01x02 - Episode 2

[bunniefuu]

[Hezekiah] The colour of my skin

is making it very difficult for me

to find lodging in the city.

You are just one?

[Hezekiah] Yeah,

man. Me just one.

[Mary] My name is Mary Carr,

Queen of the Forty Elephants.

The biggest independent

g*ng of female thieves

in the whole of London.

Aboard the

Trans-Siberian Express,

there is a trade delegation

sent by Emperor Qing of China.

[Lao] You're going to steal

from the Queen of England?

Are you in, or are you out?

You took this

money out of my box

in my private room.

Get out of my sight, and don't

you ever f*cking come back.

[Hezekiah] You could earn

some money in the ring.

- You were good.

- [Alec] You were better.

[Hezekiah] My position

already filled.

Not here for the boxing then?

What do you wanna

see a lion for?

I don't want to see a

lion. I want to tame one.

[Harkness] Let's start

your training today.

It's five bob a

day. Six on Sundays.

[grunts]

[Hezekiah] Cages

are for animals.

Introducing the East

London Gladiator.

Henry "Sugar" Goodson!

[spectators cheer]

[sergeant] Prepare!

Oh, let the

power from Heaven ♪

Fall on me, my Lord ♪

[sergeant] Hold!

Oh, let the power fall on me ♪

- My Lord ♪

- [sergeant] On my command!

- Let the power ♪

- [sergeant] Prepare to fire!

- Fall on me ♪

- [Hezekiah] Papa.

Hezekiah! Go home!

[chanting] Sugar! Sugar! Sugar!

[bell dings]

[Punch] Both don't show concern

and sizing each other up!

- To the body!

- Get him on the ropes.

- He's quick. He's too quick.

- He can handle himself, this one.

- [g*nshots]

- [Hezekiah screaming]

Think. Think!

- Come on now.

- [Punch] The lion tamer's landed a blow!

But can he land two

more for his five bob?

Take your time!

This is on a knife's edge,

ladies and gentlemen!

- [Hezekiah screams]

- Keep him on the rope!

Keep him on the ropes, son.

- [bell dings]

- [spectators shouting]

[spectators chanting]

Sugar! Sugar!

Sugar! Sugar! Sugar!

[villagers] Oh, let

the power from Heaven ♪

Fall on me, my Lord ♪

[villager screaming]

[Hezekiah] Papa!

[Punch] It's a miracle,

ladies and gentlemen!

He's on his feet!

He's back from the dead!

[bell dings]

[bell dings]

[spectator 1] Come on, lads!

Keep your hands up!

[spectator 2] Sugar! Come on!

Take off his chin.

That's it. That's it.

- [grunting]

- [corner man] Give it to him, son.

f*ck' great!

- Turn him. Turn him!

- Move off him!

Don't come any closer. Get

out of the corner, son.

[spectator 2] Come on, Sugar.

Come on, son. Take it

back in! Take it back!

[Sugar strains]

Come on! You got it, son!

[Punch] Bite his

f*ck' ear off!

Go on, Sugar!

Hold him. Hold

him down. Hold on!

Get your hands up!

Charlie.

That's it. It's done. It's done.

- [bell dings]

- [spectator 2] Get up! Come on!

[Punch] Oh, stay down.

We know you were down.

- [Hezekiah screaming]

- Go on, son. Back off!

- Back up. You're done. You're done.

- [grunting]

[Sharkey] Mare!

[coachman] Get out the road!

[Sharkey] Mary!

Mare!

Come down here, Mare!

Mary!

Hey. Hey.

- Mare!

- Hey, hey, hey.

Hey, listen.

Stop.

Give me the g*n.

- [Sharkey sniffs]

- Please.

Give me the g*n.

[spectators jeering]

And the brave boy from

the land of ruby red rum,

has at last had

enough punishment!

Ladies and gentlemen, that concludes

Sugar Goodson's sweet science surgery!

Oi, Mary!

Who is he?

- What?

- [Treacle] Who is he?

He's a lion tamer, Treacle.

What is he to you?

Nobody's anything to me.

Come on!

[Lao] Wait, wait.

Wait. Wait.

[Sharkey coughs]

Hey. Hey, hey,

hey. Listen to me.

Listen to me. Listen

to me. Listen to me!

There is more to you than this.

- [cries]

- Yes.

I think there is more

to you than this.

[cries]

I must see my Mary.

Mary.

Mare!

Mare!

- [horse neighs]

- No!

[breathes shakily]

All right. f*ck

off, and go home.

Give him a round of applause. Give

him a round of applause. Come on.

[Charlie] f*ck

off! Give him room.

- f*ck!

- [spectator 1] Come on!

Come on, what was

that? It's a fix!

[spectator 2] You're a cheat!

You're a f*cking cheat!

- [spectator 3] Boo!

- [Charlie] Go on, get in.

Come on.

He didn't even see it coming.

[sighs]

You all right?

[sniffs]

You, uh, forgot to

collect your winnings.

For landing your blows.

It should've been the whole night's

takings. You had Sugar beat.

That man was your friend.

No.

No, he was a c*ck with

complications. Many complications.

Best you concern yourself with

only yourself in this life.

Them as wish to die

can suit themselves.

If you're so concerned, then

spend two bob on a funeral.

Alternatively, we wrap him up

and throw him in the river.

Sharkey liked the river.

Loved it actually.

As a little boy, he grew up

in the mud between the tides.

He would much prefer the

river full of honest eels

to any f*ck' churchyard

full of mug punters.

You. Are you gonna help?

Which part of the river?

Right. There's a place

called Hell's Gateway.

We'll have to wait

for the tides.

[Mary grunting]

After three, we sling him.

What, without a prayer?

Oh, there's no God

who cares to stray East beyond the

territory of the Angel, Islington.

[speaking Cant]

- Throw.

- [grunts]

[Mary sighing]

River picks them up from here.

Like a train at the station.

Floats them, drags

them to the middle,

then takes them express down to South

End where the dogfish do the undertaking.

What language you just count in?

[sighs]

"What the f*ck are they saying?"

The coppers ask as we confer

in the back of the paddy wagon.

Tonight you lost the fight,

but you got my attention.

Which is worth more than a night's

takings at the Blue Coat Boy.

Sometimes fate is

like this old river.

Washes up the exact thing you

need at the exact, right time.

What is it you need?

You.

The last chess piece

for my strategy.

- You play chess?

- With people.

And

And I am a pawn?

More like a knight

in battered armour.

[chuckles]

I have an imminent

criminal engagement

which will require someone

with your abilities

and which would pay you personally

£100 in English paper cash.

Huh.

£100, Mr Lion Tamer.

How many blows would you have to give and

take to earn that in five shilling lots?

And why should I

trust you, Mary Carr?

You are in London.

This city makes

only one promise,

that it will k*ll you

the first chance it gets.

Strip your flesh as

quick as them dogfish.

You think we don't have

dogfish where me from?

Oh, we have them.

Mmm.

Them wear white suits

and red uniforms.

And when you face them,

drop your guard,

fall for one of their lies

Me know all about

cruelty, Mary Carr.

That is a commodity your people

saw fit to share with the world.

My offer stands.

And you can trust

me to keep my word.

Me and my ladies are

shopping this morning.

But when you're ready to talk,

you can find me in The

Green Dolphin Hotel

making some very

complex arrangements.

[sighs]

[vendors chattering]

[Hezekiah sighs]

[Alec] Hez, where you been?

Me did a worry.

So

you did so worry that you drink a

bokkle of whisky and fall asleep?

[chuckles] That is

not real whisky.

[chuckles]

There's a cray

fisherman by the wharf.

And him make this out of

molasses and crab apple

and put it in a whisky bokkle fi give

"the poor liquid dignity," him say.

[laughing]

Him talk like that.

He's an old soldier

from Scotland.

I think you'll like him.

Ah, wah hap'n to you?

You fight Sugar?

Me lasted two rounds before

injustice ring the bell.

They say we can be better.

But we cyaan win.

Swallow that.

We can be men,

but we are not human.

Swallow that.

[sighs]

[Hezekiah sighs]

You know, crayfish man like me.

Him say him have work for us.

Him give me this one for free.

You know women here like me too?

[both chuckle]

It's starting to be that

I'm almost glad that I came.

Starting to be

Wish I was sitting on a rock ♪

In Morant Bay ♪

With a hook and line

Catching nothing at all ♪

[humming]

[sucks teeth]

We drank two bottles of

this last night, each.

[chuckles] I swear. I swear

I saw a mermaid. [chuckles]

Is that why Anne's so f*cking

conversational this morning?

[sniffs] No, it's not.

Last night I went

aboard a Spanish galleon

in Charing Cross with

ten Spanish sailors.

- [Elephants gasp]

- Ten.

Two hours later, I stepped ashore

with 100 Spanish gold coins

that I had earned without

recourse to the obvious.

Show us your hundred gold coins,

Anne, and we'll believe ya.

- [Eliza] You drugged them.

- f*ck you.

I will speak only to Queen Mary.

Come on then, we've

got work to do.

[door opens]

[Treacle] Mary's downstairs.

[door closes]

Sounds like the ladies are heading up

the West End to cause a bit of bedlam.

Who is he?

Um [sighs]

He got in from Jamaica a few days ago,

and they're staying in The Green Dolphin.

Who's they?

Well, there's the one who I

fought on Friday night and beat.

He's called Alec.

And then there's the one you

fought. He's called Hezekiah.

They're sleeping

in my own backyard?

Where'd he learn

to fight like that?

[Treacle] No one knows.

And that's the problem.

Mary held his f*ck' hand.

Are you listening to me?

Strangers walking through our doors,

and we don't know who they are.

Peggy Bettinson paid me a visit.

And what did he f*ck' want?

Well, he's setting up

legitimate fights for belts,

and he's taking

rooms up West, Sugar.

Proper rooms, not

the f*cking pub.

He's straightening it up.

I wanna fight him again.

The Jamaican.

[sighs]

He's got men who are half royals

and stockbrokers coming in,

and that way we know who we're

fighting, and we can plan for it.

Peggy Bettinson will never make a

penny from his stuck-up tea dances.

People sat around like

they're in f*ck' church.

I wanna fight him again.

Saturday night.

Not with you or f*cking

Charlie coming in the ring.

Just me and him.

Yeah.

Mary watching,

and she can raise

my f*ck' hand.

She'll hold my right hand in the

air as he lays on the canvas.

Dead or alive.

I don't care which.

Well done, mate.

- Gwaan.

- Gwaan.

- Good?

- I'm good.

- Ready? Hmm.

- Yeah, man.

Oi! Well done.

You swung your blows for

all of us last night.

- Yeah, man. Thanks.

- [pedestrian] Good on you, sir.

Yo, Jack, it's Alec!

Jack, it's Alec.

So what your friend

want us to do?

So him make all of

them things here so.

Him make all of this?

Mmm, all right.

So him want we fi sell

the bokkles for him.

Him say we can sell it as Jamaican

Rum that we bring from Kingston.

Hmm, so him is a cheat?

- No. Well, no, no, Hezekiah

- Ah, the cheat is your friend?

You know, we only in

London because of you.

[sucks teeth]

All right, so where him is?

This Jack.

- This cheat.

- [Jack] There he is.

Glad that you came back, Alec.

[chuckles]

Jack, this is my friend. The

one I did tell you about.

Oh, not just you,

Alec. Not just you.

Everybody.

The runners, the larks

They're all talking

about him this morning.

The saviour of the

common man, he is.

Jack MacAllen.

Known to the world as Jack Mac.

Alec, me don't want pass surgical

spirit as Jamaican rum for this man

because it's not right.

[Alec stammering]

Give him a chance now.

A man of principle, eh?

Fire in the belly.

Beginnings of a

legend, I think, Alec.

You know, I fought in Bloemfontein

alongside men like you.

And it was there I learned

the language of the lion.

In Africa, it was a lion

who was my best friend.

Everything is a lie here.

So you believe what

you waan believe, Alec.

You see, these mad people, them

just say what you want to hear.

Hezekiah. Sorry.

- Hezekiah!

- [Hezekiah] Me gone.

- Yo, listen to me now, man

- [Hezekiah] Me gone. Me gone.

[patrons chattering]

Afternoon, ma'am.

It's all on display, ma'am.

[patrons clamour]

- [Belle] I'll be taking that, thank you.

- [shop clerk] My God, it's the Elephants.

[Eliza] Right. Down there.

I'll take this, you take that.

[Belle] Pardon me, ladies.

[patron] Oh, my!

[patrons scream]

[Mary] It will take the

Knightsbridge Constabulary

exactly two minutes to get here.

And remember I want yellow

and blue silk in gold brocade.

Verity, get down the other end.

[chuckles]

[Belle] Oi, pass his

hat! I'll be taking that.

[Mary] We've got to cover it.

- Time's up, ladies!

- Milady.

[Esme] Right, come on. Let's go.

[Eliza] Ladies, come on. Now.

[chuckles]

[chuckling]

Keep moving!

[employee] Wait!

Is two bob a day worth getting

your throat cut for, darling?

f*ck two bob a day. I

wanna be an Elephant.

- Where are you from then?

- Covent Garden.

The sh*t end with

the rotten apples.

[officer] Stop or you'll get

Stop!

[coins clink]

For three more nights.

[Lao] I hear you had

Sugar Goodson beat?

I only won five shillings.

How it can be that

I had him beat?

[Lao] Everyone knows

you had him beat.

Which is unfortunate for you.

If you have any sense,

you will take your coins

and put five miles of London between

you and this part of the river.

[sucks teeth]

When Sugar gets mad,

the river gets hungry.

- Look, I have done nothing to that man.

- He can't stand to lose.

They say when he

was seven years old,

he saw his own father

beaten to death in an alley.

In the workhouse,

he fought every day to save his little

brother from flogging and worse.

In every fight,

he is protecting his family.

[Hezekiah] Please

just keep the rent.

By the way, I know there

are two of you down there.

[in English] 'cause you

are my Chinese brother.

[chuckles]

[grunting]

[grunts]

Well, I admire your bollocks,

young man [sighs]

but this is not a

good place for you to be.

Give him a drink on the house.

I would like a glass

of Jamaican rum

and to know what your

brother has planned for me.

He wants a rematch.

[scoffs]

And it'll be me against

him, you, and what?

- Two other men?

- [Treacle] No.

No, no, no, no, no.

This time, it'll

be fair and square.

[Sugar panting]

- [sucks teeth] How much you paying?

- You know the rates.

Me not care about your rates.

How much to give the emperor a

chance to restore his reputation?

£3, win or lose.

More if I win?

[chuckles] Punch.

I'll check the barrels.

No.

On this occasion,

more if you lose.

Why more if I lose?

I'm his brother.

And he has hot blood.

Mine is cooler.

You agree to lose

on Saturday night,

and I will give you £5 and

you can walk away for good.

Yeah?

Just have a little

move round in the ring

and go down in the third.

[weights clink]

Mmm.

- Yeah?

- Mmm.

[exhales sharply]

Uh, Sugar Goodson!

[Sugar grunts]

Sugar Goodson!

Hey, your brother just offered me £5

to take a fall in the third round.

f*cking idiot.

[Sugar sighs]

I asked my brother

to make arrangements

because my heart

cannot be trusted,

and there are devils that

pull the carriage I ride.

I am able to speak

to you long enough

to invite you to

meet me in combat

this Saturday night at eight

o'clock in that there ring.

And I promise you

it will be a fair fight.

And should you win, this

pub will pay you £50.

But should I predominate

should I break you,

and I promise I will not

stop until you're dead.

Then your body will be sent back

on that boat to whence you came.

[Hezekiah] I am just

a stranger to you.

Why would you want me dead?

Because it's like

looking in the mirror

and there can't be two of us.

Fair and square.

[spits]

Fair and f*cking square.

[Sugar breathing heavily]

- [door opens]

- [bell dings]

What?

Genuine Chinese silk liberated

from the grasp of the ruling class

by representatives of

the urban proletariat.

Your sisters in the struggle,

the Elephants of the revolution.

Not much call for

Chinese silk around here.

Lot of call for bread and

shoes and clean water.

- Things like that.

- No.

We don't want you

to buy it off of us.

We want you to make

something out of it.

Let me guess, Mary.

- A wedding dress?

- [chuckles]

- You're getting married?

- [laughing]

Mary's waiting for a miracle,

aren't you, Mary? Hey?

A c*ck with no babies in it, a

tongue that doesn't answer back.

And when you are of no more use,

you fall under the hooves of horses.

I want you to make

a suit like this.

Slippers as well and that

hat. We like that hat.

What size?

You know the man who

runs The Green Dolphin?

It's for him.

Will he come for a fitting?

He don't know he's

gonna be wearing it yet.

Mary, I'm gonna

stay here for a bit.

What, are you an item?

No, it's just a port of call.

We discuss revolution.

Mary, I swear the

conversation is secondary.

We just f*ck.

Well, f*ck him all

you want, Eliza,

but don't start believing

what he has to say.

Planting bombs

and causing chaos,

anarchists and

communists and Fenians

attract the sort of

attention we don't need.

We are ordinary, decent criminals,

and we thrive on neglect.

[door opens]

[door closes]

Come on. Yeah.

He was coming at you fast, and you

were chasing him round in the ring.

Yeah. Don't open up. Stay

tight like a f*cking crab.

Yeah.

But when he pops up, there's a

second where I can catch him,

and this time, I

will. I'll catch him.

Yeah. But if you miss, you'll

be open and he will catch you.

I'll read his eyes.

[scoffs]

Yeah, but you'll be the same

man, and he will be the same man.

Yeah, well, I've

learned from last time.

Brother, I watched you.

Watched me? What does that mean?

Hey, what did you see?

What did you f*ck' see?

I saw that you've slowed down.

And that you came up against

someone young and useful and

Well, you weren't fast enough.

Champions are fast.

Not champions around here, champions

of everywhere in the world.

Of the world, Sugar, yeah?

Up west, they're talking

about someone being the fighting

champion of the whole f*cking world.

And you can't do that if

you're you're dead.

Brother,

I saw in that lion tamer's eyes, if

we hadn't have dragged him off ya

that he would have k*lled ya.

And come this Saturday,

you will be the same man, and

he will be the same man and

You're my brother.

I'm talking sense to ya. [sighs]

And you will f*cking

listen, Sugar.

[sighs] Sugar.

[Eliza] Oh. [chuckling]

[chuckling]

[kissing]

- That e-enough now. I mean it.

- [sighs]

I swear to God,

Mary, we just f*ck.

We do f*ck.

And feel.

Why don't you tell

her it's more?

Why don't you tell me what you and your

friends are plotting in the shadows?

For your own protection.

Promise me you'll never

breathe a word of this to Mary.

Why do you fear her so much?

Fear?

You know the man I used to be

with, and you know what he did.

Well, it was Mary who

saved me, made me safe.

I told her what he did. [sighs]

Three days after I left,

he was found at home with a

butcher's knife in his throat.

She never said anything, but I

knew she was somehow behind it.

You believe in your cause.

And I believe in Mary Carr.

Did you get what I asked?

Courtesy of the Harrod's

Department for Sporting Gentlemen.

Good girl.

So, I passed?

Am I now an Elephant?

You don't become an Elephant.

The Elephants are born.

At the top of my thigh, I've got a

birthmark in the shape of a stiletto.

It's fate telling me

something, I think.

You leave fate to me.

Heard the name Sugar Goodson?

- No.

- You have now. Find him.

If you can persuade him to meet

me at Hell's Gateway in an hour,

you won't be an Elephant, but I

will have a bigger job for ya.

And only let those

who will benefit you

ever get access

to your birthmark.

This may be the bottom

of the barrel, Alice,

but we are gonna float elegantly

all the way to the f*cking top.

[chuckles]

[Sugar] I remember

showing you this place.

I haven't wanted to see you

because I've been out of sorts.

I'll be fine here.

The river keeps me calm.

I know.

But whatever it is you want,

don't make it anything that

will stop me being calm.

Oh, f [sighs]

It is the future, Sugar.

Do it like they do

up river in the West.

Fights organised by

lords and ladies.

You put yourself in the

hands of Peggy Bettinson.

No, no, no. Hear me out.

Respectable punches, honourable

blood, silk stretchers,

and mostly, the

fighting men don't die.

Until you wear gloves,

you are East End scum.

You wear gloves,

you're engaged in a

sport for gentlemen.

And that, Sugar,

that is where the money is.

Bare fists are gone.

I go out West to

f*ck, not fight.

Why don't you just try 'em on?

There's something wrong with me,

and there's something

wrong with you.

But the thing that's wrong

with me, I can punch,

and I can feel that

I'm hurting it.

But the thing that's

wrong with you is a hole.

You can't feel, Mary,

'cause there's a f*cking

hole in the middle of ya.

I've seen it.

Be there.

Saturday night.

Watch me k*ll him.

[sighs]

[panting]

[knocking on door]

[chuckles]

What do you think of my perfume?

[chuckles]

You smell like my grandmother.

Me taking your hand seems to

have caused a bit of a problem.

But I'd do it again because, among

other things, I read fortunes.

And your prospects

appear to be rather poor.

If you lose on Saturday,

- he will k*ll you.

- Me can't lose.

But if you win, he'll

have you k*lled.

- So

- [bones crack]

[groans] f*ck!

[groaning]

By the time the Trans-Siberian Express

arrives with the Chinese delegation,

you should be healed.

But you won't be

healed by Saturday.

I just saved your life.

[Hezekiah grunting, panting]

There'll be plenty of

ways to say thank you.