The mean streets of Baltimore. Runners and dealers for the MURDOCH
DEALER 1:
Yo! Got your Fox TV, yo! Re-up on Fox TV!
DEALER 2:
News of the World! Got your News of the World!
DEALER:
Times! Got pay-for-view online Times!
A few gunshots are fired as the dealers attempt to take total control of SKY. Their only aim is material gain, and power for the sake of power. Which means getting in with politicians.
Down In The Hole, a song about the concealment of evil rather than the annihilation of evil, plays.
COURTHOUSE, INT, DAY
ANDY COULSON (WEEBAY) sits in the back of the courtroom, dreaming of the day he'll get to work with a rare breed of slimy fish (DAVID CAMERON). Beside him, REBEKAH BROOKS (STRINGER BELL) is doodling pictures of Superman, and LITTLE MAN (Glenn Mulcaire) has his arms folded. At the front of the court, CLIVE GOODMAN is taking a twenty for the sake of the MURDOCH family. STRINGER nods, approvingly.
BRIAN PADDICK, (JIMMY MCNULTY) angry and drunk, leans forward and hisses in STRINGER's ear,
BRIAN PADDICK:
Nicely done.
MCNULTY gets up and leaves, angrily.
PROJECTS, EXT, DAY
JAMES MURDOCH (D'ANGELO BARKSDALE) is explaining the finer points of chess through an on-the-nose metaphor to IAN EDMONDSON (BODIE) and ANDY GRAY (WALLACE).
JAMES MURDOCH:
Now this here, this is the King - like Rupe. You lose the king, you lost everything. So he got to stay back. He can't get involved in no war. And this is the Queen. Queen ain't no bitch. She take care of business.
ANDY GRAY:
Remind me of Rebekah Brooks.
IAN EDMONDSON:
Your attitude towards women is going to get you into trouble one of these days, Andy...
Your attitude towards women is going to get you into trouble one of these days, Andy...
POLICE BASEMENT, INT, DAY
A bunch of Metropolitan Police HUMPS, led by JOHN YATES (DEPUTY BURRELL) continue their not-too-thorough investigation into the MURDOCH family. Nobody suggests planting a wiretap on the phones, which is ironic, since that's exactly what the other side are doing. Sean Hoare (BUBBLES) attempts to give them evidence but his services are ignored. The investigation drags on for years.
A FLASHY, INTIMIDATING CLUB ENGINEERED AROUND MACHO MASCULINITY AND THE OBJECTIFICATION OF WOMEN, WHERE YOU HAVE TO PAY TO GET IN, SPECIFICALLY, THE NEWS OF THE WORLD, INT, DAY
REBEKAH BROOKS and RUPERT MURDOCH (AVON BARKSDALE) discuss their support of DAVID CAMERON (FUTURE PRIME MINISTER CLAY DAVIS). They also note that ANDY GRAY may be snitchin'. They also worry about their small-time, poverty-stricken competitor, who keeps attacking them and putting himself out there as a socialist Robin Hood figure, THE GUARDIAN (OMAR LITTLE). BROOKS in particular tries to strike out against OMAR.
POLICE BASEMENT, INT, DAY
OMAR gives evidence against the MURDOCH family. The case begins to shift slowly forward. There's simply too much evidence now to be ignored forever.
PROJECTS, EXT, DAY
NEWS INTERNATIONAL, cleaning up their house, has WALLACE (ANDY GRAY) gunned down by his own colleagues in the projects. Nobody cares, because he sort of deserved it. Truly, there is no black-and-white in this complex, realistic depiction of a society in decay.
COURTROOM, INT, DAY
WEEBAY (ANDY COULSON) takes life for the MURDOCH family; meanwhile, the Met's investigation has been closed down before it can really pinpoint the biggest political figures touched by this corruption, or the heads of the family itself. Some more mid-level players, including IAN EDMONDSON, are given up by BARKSDALE in exchange for his own freedom; STRINGER gets off free as well. NEWS INTERNATIONAL has to lose the NEWS OF THE WORLD, but sets up shop instead in an abandoned, dreary funeral parlour where nobody goes any more (THE TIMES). PIERS MORGAN (CUNT) complains publicly about WEEBAY's fate.
BRIAN PADDICK leans over and whispers in STRINGER's ear,
BRIAN PADDICK:
Catch you later.
THE MEAN STREETS OF BALTIMORE, EXT, DAY
Nothing has changed. The dealers and runners still run around spying on public figures and cooking up scandals, the politicians still allow their journalistic connections to dictate their decisions and vice versa, the Met still have corrupt high-ranking officers in their ranks, and PIERS MORGAN remains a CUNT.
All in the game, yo. All in the game.
