Boots
Genre: Military comedy drama
Created by: Andy Parker
Season 1 – Episode 3
Stars: Miles Heizer, Max Parker, Vera Farmiga, Liam Oh, Cedrick Cooper, Ana Ayora, Angus O’Brien, Dominic Goodman, Kieron Moore, Nicholas Logan, Blake Burt, Rico Paris
Episode title: The Confidence Course
Original release date: It premiered on Netflix on October 9, 2025
Plot: Cameron digs deep to prove himself in a confidence-building course. The platoon receives a late addition. Barbara discovers sympathy has its perks
* * *
Boots – S01E03 – The Confidence Course | Full transcript
[slide projector rattles]
[military music plays]
[narrator] Marine Corps leaders of yesteryear, featuring Gunnery Sergeant John Basilone, a true Marine hero.
October 24th, 1942, Guadalcanal.
John Basilone leads two sections of heavy machine guns to defend the southern perimeter against 3,000 enemy combatants.
[McKinnon] Pause.
[music stops]
Here’s the part they’re not gonna tell you but every Marine knows by heart.
Basilone kept his machine guns going 72 hours straight.
They got so overheated, they glowed red.
Back then, you kept them cool with water.
He didn’t have any.
So he whipped his dick out and pissed on ’em.
[laughter]
It worked.
[snaps fingers] Next slide.
[military music resumes]
[narrator] Confidence, grit, determination.
John Basilone embodies the Marine Corps.
Do you have what it takes?
[music stops]
[thunder crashes]
[uneasy music plays]
That’s, like, an actual storm.
They’re not gonna make us train in that, right?
[farting]
[all] Navy!
Just warming you up for the gas chamber.
Thought this was the gas chamber.
I’m talking about the real one.
Sauna full of tear gas.
Heard it’s this week.
[music stops]
[thunder crashes]
Looks like it’s down to you and me.
For what?
Top dog, bitch. What else?
Three months to go, man. A lot can happen.
I’m Rocky.
You’re Apollo.
Man, I don’t care about you or your little contest.
Only person I’m in competition with is myself.
Besides, Apollo wins. [scoffs] Y’all, come look at this!
Damn, Corncob.
Put this hillbilly monster in a tank.
[recruit] Oh, goddamn.
Looks like Shamu.
Five bucks says none of you Zambonis can drop one bigger than the “ace of base” here.
Call it the Brown Bomber Challenge.
Who’s in?
Oh, I’m good.
[thunder crashes]
[Sullivan] Yes, ma’am.
Yes, ma’am.
Company command’s canceled Sunday service and all outdoor training events till the storm clears.
So no Confidence Course.
This place is going soft.
Not today.
[upbeat music plays]
[Sullivan] Every surface, every nook, every cranny.
You make my squad base shine.
Put your backs into it.
Just ’cause we ain’t in chapel don’t mean it ain’t still the Lord’s day.
And even though you won’t be on your knees praying for God to save you from my wrath, you will be on your knees making my barracks beam.
Amen?
[recruits] Sir, yes, sir!
[music stops]
[Howitt] I wanna see the reflection of them honey holes with every step.
Hey.
[Howitt] That’s right because today…
So we’re stuck here? No chapel?
You like chapel?
I was hoping they’d have a bathroom.
You’re literally scrubbing a toilet.
I know. It’s so close, yet so far.
Have you not taken a dump since…
New Orleans.
Cam, it’s been a week.
That is not healthy.
I can’t do it. Train won’t leave the station with everyone looking.
How are you even walking?
[Cameron] I’m fine.
So long as I don’t cough.
Or breathe.
[laughs] Hey, are you mad at all about me being squad leader?
No, it’s cool. I’m fine. Why?
I don’t know. It’s what you wanted, and then Sullivan gave it to me, which I didn’t want.
Yeah, he’s messing with you.
There’s only one reason he made you squad leader.
Why? Because he wants me to fail?
Yes.
So you think I’m gonna fail?
[Ray] Not me. Them.
DIs. It’s their whole strategy.
They try to break everybody down.
It’s not personal.
Why doesn’t Sullivan go after the other guys the way he goes after me?
He’s not going after you, Cam.
You really wanna prove something to Sullivan?
Do it this week on the Confidence Course.
Dear Mama. I’ve been eating everything they put on my plate. Like she taught.
And as soon as I’m done here, she won’t have to worry about me being any kind of layabout, like my cousins who ain’t got no jobs.
Mo, hold on. Too fast.
So my mother’s boyfriend, cheeky, total junkie, he ropes me in to boost this ’57 Ford Thunderbird down the block so he could get his fix.
[farts]
[all] Navy.
How many did I do?
Farts?
Pullups, you fucking chooch.
Twenty-three.
So we do the job when this dude Tino caught us red-handed.
Tino’s, like, 5’2″, but he is big.
He broke two of my ribs before I beat his ass.
Got an assault charge, so the judge made me choose between here or upstate.
[grunts]
You’re here because you… you almost killed somebody?
He lived. Relax.
Trash.
Can I get a Coke, no ice, and a bag of peanuts?
What are you always writing in there?
Um… I don’t know.
Just, like, thoughts, I guess.
Observations.
Secrets.
Drill instructor on deck!
Good afternoon, sir!
[recruits] Good afternoon, sir!
Who the hell made your file?
Dipshits can’t tell the difference between a first and last name.
Put the same thing twice.
Sir, it’s this recruit’s name, sir.
Your name is Santos Santos?
Sir, yes, sir!
Cope!
Sir, Recruit Cope reporting as ordered, sir!
Show this soggy ass where that beached whale Bowman used to sleep.
He’s in your squad until I say elsewise.
Sir, yes, sir!
Sir, yes, sir!
At ease, tickle shits!
[door slams]
[quiet funky music plays]
Hey.
This is me.
It’s mine now, blanquito.
I ain’t doing top bunk. My knee’s shit.
What happened to the dude that was here before?
Just couldn’t hack it.
[Santos] Yo, Squad Leader.
My boot laces is fucked up.
Hook me up, man. It’s your job.
Um, okay.
I don’t have any.
Man, you got this or not?
Here, just trade with me for now.
[Santos speaks Spanish]
[in Spanish] What else do I need to know about this asshole?
Yes, you. Who else, silly?
Oh, uh–
Cocksucker, you don’t speak Spanish?
[in English] My parents never really taught us.
[in Spanish] Hey, Chinaman, what’s up?
[in English] It’s Ray.
Yo, Ray. What kind of chino are you anyway, bro?
An American one.
Oh. Well, I’m American too.
But, like, Dominican.
Proud of it.
Scribe!
[music stops]
Sir, yes, sir!
File this.
Aye, sir!
[toilet flushes]
[tense music plays]
You stand like a goddamn New Jersey housewife.
Get out!
Get your asses on line right now!
This platoon is a disgrace!
A sloppy fucking disgrace!
[Sullivan] My Marine Corps is not a job.
It is a way of life.
It’ll take your miserable, weak, insignificant ass out of whatever fucked-up circumstance you came from.
And it will change you into something proud, worthy… strong.
And only some of you.
Some of you cannot be changed.
Some of you are weeds in my field.
My mission is to rip out those weeds, and I will complete my mission.
Understood?
[recruits] Sir, yes, sir!
Now you will un-fuck my squad bay!
Clean this place from top to bottom!
No cleaning supplies!
Do it now!
[recruits] Aye, sir!
[music fades]
Okay, well, I’m squad leader, so–
If we all use our shirts, what happens when Sullivan makes us do this shit again at 3:00 a.m.?
Fine. What’s your suggestion?
Half of us give up our skivvies.
Tear those in half. Then we got 12 rags.
Then, if Sullivan wilds out again, the other six guys got skivvies on backup.
I’m one, two, three, four, five, six.
Y’all give them up.
[“What’s A Girl To Do” plays]
Don’t be a little bitch.
♪ Well, I’m tired… ♪
If I didn’t know better, I’d say you’re trying to kill me, Sergeant.
[chuckles]
♪ The way you treat me… ♪
Well, sugar plum, I’m a good reader of people.
♪ I can’t let go… ♪
[recruiter] I know when a woman needs a good whuppin’. [chuckles] You sell cosmetics, huh?
How’s business?
Busy day. Better get to it.
But, uh, thank you for your service.
Idea for you.
There is a women’s group, Marine Moms.
Meets every Tuesday.
Give ’em a call.
♪ …all night… ♪
They get what you’re going through.
♪ We wind up having a fight… ♪
What I’m going through?
It’s disruptive when a kid leaves home.
You know?
♪ I haven’t got… ♪
There’s feelings there.
Feelings.
♪ What’s a girl… ♪
And to think they call you jarheads.
[recruits] Oorah!
[McKinnon] Welcome to my Confidence Course.
Today, you will complete the Reverse Climb, the Slide for Life, and the Stairway to Heaven.
In each exercise, you will be challenged to find the kind of courage that is in this bottle right here.
This is the black sand of Iwo Jima.
It drank the blood and sacrifice of 27,000 Marines in World War II.
One of ’em was that ass-kicking Italian gunnery sergeant, John Basilone, that you learned about.
Where did Basilone find the balls-deep confidence to not only reject the soft comforts of the civilian life, but also put himself back into harm’s way?
Shit.
[McKinnon] Basilone became a Marine on the sands of a Confidence Course like this one.
If he can, you can!
Oorah!
Fall in on the Reverse Climb.
On the double! Move!
He said on the double!
That means pick your knees up and move it, ladies!
[rock music plays]
Keep moving, privates!
[music stops]
Squad Leader Cope here thinks your senior drill instructor’s words weren’t wise enough to listen to with his full, undivided fucking attention.
He’s got all this shit figured out, unlike you pissants.
Since he’s already an expert, he’s gonna sit this one out.
I said sit!
Get comfortable!
Rest of you ass-wipes, two at a time, on my bar. Move!
[rock music plays]
[Howitt] Let’s go! Come on, damn it!
I know you ain’t tired yet.
We’re just getting started!
Okay, Apollo wins, but Rocky comes back, goes 15 rounds, and he kicks his ass because he got cocky.
Damn, dude, get up off my dick.
Seriously, the fuck do you want?
Cut the chitchat, ladies. Up on that bar!
[Howitt] Keep moving, private!
I wanna kick your ass.
No fun if you don’t hit back.
You talk too much.
That’s why you can’t breathe.
Cradle my balls, huh?
Got some advice, college boy.
The second you look down your nose at somebody is when you get crushed.
This isn’t prison.
That’s what you think.
[music fades]
Fall in on the Slide for Life!
[Howitt] Move your stinky ass!
You think you have the balls to lead this squad?
Sir, yes, sir!
What’d you say?
Sir, yes, sir!
How you supposed to lead when no one can hear you?
Sir, yes, sir!
Scream it!
Yes, sir! Yes, sir! Yes, sir!
Slide for Life! Move it!
[panting]
[Howitt] Quit wiggling, rat face, and move!
Pull, damn it!
Look at that Frankenheaded freak!
He gets it! Do it like him!
Goddamn dingleberry!
Slide down the rope!
[upbeat music plays]
Move it!
Hang!
Get your feet up!
Get your feet up!
I can’t do this, Mo.
You gotta think about something nice.
Like what?
Christmas.
Get your feet up!
[grunts] Christmas is the worst.
One time, my aunt got wasted and called my mom a whore at dinner, and my abuelita had a stroke.
Like, an actual stroke.
[Sullivan] Feet up!
How about NASCAR?
[Sullivan] Jump in the water now!
[Hicks grunts] [Howitt] Let’s go!
What the hell is taking you so long?
You better move your quesadilla, Ochoa!
What the shit is taking you so long?
Move it!
Move your little limp dick!
Now hang, dick-bum!
Hang!
Now! Hang!
[Ochoa] Shit! [screams]
[music stops]
[grunts]
[tense music plays]
[Cameron breathes heavily]
Quit fucking around, Cope.
You’re done wasting our time.
Drop in the water.
Sir!
In the water.
Now!
[tense music builds]
[music fades]
Stairway to Heaven. Double time!
[recruits] Aye, sir!
[Howitt] Move it, goddammit!
Move it!
Fucking loser.
[water splashes]
[whistle blows]
[distant shouting]
Where’s your squad, Squad Leader?
I’d say they’re dragging their asses, sir.
So you thought you’d leave ’em in the dust.
Prance around like you just won the Super Bowl.
Sir, this recruit is leading by example.
[McKinnon] By example!
A leader puts everyone ahead of himself at all times.
[Howitt] What’s taking you so long?
You’re out as my squad leader.
But, sir, that wasn’t–
The only words out of your mouth are “yes, sir!”
Ten laps around this course and the drill field.
Around the world now.
[Nash] But, sir–
Twenty!
I can do this all damn day. Begin.
[rock music plays]
[music stops]
What’s it gonna be, Cope?
Gonna waste our time, or show us something?
[“Princes Of The Universe” plays]
♪ Here we are ♪
♪ Born to be kings ♪
♪ We’re the princes of the universe ♪
♪ Here we belong ♪
♪ Fighting to survive ♪
♪ In a war with the darkest powers ♪
♪ Yeah! ♪
[exhales sharply]
♪ And here we are, we’re… ♪
Oh, shit.
[slowing down] ♪ …of the universe… ♪
[music stops] [gasps] Move your ass, or I’ll move it for ya!
Come on, Cameron.
Sir, this recruit’s boot lace is stuck, sir!
What the fuck are you doing?
Sir, this recruit volunteers to help!
Help yourself to just begin!
[Ray grunts]
[tense music plays]
Okay.
Give me your leg.
Yeah?
[Cameron panting]
[music fades]
If there are no faggots in my Marine Corps, then why are you still here?
[somber music plays]
Stop.
[panting]
[music fades]
You. You’re squad leader.
Sir, yes, sir!
[Sullivan] Next obstacle!
[Howitt] Let’s go!
[Sullivan] Pick it up.
[somber music plays]
[music fades]
Bombs away, Basilone.
[dramatic music plays]
Dear Lord.
Ow, ow, ow. [gasps]
[exhales]
[sighs with relief]
[exhales]
[exhales]
Comrades! Behold.
[recruit 1] Oh my God.
[recruit 2] Holy shit!
That came out of you?
That is the biggest, most beautiful deuce I’ve ever seen.
Ten out of ten.
I’m calling it.
Cope just won the Brown Bomber Challenge.
He gets an oorah for his poorah.
Let’s hear it, boys!
[recruits] Oorah!
[dramatic music continues]
[music fades]
[groans softly]
[Nash] By your leave, sir.
[somber music plays]
[groans] Ow.
[music fades]
Oh my God.
How?
Snuck it.
They think I’m too skinny, so they don’t yell at me for having extra food.
But you missed it.
I won the Brown Bomber Challenge.
Yeah.
Never thought taking a dump would be the highlight of my week, but…
[chuckles]
[sighs]
You ever think you made a mistake coming here?
Yes.
All I wanna do right now is just talk to my folks.
You can write them.
They don’t know I’m here.
They think I’m in Angola building schools for the summer.
[gentle music plays]
[Nash] I know.
But you don’t know my folks.
My mama will slap the black off my ass when she finds out I signed up with the Marines.
Why? Why would they be mad?
Till 30 years ago, it wasn’t even legal for a Black guy to be training with white dudes.
The way they see it, military is just another institution of oppression.
I get it. I just…
I see it different.
I fight for change my own way.
But of all the things you could do…
Why the Marines?
[Cameron] Yeah.
All right, but don’t laugh.
I’m serious.
[chuckles] Okay.
Jesse Jackson.
First Black man to be a serious candidate for president. Right?
But, see, Jesse, he had no military experience.
And people are gonna look at me the same way they looked at him.
Trying to find any little thing they can to show I’m not good enough.
Not American enough.
Shit. What’s more patriotic than a US Marine?
So you wanna be president?
[chuckles] Man, I told you not to laugh.
Well, your parents sound like good people.
Like they care about you.
They’d wanna know where you are.
Know what my mom said when I told her I was going to boot camp?
“Don’t forget the milk.”
I wasn’t gonna write her either.
But then…
I don’t know.
Felt like I needed to send something.
She’s your mom.
Yeah.
[Nash] So… what did you end up writing her?
[indistinct voices on TV]
[music fades]
[Cameron] Dear Barbara, boot camp is fine.
I’m making do.
Hope you and Benjy are well.
Love, Cameron.
[woman 1] It’s a terrible feeling.
The absence.
I mean, it’s the not knowing.
Is he safe?
Is he happy?
And you are trusting the Marines will take care of him.
Even in peacetime, there’s always a chance.
Anyway, this is the one place where I don’t have to be brave, proud mom.
So I’m grateful.
[woman 2] Hello.
Hello.
Hi.
Hi. Uh, oh, I’m… I’m just auditing.
Well, that’s all right, sugar. [chuckles] [Barbara laughs awkwardly] How about you tell us your name so we can get to know you better?
Sure. Sure. I’m Barbara Cope.
Um…
Y-Yeah, there’s not much to tell.
[chuckles awkwardly]
Um, my… my son Cameron, uh, he’s my youngest.
He… you know, he joined the Marines.
And now he’s gone.
Oh.
[Barbara] You know, maybe I should’ve seen this coming.
Cameron was always willful, in his own way.
You know, when he was 14, he removed his own braces.
C-Claimed they made his lips stick out.
God.
All I know is, yeah, now he’s gone.
And he’s not coming back.
And I’m alone.
I may not have been the best mother in the world, but I didn’t deserve to lose my son.
[sniffs]
Oh… I’m so sorry. Excuse me.
[woman 2] It’s all right.
It’s all right.
[Barbara] It’s okay. It’s okay.
Yoohoo! Honey. [chuckles] Wait. Ooh! [chuckles] Oh!
You were singing my song in there.
I miss my Jaden so much. [sniffs] He was, uh… he was killed in El Salvador at Zona Rosa.
Oh! [chuckles softly]
[sniffs, cries]
Oh.
[sniffs] Oh.
You’re just an angel, aren’t you?
How did your boy die?
This group has just so much to give you.
[woman 2 exhales]
[woman 2 chuckles]
Oh, h-hold on. Here.
[inhales deeply] Yeah.
Can I recommend a mascara that will never ever run?
[woman 2 blows nose]
[jaunty country music plays]
[McKinnon] For your final test this week, you will be exposed to tear gas.
You must have total confidence in yourselves, your instructors, and your protective equipment.
It will save you in a combat situation.
Good to go?
Sir, yes, sir!
Sergeant.
Put your mask on as you’ve been instructed.
Make sure the seal is tight.
Then turn to the recruit behind you and check their mask.
Pair up, dummies!
[McKinnon] It’s about to get real.
And it involves gassing your ass.
[panicked breathing]
Hey, hey, hey, hey. S-Slow down.
You’re okay.
Think of something nice. Right?
[tense music plays]
[Sullivan] Remember your training.
Breathe in, blow out, reseal.
[panicked breathing]
[McKinnon] This is real gas. No drill.
[Ochoa] Mo.
Think of something nice, Mo.
NASCAR. Remember?
The hell are you doing, recruit?
[panicked breathing] Recruit?
[grunts] No, I’m not doing this.
Calm down. Breathe.
[Mo] I’m not doing this.
Can you hear me? Recruit, breathe.
[Mo grunts]
Motherfucker.
You touch a DI, you’re fucking gone!
You’re making this bad for yourself. Stop.
Stop, I said.
[Mo breathes heavily]
It’s over.
All right, listen up.
The recruit who just washed out, he was bigger and stronger than anyone here, and he’s going home a coward.
Now, confidence is not in your height or your weight.
It’s in here.
John Basilone endured because he had a fire in his chest.
A confidence in himself that nothing could kill.
Now, if you have the balls to think you’re worthy of my Marine Corps, then go in there and show me!
[tense music continues]
[music stops]
[Sullivan] Gas, gas, gas!
Check your masks.
Shake your head yes.
Shake your head no.
Jog in place. High knees.
Get ’em up.
Break the seal on your masks.
[coughing]
Take off your mask now.
Take it off.
[gasps]
[coughing continues]
[screams]
Move, move, move!
Breathe. Keep going.
[coughing]
Move it.
[coughs]
[McKinnon] Let’s go, let’s go.
Move.
[gasps for air]
[coughing continues]
[Sullivan] I said move!
[McKinnon] Keep space! Keep space!
[stifles coughs]
[Sullivan] Go.
[Cameron coughs]
[gagging]
[McKinnon] Spread out. Breathe!
[gasps for air]
[“Fernando” plays]
♪ Can you hear the drums, Fernando? ♪
♪ I remember long ago
Another starry night like this ♪
♪ In the firelight, Fernando ♪
♪ You were humming to yourself
And softly strumming your guitar… ♪
[telephone rings]
♪ …distant drums and sounds of bugle calls
Were coming from afar… ♪
Hello.
Wendy.
Yes, of course I remember you from the meeting.
♪ …last eternally… ♪
Oh, I… I’m okay.
♪ I was so afraid, Fernando… ♪
Yes. Yes. If God brought you to it, he will bring you through it.
That is so true.
♪ …prepared to die, and I’m… ♪
Uh, what can I do for you?
♪ …the roar of guns and cannons
Almost made me cry… ♪
Luscious Love Waterproof Mascara.
Why, yes, I do. I do.
Yeah, I would be happy to.
♪ Fernando… ♪
It is a staple in your caddy.
[pensive music plays]
[Ochoa] I’ve got no complaints.
They’re happy with me.
And the guys are great.
One of ’em, Mo Mason, he’s my friend.
Totally has my back.
[Santos in Spanish] My knee is so-so, but I’m in it to win it, my love.
Pray for me to finish strong.
Things will be better for us.
I promise, Joselin.
Give Liza and Teresa a hug from their papi.
[Nash in English] Dear Mom and Pops…
There’s something I have to tell you.
[Hicks] And then, like Moses, I’mma part your legs like the Red Sea, and with my hot, throbbing staff, I’mma dive deep into your burning bush.
[tense music plays]
[tense music builds]
[somber music plays]
[music fades]
