Perception s01e01 Episode Script
Pilot
What is reality? Hippie guy.
The observable universe? I suppose that answer might fly in the physics department, but this is neuroscience.
Who's got the brains to give me an answer relating to the brain? Ironic t-shirt.
Reality is exactly what we see and hear, instead of what we fantasize about or dream or, you know, maybe hallucinate.
Ah.
Hallucination.
That's an answer I would have expected from hippie guy.
Sex, drugs, and rock 'n' roll, right? Okay.
Now, here's something that's really gonna alter your consciousness.
Reality Is a figment of your imagination.
Who here hasn't woken up breathless from a nightmare and thought, "oh, thank God it's just a dream"? That's because the neurochemical impulses fired when we're dreaming or fantasizing or hallucinating are indistinguishable from the ones banging around inside our skulls when we actually experience those events.
So If what we perceive is often wrong How can we ever know what's real and what isn't? All right.
Faculty meeting's at noon.
Rosenthal's at 2:00, so I picked you up one of the veggie wraps that you like.
You can scarf it down in between.
You know how you get when you don't eat.
Lewicki.
Yeah? Room and board in exchange for some light housekeeping does not make you my mother.
Just trying to look out for you, doc.
Do you have my puzzles? Yeah.
Times, chronicle, trib, daily mail Professor Pierce? I was wondering if I could buy you a latte.
Uh, I don't drink coffee.
Oh, it doesn't have to be coffee.
I just wanted to pick your brain about my term-paper topic.
Oh.
Here's the thing, miss Karyn.
Karyn.
Uh "Discussing your term paper" is obviously code for sex.
And and while we might both enjoy that very much, it could also get me fired, so I'm afraid I have to regretfully and respectfully decline your offer.
Daniel.
Daniel.
Kate Moretti.
You'd be a lot easier to find if you carried a cellphone.
If I carried a cellphone, the government could track me.
I am the government.
My point exactly.
I thought you were at Quantico.
Got my old desk back.
Isn't that a demotion? Got a few minutes? His name's Clark Weilman.
He's well, he was general counsel of techsan pharmaceuticals.
Skull was fractured in six places, and his wife confessed to detectives from Chicago homicide.
Police have a confession.
Why am I looking at these pretty pictures? Wife makes Nicole Richie look fat.
I don't know who that is.
I-I think the wife has anorexia or bulimia.
I don't know.
Either way, she could not lift this trophy, let alone bash her husband over the head with it six times.
You think the confession was coerced? She has a vacant affect.
If she does have an eating disorder, it could be a symptom of a much more serious mental illness.
You were always one of my best students.
W-why is the FBI involved in this anyway? A couple of months ago, techsan informed the bureau that some of its top executives were receiving death threats, calling the pharmaceutical industry part of a vast public/private conspiracy to poison the American people.
Can't argue with that.
S.
A.
I.
C.
Says you gave up the consulting gig.
Any particular reason? Oh, uh After you left, the fun went out of it.
Well, I'm back.
Why did you kill your husband, Mrs.
Weilman? I, uh don't know.
You told the police you wanted the insurance money.
Yes.
That's that's right, the insurance money.
And just what is the point of this? When did you and your husband buy this policy? I don't remember.
Was it last Thursday? You met your husband for lunch, and then you both went to the insurance-company offices and signed the papers? Yeah.
That's right.
It was Yeah.
Two days ago, when you went for a walk, did you find a stray kitten? You took her home? You called her Millie? How did you know about Millie? She's innocent.
What are you talking about? She signed a confession.
Korsa-what? It's a neurological disorder characterized by anterograde amnesia, extreme susceptibility to suggestion, and confabulation.
I tell her she has a cat named Millie, she remembers having a cat named Millie.
You tell her she bashed her husband over the head with a golf trophy, and she remembers that.
Only there is no cat.
I made that up.
Just like you made up a story about a murder plot to collect life insurance, which is a bit of a cliché, isn't it, detective? What the hell? Hey, hold on a second! Hey! Hey! Listen, we did a background check.
We found out about that policy, and we asked her.
You're acting like I beat it out of her with a rubber hose.
Either way, it's a false confession.
She doesn't belong in jail.
She belongs in a hospital.
This is bullshit.
Can we go now? Just give me a minute.
Okay? I'm gonna recommend that Ms.
Weilman be transferred to a psychiatric unit for further evaluation.
Are you kidding me?! She confessed to murder.
Look, if Dr.
Pierce My lieutenant warned me about you, said you'd come in here, flashing your FBI badge, jacking our cases.
Screwing with one of mine now because some nutjob makes a drive-by diagnosis? He's not a nutjob, detective Hammond.
He literally wrote the book on forensic neuropsychiatry four of them, actually.
Not a nutjob, huh? Okay.
So he's a little eccentric.
to get the FBI's interest? You'll have to forgive Alan, Agent Moretti.
He and Clark were very close.
I just need access to all litigation filed against techsan over the past five years.
Do you have any idea how many frivolous claims a company like ours has to deal with? Mm.
I can imagine.
But we may be able to connect the death threats techsan received to someone who brought a lawsuit against the company.
And I would also like access to Mr.
Weilman's e-mail account and a list of his current and former colleagues really, anyone he came into contact with.
Alan will get you everything you need.
Thanks, Alan.
These are the anonymous e-mails sent to Clark Weilman and the other techsan executives.
These death threats were routed through servers all over the world.
Whoever sent them knows how to cover his tracks.
Anything you can tell us about the psychology of the letter writer would help.
"Pharmaceutical industry and the fda are conspiring to keep the American people sick.
" Well, that part's certainly true.
Is he serious? Restless leg syndrome? You don't think that's an invention of the drug companies to sell more pills? "You scum need a hearty reminder.
" That's repeated in each of the e-mails.
You think it means something? "You scum need a hearty reminder.
" "Techsan" "murdered Irene may.
" It's an anagram.
Some domestic terrorist goes to all this trouble to disguise the source of his e-mails, and then he just gives us a name? He's trying to prove he's smarter than we are.
Very good, Agent Moretti.
"May v.
Techsan, dismissed in summary judgment, filed by a Timothy may on behalf of his mother, Irene.
" Wait here.
Once it's clear, you can come up, take a look around.
FBI! We'd like to talk to you! Open it.
Mr.
may? FBI! Stop! Stairs! Freeze, Mr.
may! Are you all right?! Fine.
You want my professional opinion, jumping off a second-story fire escape is what we commonly call "crazy.
" Guess that makes two of us.
It's against the law to make terrorist threats.
And murder is kind of a no-no, too.
I didn't kill anyone.
Then I will ask you again where were you the night that Clark Weilman died? You think I'm gonna cooperate with the beast better known as the United States federal government? Herbal tea.
What? No milk, no sugar.
No sugar? Processed sugar that's an addictive drug peddled by big agribusiness to promote an epidemic in type 2 diabetes.
And then their pals in big pharma can reap billions marketing treatments.
And don't even get me started on why they put hormones in milk.
I-I'm not a fed, by the way.
Then what are you doing here? College Professor.
Sometimes they ask for my expert opinion.
And I-I bill the beast for my for my time, believe me.
Figure as long as they're gonna bleed me with taxes, might as well get something out of it, right? Your mother had type 2 diabetes, didn't she? She was always sending me out to pick her up soda, ice cream.
I should have told her no.
Well, she was your mom.
You wanted to make her happy.
And you you wanted to help her.
That's why you signed her up for a drug trial.
Is that right? Techsan's new miracle pill, insulprin? They said it would cure her.
Instead, she drops dead of a heart attack.
You think the drug killed her? It's poison.
And the big-shot lawyers at techsan have your suit thrown out.
They said it was frivolous.
Bastards wouldn't even pay for the funeral.
That must have made you pretty angry.
You got no idea.
Angry enough to kill Clark Weilman? Look at me, mister.
You really think I got it in me to cave some guy's head in? Drop you back at campus.
What about the case? You helped us solve it.
Thank you.
You don't really believe that poor guy killed anybody? No.
He's paranoid.
He's not violent.
I agree.
And we have no physical evidence connecting him to the crime scene.
W-wait I'm told I can be a little absentminded, so maybe I'm missing something here.
We were assigned to investigate terrorist threats.
We have the man who made those threats in custody.
But there was a murder! Local police matter.
Oh, come on.
You dangle a puzzle like this in front of me, and you expect me to drop it before it's solved? Listen You were right, okay? My transfer back to Chicago was a demotion.
What'd you do? Leap off one too many tall buildings in pursuit of fleeing suspects? The deputy director said that I had a tendency to go beyond the scope of my assigned investigations.
Well, you can try to be a good little bureaucrat and deny your impulses, but you know you're just as incapable of letting this go as I am.
Thank you for seeing us, Dr.
Bryant.
I don't know how much help I can be.
I-I didn't know Clark well.
Lawyers don't mix much with lab rats.
Well, we've been talking to everyone.
Mr.
Weilman had contact with uh, friends, associates here at techsan.
Does your new blockbuster drug, insulprin, cause heart attacks? How is that relevant? Uh, no, that's okay.
I'm happy to answer that.
Insulprin Has been rigorously tested for five years.
Subjects taking the drug are certainly no more likely to have heart attacks than the control group.
We're very proud of insulprin here.
It's gonna save a lot of lives.
And earn billions of dollars.
W-what does any of this have to do with Clark Weilman's murder? There was a lawsuit filed against this company by a man claiming his mother's coronary was caused by insulprin, maybe techsan.
Yeah.
I remember that suit.
It was dismissed in summary judgment.
Something funny? Sad, actually.
Um, I remember it, too, because it turns out this may woman was in the placebo group.
She wasn't even taking the drug.
That answer your question? Daniel? Are we done here? Daniel, are you okay? Hmm.
Well, I appreciate your maybe not-so-healthy distrust of large institutions, but how about we just put aside your conspiracy theories and focus on finding the killer? I'm looking for a Valerie Nelson! Hammond? I'm Valerie Nelson.
Oh.
I'd like to have a word with you.
What's this all about? Well, it seems that Pamela Weilman had another motive for killing her husband.
According to his phone records, he was making a lot of late-night calls to a pretty, young coworker.
I knew it was wrong, but I fell in love with him.
So, where were you on the night of march 5th? Home Waiting for Clark to call.
It was the night he was gonna tell Pamela he was leaving.
I guess she didn't take it so well.
One of the wife's symptoms is anterograde amnesia, right? Mm.
So her husband comes home, tells her that he's leaving her for some hottie from the office.
She goes into an adrenaline-fueled rage, and she kills him.
But, because of the korsakoff's, by the time the police get there, she's forgotten why she killed the guy.
And when the detective says she did it for the insurance money that's how she remembers it.
Impressive theory.
But wrong.
Pamela Weilman isn't a killer.
She's a victim.
First, her husband cheats on her, and then this neanderthal cop tries to put her in jail which is typical of how the mentally ill are treated by our so-called justice system.
Well, I'm stuck.
And the only thing that I know of that's going to get me unstuck is burger grease.
You know cholesterol is the silent killer? You'll have a garden burger.
I'll buy it for you.
Let's go.
No.
No, I-I can't.
I have I have an appointment.
So, why didn't you say yes? Because I had a date with you.
Daniel, we haven't had a date since grad school.
It's time to move on.
Admit it.
I'm wearing you down.
I'm wearing you down.
How do you feel? I'm fine.
Why? And we both know how you get when you don't stick to your routine.
Which is why I have Lewicki.
He keeps me organized.
What are you gonna do when he graduates? You know you know how often Lewicki changes majors? I don't think there's much danger of graduation.
Fly ball to right.
Well-hit.
Back near the wall And Gone! Yes! Into the basket! You see that? It's spring training.
Let's see how they do in October.
Oh, ye of little faith, I am telling you, this is the year.
Believing the cubs are gonna win the pennant that is a symptom of a delusional mind.
Rationality's overrated, particularly if you're a cubs fan.
I have to go.
I have a class tomorrow.
Good night, Daniel.
And another bad throw by Baker.
Everybody's safe.
Sloppy game again defensively, and that ultimately cost the cubs.
Sadists.
Lewicki?! Lewicki?! Dr.
Pierce I'm so sorry to bother you at home.
You work at techsan.
My name's Gerard Permut.
What can I do for you, Mr.
Permut? I-I have information on Clark Weilman's murder.
You should go to the FBI.
No, I-I can't, I can't.
I can't trust them, okay? I can't.
Listen, I-I've read all your books, every single one of them, and I-I know I know that you understand people like me.
And, please, I don't I don't have anyone else to turn to.
I really all right, all right.
All right.
Come on.
Would you like to sit down? I-I didn't mean to do it, but the voices in my head they told me that I had to do it.
All right.
W-what did the voices tell you to do? I'm in love with Valerie Nelson.
I found out that she was sleeping with Clark Weilman.
The voices told me that the pain would would go away if I killed him.
Ohh! All right.
I-I'm gonna get you some help.
She told me that we had a life together.
That's what she said.
I never should have trusted her, ever.
That bitch she's a liar! Lewicki! Who are you calling? It's all right.
He works for me, all right? W-we're gonna get you some help.
Lewicki! You need something, doc? I'm right in the middle of kicking Obi-Wan's jedi ass.
I'm sorry to call you away from something so urgent.
But as you can see, I have a situation here.
There's no one else here, is there? No, doc.
It's just you and me.
Almost had you.
Doc, you have to eat.
This is not what I wanted.
It's mahler's first.
That is the Von karajan recording.
I asked for the solti.
Do you know how hard it is to find a cassette tape? All right, if you just let me buy you an iPod, we can download any recording you want.
You know what? That's not a bad idea.
You got to get with the program.
Just stay out of this.
He's here? You know, doc, maybe this guy isn't just a hallucination.
You know, maybe he's some kind of psychic vision.
There have been studies that show that these no, Lewicki, there have been no studies.
There have been frauds and scams and entertainments okay, you said this vision told you he was jealous of the dead guy.
Maybe there really is some kind of twisted love-triangle thing going on, you know? Why do you keep this idiot around? Because when assholes like you show up, I need someone to tell me that you're not real.
Answer that! Dr.
Pierce's residence.
Yes, I'll tell him.
Dean Haley wants to see you.
What in God's name were you thinking, Daniel? I'll tell you exactly what I was thinking, Paul.
I was thinking this pheromone-spewing 20-year-old has been sitting in the front row of my class making eyes at me for three semesters running, and now she's inviting me for a latte.
Oh, and, by the way, she's sticking a skin-tight t-shirt in my face, advertising herself as a "stimulus package.
" I don't need any more stimuli.
Look, you can't just go around accusing students of wanting to have sex with you, especially not in front of witnesses.
What witnesses? Are you really that oblivious? She was with a friend.
That's who filed the complaint.
You're joking.
Tell me you're Look, Daniel, I have put up with all of your eccentricities because you are a brilliant scholar, you're a popular teacher, and you're my friend.
But have you any idea what kind of a hit our endowment has taken, hmm? We cannot afford a lawsuit.
What are you asking me to do? He wants me to apologize to both girls.
It's outrageous! Why are you smiling? What, y-you think this is funny? What I think is, is that you deflected this offer from this student for the same reason you turned down the dinner invitation with Kate Moretti.
Enlighten me.
You are petrified of anything remotely resembling an intimate connection with another human being.
Oh, spare me the psychobabble.
Tell me I'm wrong.
Natalie, look at me.
I-I-I hear voices.
I see things that aren't there.
I talk to the walls.
How am I ever gonna have an intimate connection with anybody? You had an incident.
Daniel? Well, sometimes this happens.
You deal with it, and you move on.
Right.
So, why is it that I get the feeling that you're more worried about this than usual? What if next time it happens in front of Kate? You told Kate about your condition a long time ago.
Well, knowing and seeing are two different things.
I don't m-maybe I should get off this case.
Quit without solving it? Then you'd really go crazy.
Have you talked to rosenthal about going back on your meds? No, no.
We've talked look, for some people, they're a miracle n-not me.
But you had fewer symptoms.
And I couldn't concentrate long enough to finish a damn sodoku.
I couldn't write.
I couldn't work.
No, no, no.
I-I can handle this, nat.
I just I'll keep up my talk therapy with rosenthal.
I-I'll stick to my routine.
I'll watch my diet.
I'll keep my mind focused and occupied.
Okay.
Well, let's focus on the incident.
Tell me about it.
What is there to tell? It was a schizophrenic hallucination.
It was the product of randomly firing neurons.
Daniel, you know how your mind works.
Sometimes these hallucinations tell you things that your conscious mind can't make sense of.
Tell me what you saw.
The man.
He works at techsan, then he came to my house, said he was the killer, which I'm pretty sure is physically impossible.
What else did he say? That Valerie Nelson is a liar.
Who is she? She was having an affair with the victim.
She says she has nothing to do with the crime.
And the police believe her.
Well, if she's lying How could you prove it? The international atomic energy agency confirmed in the 1990s that Saddam Hussein had an advanced nuclear weapons development program.
Why are you making me relive this nightmare? Just watch.
had a design for a nuclear weapon and was working on five different methods of enriching uranium for a bomb.
The British government has learned that Saddam Hussein recently sought significant quantities of uranium from Africa.
Intelligence sources tell us that he has attempted to Thank you, Jimmy.
Jimmy's an aphasiac.
He's lost the ability to comprehend spoken language.
To compensate, many aphasiacs become highly sensitive to subtle inflections in speech.
Now, when we lie, those vocal nuances become more pronounced.
Most of us wouldn't notice, but aphasiacs do.
And for some reason, to them, it sounds funny.
He's a human lie detector.
Now, p-put that in.
You're doing great.
So, where were you on the night of march 5th? Home Waiting for Clark to call.
It was the night he was gonna tell Pamela he was leaving.
Ms.
Nelson, Agent Moretti, FBI.
Ms.
Nelson?! Valerie? Valerie? I need an ambulance.
Robert! Think she's gonna make it? It's too early to say.
Vicious blow to the back of the head like that? She might not even have seen her attacker.
Why are we still on this case? Chicago p.
D.
Should be handling it.
Just find out who she's been talking to.
What's the nature of your relationship with Ms.
Nelson? I couldn't have picked her out of the crowd at the company picnic.
Then why the calls? We came down here voluntarily.
Mr.
klane isn't under any obligation to answer these questions.
Were you aware that Valerie was having an affair with your dead general counsel? What does that have to do with me? Maybe Clark Weilman wasn't the only one getting executive perks from Valerie.
Maybe you found out, got jealous, killed Clark, and then you tried to do the same thing to Valerie.
What?! We're done here.
Even if she doesn't survive this surgery, we will find out what the two of you were up to.
Okay, Philip, Philip, let's go.
Sit, sit, it's fine.
Chamomile.
No milk, no sugar.
After Clark was killed, I got an e-mail from Ms.
Valerie saying it was urgent I should call her, so I did.
You're welcome.
She said she had information that could be damaging to the company.
What kind of information? Something about anomalous study results for one of our products.
She said she didn't want to talk about it Don't drink that.
What time? It might kill you.
Are you trying to poison me?! I told you, no milk, no sugar.
Come on, doc.
That's the murder weapon.
Tea? Yeah, it's tea.
Not tea poison.
Remember Timothy may? Said his mother was poisoned.
I poisoned her And killed Clark Weilman.
I don't understand.
What's to understand? She's trying to establish motive.
I'll give you a motive.
She was going to expose me, and now that's your job.
How? Can you be quiet, please? I'm trying to listen.
Aah! What the hell? I just bought this suit! Sorry.
Try club soda.
You've had a gut feeling all this time, haven't you, especially after what Timothy may said about his mom and what those people at techsan claimed about the insulprin study.
What are you talking about? Don't you remember my name? Gerard Permut.
So what? So, I know how much you like puzzles.
It's another anagram.
I solved it.
I think I solved it.
"Gerard Permut.
Drug tamperer.
" Who's Gerard Permut? You wrote on the wall? I think somebody tampered with the results of the insulprin study.
What makes you say that? Gut feeling.
Timothy may believed his mother was poisoned, that her heart attack was caused by the medication.
Timothy may is paranoid.
That doesn't make him wrong.
May's mother was taking a placebo.
According to the data reported by the company.
Which you believe was tampered with.
It would cost the company billions to pull that drug off the market.
C.
E.
O.
Would certainly have motive to cover that up.
Maybe.
But who had direct access to the study results? Dr.
Bryant.
Agent Moretti.
Dr.
Pierce.
What can I do for you? We are trying to figure out who tried to kill Valerie Nelson.
We found these on her hard drive.
We were hoping maybe you could tell us what they are.
Well, these look like study results of morbidity rates.
Right, from your insulprin trial, except they show an unusually high incidence of heart attack among women participating in the study.
Yeah, well, there there must be a mistake.
What about this one? Ah, yes.
These are the correct results.
Ah.
You see here? The incidence of heart attacks is approximately the same for those taking the placebo as for those taking the real drug.
But only because somebody tampered with these results.
They moved patient names from one group into the other.
Come on.
Who'd do something like that? Valerie found out you were falsifying the study, so she went to her boyfriend, techsan's top lawyer.
They were gonna ruin everything that you had worked for, so you had to stop them.
That's ridiculous.
Size 10 brogans? What? Your shoes.
You left a bloody footprint in Valerie's apartment.
You spend your whole career looking for that one miracle cure, you know? This wasn't about money for you.
It was about science.
You understand, Dr.
Pierce.
Every drug has side effects.
I figured out why it was causing the heart attacks.
I could have worked out the kinks But Valerie started collecting evidence against me like I'm a criminal.
You mean the study results.
Yes.
And then I saw her stealing pills So I followed her.
She brought them to Clark.
She goes to a lawyer instead of me?! You figured that they were going to get the pills independently tested, prove that they were dangerous.
I thought If I could just make him understand.
Clark, I don't know what Valerie's been telling you, but I can fix this.
Do you have any idea the liability you've exposed this company to? Clark, please! Get out of here before I get the police! Ohh! I guess I went a little crazy.
Nice work, detective.
Psycho.
You didn't tell me you found a footprint in Valerie's apartment.
I didn't.
Detective Moretti, I am shocked that you would so blatantly manipulate an obviously troubled individual.
What's up, doc? Daniel, what is it? Case isn't over yet.
What are you talking about? Daniel? Dr.
Bryant! What now? You said you figured out why insulprin was causing heart attacks.
What was it? The drug was depleting patients' thiamine levels.
Daniel, what is going on? There's another victim.
Ms.
Nelson? I'm Agent Moretti, FBI.
This is Dr.
Pierce.
Would you mind if I asked you a couple questions for our case against Dr.
Bryant? I still can't believe he tried to kill me.
Well, you found out he was tampering with the insulprin study, so you told Clark Weilman about your suspicions? I knew that drug was gonna hurt a lot of people when it hit the market.
Clark was a lawyer.
I-I figured he'd know what to do.
So he told you you needed more evidence? That's why you brought him the pills? Clark didn't want to expose the company to any liability unless he knew for sure.
Dr.
Bryant had done something wrong.
What? It's just funny you didn't tell the police any of this.
T-they wanted to know about my relationship with Clark.
I didn't think it had anything to do with the drug.
Oh, come on.
You gave Clark Weilman those pills so he could poison his wife, right? Are you out of your mind? Well, that's not the clinical description, but yes, actually.
And poor Dr.
Bryant he was out of his mind, too.
He was feeling so guilty for what he'd done that he became paranoid, and he made the same mistake we did.
He assumed that you'd stolen those pills as evidence when in fact you were supplying Clark Weilman with the perfect murder weapon.
What are you talking about? The drug wasn't on the market yet, so it was virtually untraceable.
You must have been dosing Pamela for weeks, just waiting for her heart to give out.
I was trying to do the right thing.
Why else would I call the C.
E.
O.
Of the company and tell him about the falsified results? You were worried that Pamela found out her husband was poisoning her.
If she went to the police, you would need a cover story to explain why you had given him the pills, so you pretended to be a whistle-blower.
No.
That is not right.
No, what's not right is that Pamela Weilman was accused of killing her husband when in fact you and your boyfriend were trying to kill her.
I want a lawyer.
Gonna need a good one.
Nice working with you, doc.
You wanted to see me, Professor? Karyn, yes.
Uh, come in, please.
Um, I-I wanted to apologize for what I said on the common the other day.
It was it was, uh, highly inappropriate and, uh, uh, offensive.
And very perceptive.
I'm sorry my friend was such a bitch.
I told her not to file that complaint.
Oh, oh, uh, uh, could you could you just wait uh, wait here one second? Lewicki! W-what is it, doc? I need you to tell me if there's someone in my office.
Hey! That one was definitely real.
Last week, I asked, "what is reality?" This week, I want to talk about normalcy.
What is normal? If you feel sad, do you just have a case of the blues, or are you suffering from a neurochemical imbalance? The vast majority of the case studies that we've been looking at involve patients whose brains are anything but normal, and there's no question they suffer.
But Is it all bad? For some, their neurological states might actually protect them from painful truths that no one would want to think about.
Others develop a-a cheerful disposition that may help them cope with situations the rest of us would find disturbing.
And if we are to establish a baseline, then we also have to ask ourselves how the brains of even so-called normal people respond to certain stimuli.
And if we're able to treat those people living with neurological disorders, restore them to quote "normalcy," well, of course we're helping them.
But might we sometimes also be stripping away what makes them unique robbing them of an essential part of who they are?
The observable universe? I suppose that answer might fly in the physics department, but this is neuroscience.
Who's got the brains to give me an answer relating to the brain? Ironic t-shirt.
Reality is exactly what we see and hear, instead of what we fantasize about or dream or, you know, maybe hallucinate.
Ah.
Hallucination.
That's an answer I would have expected from hippie guy.
Sex, drugs, and rock 'n' roll, right? Okay.
Now, here's something that's really gonna alter your consciousness.
Reality Is a figment of your imagination.
Who here hasn't woken up breathless from a nightmare and thought, "oh, thank God it's just a dream"? That's because the neurochemical impulses fired when we're dreaming or fantasizing or hallucinating are indistinguishable from the ones banging around inside our skulls when we actually experience those events.
So If what we perceive is often wrong How can we ever know what's real and what isn't? All right.
Faculty meeting's at noon.
Rosenthal's at 2:00, so I picked you up one of the veggie wraps that you like.
You can scarf it down in between.
You know how you get when you don't eat.
Lewicki.
Yeah? Room and board in exchange for some light housekeeping does not make you my mother.
Just trying to look out for you, doc.
Do you have my puzzles? Yeah.
Times, chronicle, trib, daily mail Professor Pierce? I was wondering if I could buy you a latte.
Uh, I don't drink coffee.
Oh, it doesn't have to be coffee.
I just wanted to pick your brain about my term-paper topic.
Oh.
Here's the thing, miss Karyn.
Karyn.
Uh "Discussing your term paper" is obviously code for sex.
And and while we might both enjoy that very much, it could also get me fired, so I'm afraid I have to regretfully and respectfully decline your offer.
Daniel.
Daniel.
Kate Moretti.
You'd be a lot easier to find if you carried a cellphone.
If I carried a cellphone, the government could track me.
I am the government.
My point exactly.
I thought you were at Quantico.
Got my old desk back.
Isn't that a demotion? Got a few minutes? His name's Clark Weilman.
He's well, he was general counsel of techsan pharmaceuticals.
Skull was fractured in six places, and his wife confessed to detectives from Chicago homicide.
Police have a confession.
Why am I looking at these pretty pictures? Wife makes Nicole Richie look fat.
I don't know who that is.
I-I think the wife has anorexia or bulimia.
I don't know.
Either way, she could not lift this trophy, let alone bash her husband over the head with it six times.
You think the confession was coerced? She has a vacant affect.
If she does have an eating disorder, it could be a symptom of a much more serious mental illness.
You were always one of my best students.
W-why is the FBI involved in this anyway? A couple of months ago, techsan informed the bureau that some of its top executives were receiving death threats, calling the pharmaceutical industry part of a vast public/private conspiracy to poison the American people.
Can't argue with that.
S.
A.
I.
C.
Says you gave up the consulting gig.
Any particular reason? Oh, uh After you left, the fun went out of it.
Well, I'm back.
Why did you kill your husband, Mrs.
Weilman? I, uh don't know.
You told the police you wanted the insurance money.
Yes.
That's that's right, the insurance money.
And just what is the point of this? When did you and your husband buy this policy? I don't remember.
Was it last Thursday? You met your husband for lunch, and then you both went to the insurance-company offices and signed the papers? Yeah.
That's right.
It was Yeah.
Two days ago, when you went for a walk, did you find a stray kitten? You took her home? You called her Millie? How did you know about Millie? She's innocent.
What are you talking about? She signed a confession.
Korsa-what? It's a neurological disorder characterized by anterograde amnesia, extreme susceptibility to suggestion, and confabulation.
I tell her she has a cat named Millie, she remembers having a cat named Millie.
You tell her she bashed her husband over the head with a golf trophy, and she remembers that.
Only there is no cat.
I made that up.
Just like you made up a story about a murder plot to collect life insurance, which is a bit of a cliché, isn't it, detective? What the hell? Hey, hold on a second! Hey! Hey! Listen, we did a background check.
We found out about that policy, and we asked her.
You're acting like I beat it out of her with a rubber hose.
Either way, it's a false confession.
She doesn't belong in jail.
She belongs in a hospital.
This is bullshit.
Can we go now? Just give me a minute.
Okay? I'm gonna recommend that Ms.
Weilman be transferred to a psychiatric unit for further evaluation.
Are you kidding me?! She confessed to murder.
Look, if Dr.
Pierce My lieutenant warned me about you, said you'd come in here, flashing your FBI badge, jacking our cases.
Screwing with one of mine now because some nutjob makes a drive-by diagnosis? He's not a nutjob, detective Hammond.
He literally wrote the book on forensic neuropsychiatry four of them, actually.
Not a nutjob, huh? Okay.
So he's a little eccentric.
to get the FBI's interest? You'll have to forgive Alan, Agent Moretti.
He and Clark were very close.
I just need access to all litigation filed against techsan over the past five years.
Do you have any idea how many frivolous claims a company like ours has to deal with? Mm.
I can imagine.
But we may be able to connect the death threats techsan received to someone who brought a lawsuit against the company.
And I would also like access to Mr.
Weilman's e-mail account and a list of his current and former colleagues really, anyone he came into contact with.
Alan will get you everything you need.
Thanks, Alan.
These are the anonymous e-mails sent to Clark Weilman and the other techsan executives.
These death threats were routed through servers all over the world.
Whoever sent them knows how to cover his tracks.
Anything you can tell us about the psychology of the letter writer would help.
"Pharmaceutical industry and the fda are conspiring to keep the American people sick.
" Well, that part's certainly true.
Is he serious? Restless leg syndrome? You don't think that's an invention of the drug companies to sell more pills? "You scum need a hearty reminder.
" That's repeated in each of the e-mails.
You think it means something? "You scum need a hearty reminder.
" "Techsan" "murdered Irene may.
" It's an anagram.
Some domestic terrorist goes to all this trouble to disguise the source of his e-mails, and then he just gives us a name? He's trying to prove he's smarter than we are.
Very good, Agent Moretti.
"May v.
Techsan, dismissed in summary judgment, filed by a Timothy may on behalf of his mother, Irene.
" Wait here.
Once it's clear, you can come up, take a look around.
FBI! We'd like to talk to you! Open it.
Mr.
may? FBI! Stop! Stairs! Freeze, Mr.
may! Are you all right?! Fine.
You want my professional opinion, jumping off a second-story fire escape is what we commonly call "crazy.
" Guess that makes two of us.
It's against the law to make terrorist threats.
And murder is kind of a no-no, too.
I didn't kill anyone.
Then I will ask you again where were you the night that Clark Weilman died? You think I'm gonna cooperate with the beast better known as the United States federal government? Herbal tea.
What? No milk, no sugar.
No sugar? Processed sugar that's an addictive drug peddled by big agribusiness to promote an epidemic in type 2 diabetes.
And then their pals in big pharma can reap billions marketing treatments.
And don't even get me started on why they put hormones in milk.
I-I'm not a fed, by the way.
Then what are you doing here? College Professor.
Sometimes they ask for my expert opinion.
And I-I bill the beast for my for my time, believe me.
Figure as long as they're gonna bleed me with taxes, might as well get something out of it, right? Your mother had type 2 diabetes, didn't she? She was always sending me out to pick her up soda, ice cream.
I should have told her no.
Well, she was your mom.
You wanted to make her happy.
And you you wanted to help her.
That's why you signed her up for a drug trial.
Is that right? Techsan's new miracle pill, insulprin? They said it would cure her.
Instead, she drops dead of a heart attack.
You think the drug killed her? It's poison.
And the big-shot lawyers at techsan have your suit thrown out.
They said it was frivolous.
Bastards wouldn't even pay for the funeral.
That must have made you pretty angry.
You got no idea.
Angry enough to kill Clark Weilman? Look at me, mister.
You really think I got it in me to cave some guy's head in? Drop you back at campus.
What about the case? You helped us solve it.
Thank you.
You don't really believe that poor guy killed anybody? No.
He's paranoid.
He's not violent.
I agree.
And we have no physical evidence connecting him to the crime scene.
W-wait I'm told I can be a little absentminded, so maybe I'm missing something here.
We were assigned to investigate terrorist threats.
We have the man who made those threats in custody.
But there was a murder! Local police matter.
Oh, come on.
You dangle a puzzle like this in front of me, and you expect me to drop it before it's solved? Listen You were right, okay? My transfer back to Chicago was a demotion.
What'd you do? Leap off one too many tall buildings in pursuit of fleeing suspects? The deputy director said that I had a tendency to go beyond the scope of my assigned investigations.
Well, you can try to be a good little bureaucrat and deny your impulses, but you know you're just as incapable of letting this go as I am.
Thank you for seeing us, Dr.
Bryant.
I don't know how much help I can be.
I-I didn't know Clark well.
Lawyers don't mix much with lab rats.
Well, we've been talking to everyone.
Mr.
Weilman had contact with uh, friends, associates here at techsan.
Does your new blockbuster drug, insulprin, cause heart attacks? How is that relevant? Uh, no, that's okay.
I'm happy to answer that.
Insulprin Has been rigorously tested for five years.
Subjects taking the drug are certainly no more likely to have heart attacks than the control group.
We're very proud of insulprin here.
It's gonna save a lot of lives.
And earn billions of dollars.
W-what does any of this have to do with Clark Weilman's murder? There was a lawsuit filed against this company by a man claiming his mother's coronary was caused by insulprin, maybe techsan.
Yeah.
I remember that suit.
It was dismissed in summary judgment.
Something funny? Sad, actually.
Um, I remember it, too, because it turns out this may woman was in the placebo group.
She wasn't even taking the drug.
That answer your question? Daniel? Are we done here? Daniel, are you okay? Hmm.
Well, I appreciate your maybe not-so-healthy distrust of large institutions, but how about we just put aside your conspiracy theories and focus on finding the killer? I'm looking for a Valerie Nelson! Hammond? I'm Valerie Nelson.
Oh.
I'd like to have a word with you.
What's this all about? Well, it seems that Pamela Weilman had another motive for killing her husband.
According to his phone records, he was making a lot of late-night calls to a pretty, young coworker.
I knew it was wrong, but I fell in love with him.
So, where were you on the night of march 5th? Home Waiting for Clark to call.
It was the night he was gonna tell Pamela he was leaving.
I guess she didn't take it so well.
One of the wife's symptoms is anterograde amnesia, right? Mm.
So her husband comes home, tells her that he's leaving her for some hottie from the office.
She goes into an adrenaline-fueled rage, and she kills him.
But, because of the korsakoff's, by the time the police get there, she's forgotten why she killed the guy.
And when the detective says she did it for the insurance money that's how she remembers it.
Impressive theory.
But wrong.
Pamela Weilman isn't a killer.
She's a victim.
First, her husband cheats on her, and then this neanderthal cop tries to put her in jail which is typical of how the mentally ill are treated by our so-called justice system.
Well, I'm stuck.
And the only thing that I know of that's going to get me unstuck is burger grease.
You know cholesterol is the silent killer? You'll have a garden burger.
I'll buy it for you.
Let's go.
No.
No, I-I can't.
I have I have an appointment.
So, why didn't you say yes? Because I had a date with you.
Daniel, we haven't had a date since grad school.
It's time to move on.
Admit it.
I'm wearing you down.
I'm wearing you down.
How do you feel? I'm fine.
Why? And we both know how you get when you don't stick to your routine.
Which is why I have Lewicki.
He keeps me organized.
What are you gonna do when he graduates? You know you know how often Lewicki changes majors? I don't think there's much danger of graduation.
Fly ball to right.
Well-hit.
Back near the wall And Gone! Yes! Into the basket! You see that? It's spring training.
Let's see how they do in October.
Oh, ye of little faith, I am telling you, this is the year.
Believing the cubs are gonna win the pennant that is a symptom of a delusional mind.
Rationality's overrated, particularly if you're a cubs fan.
I have to go.
I have a class tomorrow.
Good night, Daniel.
And another bad throw by Baker.
Everybody's safe.
Sloppy game again defensively, and that ultimately cost the cubs.
Sadists.
Lewicki?! Lewicki?! Dr.
Pierce I'm so sorry to bother you at home.
You work at techsan.
My name's Gerard Permut.
What can I do for you, Mr.
Permut? I-I have information on Clark Weilman's murder.
You should go to the FBI.
No, I-I can't, I can't.
I can't trust them, okay? I can't.
Listen, I-I've read all your books, every single one of them, and I-I know I know that you understand people like me.
And, please, I don't I don't have anyone else to turn to.
I really all right, all right.
All right.
Come on.
Would you like to sit down? I-I didn't mean to do it, but the voices in my head they told me that I had to do it.
All right.
W-what did the voices tell you to do? I'm in love with Valerie Nelson.
I found out that she was sleeping with Clark Weilman.
The voices told me that the pain would would go away if I killed him.
Ohh! All right.
I-I'm gonna get you some help.
She told me that we had a life together.
That's what she said.
I never should have trusted her, ever.
That bitch she's a liar! Lewicki! Who are you calling? It's all right.
He works for me, all right? W-we're gonna get you some help.
Lewicki! You need something, doc? I'm right in the middle of kicking Obi-Wan's jedi ass.
I'm sorry to call you away from something so urgent.
But as you can see, I have a situation here.
There's no one else here, is there? No, doc.
It's just you and me.
Almost had you.
Doc, you have to eat.
This is not what I wanted.
It's mahler's first.
That is the Von karajan recording.
I asked for the solti.
Do you know how hard it is to find a cassette tape? All right, if you just let me buy you an iPod, we can download any recording you want.
You know what? That's not a bad idea.
You got to get with the program.
Just stay out of this.
He's here? You know, doc, maybe this guy isn't just a hallucination.
You know, maybe he's some kind of psychic vision.
There have been studies that show that these no, Lewicki, there have been no studies.
There have been frauds and scams and entertainments okay, you said this vision told you he was jealous of the dead guy.
Maybe there really is some kind of twisted love-triangle thing going on, you know? Why do you keep this idiot around? Because when assholes like you show up, I need someone to tell me that you're not real.
Answer that! Dr.
Pierce's residence.
Yes, I'll tell him.
Dean Haley wants to see you.
What in God's name were you thinking, Daniel? I'll tell you exactly what I was thinking, Paul.
I was thinking this pheromone-spewing 20-year-old has been sitting in the front row of my class making eyes at me for three semesters running, and now she's inviting me for a latte.
Oh, and, by the way, she's sticking a skin-tight t-shirt in my face, advertising herself as a "stimulus package.
" I don't need any more stimuli.
Look, you can't just go around accusing students of wanting to have sex with you, especially not in front of witnesses.
What witnesses? Are you really that oblivious? She was with a friend.
That's who filed the complaint.
You're joking.
Tell me you're Look, Daniel, I have put up with all of your eccentricities because you are a brilliant scholar, you're a popular teacher, and you're my friend.
But have you any idea what kind of a hit our endowment has taken, hmm? We cannot afford a lawsuit.
What are you asking me to do? He wants me to apologize to both girls.
It's outrageous! Why are you smiling? What, y-you think this is funny? What I think is, is that you deflected this offer from this student for the same reason you turned down the dinner invitation with Kate Moretti.
Enlighten me.
You are petrified of anything remotely resembling an intimate connection with another human being.
Oh, spare me the psychobabble.
Tell me I'm wrong.
Natalie, look at me.
I-I-I hear voices.
I see things that aren't there.
I talk to the walls.
How am I ever gonna have an intimate connection with anybody? You had an incident.
Daniel? Well, sometimes this happens.
You deal with it, and you move on.
Right.
So, why is it that I get the feeling that you're more worried about this than usual? What if next time it happens in front of Kate? You told Kate about your condition a long time ago.
Well, knowing and seeing are two different things.
I don't m-maybe I should get off this case.
Quit without solving it? Then you'd really go crazy.
Have you talked to rosenthal about going back on your meds? No, no.
We've talked look, for some people, they're a miracle n-not me.
But you had fewer symptoms.
And I couldn't concentrate long enough to finish a damn sodoku.
I couldn't write.
I couldn't work.
No, no, no.
I-I can handle this, nat.
I just I'll keep up my talk therapy with rosenthal.
I-I'll stick to my routine.
I'll watch my diet.
I'll keep my mind focused and occupied.
Okay.
Well, let's focus on the incident.
Tell me about it.
What is there to tell? It was a schizophrenic hallucination.
It was the product of randomly firing neurons.
Daniel, you know how your mind works.
Sometimes these hallucinations tell you things that your conscious mind can't make sense of.
Tell me what you saw.
The man.
He works at techsan, then he came to my house, said he was the killer, which I'm pretty sure is physically impossible.
What else did he say? That Valerie Nelson is a liar.
Who is she? She was having an affair with the victim.
She says she has nothing to do with the crime.
And the police believe her.
Well, if she's lying How could you prove it? The international atomic energy agency confirmed in the 1990s that Saddam Hussein had an advanced nuclear weapons development program.
Why are you making me relive this nightmare? Just watch.
had a design for a nuclear weapon and was working on five different methods of enriching uranium for a bomb.
The British government has learned that Saddam Hussein recently sought significant quantities of uranium from Africa.
Intelligence sources tell us that he has attempted to Thank you, Jimmy.
Jimmy's an aphasiac.
He's lost the ability to comprehend spoken language.
To compensate, many aphasiacs become highly sensitive to subtle inflections in speech.
Now, when we lie, those vocal nuances become more pronounced.
Most of us wouldn't notice, but aphasiacs do.
And for some reason, to them, it sounds funny.
He's a human lie detector.
Now, p-put that in.
You're doing great.
So, where were you on the night of march 5th? Home Waiting for Clark to call.
It was the night he was gonna tell Pamela he was leaving.
Ms.
Nelson, Agent Moretti, FBI.
Ms.
Nelson?! Valerie? Valerie? I need an ambulance.
Robert! Think she's gonna make it? It's too early to say.
Vicious blow to the back of the head like that? She might not even have seen her attacker.
Why are we still on this case? Chicago p.
D.
Should be handling it.
Just find out who she's been talking to.
What's the nature of your relationship with Ms.
Nelson? I couldn't have picked her out of the crowd at the company picnic.
Then why the calls? We came down here voluntarily.
Mr.
klane isn't under any obligation to answer these questions.
Were you aware that Valerie was having an affair with your dead general counsel? What does that have to do with me? Maybe Clark Weilman wasn't the only one getting executive perks from Valerie.
Maybe you found out, got jealous, killed Clark, and then you tried to do the same thing to Valerie.
What?! We're done here.
Even if she doesn't survive this surgery, we will find out what the two of you were up to.
Okay, Philip, Philip, let's go.
Sit, sit, it's fine.
Chamomile.
No milk, no sugar.
After Clark was killed, I got an e-mail from Ms.
Valerie saying it was urgent I should call her, so I did.
You're welcome.
She said she had information that could be damaging to the company.
What kind of information? Something about anomalous study results for one of our products.
She said she didn't want to talk about it Don't drink that.
What time? It might kill you.
Are you trying to poison me?! I told you, no milk, no sugar.
Come on, doc.
That's the murder weapon.
Tea? Yeah, it's tea.
Not tea poison.
Remember Timothy may? Said his mother was poisoned.
I poisoned her And killed Clark Weilman.
I don't understand.
What's to understand? She's trying to establish motive.
I'll give you a motive.
She was going to expose me, and now that's your job.
How? Can you be quiet, please? I'm trying to listen.
Aah! What the hell? I just bought this suit! Sorry.
Try club soda.
You've had a gut feeling all this time, haven't you, especially after what Timothy may said about his mom and what those people at techsan claimed about the insulprin study.
What are you talking about? Don't you remember my name? Gerard Permut.
So what? So, I know how much you like puzzles.
It's another anagram.
I solved it.
I think I solved it.
"Gerard Permut.
Drug tamperer.
" Who's Gerard Permut? You wrote on the wall? I think somebody tampered with the results of the insulprin study.
What makes you say that? Gut feeling.
Timothy may believed his mother was poisoned, that her heart attack was caused by the medication.
Timothy may is paranoid.
That doesn't make him wrong.
May's mother was taking a placebo.
According to the data reported by the company.
Which you believe was tampered with.
It would cost the company billions to pull that drug off the market.
C.
E.
O.
Would certainly have motive to cover that up.
Maybe.
But who had direct access to the study results? Dr.
Bryant.
Agent Moretti.
Dr.
Pierce.
What can I do for you? We are trying to figure out who tried to kill Valerie Nelson.
We found these on her hard drive.
We were hoping maybe you could tell us what they are.
Well, these look like study results of morbidity rates.
Right, from your insulprin trial, except they show an unusually high incidence of heart attack among women participating in the study.
Yeah, well, there there must be a mistake.
What about this one? Ah, yes.
These are the correct results.
Ah.
You see here? The incidence of heart attacks is approximately the same for those taking the placebo as for those taking the real drug.
But only because somebody tampered with these results.
They moved patient names from one group into the other.
Come on.
Who'd do something like that? Valerie found out you were falsifying the study, so she went to her boyfriend, techsan's top lawyer.
They were gonna ruin everything that you had worked for, so you had to stop them.
That's ridiculous.
Size 10 brogans? What? Your shoes.
You left a bloody footprint in Valerie's apartment.
You spend your whole career looking for that one miracle cure, you know? This wasn't about money for you.
It was about science.
You understand, Dr.
Pierce.
Every drug has side effects.
I figured out why it was causing the heart attacks.
I could have worked out the kinks But Valerie started collecting evidence against me like I'm a criminal.
You mean the study results.
Yes.
And then I saw her stealing pills So I followed her.
She brought them to Clark.
She goes to a lawyer instead of me?! You figured that they were going to get the pills independently tested, prove that they were dangerous.
I thought If I could just make him understand.
Clark, I don't know what Valerie's been telling you, but I can fix this.
Do you have any idea the liability you've exposed this company to? Clark, please! Get out of here before I get the police! Ohh! I guess I went a little crazy.
Nice work, detective.
Psycho.
You didn't tell me you found a footprint in Valerie's apartment.
I didn't.
Detective Moretti, I am shocked that you would so blatantly manipulate an obviously troubled individual.
What's up, doc? Daniel, what is it? Case isn't over yet.
What are you talking about? Daniel? Dr.
Bryant! What now? You said you figured out why insulprin was causing heart attacks.
What was it? The drug was depleting patients' thiamine levels.
Daniel, what is going on? There's another victim.
Ms.
Nelson? I'm Agent Moretti, FBI.
This is Dr.
Pierce.
Would you mind if I asked you a couple questions for our case against Dr.
Bryant? I still can't believe he tried to kill me.
Well, you found out he was tampering with the insulprin study, so you told Clark Weilman about your suspicions? I knew that drug was gonna hurt a lot of people when it hit the market.
Clark was a lawyer.
I-I figured he'd know what to do.
So he told you you needed more evidence? That's why you brought him the pills? Clark didn't want to expose the company to any liability unless he knew for sure.
Dr.
Bryant had done something wrong.
What? It's just funny you didn't tell the police any of this.
T-they wanted to know about my relationship with Clark.
I didn't think it had anything to do with the drug.
Oh, come on.
You gave Clark Weilman those pills so he could poison his wife, right? Are you out of your mind? Well, that's not the clinical description, but yes, actually.
And poor Dr.
Bryant he was out of his mind, too.
He was feeling so guilty for what he'd done that he became paranoid, and he made the same mistake we did.
He assumed that you'd stolen those pills as evidence when in fact you were supplying Clark Weilman with the perfect murder weapon.
What are you talking about? The drug wasn't on the market yet, so it was virtually untraceable.
You must have been dosing Pamela for weeks, just waiting for her heart to give out.
I was trying to do the right thing.
Why else would I call the C.
E.
O.
Of the company and tell him about the falsified results? You were worried that Pamela found out her husband was poisoning her.
If she went to the police, you would need a cover story to explain why you had given him the pills, so you pretended to be a whistle-blower.
No.
That is not right.
No, what's not right is that Pamela Weilman was accused of killing her husband when in fact you and your boyfriend were trying to kill her.
I want a lawyer.
Gonna need a good one.
Nice working with you, doc.
You wanted to see me, Professor? Karyn, yes.
Uh, come in, please.
Um, I-I wanted to apologize for what I said on the common the other day.
It was it was, uh, highly inappropriate and, uh, uh, offensive.
And very perceptive.
I'm sorry my friend was such a bitch.
I told her not to file that complaint.
Oh, oh, uh, uh, could you could you just wait uh, wait here one second? Lewicki! W-what is it, doc? I need you to tell me if there's someone in my office.
Hey! That one was definitely real.
Last week, I asked, "what is reality?" This week, I want to talk about normalcy.
What is normal? If you feel sad, do you just have a case of the blues, or are you suffering from a neurochemical imbalance? The vast majority of the case studies that we've been looking at involve patients whose brains are anything but normal, and there's no question they suffer.
But Is it all bad? For some, their neurological states might actually protect them from painful truths that no one would want to think about.
Others develop a-a cheerful disposition that may help them cope with situations the rest of us would find disturbing.
And if we are to establish a baseline, then we also have to ask ourselves how the brains of even so-called normal people respond to certain stimuli.
And if we're able to treat those people living with neurological disorders, restore them to quote "normalcy," well, of course we're helping them.
But might we sometimes also be stripping away what makes them unique robbing them of an essential part of who they are?