All language subtitles for The White House - 1x01

(audience cheering and clapping)

(transition whooshing)

(pensive music)
(wheels rattling)

(horse whinnying)

(footsteps clopping)

(text thudding)

- I'm scared, grandma.

- There's no need to be.

We shall be there soon enough.

(horse grunting)

(horse whinnying)

(crow cawing)

(gun clacking)

(window squeaking)

(door knocking)

(gun clacking)

Not another step.

- [messenger] your
husband sent me.

Don't shoot.

- Apologies.

(door clacking)

We have had quite the journey.

How far is it to the
city of washington?

- You've arrived, mrs. Adams.

(light music)

- Saints preserve us.

(dramatic music)
(horse whinnying)

- I will be president.

You will be my vice president.

- I'm not the one who stabs
his oldest friends in the back.

(sheets rustling)

- Here we plan a new west wing.

- You assume you're untouchable,

But everyone has secrets.

(attacker grunting)
(strikes smacking)

(attendees clapping)
- ladies and gentlemen,

I give you your new president.

- That beautiful white house

Will be the beating
heart of our nation.

You don't talk about that

Unless you're absolutely sure

No one is listening.

- It's about people
making money,

Pure and simple.

(abigail crying)

- Lies, all lies.

(gun blasting)

(cover smacking)

(gun clacking)
(strikes smacking)

- This house is a
lightning rod for trouble.

(fire crackling)

(dynamic music)

(saw scratching)

(inquisitive music)
(horse whinnying)

- [john] you, sir.

Paper.

(pages tearing)

(pages rustling)

(door slamming)

When will it be ready?

- Will what be ready?

- [john] the house.

- Oh, I see.

Uh, my team's working
around the clock

As fast as we can, sir.

- [john] damn it all.

It's not fast enough.

My wife will be
arriving any minute

And I'm going to have to
show her around a cesspit.

Give me that.

I want you to remove
this building site,

And I want you to be the
one to explain to my wife

Why the presidential house

Looks like it was
hit by a tornado.

- When the white
house was built,

It was started in 1792.

And when the first
president moved in,

It was john adams.

He arrives in November,

November the 1st, 1800.

When adams moves in,

America was still a
very young country.

- John adams is actually
living in a construction site.

So around him, as
he's trying to conduct

The business of
the united states,

They're still
putting up the walls.

- Lord knows I love
her, my wife, claxton,

But she can be a banshee

When the wind takes her.

I fear for you.

(walking stick whooshing)

I genuinely do.

(claxton whistling)

- Come on, guys.
- There you go.

- [claxton] faster, faster.

I'm gonna lose my job.

- Americans didn't quite know

What to call this
presidential home.

It was sometimes called
the president's mansion.

It was also called the
presidential palace.

(hammer banging)

It was built from sandstone,

Which is porous.

So they whitewashed the plaster

With a mix of salt,
rice and glue,

All in the hopes
to weatherproof it.

And that's why it's white.

- Don't just sit
there, do something.

(hammer banging)

(claxton whistling)

- [paul] but it's really
not until theodore roosevelt

Became president in 1901

That it has
officially been known

As the white house.

- Claxton.

Put that in the outhouse
where it belongs.

And for god's sake,

Empty it.
- Yes, sir.

- Right now, the only
thing that stinks

More than that latrine

Is washington politics.

(walking stick smacking)

Out of my way.

- Some things in american
history never change.

Politics and partisanship

Was just as heated in 1800

As it is today,

Maybe even more so.

(bell ringing)

Washington was a new city.

It was built on the banks
of the potomac river.

And when john and abigail
adams was moved in,

It was really just a
squalid little town.

There were very few buildings.

It was shabby, it was dirty.

- Washington dc is mostly
government workers,

Business people from the north,

But you also have african
american enslaved human beings

To do the brute labor

That brought washington
dc into being.

- Ladies.

(ladies laughing)

- Vice president jefferson.

Have you seen the new
presidential palace?

It's going to be a
beautiful building.

- Or a monstrous waste
of government money,

An eyesore and a
blight on our nation.

- Indeed.

- Thomas jefferson
is the primary author

Of the declaration
of independence,

Then serves as
governor of virginia.

He then becomes the
first secretary of state.

Then the second vice president.

Thomas jefferson is running
for election in 1800.

He's running against john adams.

- John adams and
thomas jefferson

Were compatriots during
the american revolution.

But adams as a federalist

Believed in a strong
central government,

While jefferson as a republican

Believed in a small,
limited government.

So as soon as it
came to governing,

They realized how
different they were.

- [thomas] mr. Callender.

- Mr. Vice president.

- Hmm.

- I have a gift.

- [thomas] I
already have a copy.

- Of course you do.

It's your handiwork after all.

- Not all mine.

(horse whinnying)
(pages rustling)

"president adams is a hideous
hermaphroditical character

With neither the force
nor firmness of a man,

Nor the gentleness or
sensibilities of a woman."

Not a line we discussed, james.

But I'd be lying if I
said I didn't enjoy it.

- In the newspaper wars

Of the early republic,

No figure was probably more
dramatically interesting

Than james callender,

Who was commissioned
by jefferson

To write against adams.

- [james] you, uh,
have something for me?

- I do.

(paper rustling)

- "the man who would be king.

John adams wants john
quincy, his own son,

To marry the daughter
of king george."

- Maybe.

- Maybe is good
enough. (laughing)

Well, I can use this.

- Excellent.

- Uh,

Aren't you forgetting something?

(envelope smacking)

- Aren't you gonna
check it's all there?

- Mr. Jefferson,

If we can't trust politicians,

Whom can we trust? (laughing)

(dynamic music)

I look in your
eyes, mr. Jefferson,

And I see a shark.

Unfeeling killer.

I hope you never turn on me.

- Then don't give me reason.

Keep the articles
coming, mr. Callender.

And don't stop digging.

I need adams on his knees.

(birds singing)
(tools clacking)

(saw scratching)

- [paul] abigail adams
was obviously pleased

To be back with her husband,

But she was not too pleased

With the surroundings.

The white house was
essentially unfinished,

There were only handful of rooms
that were really habitable.

And it smells of hog
and horse hair and beer,

The ingredients that they used
in the plaster on the walls.

- For god's sake, man,

Hide the bucket.

Ah, my own little
susanna. (laughing)

And an extra special guest.

We shall have to
make another bed up.

- Yes.
- Huh? Yeah.

(susanna and john laughing)

(lips smacking)

My love, how is she?

- Confused, hurt.
(hammers banging)

- Quit that infernal racket.

- Adams, he had highs and lows.

He's maybe a little
bipolar, I don't know.

And she functioned
to comfort him

And stabilize him.

He really needed her.

(light music)

- Ah, mr. Claxton.

My wife, abigail.

- It's a pleasure.

- I hear you are the agent

For furnishing the
president's house.

- That is correct.

- It seems what we really need

Is an agent for finishing
the president's house.

I'm sure you are doing
your best, mr. Claxton.

And now that I am here,

We shall soon turn
this house into a home.

Uh, we shall leave you
to your, um, duties.

- Would you like to
see your bedroom?

- Yes.
- Come on. (laughing)

(mr. Claxton exhaling)

- All right, susanna,
it's off to sleep now.

Comfy?

Good.

It's not right.

Don't get me wrong,
I want her here,

But she should be
with her parents.

- And she would be

If her father wasn't hell bent

On destroying his family.

- You mustn't speak
about charles like that.

Whatever his faults,

He is still our son.

- Faults?

Abigail, he is an abomination,

And no son of mine.

- [catherine] charles
has been problematic.

He is married and
has two children,

But he can't really
seem to support them.

So at some point, charles
moves out of his home,

Leaving his wife
and children behind.

Abigail was concerned
enough to take susanna,

The little girl, with
her to washington.

(pensive music)

- What are you looking at?

You never had a son,

Any children of your own.

No kindred blood out there

Just waiting to shame
your family name.

(transition whooshing)

(dog barking)
(text thudding)

(door knocking)
(pensive music)

Charles.

(sheets rustling)

You rake.

You blood.

You beast.

I renounce you.

I renounce you.

- Charles, though he is
married and has two children,

Has formed very
close relationships

With certain men.

And this was really
upsetting to john adams.

- Would you know what to do?

Tell me.

- Talking to yourself is the
first sign of madness, john.

- And choosing to be
president is the second.

(both laughing)

- You must reconcile
with charles.

- How can I?

There's an election coming,

I'm already behind in the polls.

Anybody finds out
what charles is

And what he had done,

Not only will I
lose the presidency,

But the adams name will
be mired in shit forever.

- I know you love him.

He is your son

And he is hurting.

End your estrangement
before it's too late.

(pensive music)

- I cannot.

- You mean will not.

(birds singing)

(newspaper rustling)

- "adams' plot to have his
son marry princess augusta,

Second daughter to king george,

And to establish a dynasty

To unite britain and america

Was only foiled by
the intervention

Of george washington,

Who, dressed in his
revolutionary war uniform,

Confronted adams

With a sword."

(newspaper rustling)

I'll kill him.

(birds singing)

- [catherine] that fall
of 1800 was a tough one.

It was a really hard time
for the first family.

(footsteps clopping)

(dog barking)

- It was not the washington
dc we think of today.

It was a swamp.

I mean, many people would
say it's a swamp today,

But it was literally
a swamp then.

(bell ringing)

- If you walked, especially
women in long gowns,

If you walked from one
house to another house,

She'd be covered in mud.

(sticks clattering)
- there's a famous story

Of abigail hanging the laundry

In the drawing room,

Which sounds funny

Because it was just
like living in a shed.

- Where do you want this?

- Just leave it
in there for now.

- John and abigail
had furnishings

That they had inherited

From the washington
administration.

There were other things
that folks around the city

Could just sort of scrounge up.

It's not exactly, shall
we say, a high decor.

- John.

The servants will see.

- I don't care.
- (laughing) well, I do care,

You old octopus.

What have you done?

- I have taken a stand

Against the lies
aimed against me.

There will be consequences

For those who write or publish

Falsified news stories.

(lips smacking)

Adams went after critics

And newspapers that he
deemed too critical of him

And his government.

- Callender and his ilk

Caused the federalists
finally to say,

"we can't stand this anymore,"

And that's how we
got the sedition act.

- It's going to make it a crime

That's punishable
by imprisonment

To write seditious material

Against the government

Or against the president
of the united states.

(pensive music)

- James callender?

- (scoffing) who's asking?

- Under the authority
granted to me,

You are hereby detained
under the sedition act.

- (scoffing) what?

You are making a huge mistake.

I have powerful friends.

President adams
will regret this.

Ah.

- Republicans considered
the sedition act

An absolute affront to
the first amendment.

That is not going
to win john adams

Any popularity contests.

- "the robins built their nest

And soon had a fine home.

Four eggs were laid.

Mr. Robin said, 'we will
promise ourselves much delight

With our new family,

But in truth, they will
occasion us much worry.'"

(pensive music)

Susanna, why don't
you go to your room

And wait for me there.

(page rustling)

(abigail crying)

Oh, charles. (crying)

(page rustling)

- I would've died for him

If it would've killed his
faults and disease. (crying)

- Charles is 30 years
old when he dies,

And he dies of alcoholism.

Alcohol at that time was
probably close to poisonous,

So we think it was
definitely alcohol related,

But it may be the alcohol
that actually poisoned him.

- (crying) not this soon.

- Good lord,

Why now?

- What does that mean?

- What mean?

- "why now?"

- Nothing.

I, I mean there's so
much happening now.

- You are making this about you?

All you can think
about is the election?

Your reputation?

- Not now, man.

Can you not see?

- Sir,

The vice president.

(john sighing)

(abigail crying)

- Mr. Jefferson,

An unexpected pleasure.

- Mr. Adams.

- So?

- Oh, I just thought I'd come
to see the place for myself.

I've heard so much.

- If you would like
to come another time,

I could arrange a tour.

- I'd say there's enough
space here for two emperors,

One pope and the grand llama.

Tell me,

Which one are you?

- I'll tell you
which one I'm not.

I'm not the one who feeds lies

To parasitic journalists.

I'm not the one who stabs his
oldest friends in the back

And blackens a good name.

When I come at a man,

I come at him from the front.

(john scoffing)

You never have liked
confrontation though,
have you, thomas?

Maybe that's why you ran away

And hid in the mountains

When the english army
advanced on your house

During the war,

And left braver meant to die.

- Old lies.

Come on, you can do better.

- Back then, we were friends.

I defended you.

(dynamic music)

James callender is behind bars.

You're going to need
to find a new creature

To write down your lies.

(upbeat music)

- President adams
must be stopped.

- That man is dead to me.

- I wanna know what's going on

With the master and that woman.

- Well said, freeman.

- Tell the president james t.
Callender is coming for him.

- No one would ever believe him.

Let him shoot his mouth off.

- Careful what you
wish for, thomas.

(horse whinnying)

(light music)

(logo whirring and hissing)