Erstwhile onFargo...
[someone whistles]
Hi.
[Scotty] Mommy?
[gasps] I'm so happy to see you.
Who's Sheriff Roy?
I need to leave Scotty here for a few days.
Two, three, maybe.
-Tops. -[scoffs]
I got to do something.
She's not safe.
[Roy] You find her?
[Gator] Dad, come on.
You're not paying this guy.
Solve it with a bullet, not...
[Roy] We tried killing him.
Now we're bailing water out of a sinking boat.
We need to take luck out of the equation. Period.
End of story.
[Munch] We have business.
[Roy] Now, I didn't make your deal,
but if I had, I would have been clear.
That woman's like a tick.
Can't crush her, can't pull her out clean.
Suffocation is the key.
Probably ought to let her be, but...
[Gator] Happy now, shitbird?
You got your money?
I'll see you soon, asshole.
[beeping]
Jesus Christ.
[doorbell rings]
[pounding on door]
[Kevin] Ma!
[doorbell rings repeatedly]
[pounding]
Ma!
[Irma] I'm coming, I'm coming. Geez.
Don't break the door down.
[door opens]
[door closes]
[Kevin] I'm freezing my balls off out there, Ma,
waiting for you to get off your fat ass and...
[Irma mutters indistinctly]
[Kevin] Why you got to say that, huh?
Like I'm some kind of deadbeat, huh?
Make me a fucking sandwich.
A setup is what it is.
Check in every week, get a job, but nobody's hiring.
Piss in a cup, stay clean.
I need a fucking smoke.
God. These fucking guys.
Fucking guys. I'm telling you...
Use the spicy mustard and, uh, don't Jew me on the meat.
Uh-huh.
Six bucks? What the fuck, Ma?
Disability check comes in on the eighth.
You tell me how to stretch it.
Maybe don't buy a hundred six-packs of beer, eh?
Whoa. What the fuck, Ma?
Who the fuck is this?
I live here now.
What? A... a boarder?
You holding out on me, Ma? How much is he paying you?
Trade.
-What? -No payment.
Trade.
What kind of trade? That sounds like bullshit.
Like the dog in the yard.
We guard the house.
Is he for real, Ma?
Listen up, shitbird.
Your freeloading days are over.
Landlord's here now, so you're gonna pay for room and board
or I'm gonna cut you a new suck hole.
Or how about I call the law,
tell them you're taking advantage of a poor old widow.
Either way, you better show me some cheddar pronto.
♪ ♪
Fuckin' A.
Same amount every month, huh?
Got to go, Ma. Forgot a thing.
[door opens]
[sighs]
Fuckin' A.
[screams]
[radio scanning frequencies]
♪ Dark clouds, heavy debris♪
♪ I know what it's like♪
♪ To love me♪
♪ You lost your home in the storm♪
♪ Baby, when I rain, I pour♪
♪ Sorry to displace your spirit♪
♪ You're probably not ready to hear this♪
♪ You got to know♪
♪ Wherever you go♪
♪ I'll be right there beside you♪
-♪ When your heart breaks♪ -[beeping]
-♪ Baby, when your earth quakes♪ -[tires screech]
♪ Call me and I'll come to find you♪
[grunts]
♪ 'Cause you can't escape my love♪
♪ You can't escape my love♪
♪ It's a hurri--♪
[changes radio station]
["I'm Your Puppet" by James and Bobby Purify playing]
♪ Pull the string and I'll wink at you♪
♪ I'm your puppet♪
♪ I'll do funny things if you want me to♪
♪ I'm your puppet♪
♪ Mm♪
♪ I'm yours to have and to hold♪
♪ Darling, you've got full control♪
♪ Of your puppet♪
[radio turns off]
♪ Pull another string and I'll kiss your lips♪
♪ I'm your puppet♪
[waitress] Anywhere you like.
♪ Snap your finger and I'll turn you some flips♪
♪ I'm your puppet♪
Cream and sugar, I'm guessing.
Please.
Sugar's by the ketchup.
To or from?
-Sorry? -Are you heading
to something or away from something?
Home.
As in your going home or running away from home?
Are your pancakes any good?
Best in the county.
Oh.
♪ I'll be wonderful♪
♪ Do just what I'm told♪
♪ I'll do anything for you♪
♪ I'm your puppet♪
-[plate clatters] -[music stops]
[waitress] Let me know if you need anything else.
♪ ♪
Oh, shit.
[electronic chiming]
No.
[engine knocking]
Shoot.
[groans]
♪ ♪
[husband puppet] Stupid, ugly, clumsy.
Whore.
[thudding]
[wife puppet] I'm sorry. I made a mistake.
It won't happen again.
I promise.
Please. Please calm down.
It-it was an accident.
Don't touch me.
I'll kill you.
[pained whimper]
[screaming]
[table clatters]
[applause]
[announcer over P.A.] Good morning, Lindas.
Breakfast is now being served in the main lodge.
This morning, we have... [continues indistinctly]
[high-pitched tone]
[voice muted]
Said the baby bear to the mama bear,
"Someone's been sleeping in my bed."
"She's still there."
[high-pitched tone fades]
I'm looking for Linda.
You found her.
No, that's...
She was Tillman, my Linda.
Linda Tillman.
That's her married name?
I had one of those, too.
Most of us did.
Husbands' names, boyfriends' names.
Now we're just Lindas. Or variations.
I earned my first new letter last week,
so you can call me Lindo.
I don't understand.
When you leave a man who abuses and controls you
and you find this place,
you take on a new name.
A transition name. Linda.
But my Linda was named Linda before.
Oh.
That Linda.
She sent me a postcard.
Can I ask what that was last night?
Some kind of puppet show?
Hungry?
It's a beautiful day.
Welcome, Linda.
Why am I so tired?
It's kind of a death, what they do to us.
Our men.
The way they make us feel about ourselves.
No, that's...
I love my husband.
It's been ten years of bliss.
Honestly, I'm not here about him.
This is a long-ago story come back to haunt me.
Hi, Linda.
That's why I need her help.
My Linda.
Saint Linda. That's what we call her.
[laughs]
Oh, you're serious.
[woman] Welcome, Linda.
-Welcome, Linda. -Welcome, Linda.
Welcome, Linda.
-Welcome, Linda. -Welcome, Linda.
This is the main house,
where we gather for meals and conversation.
All of it, she built-- Saint Linda--
so we could come and be reborn.
And every week, one of us leaves,
but she stays.
-Welcome, Linda. -Welcome, Linda.
You say you knew her before?
She took me in when I was on the street.
[Lindo] Mm. [chuckles]
So like a mother.
More like a Venus flytrap.
What?
-Hello, Linda. -Hi, Lindo.
Welcome, Linda.
Is she here? I'd really like to say hello.
Sure.
Linda, I have a visitor here that wants to pay tribute.
-[Saint Linda] Nadine. -[grunts]
-Let go of me. Let-- -No, don't hurt her.
-It's okay. -Let go of me!
It's okay.
You must think I deserve that.
We can talk about that in the car.
Am I going someplace?
Get your stuff.
He found me. Roy.
I need you to come and tell the cops
about all the bad he did when you were married
so they can put him in jail.
Nadine--
It's Dorothy now. Dot.
So you made the puppet.
What?
I can't leave.
They need me here.
I need you more, and you owe me.
I gave you a home, three meals a day.
What could I possibly owe you?
You used me.
You fed me to him so you could escape.
We both made choices.
You left your boy, too.
Gator.
And just so I know, do you have children?
I've got a daughter.
Where is she?
So you left her, too.
No.
I came to get you so we can...
I'm going back.
A trial.
-We need to have a trial. -Yes.
No. What does that...
I don't have time.
When there are two versions of the truth,
we have to reconcile them, so we hold a tribunal.
I've told my truth already.
You tell yours, and the Lindas will watch
and help us find the true truth.
It's the only way.
Fine. I'll tell the truth.
[Lindo] No.
First, you make your puppet.
[Scotty] Name two mammals that lay eggs.
I don't think that's how homework works.
Platypus.
Okay.
And like a spiny anteater.
How do you...
-Would you look at that. -[knocking]
[Daryl] Boss.
I got a family here with their hearts set on a new Rio.
Well, heck of a nice car.
Oh, yeah. Uh, ran their credit, though.
-Not gonna happen. -Well, that's a shame.
"Echidnas, sometimes known as spiny anteaters,
are quill-covered monotremes."
Huh. Have you seen these things?
It's, uh, a mammal that lays eggs.
-Geez. -Yeah.
Well, like I said, even with their trade-in--
and they got a 2005 Sportage in pretty good shape--
uh, they don't qualify.
Oh.
It's a nice-looking family.
-Right? -Hmm.
[Wayne] Unless, uh,
a car for a car.
Just trade.
E-Except that's not really how capitalism works.
A car for a car.
-Right, but-- -Because what do we do here?
[Daryl] Well, we sell--
Well, people need a car, and they-they come to us.
-To buy-- -Yeah, well, you said yourself,
the 2005's in good shape.
Yeah, but, boss, Blue Book on that's 6,200--
So we trade.
[Daryl] And-and the Rio, that's--
-How many eggs does the, uh-- -[Daryl] 19,500.
-[Wayne] The spiny anteater? -[Daryl] Boss?
It says one egg makes a baby the size of a jelly bean.
Um, so--
Well, you were more of a jelly donut.
[laughs]
-So, on the-- Boss? -What kind of jelly?
-On the-- [clears throat] -Raspberry.
So, on the Rio--
-Huh? -The Rio?
Oh, we-we solved that, I thought.
Give a car, get a car.
Each has received a gift, use it to serve one another.
That's in the Bible. Right?
Sure, then. Okay.
[indistinct chatter]
-[cheering, laughter] -Congratulations.
[Scotty] Can we get doughnuts?
Sure can.
And bear claws for your mom.
Is she back?
No, hon. Sorry. I-I got confused.
No, Mom is, uh...
She's still out there.
Maybe skip the doughnuts, then.
She'd want us to eat a vegetable.
Yeah, she would.
Come here.
[Lynda] This is your workstation.
Choose the wood, make the doll,
dress the doll, choose some hair and makeup.
And then the final step.
They've already come for me twice.
And my family.
You tell your story, through the puppet,
and in this way, you expel the trauma
so you can start again.
Then you take your new name and leave.
I've done this. I have a name.
Start by examining the wood, really see yourself in it.
For some, this process takes weeks, months.
This is...
I am the me I want to be.
I'm here to do something.
I know.
I have to make this doll, yeah? There's no way around it?
If you want to tell your story.
I don't. I want to take Linda and go.
The next step is to saw the wood,
soften its edges for shaping.
Can I carve?
I feel like you're rushing.
No shit.
[indistinct chatter, laughter]
[Lindas] Cheers.
Come here.
We take turns who runs the meal.
Family recipes.
It was Belin's turn tonight.
Who doesn't like a good chicken piccata?
[Saint Linda] How about you?
Do you have a go-to for the rotation?
Something that always hits the spot?
Well, my Wayne likes shepherd's pie.
Mmm.
[Dot] And Scotty, she likes breakfast for dinner.
-Pancakes and the like. -Mm.
What do you like?
I like all of it.
Oh, and Sister Schubert.
She makes those rolls, you pop 'em just right in the oven.
-Oh, yeah. -Mm.
You haven't asked about him.
Gator.
He's trying, I think.
He's got to be, what, 27 now?
You can see it in his eyes, he wants to be good.
But more than that, he wants to be like his dad.
You see things clearly, dear.
You always did.
Look,
I think it's wonderful what you're doing here.
This place you've made for suffering.
But I don't need a doll to say what's on my mind.
Maybe I could have used one
before Wayne and this new life,
but I am in control now.
I know who I am
and what's important.
So if there's any way that we could skip--
It's not gonna work, dear.
You came here to confront me,
the things you think I did, what happened after I was gone.
This is the process.
You wouldn't be here
if you didn't need to be here.
I came for you.
And to take you back to testify.
And what I'm saying is you need to testify first.
Then we can decide if I should go or you should stay.
Now, eat your piccata.
[muttering]
Ole Munch on this.
[beeping]
[beeping quickens]
Got you, fucker.
♪ ♪
Yes.
Fuck.
No fucking way.
♪ ♪
[grunts]
Thief!
[Gator grunting, groaning]
Whoa!
Monster! Don't!
Ow!
♪ ♪
Dad?
Yeah, babe.
It's bedtime.
Uh-huh.
You got to read.
I got to read.
Oh, wait. It-it's bedtime.
That's what I said.
Yeah.
I got to read.
-All right, move over, you. -[chuckles]
Where's the book?
What?
The book.
What do you mean? It's, uh... it's right here.
You can't see it?
-You're silly. -Yeah.
Hold that for a sec.
All right.
Here we go.
All right.
Chapter One: The Hero.
Once upon a time...
...there was a girl named Dot.
Dorothy.
She was the sun's favorite.
You know, the, uh...
the sun?
And everywhere she went, there were rainbows.
-"Dorothy." Like Mom? -Mm-hmm.
And she could do anything,
our Dorothy.
You know, she could,
uh, climb a tree.
She could, uh, wrestle an alligator.
[chuckles]
And everyone she met,
she put a smile on their face.
But the darkness hates the light,
and the ugly things come out at night.
And so she, our Dot...
...in order to save the rainbows,
she had to go fight against the darkness.
Screw it.
[Wayne] And leave the, uh...
the flowers and the birds at home.
Her family, I'm saying.
Because until you go someplace,
you can't come home.
[door opens, closes]
Look at you, up and at 'em.
This puppet's not gonna make itself.
["A Long Way to Go" by The Optic Nerve playing]
♪ I've got lovin' in the palm of my hand♪
♪ Sometimes troubles that never seem to end♪
♪ Got a girl or two comin' after me♪
♪ Sometimes seems I've got all that I need♪
♪ Every day's the same♪
♪ Seems like some things never change♪
♪ Been a long time runnin'♪
♪ One thing I know, man♪
♪ I've sure got a long way to go.♪
♪ ♪
[song ends]
[quiet chatter]
[Saint Linda] We welcome you, our sister.
Let us gather now to hear your testimony.
She has come here to share
her struggle and her pain.
Let no one challenge or interrupt our sister.
The truth she speaks is her truth,
and we will hear it all.
[Dot] Before this,
before I was a mother
and a wife
and a different wife,
I was a girl.
All skinned knees and make-believe.
And then I got my monthly, and the wolves came.
[growling, howling]
[whimpers]
And once I was running, I ran away from everything.
Home,
boys,
the future.
[Dot as clerk] Oh, no, you don't.
[Dot] And that's when I met Linda.
[Dot as Saint Linda] Now, Carl,
you take your hands off that girl.
She's with me.
[Dot as Carl] Sorry, Ms. Tillman. It's just,
I caught her putting chocolate chips in her pocket.
[Dot as Saint Linda] Well, where else is she supposed to put 'em?
You got rid of all the baskets.
[Dot] When she heard I had nowhere else to go,
Linda took me home.
[Dot as Saint Linda] Look what I got at the grocery store.
[Dot as Gator] Can we keep her, Dad? Can we?
[Dot as Roy] What's your name, sunshine?
[Dot] Nadine.
[Dot as Roy] Yeah? Like the song?
♪ Oh, Nadine, honey, is that you?♪
[Dot] I was 15,
and he didn't look at me like a wolf.
He was big and stern like a dad,
but funny.
[Dot as Roy] If she's gonna stay here,
she's gonna work for her supper, same as everybody else.
[Dot as Saint Linda] What she needs is to finish her education.
[Dot as Gator] Spend an hour with the studs at breeding time,
and you can learn a whole hell of a lot.
Ow.
[Dot as Saint Linda] Well, I can read with her,
but, Roy, you're so much better at math
and science and the like, so really, you should teach her.
[Dot] You see how that happened?
How she pushed me towards him,
made sure we could be alone?
Things were bad for Linda, then.
[Dot as Roy] Bitch.
Stupid bitch.
[thudding repeatedly]
♪ ♪
[Dot] But that's no excuse for what happened next.
[Dot as Roy] So, you carry the seven.
See how that works?
[Dot] Uh-huh.
[Dot as Roy] Not so dumb after all, are you?
[Dot] No.
[Dot as Roy] Pretty, too.
I bet you get your pick of all the boys.
Don't get shy on me now, darling.
We're peas in a pod, you and me.
Why don't you come sit on my lap?
[Dot] The next day,
Roy said Linda had to go visit her sister
and that I was the woman of the house till she got back.
You tell me she didn't know
-what was gonna happen. -[door opens]
[Dot as Roy] Saw you limping a little before.
You okay?
[Dot] I just...
twisted my ankle a little.
[Dot as Roy] Here. Let me see.
[Dot as Saint Linda] Here I am. Home again.
Was it awful without me?
[Dot as Roy] Oh, no, we had a swell time.
Didn't we, Nadine?
[Dot] It got worse after that.
He'd beat Linda every night and then come to me
smelling like sweat and cigarettes.
And then she was gone.
Packed a bag, Roy said, and left in the wee hours.
But he wasn't sad, he said, because he had me.
And what we had was true love.
And then I
was his puppet.
[applause]
♪ ♪
[Lindas whispering indistinctly]
Thank you for that.
It wasn't easy to hear, but we heard it.
And so,
you've earned a new name.
What'll it be?
I'm Dorothy.
Dorothy Lyon.
So,
I will go with you.
And we can face him together.
You ready?
I am.
I'm sorry for leaving you.
I really am.
I know.
He would have killed you.
He tried to kill me.
Fight or flight, they call it.
I just wish...
Why didn't you take us with you?
It's okay.
You'll tell me when you're ready.
All that matters is thank you for doing this.
This life I've fought so hard for.
I'll be grateful.
[truck horn honks in distance]
[truck horn blares]
[gasps, screams]
[curtain slides open]
Linda?
[grunts]
[nurse] You're awake.
No, don't strain yourself.
You hit your head pretty hard there.
My friend.
Who?
The woman. In my car.
The Kia. Is she okay?
Oh, I don't know, hon.
You came in by yourself.
But I--
I'll go let your husband know you're awake.
He'll be so happy to hear.
Wayne's here?
Mm-hmm.
It took us a beat to identify you.
You're very lucky.
He's barely left your side.
That sounds like my Wayne.
Yeah. Easy on the eyes, too.
[chuckles]
I'll go fetch him for you, hon.
Thank you.
[footsteps approaching]
[locks door]
Nadine.
You had us worried sick.
I got you.
♪ ♪
[man] Now I get it.
[rooster crows]
[roars]