty as that.

Her name is Temple.

She's a war horse.

What's that?

Horses have been one
of man's greatest assets

in warfare for centuries.

Temple's breed was used
for cavalry charges

during the Revolution.

She's strong.

Been with me most of my life.

But you know, her coat
wasn't always so white.

What color was it?

When she first came to me, it was gray.

But as she's gotten older...

...her coat has turned silver,
then white.

You know, most gray horses

start off black with dark eyes.

Both fade over time.

Want to pet her?

Oh, I couldn't.

Go ahead. She's friendly.

Don't laugh at me, huh?

Me can't stand being laughed at.

I'm sorry. She was just saying hi.

You don't have to be scared. Here.

See?

She just has to get used to you.

We need to be getting
back to the quarters.

Did I do somethin' wrong?

You got to leave him wantin' more.

Don't look back.

He watchin'.

You gonna come back for that
basket a little after super.

After he done had
his after-dinner whiskey.

That's when you stay a little longer.

How is she doing?

Restin' now.

I was real sorry to hear about John.

I appreciate y'all takin' care of her.

I'm glad you're back.

She needs you.

No, she done all right.

All them people she helped
to freedom... it's amazing.

Last time

we saw each other,
we was runnin' from danger,

now she runnin' into it.

She told you about the plan
to rescue her family.

She want me to go with her.

Be back in Georgia by Christmas.

I know.

Going back right now to the hell

we ran so hard to get away
from... that seems crazy,

with her hurt like that.

She won't go if you don't go.

No, she need 'em.

She need 'em. Her momma, her brother.

I ain't never had no family, but

I'm-I'm startin'
to understand the pull of it.

And I know it ain't so easy for
her to just start over, but...

goin' back to Macon... that'd be
the last thing I want to do.

And that's how I been livin' my life,

always at the point of just

doin' the last thing I want to do.

I ain't never had no choice.

And now that I got one, I...

Then tell her that.

Be honest with her.

She will hear you.

If you don't go, she can't go.

Mr. Powell, I'd like to introduce you
to Frederick Douglass.

Your first autobiography was remarkable.

I haven't had a chance
to crack the second,

but I'm sure it will not disappoint.

I hear you've just returned from abroad.

- England.
- Oh, I spent

some time in the Kensington area.

It's not my place of birth,
but I was reborn there.

To be treated not as colored,
but as a man.

One hopes we can achieve
such here in America.

Tonight will certainly help us
get closer to that goal.

We have exceeded our largest
intake by a country mile.

Well, if it's one thing I've
learned from your print,

it's that the success
of the abolitionist

movement hinges
on Northern public support.

And from you, sir,

nothing inspires said support more

than the heroism of the runaway.

I do have my concerns
that we're often too public

when we speak of our secret network.

There is a balance
that needs to be found.

But tales of successful flight
can inspire those

yet in bondage to action.

While also cutting off
their routes to freedom.

It's why I kept

the exact details
of my own escape out of my book.

We cannot overexpose it.

Says the most photographed
man in the world.

Touché.

But image is important.

A single photo can do more to alter

the perception of the race

than any vile words shouted in hatred.

Men like you need to be seen
and heard as much as possible.

Talking is great,
but I'm one for action.

Revolution,
like that cracker from Kansas.

- John Brown.
- Mm, there is some distance

between us and Mr. Brown's methods.

But we do all agree
that war is inevitable.

The world is getting hotter.

I think that means that
emancipation is on the horizon.

I spent years out in the field
looking out at the horizon.

Here's the thing about it.

You can't ever quite get to it, can you?

We need to put him in
a room with Harriet.

Did I tell you I've finally
convinced her to speak?

Oh. The Earth might stop turning.

This party was an exclusive invitation.

Well, then, perhaps
you should check the list again.

The last name is "Cannon."

We've never met, but it seems
we've both heard of each other.

"Negro man named Cato,
copper-toned, fanciful dress.

Horribly burned
on the right side of the face."

Although you do look a little
taller than five-foot-eight.

Massa Tom saw what he wanted
to see, now didn't he?

Only thing worse than
his sense of measurement

was his judgment in choosing a catcher.

Last I heard,
they were stretching you out

over killing a white man.

Maybe I have

you to thank for some of
the little pebbles in my garden.

We're not here to fight, Mr. Powell.

We just want to talk.

When you're ready to do that,
we'll be at the bar.

What do you want us to do?

Keep an eye on 'em.

Make sure they don't disturb my guests.

Sir?

It's not a problem until it's a problem.

It may be one soon.

Francis. He's on his way back
with a surprise for you.

From England.

How much time do we have?

Boat was supposed to
dock ten minutes ago.

Get these people out of here.

Politely and discreetly.

I apologize, gentlemen,
but it looks like

we're gonna have
to call the night early.

I am sorry.

I-I can't eat.

I can't hardly sleep
thinkin' that something

th-that I done did made
you walk into that water.

I love you, Stine.

A-And I promise

I ain't never gonna raise a hand
to you again.

You ain't never raised no hand to me.

You don't even know me.

Wh-What you mean I don't know you?

I-I know you.

Hicks, you don't even know yourself.

This thing we do, hurting
each other over and over,

we ain't come up with it.

We just retellin' the story
they wrote for us.

You get hit out in them fields.

And that shame come and hit me.
And I let you,

'cause I got so much shame
of my own for the things I done

to survive that I think I deserve it.

No. No, that's that gal.

Yeah, I seen y'all together.

She done got your ear
and she's sourin' you on me.

It's over.

After all I done for you?

That's it?

You think you somethin' special.

You ain't.

You just like them empty blue bottles

up in that table-tapper there tree.

All the good inside you been used up.

And now you empty,

tossed out.

Just 'cause you was once
in the big house lookin' down

on the rest of us don't mean nothin'.

You're right.

Bein' in the big house, layin' with you,

the opiates,

they all just different ways
of enduring life

instead of living it.

I'm done with all that.

No, you ain't.

You'll be back.

Whoa.

We should keep moving.

We've been riding for miles.
If they haven't stopped us by now,

they're not going to.

I'm headed to Philadelphia soon.

The General's agreed to speak publicly

to a small group
of likeminded individuals.

The General?

That's what the Captain calls Harriet.

I didn't know they knew each other.

Met at the start of the year.

He was completely taken with her.

She's agreed to recruit for him.

Recruit?

Captain's always looking

for quiet men of principle
to be soldiers.

Quiet men of principle.

My husband John would have fit
that description.

I wonder what he would have
thought about Mr. Brown's war.

What do you think of it?

You should come with us
to hear Harriet speak.

Get off me! Get off me!

You know what we do

with nigger-loving slave-stealers?

Your friend want to be white.

That mean you want to be a nigger?

'Cause I'll brand you like one.

Do it.

What'd you say?

I am sick of hiding.

I'm sick of secrets.

I am a slave-stealer!

So if you're gonna brand me, do it!

Keep talkin' and
you're gonna get an SS carved...

Do it!

I'm gonna leave you out
here for the animals.

We'll be watching you.

You don't stop what you're doin'...

...I'll come find you again.

All right, let's talk.

We're looking for the Black Rose.

Never heard of her.

You knew her as Rosalee.

House girl.

I heard she did a number on you.

And your boy.

And I know she was running
slaves, but I didn't know

she was bumping
into the likes of you all.

But if you want to catch her,
I could tell you the secret.

Step one...

...get out of my house!

Let's all be careful.

That bust

of Emperor Napoleon is an original

Ferdinand Barbedienne.

Only one made.

Which means it's expensive.

Wouldn't want any bullet holes in it.

But you know what?

I can afford it. Shoot them!

Let's try this again.

How can we get to the Black Rose?

You want to get at the house girl,

you got to go through her momma.

She the only thing that girl care about.

Well, see, that wasn't
so hard, now was it?

You got what you want, now leave.

Cato!

Noah.

Earlier, you asked what happened to me

since last time I saw you.

I said it don't matter, but it do.

Ain't neither of us the same
people that ran together.

Now, that boy you met
in the whipping shed?

All he cared about was getting North.

To freedom.

'Cause that's what they make you think,

that freedom is a place.

But it ain't.

We make ourselves free
by the choices we make.

While I was in that jail,

I did just three things.

First,

I thought about you every minute.

Second,

I built the house we gonna live
in brick by brick in my head.

All you got to do is pick a nice
plot of land to call home.

And third...

well...

...third, I... I made you this.

Rose.

My first choice as a free man

is you.

I'll follow you anywhere.

You should be coming with us down South.

I think I'm going to stick
around here for a bit.

This is a really nice house.

You two bring Momma back.

Stine, Stine.

It work.

He asked me to come by
the stable again tomorrow.

We kissed.

Ain't gonna be long 'fore he do

whatever I want him for do.

Good.

'Cause you gonna use him
to get me off this island.