[thunder rumbling]
[Victor LaValle] Once upon a time, a specific time,
July 5th, 1825 to be exact, 52 men and women sailed out of Norway
in an undersized sloop they named Restauration.
These immigrants sought religious freedom from persecution,
so they fled to America.
Not just an improbable crossing, an impossible one.
How in the world did they make it?
They had help, that's how.
Tell me your journey, each of you.
Tell me your life's voyage, and I will tell you who you are.
This fairy tale begins in a library in Queens.
[clanking noise]
[library goer] Hello! Hello!
I am in distress!
This is dire!
I am in need of a toilet!
Listen to my voice. Can you hear me?
I got ears, don't I? Look.
Well, you see I have ears too, so why are you yelling?
I need a piece of ID before I give you the bathroom key.
I don't have ID.
Leave your bags here with me.
These contain state secrets!
Okay.
Thank you, ma'am.
My pleasure.
[sighs]
- Hi. Hi. - Do you need something?
I was gonna help you with him.
Oh. [laughs, inhales deeply]
Seems like you got that all figured out.
Imagine that. [chuckles]
Um... Apollo.
As in Creed?
Actually, yeah, kinda. [chuckles]
Hmm.
[sighs]
- [machine beeping] - Do you wanna... [stammers] ...go, like--
Do you wanna go to dinner-- dinner with me?
Mm-mmm.
Please.
- No. - [machine beeps]
[LaValle] If Emma Valentine thought Apollo Kagwa would give up this easily,
she was mistaken.
But to understand why and how in the world, we must first go back.
Way back.
It was during the great garbage strike of 1968
that Brian West met Lillian Kagwa.
["Walk On By" playing on radio]
How are ya?
I'm, uh-- I'm here to see a Mr. Pavel Arsenyev.
Mr. Arsenyev, there's a...
Oh, it's, uh, Brian West. Uh, Brian West.
Brian West here to see you.
- [Mr. Arsenyev] Fuck, fuck, fuck. - [line cuts]
He'll be right out.
Thank you.
[typing]
I'm his parole officer.
I'm not supposed to tell you that though, so you gotta keep that between us, right?
[chuckles]
[Brian] Kwagwa, that's an interesting name.
Kagwa. [sighs]
[Brian] Kwagwa. Kwaga.
- I don't date white men. - [chuckles]
Me neither.
Hey, Kragwa. Kragwa.
Lillian. [sighs]
Lillian. Um, listen, uh,
a lot more monitoring needs to be done around here, so I'll be back, all right?
I'll see you later.
[door opens, closes]
Hey. That man is bad for business,
and since he's so smitten with you, that makes you bad for business, so...
[inhales sharply] No, Mr. Arsenyev, I need this job.
I don't want to hear it. Go. Get your stuff.
[sighs]
Hey, look who it is.
Modeling agency/money laundering racket. Not smart, Pavel. Not pretty.
Not pretty at all. Back to jail for you.
[police chattering on radio]
You got me fired. New job pays half. New apartment only has one room.
I liked it at the modeling agency.
Just give me a chance.
Never.
[LaValle] And he couldn't stay away.
Yes.
[LaValle] And that there is how Brian met Lillian,
but didn't go on a real date until years later.
You know, there's this place right around the corner.
It's really good. They have great, um--
That's nice, but no.
[LaValle] Some may call that stalking.
Apollo called it persistence.
Personally, I enjoy the simple things like a stroll through the park
- or something at the be-- - No.
- Hey. Do you maybe just wanna go to-- - No.
Yes.
[chuckles] Re-- Great.
Yeah.
[Apollo, Emma chuckling]
- [Apollo] Boones Mill? - [Emma inhales sharply] Yeah.
Yeah, you haven't heard of it. Population, 285.
- [chuckles] - Mmm.
It's just where my parents landed, I guess.
Well, I bet your parents have a lot of cool stories
- about Boones fucking Mill. - [chuckles] I've never spoken to them.
Huh?
No, I mean, I'm sure I have actually spoken to them.
I just don't remember the conversation because they died when I was five.
- Oh, I'm s-- - Don't-- Yeah. It's not a thing.
[chuckles]
So, uh, how'd they die?
Unimportant.
Well, what happened?
- To them? - Uh, to you.
Well, my sister Kim adopted me. She's 13 years older.
Shit.
And Ms. Rook, the local librarian. She would look after me when Kim couldn't.
And she would let me and my best friend, Michelle, watch all the movies.
[chuckles] One day, I was 12, and I picked up this movie at random--
Well, random, it was the only movie in the entire library
- that had Black people on the cover. - Mm-hmm.
- Quilombo. - Okay.
It's about the uprisings in Brazil, and it's just like
a ton of Portuguese people just getting, like...
- [shouts] ...brutally killed by slaves. - Oh! [laughing]
- [laughs] - That's fucking awesome.
Yeah, actually, it was watching that movie that made me--
- What? - Oh, my God.
Do you know that I just realized right this second
that movies are called movies because they move.
- [laughing] - [cackling] Movies!
[both laugh]
I haven't thought about that one. It's true.
- Wow. Mm-hmm. [chuckles] - Well, they do move. Mm-hmm.
Anyhoo. Um, Quilombo made me realize how big the world was.
Bigger than Boones fucking Mill. And I wanted to see it. All of it.
Mmm. What about your peeps?
[growls]
Um, one sad story's enough for the first date.
[Emma grunts]
Hmm. Wow. One of your eyes is bigger than the other.
- [gasps] God. - What?
That's not a bad thing. That's a beautiful thing.
I think it's gorgeous, frankly.
You're the most gorgeous person I've ever seen.
- [chuckles] - Ever known. I mean, your soul is--
- My soul? - Yeah.
Dude, no.
- I mean, think of the kids we'd have. - Kids?
- I never cared if I had a boy, a girl... - Okay.
- ...twins, triplets, quadruplet-- - Okay. Apollo. Stop. Seriously.
What? I mean, some people wanna be an astronaut,
some people wanna be a scientist,
- some people wanna be a zookeeper. - [chuckles]
- A zookeeper? That's pretty cool. - I just wanna be a good father
to the kid I end up having.
No, don't do that. Don't do that look. Do a different look.
The reason I said no to you when you first asked me out--
And the six times after that.
And the six times after that
is because I'm moving to Brazil, and I don't know for how long.
That can't be.
And yet, it does be.
No. No. I'm the god Apollo.
Excuse me?
- I am the god Apollo... - [screams] God.
- ...and I command you to stay. - [chuckles]
[laughing]
[Emma laughs]
[announcer] This is the final boarding call,
- flight 613 to São Paulo at Gate 530. - Goodbye.
[announcer] Final boarding call for flight 613 to São Paulo.
All ticketed passengers, please board now at Gate 530.
[server] Sake?
[stammers] I don't drink, but, uh--
Idiots don't drink.
You don't drink?
Yeah. Idiot.
Thank you.
[scoffs]
So, tell me something else.
What should I tell ya?
Well, you can't know anything until you know everything,
so everything it is.
Everything it is, um--
Well, I was born in Syracuse.
My family moved down here, so I was raised in the city.
I spent a lot of time in the theater.
I used to love watching the pictures, you know, I'd sell my little candy,
try and make some money.
Uh, I grew up fast. You know, New York, it...
- Thank you. - ...it'll do that to you.
[glass breaking]
[parent 1] I don't know what you're talking about.
He's just a friend. He delivers groceries.
- You're so stupid. - [parent 2] You fucking whore.
- [parent 1] Oh, I'm a whore? - [parent 2] You're invisible.
Oh, I'm invisible? Well, I'm not invisible
when I'm looking your micropecker in its teeny-tiny, little beady eyes.
[Brian] They drank a lot, and, uh...
[parent 2] What are you looking at?
...I, uh-- I didn't like spending a lot of time at home.
I'm sorry.
No, I'm sorry. I should be, uh-- I should be asking about you.
[panting]
One sad story is enough for a first date. [sighs]
I want children.
Excuse me?
I want children. I do.
[stammering] I want the chance to be a good husband and a great father.
I think I could do that, you know. I do. I-I want a redo.
Maybe we save the wedding planning until after the movie.
Yeah. Maybe that's a good idea.
[both chuckle]
[film playing]
[boxers grunting]
[phone rings]
Welcome to Lubbick, Weiss and Blackwood. That's me.
Let me show you to your desk.
[LaValle] It would be accurate to say that Lillian's first child and only child
was conceived in the beautiful blur
of 1977.
- [Brian breathes heavily] - [chuckles]
[Lillian, Lillian's cousins] ♪ You making yourself a pappy show Melda ♪
[laughs]
♪ You making yourself a bloody clown ♪
♪ Up and down the country Looking for Obeah ♪
♪ And your perspiration smell so strong, Well... ♪
[laughs]
♪ Girl, you only wasting time ♪
["Obeah Wedding" continues]
["Obeah Wedding" stops]
General Service Unit. Our car, it's run out of petrol.
Are you carrying any?
[officer 1] Identification.
You, get out. Open the boot.
We can open it from here.
Get out.
I would prefer to stay with my sisters.
[soldiers shouting]
- [gunshot] - [cousin 2 screaming]
[grunting, breathing shakily]
[officer 2] Stop it. Hold it. Stop it.
- [soldiers shouting] - [officer 2] Stop!
[bullets ricocheting]
- [Lillian's cousin grunting, panting] - [Lillian] Arthur.
Arthur!
- [groaning] - [cousin 2 yelps]
[Arthur grunting, coughs]
- Arthur! Arthur! Arthur! [cries] - [Arthur grunts]
[crying]
[cries] Arthur! Arthur! [crying]
[crying, breathing shakily]
[whispering] I will never let anything happen to you.
I will protect you with my breath and soul.
Hey, would it be weird to name a Black kid Rocky?
[chuckles]
[Brian] Hmm?
Wouldn't be weird to name him Apollo.
Apollo.
Yeah.
Hey, you are the god Apollo.
[LaValle] And they lived happily ever after.
Or at least for a few years.
[Lillian crying]
[LaValle] By Apollo's fourth birthday, Brian West was gone. Vanished.
[knocking on door]
[knocking continues]
[growling]
[growling, blowing]
They're coming. [breathing shakily]
[Emma] Bad dream?
- [Apollo sighs] It was so strange. - [Emma] Hmm.
It's this, um, dream that I used to have all the time when I was little.
About what?
My dad.
My dad, he left when I was four.
But in the dream, he finally comes back home.
Does he stay?
[sighs] I never get to that part.
In real life, he never came back.
I'm sorry.
[sighs] Shit.
"The Sorcerers of Dobu."
Granny and Pops died in each other's arms, left behind this collection.
Mmm.
[sighs] Nice books here.
Some of them look good enough to steal.
[chuckles] I'm just-- I'm just kidding.
- [both chuckle] - [Apollo] It's a joke.
I am going to take all of these for a hundred.
- Deal. - Deal?
- [family member] Yeah. - [chuckles] Great.
[phone ringing]
Lubbick, Weiss and Blackwood.
Yes. [sighs]
[bell rings]
["Steve Biko" playing]
Thank you.
[gasps] Books.
Yes!
Hello, my name is Apollo Kagwa.
Okay. I am the god Apollo. I am the god Apollo.
[buzzer rings]
[LaValle] Apollo would find himself wondering if he actually was frightening.
Why else would his father have left him?
[Apollo] Check 14.50.
Okay. [sighs, sniffs]
Mmm. "Witches Still Live." Okay.
Okay.
"Aleister Crowley."
"Some men are born sodomites,
some achieve sodomy and some have sodomy thrust upon them."
Whoa! Oh! Oh. [chuckles]
What? This will sell for at least ten thousand. [chuckles]
How?
- Okay. [chuckles] - [LaValle] The find of his life,
- and no one there to share the news. - Wow. That is crazy.
[LaValle] Apollo Kagwa missed her.
[birds chirping]
[breathes heavily]
[laughs]
[knocking on door]
- [banging on door] - [Brian] Apollo.
Dad?
- [banging on door] - Dad?
Dad?
[Apollo] "A baby is a dream made real.
But dreams are the fairies' favorite meal."
[LaValle] Apollo had always loved reading,
but when he held this one, it was different.
- [keys clanging] - [door closes]
That was your father's box.
Apollo, where did you find this box?
You're coming with me.
- [screaming, crying] - [grunts]
[gasps, breathes heavily]
[groaning]
- Shit. - [cell phone buzzes]
[Emma] I'm coming home tomorrow.
My flight doesn't arrive until late at night,
and you might not even be interested in seeing me anymore,
but if you were, I'd love your face to be the first one I find in arrivals.
[panting]
Thank you. [sighs]
[announcer] Attention, passengers on flight 873 with service to Munich,
your gate has been changed to 540.
[announcer] Will passenger A. Dos Santos
- come to the arrival information desk. - [sighs]
[people chattering]
Oh.
You waited.
[Apollo sighs]
All right.
When I got to Salvador,
I stayed with a family in a neighborhood called Itapuã.
There was a lake there, a lagoon, called Lagoa do Abaeté.
[Apollo] Mmm.
They told me not to go, but I didn't listen.
[birds chirping]
[in Portuguese] They told you not to come. And yet, here you are.
Why is that?
Because I am not frightened.
[laughs] You should be.
Three wishes. For your life. Emma.
How do you know my name?
[chuckles]
[gasps]
Three wishes, before these three knots are tied.
For now.
After.
And beyond.
Be careful what you wish for, Emma.
Yes.
- [laughs] - [grunts, panting]
[speaks Portuguese]
Don't cut!
[Emma yelps, panting]
[LaValle, in English] One must be so careful what one wishes for.
[Emma] When it falls off my wrist, those three wishes will come true.
Do not cut it. Não corta-la.
- [chuckling] - [chuckles]
- That's what she said. Mmm. - [Apollo] You're weird.
So this thing's been on my skin for more than six months.
Let me see.
- Huh. It does look sturdy. - [Emma chuckles]
But you know what?
I... [sighs] ...am the god Apollo.
[grunts]
[in Portuguese] Começou. [exhales sharply]
Emma, with me, all three of your wishes will come true.
[chuckles]
[Apollo] I promise.
You may kiss the bride.
[guests cheering, laughing]
- [chuckling] - [guests cheering]
["Obeah Wedding" playing]
["Les Fleurs" playing]
[Emma moans]
[kissing]
[Apollo] Nice. Okay, let's do it.
Let's see. [sighs]
[chuckles] Yeah. "Shit got real."
All right.
Yes. Yes, I am.
Um-- And then the last one.
What?
- What? Oh, my God. - [chuckling]
[Apollo] Mmm.
[inhaling deeply] Goddamn. Okay.
Hi.
Forty regular?
Yeah. Y-- Three for Michelle Tramble.
Forty regular?
Oh. [chuckles]
[stammers] Yeah. I'm sorry. I know you meant my jacket here.
[chuckles] Could I get--
- Sir. - Huh? Whoa. Okay.
Uh-- [sighs] I will do that.
Nice.
Okay. Just go-- Oh.
[Michelle chuckles]
[Emma] I mean, you do have an idea...
- [Apollo] Hey, cute-face. - ...but the two of us combined-- Hi.
- Hey! Here he is! Father of the bride! - Hey, I know your face.
- [chuckling] - Yeah.
Okay. [chuckles]
- I'm glad you're so jovial. - [chuckling]
Nice jacket.
- Thank you. - Anything?
- No, nothing good. - [Emma] Good try, anyway.
Mm-hmm. Yes, please. And a bourbon.
- Yeah, please, a double-shot bourbon. - Okay.
I hear that you two are going to the planet of natural childbirth next.
I'm sorry, but that's just one step too far for me. It's dangerous.
- Okay, stop. - [Apollo] What?
- And you sound like my mother-in-law. - She clearly reads the news.
Yeah, well, you are forgetting that my sister is a doula,
- and she's gonna be right there with us... - Can you pass--
...in the living room.
- In your home? - Yes.
- I thought you just meant no drugs. - No.
- No. No. Nope to home births. - [Emma] Stop.
[Michelle] You are not third-world peasants or wealthy white folks
- or anti-hospital punks. - Hot damn.
You have been and always will be the most stubborn person I know.
Mm-hmm. Yeah, probably.
Now I find out you two only seem like sane people.
- Are you okay? - Hey.
- Um, yeah, I'm good. Yeah. - [Michelle] Yeah?
Thank you.
Entrées?
- [Michelle] Mmm. - [Emma] Oh, yeah.
I'll have the organic Long Island duck.
[Apollo] That shit is $75.
I'm gonna do the organic Colorado lamb, please. Well done.
Hmm.
Um--
[stammers] Yeah, I think I'm gonna just do more bread, please.
Thanks, just a little bit more.
[Emma groans]
- What? - [groans]
I think this noisette is going to come back up.
[Apollo] You all right?
Uh, I think I'm gonna go find the bathroom.
- Okay. It's-- - [Michelle] Do you need a hand? [groans]
- Mm-mmm. Thank you. - I'll go--
And no, stay with Michelle. I'm good. [sighs]
- All right. Yell if you need me. - [Emma] Thank you.
[Apollo chuckles]
[whispering] There's a nude photo of your wife in an art gallery in Norway.
[chuckling] Well, is it color or black-and-white?
She told me about how you waited for her at the airport
when she came back from Brazil.
Very sweet. Big points for you.
But she had some adventures while she was down there.
I know she told you about some of 'em.
Yeah, she told me about the, uh,
- red string thing. - Three wishes!
- Okay. - That was a bold move you made, Apollo.
Let me tell you. I liked that.
[chuckles] Well, I mean, I, um, kept the little string thing
to remind me of my promise to her. Here.
- See. - I ain't touching that woo-woo thing.
[chuckles]
[Michelle] By the way, you should be proud.
You already made two of those wishes come true.
And I know she ain't wanna tell you what they were.
Bad luck. But fuck it.
I'ma just blame it on the booze. [chuckles]
A good husband. A healthy child. And...
Emma met a Norwegian photographer while she was down there in Salvador.
- What? - [Michelle] They go exploring,
and they find this decayed factory. At some point, this dude has to go pee.
He leaves the camera. Emma decides that she wants to be in a photo.
One that she takes herself.
Emma sets the timer, walks into the shot,
pulls off her dress, and takes that photo nude.
Well, a gallery owner bought the photo, displayed it and never took it down.
Sorry, I don't think I'm following.
She was looking into that camera lens like a fucking sorceress, Apollo.
It's frightening.
Right. And the-- the Norway guy, who-- who's he?
I'm trying to tell you something important, and you focused on bullshit.
[scoffs] Okay.
I'm trying to tell you Emma's third wish in a way that won't break her trust
because it's the only one that hasn't come true yet.
Okay.
- I'm listening. - [waiter] They're just over here.
- Sir? Sir, it's your wife. - Huh?
- [waiter] Your wife needs you. - What do you--
[Apollo] Hold on to me, babe. Hold on to me.
- [Emma groaning] - [Apollo] Yeah, come on.
- All right, we need to find, uh-- um-- - Wait, wait. Michelle.
No, she'll be fine. She'll be fine, okay? Don't worry about it. We need to find--
- [groaning, sighs] - [groaning]
All right, I'm gonna call a ambulance.
- No, no, no, no. Don't. Don't. Don't call. - Why?
- Apollo, we're doing this at home, okay? - Right. Okay. Okay.
Um--
- Uh. - Chambers Street.
Ah, yes, Chambers Street. [grunts]
- [groaning] - Come on.
[Apollo] You're doing good. You're doing good.
- Sorry. Excuse me. - [Emma groaning]
- Okay? All right. - Yeah. [sighs]
Just right here. Just right here. Hey, don't leave!
- [groaning] - Oh, good, good, good. All right.
Big step. We're almost there. There we go.
- [doors chiming] - [Emma groans]
- You don't wanna sit? - No, I just wanna stand here.
- What time is it? - [person] Showtime, ladies and gentlemen!
- It's showtime! - [hip-hop music playing]
Oh, my God. [sighs]
- Yeah, I could ask them to stop the music. - [groans] No, it's fine. Just leave it.
- [gasps, groaning] - You all right? You're doing good.
Okay, I think I'm gonna puke.
- Huh? You wanna sit? - I wanna sit.
- All right. - Yeah. Yeah.
[groaning]
[music continues]
- [gags] - [Apollo] You doing good, all right.
- You're doing good. Okay? - [groans]
[dancer] That guy's amazing!
- Ten stops, that's it. Just ten stops. - Mmm. Okay.
[dancers chattering]
[groaning]
Why did you only eat bread?
- The food was so good. - Bread? I loved the bread.
The bread was good. Brea-- It was delicious bread.
- [chuckles] - It was the best bread-- What?
- Ow. [inhales deeply] - It's all right.
- You giving her trouble, aren't you? - [chuckles]
- Well, we can't wait to meet you. - [groans] We can't wait to meet you.
[Apollo] But you need to wait about 15 minutes, baby. Okay? Fifteen.
[groaning]
- [people clamor] - [groans]
- Whoa. Whoa. Whoa. Okay. - [Emma groaning]
All right, all right, all right, all right, uh--
- Just-Just-Just-Just stay with me. - [groaning]
Just focus. Focus. It's okay.
It's okay, baby. It's okay. We're gonna get that fixed.
[Emma groaning]
Ow. [groaning]
Yo, what's up with your girl?
Yo, she's pregnant.
- It's happening now. [groans] - Okay. She-She's having a baby right now.
Um, can one of you guys go find the conductor, please?
[Emma inhales deeply] Go get the conductor now!
I'll go. I'll go. I'll go.
- Please. - Thank you.
[Emma groaning]
- [Apollo] What's your name? - I'm Cowboy.
I moved from Dallas around ten years back with my parents,
so everybody just calls me Cowboy now.
- But my real name-- - Great. Cowboy, that's a great name.
Can you do me a favor and help me get my wife to her feet, please?
- I got you. - We're gonna go on three.
You ready? One, two, three. All right. Easy.
- Easy. Easy. - [groaning] Fuck.
- [groans] Thank you. - [Apollo] That's good. Thank you.
It's all right. Good job.
- Yo, do you guys got something to drink? - Uh, Red Bull?
- No. No. Uh-- - [Emma breathing heavily]
Oh, that water right there. Ma'am, do you mind if I used that real quick?
Thank you. Thank you so much.
I got you. Here you go, babe.
- Here, there you go. That's it. Good. - [breathing heavily]
Come on, chug that water.
[chattering on radio]
- [groaning] - Goddamn.
[Apollo] Do you know when this thing's gonna start moving?
- Do you know when it's gonna start moving? - We lost power on the third rail.
This train ain't moving.
I-- I'll go back and radio to send EMTs, but it's gonna take a while.
- [chattering on radio] - [radio beeps]
- [Apollo] It's all right. - [Emma groaning]
- You and me, huh? - [groaning]
- [cries] - Mmm. Hey, it's okay.
- I need to push now. [inhales deeply] - It's okay. Okay. All right.
All right. No problem.
- [groaning] - [Apollo] Hey, could you guys go?
Just give us some privacy. Make sure no one's looking at us, all right?
- Just go away. Go! - Yeah, I got you. Brian, get this end.
I got this end. Come on.
Here we go. You ready to go down? You're ready.
No showtime for you, ladies and gentlemen.
[Apollo] Easy, easy. Slo-Slow. Slow, slow, slow, slow.
All right. There you go. You're good. You're good.
You're good. All right. All right.
Now what I need you to do right now is push for me, all right? Big breath.
- [inhales deeply] - [Apollo] Come on.
- [groaning] - You got it. You got it.
Come on, you got it. Good.
[grunting] One more. One more. You got it. You got it.
- [screaming] - [Apollo] Come on.
One more. One more, baby. [grunts]
- [screaming] - There it is.
- [Apollo chuckling] - [baby crying]
- Hey, hey. - [Emma groaning]
[chuckling] It's a boy.
- Hi. - [baby gurgling]
Sh-Should we name him Brian?
I like that name.
Can I-- I wanna touch him.
Hey. [grunts]
- Oh, my God. [inhales sharply] Oh, my God. - [baby Brian crying]
- Hi. [kisses] - [grunts, breathes shakily]
- Hi. - [baby Brian crying]
That's my baby.
[baby Brian crying]
[Emma] Hi.
[LaValle] First comes love.
- [Emma shouts] - [Apollo grunts, shouts]
- [baby Brian crying] - [LaValle] Then comes marriage.
[screams]
[LaValle] Then comes a baby in a baby carriage.
[Apollo grunts] Get off me! [grunts]
[LaValle] Tell me your journey, each of you.
Tell me your life's voyage, and I will tell you who you are.
- [Brian] Apollo, you're coming with me. - [young Apollo] No!