The War Between the Land and the Water (2025) s01e05 Episode Script

1
TIDE: You came to our
world and killed yourselves.
What is it that binds these two together?
You will find Salt.
You will return her to us.
You will advance the plans
to change your world.
- That's impossible.
- Make it possible.
We've tested the samples,
but we've never tried Severance
on an adult Homo Amphibian.
If we can use Salt, I can end this war.
You're something of a warrior yourself,
and yet full of despair.
I lost someone.
Barclay, run! It's a trap!
General, this is a UNIT operation,
you will withdraw.
You will both walk towards us!
You are prisoners of the British Army.
You will surrender to us!
Open fire at my command.
On my command, fire at will.
ECHOING: Go.
SHOUTING: I'll find you!
You'll never swim alone.
You'll never swim alone.
You will never swim alone!
Come on, boy.
All right, mate?
Come on, boy.
REPORTER: a pushover.
Is there more to this story?
Now, despite the shock
- Cup of tea?
- Yeah, go on, then.
REPORTER: the H2O Committee
have been quick to reassure us
that a panel of experts
are scripting every word
CONCH WAILS
DOG BARKS
DOGS BARK
- You ate our dogs!
- You eat our fish.
Well, you can't eat our dogs!
You can't eat our fish!
Our dogs are domesticated!
Our fish are family!
The Ambassador from Vietnam
would like it on record
that taking offence at dog meat
is racist.
It's a distraction.
Aquakind are playing with us.
What are they really doing?
MUG ECHOES ON DESK
I keep seeing him.
Every day.
Every time I go home.
I'm just going to add
some zatar to the salad.
You'll see. You'll like it.
Why are you always so paranoid?
I've worked too long
and too hard to compromise myself!
- Why can't this be enough?
- It doesn't have to be.
And when you see him,
how does it make you feel?
Oh, happy, obviously. I think it's great.
Don't be stupid!
I know he's dead.
It's PTSD, as simple as that.
I didn't come for a diagnosis,
I just need to know.
I'm on 20mg of paroxetine.
Can I double it to 40?
Because I need to keep focused for work.
I'm sorry, that's out of the question.
I will have to sign you off.
What for?
You're clearly unfit.
With the greatest sympathy,
I can't risk you going back to work.
We're on the edge of a worldwide war,
so I'm not going anywhere.
I can't let you do that.
I'm sorry, I've got no choice.
I have to report this to your superior.
Your daughter is not your husband's.
I beg your pardon?
Elizabeth,
it's my job to know everything.
So I know that you slept
with his best friend.
The friend found someone else,
called Gillian,
your marriage survived,
your secret is safe.
Until now.
So
..prescription, please.
All residents will evacuate
the waterside.
Do not approach the water.
Repeat, do not approach the water.
The next meeting with Tide
is scheduled for 2100.
What about Barclay? How is he?
Physically he's OK.
We're still investigating that.
But the psyche evaluation is complicated.
I keep getting headaches.
And this whistling sound.
I've got a rash on my neck
and my legs ache.
..quality good.
BPM and heart rate steady.
Let's step it up.
Let's give him a breather
then send him back down.
You were eight kilometres under the sea.
Nothing survives that.
You're something of a miracle,
Mr Pierre-Dupont.
It's a marvellous surname.
Where's it from?
My father was French.
Amazing.
Is it? Yeah.
People think it's posh.
The truth is, my dad was a builder.
Well, he wasn't even that.
He was unemployed.
Everything he earned,
he drank away, but, erm
I reckon that's why I got into UNIT,
cos I've got a posh surname
and all you lot are Oxbridge.
If you weren't special before,
you are now.
The most famous man in the world,
some say.
Yeah, that's the problem.
She made me so special,
and now she's gone
..no-one knows what to do with me.
PROTESTERS SHOUT AND JEER
You know, if they arrest me,
people will complain.
And if they let me go,
people will complain,
and they won't just complain
..they'll murder me.
So they put me back in the hotel.
It's just me.
Everyone else has been evacuated.
It's like a prison.
Cheers.
I've had so many death threats,
everything I eat or drink
has to be scanned.
And I-I said to them, "For how long?"
HE LAUGHS WEAKLY
They said the rest of my life.
Very funny!
And it hurts.
In my back, in my neck
HE SIGHS DEEPLY
..in my lungs.
It's the only place I feel good.
Where?
In the water.
The same word: severance.
Buried so deep that it sends up
a red flag.
Thank you. Good work.
All the same, ma'am,
it can wait till tomorrow.
You're not going to stay here
all night, are you?
- No.
- We've got trouble.
Kate, I need access to all comms,
all screens to me,
priority override, open link to
the T&P database, my name only.
Granted. This is Professor Bello,
Tactics and Planning.
- What have we got?
- You were right from day one.
They were hiding it.
You said so. It's all been a distraction.
The diplomatic talks were just war games
while they were doing exactly
what we thought they'd do.
Aquakind are melting the ice caps.
EQUIPMENT BEEPS
They were clever.
We were searching with satellites,
but we forgot how good
they are with water.
They positioned a layer of
ice crystals at three kilometres
- to hide the heat.
- How did you find it?
We didn't. They dropped the layer.
They want us to see.
What's the scale?
At this rate,
Antarctica will double its loss.
Er, 300 billion tonnes of ice per year.
- Jesus!
- That's three trillion litres of water.
And worse than that,
the Prince Friedrich Ice Shelf
..it vanished. Today.
That should take years.
That should take decades.
It melted in six hours.
I think that was a declaration.
What if they go beyond Antarctica?
What happens if they melt
all the ice in the world?
Sea levels will rise
100 metres worldwide.
And it's not just the water.
All that carbon will be released
into the atmosphere.
We will flood.
We will drown.
We will choke.
They've won the war.
What is ice
but water in the form of land?
We are restoring it to its natural state.
Hmm, well nevertheless, erm, with
respect, it must be noted that we
You started this!
Humankind was melting the ice
long before we awoke.
We have heatwaves underwater
caused by you,
so we are completing what you began.
But with respect, we do need to know
But you started this.
Nevertheless, I have to ask
You started this.
Yes, if we could just push
This was started by you!
- I don't think it's appropriate
- YOU MADE THIS HAPPEN!
We think your schedule
of five years might not be
Five years is all you have.
Yes, I think we might not actually
You have five years.
Or all the water of the world
will be set free.
And be certain of this
..little people
..this was never a war
..this was an inconvenience.
You were the dirt that gathered
while we were away.
But now we have returned
..and you will be cleansed.
Five years.
We can't clean a single river
in five years,
never mind the world.
- Hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey.
- I'm so sorry.
- Come on, come on, it's fine.
- It's not.
I know you had to do it,
I completely understand,
I told you, I told you, I told you.
I completely understand. Come here.
Come on, it's fine.
HE EXHALES
It's fine.
We met over there.
You were drunk.
SHE GIGGLES
No, I was just a little bit happy.
Happy and lucky.
Are we all going to drown?
Is is that what's going to happen?
Are all of us going to drown?
I don't know.
You're their bloody friend!
Why are you always so useless?!
We had a visitor.
From UNIT. He was one of your lot.
He said, "What about you and Kirby?
"You're connected to Barclay
and tempers are high.
"You won't be safe."
He said it's UNIT's job to protect you.
For life.
He said, "We can move you, you know?
"You can live in a safe house.
"On higher ground.
One of those gated communities.
- "With security"
- But for how long?
The rest of our lives.
Can I see you? Can I see you?
Absolutely. You can see us
whenever you want.
You can see Kirby absolutely any time.
You have to believe me,
that's the first thing I said.
OK.
- I really did.
- OK.
That's honestly what I said.
OK, I believe you, I do.
God, we can meet behind gates.
What's happened to us?
You fell in love with a fish! Sorry.
Sure.
Well, you did.
Did you?
I don't know.
I just keep thinking,
I wish I could hear her.
What do you mean?
Salt.
We had this connection.
You said that to me once.
But we did.
I keep thinking, right
..we're 60% water, right?
So, I'm-I'm-I'm 60% water.
And whale song can travel
thousands of miles, so I thought
..maybe she could hear me.
Some of the lads are on my side.
In what way?
Every night
They got me a piece of tech
to override the cameras.
Thanks.
I didn't see anything.
So every night, I've got eight hours
before the next shift.
Every single night.
HORN BEEPS ON UNLOCK
And I drive.
I drive into the night
..every night.
And every night, I go to the coast.
Like it's calling to me.
The water.
All night long.
Because she is out there.
Somewhere.
In the night.
In the water.
In the dark.
SALT!
Every night, I call her name.
And I keep trying.
Every single night.
And I never, ever hear a thing.
Just as we planned, he's calling for her.
Every night, he waits till dawn,
then he drives back,
hides in his hotel,
tries again the next night.
But he doesn't get a response?
We don't talk much.
- Thanks.
- I didn't see anything.
But I'd say not.
Maybe Salt has gone.
Or maybe she can't hear him.
He's on the English Channel.
My government have put bafflers
in the water along the coast.
Sonic disruption to interfere
with Aquakind communication.
Maybe they're stopping Salt.
Anything you can do?
I could ask for a pause.
Then maybe she'd get through.
And then
..Severance.
I never said yes.
For the history books,
my name is not on this.
Sorry, haven't got time.
I need a signature on this.
You didn't need to bring it in person.
I'd also like a word.
If you could finish off, folks,
hmm? Thanks.
Yes, sir.
You need to be quick,
I really haven't got time.
We have five years
to rebuild civilisation.
What's Severance?
- In what way?
- It's a word picked up on comms.
It was buried in one of Sir Keith's
final messages.
Sad loss.
He was a good man.
He was murdered and we don't know why.
We do. The police were very clear.
There was a protest
against privatised water.
And I might remind you, Sir Keith
was not a member of this government.
But the word Severance crops up
in your comms too.
I'm sure it does,
it could have a thousand meanings.
- You could call Brexit a form of severance.
- But you don't.
The word has only appeared
since the arrival of Homo Aqua.
Its context has been scrubbed.
Someone clever has tried
very hard to hide it,
but my staff are really very good.
Then what do you think Severance is?
You tell me.
Is it some sort of weapon?
Oh, for God's sake! I can help.
These are extraordinary days, sir.
The pressures on you are immense.
And at times like this, people can
panic, do the wrong thing.
I thought, maybe, if you're in
too deep, if you need someone
Trust me. There's always a way out.
I can find it for you.
I don't know what you mean.
Good.
Thank you, sir.
And if I might say,
a task of this size is beyond you.
The economy will collapse within
six months, you'll be voted out,
the next lot will storm into power
promising anti-Aqua legislation,
the war will begin all over again,
and on and on and on it goes,
but I will still be here.
Waiting.
And I promise you, Harry,
when you're out of office
and history has swept you aside,
there will be a reckoning
..with me.
PHONE BEEPS
PHONE BEEPS
PHONE BEEPS
TV: And you can see
here this incredible shelf of ice,
thousands of tonnes of frozen water
- Oh, I'm coming.
- ..has just collapsed
Thanks.
Great, yeah.
It's, er, just burger and chips,
but that's the funny thing,
hotel burgers are always good.
Well, yeah.
It's cos they incinerate them.
Cheap meat cooked to death,
you can't beat it.
- Cheers.
- Cheers, then.
DEVICE BEEPS
I fell asleep.
SALT!
I called to you every night.
I knew you'd be to the south
of the land, but I couldn't hear.
You people are so funny in your clothes.
I thought I'd never see you again.
We don't have much time.
Oh, we could go anywhere.
We can go down the coast or
I don't know, anything,
anywhere, we could
Your civilisation is falling.
They're melting the ice.
But I swear, they never told me
there were tides within tides.
But you can still help humanity.
Oh, for God's sake! No-one listens to me!
I'm nothing!
Salt, you, you made me so special,
for one moment.
And now look at us,
we're reduced to this.
The tides still head towards you!
Currents are converging
and I don't know why,
but maybe it's for this.
- You've got to go back.
- Salt, we can escape.
- Go back
- Please.
..and tell your people to ask for Accord.
Accord?
Tell your people to ask
Aquakind for Accord.
The word carries an ancient weight
that every one of my kind
will have to respect.
- What does it mean?
- If you know what it means,
there's every chance humankind
will try to stop you.
But find the ones you trust.
Send out a signal to the seas,
ask them for Accord
and we might just survive.
- All of us.
- I don't understand
No, no, stay! Please!
SALT!
She said Accord.
Just that word, Accord.
And that's all I know.
But it could help?
Well, I mean, don't ask me
to make sense of it, Kate.
All I know is that I trust her.
Accord, dictionary definition,
to give someone status.
Or to be harmonious or consistent with.
I like harmonious.
I'm loving harmonious.
She could be showing us a way out.
Barclay, mate, you don't half stink.
Yeah, well, Shirley,
I've been in the sea, OK?
And I keep finding sand.
If I can suggest
Er, if we ask the governments
of the world permission to send
the signal to Aquakind, that's
three months of debate, at least.
And then they'll say no.
They'll do more than that,
they'll try and stop us.
But we send Aquakind
parcels of information every day.
Just basic diplomacy.
So, I could
..filter the word Accord into the signal.
- Disguised?
- Exactly.
Use my eye-tracking,
it doesn't leave a key-print.
And I don't think there's
a translator on the land
that would notice it.
But in the eyes of Homo Aqua,
there's a convex eye-spot.
They literally gather more light
than we do, which means that
if the word Accord is embedded
in the message
..they'll see it.
And then what?
We'll find out.
It's a bit of a risk.
Word is, the gathering of
195 nations are currently asking
how many nuclear strikes
the ocean can take.
That's the risk.
Yeah, but come on, we're UNIT.
That's what we do, isn't it?
We save the world.
And if that means standing
against the government, so be it.
The clerk from transport.
Yeah, but I'm here
only by mistake, remember?
We're not completely beyond
the laws of the land.
We could all be arrested for treason.
OK.
- Fine.
- Good.
What would Christofer say?
Make it happen.
Yes, ma'am!
Cameras off. Sub rosa protocols.
I will monitor your personal comms
for the next 30 years to make sure
not a word of this gets out,
is that understood?
Yes, ma'am.
I've taken the word Accord
and packaged it, enhanced it
and hidden it, it's ready to go.
I'll cross-channel it.
And this will transmit
to all the oceans of the world.
Press send!
How do we know they're listening?
We just have to hope, right?
SIGNAL BEEPS
SIGNAL BEEPS
SIGNAL BEEPS
SIGNAL BEEPS
SIGNAL BEEPS
SIGNAL BEEPS MORE RAPIDLY
ALARM BEEPS
Any word?
No.
The water's quiet.
It's been days.
Maybe this Accord thing has
sent them back into hibernation.
We should be so lucky.
Then what are they doing?
It's strange, we've got nothing.
It's silent out there.
All across the ocean.
And it wasn't the Accord signal.
Things went dead before we sent it.
Running silent. That's what
they call it on submarines.
When you turn the engines off
to avoid detection.
Which means they're planning something.
Or hiding.
Or scared.
Scared of what?
Vamos!
Hay algo en el agua!
Vamos!
Fall in!
Here! There's hundreds of them!
Look, there's more in the water!
- Over here!
- Give me a hand!
Get him out!
NEWSREADER SPEAKING ON TV
UNTRANSLATED SPEECH
Even here, in the heart of London,
one thing is obvious.
They're dying.
Homo Aqua is dying.
Yeah, but is it all of them?
Oh, my God. Is it everyone?
What about Salt?
All right, can I speak to Kate, please?
Cos this isn't Accord,
this is something else.
TV: Every coastline in the
world is reporting the same thing.
The death of Homo Aqua.
What have we got?
Some sort of viral infection.
It's like the gills get blocked.
I'd say, they shed scales like
we shed skin, but the shedding
has stopped, which means the excess
scales build up and they drown.
All of them? Is this Homo Aqua
or Homo Amphibia too?
I think it's all of them.
But no other life forms.
Only Aquakind.
What about us, are we safe?
That's the strangest thing.
Careful.
There's no danger.
Not any more.
It's like I'm finding the aftermath
of a virus without the virus itself.
- Which means
- A virus that's been designed.
That's front line warfare.
Viruses programmed to strike
and then decay, that's
Oh, for God's sake.
That's human technology.
It was us.
I didn't see it happening.
Severance.
Severance was the virus.
What are your people saying? What's
the level of contagion out there?
Er, 90%, on first evidence.
A 90% death rate worldwide.
We think Aquakind are connected
by an algae network.
This proves it.
One virus has circled around
all the oceans of the world.
Story of the human race.
From the moment Homo sapiens
learnt to walk,
we meet a new species
..we slaughter them.
OVER RADIO: Ma'am.
We've got a signal.
It's in deep Aquanese.
It's the same signal
repeated over and over again.
I think it's an SOS.
They're calling for help.
Barclay, I'm sorry,
they need you at the Empress Hall.
What for?
You're the Ambassador.
Hana, that's gone.
I'm nothing.
I'm the man who's literally nothing.
The request has come
to revert to Day One.
They say they want it as it was
for the final session.
Who does?
Homo Amphibia.
What, is it Salt? Is she alive?
I don't know.
I'm sorry, but this is a pivotal moment.
I demand a seat.
Do we know anything more
about the virus?
How did it happen?
Nothing.
We have suspicions, but we can't
we can't prove anything. Good luck.
Ma'am, there is a message
from Dr Bannerjee.
- It says Priority One.
- Not now. Stay with Barclay.
Tank is stable and maintaining integrity.
Open water lock one.
We have three life forms.
Identify them.
Two Homo Aqua. One Homo Amphibia.
Which one?
Is it her?
I have come to inform mankind
..the war is over.
You have won.
We are defeated.
We grant you victory.
I'm sorry.
Barclay, stay on message.
I'm so sorry.
What happened down there? What's it like?
We are destroyed.
The virus brought fire
to the world of water.
And we burnt.
But you survived.
One in ten.
As if by design.
I didn't know.
I swear I didn't know.
No, not you.
But there are others.
There are creatures in this room who
want a prize for winning the war.
They desire our technology.
But there are oceans, unknown to you,
running deep beneath the mantle
of this world,
and we have sunk our prizes
deep down below.
Lost to you.
Forever.
But more than that,
you had thought you had chosen
your weapons well,
because a virus contains no water.
And yet
..it rides the back of
a water molecule like a parasite
upon a host.
And we can read.
Every drop.
Stained with these fingerprints of yours.
Water will find you
..one day.
But the Accord.
Will never happen.
What was it?
It was a way of two species joining
and sharing and celebrating.
Which is now lost.
Barclay, the first offer, page 15.
We can offer help.
We would grant you land.
There is a haven.
It's a trench in the Pacific Ocean.
3,000 kilometres long,
60 kilometres wide,
and 12 kilometres deep.
The deepest place on Earth.
This can be your home.
We will protect your boundaries from
pollution and sound and viruses.
And we can rebuild our relationship
..as two species on the same Earth.
We can be friends.
We will accept this offer
..if you give this land its true name.
A hunting ground.
We will live there in full
knowledge of what you will do to us.
We will do whatever you want
..because we are terrified of you.
Thus ends the war.
No No, no.
No, there's more to say.
Will I see you again?
Green Shoot protocols, everyone.
Congratulations.
Or shame on us all.
I'm not sure which.
FAINT RUMBLING
RUMBLING AND CREAKING
GLASS CRACKS, WOMAN SHRIEKS
Everyone, get out!
PEOPLE SHOU
Abandon the hall, everyone! Out! Out!
COMMOTION
Move! Move!
Come on, let's go.
GLASS CREAKS
GLASS CRACKS
Yeah?
Mr Dupont, anything to say?
We won.
How about that? Tell them we won.
We won the war.
Move! Move, move!
I need to find somewhere to live.
I said to Lawrence,
"Kate could stay with us."
He said no.
- Fair enough.
- You've never got on.
- Ma'am?
- No.
Oh, I keep thinking.
The times when the Doctor
is nowhere to be seen.
He said to me once,
"I save the human race,
I don't shape the human race.
"You can get that wrong all on your own."
CHUCKLING: Yeah.
- Ma'am, there's a message.
- I said no.
I'm sorry, he insists.
It's Dr Bannerjee. Barclay's doctor.
He says it's Priority One.
Kate Lethbridge-Stewart.
MUSIC: Heroes
I
I will be king
And you
You will be queen
Though nothing
Will drive them away ♪
PROTESTERS SHOU
We can beat them
Just for one day
We can be heroes
Just for one day
And you
You can be mean
And I
I'll drink all the time
Cos we're lovers
And that is a fact
Yes, we're lovers
And that is that
Though nothing
Will keep us together
We could steal time
Oh, just for one day
We can be heroes
For ever and ever
I ♪
SALT!
I can remember
Standing
By the wall
And the guns
Shot above our heads
And we kissed
As though nothing could fall
And the shame, and the shame
Was on the other side
The other side
Oh, we can beat them
Forever and ever
Then we could be heroes, heroes
Just for one day
We could be heroes
We could be heroes
We could be heroes
We could be heroes
We could be heroes
We can beat them
We could be heroes
We could be heroes. ♪
No, no, no, no, no. No, no.
Sorry? Is there something wrong?
It's just that bottle.
Could you go back and pick it up?
Could I what?
Could you go back and pick it up?
- What for?
- If you could.
Thank you.
Sorry, love. It's gone now.
Well, go back and pick it up.
You pick it up.
I'm asking you, please,
to go back and pick up that bottle.
And what if I don't?
Pick it up.
I said, pick it up!
Pick it up!
PICK IT UP!
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