Original subtitles

[Medwin Harris] Previously on Washington Black...

Father's dead.

[Young George Washington "Wash" Black] But it's safe here, Titch.

Do not trust them.

Pay no mind to their words and their kind-seeming gestures.

Why do you have to go with him?

He's the one teach me to swim.

[sobbing]

Choose the right one to teach you.

You're carrying molasses from what I see.

I know where we might go.

We go to America. Virginia, to be precise.

Your marriage to McGee is vital to our survival.

Halifax was supposed to be a fresh start. I won't live a lie anymore.

-What are you saying? -That I will make another choice.

-[gunshot] -[men shouting]

[♪ dramatic music playing]

[Medwin] Somebody gotta watch that door.

Make sure the wolf don't sneak in the back.

But what if he already here?

-[knife stabbing] -[gasping]

[John groans]

-[waves whooshing] -[seagulls cawing]

[people chattering]

[Theodora] Virginia.

-Come around at last. -[Titch sighs]

After we dock, I'll make the introductions to Mr. Farrow.

He'll give you a fair price for your molasses.

Eh, speaking of, we can't sail up looking like this.

Might you advance us a small sum so we blend in with the locals?

[Theodora] We might.

George Washington Black, I am sorry about Barrington.

No, you're not.

I like your spirit, little pirate.

[Christopher "Titch" Wilde] Wash.

[sighs]

Your-- your friend, Barrington...

was perhaps not as lunatic as I once supposed.

And I declare that where I have failed you, I shall be better.

Wash.

What I'm trying to say is, you can trust me.

Today. Ever more.

[♪ gentle music playing]

[Titch chuckles slightly]

-Capital. -[chuckles]

So...

What do you say?

You ready for a brand-new adventure?

[♪ epic music playing]

[Titch] Behold us.

Our new finely tailored outfits befitting two explorers.

[Young Wash] The air in Virginia is different.

Yes, it's thinner here. Smells of bitter tobacco and cotton.

None of that sweet Barbados cane.

So, Mr. Farrow was a great friend and associate of my father.

-Have I already told you? -Yes.

-He was a scientist, like your father. -Yes, and like us.

-And an abolitionist. -Like you.

Ah! Here we are.

Capital.

When you say "Capital," you do this.

[Titch] [laughing] Is that so?

Am I an object of your study now, Wash?

-Is that alright? -Why, yes.

Observation is the proper province of a scientist.

[Titch] How do you square it all, Mr. Farrow?

Profiting from the sugar trade, being a scientist,

and your work as an abolitionist?

[Edgar Farrow] [chuckles] Revolutions and science

-require funding, dear boy. -[Titch] Mm.

[Farrow] She drives a hard bargain, your lady pirate.

[chuckles] But I'm all in.

I won't inquire too deeply as to the circumstances

that placed Christopher Wilde with pirates.

But I will say that a man needs to know what he's running to

as much as what he's running from. [grunting]

[Titch] You remain, as ever, the teacher, Mr. Farrow.

-And I, your student. -[Farrow chuckles]

[Farrow] I'm interested to learn more about this Cloud Cutter craft you built

and this budding young scientist you've arrived with.

The Royal Science League.

I'm a 22-year member of the RSL,

and a recipient of the Excellence Award

for my dissection techniques.

-Like your father, Titch. -Yes.

-Yes, my father was a member. -[Farrow] "Was"?

You mean is, surely.

Uh, Mr. Farrow, my father is deceased a year now.

[sighs] I hate to deliver the news to such a dear friend.

These are from your father posted within the last few months.

[letters thud]

We have been corresponding during his polar expedition.

I dare say you are mistaken.

Can't be possible.

[♪ melancholic music playing]

[♪ epic music plays]

-[grunting] -[dragging]

[panting]

[sniffling, grunting]

[♪ tense, dramatic music playing]

[grunting]

[♪ somber music playing]

[door opens and closes]

[footsteps approaching]

Wash, I was worried about...

-What happened? -He betrayed us.

What will you say happened?

Another face for The Wall.

[♪ somber music continues]

[birdsong]

[footsteps approaching]

My dear, you look absolutely beautiful.

[chuckles]

[Tanna Goff] Thank you for agreeing to cordials, Father.

Well, you wanting to see Mr. McGee is music to my ears.

-Father, can I ask you something? -Yes, of course.

You and mother.

I know your relationship was frowned upon.

But how did it feel...

when you were together?

[clearing throat]

Well, um...

it felt like...

fire upon summer grass.

[laughing]

-Father! -You asked.

[both laughing]

Did you know about me?

[clicking tongue]

Not for years.

She knew that if she told me, then I never would've left.

I think...

I know that I-I-- I loved her...

more than she loved me.

You told me no good comes from love.

Yes, well, I-- I meant my own broken heart.

In the end, your-- your mother and I could never have been together.

But you, daughter,

you-- you will write a different legacy for yourself.

[carriage approaching]

[dogs barking]

-[William "Billy" McGee] Mr. Goff, please. -[Mr. Goff] Thank you.

-[McGee] Thank you. [clearing throat] -[Mr. Goff chuckles]

[McGee] Have you finalized the guest list?

For...?

The wedding.

I assume that's the reason for this sudden invitation.

W-Well...

There's a different reason we're here today.

It's important to know who you're marrying.

You see, Mr. McGee, this is less about you

than it is about me and my chance

-to create my own legacy. -[Mr. Goff chuckles softly]

There is something we must discuss, a secret.

I'm intrigued.

[chuckles]

My mother was born in the Solomon Islands.

[Mr. Goff groans lightly, clears throat]

A native.

-As was I. -[Mr. Goff] Tanna, that's-- that's enough!

That's enough.

To be clear...

[sighs] I've only been passing as a white woman.

[sighs]

[slightly chuckles]

Is that it?

Certainly enough to give you misgivings about our wedding.

To live in a skin other than one's own...

[chuckles softly]

My poor dear.

-Mr. McGee-- -And to think that up until now,

I considered you a lady of entitlement.

Shame on me.

If I may be blunt, I know the circumstances

surrounding our marriage may offend your modern sensibilities.

But I think that given the correct amount of time,

you may be able to appreciate me in the way that I now appreciate you.

I don't understand.

Perhaps I, too, am more complex than meets the eye.

-Our contract is binding. Mm. -[Mr. Goff] Of course.

[♪ somber music playing]

[cicadas chirring]

[birds chirping]

[door opens and closes]

[wood creaking]

[♪ eerie music playing]

[footsteps approaching]

[sighs] Tanna.

How did things go with Mr. McGee?

I'm afraid I failed.

[dog barking]

And you? Any news of the hunters?

None.

Until Willard's body turns up, it's best I lay low.

I'm just glad you weren't hurt.

At least staying at Miss Angie's is a sight better than that cellar.

[birds chirping]

Come in.

[sighs]

[dog barking]

[Tanna] This book.

Uh, has been in your possession for some time?

Since I was a boy.

It's how I came to draw sea creatures.

You dog-eared page 112.

Yes, the watercolor of the mollusk that sheds its shell after--

After the larval stage.

Page 68?

The illustration of the decorator crab hiding...

[both] ...in the seaweed bed.

[chuckles] How do you know it as well as I?

This is my father's book.

-[Tanna chuckles] -[Wash laughs]

[Tanna] Who's Titch?

My teacher.

My, uh...

my mentor.

He was the man who took me from my home.

Oh.

Uh, "Turtle."

Is that you?

[Tanna] And Turtledove was my mother.

My father wrote this book about his discoveries in the Solomon Islands.

Where you were born.

What are the chances that you would have this book?

I know it so intimately.

There's more in common than we could have imagined.

[chuckles]

But what does it matter if...

if we can't find a way to be together?

No, you can't despair. No, I won't allow it.

I'll find another way to end my engagement.

But in the meantime,

we need a way to be together in public safely.

The solution, my father.

Wh-- [scoffs]

Well, what better way to shield oneself from the viciousness of one white man

than through the ego of another?

You already struck his scientific curiosity

when you came to our house.

-He said that? -Father's ego is the key.

So, we play to it.

He'll consider you one of his scientific discoveries.

And there is some measure of safety in that.

You do know your father kills his discoveries to study them?

It won't work. I'm not McGee.

I'm not the sort of man your father wants for you.

He needs some guidance.

More than he'd openly admit.

You need only spend more time together

for him to see how brilliant you are.

If you were to become Jack Crawford...

respected scientist and esteemed colleague of G.M. Goff,

you would not be vulnerable to attack in the way that you are now.

Alright.

Alright, alright.

Tell me the plan.

My father and I are going on a dive in the morning

to research his new book.

-[chair scraping] -You'll come with us.

For you...

I'd try anything.

[chuckles]

[♪ soft music playing]

[whispering] I have to go.

Before my father knows I'm gone.

Mm-hmm.

[whispering] Be careful.

-[bell clanging] -[people chattering]

[♪ light music playing]

Hello there.

[chuckles] It's a good day for the sea.

[Mr. Goff] Tanna, look.

I found my intelligent delivery boy.

-[chuckles] -[Tanna] What a coincidence.

-Hello, Mister...? -Jack.

Jack Crawford.

And how are you this early morning, Mr. Crawford?

I was just out for a stroll on my day off, sir.

Well, I'd have been asleep if Tanna hadn't discovered

that the slack tide was running in our favor today.

[chuckles] That is your good fortune then, sir.

You know, on a morning like this, the marine life will be plentiful.

Perhaps you'll make another extraordinary discovery.

Well, maybe.

[♪ light music playing]

Would, um, would you care to join us?

Given your interest in marine life?

I'm sure Tanna wouldn't mind, would you?

Well, I suppose not.

Well, very good. Come aboard, Mr. Crawford.

-Here you are. -Thank you.

Our adventure awaits.

[steam hissing]

-[ship horns blowing] -[seagulls cawing]

Mr. Goff, um, I hadn't realized upon our first meeting that...

you were the author of Resplendence of Nudibranchia.

Perhaps you and I can discuss it?

I do know every page by heart.

Every page? That's impossible.

Your book. As a boy, what it meant to me.

And-- and now, it means even more.

Your-- your watercolors are mesmerizing.

-[Mr. Goff] Well... -[Wash] It's true, sir.

-It's how I learned to paint. -[metal clanking]

-[Tanna] [grunting] My arm. -[Mr. Goff] Are you alright?

[Tanna wincing]

I'm afraid I can't dive, Father.

I'll do it.

Can you even swim?

I can, sir.

[sighing] Oh, boy.

Great.

Let's get you into this diving suit, shall we?

The, uh, the terrain below, it's--

it's an alien landscape.

And to stand upon it is to feel like a-- an explorer of the unknown.

[chuckles]

You'll see the world differently when you come back up.

I feel that part of me will always be down there.

[laughing] I understand, sir.

From 2,000 feet above, even an-- an island

looks like a pebble you can hold in your hand.

You consistently say the most interesting things.

You'll find my specimen counter just below.

It should be teeming with creatures. We'll stuff and study them.

Worry not, Mr. Crawford. They're-- they're the lucky ones

made immortal by science and my good name.

Now...

the main thing...

is to try not to die.

[Wash clears throat]

This valve is most important.

You must release oxygen into your breathing helmet

to replenish what's been used.

And you must check it constantly while underwater

to ensure a steady flow.

And that is how you breathe without gills.

[Wash breathing deeply, chuckles]

[♪ gentle music playing]

Now, are you ready for me to throw you overboard?

[water splashing]

[♪ uplifting music playing]

[laughing]

[♪ uplifting music continues]

[air hissing]

[gasping]

[♪ tense music playing]

[gasping continues]

[gasping]

[♪ music intensifies]

[shallow breathing]

[♪ suspenseful music playing]

[air whooshing]

[gasps]

[♪ uplifting music playing]

[air bubbles gurgling]

-[line thuds] -[Wash grunts]

-[water splashing] -[Tanna] Father, look!

[Mr. Goff] Oh, it's an octopus. That's a real catch!

[Mr. Goff grunts]

How on earth did you pull it off?

[Wash] Well, I-- I didn't catch her.

She swam into my arms. [chuckles]

She saw that I was struggling and-- and came forth to help me.

I'm certain of it.

Look at the way that she shape-shifts.

Her-- her colors. I've never seen one like it.

-A fine apprentice, perhaps, Father. -Well, he might just be.

We shall spend the rest of the day stuffing her.

Excuse me, sir. What if there was a way

to hold onto the creature's beauty before it disappeared?

What if that moment of life didn't have to turn into death?

Do you think you could do that? Find a way to keep it alive?

If you'll give me a day. Perhaps two.

Imagine the RSL's reaction to such a discovery.

A gold medal might be in my future just yet.

[♪ light music playing]

So, can you design a home for her?

[Wash] Maybe. Uh, but let's start at the beginning.

Well, marine animals absorb oxygen.

So, she'll need that to survive.

And the plants and the water give off oxygen,

and also absorb carbonic acid.

Which marine creatures exhale.

So, perhaps then the way to make them thrive in captivity--

Is to house 'em together.

[♪ light music playing]

Um, there will... [chuckles]

...have to be light if the vegetation is to get what it needs for synthesis.

So...

This go won't work.

It will have to be a clear glass tank.

That could work. Yes.

Tanna, your-- your fiancé left a note in our absence

requesting the honor of your company tomorrow.

He, uh, he mentions an outing of unprecedented splendor.

[sighs] And given his resources, I can only imagine.

[Wash sighs] I'll be on my way.

[Wash clearing throat]

No, Mr. Crawford...

Mr. Crawford, your thoughts are intriguing.

Come to me in a week's time with a-- with an update on your progress.

There's no point in-- in bothering Tanna.

She's gonna be busy planning the wedding.

Yes, sir.

[door closes]

Tanna, my dear, whatever you think is going on

between you and Mr. Crawford, it's not practical.

I don't know what you're talking about.

There is nothing going on. What'd you mean--

I saw the way that you looked at him, and he at you.

And I thought I made myself quite clear when I took you into my confidence.

You will not transgress. You will marry Mr. McGee.

I know you believe it's what's best.

And I've tried to follow your rules.

I will not let you make my choices for me,

whether it be who I marry or what skin I inhabit.

My issue is-- is with the larger world.

What kind of life do you think that you can have with that young man?

I am certain I could survive the indignities

the world would heap upon me.

I've been practicing since the day I arrived in London.

But it's-- it's more than dirty looks, or hostile comments, or-- or social exile.

Your life could be in jeopardy.

-[♪ solemn music playing] -[sniffles]

So, you're afraid.

[Mr. Goff sighs]

I'm prepared to walk through fire for love.

A path I believe in my heart you wish you'd taken.

You remember that feeling, Father. Don't you?

-[Mr. Goff sighs] -I know you do.

Do you honestly believe that one lovely day on the water

is gonna change our circumstances?

Nobility marries strategically. We're no different.

But you've already recognized his genius.

If Mr. Crawford is able to solve the problem before him,

then there is no limit to our success.

You said it yourself.

You know that without your marriage to Mr. McGee,

our family faces ruin.

This is what's best.

[♪ somber music playing]

[birdsong]

[clock chiming]

Well, it's a pleasure to see you too.

[Tanna] You'll have to excuse me, Mr. McGee.

My father's waiting for me to head back out onto the water.

Tanna, please.

Might we at least have a conversation like proper people?

[clearing throat]

You took me by surprise when last we met.

-To little avail, apparently. -No, I was being quite sincere.

You showed me a lens into who you really are,

and I quite simply wish to show you the same.

Oh. Well, I already know who you are.

Men like you, you use people, conquer lands, name things,

and tell yourself that they belong to you.

Men like me?

Don't you mean men like your father?

-I've got to go. -Forgive me.

I do not mean to insult you or my future father-in-law.

Then, why are you really here, Mr. McGee?

I look at you and I see someone brilliant.

Someone beautiful.

Someone who refuses to let the world

tell her who she should be.

And I know what you think you see when you look at me.

But there's more.

All my life, I have sought that fleeting chance,

that possibility, and I have taken it.

I'm here now because just like you, I knew I deserved more.

We're the same.

It's not simply about deserving more.

One has to be more.

Be more?

Be better, be more than what the world expects.

More than even you expect.

Can you be all of that?

Will you let me try?

I'm late.

And since this is your house, you can amuse yourself

or show yourself out.

[door opens and closes]

[door creaking open]

[insects chirping]

[matchstick sizzling]

[♪ brooding music playing]

[♪ brooding music continues]

[♪ music swells]

[people chattering]

[loud knocking]

Excuse me.

Yes?

Are you the one called Farrow?

-And you are? -A man who needs you

to smuggle this boy north.

His name's Harrison.

-Your son? -No.

I freed him from his master.

Freed him? By what means?

I'll be happy to show you if you don't let me finish my business.

[Farrow] Please, please, don't mind him.

Will you see to the boy?

-I asked you a question. -You already know who I am.

[♪ brooding music playing]

Hide. I'll contact my agent.

[♪ suspenseful music playing]

[Nat Turner] [grunting] Come on, Harrison.

We'd be well-advised to wait in the basement with them

-until this blows over. -Who is this man come before us?

That is the man who has loosed the dogs of fear.

Nat Turner.

Head down, and I'll contact my agent.

[flames whoosh]

[fire booming]

[♪ brooding music playing]

[Farrow] My agent will be here presently.

Once the boy's safe passage is certain,

I'll need you to leave immediately.

What's your name, boy?

I don't bite.

At least not our people.

Man give respect, he get respect.

My sentiments exactly.

Now, I must know your name.

George Washington Black.

British accent, American name.

Two countries at war.

[patting]

Do you know of heaven, Washington Black?

I-- I don't know. I know that everything that dies

-lives again in Dahomey. -[scoffs]

Where I come from, folks might call that heaven.

-But you-- you and I are different. -No.

No, boy, we all come from the same place.

We've been scattered across this white man's world for so long

surviving on the scraps he gives,

some of us don't even remember anything else.

Did the white man give you heaven?

Only insofar as he believed it was his to give.

Folk like you and I, Washington, Black folk,

we know that when our eyes close, they will open again

and see a better place.

-You sound like her. -[scoffs softly]

Kit, my friend.

See? Not so different after all.

That boy's name's Harrison.

Why don't you go keep him company?

Hello. I'm Wash.

[Turner] Englishman.

Englishman.

I'm addressing you.

Is this boy your slave?

[Titch] He's my friend and he's free.

-I helped him escape. -Escape?

To a place he can be taken and killed for no reason?

I am an abolitionist, my intentions are--

You are a charlatan!

Seeking to comforting pricks of guilty conscience.

Charlatan, you say?

Yet you stand there preaching to the boy about Heaven

and Providence all whilst your hands drip with blood.

-Titch! -[Titch] I know who you are, Nat Turner.

I've read about you and your methods.

Is that so?

Should I tell you why this boy is mute?

Tell you how he saw his father being made a meal of by dogs?

His mother being sold as breeding stock?!

And your answer is slaughter.

Violence cannot be the tool to freedom.

Reason, logic, and the appeal to man's better nature will win.

No, no, no, no! Turner!

[Titch gasps]

I see you have been marked.

-[Titch whimpers] -Tell me, Englishman.

This violence that kissed your face,

was it before or after you appealed to their better nature?

[Young Wash] Please, don't hurt him!

He's all I have.

You can't see the chains, little brother.

-You may try to sound like them. -[panicked breathing]

But you will never be him.

[♪ brooding music playing]

[♪ music fades out]

-[breathing shakily] -[Young Wash] Titch, are you alright?

[sighs deeply]

Is your father really still alive?

[scoffs]

His last letter was from the Arctic.

-I'm sorry, Titch. -[scoffs]

What I wouldn't give to tell him of the suffering that he's caused.

If I knew where my parents were...

I would go to the ends of the Earth.

We should go find him.

To the Arctic?

After everything I've pulled you into and away from...

are you sure you'd still be willing?

I trust you, Titch.

[chuckles softly]

Thank you.

[heavy footfall]

[footfall continues]

[thumping]

[Farrow] Oh, thank God. That's his signal.

Slave catchers en route.

Steps behind me, I fear.

[Farrow] Turner, you must leave immediately.

[agent] No. They're not lookin' for Turner.

They're lookin' for a Black boy and his British companion.

Washington Black and a Christopher Wilde.

[♪ dramatic music playing]

[faint cheering]

[cheering intensifies]

-[overlapping shouting] -[punching]

[♪ dramatic music playing]

Come on. Yeah?

[overlapping shouting continues]

Come on! Come on!

[♪ brooding music playing]

-[shouting] -[loud thud]

[body thuds]

-[audience cheering] -Come on! Yeah!

-[McGee shouting] -[audience cheering]

[♪ dramatic music playing]

[sniffling]

-[knocking] -[horse nickering]

[people chattering]

[♪ light string music playing]

Thank you.

[inhales deeply]

[clearing throat]

[cutlery clanking]

I'm afraid I haven't had the pleasure.

Willard.

McGee.

-I know who you are. -How mysterious. [chuckles]

And how might I help you, Mr. Willard?

I thought maybe I could help you.

Even more mysterious. [chuckles]

We have a common problem.

I'm not aware of any problem.

This one is close to home.

Perhaps you overlooked it.

Enlighten me.

You're familiar with a Black fella named...

What is he callin' himself these days?

Oh, yeah. [laughing]

Jack Crawford.

-I can't say that I am. -Really?

You do know that Miss Tanna Goff is, shall we say...

quite familiar with him?

[clearing throat]

[chuckles softly]

And what are you insinuating?

The insinuating is best left to you English.

I speak plain.

We can help each other.

This Black fellow that your Tanna is entangled with...

he's a piece of property to be corralled.

A threat to be contained.

And I find myself short on manpower and resources.

So, he's too much for you then, is he?

This Jack Crawford?

Do your fancy friends know what you do in your spare time, McGee?

What a gentleman chooses to do in his spare time is his business.

But what's behind this peacock costume of yours

is no gentleman.

It's a man who will help me remove this threat to us both.

No.

Excuse me?

I don't care who you think I am, Mr. Willard.

I don't care what you think you know.

I reject it.

And I reject you.

[♪ tense, dramatic music playing]

[sighs]

There will be consequences, McGee.

There always are.

[♪ brooding music playing]

[footsteps receding]

[♪ dramatic music playing]

♪♪

[♪ music fades out]

[♪ fanfare playing]