Panhandle (2022) s01e03 Episode Script

1
I was fluffing the pillow.
It's fine. We don't need to talk
I was fluffing.
I was not humping.
That pillow did not represent Vida.
I was not simulating
intercourse with a pillow,
despite the plausibility issues
of my alternate explanation
Please stop.
If not for me,
then for your own self-respect.
I was surprised to learn that you
were looking into Vida's murder.
I heard you moved on.
That certainly would have
been the healthy choice.
I think you'd agree it's a question
that can't be left unanswered.
It's already been answered.
The official police account is true.
The two of you fought.
Vida ran to the swamp to buy drugs
and was killed by a junkie
who valued her diamonds
more than her life.
Well, that is just the simple
answer, and you know it.
Mira, pendejo, I know my daughter
certainly better than you ever did.
No, you do not.
And I resent that.
When she was in pain, she did drugs,
and she was in pain.
Whatever lies Vida told you,
she spent most of her time in our
Rosemary Beach house before she died
because she needed to get away from you.
I don't believe that.
Nobody wishes for their
child's marriage to fall apart,
but I prayed for it
and was grateful there was another man
who brought something
other than misery into her life.
Stop this ridiculous investigation
and go back to whatever it is you do.
Get out of my house.
- Her drug use, her death.
- Get out.
The perpetrator
you're hunting is yourself.
You're a child, Bell.
A spoiled, drunk child.
I should've done this a long time ago.
It would have saved you.
Well, if you're gonna do it,
do it already.
Bellwether, not again!
I tried to shed my mortal coil.
You and I both know that the
roof is plagued with wood rot.
That would definitely not work.
But why did you even try?
Alejandro stopped by.
He called me a spoiled child.
Oh, baby, don't listen to him.
How about I run you a bath, huh?
I'll make some hot cocoa.
You love hot cocoa.
I'll be right back.
Bill Mason of "The Cockpits"?
Yeah, that's me.
You're under arrest
for the murder of Mel Doppler.
Not cool, bro.
Guess you were in such a hurry,
you couldn't even let me
get dressed first, huh?
Enough, The Rock but dumber.
I'm innocent, all right?
Okay, John Cena but dumber.
I have an alibi.
Based on a bogus phone call
that establishes
the wrong time of death.
And I have proof,
Dave Bautista but dumber.
Hello.
Mel Doppler's murder
what was that thing
about the pair of futons?
No, periphytons.
Fuck is that?
Uh, freshwater organisms.
They establish the time of death.
You sound like crap, by the way.
Hmm.
Periphytons, Bill.
Fuck is that?
They establish a time frame
that you don't have an alibi for.
So we have motive,
we have means, and
we have that third thing.
Oh, please.
I'll do, like, half the max.
That's five years.
I can do that standing on my head.
Don't you have a two-year-old son?
I'll make it up on the other side.
Oh, right.
So you're just gonna lie around
while some woman
raises your child alone?
Then you'll waltz back in
with a toy barbell set and say,
"Hey, kid,
let's pick up where we left off"?
Oh, man, you're a mess.
- I'm a mess?
- Yeah.
- Seriously?
- Yeah.
Have you heard yourself?
What's really bugging you,
murder or the fact
that I'm a piece-of-shit dad?
'Cause only one of those is illegal.
Murder.
Murder bugs me.
- Well, hello.
- Hey.
Really, Urleen? You like this?
- I like a big man.
- I'm big everywhere.
Yeah, I doubt that, given the steroids.
Oh, that just affects the testes.
Good to know.
- Whoa, good catch.
- Yeah.
I found it under the mayor's couch.
If you're wondering
where the office cat is,
I got your answer right here.
Oh, shit. Is the mayor okay?
Physically. He did cry
like a little man-bitch.
But I couldn't really enjoy it today.
Mm?
'Cause of what happened
with Bell last night?
Maybe a little something
in your stomach will help.
Mm, that's a fine idea, Mother.
Welcome to the manic part
of manic depression.
I am fine.
Do you hear me? I am totally fine!
I am A-okay!
You seem fine.
Yeah, he seems real healthy.
I brought him some books on
how to recover from infidelity.
Bell is stapling.
- That's not good.
- Alejandro paid him a visit.
- Oh.
- I was sleeping.
Otherwise I would have shot him?
What the hell happened?
Attempted hanging and some staples.
- Staples?
- Yeah.
Where is he?
Let's get up, buddy.
I can't move.
I'm a paralytic zounderkite.
I think you're depressed.
Though to be honest,
I didn't think depression
was stack able with agoraphobia.
I thought it was like
psoriasis and eczema
Your body just sort of picks one.
That didn't work.
Oh, maybe I could read to you.
It always works with Tyler.
Okay, um
Don't Get Mad, Get the House."
Hmm, catchy.
Draws me in.
"How long should you stay angry
after a profound betrayal?"
Oh, I don't get angry.
I smoke too much weed and
my anger receptors are shot.
Awesome.
"No matter the size of the betrayal,
the rule stays constant:
Indulge your anger for one week,
and then move on."
One week?
What the hell is this shit?
It got a bunch of five-star reviews.
- Mm-mm.
- Oh.
I'm gonna go keep Ms. Millie company.
Excuse me.
I know about cheating partners, okay?
I'm still pissed as hell,
and there's nothing wrong with that.
You get to be upset.
It's totally okay.
He needs professional help.
He's burned through every
therapist in North Florida.
He thinks he's smarter than everyone.
- He is.
- Mm.
We have to help him
or commit him, one of the two.
That That mirror is gonna
give me nightmares.
I
This guy Alvarez,
he's a doctor of psychology
at Florida State.
Mm.
Yeah, but he teaches at Florida State.
Wait.
Harvard, Johns Hopkins
Oprah,
and he just gave a TED Talk
on suicide prevention.
The pain I want you never to know
is the permanent, agonizing
state of self-inquisition
"Did I do my best
in the collective effort
that might have saved their lives?"
Okay, fine.
Fine, Alvarez it is.
We just have to find him.
I can find him.
In a way that doesn't
make me have to arrest you?
Let me make a few calls.
- Okay.
- Okay.
- Are you okay?
- I'm okay.
Oh!
Hungry?
- That's a good sign.
- Mm.
Um, if there's some swelling,
why don't you try
a little ibuprofen, dear?
Mm, it's not for swelling.
I'm feeding myself to William Moseley.
Eat me, you ignoramus!
This is top sirloin!
You have less than a tablespoon
of brains, and it shows!
Bell, you've got to stop this, okay?
It's unfair to everyone.
Your mother's in there suffering!
I think. It's hard to tell.
You told me you understood
the extreme nature
of my personal torment.
Yeah, I said I understood it,
not that it gave you permission
to hang yourself
from a rotten ceiling.
Vida was hiding
at her parents' beach house
and canoodling with her lover.
Beach house? You never mentioned that.
I didn't know she was there
until last night.
Well, Bell, there could be clues there.
I don't want clues.
This is my life,
and I want to be done with it!
You know, killing yourself isn't
the only way to end suffering.
You ever think of taking
responsibility for what happened?
Guilt ends suffering?
What kind of perverted Buddhism is that?
No, no, not guilt. Truth.
Look, there's a saying:
"The truth will heal"
No, thanks!
That's almost the exact same thing
my bastard father-in-law
told me last night.
You didn't let me finish.
"The truth will heal you,
but first, it'll fuck you,"
and not in a loving, consensual way.
I am taking to my bed.
I got a list
of Dr. Alvarez's recent orders.
Digital soil thermometer,
John Coltrane CDs
- Who still buys CDs?
- Mm.
Florida.
Analog soil thermometer,
sulfuric acidifier,
Coco One-Steps.
- That's a tomato thing.
- Oh.
He's a blue head.
Ah, I got this.
That color.
My God, you're an artist.
What's the secret?
Eggshells and alligator scat.
I'll text you the proportions.
You'd seriously share that?
To help spread nature's beauty?
Why on Earth not?
I may even consider sharing a cutting.
Well, if there's ever anything
I can do to repay you, I
If we're being honest
My son is struggling emotionally,
and there just aren't
many good therapists out here,
certainly not like you, Dr. Alvarez.
What did you say his name was?
I don't care if he was on Oprah.
And it was '88.
That was trashy Oprah, not good Oprah!
And why didn't anyone ask me
if I wanted this?
Because you would've said no.
You have your own unresolved issues
and compulsive behaviors,
but there's no magical shrink
landing on your roof,
presuming you have one.
What do you mean
by "compulsive behavior"?
Nothing.
- Say it.
- No.
Come on. Come on, say it.
Your appetite for, uh,
casual, meaningless
Ah, see, if I were a man,
all that'd get me is
an "attaboy," and you know it.
Also, why are you wearing a tux?
I like this suit,
and I'd only worn it twice.
What should I have done,
business casual?
No, you should have worn
real clothes that don't smell.
Now.
Do it for the tomatoes.
I will.
She's working him.
Yeah, you're probably right.
Definitely bring that up
to your therapist.
Yeah.
All right, go.
Do it. Prince of Tides this shit.
Standard intake sessions are 90 minutes,
but with my profile,
you'll take half the day.
Your initial questions will pertain
to possible cerebral trauma
and other somatic factors.
Then you'll cover the bases
on childhood sexual abuse,
chemical dependence, violence,
arrest, and/or institutionalization.
How was that? Was that
everything you hoped for?
Good luck.
You know, it's probably not the greatest
choice to have guns in the house.
Indigo, Bell's father, hated guns.
He knew that I loved them.
He knew I needed that sense of power.
If you don't mind me asking,
what happened to Bell's dad?
Six years ago,
he got rip-roaring drunk
and he fell off the hayloft.
Broke his neck.
Wow.
That
sucks.
What sucked harder
is that Bell found him.
That that does suck harder.
How did he handle it?
He didn't handle it.
He handled me.
My grief, my suffering.
He didn't have any time for himself
And no time for Vida.
That wasn't your fault.
Yes, it was.
No kid should have to fix their parent.
Oh, God.
I'm sorry.
I don't know what's going on.
You're thinking about Tyler.
You'll have him
for your whole life, you know.
My parents, they, um
They didn't believe
in the whole lifetime thing.
I won't ever let anything hurt my Ty.
Not his father, not me.
Nobody's gonna hurt my boy.
You describe two people
who barely communicated.
What do you believe caused this failure?
Me.
I did, 100%. Asked and answered.
- I win.
- No, you don't.
- That was evasion.
- I'm taking responsibility.
- But for what?
- Everything.
It's very courageous.
I feel like I'm being an awesome patient
and you're not recognizing me for it.
Bell, you're holding on to a secret,
and it's poisoning you.
Tell him, Bell. About your father
I don't want to talk about my father!
Or my mother.
A man finds out his wife cheated.
The affair was his fault,
and it led to her murder.
Man hangs himself, then tries
to feed himself to an alligator.
It's a tale as old as time.
It's virtually a cliche at this point.
The end.
You know what? Screw it.
You're just like all the other shrinks.
Do the hallucinations
soothe you or disturb you?
What hallucinations?
The ones projecting right here.
Are you in control of them,
or are they in control of you?
Bell, you're not up for a journey
to the core of your soul,
fine, but find a way to live.
Broadly, we're looking at panic disorder
manifesting in agoraphobia,
narcissistic personality traits,
and somehow, oddly,
both elements
of bipolar I and bipolar II.
What's the fix?
Well, honestly,
I told him to get a hobby.
Bell mentioned a project he was doing.
From what I can piece together,
he stopped,
then soon after, the suicide attempt.
He was trying to find his wife's killer.
- He should get back to that.
- Hmm.
Because he needs closure.
No, he could knit a sweater,
for all I care.
He just needs to do something.
Well, I was helping him,
but we sort of
Sort of hit a dead end, so
Well Well, what if someone
broke through that dead end?
Oh, you.
You have an exceptional ability
to overcome obstacles.
I've seen it.
Oh, no. No, no, no, no, no.
No, no, I will not be manipulated.
- Oh, no.
- No. Can you hear me?
I'm out. Count me out.
Damn it.
Oh, hey, Cammie.
Hey, Bitty. Just here to pick up Ty.
Hey, bug, what's going on
besides this thing
that you have on your head?
We're talking about our feelings.
Trish is mad.
Odell didn't even notice my hair.
Maybe now that
you're all detective and shit,
you can find out who he's looking at,
'cause it sure as shit ain't me.
Ty
did you tell Trish
that Mommy's a detective?
When I was his age,
I told everyone Mama did Beyonce's hair.
Ooh, that head.
I could've made the queen an empress.
Baby, we don't say things
that aren't true.
You caught two bad guys.
Huh, I thought all you did
was annoy the crap
out of everybody
with those dang tickets.
Actually, I arrested two murderers.
- Wait, you did what?
- What?
- Mm-hmm.
- Yeah!
Yeah, I may not be
an official detective,
but in case y'all were
wondering, I am good at this.
- Oh, okay, queen.
- Okay.
As a matter of fact, Bianca,
can you keep watching Ty?
Gotta go to the beach
and look for some clues.
I wanna go!
Ms. Millicent gave me a book
about the beach.
If I was doing Beyonce's hair,
I'd take Bianca.
She would.
Just saying.
Okay, so I'm gonna look for clues,
and you're gonna look fors
- Sand dollars?
- Nice!
Oh, bet there's a bunch over there
at the end of the beach, huh?
- 'Cause of the tides.
- What?
How'd you get so smart?
I'm gonna get some for Ms. Millicent.
Hey.
Hey.
Gonna tell you something
about your grandparents.
You do have a grandma and a grandpa.
They're somewhere, but, um
a long time ago,
when I was your age,
they decided they had to leave.
Why?
It's complicated.
Did they love you?
I don't know.
And I don't know
where they are, so I can't ask.
I didn't tell you, and that was wrong.
It's not good for families
when people keep secrets
from each other.
So let's promise, you and I,
never to do that, okay?
Hey. Hey, you know what?
Ms. Millicent loves whale bones.
She likes to use them to stir cocktails,
so why don't you go
look for them over there
and I'll look over here, okay?
Okay.
The hell is that?
Mom, there's no whale bones.
I'm coming to your spot.
No, sweetie.
We need dune grass. Pick some of that.
You can have one next if you want.
Oh, shit.
Oye.
How can you two be so stupid?
You have no self-control.
Transporting off-book product to Tampa?
Oh, relax, we send
a dozen trucks every week.
One little box off one truck
is not a problem, okay?
No one will know.
I know.
And if I do, anyone can.
You both are only part of El Calvero
Spirits as long as I allow it.
It was all Yasiel.
I had nothing to do with it, okay?
Ow! What are you doing?
Whatever.
- Read the room!
- Sorry.
Oh, shit.
Come on, we gotta go. Come on. Come on.
Okay.
Wait. Mom, look.
Cool. More water.
No, it's a "essotery."
I think you mean estuary, honey.
Wait, I wanna look!
Maybe some other time, Ty, but
we gotta go home, all right? Come on.
Please? I love estuaries.
Yeah? What's your favorite
thing about estuaries, huh?
They have two kinds of water.
Whoa, two kinds of water?
That does sound cool.
How does that work?
Sometimes the swamp water goes down.
Other times, the ocean water goes up.
Whoa, that is neat. Buckle up.
We'll come back real soon
and take a look, okay?
Wait, did you say that the
water can flow in either direction?
Huh, okay.
Excuse me, Officer.
Do you have a moment?
My name is Alejandro Perez.
Yes. How can I help you?
For one, can you explain what
a police officer from Boggsville
is doing here on Rosemary Beach?
Oh, just taking my boy to the beach.
I think that's what we Cubans
call "un tremendo paquete,"
which translates to "big
package," but means "big lie."
Like I always told my children,
don't wander too far
from your own beach.
It dirties the sand and
confuses the lifeguards.
And like I've always told my child,
all Florida shoreline is public,
so go to whatever beach you want.
You say that to your child?
Yes, I do.
Early interest in, um, property rights.
Have a blessed day.
You Tasered me!
I can name six worse things
you've done to your body today.
I might have a lead.
I went to Rosemary Beach.
- The Perez house?
- Mm-hmm.
What did you observe?
Well, for starters,
I saw a man get his anus waxed
by what I suspect to be
adult film entertainers.
Mm, that'd be Vida's brother Yasiel.
And I met the dad.
He threatened me. Those people
have some serious shit to hide.
All families have things to
hide, but how does that help us?
I need specifics.
I don't have specifics.
- Well, what do you have?
- Doubt.
I now doubt
the official police accounts,
so you can either get your ass off
the couch, help me figure this out,
or I can get back to my fucking life.
Which one is it?
I am humoring you,
reluctantly.
The Perez house would be there.
Yeah, yeah, that's the estuary I saw.
Can you bring up the weather system
for the day Vida was killed?
Yes, although to what end escapes me.
I need to look at water levels.
What? It's a thing.
I looked it up, okay?
Okay, now, can you shift
through the time
between when you last saw Vida
and when her body was found?
Yeah. Yes, a storm surge.
See, that's the thing that I looked up.
See that? So usually,
water from the estuary
flows from the swamp,
but tidal surges cause the
estuaries to flow backwards.
So that night,
water flowed from the gulf to the swamp.
The cops assumed that Vida
was killed at the swamp,
but really, she could have
been killed at the beach
and then washed into the swamp.
The investigation was predicated
on a false assumption.
This is the most important
breakthrough in five years.
Mm-hmm.
How did you even think
of this ecological minutia?
Because I'm smart.
What, you think I cheated or something?
No, of course not. Apologies.
Look, the point is, no more
wallowing or drugging yourself
or feeding yourself
to the alligator, okay?
If we don't figure this out,
no one will.
There's no way around it.
We have to get her body.
Wait, what?
We need to dig up Vida.
No. No, no, no, no.
That was not what I was saying here.
We need her body to see if
there's evidence of seawater.
You can't just dig somebody up.
There are rules against that.
Oh, please, it's Florida.
Nobody's protecting dead bodies.
Dead bodies don't vote.
Sometimes they do vote.
Okay, with the understanding
that no one can predict the future,
what do you think?
Is there any chance,
if we solve this thing,
that you might, um, move on and
become a semi-functioning guy?
You are a fascinating woman.
Yes, I am.
Just so you know, I like Bell,
but when you start digging up
decomposed bodies for someone,
you gotta ask yourself,
"What's my line
for saying no to this guy?"
Well, maybe I'm enjoying myself too.
Do you have a crush on him?
Seriously, Mr. Doctor Fancy Shoes?
You think I'm a teenager or something?
No, I'm a single mom.
Single moms don't get crushes.
That wasn't a no.
Officer Lorde.
What an unpleasant surprise.
Yeah, yeah.
Who knew a hearse could do 80?
Surprised me too.
I was late to a funeral.
I didn't know it was possible
for a body to be late to a funeral.
Yeah, well,
we're not here about tickets.
We need to, uh, relocate a decedent.
Her husband wants
his beloved wife's remains
to be transferred
to their family burial plot.
I'm sorry,
but for a disinterment and relocation,
the next of kin
needs to appear in person.
I understand that.
This is Mr. Prescott's
personal physician,
Dr. Otis Wright.
Mr. Prescott's
designated me as his proxy.
He suffers from acute agoraphobia.
If I can rely on your discretion,
I'll confide in you
the truth about his condition.
He has a rare strain of
antibiotic-resistant syphilis.
If he appeared in person,
he could create a disturbance.
He spits, occasionally bites,
soils himself,
and sometimes even,
I'm sad to say,
eats the contents.
Yeah, we think arm's length is better.
Mm.
You know, there's a version of
this where you don't have to be here.
I'll survive.
I took a smidge of Ketamine.
Just a taste.
I am coping wonderfully.
Okay.
Whoa.
Hi, honey. I'm home.
All those hours of Pilates for this.
Oh, but my hair held up.
Poor Vida.
- She didn't deserve this.
- No, I did not.
I mean, she could be a grade-A bitch.
Darby.
So what are we looking for?
Anything that puts her at the
beach the night of the murder.
We can look,
but I'm guessing not much
survived the embalming process.
You know, I considered
extreme embalming.
In Puerto Rico,
they call it "el muerto parao."
That's "dead man standing."
It's a combination
of pipes and formaldehyde.
I was gonna have her posed with a credit
card in one hand and
a daiquiri in the other.
You sure you're okay?
No, but I can do this.
Vida never wore nail polish.
Girlfriends notice everything.
Husbands do not.
Otis, take the polish off, and
don't let the acetone leach under.
I'm a doctor.
I'm less arrogant than most of them,
but to be in a barn with a corpse
getting manicure instructions
from an exterminator
Mm, see, one of my former girls,
she got into the funeral business
on account of it's easier dealing
with dead men than live ones.
Morticians don't do anything
unless they have to.
If the nails look good, they leave them.
If there's dirt, they paint them.
Otis please.
Huh. Can I borrow your microscope?
Do you have any idea
how hard this is for me?
It's a distraction to avoid the truth.
It is not.
I need closure.
You need absolution.
Hey.
Look, I'm sorry. It was too
much, seeing her in there.
It's not that. It's
This is all my fault.
I did all this. I'm a terrible husband.
Even if I do find
the person who killed her,
it doesn't solve the fundamental issue.
Which is?
I pushed her away.
She died because of me.
She didn't, Bell.
She died because she died, okay?
You're just you're
just trying to stay alive.
I don't know if that's fair.
No, I saw her body in there.
She had two legs and a brain.
Wherever she was killed,
she got there using them.
Guys, get in here.
- That's an insect wing.
- Oh.
What's that get us?
See those fine hairs along the edge?
That's a sand fly.
They don't burrow under fingernails.
I don't know how you get a sand fly wing
lodged deep in a nail unless
you're building sandcastles.
Or trying to escape from
your attacker at the beach.
You were right.
She wasn't killed at the swamp.
She was killed at Rosemary Beach.
Yeah.
So she fought with you and ran
off to meet her lover at the beach.
Consistent with what Alejandro said.
Consistent with what we know.
Look, again, if this is too much,
I can pass this off to Sheriff Grant.
I am perfectly okay.
Okay.
Hey, did Vida have any neck surgery?
Maybe sleep issues?
No, she slept like a baby.
Metal fragment.
In her hyoid bone.
From the murder weapon?
If they had such a thing as
a postmortem MRI around here,
they'd have found it.
Panhandle.
If it wasn't a hatchet lodged in
a skull, they would never find it.
- Thank you, Otis.
- Mm.
Thank you, all of you.
I will rebury Vida's remains
in the morning.
I hope you can join me.
Nothing fancy.
Perhaps some Hemingway
daiquiris for old times' sake.
Hello?
What are you doing awake at this hour?
Fans of the obvious
would say it's 'cause
I used my badge under
fraudulent pretense
to dig up a murder victim.
I analyzed the metal fragment
that Otis found in Vida's neck.
It's steel,
but it predates the Bessemer process.
The Bessemer what?
It's 4:30.
Means the murder weapon was antique.
- From the 18th century.
- 18th?
Like George Washington? Mozart?
This person a time traveler?
Just, just kidding.
Um, that was a joke.
Who the hell has
an 18th-century machete?
I have no idea,
but if you'll forgive the
class-based presumptuousness,
I'm guessing not
a swamp-dwelling meth addict.
In the frenzy that accompanies
a sudden and tragic loss,
to recognize the deceased in an eloquent
and measured way is nearly impossible.
A funeral is
less about the deceased
than the raw grief of the survivors.
It's been five years since Vida died.
And I have struggled,
as you all know.
But today is a new day.
This is her moment.
Vida was a powerful presence.
She still is a powerful presence.
To speak plainly, she is a mystery,
and I'm
still getting to know the woman I love.
You done now?
Yes, I am done.
Been traveling these wide roads ♪
For so long ♪
My heart's been far ♪
From you ♪
Ten thousand miles gone ♪
Take me to your river ♪
I ♪
All right, um
she's in there.
Bell's gonna live.
At least another day.
That's you.
You did it.
No, we all did it.
Say he's only staying on
the top of dirt for one person.
Who is it?
His mom?
It's you.
Dr. Wright, is this
Is this you letting me
off the hook for those tickets?
I'm considering letting you
- off the hook, Officer Lorde.
- Uh-huh.
Well, can we seal the deal
if you let me buy you a drink sometime?
Realm of possibility.
Well, in the meantime,
I'm gonna go freshen up
and practice on one
of their Hemingway daiquiris.
This is where I belong.
Well, a lot of people say
I need to face the truth.
Maybe for the sake of my own
maturation,
we should take a break.
Just a small one.
Looking for something?
Yes, I am.
Daiquiris?
I just got back from Miami.
How did things go
in Boggsville last night?
It's controlled. Bell's no threat.
A patrol officer from
Boggsville was nosing around,
but I straightened that out.
We're good.
Are we?
Si, mi amor.
You're not as cute as you think.
I disagree.
I'm even cuter.