Jeremiah (2002) s02e13 Episode Script

The State of the Union

1 Previously on Jeremiah There's this little thing called the doctrine of unintended consequences.
You ask somebody, "Do you love me?" It opens up all kinds of unintended consequences.
You hit somebody, you do the same thing.
You just hit Daniel hard, maybe before we were ready to hit.
You wanted to do something.
This is it.
Recruits come here, we train them, they go to Milhaven for assignment, and out from there.
You did everything you could.
It's not your fault.
We previously agreed to hold off on any direct confrontation with our opposite numbers in Thunder Mountain.
I think you'll agree, time is no longer a luxury we can afford.
The greater of the chaos, the greater the beauty that comes out of it, assuming that everything follows the right strange attractor.
But there's always one strange attractor in the bunch.
Oddly enough, there are usually two, and everything that happens around them is defined by that division.
This isn't a fight for the pieces of the old world, Rod.
This is a war of powers and principalities.
We are the coyote, Rod, we are the wolf, and it is time, long past time, that we bared our teeth and fed.
What are you doing? Something I've wanted to do since the day that I met you.
I've always had this superstition that what you're doing on New Year's is what you're going to be doing for the rest of the year.
Good morning, sir.
I think we're in for another beautiful day.
Gina, how long you been here? About four hours, sir.
- Did you sleep? - Yes, sir.
Five hours a night, whether I need it or not.
You mind telling me what you're doing here? I'm here every day.
Today's sunday.
Don't you think I deserve at least a sunday off to myself? Of course I do, but this is monday.
Sunday.
Nuh-uh.
See, if you look at my day planner, you'll see that yesterday was sunday, and then over here, it says monday.
Yeah, that does say monday, and that's today, so I'm here, you're awake, and here are your appointments.
I don't believe this shit.
This is your handwriting.
So? You make this shit up.
No, I don't.
That's why there are people lined up outside.
They made their appointments weeks ago for today, monday.
How many people? A couple.
A couple all right, look, I can do this.
After that, I'm taking the rest of the day off.
You got it.
- It's got to be sunday.
- It's monday.
Okay, let's go.
He's running a little late today, so try to keep it brief, and he's not in the best of moods.
Move it.
This is such bullshit, Markus.
Making deliveries like this is grunt work, and Smith and I have, you know, more important things to do, don't we, Smith? - Not really, I - There, you see? Kurdy, this is important too.
We're nearly done putting together the communications systems that Devon created.
Once we've finished getting radios to all the alliance towns, we can tie the whole thing together into one big grid, but they have to have the radios in the first place, or the whole thing doesn't work.
Sounds good.
I'm in.
There's got to be somebody else.
There isn't.
The other teams have been doing this for months now, and we're falling behind a little bit.
There are new recruits pouring in here every day, Markus.
They need training.
You have trained your people well, Kurdy.
They can handle things around here for a couple of days.
- I could go.
- Markus Just take three radios to three towns and come back.
That's all I'm asking.
Fine, but I don't think Smith is going to be very happy about this.
Happy? I'm ecstatic.
I mean, I love going to new places - and discovering things, and - Would you shut up, Smith? So, what towns? Three Hills, Farley, and Silver City.
Three Hills.
Okay, that's Sandor's place, just on the other side of Milhaven.
We can stop by, check on Jeremiah.
He could use a distraction.
You see? This is going to work for everybody.
Okay, have fun.
It's become painfully obvious that we need to practice this good cop/bad cop stuff some more.
You looking for something? Yeah, I'm kind of lost.
Pretty big place you've got here.
Can you tell me where I go to sign in? I'm here to join up.
Down the hall, second left.
What's your name? Tad.
- Where you from? - Arlington.
Welcome to the Mountain.
My name's Kurdy.
When I get back, if there's anything I can do to help you out, you let me know.
Remarkable workmanship, really, to assemble this in so short a time.
They say it should be operational pretty soon, sir.
Excellent.
Then we should be on our way.
Time to kill some of the enemy, make some noise.
It's been 15 years since a strange disease wiped out all of the adults and left us kids to fend for ourselves.
Now I'm moving ahead, through the past.
I can't let go I'm holding hope so tight It's hard to breathe when the whole world falls I'm gonna put the stars back back up in the sky Let them all just shine down I'm gonna try I believe we'll find the world together Through your eyes That's all I can see I believe we're looking at forever In a world where we can be free I believe So you know what King Solomon did in a situation like this? He would say, "Look, "if two you cannot decide who this child belongs to, I'm just going to cut it in half.
" Okay, but I don't quite see how that fixes my situation, and What I'm saying is, the outhouse was there before you moved in next door.
Now, you don't like the outhouse, that's fine, but we can't move the outhouse.
You see what I'm saying? So you have to deal with it.
Either learn to like the smell, you get out, or I'll come burn your house down.
Problem solved, get it? Just like King Solomon, except different.
Can I go now? Sure.
Take some bread.
Libby I don't know what I'm doing here anymore.
I don't think I belong in Milhaven.
I'm not like you.
You could make the best of any situation.
You always see Saw the best in people.
I miss that.
I miss you.
I (knocking) (door opens) Well, that wasn't so bad, now, was it? You said a couple of people.
A couple is two.
That was 22.
The whole fucking day is shot.
Thank you.
Well, in that case, sir, why don't you go ahead and take a break, and I'll neaten things up in here? You know what? Don't do that.
It doesn't bother me.
I know it kills you when I'm unorganized, but I've got other things on my mind.
Like what? Like how can you be so obnoxiously happy all the time? Mm Good living, country air, and doing what I love to do, like working with you.
What about you? If you ran the universe, what would you be doing right now? What would I be doing right now? I'd be on the road.
It's what I know.
Me and Kurdy, cruising down the road, sitting by a campfire.
(knocking) Oh, go away, would you? I'm closed.
I told you.
Go home, will you? Well, I really didn't want to come.
It was all Smith's idea.
Hey, man.
Huh.
I guess you really do run the universe.
Actually, that job's not open right now.
Get in here, Smith.
I can't tell you how great it is to see you guys.
Really.
Even you, Smith.
Thank you, I think.
Wow, running this town really is driving you crazy, huh? Yeah.
It's weird, because, you know what? I know there's still some good that I can do here, but most of the time, I wonder if this is where I belong.
Too many memories.
You look like you could stand to get away from this place for a while.
Yeah.
Tell you what.
We'll go drop some shit off, say hi to Sandor, hang out We'll take our time.
Markus said these radios have to go out, but they don't have to go out right this second.
It'll be like a little vacation.
What do you say? Yeah.
Yeah.
A vacation.
That sounds great.
(knocking) Sandor? Yeah.
Who wants to know? Daniel says hello.
Hustle it up, Smith.
We can't be out here all day.
This is a break in routine, not a lifestyle, baby.
All right.
I just have a few more adjustments to make.
All right, I give.
What are you adjusting? What's that thing supposed to do? Well, it's pretty simple, actually.
The string is attached to the pole in the water, so when a fish nibbles on the hook, it creates a tension in the line, pulling the little piece of cardboard out, allowing for direct contact between the battery and the light, so when the light goes on, we have dinner.
Where did you learn to tinker with stuff like that? I guess you could say I have a natural inclination for invention.
I'd say you have a natural inclination for bullshit.
Now, how is it that you can make all these devices from shoe strings and band-aids and shit, but you can't fix a simple pocket watch? Well, it's not really broken.
It's just waiting for the right time to start working again.
I smell that inclination you were talking about.
Everything happens in the precise sequence that it should, just like the watch, just like life.
See? How's it going? Five more radios delivered.
We've established contact.
So far, so good.
By the way, Markus, thanks for trusting me enough to let me run the comm room again.
Don't thank me.
Thank Erin.
It was her idea.
It's a good idea, either way.
We'll see.
So have all of our teams reported in? Except for Jeremiah, Kurdy, and Smith.
Remember when you were a kid, there was always two or three kids in the back of the class, you always had to keep them apart or nothing ever got done? (screeching) What's the matter? Some kind of feedback.
It's gone now.
Might be a problem with the equipment, the relay circuits.
You should have that looked at.
Yeah, will do.
Let me know the minute you hear from Jeremiah and the rest of ratpacker.
Their first stop was Sandor's.
They should be there by now.
Assuming nothing went wrong It was a simple little errand.
What could go wrong? This is an unfortunate necessity.
It didn't have to be this way.
You were given a choice to follow Daniel to victory, or stand helplessly beside the alliance.
You chose unwisely.
The alliance allows this to happen to you by misleading you with promises they could never make.
The alliance started this fight.
We're going to finish it.
That's a promise I can keep.
(gunshot) (screaming) I don't understand why I'm the only one who has to clean all the fish.
Because we've got seniority.
And style.
Don't forget style.
And style.
Now, when we finish eating, we should be able to make it to Sandor's before dark.
Markus thinks it's safer if we get on foot and make these deliveries.
Yeah, he always thinks that.
No such thing as safe, man.
Not this side of the grave, anyway.
What about Libby? We thought she was safe.
Look what happened to her.
Aah! You okay? Yeah.
I just cut myself.
Well, don't bleed on my fish.
Well, you know, Markus isn't totally wrong, you know? Sandor's town is as close to Daniel's turf as we want to get.
He just wants to make sure nobody sees us bringing these things in.
It's not like they've got spies lurking in every dark corner.
That's not the way they work.
Right, Smith? Smith? Smith? We can't wait here anymore.
We have to go into town.
Right now! Oh, man.
It's one of those "God said" looks.
I recognize it.
Oh, shit.
Sandor.
Damn fuck! It looks like everybody who could get out did, and those who didn't You know what? We shouldn't have stopped.
We should never have fucking stopped.
Yeah, if we didn't stop, we'd be dead right now.
Look around, man.
You think three guys did this? - 10? 20? - So? It would take a small army to do this much damage this fast.
We could've done something.
It's bad enough that we have to carry around guilt for everything we've done in our lives.
You want to start carrying guilt for shit we haven't done? Come on.
We should call Markus and tell him what happened.
- We have them? - Yeah, I've got Kurdy on the line, but I'm still getting that feedback.
Do what you can to filter it out.
Kurdy? Kurdy, you there? Yeah, we're here, but Three Hills is gone.
Looks like they swept in and killed everybody they could find, and scared everybody else away.
Shit.
Yeah, that's how we felt about it.
It's probably Sims again too.
(feedback screech continues) Thing is this is big, Markus.
I mean, this was a full-out assault.
There are more dead bodies here than we have ever seen.
Okay, we have to find out where the hell these guys are going.
From the tire prints, it looks like they head north, which means they could be headed anywhere.
Clarefield, Silver City hell, they could even be headed toward Milhaven.
Damn.
Okay, get the hell out of there in case they left any patrols behind looking for stragglers.
Yeah, right, we'll (screeching) Kurdy? Kurdy Turn it off.
Okay, whatever the hell that is, we have to get it fixed.
This is exactly the wrong time to be having problems with the radio.
I've had them check it three times.
They still can't find anything Tell them to check it again.
If we don't find out where Sims is heading, we'll have a lot more towns that end up like Three Hills.
Come on, Smith.
We've got to go.
(metal crunching) Guys, I think I just found something.
What? It's a fucking landmine.
We're in a minefield.
Yeah, I'm way ahead of you on that.
Probably a parting gift from Sims.
This mine doesn't go off when you step on it, but when you step off.
- Don't move, Smith.
- Don't worry.
I'm not going anywhere.
If I can get my knife between your shoe and the mine Look Kurdy, I don't think that's a good idea.
Wait, wait, wait.
Wait, wait.
There's no point in all three of us getting blown up.
Why don't you guys just back off, and I'll figure something out? And have your death on my conscience? No way.
No, no.
We came in here together.
We're going out together.
You got it? All right, Smith, step off slowly.
- Are you sure? - Slowly.
What about you? We need to get something heavy to put on the knife.
Maybe one of the radios out of the back of the truck.
Watch where you step.
Hold on, bro.
Careful, Smith.
Watch your step.
Put the radio on the knife, okay? Be careful.
Careful.
Did you learn that back at the Mountain? I picked up a few things here and there before I met you.
Oh, shit! Fuck! Oh Okay, that was close.
But, like I always say, any mine you Shit.
I said, "Any mine you can walk away from.
" I didn't say anything about driving.
Fuck.
Next town's probably down that way.
They might have something we can use to get to Milhaven.
(harmonica playing "When the Saints Go Marching In") Hi.
Hello there.
What's that? Ever heard one of these before? It's called a harmonica.
Come on over here, take a closer look.
Did you like my song? Where are you from? Silver City.
Want to hear some more? You try.
You'll get better with practice.
Put out your hand.
A present from Daniel.
Thanks, Mister.
I've got to show my mom.
Say, "Thank you, Daniel.
" Thank you, Daniel.
Sir, our source just called in.
Thunder Mountain's heard about the attack on Three Hills.
They're starting to look around, trying to figure out where we're going.
Good.
Our little endeavor should give them cause to look here, where we want them to look.
Have we heard from the other team? Yes, sir.
They're finished up and on their way back.
Oh, good.
Let's move out.
Sad about Silver City? Yes, sir.
Very sad.
This is pretty fucked.
We don't even know if we're headed in the right direction.
We got off the main road now where the hell are we? Of course we're going in the right direction.
Based on the position of the sun, factoring in the Earth's winter rotation, combined with the physical evidence of the moss growing on that side of that tree, we are definitely going south.
At least he makes it sound good.
Plus I saw a sign that said "Cold Creek, 20 miles" back that way.
You know, next time, remind me to leave you on the bomb.
Sorry.
It's not your fault, Smith.
It's just the way my life is.
We're supposed to be on vacation, we almost get blown up twice.
You can't blame yourself for that, man.
Hell I can't.
I mean, you guys, Markus, Milhaven, Libby.
She'd probably still be alive right now if I told her to stay home, just stay in Milhaven.
It's not your fault, Jeremiah.
How do you know it's not my fault, Smith? If it's not my fault, whose fault is it? Huh? Just keep walking.
You look like shit.
Thanks.
That's the look I was going for.
Did you send out the alert? We contacted our long-range survey teams, told them to keep a lookout for Sims or his people.
Good.
One problem whatever's wrong with the radio, it's gotten so bad, we're only getting sporadic reports, enough to know something bad is happening northeast, - but that's about it.
- Okay.
Then tell everybody to concentrate on the area northeast of Three Hills, and pull out all our local teams if you have to.
Okay, I will.
Will you get some rest now? No.
There's no time.
Sims is still out there, I don't know where he is, and with our radios out, I don't know if I can find him before he hits the next town.
I can't coordinate a defense.
Do you know how many times you said "I" in that statement? You can't carry this yourself.
We're with you.
I know.
I know, Erin.
I don't even know where we should start.
We'll figure it out.
What makes you so sure? I know you.
I know you.
All right, five minutes.
We rest for five minutes, and we keep going.
How much further, Smith? About two and a half miles due south.
How are you holding up? I'm fine.
You will make it, you know.
I mean, I got your back, you got mine, all that.
- I know.
- Like I said, I can't have your death on my conscience.
I couldn't live with it.
I couldn't handle all that noise.
What? Nothing.
I gotta take a piss.
Smith? Look, if you came out here to pee, you're going about it the wrong way.
What's up? Nothing.
Don't tell me nothing.
There's something rattling around in that brain.
What is it? Did God say something? What, am I going to have three-headed children or something? What? (crying) I can't handle it anymore, Kurdy.
I can't.
Every time he says something, he talks about Libby, about how it's his fault.
It's like Like what? When we were back at Innsmouth, I followed Libby, and Sims and his people brought her to this church, and I followed her, and I saw her talking to Sims.
She was working for him For Daniel.
She was spying on us the whole time, Kurdy.
She was telling them everything we were doing.
She was lying to all of us.
Worst of all, she was lying to Jeremiah.
She was using him And after he was gone, I caught her, and it was like It was like she was a different person, the way she was looking at me.
I tried to get through to her.
I don't want to hurt you, Libby.
(Smith): I tried to talk to her.
I just kept thinking there's some way, there's some way for it to work out.
You don't hurt me, and I don't hurt you, and we'll work this out together.
She just She shot me.
I just fired back.
It was instinct And I watched her die And I watched her die.
Oh, hell.
I didn't have any choice.
I just I killed Libby.
It wasn't Jeremiah's fault.
It wasn't anybody's fault but mine.
I'm sorry.
God, I'm sorry.
I swear, I didn't want it to happen.
I was trying to save her.
You've got to tell Jeremiah.
What? Smith He can never find out about this.
It would destroy him.
I mean, it's bad enough that I have to carry this around, to know what she was.
I can't do that to him, and neither should you.
I can't promise you that, Smith.
Jeremiah's my friend, and it's not fair to have him keep on loving a lie.
Well, the question is, where do we go from here? We go on to Cold Creek.
Gabriel.
Jacob.
Welcome.
What's all this? Every conquering general should have his portrait painted, especially on the eve of victory.
What's wrong with a photo? It's faster.
I could have a picture taken, but I find a photograph fails to capture the soul, the true essence of the moment.
Painting is not about truth.
It is about the interpretation of truth.
Every painter is a politician at heart.
Isn't that right, Samuel? Queen's rook to queen's four.
King's bishop to queen's knight six.
How are things in Cold Creek? Good.
We were able to move in without much opposition.
Everything's in place.
We've been jamming their frequency for the last little while.
There are little breaks here and there, where they can talk, but we'll have that fixed soon.
Now that's done, we're ready for phase two.
How many men do you have with you? I can only afford a dozen.
Any more than that and I can't move quietly.
I'm sure I've made more than enough noise to cover you, keep their eyes trained elsewhere, so they don't look where I don't want them to look.
King's pawn to king's three.
Not to worry.
I'll keep hitting them and drawing their fire while you do what you have to.
By now, we've got them looking in so many places, they don't know whether to shit or go blind.
Queen's knight to king four.
You sure about that? I am.
The key, Jacob, is to always think seven moves ahead, and the only way to do that is to see the whole board.
If you don't see the whole board, you can't play the game.
Check.
You always were a sucker for a forking check.
The knight attacks the king and another piece at the same time.
It's a favorite move of mine.
Are you sure you're ready to break off and go after the primary target? They won't even know we're there until we're ready to announce ourselves.
Good.
You should be on your way.
I'll gather our forces and await your signal.
By the time they figure out what's been going on, we should be where we need to be.
Finish this later.
See you on the other side, Jacob.
I enjoy your attention to light and shadow.
It ties everything together, but my figure should fill the frame.
How come we never heard of this? There wasn't that many people when I last came through here.
They probably saw this heavy artillery and went into hiding.
Since then Since then we've been too distracted, and maybe that's the point.
Don't you think that's why they hit Three Hills, to create a distraction? Get everybody looking elsewhere while they were here.
What the hell is that thing? (Kurdy): I don't know.
It looks like a satellite dish.
Smith, you're the gadget guy (screeching) Hey, that's that sound I heard on the radio talking to Markus just before we got cut off.
It's a radio jamming device.
I don't need God on this one.
The feedback, the power lines, the dish They've probably got enough power to cut the alliance communication for 100 miles in any direction.
Look at that.
Markus barely gets his communications system up and running, and these guys are tearing it down.
Well, we've got to take that thing out.
You think they're screwing with us now? If they start to move on us in a big way, and we're caught deaf, dumb, and blind An operation this big, you know they've got supplies.
They've got weapons, drills to cut through shit, even explosives.
Yeah, well, we'll take a look tonight.
Come on.
All right.
You handle this.
I'll get the wheels.
Kurdy, get out! Jeremiah, let's go! So what are you going to do About Jeremiah? I'm still thinking about it, Smith.
Are you sure the jamming device is out of commission? Uh, yeah, I'm pretty sure.
You could see the explosion for about a half a mile.
It was pretty cool.
The last reports we've received, the enemy forces had left Cold Creek.
Sims is heading east again, probably to regroup on the border of Daniel's territory.
So the attacks on these towns, everything they were doing was just a diversion to take our attention away from what was going on at Cold Creek? At least we now know what they're up to.
Do we? There's something that's still bothering me.
Why go through all the trouble of diverting our attention away from the jamming device unless it was a part of something bigger? I mean, sooner or later, we were going to find it, right? So why push this so hard? And then, after all that, suddenly turn around and regroup? Markus, we've settled this.
If Cold Creek was a primary operation, why not leave your troops there, and then take out what you absolutely needed for the raids? But you said there was a fairly small number of troops present.
Wait, so you're saying that it wasn't the primary target? I'm saying we don't know.
Maybe it was, maybe it wasn't.
It's a two-pronged operation, that we know for certain, but there's still a piece of the puzzle that's missing.
Something that doesn't add up.
I don't know.
Maybe there is.
Maybe that's all there is to it.
I mean, he's got us so scared, we're out there chasing shadows, Markus.
I hope you're right, Jeremiah.
I truly do.
What we do know is that, based on the jamming device, the war is coming, and it's coming soon.
We have to get ready, because there's still too much information that we don't know, too much that's important that we need to know.
The enemy has shown that they are capable of reaching into parts of our territory we wouldn't expect them to reach.
We need to look for trouble in unexpected places, 'cause it's what we don't know that will kill us.
(ticking) It's begun.
I'm an idiot.
It's not a two-pronged attack.
It's a three-pronged attack.
That's why Sims wasn't at Cold Creek.
That's why the diversion.
But if it's a three-pronged attack Where's the third one? (dialing) (Sims): Yes? Are your men in position? They are.
We're ready to begin phase two.
Is this close enough, sir? Couldn't be better.
Synced and corrected: quinnell
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