[birds chirping]
[Maddie] "Nothing is less real than realism."
[breathes softly]
Oh, Wally, you're here too, huh?
Yeah, they had me review some thriller-diller radio play.
Allan. I thought you were at practice until four.
I was, but I left early to make sure you got there on time.
Wow, you are taking this just a little too seriously.
It's just my mom.
[Maddie] Your mom is a very gifted painter.
She understands the dream realm better than most people.
Uh, no, thank you. My gifted mother would smell it on me.
People who smoke can't smell cigarettes on other people.
My mother can smell everything, including my thoughts.
Sorry.
Please... [sighs] ...don't be. [clears throat]
Georgia O'Keeffe said that nothing is less real than realism.
So I was hoping that we could start there.
What makes an artist a surrealist?
Oh, I don't know that I would call myself a surrealist.
Right. [inhales sharply]
What do you think makes an artist a surrealist?
André Breton wrote in the first Surrealist Manifesto--
But what do you think?
[clock ticking]
I think--
I think it has to do with the search for the marvelous.
Oh.
And what could be less marvelous than trying to define yourself?
- It's-- - All I'm trying to say is that
your paintings put the viewer in a state of--
Betty, do you love my son?
[chuckles]
Because I've never seen him so cuckoo about someone,
and I-- I have to wonder sometimes where this is all going.
- Hmm? - Mmm.
[Mr. Durst clears throat] It's Liz from West Third again.
[sighs] I should, uh-- I should probably take that.
I'm sorry. I'll be right back.
[Mr. Durst] She wants to talk to the master.
[Louise] Well... [chuckles] Buckle up.
[Mr. Durst] How's it going?
Think I overprepared. [chuckles]
I read your piece in The Brownie. "The US and Us."
It made me feel irrelevant and old.
I guess you're doing something right.
You're not old, Mr. Durst.
I mean, to be honest, I'm not sure if I felt old or just jealous.
I mix those two up these days.
I wish Allan felt like that. [chuckles]
If I were my son, I'd take you to New York.
Hang out in Greenwich Village.
Then I'd help you find your way into some serious newspaper.
[chuckles] I mean, you, with your talent--
you could really go all the way, Maddie.
- Thank you. - [Louise] Hal, Liz wants to talk to you.
[Mr. Durst] Ask Louise about her show at the West Third Gallery next month.
That'll get her talking.
[Maddie] Thank you, Mrs. Durst.
[Louise] Oh, all right. [sighs] Can't wait to read it.
I'll thank Mr. Durst on my way out.
Mr. Durst?
[crying, breathing shakily]
[Cleo] Who was she to you?
You wanted to tell Tessie's story.
You wanted to tell mine.
You wanted to tell everyone's story but your own.
[volunteer] Tessie? Can you hear us?
- [Judith] She's, uh-- She's here. - [gasps]
[exhales deeply]
[shivers]
Oh, goddamn it.
You weren't lying.
- Hey, Paul? - Yeah. I'll call it in.
[police officer] She's so little.
[Maddie shivers]
If it's a sex crime, it'll be too much for me.
For you?
It's Donnelly, we found the girl...
[police officer] How did you know to look up here, Mrs...
Schwartz.
Oh.
Well, I can usually tell.
Spotting us Jews is a lifelong practice.
Hey! She just happens to have a very nice nose.
Does your husband know you're here, Mrs. Schwartz?
- I'll get you some water. - Thank you.
[interrogator] Oh, we just have a few more questions.
[grunts]
You should watch yourself, Platt.
[Maddie] ...and then we tried to join the official search party.
I see nothing's new.
Yeah. They found the Durst girl.
- That quick? - Mmm.
[police officer] You live here?
[Maddie] Yes.
[police officer] Long way to fall.
- Thank you, Officers. - Oh, hold on.
Until there's an arrest, you and your friend is gonna be the story.
So, watch out for any reporters.
I don't plan to talk to anyone.
I'll walk you up.
Oh, thanks. I'll be all right.
Yeah.
As long as you keep that mud on your face around here. [chuckles]
[car door opens]
[Maddie] Bye.
[police officer] Night.
[Maddie sighs]
[engine starts]
[Cleo panting]
Damn, Dora, I thought dope make you lose your appetite.
[Dora] Not with a kitchen like the one Shell got up in here.
- [Cleo] All right, step. - [Reggie] Come on. Come on, now.
[Dora] Well, someone here wants to get tucked in with me. [chuckles]
[Cleo] Watch your step. I got you.
I got her.
- [Dora groaning] - Okay.
Better not spit on me.
- [Dora] Mmm. - All right. I'll go in.
- I'll make sure she's okay. - [groaning] No, baby.
- I'm tired and I wanna be alone. [groans] - Come on.
- [Reggie sighing] - Come here.
Just a little kiss.
[chuckles]
- All right. - Check on me later, will you?
- All right. - [chuckles, groans]
[sighs]
[Cleo] You better hope Shell let you sing up on that stage again.
[Dora] No, I'm gonna sing.
Shell lets Dora be Dora.
Yeah, as long as Dora lets Reggie climb on top of her.
[Dora chuckles]
- That ain't it. [sighs] - Oh, yeah? What is it?
My voice.
[laughs]
Yeah, you've been singing for him since you were 16,
and I don't remember no free dope or room at the Gordian
till Reggie got sweet on you.
Maybe I'm sweet on him too.
Oh, yeah?
Dora... [scoffs] ...there are other places you can sing.
Eggy Woods said niggas be goin' to Paris to sing.
Can you imagine?
Leaving this whole damn country behind. [sighs]
With what money?
I'm gonna look up Cleopatra in my dream book,
and you gonna put in a bet for us.
I ain't placing bets with money I need for my boys.
[Dora sighs]
I'm over here dreaming we both go to Paris together the same.
But you'd rather follow Myrtle Summer.
I ain't got time for dreaming.
[sighs] Myrtle's gonna get me some honest work.
Honest?
[employees murmuring]
[Dora] You know Shell paid for her campaign, right?
[Cleo] That's not true.
Yeah, Myrtle Summer's for the people.
She cares about Black women, especially one Black woman...
Myrtle Summer.
[murmuring continues]
[lock clicks]
- Mom? - Madeline.
[Maddie] What are you doing here?
- Milton called me. - [sighs]
Have you lost your mind?
He's been up all night worrying about you.
Yes, I lost my mind.
- Where's Seth? - He's in a terrible mood.
[Maddie] I need to change.
Madeline, are you going to tell me what's going on?
Tessie Durst's funeral is in half an hour.
Can we please talk about it after?
Seth doesn't want to go.
What did you tell him?
Tell him? Why would I need to tell him anything
for him to be upset over his mother leaving him?
Oh, I didn't leave him.
No, that's right. You left me, right?
Wha-- Did you leave me? I don't understand.
Milton, I need some money.
I need to get a place for a few weeks so I can clear my head.
- Money? Clear your head? - I can't do it here.
Wow.
Maddie, you wanted to help find Tessie Durst and guess what.
You did. Mazel!
But what are you talking about now? Can we please talk about--
We are talking. I'm talking, you're talking.
- I don't know who you are... - That's what I wanna do.
- ...when you speak like this. - I wanna stop for a minute
so I can figure out why I wanna get out of here.
But, no, Milton, you don't wanna let me do that.
You wanna call my mother,
and you wanna tell our son that I did something wrong.
- I did not tell our-- - He didn't tell me anything.
You coming or not?
No.
She just died yesterday.
I don't-- I never understand why we have the funeral so fast.
So the soul can move on.
[mourners crying]
[Cleo] Move on to where, Maddie?
Like many in our city, you are about to find out
that you care more about the souls of the dead than those of the living.
[Maddie's mom sighs] You know, Madeline, you should wear black more often.
Makes you look younger.
Oh, Ma.
It's amazing your hand is still attached to your wrist
with all that backhanded compliments you give.
Oh, come on. It's advice.
[speaking Yiddish]
Man plans and God laughs.
I know what it means. You've been saying it my entire life.
How are you going to support yourself, huh?
[Maddie] Oh.
I just don't know how you're going to afford it.
- [Maddie] I'll sell my car, for a start. - [scoffs]
[Milton gasps] Oh, my God.
Oh, Madeline.
I'm glad my mother is not alive to see this.
I thought your mother died in the Holocaust.
Hey.
Well, I'm glad she's not alive to see it happen in America.
[mourners weeping]
[Milton] It's a group of 19-year-old Nazis.
They started a branch of the NSRP.
Rabbi Korn closed the shul today--
[Maddie] Milton. [shushes] Enough.
[Tessie's mom] Maddie. [breathes shakily]
Maddie. [sighs]
Maddie, I know we don't know each other very well.
But I heard that you-- you refused to leave my Tessie
when you found her, and I just-- I just wanted--
[Maddie] I'm so sorry.
[crying] Did you see her fa-- Did you see her face, Maddie?
Did she-- Do you think she called for her mama?
I wasn't there. [crying]
But you-- you were there.
[Maddie] I'm so sorry.
[Tessie's mom gasps] I can't get her back. I can't get her back, Maddie.
I can't get her back.
I-- I can't.
You're a good mother.
[Maddie] Oh. Oh--
- [Tessie's mom sobs] - Hey, where are you going?
- Seth. Seth! - [Tessie's mom sobbing] Oh, my girl.
My girl. [sobbing]
- I'm so sorry. - Why did my g--
[breathing heavily]
- [door opens] - [Stephan's parent] Stephan!
Are you here?
[sighs] You little shit.
- You little shit. - [whimpering]
Little shit!
You little shit! You little shit!
- [whimpering] - [breathing heavily]
I've told you, I'll throw you out of the house if you do this again.
Mm-hmm.
- Why are you not at the store? - [whimpering]
Why are you not at the store?
- [whimpering, screaming] - Little shit!
[sighs]
[Cleo] My mama believed that to get a good job,
I had to look as good as if I didn't have a care in the world.
"All women knew that secret," she said.
You got your whole life pretending like that.
Didn't you, Maddie?
[receptionist] Women's leadership office...
She's here!
Who, me? What's happening?
Linda got WJZ to give us their equipment for the day.
[Cleo] Oh.
And we got the one and only Patrice Murphy from The Afro
to interview folks from the community.
Uh, interviewing for what?
Oh, about how Myrtle has helped them or inspired them to fight for change.
What you said yesterday at the fundraiser made quite the wave.
I was hoping I'd get you to repeat it on camera today.
Would you mind if I just spoke to Mrs. Summer first?
- I'll let her know you're here. - All right.
I'll wait inside.
- See you in a minute? - I'll see you in a minute.
[Myrtle] Okay.
Yeah, I have the letter.
Thank you. Bye-bye.
Don't mean to be a bother, Mrs. Summer.
I just wanted to thank you for asking me to speak yesterday.
Well, you were the star of the fundraiser.
I learned from the best.
[chuckles]
May I sit?
I was hoping we could talk about me working for you full-time now.
I floated your employment around and everybody loved the idea.
Oh.
You are the face of what a better Baltimore can look like.
But unfortunately, a few of our white donors were concerned
about you joining us, seeing as you work for Mr. Gordon.
Half the colored people in this town work for Mr. Gordon.
Cleo... [sighs]
It will reflect poorly on me to employ you after the statement you made yesterday.
Makes it look like I bought your support.
But if I worked for you, I wouldn't have to work for Mr. Gordon.
No one leaves a man like Mr. Gordon, unless he wants them gone.
You did.
[shushes] I never worked for him.
Now, if you're referring to the donations I no longer take,
then you must understand why I need these donors.
Help me get reelected and there'll be a lot of opportunities for you.
Opportunities for what?
To surrender my dignity?
We all had to wait our turn, Cleo.
My name is Eunetta Johnson and I'm 30 years old.
Most people call me Cleo, short for Cleopatra.
That's what the kids used to call me when Mrs. Summer was my teacher.
She said I looked like an Egyptian queen.
But these days when people look at me, they don't see a queen.
They see a barmaid, a bookkeeper...
a department store mannequin.
They see a charity case.
When I was a little girl, my daddy used to say, um,
"We don't dream for ourselves.
We dream for those folks that aren't here yet."
And I guess he was right, 'cause I haven't dreamed for myself
in a long time.
But I got two boys at home,
and it seems the world is giving me a choice.
I can hold on to my dignity...
or I can provide for 'em.
Just don't seem to let me do both.
[sighs]
[Patrice clears throat]
Cleopatra, is everything okay?
[Linda stammers] Cleo, sweetie, if you're nervous...
[onlooker] Cleo! What's the matter with you?
Come on, sweetheart. Now, Cleo, honey, we need to--
- You can't do this in front of these-- - [screaming]
Okay. Okay. Take five?
[Patrice] Cleo, I'll be right outside this door.
But even if you park it here for free, I can't take it until your husband signs.
Why does my husband need to sign if the car is under my name?
Because he's your husband, Mrs. Schwartz.
Twenty-five hundred.
Twenty-five hundred and your husband's signature.
How about 2,000?
Sorry, toots.
[groans]
Can you buy this car without his signature?
Is he dead?
Not yet.
Then he needs to sign, lady.
[screams]
[jazz music playing]
Uh, excuse me.
Do you have a phone?
Yeah. It's just in the back.
- Thank you. - Mmm.
[breathing shakily]
[line rings]
Operator. How may I help you?
I've been robbed.
Where are you, ma'am?
Uh... [stammers] ...someone broke into my apartment.
I-I-I'm afraid to go in. Will you please send the police?
I'll need your address.
Uh, above the, uh-- The Silver Dollar barbecue.
Where? In Sandtown?
In Sandtown, yes.
- Oh, I'll look. Goodbye. - Thank you.
[exhales heavily]
[chuckling] How's tricks, Sonny?
- Give me a dollar to put on 325. - All right.
- Oh, I'm so sorry. - Oh.
[server] Tall Teddy.
Got something for Old Charlie?
- I got, uh, Jenkins, Holmes and Brooks. - Okay.
Tell you what. [sighs] 857 for Mr. Brooks.
Okay, I'll let him know.
Here you go, Teddy.
- Watch yourself, all right? All right. - Thanks, Mr. Cedrick.
Shell Gordon is a criminal who's run the illegal numbers game for 20 years.
His only real business is segregation and keeping our people dependent on him.
Myrtle Summer is taking a controversial stand
against the so-called numbers game.
This underground illegal form of gambling is played mostly
in poor and working-class Black neighborhoods around the country.
Mrs. Summer's opponents claim the numbers game helps finance small Black businesses,
a lie that our law enforcement is trying daily to dispel.
Players of the numbers game often use what they call a dream book in an attempt
to translate their dreams into winning numbers,
while slowly losing their hard-earned money to their local kingpin.
[people chattering]
Hey, look. Let her in.
Look at this.
I want you to see. New model.
It's ugly, but it's twice as fast as the Remsons.
Show it to her.
Cost nothing.
If it break, guess what? I'ma get you another.
Everything is disposable these days.
[Shell] That's right.
The Myrtles and the Panthers, they can shout all day.
It ain't the ballot or the bullet. It's the bank.
That's actually what I was hoping to talk to you about, Mr. Gordon.
- Oh. - I'm going, Boss.
I was hoping I could take you up on your offer.
Get out from behind the bar
and do your red books, not just your green ones.
Anything. Anything else you might need.
All right. That's good news.
But I'm sure you can agree,
a man in my position need to trust my people with motives.
You can trust me, Mr. Gordon.
My only motive is to take care of my boys.
Really, you can.
I trust I'll see you at the Pharaoh tonight.
As for the rest of it, I'll let your actions do the talking.
- All right? - All right.
If you need that extra green, don't forget to bring Slappy for a set.
I'll see you at the Pharaoh.
[bookie 1] Ship on the ocean.
[bookie 2] Man, I ain't gotta memorize no damn dream book number.
[Charlie] A good bookie ain't just selling a number, son.
He's selling a dream.
Teddy. Tell me about that ship on the ocean I had a dream about.
[scoffs] That's a sure sign of domestic happiness right there.
Put your money on 395.
- This stone pony right here... - [Charlie] Right on.
[bookies chuckling]
What did I tell you about running numbers, Teddy?
Ma!
You thought I wasn't gonna be here, didn't you?
Stop. Stop.
- Going behind my back like a thief? - Please, stop.
- For what? - Please.
- For the dimes they throw at you? - Please. I'm sorry.
Easy, Cleo. You made your point, okay?
- Give him a break. - Apparently, I didn't.
- [Charlie] Oh. - I'm sick of this dream book shit, Teddy.
- [Charlie] Goddamn, Cleo! - Stand here! Stand here!
Charlie, you stay the fuck away from my son.
I'm not gonna tell you again.
Put the coat on.
- Hey, Teddy. Don't worry. - This is the last time.
Don't worry. I got your book route covered, brother. [chuckles]
- [coins jingling] - Teddy.
- [breathing heavily] - Teddy, wait!
[grunts, shouts]
Teddy, wait!
[breathes shakily] Thank God.
Mrs. Schwartz?
That's me. Thank God you're here.
I'm Officer Platt, and this is Officer Davis.
Thank you for coming so quickly.
Yes, ma'am. Well, I-I patrol here and, uh, I don't see you in this neighborhood.
Oh, I just moved here yesterday.
No, ma'am, I mean, this isn't the right area for you.
I don't see you living here.
Why? Because I'm Jewish?
- [chuckles, grunts] - No, ma'am, not exactly.
Well, people warned me, but I didn't think I would get robbed.
Of course. So-- So what's missing, Mrs-- Mrs. Schwartz?
Jewelry, mostly costume. I had a diamond ring and it's gone.
All right.
Officer Davis, you wanna start asking the neighbors if they saw anything?
And, uh, I'll take Mrs. Schwartz to her new apartment.
Thank you.
Here.
I've seen you somewhere before.
But it wasn't around here. Where'd you move from?
Uh, Pikesville.
- Pikesville. - But here I am.
Big funeral over there today.
Yes. [sighs] Uh, maybe that's where you saw me.
I was at the station last night. [breathes shakily]
You're the lady who found Tessie Durst, aren't you?
I am.
And now you've been robbed.
[sighs] I'm sure the two have nothing to do with each other.
Not a lot of manicure places in this neighborhood, huh?
Oh, it's nothing. It's... [sighs] ...just some dirt from the move.
[Platt] Mm-hmm.
I'll have to call the burglary detectives.
I don't have a phone.
Hmm. And I don't have a radio.
[chuckles]
Well, because I don't--
I don't have a radio, but I have a key to a call box,
which is inside The Silver Dollar.
I'll put in the call there and we can wait downstairs.
We don't want to risk touching anything here, Mrs. Schwartz.
No.
Shall we?
- Thank you. - [Cedrick] You're welcome.
[sighs]
That's very kind.
You're welcome.
You know, for a minute there, you and your friend were suspects.
- We were? - Mm-hmm.
Officer Bosko thought it was a lesbian sex crime or something.
You must be joking.
I'm not, I swear.
But then they found aquarium gravel under her fingernails.
They, uh-- They're gonna arrest some guy at the fish store.
Some folks say that they saw the Durst girl go in there.
Oh. This poor child.
Can I ask you something?
Sure.
Was the ring insured?
Yes.
[scoffs]
You know, it could take months for the insurance claim to come through?
You should take that into account if you're counting on that money.
- If I'm counting on that money? - You know what I mean.
Anyway. Burglary detective should be here by now.
Let's go.
[sighs]
[Maddie] Excuse me.
[Slappy] When I went to Memphis, I kicked it with the king.
- Which King? - Not Martin, not Martin. Elvis.
[speaks indistinctly]
[Slappy] And he wasn't bringing me as the entertainment.
I mean, we kicked it one-on-one. I went to his house. I seen his cars.
His little-- little kid was out there playing hopscotch.
I'm like, "How old your daughter?"
He was like, "That ain't my daughter. That's my wife." I was like, "Oh."
Everything all right?
He fine.
Don't scare me like that. Coming here with that look on your face.
You're mixing up my faces.
This my "I know this nigga not in here drinking the day away
when he should be out looking for a job."
For a job? I'm working right now.
- This you working? - This is how I work.
- Come on, Slap. - How many times I gotta tell you that?
- Bullshit. - Come on. I observe, right?
- Mm-hmm. - Then I make jokes about that.
- Really? - I can't be doing other work
and writing material at the same time.
- Right, right, right. - That's crazy.
Know what I mean?
- What's up, George? - [George] Hey, how you doing?
What's going on?
Let me get two. Thank you. This is my wife right here.
Blow the smoke-- Go blow it that way.
You so funny.
- Been trying to tell you. - Ha ha.
I got you a set at the Pharaoh. Tomorrow night.
How'd you get it?
Shell.
He said he don't wanna see another Black man fall.
But he don't mind watching them jump for him?
- It ain't like that. - What is he making you do?
- Nothin'. - Be honest.
Come on.
Why don't you just go by tomorrow night...
put on a clean set for the boys?
[sighs]
Please.
You switch soaps?
Slap, I'm trying to bring us up.
I need you to step with me.
I'll step with you anytime. Shit, we can step now.
- [scoffs] - Come on.
Looking all pretty.
- Ain't she beautiful, y'all? - [laughs] Stop.
[Slappy] Come on. You know, you're looking a little tense.
We should do this more often. [kissing] You smell good.
[Cleo] It's 'cause I keep it clean.
[sighs]
[knocking]
[exhales heavily] Madeline Schwartz. I'm Bob Bauer. Of The Star.
- [panting] - Oh, I know your column.
- I-I like your sketches of your wife. - [panting] Thank you.
I'm sorry, uh-- Can I come inside? I could really use a glass of water.
Uh, three floors is tough on a fat guy like me.
- [panting] - Oh, I wouldn't call you fat.
[chuckles] Well, I don't know what else you'd call me.
I almost went to the other address, but my source set me straight.
- Your source? - Yeah. [panting]
- Here you go. Someone I know? - Oh.
Oh, I can't give that away.
I can promise you that I will be as discreet with your name after we talk.
Uh, I'm afraid I don't have anything to offer you beside the water, Mr. Bauer,
and I'm not interested in any publicity, so you--
[Bauer] Yeah, but do-- don't you think
that you and your friend finding Tessie Durst,
that's a story worth telling?
- Huh? - Not at all.
I was a reporter too once, you know.
- Mmm. Mm-hmm. - My husband is a lawyer.
[chuckles] Hey, does your husband know that you and your lover are, uh, suspects?
I think your source hasn't set you straight about that.
We are not lovers and we are not suspects anymore.
Ah. Well, who is then?
'Cause, you know, we do pay for a good lead.
I--
If you really want to know,
the man who will be arrested for the murder of Tessie Durst
has something to do with aquarium gravel that was found under her fingernails.
Maybe you should ask your source about that.
Will do.
Oh, hey.
Thanks for the water.
[patrons chattering]
["Fried Neck Bones And Some Home Fries" playing]
[speaks indistinctly]
This mean what I think it means?
I heard what happened yesterday at Mrs. Summer's office. Good girl.
It's time for Cleopatra to start looking like a queen again.
Thank you, Shell.
[song continues]
[siren blaring]
[negotiator] Stephan Zawadzkie, we have the building surrounded.
[shouting in Polish]
Release your mother.
- [shouting in Polish] - [negotiator] Release the hostage.
You do not wanna do this.
Come out now.
No harm will come to you if you come out now.
[officer] Come on, hold your fire!
[breathing shakily]
- [shouting in Polish] - [negotiator] You do not want to do this.
I promise you, if you come out now, we will not harm you.
Come out with your hands up.
You do not wanna do this.
[song stops]
[whimpering]
[moaning]
[sobbing]
Come out with your hands up.
I'm safe. [panting]
It's all good.
Please don't shoot. Please don't shoot.
Please don't shoot. Don't shoot.
This is my son. He'll go by himself.
[breathing heavily]
- [Maddie] I gave him a good lead. - [inhales sharply]
You should have let him run with the lesbian sex crime.
My father would've had a heart attack.
- [inhales sharply, grunts, coughing] - Speaking of heart attacks...
Could you ask your father to give me a break on rent?
Just until the insurance money comes through for the ring.
My dad would get mad at you for asking me.
Yeah.
[inhales sharply] Or maybe I'm just too scared to ask him.
[Maddie] Mmm.
[inhales sharply] I'll ask him
if you smoke with me.
[club patrons chattering]
Hey, Reg. Performers only.
Better be funny, nigga.
- [sighs] Okay. Ready? - [sighs] It's nine o'clock.
Think they need a few more drinks to loosen up.
Slappy, if you're saying that, that means you're not planning on keeping it clean.
You mean safe? "Now, come on, Slap. [inhales sharply]
Don't say nothing that would make people uncomfortable."
Okay, yeah, yeah. I need you to understand
that people come here to forget their troubles, Slap.
[sighs]
- [patrons applauding] - Maybe I get 'em blue coats.
[Shell] Ladies and gentlemen, we have a special guest here tonight,
and it's been a long time since he's been on this stage.
So I want y'all to give it up for Slappy "Dark" Johnson.
Hey, hey. Thank you, thank you.
Wow. It's good to be back.
So nice to see so many nice-looking people.
Black people with money. Niggas drinking martinis now.
I'm still a little nervous though. I'm from the South, you know.
Where I'm from, this many well-to-do Black people under one roof
- mean they gonna burn it down soon. - [patrons scoff, laugh]
They don't like that joke in Tulsa.
It bombed.
[patrons grumble, groan]
[patron 1] Whoa.
Growing up in Georgia as a kid,
I would see niggas hanging from trees on the way to school.
I'm just kidding. We didn't go to school.
- [patrons laugh] - [Slappy] Oh, you think that's fucked up?
Where do you think our new shoes came from?
[patrons laugh, grumble]
[window sliding]
[Reggie clears throat]
Ferdie see you come out here?
Good.
He ain't got nothing to do with this.
Captain loves getting Mr. Gordon's envelopes though.
Oh, is that right?
You know that little white girl found dead the other night?
Heard about it.
They just locked up the lunatic who did it.
[chuckles] His mama was trying to blame it on a brother that was in the store.
Young colored man with a bruised eye.
[chuckles]
A Black guy with a black eye.
[chuckles]
Yeah.
You, uh--
You should lay low till that eye clears up.
[clears throat]
Gotcha, boss.
I think Harriet Tubman had good pussy.
[patrons laughing, exclaiming]
Hear me out.
She got niggas to leave their house...
and run through the woods
and risk their life for freedom?
Nobody knew what the fuck freedom was.
Only good pussy will make you take them chances.
That's your man?
- What gave it away? - [Slappy] Sneak past master house...
That look in your eyes says it all.
...past barking dogs.
I need to talk to you.
All for a chance at Harriet.
I need you to run an errand for me.
Now?
What's this for?
It's just a drop.
You don't know who sent you. The address inside.
Is this a request from you or from Shell?
It ain't a request, Cleo.
You told Mr. Gordon he can trust you. Prove it.
[Slappy] My son don't even go to school. He'd make no money there.
[speaks indistinctly]
'Cause he gotta buy the belt.
You know how hard it is to ask your kid to buy a belt?
- [patrons laughing] - [Cleo] Bye.
[Slappy] Then I return the belt.
We're trying to get that money back.
What's up, Platt?
[sighs] I think I might have overstayed my welcome.
- You tend to do that. - What'd I miss?
Oh, they, uh-- they got the guy who did the Durst girl.
- Really? - Yeah.
You know what? Drop me at the Bottom, so I can check on Mrs. Schwartz.
She should, uh-- She should hear about this from the police.
Ms. Schwartz?
Ms. Schwartz.
Yeah, go ahead and let her know, Platt.
[occupant] Who's there?
I'm here f-- I'm here for Duke.
- [footsteps approach] - [locks clicking]
You Duke?
[associate chuckling] Does he look like a duke? [chuckling]
Duke!
That's a nice blue coat you got there.
Thank you.
[toilet flushes]
Stop yelling before you scare my birds, nigga.
[occupant] You and these birds. Oh, my God.
[birds cooing]
[shushing] It's okay. It's okay.
You not who I was expecting.
I just came to drop this and I'll be out your way.
[occupant] Hmm. That's a lot of green
for ringing the doorbell, picking up some Benjamins and rocks.
It's a lot of green you ain't gonna see if you don't shut the fuck up.
Hey, uh-- Look, um-- You need something to drink?
- No. - You sure?
- Mm-hmm. But thank you. - All right now.
Hey, my baby. Hey, girl.
[clicking tongue] Carol. [chuckles]
- Look who we got here. - [cooing]
I gotta get back to work. Excuse me.
- Mm-mm-mm-mm-mmm. Slow down now. - [chuckles]
Get back to work for who?
You keep blocking that door, I'm pretty sure you're gonna find out.
[Duke] That right?
[occupant] She's feisty. I like that.
You driving.
Oh, no, I'm not here for that. I just came to drop you that.
No, no, no. [chuckles]
You can't let no woman tool your '62 cherry.
- I'ma drive. - Sit your drunk ass down.
- [laughing, wheezing] - Man, fuck your car. What is the story?
- What's going on? - Hey.
[grunting]
[Duke grunts]
[groans, gasps] Okay, okay.
Bitch, I don't know you from a hole in the ground.
- [breathing shakily] - The big fish ain't here,
so the little fish is coming along for a ride.
- [coughing] - [laughing]
Oh, man. You wrote all these?
They're just diaries.
Well, some diaries are literary masterpieces.
- Meh. - You heard of Anaïs Nin?
No.
[chuckles] I've been reading her diaries every night.
Bet she didn't live in Pikesville.
[Judith laughs] She lives in Paris.
Her, uh-- Her diaries are about her private thoughts and her affairs.
Mmm, Paris affairs.
Must be like getting bagels in Pikesville.
[chuckles]
[sighs] I can't stop thinking about her. I actually memorized some of her writing.
Oh, really?
"Ordinary life... [exhales deeply] ...does not interest me.
[chuckles] I seek only the high moments.
I am in accord with the surrealists
searching for the marvelous.
I want to be a writer who reminds others that these moments exist.
I wanna prove that there is infinite space, infinite meaning...
infinite dimension.
But I am not always in what I call a state of grace.
I have days of illuminations and fevers."
[Milton moaning]
[Judith] "I have days where the music in my head stops.
Then I mend socks,
prune trees, can fruits,
polish furniture.
But while I'm doing this I feel I am not living."
- [knocking] - [gasps]
[Maddie] Who's there?
[Platt] Officer Platt.
Just a minute.
Okay.
[Maddie groans]
Coming. Just a minute.
[Judith] My parents are waiting for me.
[Maddie] Hello.
Remember to ask your father about the rent.
[footsteps depart]
Everything all right?
I was about to go on patrol and then I saw the light on in your window.
So, I-- I thought I'd let you know that they arrested the Durst suspect
and there are no leads on your ring, Mrs. Schwartz.
So it looks good for the insurance.
Well, finally some good news. [chuckles]
[Platt clears throat]
Would it be unlawful if I offered you a beer, Officer?
Uh...
I won't report it if you won't.
[Carol cooing]
Turn here.
This is Myrtle Summer's house.
That's right.
Ple-- Please don't do this. You don't gotta do this.
- Please. - I ain't doing a goddamn thing.
I'm sitting in the car with you and fast Carol.
We gonna watch the fireworks.
Man, I'm just trying to collect my Christmas bread.
Shoot her down and Santa will visit you twice.
Ain't that right, sweetheart?
- Aw, that ain't me, man. - This nigga here.
Anything other than rocks and jewels and I cut out.
[Duke] Stop spitting on my bird, nigga.
Fuck you and your motherfucking bird.
- What the fuck you just say to me? - [exclaims]
[Duke] Stand behind this motherfucker.
If he don't shoot, shoot him.
[Cleo breathing shakily]
[Duke] Gimme my motherfucking bird.
[Maddie breathing heavily]
[associate] Get out here.
And close the door, nigga. Your mama didn't teach you how to leave?
- [doorbell buzzes] - [breathing heavily]
Please don't do this. Please.
Shut the fuck up!
[breathing heavily, moaning]
[Platt grunts]
[grunts]
[breathing heavily]
- [people screaming] - [exclaims]
Oh, shit!
[Cleo exclaiming]
[panting]
[sirens blaring]