01x05 - Stories We Tell Ourselves

[bunniefuu]

[THE CROAT] Previously on Dead City...

[TOMMASO] It's methane. From the sewers.

[AMAIA] You get your kid.
We k*ll the psycho.

Everybody wins a prize.

[MAGGIE] Ginny!

- [FIRE RUMBLING]
- [expl*si*n]

[AMAIA] Let's go!

- [WALKERS GROWLING]
- [GRUNTS]

This way, come on!

[THE CROAT] Negan!

I know who you want.

I think we bought ourselves
a little bit of time.

[COCKS g*n]

[MAGGIE] The sewers.

We can get out through
the sewers. Let's go!

[WALKERS GROWLING]

[WATER RUNNING, DRIPPING]

[WHIRRING]

These look recent.

These ones are.

Fresh deposits to his methane bank.

He called it feeding the beast.

So this is what hotboxing
dead people looks like.

Yeah, and smells like.

Did anyone see what happened to Negan?

- Mm-mm.
- Nah.

Who's the kid?

She's with me.

[UNSETTLING MUSIC]

Hey, you got a name?

She don't talk much.

Doesn't follow orders, either.

Thought I had an extra flashlight.

We have one. Here.

Yo, yo, I got it, I got it.

Here.

- This is all my fault.
- [TOMMASO] Hey.

- I pushed us to att*ck them.
- Amaia, Amaia, stop.

- No, I must've missed something.
- Hey.

I should've thought this through.

Don't do this to yourself, all right?

The Burazi, they knew.

Hey, we don't got time
to wonder how we got here.

We just need to focus on

getting the hell out, all right?

Yeah. I'm good.

Hey, your heart starts pounding,

feels like there's a jackhammer
going off in your head...

Let's go.

[TOMMASO] ... can't keep your eyes open

or you feel like you're gonna puke,

that's the methane kicking in.
That's when we start running.

Just be cautious.

[WATER RUNNING, DRIPPING]

[WALKER GROWLING]

[THEME MUSIC]

[TENSE MUSIC]

[BIRD SQUAWKING]

[WALKERS GROWLING]

[NEGAN] Your boat's sunk by now.

The guy back at the arena,

he's got the whole island on lockdown.

You do remember
I saved your ass back there.

Whatever that was had
nothing to do with me,

and everything to do
with you and your friend.

He ain't my friend.

Anyway,

you saving me doesn't bring back

the magistrate that you did k*ll,

or the four other men with him.

Those assholes,
they damn near k*lled my wife.

If you had seen what she
looked like when I found her,

well, I guarantee you'd done the same.

[WALKERS GROWLING]

Hey!

Come on.

[WALKERS GROWLING]

Come on.

Out back.

[WATER RUNNING, DRIPPING]

[GROUP COUGHING]

[TOMMASO] Aw, sh*t.

Yo, Amaia. Check this out.

What the hell is that?

No idea.

Oh, oh... [COUGHS]

Ugh...

Oh, I think it's fat.

- Ugh.
- Ginny!

[FAST-PACED MUSIC]

[TOMMASO] Yo.

[MAGGIE] Manholes are sealed!

You trying to go after Negan?
Is that it?

[PANTS]

He wanted you to stay at the Bricks.

[PANTS]

We were so close!

You don't even know him.

What do you think he's wanted for?

Stealing a loaf of bread?

You do not know the monster that I know.

But if you stick around
long enough, you will.

Let's go.

[BIRD SQUAWKING]

You wanna tell me
where the hell we're goin',

or is it just some big-ass surprise?

Chelsea Piers.

Like I said, the boats are sunk.

Pier, no boats? Don't that seem

a few ass hairs short of a dingleberry?

Don't need boats. Just the dock.

It floats.

All we gotta do is disconnect it.

You from here.

You're a New Yorker.

Bronx.

Worked for the state.

Drift collection boats.

Scooping up debris.

Keeping the rivers clean.

What were you?

Worked for the state too.

Gym teacher.

[WALKERS GROWLING]

[TENSE MUSIC]

[WALKERS GROWLING]

[WALKERS GROWLING]

[WALKERS GROWLING]

[MUSIC INTENSIFIES]

[WALKERS GROWLING]

[GRUNTING]

Come on! We gotta...

- This way.
- Come on!

[WALKERS GROWLING]

[UNSETTLING MUSIC]

[WALKERS GROWLING]

What do you think?

Some avant-garde artist from before?

Or someone who lost
their mind from after.

[WALKERS GROWLING]

Come on.

[UNSETTLING MUSIC]

[MAGGIE] Amaia, where
do you think we are?

Probably Hell's Kitchen

or Chelsea.

Holy sh*t!

Oxygen.

Must be extras for the Burazi.

These ones got masks and sh*t on them.

Crazy lucky, right?
Now we can breathe easy.

Here.

- [AMAIA] They work?
- Let's find out.

[TOMMASO BREATHES DEEPLY]

[AMAIA] The kid gets one.
We can trade off the other.

Here.

What? You'd rather
keep huffin' fleshies?

All right, suit yourself.

[UNSETTLING MUSIC]

[AMAIA] I just can't figure it out,

how they knew.

Maybe it was Luther who tipped them off.

He left us.

He didn't wanna go
through with any of it.

- Here.
- No.

No, no, no, no, no.

It can't be Luther.

What would he get out of it?

It was him.

The hell you talkin' 'bout?

[MAGGIE] You knew exactly
how to get out last night.

You knew to go to the sewers.

You even knew how to get inside
with that bullshit nonno story.

Bullshit? Are you...

Yo, you buggin'.

It's how I got off the first time

when I was being tortured?

- Or he cut you a deal.
- A deal?

Yo, that methane's goin' to your head.

You hearin' this?

[MAGGIE] Had you tell him
where his hideouts were

so he could raid them?
Probably gave him a signal

to let him know that we were coming.

You're paranoid, you know that?

You don't trust nobody.

[MAGGIE] Why did you take off your pack?

What?

Before you found the oxygen tanks,

why did you take your pack off?

Do you wanna say it, or shall I?

[TOMMASO] Amaia.

Amaia, hey, hey.

Amaia, you're not gonna
believe this sh*t, right?

You can't believe...

[MAGGIE] He had the tanks
in his pack the whole time!

I bet taking them was the signal.

[GASPS] Why?

'Cause he's a liar.

He doesn't care about
anybody but himself.

- Amaia, it was a...
- [GRUNT]

- It was a fantasy.
- [GRUNT]

Amaia, Amaia, it was a fantasy.

Taking back the island?
Reclaiming our home?

Our home is gone, Amaia. It's been gone.

Everyone is dead.

What I did, it was the only way.

- I did it for you.
- [SOBBING] No, no.

- [TOMMASO] I had to.
- [AMAIA] No.

[CLANKING]

[TOMMASO] Amaia!

[MUSIC INTENSIFIES]

[MUSIC SOFTENS]

[UNSETTLING MUSIC]

Jesus Christ.

[MUSIC INTENSIFIES]

[NEGAN] You were right.

It's definitely an after situation.

[MUSIC INTENSIFIES]

[WALKER GROWLING]

[MUSIC SOFTENS, STILL TENSE]

[WALKER GROWLING]

Hey. Let's go.

Yeah.

[ARMSTRONG] Come on.

[UNSETTLING MUSIC]

[WALKER GROWLING]

[GRUNTS]

Aah!

- [WALKER GROWLING]
- [GRUNTING]

[GRUNTING]

[MUSIC CONTINUES]

[GRUNTING]

[GRUNTS]

[METALLIC WHOOSH]

[GRUNTS]

[PANTS]

[BIRDS SQUAWKING]

g*dd*mn it.

Believe it or not,

I don't like leaving
people behind to die.

Even huge assholes.

And here's the deal, all right?

I help you, and no more of this

dragging me back to New Babylon
bullshit.

- No.
- [NEGAN] No!?

You think you know me? Is that it?

Because I guarantee you you don't.

Just tell me, why are you doing this?

[SIGHS]

[GENTLE, WISTFUL MUSIC]

[NEGAN] Come on.

Before I change my g*dd*mn mind.

[BOTH GRUNTING]

[ARMSTRONG GRUNTS]

- [RUMBLING]
- [UNSETTLING MUSIC]

[MAGGIE] [WHISPERING] I don't
know what you're planning.

I don't know about him.

But you could go to my home, the Bricks.

You'll be safe there. You
just give them my name.

She knows the way.

[TOMMASO GRUNTS]

[GRUNTING BECOMES DISTANT, ECHO-Y]

[UNSETTLING MUSIC]

Oh, sh*t...

[BREATHING DEEPER]

Ugh.

Here.

[VOICES DISTANT, ECHOY]

[SCREAMING]

Help! Help!

[TOMMASO] Hey, hey,
it's all right. Here.

Here, take this. Take this.

No, I'm fine.

Come on, hey. At least take a break.

You almost just faceplanted.

Huh?

[TOMMASO SIGHS]

[EERIE MUSIC]

[MUSIC BECOMES SINISTER]

[TOMMASO] You don't know
what it's been like for us.

You can't put down roots
when all you're doing

is running for your life.

My nonno's story? That sh*t was real.

I didn't make that sh*t up.

I was this close to getting out,
but he followed me and...

I gave up our hideouts to stay alive,

to get back to Amaia.

He said if I brought
my people to him, he'd...

He said he'd give me a boat.

Left the tanks for me, like you said.

He told me about this
place on the mainland.

He said they got homes with kitchens,

rooms for your things,

a farm, a school for your kids.

That sh*t sounded safe 'cause
everything was made of brick.

He said that's the kind
of place we could get to.

I-I don't know.

I didn't mean for it to
go down the way it did.

I thought at least they'd have a choice.

I thought... I thought he'd...

[SIGHS]

I should've... I should've known.

But I had to try for Amaia. For our...

[GENTLE, WISTFUL MUSIC]

Like you said.

Gotta do whatever it takes
to make it safe.

[AMAIA SCREAMS]

[WALKER GROWLING]

Amaia!

Amaia!

[WALKER GROWLING]

[SCREAMS]

[GRUNTS] Ginny!

- [AMAIA STRUGGLING]
- [MAGGIE] No!

[TOMMASO] Amaia!

[GRUNTS]

[WALKERS GROWLING]

[SIGHS, PANTS]

[GRUNTS, PANTS]

- Oh, sh*t!
- No!

Is she okay? Amaia!

- It's all my fault.
- No.

[TOMMASO] I messed it all up. Amai...

[SOFT, SOMBER MUSIC]

[PANTS]

[PANTS]

[WALKER GROWLING]

[BIRDS CHIRPING]

[SCREAMS]

[BIRD SQUAWKING]

[WARPED VERSION OF COLE PORTER'S
ANYTHING GOESON PIANO]

[MAN] [LAUGHS MANIACALLY]

- [PIANO PLAYING BURAZ]
- ♪ Plymouth Rock should land on them! ♪

[AUDIENCE LAUGHTER]

- [SHOUTING]
- ♪ In olden days ♪

♪ A glimpse of stocking ♪

♪ Was looked on as something shocking ♪

♪ But now god knows ♪

[AUDIENCE] Anything goes!

♪ Good authors too who
once used better words ♪

♪ Now only use four-letter words ♪

♪ Writing prose ♪

[SONG CONTINUES FAINTLY IN DISTANCE]

Out of my way, bitch.

M'lady.

[GRUNTS]

[KNOCKS]

[UNA FURTIVA LAGRIMABY DONIZETTI
PLAYS ON GRAMMOPHONE]

We're talking to them now?

That's none of your concern.

My plan was a success

- beyond expectation.
- Shhh!

[ARIA CONTINUES]

Sit.

[CHUCKLES]

So, it went well.

My informant delivered.

The thr*at has been neutralized.

And also, Negan is on the island.

- I saw him with my own eyes.
- Then where is he?

[SIGHS]

Let me see if I understand.

The show started out with a bang.

Kept me up all night, actually.

But then there was a plot twist.

You thought you had your hero,
but he got away.

What good is a hero offstage?

So naturally the ending
fizzled, and let's face it,

everyone knows the ending
is all that matters.

[ARIA CONTINUES]

[GLASSES CLINKING]

[THE CROAT] They're here.

Only one so far. A marshal,

but he comes from the mainland.

It's just as you said.

There will be those who
try to bring it all back,

the old laws and prisons,
to protect and serve,

but really like before,
just to punish and steal

and feed their fat bellies.

Now they've come for what we've built.

What's ours.

So we have to be ready.

Which is why we need him.

Which is why you f*cked up so royally.

I will find him.

There is absolutely no way Negan
will be getting off this island.

I promise you.

[ARIA CONTINUES]

[TENSE, SINISTER MUSIC OVERTAKES ARIA]

[ARIA AND MUSIC CRESCENDO]

[WATER RUNNING, DRIPPING]

[UNSETTLING MUSIC]

[BREATHING DISTANT, ECHO-Y]

Ginny,

take this.

You're gonna need it on
the way back to the Bricks.

Take it!

Look...

I don't know what you saw in my bag,

and I don't know when,

but I'm guessing that
you saw something.

I never showed him your doll

because I didn't even know
if you were still here

or where you were,
if you were even still alive.

And the truth is,

I still can't let him know
that you're here.

Or else it all falls apart.

He'll leave. He'll take you back.

A very bad man...

took all of our grain
and all of our food.

Took us months to produce.

And he's gonna keep on taking it

every single harvest
until we all starve to death.

And worse than that, he has my son.

His name's Hershel.

And I have to think of Hershel.

And...

And Negan,

Negan is the key to getting him back.

You understand?

[FOOTSTEPS]

[ARMSTRONG GRUNTS]

[DOG BARKING]

[GRUNTS]

[GRUNTING]

Okay.

[PANTS]

How did you know?

Right, gym teacher.

[CHUCKLES] That's right.

Okay.

Sorry.

Aah!

[GROANS IN AGONY]

[PANTS]

Why are you doing this?

Hell if I know.

My luck, they pin your death on me,

and I'm wanted twice as bad.

The next guy on my ass
way worse than you.

I guarantee it.

All right, get some rest.

[ARMSTRONG PANTS]

[SIGHS]

My brother.

His name was Joel.

We were close.

Even though I annoyed the
ever-livin' hell out of him.

Would've followed Joel anywhere.

So when he got that job on the docks,

I got one too.

He was funny. [CHUCKLES]

Had this, uh, charisma.

But he was restless, too.

Got into fights, in and out of jail,

had problems we just couldn't see.

One night my folks
caught him breaking in,

lookin' to steal from them.

He att*cked my mother.

So high he didn't know
what he was doing.

They were too scared
to do anything about it.

Maybe they hoped it would go away.

So it fell on me,

which left me...

angry.

He was my big brother.

He let me down, abandoned me.

So I guess I wanted to
abandon him right back.

[GENTLE, WISTFUL MUSIC]

This was the last time
I ever heard from Joel.

Couldn't bring myself to open it.

Three years later, the city fell apart.

Mom and Dad and I got
out just in time, but...

it happened so fast, I didn't think...

He was left to die all alone,

in the worst possible
place on the planet.

Is that what he deserved?

Is it really so black and white?

You'd asked me back then,
I would've said yes.

But now?

I don't know.

Is it gray?

Is it something else?

Tranquilitas Ordinis.

What if it's just stories we
tell ourselves to sleep easier?

[UNSETTLING MUSIC]

[SLOW, LABORED BREATHING]

[MUSIC CONTINUES]

[MAGGIE PANTS]

That way.

[SQUISHING]

[WALKER GROWLING]

Aw, sh*t. It's over here.

[WALKER GROWLING]

[WALKER GROWLING]

[WALKER GROWLING]

Go.

Go, Ginny, go! Now!

Go, you can do it! Go!

[WALKER GROWLING]

[MAGGIE GRUNTS]

[WALKER GROWLING]

[WALKER ROARS]

[GRUNTS, STRUGGLES]

[PANTS]

[DRAMATIC MUSIC]

[GRUNTS, SCREAMS]

[MUSIC FADES]

- [MUSIC KICKS IN]
- [WALKER GROWLING]

[GRUNTS, PANTS]

[MUSIC STOPS]

[PANTS, GRUNTS]

[UNSETTLING MUSIC]

[PANTS]

Ginny!

Ginny!

[PANTS]

[WATER RUNNING, DRIPPING]

[PANTS]

[CRICKETS CHIRPING]

- [HERSHEL] Mom!
- [MAGGIE] Hershel! Hershel!

[SCREAMING]

Mom! Mom!

No! No!

Hershel!

[HERSHEL] Mom! Help, Mom!

[UNSETTLING MUSIC]

[ECHO-Y, LABORED BREATHING]

[SILENT SCREAM]

[PANTS]

[PANTS]

[MUSIC INTENSIFIES]

MAGGIE: You think the plan's
going to work?

NEGAN: I have a feeling
he and I may be able

to work something out.

Guess you were right all along.

Let's go.

♪ ♪

[TIRES SQUEAL]

♪ ♪

[WALKERS GROWLING]

[GRUNTS]

NEGAN: I am not who you think I am.

Hi, I'm Eli Jorné, EP
and showrunner of "Dead City"

and this is episode ,
"Stories We Tell Ourselves".

The title of Episode
comes from a line in the episode

when Perlie Armstrong
is in the school bus with Negan.

[GROANS]

Why are you doing this?

Hell if I know.

Negan is saving his life,

and it's forcing Armstrong
to look at Negan and realize,

like, this is not the villain
that he thought he was.

If he goes all the way back

and realizes that maybe his brother

also wasn't the villain
in his life story,

then all of a sudden,
everything falls apart.

He att*cked my mother.

So high, he didn't know
what he was doing.

Three years later, the city fell apart.

Mom and Dad and I got out just in time,

but it happened so fast,
I didn't think...

Is that what he deserved?

Is it really so black and white?

What if it's just stories
we tell ourselves

to sleep easier?

For Armstrong, he's having
this revelation

where he's realizing,

"Maybe it was all more nuanced
than I ever thought it was".

♪ ♪

So in episode , we meet
a new character, The Dama.

She's somebody in The Croat's orbit

who, to some extent, seems to be
pulling the strings a bit.

We're talking to them now?

That's none of your concern.

She kind of foretold that, one day,

these forces of civilization
might come for their island.

And so, I think this is our first hint

for the larger story here.

And The Dama seems to be
at the center of it.

♪ ♪

♪ ♪

-These look recent.
-These ones are.

Fresh deposits to his methane bank.

Called it feeding the beast.

JORNÉ: Maggie and Negan
have made this plan

with the tribespeople.

They get down into the sewers,
and Maggie starts to realize

something is... something's off here.

Why did you take your pack off?

♪ ♪

Do you want to say it or shall I?

In fact, she inspired Tommaso
to do all this.

And so, in that way, she's...

You could say she's kind of complicit.

I gave up our high dose to stay alive,

to get back to Amaya.

And they told me about this
place on the mainland.

He said they got...
homes with kitchens.

It just sounded safe because
everything was made of brick.

Like you said,

got to do whatever it takes
to make it safe.

♪ ♪

When Maggie sees Amaya
lying there dead,

and then she cradles Tommaso
trying to keep him from dying

and his last words are about,
you know, "Is Amaya okay?"

And her realizing he didn't
do it because he's a rat.

He didn't do it because he's selfish.

He did it for her.

Amaya.

It's all my fault.

No. I messed it all up.

And when Maggie
comes to understand that,

that it's so much more nuanced
than she first thought it was,

I think she does feel a lot of regret,

a lot of guilt over that.

The more she has
to spend time with Negan

and see him as a human being,

the more the story she's told
herself all these years

just starts to get
unraveled a little bit.

Maggie and Ginny eventually
come across this,

like, terrifying, monstrous,
creepy thing made of walkers.

It's something that I...I had
thought of a few years before.

What if... What if a walker kind
of stepped through one walker

and then another walker stuck
its head through that walker,

and they got all, like,
tangled in that way,

and they had to start
to kind of move together?

[GROWLING]

It was so fun to watch
the Walker King come to life.

There were puppeteers
that you guys don't see.

You know, that we cut out
all dressed in green.

Someone in that suit and
there was someone, you know,

puppeteering all the arms and legs,

battery-operated faces,

puppet out of the chest and whatnot.

I hope everybody all over the world

gets to one day build and watch
a Walker King come to life

because it's pretty cool.

[SCREAMING]

♪ ♪

[OUTRO MUSIC]