Original subtitles

Previously on "Manhattan"...

Because on July 4th, 1945,

we're going to test the gadget in our own backyard.

The Army manipulated us, you and I, Charlie.

We have to stop this train.

He doesn't just want a seat at the table.

He wants to shut down the project.

If you thought you were racing the Nazis to a superweapon,

your ignorance has been engineered.

I gave up my one shot at history

so you could get us a seat at the table.

You excited to incinerate 20,000 kids?

I think Frank Winter sabotaged the pretest.

This test is the start of a whole new era,

like Auro's interplanetary cruise ship crash-landing on Jupiter.

- Are you a spy, Jim? - Uh, Jeannie, wait!

Jim! I'll handle this.

I'm not going to Trinity.

I'm grateful for the opportunities

you've given me here, Charlie,

but I've had enough death for one lifetime.

- Where's Joey? - He's on his way to Brookline.

Juanita's driving him. He's going to live with my parents.

Keeping him safe from you,

just like you should have been kept safe from your father!

You think I won't get in the car and bring him back?

Your test is in 24 hours.

You think I don't know which way you'll drive?

You, a guy who went to a second-rate law school,

is getting orchestra seats to physics history?

You and Perseus

are going to go out there on your own.

You built the circuits.

You can wire them to go off at any time you like.

You want to kill the scientists.

You want to kill my friends.

Paul?

We need to talk about Jim.

Last car leaves the blast zone

at zero minus 30 minutes.

They test the firing switch...

Two hours earlier. I know.

So you rig the detonator

to go off when Isaacs hits the switch.

The bomb fizzles and scatters plutonium

halfway to El Paso.

Killing all the staff on the ground.

I think we should stick to the original plan.

Hold off till everyone evacuates.

Just... just you and me now, right?

The decision is ours.

We're not the directors of this play.

- We're the actors. - What's your part?

Make sure I do mine?

But where's the proof, Paul,

besides some baseball hat?

Meeks was the most devoted member of my group.

I practically had to crowbar him out the door

to attend his own mother's funeral.

What?

- Operator. - Yeah, outside line, please.

Fairview, 89091.

Hold, please.

Hello?

Yes, hello.

Who am I speaking with?

This is Edith Meeks.

I'm very sorry to trouble you, ma'am.

Is Jim Meeks your son?

Yes, he is.

Are you a friend of Jimmy's?

No, I... I was his teacher.

He's going to wind up in the electric chair.

God, Frank, Colonel Darrow finds out,

he won't make it that far, believe me.

- Who else knows? - No one.

And as soon as it's out of the bag, he's beyond our help.

A spy in the hand is worth 10 in the grave.

We can flip him... Double agency.

The Soviets have been doing it for decades.

We've just joined the game.

We?

I may have picked up some extracurriculars.

Listen to me, all right?

Intelligence boys will play poker with a spy,

but not with a saboteur,

so we have one chance to save him.

We'll get to Jim before he gets to the bomb.

We're looking for Dr. Frank Winter.

Is this his desk?

Where's Frank Winter?

Damn it. Helen.

I may have dabbled in some extracurriculars myself.

Why did you think I came to you first?

They're my friends, the scientists.

Well, they're also mass murderers.

You can do better.

Where the hell is my Trinity pass?

- Will you pull over? - What?

Pull over?

The goddamn pass has got to be in here.

The pass has got to be back here somewhere.

Go ahead.

"Batter my heart, three-personed God,

for you as yet but knock.

Breathe, shine and seek to mend,

that I may rise and stand.

Overthrow me, and bend Your force

to break, blow, burn,

and make me new."

Members of the Special Engineering Division,

report to position K to initiate evacuation proceedings.

Hey! Wait!

Charlie! Just wait, please!

So, the dawn... the dawn of the atomic age

being ushered in by a Jewish card sharp

whose family crash-landed on the American shore...

- You shouldn't be down here. - Less than 50 years ago.

No, just one quote. One quote.

Liza.

Fritz, you're here.

You were right. Work helps.

So does beer and crying,

but...

Jeannie would have wanted me to be here.

I warned them about the storm.

They don't care.

They won't even let me in the command tent.

But they'll let you in, right?

What do I tell them?

Whoa! Charlie! Charlie!

Fritz! You're here.

Yeah.

I'm glad. Grab a radio.

Make sure the circuit cables don't short out in the rain.

Whoa, whoa, we're supposed to meet

10 weather conditions before we pull the trigger.

Visibility over 45 miles, humidity below 85%...

Yeah, I read the report.

But you got to talk to the colonel, delay the test.

The colonel and I aren't on the best of terms.

Ready to go.

Look, at any given moment

there are 3,000 thunderstorms somewhere on the planet.

No, no. This one is special.

Gulf air at 17,000 feet, two inversion layers...

They're not going to call the game for rain.

Let's just hope it blows over.

It'll blow radioactive fallout from Roswell to Socorro.

I'm sympathetic. The Army isn't.

Either way, I take responsibility.

Hey. Where you been?

You all right, pal?

Yeah, I got a...

I got a flat tire on the way up.

Oh.

I'm supposed to check the...

The detonator circuits.

I think they already took care of it.

So it's... It's happening?

Right now?

In the face of reason and safety precautions.

Welcome to Jupiter.

From Oppenheimer.

You want a volunteer to climb a 100-foot steel lightning rod?

- Yes. - To babysit Shiva, the god of death,

in the middle of an electrical storm.

Well, maybe the Japs can spare a kamikaze pilot.

- I want one guy. - I... I don't have a man to spare.

- You don't have a man to spare? - What is it that you want?

This is a war. I don't care about one guy!

- Right. - I'll do it.

No way.

If the colonel wants to double-check the detonators,

he can do it himself.

We're concerned about the possibility of sabotage.

It's just a precaution.

No wife, no kids. I'll do it.

- I'll do it. - No, you're more valuable on the ground.

Jim, you don't have to.

It's okay.

It should be someone you trust.

Hey! Hey, you!

Boy Wonder said to give you this.

Start the clock.

Zero minus 150 minutes.

Begin the evacuation...

By 0430 hours,

every tent including this one

will be collapsed and loaded for transport

to the 10,000-meter perimeter.

And if anyone sees Dr. Frank Winter on the premises,

arrest him.

If he resists,

you have the authority to use all necessary force.

Guys, in one hour, this site is a ghost town.

Anything you want to salvage, grab it now.

It won't be here come tomorrow.

Helen!

- Oh! - Jesus!

What are you doing here?

You think I'd miss Trinity? I got money on this thing.

You're not the only one who's betting against me.

I took the over. 18 kilotons.

We'll be lucky to hit 10.

You and Frank built this bomb.

I have no doubts about how destructive it will be.

Your signature's all over that mess of wires, too.

In case you set the atmosphere on fire tonight

and this is good-bye...

- Helen. - No, I...

I don't blame you...

for choosing your family.

Dr. Prins, come with us, please.

- She's with me. - She's here on a stolen pass, sir.

We got her.

Patch me through!

Hello?

Wake Joey up. Put him on the phone.

Who... who is this?

Put my son on the phone, Miriam.

Charlie ?

Joey's not here, Charlie.

You're bluffing the wrong guy.

She didn't give me a chance to say good-bye to him.

Your daughter tell you that?

Charlie, is something wrong?

I think you better sleep it off, Chaz.

So help me God.

When it's done,

I'm coming east in a goddamn B-29.

And when I...

Max, just...

tell Joey that I...

Can you tell Joey I love him?

Can you do that?

Max?

" Jim? 'Ah!

Frank?

Frank.

You're not...

You're not supposed to be up here.

What are...

I'd feel better if you pointed that thing

away from the atomic bomb.

I called the house in Bangor, Jim.

I talked to your mother.

Why did you call my mother?

Well, if you have a hypothesis,

you check your assumptions, right?

I don't want to hurt anybody.

Well, you picked the wrong line of work.

But I will.

Jim, I'm not here to stop you.

I'm here to help you.

Man on PA; Zero minus 90 minutes.

- It's the 90-minute rocket. - Who knows you're here?

Do you really think they'd be running the clock

if anyone knew I was standing up in this room?

- What do you want, Frank? - The same as you.

I've been trying to put this thing

back in the box for over a year.

You remember the petition?

The faked intelligence on the German bomb?

I'm the one that blew the whistle.

That was... That was different.

I sabotaged the pretest.

The pretest? The pretest was a fluke.

- One of the detonators... - Was mislabeled.

Strand three, cap six.

Jesus.

You remember what you said to me the day we met?

You wanted to switch majors, to medicine, right?

Because you thought physics was just too abstract.

You were going to leave the world better than you found it.

That's what I'm doing.

Well, I can help.

It's already done.

You sure you don't want a second opinion?

You climbed a hundred-foot tower to check my work?

My guess is you, uh...

You rewired the firing system, right?

You botch the timing, you get a big bang,

but no chain reaction.

The plutonium scattered, gone.

That's certainly how I would have done it.

You reattach the trigger line?

Of course.

And you used silver wire, not tungsten or Nichrome?

I took Intro to Thermal Physics... from you.

And you grounded the capacitor bank, yes?

Because if you didn't,

a red light goes off in Charlie's tent

and up come the geniuses.

Well, uh, there's no... There's no grounding strap.

We're sitting on top of 100 feet of steel, Jim.

It's frontier medicine.

You learn to work with what you've got.

Will you toss me a wrench?

Shit.

Thanks.

Somehow this thing looked better on paper.

What time is it?

There's a call at the switchboard.

Your husband wants to speak with you.

Well, tell him that I will speak with him in the morning...

if there is one.

- Yes, ma'am. - Good night.

So how'd they sell you, the Russians?

Nobody sold me anything.

It was too big for one country to sit on,

even the good guys.

Is that what we are?

You hear what Charlie told the Target Committee?

He said we should drop it on a city full of civilians,

maximize collateral damage.

Someone has to stand up,

save the world from the guys who are saving the world.

Hello?

Hi, Charlie. Uh...

How are you doing up there?

Meeker. I was just, uh, rechecking the firing system.

We're clearing Site B in 30 minutes.

- You get to the lifeboats. - Copy that.

I'm leaving the tower in 30 minutes.

All right.

All personnel must clear the area in 30 minutes.

I repeat, all personnel must clear the area in 30 minutes.

Dr. Oppenheimer.

I wasn't supposed to be here, I know,

but as a member of the original implosion team,

I thought...

We call it Little Boy,

but it's not a boy at all, is it?

"Profligate, but ultimately dependable."

That describes every woman I know.

Sir?

The components for the uranium bomb

have been loaded onto the USS Indianapolis.

We're going to use Little Boy?

Without even testing it?

We know it will work,

which is more than I can say for...

For reasons of which you are well aware,

Frank Winter has been relieved of his post.

You're the new head of the group.

Thank you, s...

Sir, I, uh...

I'll return to the Hill the second the test is over.

No, you're leaving for Tinian Island

to prepare for delivery to the target.

Buy a slicker. It's monsoon season.

All personnel must clear from Site B

by 0430 hours.

I repeat, all personnel must clear from Site B

by 0430 hours.

Why don't you go ahead and start down

and I'll finish everything up here?

There's a car behind the munitions shed.

Key's in the ignition.

All right, I'll meet you down there.

I'm not leaving.

What?

It'll be over in a thousandth of a second.

Less.

I'm not scared.

Why don't you finish up?

I told the Army

setting off an atomic explosion

in an exposed valley

in a state where the weather changes every 10 minutes

is worse idea than the Bolshevik revolution!

Now what the hell is that, huh?

Balloons one through eight, do you read?

It's on every channel.

Maybe the storm picking up the signal

from an FM station or a practical joke.

Not a funny one. No signal, no kaboom.

You tell your colonel to stop the clock now!

Shit.

Go on and check the power on the I.S. You got it?

You've got 20 minutes to fix this!

Then we restart the countdown with or without radios!

Why don't you worry about evacuating the blast zone?

- I'll make the technical decisions. - Do we have a problem?

My wife, Jean Tatlock, take your pick.

I'm still the commanding officer.

I give the order.

Yeah? Well, my letter should take care of that.

What letter?

The one I put in the mail to the Secretary of War.

You think Stimson cares about a dead Communist?

No. That's why I sent him

your falsified German intelligence,

the lies about Magpie that you sold to the president,

with Frank Winter's math attached

in case he's curious about how you forged it.

Enjoy the fireworks.

Whew!

Well...

you got your wish.

Act of God.

We can't start the countdown again

until they get the communication system back up.

But maybe that will be enough time for the wind to calm down.

- How long will it take? - Who knows?

They've got to radio for a radio expert,

but since there is no radio...

They should have invited Frank.

What?

He got a job in a radio shop after the first war.

Once he wired up our chimney flue into a giant antenna

so he could listen to a boxing match in Chicago.

Huh.

Um, Liza...

I heard some things about Frank.

You know the pretest? The explosives test?

I know that it failed.

They think that Frank was responsible.

Responsible?

He made it fail on purpose, they say.

Fedowitz. Dr. Isaacs needs you.

You are listening to the Voice of America,

broadcasting live from San Antonio.

We're picking up a radio signal from Texas?

San Antonio must be 600 miles from here.

Must be one hell of an antenna.

"Hell of an antenna." You idiot.

♪ I've got spurs that jingle, jangle, jingle

♪ Jingle, jangle

♪ As I go ridin' merrily along

♪ Jingle, jangle

♪ And they sing, "Oh

♪ Ain't you glad you're single?"

♪ Jingle, jangle

♪ And that song

♪ Ain't so very far from wrong...

Jesus. Dance music?

I'm surprised they're not playing John Philip Sousa.

Do you ever think what else we could have done if we put our minds to it?

We could invent flying cars,

send a man to the moon.

Jim, you're a scientist,

so think this through rationally.

Whoever it was that sent you on a suicide mission...

No, they sent me on a homicide mission.

The plan... their plan was to blow the thing up

before the staff evacuated,

kill the whole brain trust.

So you already saved lives today.

You changed the plan.

Change it again.

- Save yourself. - It's too late for that.

You're a Soviet spy.

If you die up here sabotaging America's superweapon,

they're going to follow the bread crumbs.

And then what?

One bullet.

One bullet in Sarajevo. 17 million dead.

That was the First World War.

If you die in this room, Jim,

you won't end the second.

You will start the third.

We'll invade Japan.

Not to fight the Japanese,

but to throw out the Russians.

And from there, Korea, Manchuria,

casualties in the hundred-million range,

and it'll drag on for years.

And by then both sides will have one of these.

More than one.

We cannot let anyone believe

that a Soviet spy was responsible.

They'll never believe that it was an accident.

They have to think it was me.

- Hello. - It's a little late.

Well, it's not late. It's early.

They call it a day pass for a reason, ma'am.

Either way, this one's expired.

Oh.

Well, Colonel Darrow gave me permission

to attend services at the Loretto Chapel in Santa Fe

whenever I felt called to worship.

Surely you have it written down somewhere.

And would you mind giving this back to him when he returns?

Thank you.

I am the only story that doesn't end in Truman and Stalin

strangling each other over a negotiating table.

I'm no secret agent.

I'm just a shell-shocked old crank who had a change of heart.

You don't get it, okay? I can't go back down there.

Oh, God, what are you punishing yourself for, Jim?

Whatever mistakes you made, there is time to correct them.

I don't want more time. I don't deserve it.

Why? Because you passed secrets to an ally?

I don't care what you did

or what you think you deserve.

You changed the plan tonight.

You didn't want to hurt anyone.

- That is a good thing. - Jeannie!

Fritz's wife.

She, uh...

She found out.

Where's the 30-minute rocket?

They stopped the countdown.

We have to answer that.

No, we can't... I told them that I was leaving.

They don't know anyone's up here.

Do you think it's the wrong number?

Someone knows.

First they call, and then they knock.

Just tell them you had to recheck a connection.

Someone has got to answer that phone,

and you know it can't be me.

Hello, Frank?

What?

Hello? Hello?

Hello?

Frank.

Liza?

- What are you doing here? - How did you...

Did you short out the radios?

What...

Look, who else knows that I'm up here?

No one.

Frank...

they're saying that you sabotaged the test.

They're saying that you sabotaged the explosives.

I... you're going to get yourself shot.

Nobody's going to shoot anyone.

Come down.

Listen.

Listen, I need... I need you...

to do something for me, all right?

The next car you see,

I want you to get in it

and I want you to get out of the blast radius.

I'm not leaving till you're down.

Liza... Liza, listen.

Don't send up the cavalry.

The cavalry will shoot you, Frank.

Look, I've made a lot of mistakes.

I'm trying to unmake one tonight.

I don't know if you're still my wife,

but, God, I'm still your husband

and I love you.

So just promise me...

Promise me you'll leave now.

I'll find my way.

Frank?

Frank?

Testing, testing.

Testing! Testing.

Testing! Testing.

- Testing. - Okay, this is it.

That's it.

Channel 18 is clear.

Evacuate to Site C,

zero minus 32 minutes.

- Let's go. - We're good.

- 32. - Okay, well, take care, man.

Man on PA; Zero minus 30 minutes.

See?

There... there's the 30-minute rocket.

They restarted the clock.

You said that no one knew you were up here.

You were never going to go through with it, were you, Frank? Huh?

You're a son of a bitch, but you'd never do that to Liza.

What are you really doing up here, Frank?

Answer me!

Tropical storm in the desert.

Jazz on the shortwave.

Maybe the universe is trying to tell us something.

Maybe you should listen.

Maybe you should stop the countdown.

You hear about your husband?

Blew up the pretest, then swooped in to fix it.

- That's a new one. - It's not too late.

We've come this far.

If we don't finish the job, it was all for nothing.

That's what Frank used to say.

He tried to bury Little Boy, too.

Raided the budget to pay for your research.

Ladies first.

Frank...

All personnel must leave the area immediately.

AH personnel must leave the area immediately.

Ali personnel must evacuate Site B immediately.

I repeat, all personnel must evacuate Site B immediately.

Fritz! Frank's in the tower.

What do you mean? What tower?

The "tower" tower? How do you know?

I spoke to him on the phone.

- You have to radio it in. - No, Fritz.

You know what they think he is.

Well, is he?

Let's go, get on board!

I don't honestly know.

But I know the Army will shoot him.

Jim was up in the crow's nest... Meeks.

If Frank was there, he would have seen him.

- I'll take care of it. - Meeks?

I'll take care of it. Give me that radio. Now!

J.M ., confirm your location.

J.M., do you copy?

Jim!

All vehicles are leaving Site B immediately.

Get to your assigned vehicles immediately.

What the hell is this?

What did you do?

I hijacked the radios.

To what? To send out a distress call?

- Huh? S.O.S.? - No.

Then what? Huh? What?

You're going to filibuster?

You're going to stall for time?

I thought if I stopped the clock,

I could...

I could talk you down.

Oh, and then you could rewire the detonators?

God, after everything,

you are just like the rest of them.

You want the Army to drop it.

Trust me, Jim, the Army doesn't give a shit what I want.

They're going to drop this thing either way.

Not if it doesn't work, they won't.

There's another one where this came from!

Little Boy is already headed across the Pacific

on the USS Indianapolis.

The ship has sailed, Jim.

Literally.

No, that's...

They haven't even tested Little Boy.

- How can they be... - They don't need to test it.

It's a simple machine.

All of this, it's just...

It's just legwork, Jim.

Somewhere along the line,

someone set off a chain reaction.

I don't know, maybe it was me

the day I knocked on Einstein's door.

But it's snowballing, exponetial,

and nothing you or I do tonight is going to stop it.

Maybe you can live with it.

I betrayed my country,

my friends.

And I betrayed Sid Liao...

for the sake of this...

This thing I don't even believe in anymore.

Maybe you knew that already.

Sid.

That's exactly what brought you here, isn't it?

All of this... It was for him.

God, I keep rationalizing all the lesser evils,

hoping they'll add up to a greater good.

But it's just...

It's just bad math.

There's always some variable you didn't account for.

So I'm through.

I'm through trying to predict the future.

I don't know if the world's better off if the test fails,

but I do know that if you sabotage it, your life is over.

And whatever it is you have done...

My life is already over.

No. No, that's the thing, Jim.

There is a way out.

You're going to cooperate with the government.

What... what the hell is going on?

Fritz?

You're supposed to be in one of the bunkers.

Yeah! We all are!

Jesus!

Frank, what are you doing up here?

I rewired the detonators...

so the test would fail.

Somebody had to save the world

from the guys who were saving the world.

Jesus Christ, Frank.

I'm not even saying that you're wrong,

but if the gadget doesn't kill you, the Army will.

That's what Jim said.

He's been trying to talk me down for the last three hours.

He just didn't have the heart to shoot me.

Frank.

You were... You were right, Jim.

I have too much to live for.

Look, we got to get out of here!

We got to get out of the blast zone.

Come on! I mean, did you fix the gadget or what?

Come on.

Six hands are better than two.

Oh, my God. Are you serious?

Next time, maybe leave yourself a 30-minute buffer.

Put that gun back in your bandolier.

You're not going to need it.

Man on PA; Zero minus eight minutes.

Of course, here. There you are, sir.

You've got to take it.

Sir.

Ambulances are standing by

at their preset locations in Albuquerque.

Let's hope they get to play pinochle all night.

Miss?

Has Louis Fedowitz radioed in? Fritz?

♪ Love left dry

♪ Frost or flame

♪ Skeleton me

♪ Fall asleep

♪ Spin the sky

♪ Skeleton me

♪ Love, don't cry

♪ Love, don't cry...

Thank you, Juanita.

♪ Love, don't cry

♪ Skeleton me

♪ Skeleton me...

This is L.F.

Point Z. AH clear.

Give us this day...

Man on PA; Zero minus five minutes.

And forgive us our trespasses

as we forgive those who trespass against us;

and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.

♪ Soon comes rain

♪ Dry your eyes

♪ Frost or flame

♪ Skeleton me, fall asleep...

All right, everyone stay low to the ground.

Face away from the gadget.

♪ Spin the sky...

What's that noise?

It's frogs.

They come out after the rain.

Man on PA; Zero minus four minutes.

I guess even the weather

wanted this thing to happen tonight.

♪ Love, don't cry

♪ Skeleton me...

Zero minus three minutes.

If that gauge flickers, you hit the switch.

You hear me? You kill it.

You don't ask. You kill.

♪ Skeleton me.

Zero minus two minutes, 30 seconds.

Jim.

What are we going to do?

- What? - What? Up in the tower.

Frank. That wasn't him playing Tarzan.

That was treason.

I don't know what you're thinking.

I know this isn't my decision alone,

but I do not think that we should tell anyone.

I mean, he was just trying to do the right thing,

whatever that is anymore.

I mean, I don't like lying any better than you do,

but I just-I don't see what the point would be

in letting him rot in a jail cell.

Zero minus two minutes.

It was me.

What?

It wasn't Frank. It was me.

I gave the bomb to the Soviet Union.

I thought...

I thought the world would be better...

after Sid.

Oh, Jim.

- I thought I could... - Oh, boy.

Control the variables.

Zero minus 90 seconds.

It just... It just got away from me.

But if I could take it back,

I swear to God...

I'm sorry, Fritz.

I never wanted anyone to get hurt.

Wait, who got hurt?

Jeannie.

Wait, wait. Jeannie?

What are you...

Zero minus 60 seconds.

What do you mean, "Jeannie"?

What do you...

I'm sorry.

I'm so sorry, Fritz.

It's just that...

- No. - I'm sorry.

- No. - She was going to tell everyone.

Jim?

Zero minus 30 seconds.

He deserved the truth.

See you on Jupiter?

It worked.