Waco (TV Mini Series)

The Strangers Across the Street (2018)

Taylor Kitsch: David Koresh

Photos 

Quotes 

• David Koresh : Say, we're having a little gathering here this evening. Love for you to join.

  Jacob Vazquez : Tonight?

  David Koresh : You bet.

  Jacob Vazquez : Oh, man. Y'know, I... I got a long day ahead of me.

  David Koresh : Well, we'd love to have you, and your friends, too.

  Jacob Vazquez : Well, thanks again for the beer and the pizza. Really appreciate it.

  David Koresh : All right. We'll see you around.

  [as Jacob heads back into the house, David, Thibs, and Steve turn to leave] 

  David Koresh : You have a good day, now. One thing we know. Those guys are not ranchers.

• Jacob Vazquez : Hey, how's it going? Can I help you with anything?

  David Koresh : Yeah, we saw you guys just moved in across the street, and, well, we wanted to welcome you to the neighborhood. I'm David.

  Jacob Vazquez : [shaking hands]  Jacob.

  David Koresh : Nice to meet you. Consider this a little housewarming.

  Jacob Vazquez : [he's handed a pizza box and a case of beer]  Ah! Oh, thank you. Oh, wow. Hey, I... I'd invite you in, but, um, I haven't got any furniture yet.

  David Koresh : Oh, not a problem.

• David Koresh : So, uh, what brings you boys all the way out here?

  Jacob Vazquez : We're... we're, uh, looking for country properties. We're-we're ranchers.

  David Koresh : Ranchers?

  Jacob Vazquez : Yeah.

  David Koresh : It is funny you say that.

  Jacob Vazquez : Why?

  David Koresh : We were just having this debate on the walk over here. Maybe you can settle it for us.

  Jacob Vazquez : Sure.

  David Koresh : How many cattle can a West Texas scrub carry per acre? I was at seven. Thibodeau here was at twelve. And Steve was way out there at over twenty. What... what do you think?

  Jacob Vazquez : Uh, you know, my business partner is the expert on all this, and he's not here right now. But, you know, when he gets back here, I bet he'll answer that for you.

  David Koresh : No worries at all.

• David Koresh : Well, it's not Sheriff Harwell's people.

  Judy Schneider : Well, maybe it's Immigration, 'cause a few people here from other countries don't have visas.

  Steve Schneider : I have to go on the record here and say whoever they are, it doesn't seem like the right move inviting them in.

  David Koresh : What do you recommend we do, then, Steve?

  Steve Schneider : At least keep them at arm's length. It's not a bunch of locals down at Cue Sticks.

  David Koresh : Push 'em away, it'll just make 'em more curious. Show 'em we have nothing to hide, they'll lose interest.

  Wayne Martin : They don't have probable cause. If we invite them in, we'd be essentially giving them a search warrant.

  David Koresh : What are they gonna find here, Wayne? A bunch of nice people studying the Bible?

  Wayne Martin : Who knows?

  Rachel Koresh : I agree with them. I don't think it's worth the risk.

  David Koresh : What do you think, Judy?

  Judy Schneider : You know, when I talk to people about this place, they don't understand what we're all doing here, but when they come see for themselves, then they get it, so... I don't see any sense in putting up walls to keep people out.

• David Koresh : Wayne, I'm not worried about the guns. We've been pretty careful there.

  Rachel Koresh : But, Wayne, where are we vulnerable?

  Wayne Martin : Your sister, Michelle. That's where we're vulnerable. Texas law allows for marriage at fourteen with parental consent, which you have, but marrying more than one woman is illegal. And sexual relations with someone under eighteen who's not your wife is also illegal. Michelle is where you have a catch-22; it's statutory rape or it's polygamy. Either way, they could arrest you and try to take the kids.

• David Koresh : Hey, Thibs. How you doing?

  David Thibodeau : All right. What's... what's going on?

  David Koresh : Well... we have a bit of a situation here. And we could really use your help.

  Rachel Koresh : When a message as important as David's comes into the world, they'll do anything they can to stop it.

  Wayne Martin : That's why we need to button things down from a legal standpoint. Michelle having had children with David is where we have an issue.

  David Koresh : I want you to marry Michelle. That'll solve our problem.

  [Thibs snickers incredulously] 

  David Koresh : Take your time.

  David Thibodeau : All right. Uh... whatever you need.

• David Koresh : Just like the newspaper gives you the hot scoop of what happened yesterday... scripture gives you the hot scoop of what's going to happen. The Bible is a book of prophecy that talks about all of us here in this room. Now, we know the Book of Revelation speaks of what?

  [the group answers in unison] 

  David Koresh : The seven seals. And the opening of those seven seals will bring the end times, when God will establish His kingdom here on Earth. And it also talks about a what?

  [the group answers in unison again] 

  David Koresh : A lamb. A lamb who can open those seven seals for the rest of the world to understand. I am that lamb. Now, I've already proven to you how the first four seals have been opened. We here in this room have been brought to Mount Carmel to open the fifth. How do we know when that's gonna happen? Opening the fifth seal, as I've been telling you for years, will begin when the armies of Babylon come to our door to spill our blood. We will then be tested, mind, body, and spirit.

• Jacob Vazquez : So, uh, what are all these people doing here?

  David Koresh : This is a place where people come to find answers, Jacob.

  Jacob Vazquez : Find answers to what?

  David Koresh : Whatever questions they have. The world isn't always a friendly place. It can really grind a person up, break their spirit, throw 'em out like garbage. Here, we take in that garbage, clean it up, put 'em back together again. For some reason, pain makes some men hateful and others kind. You have that kindness.

• David Koresh : If I had to guess, you were raised by women.

  Jacob Vazquez : Yeah. Yeah, my mom.

  David Koresh : Me, too. Mom and grandma. Your mom, she still alive?

  Jacob Vazquez : Yeah.

  David Koresh : Something wrong with her?

  Jacob Vazquez : Well, she's got dementia.

  David Koresh : I'm sorry to hear that.

  Jacob Vazquez : Yeah, well, my mom lived her life exactly how God wanted her to, and then God pays her back like this? I mean, come on.

• David Koresh : You know the shortest verse in the Bible, Jacob?

  Jacob Vazquez : Nah.

  David Koresh : "Jesus wept."

  Jacob Vazquez : "Jesus wept."

  David Koresh : One of the biggest problems we have as people today is, for some reason, they have it in their head that they shouldn't have any troubles. That suffering is a mistake. Or it's unfair.

  Jacob Vazquez : Mm.

  David Koresh : Or it's God being ornery. But what if suffering is the point, so that we can learn to let go and be easy in the spirit? You might think you know the reason why you're here, but I know why you're really here. God brought you to me to help you find your way.

• Rachel Koresh : [having sex, David rolls off her in the middle of it]  What's wrong?

  David Koresh : I started to enjoy myself.

  Rachel Koresh : You can enjoy yourself a little bit, David. I am your wife.

  David Koresh : I know. But we can't succumb to the pleasures of the flesh. We have to rise above that, as hard as it can be sometimes.

• Rachel Koresh : What if it is Child Services?

  David Koresh : Usually, agents from Child Protective Services are women, not men.

  Rachel Koresh : But what if it is? David, we follow Talmudic law here. We live our lives by the rules laid out in the Bible, and we all here believe that's the right thing to do, but... those men live by man's law, not God's. I worry that if we're going to be judged by man's law, we're more vulnerable than you think.

  David Koresh : What are you really scared of?

  Rachel Koresh : I'm afraid they're going to come after our children.

  David Koresh : No. They can't. They don't have the right.

  Rachel Koresh : But what if they think they have the right? What then?

• Wayne Martin : I had a friend run our neighbors' plates, and they're all registered to a government building in Houston.

  Steve Schneider : They're federal agents of some kind.

  David Koresh : We don't know that.

  Steve Schneider : David, what more do you need? They're not ranchers. Why are you refusing to see this?

  David Koresh : Steven... you yourself came here to disprove me. But when I showed you the truth, did you not believe me? Yes or no?

  Steve Schneider : Yes! Yes.

  David Koresh : Wayne, your wife dragged you here kicking and screaming. But when I showed you the truth about your son, did you not believe me? Yes or no?

  [Wayne doesn't reply] 

  David Koresh : You both stayed. Why? Because there are people in this world that can hear the truth. That man, he's searching. God sent him to me. Who am I to turn him away?

  Steve Schneider : David, your heart is in the right place. But... you are opening us up to a whole lot of trouble.

  Wayne Martin : Why take the chance?

  David Koresh : Because I can turn him.

• Wayne Martin : My fifth child almost died at birth. He was rendered blind and disabled, and to be honest, it broke me. You know what a messiah is?

  Jacob Vazquez : Like Jesus?

  Wayne Martin : "Messiah" means "anointed one." The Hebrew word it comes from means "anyone who turns your eyes to God."

  Jacob Vazquez : Okay.

  Wayne Martin : When I met David, he told me "Your son, Jamie, he's your messiah. He has turned your eyes to God. This disabled child of yours is the greatest gift you've ever known, and you're the blind one if you can't see it."

  David Koresh : Thank you, Wayne. Jacob, your mother's suffering has opened your eyes to God. Tell me, if she were given the choice, if God came to her and gave her the option that she could suffer terribly, but the result would be that her baby boy would find a deeper way of life, do you think she would've chosen this suffering?

  Jacob Vazquez : I don't kow.

  David Koresh : Jacob, your mother, she's your messiah.

• David Koresh : Jacob, do you have a gun on you?

  Jacob Vazquez : Yeah. I totally forgot I had it on me.

  David Koresh : Give it to me.

  Steve Schneider : [Jacob hands the gun over]  Why would you bring a gun to a wedding?

  Jacob Vazquez : I got... I got... I just got it recently at a gun show.

  David Koresh : [tossing the clip to Wayne]  Empty this mag, Wayne.

  [checking the inner parts] 

  David Koresh : No, you didn't. You didn't get this at a gun show. This trigger's been modified. It's illegal.

  [handing the gun back] 

  David Koresh : Don't you ever bring something like this around here again.

• Jacob Vazquez : So, what you reading there?

  David Koresh : You know what I'm reading. A bunch of lies.

• Davey Jones : Something's going down. Some news guy asked me directions here. I saw a bunch of agents.

  David Koresh : Are you sure?

  Davey Jones : Yeah. They're all suited up.

  Perry Jones : They're coming, David, right now.

• David Koresh : They're coming today, aren't they?

  Jacob Vazquez : I... uh... who's coming? I-I don't know what you're talking about.

  David Koresh : I know who you are. And I know who you work for.

  Jacob Vazquez : I'm just a rancher.

  David Koresh : I figured if God brought you to me, who am I to turn you away? And I'd like to think you've gotten to know who we really are, not what's in this garbage. And I know you have a job to do. But you can stop this.