The Madison (2026) s01e02 Episode Script

1
It's gonna be one of those days, brother.
Yeah!
I could use one.
If you can't walk on fifth
Avenue, where can you walk?
You can't. That's the whole point.
I cannot come up with one
plausible reason why
we still live in that city.
You married a city mouse, honey.
Nobody fishes this stretch of river
that can only be reached by packhorse.
Paul has permission to fly us into it.
Jesus!
- Fuck, Paul!
- Hold on!
Stacy!
Hello?
Ma'am, your husband was
involved in a plane crash.
I'm sorry to say both
he and a Paul clyburn
did not survive the crash.
We'd like you to come here
and identify the bodies.
I'm gonna stay here.
Your father kept a journal.
Let's go find this spot.
Can you hear me now?
Preston?
Honey?
Can you hear me?
Sort of.
Preston Hold on, I'm
hunting higher ground.
You're hunting? What are you hunting?
That should do it.
There you are.
What is this about hunting?
High ground, and I've found it.
Man.
What's so funny?
It's not funny, it's just
Here, I'm gonna test
my technical prowess.
Pretty.
Pretty?
What can I say, honey?
I'm-I'm a beach girl.
All right.
What's your favorite
thing about the beach?
Well, in what sense?
You know, when you look at it.
I think it's the sound, the waves, the
There's a comfort in the crash.
If that makes any sense.
And the horizon.
You know, something
we don't have in the city.
The horizon is a perfect
line between sky and water.
Well, this place is the opposite.
The horizon is chaos.
A bunch of jagged teeth eating clouds.
Okay, honey.
What?
If you want to stay longer, stay longer.
You don't have to sell me.
Stay the week.
No, wait, don't stay the week.
We have the met gala on Saturday.
What's the theme?
The anthology of fashion.
No, that was last year's theme.
No.
That was the lexicon of fashion.
What's the fucking difference?
The hors d'oeuvres will be different.
You can come dressed
as a fisherman in a tux.
All right. What does
this mean for my week?
Can you say goodbye
to jagged teeth by Friday?
Goodbye teeth by Friday.
- You got it.
- Okay, well,
I'm on my way to have lunch with
a very distressed 36-year-old.
Yeah. Well, the sooner
he's out of her life, the better.
They share two children, honey.
Whatever happens,
he's never out of her life. Love you.
Love you, too, sweetheart.
Are those gluten-free?
I don't think there's any
gluten in pancakes, honey.
There's nothing but gluten in pancakes.
Mom, I can't eat gluten.
Since when did you develop
this allergy I'm unaware of?
They talk about it in school.
Our bodies aren't
designed to digest gluten.
Are these sausages?
Found them in the freezer.
Did you identify
the mystery meat
that they're made from?
Do you really want to know?
Fair enough.
Man has been eating
bread for about 30,000 years.
And for many cultures, sumerians,
Egyptians, romans
pretty much every civilization
in mesopotamia and Northern Africa
ate a diet consisting
almost entirely of bread.
Unless you were a bedouin tribesman or
a pharaoh who ate some
version of cow or camel.
What our bodies can't tolerate
is the bromide and bleach
and all the other garbage
companies use to refine it.
But this was milled by
some local mennonites
right here in Montana
without any of that shit.
What's a sumerian?
- What's a pharaoh?
- What's a mennonite?
The answer to all of your
questions are on nat geo.
Has anyone figured out
how to use the shower yet?
I'm pretty sure you just turn
the faucet handle clockwise
until the water starts coming out.
I'm sorry, that was, that was flippant
and unnecessary. And
it's too early for that.
Make me tea.
Yeah.
- There's coffee.
- Coffee wreaks havoc
on my nervous system.
No, I think that's your genetics.
I have the same genetics as you.
I'm going to the bathroom.
Wish me luck.
Let me guess, Russell.
Your mother is the domineering type.
Yeah. She does have a
very strong personality.
Why do you say that?
Just an observation.
Jesus.
Fuck.
God.
What the
Okay.
God.
My god.
What the
Paige?
Shit.
- Where is she?
- Bathroom.
- What happened?
- Honey?
- Mom!
- Honey?
Mom!
Did they sting you?
- Mom!
- I'm coming in.
What stung her?
- God.
- What?
I-I said there were hornets,
right? You heard me.
Russell!
That is not gonna save you.
God.
Where'd they get you?
It hurts so bad!
Let me see.
Is it bad?
It's not funny!
I know, I know. I'm sorry.
Don't come in!
Look for a medicine kit.
Try and find Benadryl,
Tylenol, and calamine lotion.
Wait, what? What? What's that?
It's for itching. It's a pink bottle.
Pink. Got it. Okay.
You knew. Again!
And you did nothing.
- Nothing!
- Hey
you're toast, dude.
Okay.
Tylenol. Benadryl.
And the pink stuff.
Okay, thank you.
Okay, there, the Here.
Put the lotion up in the loft.
Okay, there, there, there. Tylenol.
After you do that, I recommend
you redeem yourself.
Great idea.
Now you get rid of them.
It's this cheek.
I don't think I'm gonna make it.
We can do it on the couch.
Yeah!
Okay.
Die!
I think that's all of them.
No.
That's not all of them?
Boy, they really got in there.
They got all the way in there, mom.
I need some of that pink stuff!
Don't come up here!
I've seen it before!
You're never seeing it again! Never, ever,
- ever! Ever!
- I need some of
- the pink stuff!
- Let me see, let me see,
let me see. I-I don't think
- we can use this on your eye.
- What? What? Why?
What happened, baby, you got stung?
Defending you! Defending you!
Will you both stop acting 11?
I'm 11 and I don't act like this.
You sure don't, baby.
Let me show me your
eye, show me your eye.
Look, let's try putting ice on it first.
Ice?
I need some ice.
How do we move on from this, Russell?
The trust is gone! It's gone!
Are they gonna get a divorce?
This is fucking fascinating.
Well, he's asleep on the couch,
and Paige is whimpering in the loft.
You'd think two Benadryl
would have knocked her out.
I gave her two more.
Abby, I don't think you're
supposed to take that much.
Mom, we are dealing with
prescription-level despair.
Two Benadryl won't do shit.
What are the girls doing?
They hacked into Paul's Wi-Fi,
so all is right in their world.
You up for a walk? I want
to show you something.
Sure.
He named this valley after me.
Said the grass reminds him of my hair.
Reminded.
God.
Speaking about him in the present tense,
it's gonna be A hard habit to break.
It's beautiful.
I want to Bury him
here.
This was Paul's home, and
in Preston's heart, I
think it was his home, too.
Mom, if you do that, you can't visit him.
I mean, don't you want to visit him?
I will visit him.
And what if the new
owners don't let you?
And why would there be new owners?
Because Because
you can't keep this place.
I mean, how are you
gonna take care of it?
Take care of what? It's three cabins.
Only one of them has
water. What's to take care of?
The the land?
The land takes care of itself.
Okay, well, mom, who's
gonna take care of you
while you're out here? I
mean, Paige couldn't even
go to the bathroom without
needing a trip to the er.
I am not Paige.
Fair enough.
Do you think this is any more dangerous
than walking to the
pharmacy down first Avenue?
Yeah, I-I do.
Yeah, well, I don't see it that way.
Mom, I don't know how you move on.
I have no intention of moving on, ever.
I will never love again. I won't even try.
Holding on to him is the closest I will get,
and that is what I plan to do.
I didn't bring you here
for your permission.
I brought you here to share my decision.
I may never love again, Abby,
but you certainly will
never have another father,
and your children are
down a grandfather
for the rest of their lives.
And they learn nothing about him
standing in front of a tombstone,
surrounded by the corpses of strangers.
He loved this place.
He stays here.
You want to know the
last thing I said to him?
"I'll pay you back."
I was his greatest disappointment, and
He left before I could change that.
What did he say?
About what?
When you said you'd pay him back.
What did he say?
He said, "I wouldn't accept it if you tried."
Doesn't sound like a man
who's disappointed, Abby.
Look at this.
Horseshoe.
Yep.
Those are good luck. Hang them
over a door, but you've
got to hang them like a "u."
Open end up or all your luck'll run out.
Where's your folks?
Girls?
Girls, get in the house now.
Can I help you?
You, Mr. Clyburn's family?
And who are you?
Yes, Stacy clyburn.
- So Paul - was your
- My brother-in-law.
His-his brother was, Preston.
- Yes.
- Right.
I-I met him once. He's-he's
A very friendly, nice man.
Yes, yes, he was.
A ranch I work for shares
a north fence here.
Paul and the ranch owner
was real close. He asked
me to keep an eye out
for the place till family showed up,
and looks like you did.
We did.
Y'all getting by in there?
Paul lived pretty sparse.
We're fine.
Learning our way around the outhouse.
My wife would have none of that.
Wise woman.
Cade Harris.
- Stacy.
- Stacy.
Boy, I-I sure was sorry to hear about
- your
- Thank you.
People are pretty worried
y'all are gonna starve in there.
Had me,
bring some things over.
You-you mind if I carry them in?
Things?
Some some food.
Sure.
- All right.
- Thank you.
Of course. Yes, ma'am, just this way.
My truck's right there.
Over there fine?
Ma'am.
Ooh.
Grandma, what did you order?
I didn't order anything.
Our neighbors sent this over.
Let's see what all we got
in here Buttermilk pie.
They got everything labeled
in here. We got lasagne,
garlic bread, and
Mason's wife made this
beef casserole. Don't look like much,
but it's worth fighting over.
Ooh, fry bread.
You ever had that, fry bread?
No. You, you put this on
top, you make Indian tacos.
You can't call it that.
It's racist.
That's what the Indians call it.
Thank you very much.
This was not expected.
And, it's not a business card, but,
I wrote my cell on the back.
You call if you need anything.
Thank you.
That That's some shiner you got there.
I meant to ask you, is there
a minor emergency center close?
- He got stung by a hornet.
- Yeah.
Y-You got baking soda,
you just mix it up with some
water until it turns into a paste,
you cover that eye. It'll suck
- the poison right out.
- Right, thanks,
but maybe you could just,
like, tell us where the hospital is.
Right. Nearest one's Bozeman,
about two hours up 90. But
they'll probably tell you the same thing.
Thank you.
Ladies.
Ma'am.
Girls, when someone
is trying to help you
he can't say that. It's wrong.
Yeah, but it's not your
place to correct him.
Well, someone should.
How gratifying it must
feel to always be right.
Cade.
It is Cade, r-right?
Yes, ma'am.
Cade Someday You
might have an 11-year-old
I have an 11-year-old right now.
Yes, ma'am.
We don't mess around
out here in the mountains.
I guess when you're
snowed in for six months,
what else are you gonna do?
About sums it up.
Kids, they say what's on their minds,
and they don't care what others think.
Yeah. They grow out of that.
- The world's worse for it.
- Yeah, probably so.
I need Could you
I need a funeral home.
Waverly and sons, in ennis,
that's what most people
use around here.
Thank you.
And tell your wife thank you.
She don't get all the credit.
There's a few chickens
in that hen house.
All right, well, tell them all.
I'll do it.
Okay, do we really want to be eating
some strange person's food?
Fried chicken, fried steak.
Why would they fry steak?
Don't eat it, then.
Maybe ask what we
like before you bring
I blame myself.
After all, she's raising
you like I raised her.
Complete strangers spent
I don't know how much time they spent,
how much thought went into this.
Not to mention money.
Looking at that truck,
money isn't something
they have in abundance.
And you have the nerve to judge it?
What spoiled little bitches we've raised.
What did she just call me?
Mom Mom!
They are not your children.
You do not have the right
to speak to them that way.
I am not talking about
them, I am talking about you!
You and your sister!
The walking wounded!
We haven't been here
two days, and everyone
has already forgotten why we're here!
We are not on vacation!
My husband is dead!
Your father is dead!
So if everyone could just stop
counting the minutes until we leave
and remember why
we're here in the first place.
And here, somehow I thought losing him
would bring us closer together.
You know what? If you're
all so fucking miserable, go!
I'll do what I always do
and take care of it myself!
I just don't understand the allure.
I understand the bonding,
the quiet, the open space.
I get you know, I get that.
It's the task that dominates your day.
And let's be honest, honey,
you could fish in the bay.
And there's fish in Florida.
You never do it when we go there.
I mean, if you said to me,
"I want to go sit on a porch
and get drunk with
my brother for a week."
I would understand that better.
Is that what it is?
You and Paul, like, fly in a
couple of mountain bunnies
and revisit your youth?
You were the mountain
bunny of my youth.
I'll explain it like this,
and you need to go back
a few million years to fully understand.
This should be good.
Now, you have to go back to early man.
Before that. Homo erect us.
- Pre-man.
- Exactly.
For some two million years,
we've been hunter-gatherers,
and those jobs were
divided. Men hunted,
- women gathered.
- I feel an old-fashioned
- outrage coming on.
- No, no, no,
this is scientifically proven.
Men thrive when they're
singularly focused.
Women struggle with
singular tasks, but thrive
with multiple tasks simultaneously.
And men, of course, have
a superior sense of direction
compared to women.
Honey, you should
write a book and title it
how not to have sex
with your wife for a month.
Women are better communicators,
far more organized. All skills honed
by working collectively in groups
to achieve multiple goals.
Men traveled long distances
with little verbal communication
while seeking to achieve
a singular goal, a buffalo
or a woolly mammoth,
whatever they hunted.
Now, fly fishing That involves
traversing unknown terrain
seeking suitable water and conditions,
and then utilizing a skill
developed over years,
decades, to achieve a singular goal.
Trout.
Yellowstone cutthroat trout, to be exact.
Millions of years and almost infinite luck
that I even exist on this planet
- My
- And armed with an instinct
literally imprinted into
my DNA that compels me
to seek an outlet that challenges
my very reason for existing.
What a bunch of bullshit.
Just say you want to go
fishing with your brother.
I want to go fishing with my brother.
Wasn't so hard, was it?
Deceptively easy.
Too easy?
But you have to pay the ferryman first.
The ferryman.
I knew there was a catch.
Boy, is there.
Well, you're eating
the food you were too good for, I see.
Where are the car keys?
They're in my pocket.
May I have them, please?
What I can't see.
For god's sake.
It's not-not the keys, not the keys.
- Not the keys.
- Thank you.
Where are you going?
- Mom, I asked you a question.
- Heard it.
You would like him laid
to rest on the family ranch?
Is that possible?
Well, you'd need to go to the courthouse
and register a portion of
your land as a cemetery.
Must be notated that way by
both the county and the state.
- Why is that?
- Well, the state
must certify each burial to prevent one
from simply burying somebody
somewhere in the woods.
You can see how that
might cause a few issues.
Yeah. I can see that.
But, this cemetery can be
private, just for my family?
Absolutely.
- Is it best to use an attorney?
- Depends.
You got the deed and a survey
showing the proposed site?
It sounds like this is a job for an attorney.
I can recommend one, if you like.
Thank you.
Mrs. Clyburn, I knew your husband,
and I knew his brother very well.
Well enough to know that, his great wish
would be to spend eternity on that place.
I can guess the same of Preston,
but I feel obligated to
point something out to you.
If you sell that land,
or your children sell it,
the new owners have no obligation
to allow you to visit him.
They can decide to remove
the cemetery altogether,
have your loved ones exhumed
and move their bodies to a new location
or have 'em cremated.
It may give you peace in your lifetime,
but beyond that, the
vessels of your beloved,
and maybe even you, are
at the mercy of strangers
who do not know of your
husband's love for that place
and, frankly, don't care.
You didn't ask me for advice, but
I would advise you to think very carefully,
because this is not a
decision that can be undone.
I don't think I'm strong enough for this.
I don't think I can do this without you.
Can I have the keys, please?
Why should I give you
the keys? It's my rental.
So you don't leave us stranded again.
Look around you, Abigail.
This is the farthest thing
from being stranded.
My god.
Got snowed out today.
Yesterday was 75 and
not a cloud in the sky.
By midnight, it was snowing sideways.
By morning, there was
six inches on the ground,
so Paul and I did what
any 40-year-old would do
with his brother. We
drank a 12-pack of beer
and built a snowman
the size of a suburban.
Then the sun came out
and we drank another
12-pack watching it melt.
Any evidence of snow
was gone by noon.
By then, we were too drunk to fish.
Not too drunk to write, though.
So it's just you and me, journal.
My girls have never built a snowman.
No yard to build it in.
But it'll snow in June again someday,
and maybe I will have convinced
my girls pissing in the woods
is rather liberating.
Or maybe I'll just build an outhouse.
Hey, that's an idea.
Build a cabin where the tents are,
and then another one with a kitchen.
Place to gather.
I wonder if we could dig a well?
At least we'd have water.
Truce.
I don't do truces.
Fine, I surrender.
The girls made a card for
the cowboy and his wife.
Was it a lecture on pronouns?
It says "thank you," mom.
Good. They deserve a "thank you."
What's the other cabin like?
It's it's fine, mom.
That isn't what I asked.
It's a little weird But it's comfortable.
Weird? How?
Old games and toys.
Mom?
Mom, the girls are sleeping.
Sorry, girls.
Mom, what?
He built them for us.
That one is for you and your sister,
- and that one was for me.
- You don't know that.
No, I read it.
I read his-his-his
thought as it came to him.
I'm so blind.
I knew I had a good marriage.
I did.
I looked around at all my friends, and
I thanked my lucky stars.
Because the frame of reference
is at every dinner party in New York.
But what I didn't know
was how lucky I was.
We missed a lot.
We missed a lot, honey. And
we won't ever get it back.
Russell?
- Russell?
- Yeah?
I forgive you.
- O-Okay.
- Did you hear me?
I said I forgive you.
Yeah, I don't
I don't know what I'm being forgiven for.
For the hornets.
- I didn't put them there.
- But you knew they were there.
- I told you they were there.
- Russell,
I'm trying to forgive you.
- Why won't you let me?
- Okay. Thank you.
I need your help.
Paige, I can't see.
Use your good eye and get up here.
How's your eye?
Closed. How's your butthole?
Same.
They get the kitty, too?
They got everything, baby.
You want me to kiss it better?
Hell no, you are
so far from kissing the kitty after today,
you can't even see it from there.
I can almost see it if
you just turn to the side.
No kitty.
I mean, you said you forgave me.
All right.
Let me teach you
something about women.
When I forgive you, we
don't go back to the moment
before you wronged me.
We go back to the very beginning
when we first met
and I thought you were
sort of cute with a good sense of humor.
So we're back to our first date?
Yes, but right now, I need
itch cream on my boo-boos.
Wow, this hornet poison really,
like, plumped the whole thing up.
- Really?
- Yeah.
I mean, like this is a caboose.
I wonder if there's clinics in New York
that would do this sort of thing?
What, so you only like my ass
after it's been attacked
by a swarm of hornets?
I didn't say that, okay? I never said that!
I love it. I've always loved it.
It's the same. It's just It's more.
Do you think it's permanent?
Could be. I don't know.
Wait, you're not supposed to rub it in.
- It's not a freaking lotion.
- Okay, I'm sorry. I'm sorry.
Do you want me to go back downstairs?
Or can I sleep with you on the first date
in the second year of our marriage?
Cuddle me.
But don't touch my ass.
H-How do I Hold my head.
Okay.
You got it?
What do you think of Montana?
I I don't, I'm not a
fan. Not my cup of tea.
It's okay, baby.
We're city mice. We
aren't supposed to like it.
I'm not.
Yeah, I-I don't actually
think of myself as a mouse.
- No?
- No.
- What are you?
- More like a Like a tiger.
You know, like a Like an urban tiger.
My tiger.
Yeah.
Yeah, see, that's
more Yeah, I prefer that.
My big, tough tiger.
That's much better.
Hey, tiger can't touch the kitty.
Accident, sorry.
- Bad tiger.
- I'm sorry.
Bad tiger.
Okay, you can touch it a little.
A little.
The mouse is scared of the tiger.
Wait, are you the mouse?
- I'm the mouse.
- Okay. Okay.
No, you're the tiger.
Come here, girls.
I heard you made our neighbors a card.
That was the right thing to do.
Do you know why it
was the right thing to do?
They did something to help us,
something we never asked
them to do. They just did it.
To be kind.
Now, you can disagree with
what they say, what they do,
how they live, and you may be right.
But there is no denying
that they were kind to you.
You can choose not to be their friends.
You can choose to live
your life completely different.
But choose to be kind back.
We did.
That's why we made them the card.
You made them the card
because your mother told you to.
But when you give them the card,
give it to them to be kind.
Okay. Now, tell your
mother to round the troops.
We're going on a walk.
Who are the troops?
Everyone is the troops.
So Paige, Russell, and mom.
That would be them.
Okay. Okay, I can do this.
I can yeah.
Okay.
Nope, I'm not gonna do it.
I'm not gonna do it.
- What the fuck?
- What?
What are you doing?
- What are you doing?
- This isn't happening.
- I'm supposed to be a mystery!
- I haven't seen anything.
- Get out.
- Okay, fine.
- No, other way!
- Okay, I'm going the other way.
Honey, I killed all the hornets.
You can stop shitting in the barn.
This is my hell.
I don't know why you
put me in it, but here I am.
In hell, with my whole family.
Ready?
Is it far?
- No, it's not far.
- 'Cause these are
technically slippers, so
The Indians walked this barefoot.
- Sorry, Macy, -native Americans.
- First nations.
Yeah, well, all of them.
Barefoot, thousands of years, right here.
Technically, no, they,
they wore moccasins
with a thick leather sole,
- or hide would probably be the
- Ready? - Yeah.
- Here we go again.
- Yep.
Yep.
This is your father's favorite place.
And Where he will lay with his brother.
Someday, me, too.
You could choose this as well
or choose something
else. It's your decision.
Your last decision, as it were.
But I know that he would choose this
if he were here to choose it.
I think it's perfect.
Wait to hear it all first.
So, if I Bury him here, I must protect him
and this place.
In order to do that, I will sell
the townhouse in Manhattan,
establish a trust with the funds
that exists solely to preserve this place,
so that nobody that
includes all of you
can lose it or ever sell it.
Why sell your home?
Because I can't afford
to take care of all of you
and this place any other way.
We can take care of ourselves.
Well, this is the way I've decided.
This is my home now.
I die here, too.
And when I do, you
put me right next to him.
Abby.
Abby, do something.
Do you know what
happened when he died?
The whole family died with him.
Right here, in the middle of nowhere.