Under the Banner of Heaven (2022) s01e03 Episode Script

(SOMBER MUSIC PLAYING)
(CHILDREN SCREAMING DISTANTLY)
(CHILDREN SCREAMING, CHATTERING DISTANTLY)
OFFICER: It should be
right near here.
If there is an antigovernment group
a police car would be a heck of a trophy.
Not to mention a detective.
(RADIO STATIC)
(CLEARS THROAT)
Detective Pyre.
Go ahead.
DISPATCHER: (OVER RADIO) Salt Lake's
police records arrived.
One for Dan Lafferty,
second for Allen Lafferty.
Allen has a record.
DISPATCHER: Yep. Unpaid traffic citations.
Enough to get him arrested
the morning after his wedding.
Served time on a related
contempt of court charge.
Well, if he tries to walk out of there,
charge him. Copy?
DISPATCHER: Ten-four.
There.
JEB: That's Taba's car.
You see this?
Okay.
Give me those vests.
Be a radio chain. All right?
Stay safe.
- OFFICER: Yes, sir.
- Ready?
(METAL CLANKING)
MALE VOICE: Get your boots off
of this holy land,
or your blood will spill.
(WHISPERS) Backup. Backup.
Call in County for backup.
- Ten-four.
- DISPATCHER: Ten-four.
Might take some time for them
to find us up here, sir.
Copy.
(LEAVES RUSTLING)
MALE VOICE: You have no authority here!
We will defend
our private property.
(METAL CLANGING CONTINUES)
(JEB BREATHES HEAVILY)
Okay.
(MOUTHING)
(METAL CLANGING)
MALE VOICE: Stay back!
Invaders!
(JEB PANTING)
(METAL CLANGING)
(DOGS BARKING)
(METAL CLANGING)
- (GASPS)
- (EXCLAIMS)
On your knees. Get down.
You scared
the crap out of me.
Tell me you're not alone.
at the woods' edge.
- Calling for backup.
- Good.
Detective Pyre. I'm here with
Busted my ankle.
to check it out,
and it won't go back on.
Everyone knows you don't take
your boot off when you twist your ankle.
- You're such a Boy Scout.
- Eagle Scout, thank you very much.
Gonna need help getting Taba
back to safety when that arrives.
DISPATCHER: 10-4. It'll take 40 minutes.
Oh, boy, I'm happy
to see you alive, Bill.
Never been happier
to see you, Jeb.
(METAL CLANGING)
MALE VOICE:
You have no authority on our land!
We are lions of the lord.
- Screaming that for an hour.
- Allen's got a record.
Contempt of court. Seems he shares
his brothers' disdain for our kind.
(SIGHS) It's all in the family, huh?
Really?
Got a smoke?
I'd prefer it.
No.
(SINGING) Let me be the one
You come running to
I'll never be untrue
Okay.
Let's
Let's stay together
Josie, it's Becca.
I brought you some cake.
Josie?
Josie?
Josie!
- (SIRENS WAILING)
- (METAL CLANGING)
(DOGS BARKING)
- You see that?
- What?
I need eyes on the forest line
due north of our position.
I'm afraid we got company
outside the cabin too.
All right. 10-4.
Backup's on the way.
I'm gonna go there.
- Check it.
- Yeah.
(MOUTHING)
- Okay, stay safe.
- (METAL CLANGING)
MALE VOICE:
Watch him rise, boys! Watch him rise!
(CLANGING CONTINUES)
- Hey!
- JENNY: Let me go!
OFFICER: Stop struggling.
I got you.
Josie?
FEMALE VOICE: Josie?
The garage has been checked twice,
and there is no sign of his mother.
So I think it is time
that I open my address book
- and call the brethren to service.
- Please, I don't need this
turning into some sort
of news story, okay?
(STAMMERS)
Annie, Caroline, Mama's gonna
take a walk around the block
with Sister Dorren, okay?
- I'll be right back. I'll be right back.
- Okay.
(CAR DOOR OPENS)
Hi. Hi, honey.
These yours?
You out picking elderberries,
and then you find these out
in someone's campsite, maybe?
I have two daughters of my own.
They love stickers,
but these
are something special.
Honey, if you want them back,
you go right ahead.
Well, my name's Jeb.
And folks call me Pyre
or Officer Pyre
or Brother Pyre.
I like the Brother.
What do they call you?
Jenny.
Jenny Lafferty. (SNIFFLES)
Well, that's
a wonderful name.
You mind telling me your mom
and your dad's names,
so I can get you back to them?
Unless you don't want
to go back.
- I want to go back.
- Okay, good.
So what are their names?
My dad is Sam,
and my mom is Sara.
Sam and Sara.
in the cabin waiting for you?
I don't know.
Okay.
Daddy sent me,
my sister, and Mom
to go pick for food.
I see. So where are they now?
Where's your sister and your mom?
I lost them in the forest.
I don't know
who's in the fort now.
So that's a fort
up there, huh?
Is that a fort?
They come and go.
- Who comes and goes?
- The men.
Hey. You know what?
I just remembered,
I met a Lafferty once.
You know who?
Allen Lafferty
and his wife Brenda.
Auntie Brenda
and Uncle Allen.
Do they ever come
around here?
Do you ever get to see them,
play with them,
maybe on special occasions?
Special occasions.
Hey, I mean,
you wouldn't have been invited
would you?
(CAMERA CLICKING)
You remember anything else
about that day or the morning after,
maybe something
about your Uncle Allen?
(METAL CLANGING)
(BANGING ON CAR)
Jenny!
Hey! Liar!
- She's a liar!
- (BANGING ON WINDOW)
JEB: Sister Lafferty.
I'm Brother Pyre.
This is Detective Taba.
You're Jenny's mother?
So first and foremost, we need to know
who all is in that cabin,
'cause nobody wants anyone
getting hurt today.
My sons follow
Heavenly Father's commands.
He rewards them
with His protection.
So they're inside?
Hey, we heard there was an army
forming up here.
Looking to do battle
with the federal government?
Something about taxes?
Is that right?
There are tares all around us now,
not just the feds.
Tares?
Heavenly Father's army
will separate Earth's wheat
from its tares
in the end of days.
By tares, you mean sinners, and by wheat,
you mean the Lord's elect.
Saints.
- Saints.
- SARA: Who follow the covenants.
You follow all
of your covenants, Brother?
He probably does, actually.
how much time do I have
till this judgment day, ma'am?
In the latter days,
the dark skin of the Lamanites
will blossom like the rose
and become white
and delightsome again.
This invasion is one
I'd get myself
to a baptismal font
quick.
Why'd you call Jenny a liar?
She speaks about things
she doesn't understand.
She was only telling me
about her Uncle Allen
and Aunt Brenda's wedding.
That's all.
Unless there was something
she would have lied about
about that day.
You should ask Brenda
and Allen, not me.
so would she be more of a wheat or a tare?
Your daughter said that Brenda fit
right in with the Lafferty family.
I was there.
Heavenly Father's laws
are black or white.
she's an ugly shade of gray.
So what happened
in the temple?
Are you all right?
We know what just happened,
- don't we, Matilda?
- (MATILDA GIGGLES)
BRENDA: A woman older
than Jesus' sandals
just put oil very, very close
to my private parts.
It took me by surprise too.
I thought they kept me in the dark
because I didn't grow up LDS,
but I guess
they don't tell any of us.
The temple workers
are listening.
You're not supposed to be talking
or making light of sacred things.
Soon I will surrender
to Allen for time and eternity.
I'll be a Lafferty,
but when we covenant,
we don't give up our own minds.
Of course not.
It's important
that Brenda knows she doesn't
just earn a husband today,
but sisters, too,
forever,
to keep all of our agency strong.
What do you mean, "agency"?
As in free agency.
Nothing holy is free.
flabbergasted
that she would have broken temple rules
on her own wedding day.
really upset you.
She's a pretender.
She's drawn to converts
like Dianna and Matilda
more than real LDS women.
to rule and reign
in the House of Israel forever.
Sisters, you have been washed
and anointed to become queens
and priestesses
to your husbands.
Names, signs, and penalties,
which you will receive
in the temple this day, are most sacred,
and are guarded by solemn covenants
and obligations of secrecy,
to the effect
that under no condition,
even at the peril of your life,
will you ever divulge them.
I'd call her a tare.
So what happens to tares
in the end of days, Sister?
According to Prophets Joseph and Brigham,
there are some sins beyond repentance.
Some say the only way
is through the doctrine
of blood atonement.
I must have missed that lesson.
to cleanse one
by spilling their blood
out onto the ground.
Brother.
- Hey.
- Any more on who all's inside?
No, nothing exact,
but she made it sound like
all of her sons are in there,
and they're all
under 12 years old.
I gotta pray for their safety.
We got three or four pioneer types
holding up inside,
we may well wrap this investigation up
right here.
Copy that.
Everyone's in place.
Bring your fire!
The wrath of God
will extinguish it!
- We are ready to join the true saints!
- A flair for the dramatic.
I worry it's not an act.
You think they'd martyr themselves
without the press here bearing witness?
No, this type wants the glory.
they consider themselves totally devout,
willing to give up their lives
for their beliefs,
and their own sons included
in their sacrifice.
Well, let's get in there now.
What if that's begging
for bloodshed?
Allen told you that he feels
the key to solving this
is to look to the saints, right?
I'm pretty sure, to Sam,
this looks exactly
like the Haun's Mill massacre.
Missouri in 1838.
The saints were working the fields
three days after the Governor of Missouri
to kill all Mormons.
We don't want you here!
Your kind are not welcome!
- (GUNSHOTS)
- (MEN GRUNTING)
- (PEOPLE SCREAMING)
- (INDISTINCT SHOUTING)
(WHISTLES) Hyah! Go!
(GUNSHOTS CONTINUE)
- (GRUNTS)
- (WOMAN SCREAMING)
- (BELL RINGING)
- (INDISTINCT SHOUTING)
JEB: The blacksmith shop looked exactly
like this cabin,
made out of logs,
but with spaces in between,
so that light could sneak in.
And then, barrels
come in through those gaps.
(GUNSHOTS)
Every single one of them
Apart from three Mormon boys,
seven, nine, and ten years old,
who'd hidden themselves.
They're just boys, sir.
And nits make lice.
(GUNSHOT)
with our guns
all pointing at him,
we are those militiamen.
What are you doing?
Proving to those inside that
I'm a Mormon before I'm a cop.
- Jeb, you have a family.
- I know.
I wouldn't be able
to live with myself
if my daughters came to think about me
as one of those militiamen.
I'm coming out.
I'm unarmed!
Lower your weapons!
Weapons down.
I'm unarmed, Sam.
Brother?
Sam?
Sam?
I'm Jeb. I'm Jeb Pyre.
Can we talk?
Brother to brother,
saint to saint.
SAM: Let my girls go.
and I'll forgive this.
Thank you, Brother.
Thank you for your understanding.
Thank you for sparing me.
SAM: Fine.
right now.
Now, I understand,
and to feel angry.
I know how the authorities
have treated our most faithful.
When they slaughtered
our kind at Haun's Mill,
did he ever fire back?
Did he ever resort
to violence?
No.
the future of our faith.
Brother Lafferty,
And this can end peacefully,
Brother.
No one gets hurt.
- SAM: I won't go down like Joseph!
- (METAL CLANGING)
SAM: I am heir to Brigham Young,
Lion of the Lord!
Get down!
Get down on the ground!
- Get down!
- OFFICER: I got two in here!
SAM: Your justice isn't Heaven's.
Like you did to Joseph,
you may sentence me to death
without trial,
but it is you
who will suffer come eternity.
Murderers!
Apostate pigs!
I suggested you disarm
and get your hands in the air
unless you want those
to be your final words.
(GUN DROPS)
Pull him out.
SAM: Tyrants. Tyrants.
- Tyrants!
- OFFICER: Hey! Hey!
JEB: Suspect running in the forest.
Back side of the cabin.
- Who was that?
- One of Heavenly Father's chosen.
BILL: He's got blood on him.
Looks like we got
ourselves a pioneer.
One of four.
(BREATHES DEEPLY)
(EXHALES)
Mama Pyre?
- Please help us, Sister.
- Josie?
Please, Heavenly Father.
Josie! Josie!
(SOBS)
- Oh, sweetheart.
- Oh, you're okay.
She got on at a stop
ten blocks from here.
A good long walk.
Impressive for her age, really.
I tried explaining
that my route wouldn't take her
all the way up past Sunset,
like she wanted,
- to farm country.
- REBECCA: That's where she grew up.
I'm just so pleased
that I recognized her from church, Sister.
From the church.
Thank you so much
for bringing her home.
- You're very welcome.
- Thank you.
You're very welcome, okay?
See you at church, okay?
You take care.
- Thank you so much.
- You're very welcome.
- (SIGHS) I'm so happy to see you.
- A wonderful man.
And he belongs to the church,
our church.
- Yes, he does.
- Yeah. And who are all these people?
It was the girls' birthday,
remember?
- Remember? It was the girls' birthday.
- Oh, yes.
I need to go home now.
they're all leaving now.
- JOSIE: Yes.
- Okay.
JEB: Oh, honey.
Thank Heavenly Father
that she has you and that I have you.
REBECCA: (OVER PHONE) Sister Dorren
offered to watch her.
If you can still make
Yes. Yes. I will see you at the church,
at the bishop's office.
I love you so much, honey.
REBECCA: I love you too.
(SIGHS) Thank you.
- REBECCA: Bye, honey.
- I'll see you soon.
Bye.
There you go.
It's gonna be okay.
Starved.
Well, let me tell you,
your family is A-okay.
Take a few big breaths
for me now, sweetie, okay?
(INHALES)
Yeah. (EXHALES)
Sounds to me like your family's
had a real tough time.
Is that right?
Yeah.
I'll bet that it's a lot of responsibility
having a dad who's such a big leader.
How did you help him?
To pick the food,
the berries or vegetables,
and bring it home
without any bad people seeing me.
THERAPIST: Who are the bad people?
People with uniforms.
My daddy isn't the leader, though.
Please let him go.
Jenny, if your daddy isn't the leader,
do you know who is?
Heavenly Father
chose the leader.
DAN: Well, you gotta remember
how to spell "just."
- You can't wash it off.
- AMMON: Stand up.
8 months to almost destroy
our life's work.
I've returned from what
should have been a joyous day
to find I am about
to lose my home
over unpaid taxes
and a license fee.
DAN: A license is an agreement
you enter with the government
to let them have control
over you.
The 12th Article of Faith tells us
to obey, honor, and sustain the law.
You may be able
to hypnotize your brothers,
but you cannot hypnotize me.
Hands on the rail.
Whilst we live,
we must shame the Devil.
If God spoke to you and told you
that I was ready to run things,
don't you think you owe me
that chance?
Hands on the rail.
THERAPIST: To be clear,
your grandpa gave Dan lashings
in front of everyone?
Like, real ones?
Or were they just playing around?
JENNY: It was real.
I saw the blood.
(WHIPPING)
(WHIPPING CONTINUES)
That's enough. That's enough.
Enough. All right, there's children here.
The kids are watching.
There's only room
for one patriarch in the family.
You give me back my belt.
Oh, you're a big boy now?
(SIGHS)
So let's settle this
like Lafferty men.
(GRUNTS)
Come on, Ronnie.
Come on, Ron.
(MEN GRUNTING)
(CAR HORN HONKS)
Need any help,
Brother Lafferty?
AMMON: I think we've got it
covered, Sister Wright.
SISTER WRIGHT: See you in there.
AMMON: You want to hurt me?
It's making your ears ring,
just like when you were a boy.
You got anger in your eye.
It's a dangerous defect.
Now, you count to ten,
like I taught you.
One.
(EXCLAIMS)
AMMON: Two.
put the cans on the back
of the truck there, huh?
THERAPIST: So is your grandpa
the leader, then?
JENNY: No, ma'am.
Uncle Dan and Aunt Matilda
had a party
in the room the next morning.
That's when
Heavenly Father chose.
I got her! I got her!
I got her! I got her!
I got her. Okay.
Okay.
- MATILDA: Prayer time, is it?
- Prayer time? We need our Lord's wisdom.
Okay.
Our dear Heavenly Father,
we ask that Thou would take
away my own personal desires.
Show me Thy path.
I will do anything
to be worthy of Thy wisdom.
I will do anything
and go anywhere.
I will do anything
and go anywhere.
I will do anything
and go anywhere.
I will do anything
and go anywhere.
I will do anything
and go anywhere.
ALL: I will do anything
and go anywhere.
I will do anything
and go anywhere!
I will do anything
and go anywhere!
I will do anything
and go anywhere!
I will do anything
and go anywhere!
I will do anything
and go anywhere!
I feel it, Lord! Yes!
I feel it burning inside of me
to lead us!
I accept Thy will, oh Father!
I accept Thy will, Heavenly Father!
I accept!
Did you see Aunt Brenda
or Uncle Allen that morning?
The last time I saw her,
she was alone outside her room,
and all in black.
THERAPIST: Black what?
A black robe.
THERAPIST: Why was she wearing that?
JENNY: I don't know.
I don't know.
Shh! It's okay. It's okay.
It's gonna be okay.
I'm so glad you were able to make it,
Brother and Sister Pyre.
Come in. Come in.
Why don't you two take the middle seats
between your parents?
Haven't your parents done
a magnificent job with you both?
And now that you've turned eight,
the time has come for your baptism.
When your father baptizes you,
all of your old sins
will be washed away.
But from then on, any new sins
are yours to repent.
Now, that is a big responsibility,
being so grown up.
But I know you can do it,
can't you?
Yes, sir.
Now, I need to ask you
a few questions first, okay?
- Yes, sir.
- Okay.
First, have you both paid
your full and complete tithe?
Now, that means you've taken
10% of any allowance or gifts
and given that to the church.
Annie, you first.
Yes, Bishop.
- Great. And how about you, Caroline?
- Yes, Bishop.
BISHOP YOUNG: Next,
Do you believe
this is the one true church
on the face of our planet,
that Heavenly Father sent
His only son as our savior,
and that Joseph Smith
is a true prophet
- here to restore His church?
- Yes.
Well, one at a time, please?
- Annie?
- ANNIE: Yes, Bishop.
- And how about you, Caroline?
- CAROLINE: Yes, Bishop.
- BISHOP YOUNG: Good. Good.
- (REBECCA CHUCKLES)
Anne and Caroline, I very much
look forward to your baptism.
And I understand your mother
has sewn you
the most beautiful dresses.
(REBECCA CHUCKLES)
- I try my best.
- JEB: They're wonderful, yeah.
BISHOP YOUNG: Great, great.
Great job. Thank you.
- Nice to see you.
- REBECCA: So good to see you.
- (DOOR CLOSES)
how can I help you, Brother?
Well, there's a couple
well, one is my mom.
almost ten years ago now.
And at that time,
we could have kids.
(BOTH CHUCKLE)
And my brothers already had
eight, ten kids each,
you know,
couple years ago,
of dementia.
Yes, Brother, I know.
JEB: Sorry.
She stopped being able
to sleep at night.
she doesn't know the difference
between her nightmares and what's real,
She gets very anxious.
You worry
you can't pass this test.
No.
No, I don't.
The other night, she had
She was right there,
just like the old days.
Like my mom was back, you know?
And she says to me
that she doesn't want
to be here anymore.
She's in so much pain, Bishop.
And all the pain she's in,
is to interfere
with Heavenly Father's plan.
Of course.
Now, this life is a test,
and the challenges
put before us
are not to be avoided.
They are to be overcome.
- Yes. Yeah.
medication is not
looked down upon by the Lord.
Antidepressants,
antipsychotics.
It's a fact.
Women struggle more
with feelings than men.
Many of the women in this very
congregation take medication
on a daily basis
to help with their feelings.
Heavenly Father created
pharmacology to help us,
and trust me,
I've seen it work.
Thank you.
Thank you, Bishop.
It's this case
that I'm working on.
between us.
- Of course.
It's a double murder case.
And so far, what we've found
If you know what I mean.
points inward,
towards the early days
of our people,
only ever heard whispers of.
Be frank with me, Brother.
She used a term,
"blood atonement,"
saying that some sins
were so wicked
be cleansed of them
the sinner's blood
on the ground.
And she said that these ideas
came from the words of our prophets.
What are you asking me?
I guess I'm asking, could
such things be a part of us,
or today?
Brother Pyre,
I'm not an academic,
nor am I trained
as a historian,
and so I never concern myself
with such deep dives.
Do you understand
what I'm saying?
No, I'm not sure I do.
I don't go digging
And neither should you.
You place your trust
in today's prophet,
Spencer W. Kimball.
You leave the things
you do not understand on a shelf.
that the prophet
will never lead us astray.
REBECCA: Are the girls asleep?
- What about your mom?
- JEB: She's fine.
What did the bishop say?
Same old, antipsychotics.
I get these moments with her,
Becca,
these moments of real clarity,
and she's still there
when we go for a walk
or when we talk at night.
And I'm just concerned
- take away anything that's left.
- Okay.
You know it's temporary.
In the Celestial Kingdom,
you'll have her back,
restored.
Of course.
- Warned you about that.
- JEB: Oh, no. No, I know. (CHUCKLES)
I think it's wise if we
postpone the girls' baptisms.
Why?
this case behind me
so I can clear my head
and so that my heart
my parents are coming
from Arizona.
And our congregation.
It wouldn't go unnoticed.
- It's highly unusual.
- You don't think I'm aware of that?
People will think that our girls
failed their interview.
It will be humiliating
for them, for us.
It's not just our congregation,
it's our neighbors,
our friends.
I have waited
my whole life for this.
I have worked so hard
to make it perfect.
- I've prayed on this.
- And them.
The decision's been made.
our priesthood holder,
I need you
to back me up on this.
- And I am not asking.
- That old chestnut.
- I would rather not have to.
- You know what?
You're right.
Stop staring at me.
Stop.
- You know what, Jeb?
- What?
I acknowledge and accept
that you are indeed the man of this house,
and as such,
you are our priesthood holder.
But don't you ever forget,
it's me who chooses when
or if I ever hold
your priesthood again.
Come here.
Honey, honey, honey.
I have to go back to work.
- Don't you dare.
- In the name of Jesus Christ.
SAM: He will slice your throats
from ear to ear to cleanse you.
I hear his voice.
He wants this world back!
JEB: Hang in there.
(SAM CONTINUES SHOUTING INDISTINCTLY)
Sheesh.
SAM: Open to the Lord's
interpretation!
- How much longer?
- 30 minutes.
SAM: Open to the Lord's
interpretation!
(SIGHS)
Sam?
JEB: Mm-hmm.
That he had anything
to do with this?
I just feel like I should be
asking you that, Allen.
SAM: Never again!
Saw your police record.
You were arrested the morning
after your wedding?
And then you earned yourself
a contempt of court charge?
You know, for a second there,
Allen, just for a second,
I really felt
like we were on the same team.
think it was consequential.
JEB: It's consequential, Allen.
You disobeyed a judge's orders
by recording his hearing.
And you were put
in jail for it.
maybe you and Sam
are on the same team.
- So what else are you not telling me?
Who else are you protecting?
we planned our wedding
for the day before she was due
to graduate from BYU
so that her family
could do both in one trip.
to buy her some flowers.
I'll have to take you downtown.
Get out of the car, please.
But my brothers had pushed me
into refusing to pay traffic fines.
They said it went
against separation of powers.
Brenda was angry that I had put
my brothers ahead of her,
ahead of us.
So she confronted Dan.
This country is in shambles,
and it needs our help.
And it starts by resisting
illegal taxes.
That's federal income tax,
traffic fines.
You see, we must start to break
these unlawful rules
in order to challenge them now,
because we cannot get a tax
lawsuit through the court
fast enough in order to save
our businesses and our homes.
Okay, but they say if Allen
doesn't pay the tickets,
they'll impound his truck.
helped him get that truck.
Does it scare you to think
that Allen
might disappoint Father, say,
Or us?
- Are we still talking about tickets?
- The truth is absolute, Brenda.
We cannot decide, for convenience sake,
when we're going to honor it.
That's right.
And if a traffic cop is acting
as law enforcement, judge, and jury,
then Allen's fines
must not be paid.
And if a tax defies
the original U.S. Constitution,
it must not be paid either.
Obeying unholy laws
for Daddy's sake
is not going to make anybody happy,
not here or in the next life.
Okay, but, I mean,
there's gotta be a way to do it
where we won't
all have to go to jail.
Your husband made his decision.
Honor your priesthood holder.
DAN: Brenda, I can assure you
that if Allen gets arrested again,
he will not go to jail.
- No? Why not?
- Dan's getting on the ballot.
- He'll be more powerful than any judge.
- Yep.
For what office?
For sheriff.
I had a vision about it.
Sheriff of what?
(CLEARS THROAT)
Before we settled here,
our ancestors sought refuge in Missouri.
Yeah, I know.
DAN: And did you also know
that one day,
without reason, without cause,
U.S. Government troops
appeared out of the woods,
and they fired
on our ancestors,
and we sought refuge
in a log cabin?
Yeah, I know.
Everyone knows.
Joseph Smith loved,
loved, the Constitution
more than he loved revenge.
And so, after Heavenly Father
helped him escape from prison,
he was called on
to help protect our people,
to help protect
our Constitution,
by running for the presidency
of the United States.
And that is simply
all that I'm doing.
I'm just following
in his footsteps.
If a sheriff can convene
common law jury,
and court is where we are
ultimately headed,
then imagine how helpful it will be
when I have become the courts.
So you just get rid
of the 16th Amendment.
- Yeah.
- No more federal taxes.
- No.
- Okay.
the other amendments?
Well, after the first ten,
yeah, they all go.
BRENDA: All? The 13th, too?
It all sounds pretty crazy,
if you ask me.
But he didn't ask you!
And he wouldn't!
So if I was you,
I would keep my mouth shut
till I'd done my research
if you don't want to sound
like an idiot
in front of your new family.
ALLEN: You know,
a lot of LDS husbands
might have been mad at her
for intervening.
she was trying to protect me
from going astray.
often see us
much clearer
than we can see ourselves.
Don't you find that
with your wife?
All the time.
ALLEN: And so did Emma,
Joseph's wife.
Joseph. Joseph.
Perhaps the Lord provides
a bounty of new saints,
- that we may raise up an army.
- Don't be foolish, Brigham.
What Gentile would sell us
armaments in such quantity
that we might win such a fight?
A rifle aimed by God will beat back 100
of their arms, Sister Smith.
JOSEPH: Brigham. Do we build
a Zion on Earth for our pleasure?
For power?
Revenge? Bloodshed?
Enough.
ALLEN: But after Joseph escaped jail
and avoided execution in Missouri,
he started to sound more
and more like Brigham.
JOSEPH: We must strengthen
That it might prove worthy
of our Heavenly Father.
For if blood must be spilt,
let it be theirs,
and not ours.
And Emma was right,
wasn't she?
I mean, wasn't it Joseph's
turn toward aggression
that gave birth to our
very first destroying angel?
Isn't that how the Missouri governor
got filled up with lead?
I don't want to hear it.
All right? I don't want to hear it.
They got to you, didn't they?
How high up they go?
Bishop?
Stake president?
The office of the president?
Did they tell you to
"put your questions on the shelf"?
(GUNSHOT)
Let's get back on track.
Did you do anything
to try to heal this rift
between your brothers and your wife?
With Sam, maybe?
- ALLEN: Yes.
- Okay.
More than anything,
I offered her what,
at the time,
I felt was
a significant sacrifice.
Look, if God's plan
is for us to build up
you want me
then I'm gonna need
something from you.
I'm gonna need to know that you
want us to start a new family,
one of our own.
And so that we'll be able
to do that,
to give up a few things first.
You don't want me
to take that job, do you?
I just think it'll take up
too much of your energy.
- It's Channel 11 News.
let's have a bunch of babies.
And then
you can be a newscaster.
You have your degree.
People are always gonna want to hire you.
and then I'll do like Ron.
Okay? I'll leave my brothers
to it themselves.
(SIGHS)
all being told that
by having dozens of children,
that would somehow make them more holy,
more righteous.
Lately, I've started to wonder,
isn't that just another surrender
that we push them into
in the name of God?
And I certainly didn't see it
like that at the time.
You know, that I was building
Brenda a new cage,
a prison.
But I was.
Wasn't I?
Hey, Sam.
How you doing?
Once again, I'm Detective Pyre.
This is Investigator Taba.
I am the Lord God of Israel's
chosen servant,
my soul sent to Earth in these
latter days to earn a body,
these hands, this strength,
to separate the wheat
from the tares.
So we've heard.
Tell me,
what kind of chosen one
cuts the throat
of a 15-month-old?
Heaven calls
its destroying angels.
I am thee,
sent to spill the blood
of those on His list
- onto the ground.
- There's a list?
A holy list, revealed to Heavenly Father's
destroying angels.
I've heard his voice.
Wait, wait, wait, Sam.
there's an actual list.
Is that right?
Who all's on it?
The fornicator Brenda,
wicked and defiant.
Her spawn Erica,
the rotten fruit of fornication.
Heavenly Father demanded
their blood be spilled to the ground.
It has been done.
Fornication?
sexual relations with
someone other than her husband.
What?
- Well, you said it, not me.
Not that fornication.
and me
and God's chosen men.
That's fornication.
That's fornication!
Ever hear of that definition?
Sam, who else is on this list?
It's not given
that you should know.
who are the other
destroying angels?
Ask ye of God, not me.
What about the man that ran
from your cabin into the forest?
- Ask ye of God, not me.
- All right. All right, tell me this.
Where are the rest
of your brothers?
Where's Dan?
And Ron and Jacob?
Are they okay?
Or were they on your list, too?
Were their wives on your list?
The list is God's!
Idiot!
How should I know
how dang long He wants it?
Yeah, I've done my work.
I feel His love and glory now.
I don't need yours.
- (BANGING ON DOOR)
- Hey!
ROBIN: Pyre! Pyre, get in here!
Be right back, Sam.
Thank you.
- ROBIN: Pyre!
- (BANGING CONTINUES)
- I'm sorry, did we wake you?
- ROBIN: Is all that true?
Is that true?
are they dead?
You tell us.
You know I'm not an idiot.
I know what you're doing in there.
I know that you're in there,
trying to take advantage
of my little brother,
trying to trick him
into a false confession.
- I see you. I know what you're doing.
- Robin, he's awful eager.
We hardly said a word.
Yeah, well,
given his current mental state,
none of what he says in there
will ever hold up in court,
and you know that,
so you tell me.
Tell me right now,
are Brenda and Erica okay?
- (SIGHS)
You can go to hell.
Not very LDS, Brother.
We call it outer darkness,
last I checked.
(BREATHING HEAVILY)
No.
(GRUNTING)
- Let me! Let me! Please!
(SOBS)
On my family's lives,
I had no part in this.
- What about Sam?
- ROBIN: I don't understand.
I don't know how things
could have turned to this.
- Well, it happened.
- BILL: Look at their bodies.
We need to know who
and why and now.
Sam could not have done this.
Please.
Robin, when you were
did they ever mention
a list of names?
(SIGHS)
No.
and if this little girl's name
Then there would be
many more names. (BREATHES RAGGEDLY)
- Whose?
- (SIGHS)
- Tell me.
JEB: Robin.
You want me to extend
Give me names.
The Lows.
Our bishop
and our stake president
and their wives.
Why them?
with them.
tried to intervene
in my brothers' research
into original LDS teachings
and documents,
our past,
Brother Pyre.
(SNIFFLES)
Hey. Hey.
Get my car fueled,
vests on seats.
Call in Gray and Peters.
I need them to get to
Stake President Stowe's home, pronto.
And get me an address
for a Bishop Low.
(TENSE MUSIC PLAYING)
(CAR ENGINE STARTS)
(SIRENS BLARING)
(TIRES SCREECH)
ALLEN: And I certainly didn't
see it like that at the time.
You know, that I was building
A prison.
(RETCHING)
ALLEN: And after
I had locked her in there,
once she became pregnant,
her heart changed shape.
(BREATHING HEAVILY)
BRENDA: (CHUCKLES) I know.
I heard the whispering
of the Spirit.
I felt impressed upon,
that we must do whatever it takes
To fight
for each member's exaltation,
no matter what it takes.
your help, Dianna,
to get them
off this wicked path.
(MUSIC FADES)
(SLOW TEMPO MUSIC PLAYING)
(MUSIC ENDS)