MONTROSE FREEMAN: You wanna run chest first
into some magical treasure hunt.
We already got one large gun ambush.
You won't tell them nothing, boy.
How you know there's 34 lodges?
LETI LEWIS: You really gonna let him chase his tale,
looking for answers you already have?
ATTICUS FREEMAN: Leti's inheritance didn't come from her mother.
It came from you.
So, you want something in this house?
I just want Hiram's orrery.
(TIRES SCREECHING)
LETI: The police captain was asking all these questions about
the Winthrop Palace, like he had some sorta connection to it.
You come here and try and take my lodge's rightful property.
Forgive me. Did I miss your official initiation
into the order?
WOMAN: Titus locked his pages in a booby-trap vault.
Imagine the possibilities if the pages were to be found?
I'm sorry.
HIPPOLYTA FREEMAN: For us, it's a rat race to the finish line.
And it's winner takes it all.
What if I told you that I could change your life,
forever?
♪ (MUSIC CONCLUDES) ♪
[TV static drones]
[bright tone]
[birds chirping]
- [grunting]
[groans]
[ominous music]
♪ ♪
[grunting]
♪ ♪
Wake up, Ruby.
Wake up.
[eerie music]
♪ ♪
[breathing heavily]
[grunts]
[moans]
[gasps]
[bell dings]
- You lost, ma'am?
- I'm Ruby Baptiste.
I'm...
[panting]
Stop staring at me!
[grunts] - Ma'am, you okay?
[siren wailing]
[tense music]
- What did you do to her, boy?
- I was just trying to help.
- [growls]
- It's okay, ma'am.
He can't hurt you anymore.
You're safe now. - Get over there.
- [grunting]
- Did you molest her? Huh?
Answer me, boy!
What did you do to her? - Wait, officer!
He didn't hurt me.
I just--I got lost.
- There's no need to protect this animal, ma'am.
If he did something to you--
- I swear he didn't.
He was just trying to help me.
♪ ♪
- Let's get you somewhere safe, ma'am.
Okay?
[whispering] You're all right.
- What's happening over there?
- You see that woman?
- Right in here. Mm-hmm.
[radio tuning]
- ♪ Somebody new, but tonight ♪
- Your husband's been real worried about you, ma'am.
- ♪ You belong to me ♪
- [grunting]
Mm-mm.
No.
You can't take me back there.
- It's okay, ma'am. - You don't understand.
He's not my husband. He did something to me.
- And he told the operator all about your condition.
You just need your pills.
- [grunting]
Let me out of here.
[bones cracking, groaning]
- ♪ Way down by the stream ♪
- [gasps] - Holy shit.
I think these are the fits her husband mentioned.
- [gasping]
- ♪ In the silvery moonlight ♪
- [gasps]
- ♪ My honey, I know ♪ - ♪ I know ♪
both: ♪ With the dawn ♪
♪ That you ♪
♪ Will be gone ♪
♪ But tonight ♪
♪ You belong to me ♪
♪ Just to little old me ♪
- [groaning]
[ominous music]
♪ ♪
- Oh.
Stop fighting it.
- [gasping]
- You're only slowing the process.
[bones cracking] - [gasping]
[crying out]
- Pickets and non-strikers...
- Wouldn't want to disturb the neighbors.
- Cermak Road and Cicero Avenue.
Cicero...
- [grunting]
[screaming]
[gasping]
[screaming]
♪ ♪
- [sighs]
- I don't want-- [panting]
[straining] I don't want to die.
[gasping]
- He would say that metamorphosis isn't death.
- [gasping]
- American-born Greek soprano Maria Callas
christened the stage in Italian opera "Norma."
- [grunting]
- [grunts]
- Breaking news: a swarm of 16 billion Kenyan locusts
are moving across North Africa,
with Great Britain in their crosshairs.
Scientists say locust nymphs hatch from eggs,
and they will go through five molting stages
where they will shed their skin
and develop their wings.
After seven days, they will reach
full sexual maturity as adult locusts,
destined to devour everything in their path.
[birds chirping]
[children shouting]
[elevator clunking, elevator dings]
- I'll go by the library and get some children's books.
- See if you can teach her enough English
to write up a protection spell.
Good idea.
[door squeaks]
- Right? Think so.
- Hey, Pop. What you doing here?
- Where's Yahima?
- Gone.
- What?
You just let her walk out of here?
[foreboding music]
How long ago? Maybe we can find her.
- Titus's pages?
♪ ♪
[grunting] - [gasps]
Atticus!
Atticus, stop!
Somebody, help!
Somebody! He's gonna kill him!
- Whoa, whoa, hey, hey, hey!
- [grunting]
Get the fuck off me!
- Montrose!
Montrose. Montrose, come on.
Go get some ice!
[frantic music]
♪ ♪
- Did you take photos of 'em?
- Of what? - Titus's pages!
- Tic, I need you to calm down.
- God damn it, Leti!
If you took photos of 'em, give 'em to me!
- [breathing heavily]
[door slams]
- A butterfly lives a full life before it dies.
And a caterpillar emerges from the same cells,
the essence of the butterfly,
yet different.
It's more.
I wanted to apply this process
of metamorphosis to humans.
But my research was all theoretical.
It was laughed at by the academic community.
Until, by chance,
I met a disgraced professor
named Hiram Epstein.
He wanted nothing more
than to understand the universe,
but it was beyond his reach.
So he created doorways.
Not scientific, mind you,
but magical.
Though one could argue they're one and the same.
[disquieting music]
♪ ♪
[speaking Language of Adam]
♪ ♪
I know that you're awake, Ruby.
♪ ♪
[wings fluttering]
[mysterious music]
- Did I die
to turn into that white woman?
- No.
The potion just mimics metamorphosis.
Wears off after a time.
♪ ♪
- Magic exists?
- Does that scare you?
- [shudders]
♪ ♪
Scared the shit outta me to wake up white.
♪ ♪
Then...
when I was stumbling down the street,
crazed and disheveled
and screaming at everybody around me,
they weren't scared of me.
They were scared for me.
They all treated me like--
- A human being.
I know your transformation was painful.
- That wasn't pain.
That was something else.
Like being unmade.
- I promise, it'll be easier next time.
- No, there won't be a next time.
- I have some business to attend to.
- Am I free to go?
- You are free to do whatever you please.
♪ ♪
[door clicks open]
[door clunks shut]
[foreboding music]
♪ ♪
- Somebody, anybody,
sing a Black girl's song.
Bring her out to know herself, to know you,
but sing her rhythms
of caring and struggle
and hard times.
Sing her song of life.
She's been dead so long,
closed in silence so long,
she doesn't know the sound of her own voice,
her infinite beauty.
She's half notes, scattered without rhythm,
no tune.
Sing her sighs.
Sing the song of her possibilities.
Sing a righteous gospel,
the making of a melody,
and let her be born.
Let her be born
and handled warmly.
I'm outside Chicago,
and this is for colored girls who have considered suicide,
but are moving to the ends of their own rainbows.
[bright jazz music]
♪ ♪
[indistinct chatter]
[door squeaks]
- I did take pictures of the pages.
I just didn't have a chance to develop them yet.
- Thank you.
For stopping me.
[soft music]
- If I wasn't there, would you have killed him?
♪ ♪
- I've imagined it enough.
When I was younger.
Mostly after he beat me.
That violence that's in him, I thought wasn't--
could never be in me.
I found it in the war.
- Seeing that side of you scares me.
♪ ♪
- Please don't be scared of me.
♪ ♪
[Black Atlass' "Return to Love"]
[heartfelt guitar ballad]
♪ ♪
- ♪ Set that flame down, darlin' ♪
♪ ♪
♪ Before you burn up ♪
♪ ♪
♪ Yeah, I know ♪
♪ What I wanna be ♪
♪ But baby, do you? ♪
♪ ♪
♪ Your smile can set you free ♪
♪ ♪
♪ Return to love ♪
♪ ♪
♪ Ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh ♪
♪ Yeah ♪
♪ ♪
- ♪ You've got me in between ♪
♪ The devil and the deep blue sea ♪
[sighs]
Let's stop with the bullshit.
I don't believe for a second that I am special enough
for you to share your conjuring powers with.
There are a thousand colored girls
on the South Side.
Why share magic with me?
- Why not you?
[soft mysterious music]
♪ ♪
The first time I laid eyes on you
was the first time in a while that I had felt magic
where there was none.
♪ ♪
And I will need a favor when the time comes.
- What kind of favor?
- There's a friend that I owe.
A woman friend.
Is that a problem?
- Might be when I find out what kind of favor it is.
- It's small, really.
Inconsequential.
♪ ♪
But until then, you do as you please.
Go as you please, in whatever skin you like.
I am curious.
I saw the money I left still on the nightstand.
Why didn't you use any of it?
- Didn't have to.
I enjoyed my entire day
using the only currency that I needed:
whiteness.
I don't know what is more difficult,
being colored or being a woman.
Most days, I'm happy to be both,
but the world keeps interrupting,
and I am sick
of being interrupted.
- So what's next for Ruby,
uninterrupted?
- ♪ Look, whoo ♪
♪ I was born to flex, yes ♪
♪ Diamonds on my neck ♪
♪ I like boardin' jets, I like mornin' sex ♪
♪ But nothing in this world ♪
♪ That I like more than checks ♪
♪ Money ♪
♪ All I really wanna see is the money ♪
♪ I don't really need the D, I need the money ♪
♪ All a bad bitch need is the money flow ♪
♪ I gotta fly ♪
♪ I need a jet, shit ♪
♪ I need room for my legs ♪
♪ I got a baby ♪ [knocks on door]
♪ I need some money, yeah ♪
♪ I need cheese for my egg ♪
♪ All y'all bitches in trouble ♪
♪ Bring brass knuckles to the scuffle ♪
♪ I heard that Cardi went pop, yeah ♪
- Come in, Miss Davenport.
- ♪ Money ♪
♪ Money ♪
♪ ♪
- Six typing seminars.
Five numbers courses.
Maybe I should be worried about you taking my job.
- [chuckles]
- Uh, your--your résumé, it speaks for itself.
But-- [sighs]
Tell me what's not on there.
Who is Hillary Davenport?
[quirky music]
- [laughs]
I'm...an imported good.
[chuckles]
I grew up in a small town in Maine and--
- Really? What town?
I'm from Waterville.
- Oh, it's a tiny town.
You've probably never heard of it.
- Try me.
- Well, we moved to Chicago after my father died,
and my mother was...
an unlucky fool for love.
After every breakup, she would drag me and Leti--
she would drive my sister and I to Carson's
and march us up and down the aisles,
where the salesclerk would greet us with smiles.
That was all my mother needed to make her feel whole again.
And I always dreamed of being
on the other side of the counter,
to pass on that feeling
to a tired, overworked mother.
- How do you feel about coloreds?
[tense music]
You know, working with them.
- [laughing] Oh.
You're talking about the colored gal out front?
Well, if she's qualified and hardworking,
I don't see a problem with...
offering her the same opportunities
us white folks take advantage of.
[quirky music]
- A number of my employees quit
when corporate headquarters ended our whites-only policy.
[bones cracking] - [grunts]
- Oh, but they're-- they're no race crusaders.
They're just chasing that mighty dollar.
[both laugh]
[bones cracking]
Uh, how does...
assistant manager sound to you?
- Yes. Yes!
[bones crack] [gasps]
14 times over, yes.
Thank you so much,
but I don't wanna take up any more of your time.
- Oh, don't be silly.
It's my job to make sure everyone feels right at home.
- [grunts]
- Welcome to the Marshall Field's family.
[chuckles]
Uh, shall we take a tour of the store?
- But first, the ladies' room.
- Uh, Miss Davenport,
you dropped your, uh...
perfume?
- [grunting]
[bones cracking]
[squelching]
[suspenseful music]
♪ ♪
[elevator ringing]
[bones crack] [grunts]
[door clunks]
[moaning]
[whines] [squelching]
[bones crack]
[distant shouting]
[distant baby crying]
[keys jingle]
[lock clicks]
- Was it the ofays or the niggers this time?
[Frank Ocean's "Bad Religion"]
[melancholy organ music]
♪ ♪
- ♪ Taxi driver ♪
♪ Be my shrink for the hour ♪
♪ Leave the meter running ♪
♪ ♪
- [grunts] - ♪ You said "Allahu Akbar" ♪
♪ I told him "Don't curse me" ♪
- [moaning]
- ♪ "Bo Bo, you need prayer" ♪
♪ I guess it couldn't hurt me ♪
♪ If it brings me to my knees ♪
♪ It's a bad religion ♪
♪ Oh ♪
♪ Unrequited love ♪
[both grunting]
♪ To me, it's nothing ♪
♪ But a one-man cult ♪
♪ And cyanide ♪
♪ In my Styrofoam cup ♪
♪ I can never make him love me ♪
♪ Never make him love me ♪
♪ No ♪
♪ No, oh ♪
♪ It's a, it's a bad religion ♪
♪ To be in love with someone ♪
♪ Who could never love you ♪
♪ Oh, oh, only bad ♪
♪ Only bad religion ♪
♪ Could have me feeling ♪
♪ The way I do ♪
♪ ♪
- [moans]
[refined piano music]
♪ ♪
- Miss Davenport, you look beautiful.
- [chuckles]
♪ ♪
- My lips may not be the Blarney Stone,
but here's hoping good luck rubs off on you
your first day.
♪ ♪
- And where is she?
Made me wait.
12 minutes now, I've been standing here.
Where's the perfume girl?
The service here is...
- It's awful. - I'm finished with her.
- You can't uplift the lives of our customers
if you're not at your counter, Tamara.
- So sorry, Miss Davenport.
Was only supposed to be gone a couple of minutes.
Madge needed some shoes re-shelved,
but then Barb needed her dressing rooms wiped down.
And Cathy-- - Tamara?
- Yes, ma'am.
- Exhale.
You're not in any trouble.
I just...like to get to know all of my employees.
I remember you saying you applied on a whim.
- I'm sorry. Did I say that to you?
- Mr. Hughes must have mentioned it.
[laughs]
He also told me that your hiring caused...
quite a stir.
I hope you're still feeling
a part of the Marshall Field's family.
- I am, ma'am.
- And j-just remember, no matter what anybody says,
they can't take your educational achievements
away from you.
- I wouldn't call a seventh grade education
much of an achievement.
- You didn't graduate from high school?
♪ ♪
So you took some accounting courses
down at the Frederick Douglass Center?
- I didn't even know they had those there.
- Hmm.
Mm.
Your hands are a bit ashy.
- ♪ Please give your love to me ♪
[laughter]
- For how hard we work,
they should give all this to us for free.
- Madge, you look like Marilyn Monroe
in "How to Marry a Millionaire."
- Barb, which way is the wind blowing?
- That coat would close
if you stopped stuffing your face with bonbons.
[laughter]
- All right, it's been 30 minutes.
We really should get back on the floor.
- Well, Hillary, you're the boss.
So we can either head back out there
to the salt mines, or...
- You can try on these naughty stilettos
and live a fuckin' little.
- Come on.
- Mm.
[both laugh]
- Oh, speaking of--of bosses, has...
has Paul ever...gotten fresh with any of you?
♪ ♪
[laughter]
- Paul, "I live in a Norman Rockwell painting
with my wife and two kids," getting fresh?
[laughing] No way.
- Like my father always says,
"Boy, is paranoia the price
of being a working girl in America."
[radio tunes]
- Hillary, let's see you strut!
[laughter] - ♪ All rooty ♪
♪ Tutti frutti, all rooty ♪
- Wowee!
- Oh, cut a rug!
[both laugh]
- ♪ A-wop bop-a-loo-bop, a-lop-bop-bop ♪
- You should sign up for Herb Mintz's show.
- With the rhythm in those hips,
she's ready for the colored version.
[laughter]
- Okay, can I just say what we've all been thinking?
I hope we don't see any more Tamaras
coming through the front door.
- Well, if there are,
let's hope they're more qualified than her.
- Course she's unqualified. She's a Negro.
- Barb!
- What?
I was polite enough not to use the less civilized word.
- Hillary, you were with Tamara earlier.
You seem comfortable with her.
- I was giving her work advice.
- You think you can convince her
to take us to a bar on the South Side?
It'll be like a safari.
And we need a guide.
- Why would you want to go there?
There's nothing special about the South Side,
trust me, I know.
- Oh, my God. - You've been there?
- Were you scared being around all of those--
- People?
- ♪ Tutti frutti, all rooty ♪
[laughter] - We're going.
- Ooh. - Oh, yes!
- ♪ A-wop, bop-a-loo-bop, a-lop-bam-boom ♪
[bells ringing]
[The Charms' "My Baby Dearest Darling"]
- What a hunk of man.
[romantic doo-wop music]
- ♪ My baby dearest darling ♪
- He's with you?
- Only when he behaves.
- ♪ My baby dearest darling ♪
♪ I love you so ♪
- ♪ All my love deep inside ♪
♪ ♪
- Night-night, ladies.
- ♪ I can't hide ♪
- He's so--oh.
- Can't just be showing up here.
- It doesn't look like I embarrassed you.
- [chuckles]
- How was the first day
of your dream job, Miss Davenport?
- Well, it's better than being someone's damn charwoman.
Hmm.
- You don't want me to kiss you as Hillary.
- Do you want to kiss Hillary?
- I wanna kiss...
whatever you want me to kiss.
- Hmm.
- Hold off on that.
[mysterious music]
I'm gonna need that favor.
Tonight.
- Finally,
the devil tells me what deal I've made with him.
- I need you to attend a party.
Miss Braithwhite
will give you the rest of the details when you arrive.
♪ ♪
- [grunts]
♪ ♪
- There's a box in the back seat.
It's got your name all over.
♪ ♪
- Mm.
♪ ♪
- They were up north, is that correct?
- Oh, right, right, right.
- You could view the captain's accomplishments
as a way to immortality.
- We suffered a major loss in the Ardham incident,
but initiation must remain exclusive.
- Perhaps he's recovered Horatio's stolen pages.
- It was a unanimous decision by the members
that I take the reins of our social club.
- What of the rumors of defection
following Hiram's death?
- Mr. Lowe was certainly unexpected.
- There were some that abandoned us,
but look around.
It's only made our brotherhood stronger.
[door clacks]
- The fuck is that bitch?
[dishes clattering]
[foreboding music]
♪ ♪
You were supposed to be here an hour ago.
- William does like a demanding woman.
- What you need me to do here?
- Simple, really.
Just, uh, hide this in the police captain's office.
- Captain?
[scoffs]
William didn't say anything about no cops.
You trying to get me killed.
- Ruby.
Do you care for him at all?
Beyond the opportunity he's providing you?
William is the rightful heir to this lodge.
The captain tried to kill him to take his seat.
Shot him in the back
and dumped his body in the river
like he was a piece of trash.
♪ ♪
Lancaster believes that he succeeded.
But William survived with my help...
And with yours, he'll have his revenge.
♪ ♪
[intense music]
♪ ♪
- What?
[gasps]
[screaming]
♪ ♪
[gasps]
[breathing heavily]
- You okay?
- How long was I out?
- [sighs] Not long.
I let you sleep.
You've been going nonstop.
This looks like
the "Little Orphan Annie" radio puzzles
I used to play with when I was younger.
I'm guessing it's a little more complicated.
- Well, I figured I'd start with what's in my arsenal.
These are my initials in the Language of Adam.
- Hmm?
A and...
- S. For Sampson.
Grandfather on my mother's side.
- Hmm.
And with the letters in the word "protection"...
11 out of 26? Not bad.
- That's if the Language of Adam is analogous
to English.
- Mm.
- This looks like some kinda symbol.
- Mm-hmm.
- It shows up in the...
body of the text as well, which might suggest
it's similar to the Chinese hieroglyphics.
- [sighs]
This would've been a lot easier with Yahima's help.
But honestly,
I understand why your father let her go.
Keeping her against her will would've made us
no better than Titus.
[tense music]
- Yeah.
♪ ♪
- [sighs] I'll make us some coffee.
- Leti?
- Hmm?
♪ ♪
- My pop didn't let Yahima go.
- What?
♪ ♪
- Titus's pages isn't the only thing he got rid of.
♪ ♪
- Oh.
- Leti.
- Oh, okay. He--
- Leti. Leti.
He--look, he probably thought he was protecting me
by destroying everybody's access
to more magic.
- Oh, no, no, no, it's this.
This is evil. It's the devil's tools.
It is corrupting all of us. - No, no.
Leti, Leti, it's not. Look, it--
- No.
- It's not inherently evil, all right?
It's what we do with it that matters.
What we wanna do?
Protect ours.
How can that be bad?
- Look at what your father did to protect you.
♪ ♪
[indistinct chatter]
- [sighs]
♪ ♪
[knocks on wood] - No.
[knocking]
[groans]
♪ ♪
[dramatic musical flourish]
- [gagging]
- [groans]
- [coughing]
- I'm gonna go back there. Get the door.
♪ ♪
I'm out there dancing like a fucking monkey.
For what? A goddamn ring.
Get me a shirt from the closet.
I'm sweating like a stuck pig.
- [groans]
- I can't smell it, but here you go, boss.
- [groans]
- [whimpering]
- Dusty old farts would be lucky
to have someone who has their wits about 'em
the way you do.
- It's gonna take Horatio's pages to get me in.
Where are we on Kentucky?
- I convinced the county sheriff
that it'd be in their best interest
to protect the Winthrop Observatory
from possible vandals.
- [sighs] Good.
Bleeding cunt Christina wants the orrery,
we'll let her bring it right to us.
- [groaning] [knocking on door]
- [chuckles]
Has Zenone dropped a dime
on the location of the loot he stole?
- Not yet.
But he'll talk soon enough.
- [gags] - The dead always do.
- [gags]
Tamara, what?
No.
No, it's--it's wrong.
You have to put the white heels with the monochromatic dresses.
It's the way to appeal to our upmarket clientele.
- Don't mean to be disrespectful,
but I'm doing my best here, ma'am.
- Oh, your best isn't good enough.
You wanna be a credit to your race,
you have to be better than mediocre,
and do you wanna know why?
Because white folks are even more fucked up
than you think they are.
They have got shit you can't even imagine.
That's why you gotta be exponentially better than them,
so you don't end up in some closet,
half-dead, with your tongue cut out.
- Miss Davenport.
Is everything okay over here?
- We're fine.
In fact, T-Tamara was just promising
to take us all out to the South Side tonight,
where we can let our hair down.
[chuckles] Right, Tamara?
- ♪ Wop bop-a-loo-bop, a-lop-bop-bop ♪
[laughter] ♪ Tutti frutti, oh, rooty ♪
- Y'all need to stop.
- Girl, you are crazy.
- ♪ Tutti frutti, oh, rooty ♪
- Sammy, girl, does your man speak?
- He don't have to.
See, a quiet man will tell you everything you need to know
with just his eyes.
- Not just with his eyes, but with something else too.
- Ooh. [laughter]
- Uh, y'all two finally together or what?
- Together?
Girl, they haven't even smacked lips yet.
[laughter]
- Shut the hell up.
Y'all hens wouldn't have nothing to cluck about
if you had some cock-a-doodle-doo's pecker
in your own coops.
Oh, mother beckons, you bitches.
Mm.
Sassy Sarah Vaughn has something in store for the masses.
- Hopefully something good.
- Good?
It's ripped from the headlines. Gravitas.
[laughs]
Ooh.
Fresh from ravaging the shores of Great Britain,
a savage--mm-- African-eyed cicada
is poised to take over the world.
[laughter]
Leading a drag swam
to lay waste to Chicago's most lavish of balls,
tonight.
Featuring...
a never-before-seen dance called...
Locusta Migratoria.
- ♪ Oh, rooty ♪
♪ A-wop, bop-a-loo-bop, a-lop-bam-boom ♪
- Child. [laughter]
[indistinct chatter]
[upbeat music]
♪ ♪
- Hey!
- What's up, y'all?
♪ ♪
- Whoo! [laughs]
Yeah, baby!
- The band is just so groovy.
- Yep.
Groovy.
[laughter]
- Come on, Tam.
Show us how to do the Bunny Hop Mambo.
[laughter]
- Easy, tiger.
- Upsy-daisy. - [giggles]
- [laughs]
Are you coming, Hillary?
- I'll be right behind.
- Let's dance!
♪ ♪
[disquieting music]
♪ ♪
[bones cracking] - [grunting]
[groans]
[cracking and squelching]
♪ ♪
[gasps]
♪ ♪
[gasping]
[groaning]
♪ ♪
[grunting]
♪ ♪
[breathing heavily]
[door squeaks] - Tamara, wait.
- It's late, Mr. Hughes.
I really should get home.
- The party's just started.
- [sobbing]
Mr. Hughes.
Please, sir!
I don't wanna do this!
- Just let me smell it.
I heard you girls smell sweet down there.
Ow!
♪ ♪
You nigger bitch!
♪ ♪
[sighs]
[Moses Sumney's "Lonely World"]
[melancholy ballad]
♪ ♪
- ♪ Lonely, lonely, lonely, lonely, lonely world ♪
♪ ♪
♪ Casts a shadow ♪
♪ On the shallow love it hurls ♪
♪ ♪
♪ To the feet of swine ♪
♪ It need not cast its pearls ♪
♪ ♪
♪ Lonely, lonely, lonely ♪
♪ Lonely, lonely world ♪
♪ And the sound ♪
♪ Of the void ♪
♪ Flows through your body ♪
♪ Undestroyed ♪
♪ And that voice ♪
♪ Fills the air ♪
♪ Fog in the morning ♪
♪ Going nowhere ♪
[music swells]
♪ Lonely, lonely ♪
♪ Lonely, lonely world ♪
[vocalizing]
♪ ♪
♪ Lonely, lonely, lonely ♪
♪ Lonely, lonely world ♪
♪ And the sound ♪
♪ Of your voice ♪
♪ Flows from your body ♪
♪ White as noise ♪
♪ Lonely, lonely, lonely, lonely, lonely, lonely ♪
[keys jingle, door clicks]
- You're not William.
That's the only door in this house that locks?
What's in the basement?
[crying softly]
- Guess Ruby got interrupted again.
- He told you about that?
[sighs]
- I've been where you are.
Disillusioned and pissed.
Disgusted by a world not built--
- Please shut the fuck up.
You can't relate to who I am.
And I've spent enough time on your side of the color line
to know that the only thing
that you white women are disillusioned with
is yourselves.
[soft dramatic music]
- You're right.
We want to be you and you-- you wanna be us.
But you misunderstood William's invitation.
It wasn't just to be white.
It was an invitation
to do whatever the fuck you want.
That's the currency of magic.
Unmitigated freedom.
♪ ♪
Who are you really, uninterrupted?
[suspenseful music]
♪ ♪
- I'm...
giving you my notice.
- You're quitting?
Why?
Look, if this is about money--
- It's about you, Mr. Hughes.
- Me?
- From the moment we've met, I've been...
attracted to you.
And as your subordinate, I would never
allow my licentious ways to jeopardize your reputation
with the company.
So...
quitting is the only option,
so I can finally fuck your brains out.
- [gasps]
- [chuckles]
Mm.
Oh, mm-mm-mm-mm.
- Huh?
- Always in control, aren't you, Mr. Manager?
You don't mind if I take control
for a little while?
Earlier, you mentioned
you also wanted to chat.
What about?
- [stammering]
Important, um...it wasn't.
I, uh...oh.
I just thought it might be a--
a good time to, uh, fire Tamara.
She's-- - Mm-hmm.
- Not carrying her weight around here--oh!
[both laugh]
- [moaning]
[both laugh]
On your knees, Mr. Manager.
Suck it.
[Cardi B's "Bodak Yellow"]
- ♪ Cardi ♪
- Oh. [both moaning]
♪ ♪
- Hillary, your eyes.
- You like them?
[chuckles]
Little piggy.
- [gags, laughs] That hurts--oh.
[moaning]
- Sweet enough for you?
- ♪ Said lil' bitch, you can't fuck with me ♪
♪ If you wanted to ♪
- [screaming] - ♪ These expensive ♪
♪ These is red bottoms ♪
♪ These is bloody shoes ♪
♪ Hit the store ♪
♪ I can get 'em both ♪
- [grunting] - ♪ I don't wanna choose ♪
♪ And I'm quick, cut a nigga off ♪
♪ So don't get comfortable, look ♪
♪ I don't dance now, I make money moves ♪
♪ Say I don't gotta dance ♪
♪ I make money move ♪
♪ If I see you and I don't speak ♪
♪ That means I don't fuck with you ♪
♪ I'm a boss, you a worker, bitch ♪
♪ I make bloody moves ♪
♪ Now she say see ♪
♪ Don't give a fuck 'bout who ain't fond of me ♪
♪ Dropped two mixtapes in six months ♪
♪ What bitch working as hard as me? ♪
♪ I'm the hottest in the street ♪
♪ Know you prolly heard of me ♪
- [whimpering] - ♪ And I pay my mama bills ♪
♪ I ain't got no time to chill ♪
♪ Think these hoes be mad at me ♪
♪ Their baby father run a bill ♪
♪ Aye ♪
- I wanted you to know
that a nigger bitch did this to you.
- [sobbing]
- ♪ Say lil' bitch, you can't fuck with me ♪
♪ If you wanted to ♪
♪ These expensive, these is red bottoms ♪
♪ These is bloody shoes ♪
♪ Aye ♪
[knocks on door]
- Hmm?
[door squeaks]
- You okay?
- I've been trying to say a prayer for Yahima.
[soft music]
My mama's faith was real.
That's why she dragged me and Ruby to church
every Sunday.
But it never made me a true believer.
I just became...
someone who could perform the part.
Hell, I don't even know what it is I'm searching for,
coming back to this.
Guess I just seen so much bad...
And I'm just trying to find something good.
- I know I brought a lot of that bad.
I've been trying to bring some good too.
- What does that mean?
Listen.
Last time I thought we were going somewhere,
you were planning to go back to Florida.
♪ ♪
- There was a girl
when I was over in Korea.
It ended...
in a strange way.
- Did you love her?
- I don't know if what I had with Ji-Ah was love.
I never had any good examples of it growing up.
My parents' love was...
enduring, but unknowable.
- Growing up, I...
Felt love wasn't special.
My mama fell into it every two seconds.
And Ruby was just like her.
I didn't wanna be with a man if I...
if it didn't mean something.
♪ ♪
- This is special.
[romantic music]
And I'm not at all confused about that anymore.
♪ ♪
- What's in the basement?
- Ruby.
Just give me a moment.
- You and your lady friend go in and out of there
at all hours of the day,
and I wanna know why.
- [grunting]
- William, what's wrong?
- [groaning] [suspenseful music]
- Oh!
- [grunting] [squelching]
- God, what...
- [grunting]
[crying out]
- [gasps]
- [groaning]
♪ ♪
[groaning shifts]
[gasping]
♪ ♪
- You've been William this whole fucking time?
[tense music]
- [sighs]
♪ ♪
- [muttering]
"Suffer."
♪ ♪
[gasping]
♪ ♪
[dial tone]
♪ ♪
- Operator. How may I direct your call?
- 555-438-521...
3093-2915.
[line ringing]
♪ ♪
[line clicks]
How'd you know?
- You believe me now? - How'd you know that, damn it?
- You should've listened to me.
- [sobbing softly]
What are you?
[line droning]
[suspenseful music]
♪ ♪
[Alice Smith's "Sinnerman"]
[energetic jazz music]
- ♪ Oh, Sinnerman ♪
♪ Where you gonna run to? ♪
♪ Sinnerman ♪
♪ Where you gonna run to? ♪
♪ Sinnerman ♪
♪ Where you gonna run to? ♪
♪ All on that day ♪
♪ Well, I run to the rock ♪
♪ Please hide me ♪
♪ I run to the rock ♪
♪ Please hide me ♪
♪ I run to the rock ♪
♪ Please hide me ♪
♪ All on that day ♪
♪ But the rock cried out ♪
♪ "I can't hide you" ♪
♪ The rock cried out ♪
♪ "I can't hide you" ♪
♪ The rock cried out ♪
♪ "I ain't gonna hide you" ♪
♪ All on that day ♪
♪ I said, "Rock ♪
♪ "What's the matter with you, Rock? ♪
♪ Can't you see I need you, Rock?" ♪
♪ Devil was waiting ♪
♪ All on that day ♪
♪ Power ♪
♪ I cried power ♪
♪ ♪
[bright tone]
♪ (DRAMATIC MUSIC PLAYS) ♪
Could you do me a favor? Can you read this to me?
"He who has felt the deepest grief
is best able to experience a supreme happiness.
We must have felt what it is to die,
that we may appreciate living."
SOLDIER: On your knees!
After years of oppression...
unfair oppression...
sweet revenge.
♪ (MUSIC INTENSIFIES) ♪
(EXHALES)
♪ (MUSIC CONCLUDES) ♪