I was working in my office on 138th Street.
Mostly fixing up banged-up guys, like myself, from the Great War.
See? Beautiful.
All from injuries the world was happy to forget.
Fixing faces, lifting spirits, singing songs.
Peanuts
I left my eye in France.
And I was constantly on probation with the medical board...
for trying to make new medicines.
I mean, we needed medicines that didn't exist yet...
just to get through the day, with the pain and the nerves.
Walk right in. Urgent.
I worked with an attorney...
my best friend from the war, Harold Woodman.
-Hey, Burt. -What is going on? What is this place?
-It's a very important case. -Yeah?
-Pays very handsomely. -Nice.
-Dinner date with Beatrice? -Yes.
-So disappointing. -She's my wife.
Is he all right to perform the procedure?
Yes. He is. It's okay.
-He's not gonna do it. -He's gonna do it.
-Calm down. -Who is this?
This is Liz Meekins, Burt.
Meekins? As in, relation to...
He's my father. I know you admire him very much.
-Oh, my God. Yes. -We both did. Do.
I really do.
That's why he's gonna speak at our reunion this year.
Very nice to meet you.
-Are we meeting your father here? -Let her finish, Burt.
Excuse me.
My allergies are terrible today.
I wake up, it's in my sinus...
and it's the whole day.
I don't know what you're doing, and I don't wanna know what you're doing.
You have two hours until the embalmer comes.
What happened? He was gonna speak at the gala.
They hate that we work together, let alone that we're friends.
Well, I don't listen to any of that Park Avenue garbage from them.
Yes, you do. You care a little bit.
And all it takes is a little bit, Burt. Then they got you.
Like that drop of blood from the cut you got from the war before I stabbed that German.
Those cuts clouded your eye, and guess what...
you lost the eye forever.
Welcome to Minters, gentlemen. Table for two?
You want me to go to our favorite tree...
and get bark in the Argonne Forest...
where they are blowing people up?
It will be honorable, glorious. Good for the family.
Well, that all sounds pretty good, except that...
in-laws part, but maybe that's why I can trust you.
So, we'll make a pact.
You see to it that we won't die.
And I'll make sure...
you won't get killed.
We'll look out for each other.
Why are we wearing French uniforms?
The American soldiers, they don't wanna be seen with us.
It's disgraceful. I fought to create this regiment...
in the spirit of kindness and unity.
Hope to see you on the other side of the Argonne in good shape.
God be with you.
I saved Harold.
He saved me.
And there was this French lady saving both of us.
Give me the rest...
Do not throw that away.
Why do you want to keep it?
It's unsanitary.
It's none of your business.
Get out of here!
Get out of here.
Stop this atrocity!
It's indecent...
...criminal...
...and you are blaspheming...
...by keeping this bloody metal!
She's blaspheming?
I'm blaspheming?
The metal was obscene when it went in.
I redeem it when I take it out.
You prefer to keep it all hidden.
It insults God...
...and the families of the dead and the wounded.
No, she's right.
She can keep this bloody metal.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
-She's right. -You see?
Take it easy, Harold.
How dare you!
Oh, my God!
and you really see them...
you see the kid that used to be them.
You see the part of them that's vulnerable.
Harold and I had that kind of seeing each other right from the start.
Well, now that the war is over...
-Hey, Burt, you gotta help me... -Very good.
...trade something beautiful, and in return, she's gonna show us...
what she does with all the metal she took from our bodies.
Her name is Valerie.
What do you do with all that shrapnel, Valerie?
If you want to know, you have to trade me something.
-She told me the same thing. -I got nothing.
Nonsense song.
That's a good idea. How about that?
What's a nonsense song?
All right.
The red sun.
Some grapefruit.
The handkerchief.
The red sun...
...some grapefruit...
...the handkerchief...
...when you call.
What will my Beatrice think about the missing eye business...
and the scars, and the scars on my back and everything?
Can we do anything about that, Valerie?
I know benefactors in a hospital in Amsterdam.
They'll give you a new eye.
Amsterdam?
When I was first going through France a couple of years ago...
okay, things were a little more difficult. I had to stab a guy.
-I had to hit a lady with a brick one time. -What?
-Wow. -Yeah, it's a long story.
But with you two, it will be a cakewalk.
Huzzah. This is my American colleague, Henry Norcross.
How do you do? We've been friends of Valerie's family...
through international business for many years.
We've kept her safe on her adventure...
and in return, she's helped serve the good of the world.
How did she do that exactly?
By attending various dinners and functions...
and telling us what she's learned about banks...
and troop movement, so on and so forth.
You're spies.
No. No, sir.
He works for a glass company...
and I work for the Department of the Treasury.
They're old friends. They've helped me out, and I've helped them out.
Now I think they'll help you out.
This is the good part. But the bad part will come again one day.
But for now, this is the good part...
in Amsterdam.
These are the lights right here. They can be a little tricky.
You gotta go up, down, up, down, up.
They'll flicker for a little bit. See?
I mean, it's a big place. Paul and Henry organized it for me, but it's a wreck.
-She was right. This was the good part. -And this tap...
-It was fantastic. -I mean, don't let it scare you.
When you use the water...
-The world was suddenly our oyster... -...it will do that.
...and it was glorious.
That's normal.
Yeah. Amsterdam is in the heart...
and was there all along.
Go on!
Paul, show them the sand dance!
And so the pact now had three.
I stayed in Amsterdam for a while...
because it was glorious there.
He was steady and strong.
She was bold and luminous.
It was what the French call a coup de foudre.
Love at first sight.
She made her art.
We can figure it out, right?
I know a thing or two about Park Avenue.
Please don't go.
Valerie.
Let's be realistic. This can't last forever.
How are we supposed to live?
I missed Beatrice...
even though she and her family sent me off to war.
Serve your country.
When I first met her, I was at a charity event at medical school.
And I see this woman, the most beautiful woman I've ever seen.
Oh, my God. You should've seen her. And we danced all night.
If your family has the kind of influence that can help Burt get out of jail...
I think you should do it.
I mean, the pact is the pact, Valerie.
I told you I ran away from something, didn't I?
That's all you need to know.
But, yes, my family could possibly help him.
But if I contact them, they'll know where I am.
And if they know where I am...
they will find a way to possibly drag me back.
I was suddenly released from jail.
Never heard from her.
Harold came back to New York. Got his law degree.
You have a claim.
We worked together over ten years.
The good doctor and I will take good care of you.
All kinds of trouble we got people out of...
until the Meekins case.
This was trouble that now we were in, ourselves.
That's what we've become? A moment of weakness?
And my father can't even know that I'm doing this...
because he'll take away all kinds of privileges.
What's wrong here?
Do you remember when we would have nights...
just Emily Dickinson poetry, and singing together...
and just staring at each other? What happened?
Do you choose me...
or do you need me?
What kind of a question is that?
I was talking to someone today...
and they said that love is choosing someone...
not needing them for some other reason.
Did you need me when we met, or did you choose me as a person?
-How dare you come in here? -The door was unlocked.
-This is still your listed address, right? -Apparently so.
Detective Getweiler, what brings you here at this hour?
You need more pills, Lem?
I know you have the same brace as I do...
not like Mr. Hiltz.
Your flat arches stopped the Germans from seeing you in the Rhineland.
You know why I'm here, Burt.
You and Woodman fled the scene after you pushed the Meekins woman under a truck.
to give you everything that they've offered, I'm afraid it might cost you your job.
My father has a lot of friends at City Hall.
Get us everything you promised.
Understand, you and me...
we got something in common.
We served, not like this guy.
What about the missing purse? Where did that go?