Grotesquerie (2024) s01e04 Episode Script

1
[Lois] What's that line from that movie
you love with, uh, Bill Holden?
"If they move, kill 'em."
- [respirator pumps, hisses]
- [monitor beeps]
[Lois sips]
Did I tell you we got robot cop-dogs now?
Steel Dobermans, razor-sharp teeth,
with rocket launchers
and a-a and flame throwers.
They're no match for my guy.
[respirator continues pumping, hissing]
Hell, I'm not. [sniffles]
Marsh, lately the only thing that's
holding me together is uppers and vodka.
Used to be you.
Long ago.
Grotesquerie is is taunting me.
[smacks lips] I'm as doomed as you are.
You know you're doomed, right?
[Lois's voice] Your great enemy
Nitzsche was right. God is dead.
[Nurse Redd]
Are we recording this? I need evidence.
I don't have a lead on this.
Not a Goddamn one.
I gotta
I gotta steady myself.
I gotta concentrate.
Until I can catch this sicko.
I guess what I'm saying is, Marsh,
I'm not gonna be able to be here
to see you everyday.
[whispers] Abandonment!
This man needs care and familiarity.
If he gets me before I get him,
which is which is probably the case
this is goodbye.
For our sins, we both deserve death.
Maybe we'll be kinder
to each other then.
Kind ghosts.
In the land of the dead.
[whispers] Kind ghosts?
Her brain is pickled in vodka.
But if I solve this and I live,
I'm giving away all your books.
With the notes in the margins, for what?
What good did they do?
Baby, this is the end of time.
[whispers] And that that is what
Mr. Grotesquerie is saying.
"This is the end."
Christ, she's barking mad.
[whispers] We will have
power of attorney. We will.
We will.
["Images of Heaven" playing]
[Father Charlie]
It starts right here, baby.
The future of the Catholic church
is in this cycle class.
We're gonna take it up a notch.
I want everybody
to increase their resistance.
Another five to ten.
Five to ten, baby. Let's go.
All right.
You're saving your souls
from sinning while spinning. Come on.
[exhales heavily]
You got it in you. I know you do.
Okay. All right.
Here we go. Get ready. And deep breath.
[inhales heavily]
[exhales heavily]
We're gonna go in five seconds.
All out. This is it. And sprint! [grunts]
Five, four, three, two, one. Yeah.
Dowse yourself. Inhale the holy spirit.
Amen.
- [Father Charlie panting]
- [footsteps retreating]
- [shower door squeaks]
- [water draining]
- [scoffs]
- [chuckles]
Oopsies. Sorry, Father. [laughs]
I just wanted to
I just wanted
to review my recent reporting with you.
- No. No, this is not approved.
- But this is where we are.
We can't run a story
that says that the police are stymied
and that they have no new leads. It's
It's boring. Lackluster.
Right [stammers] I'm sorry.
I know that you know that I think
that you're a talented writer.
- It's just that it seems like
- [comb raps mirror]
low-hanging fruit to me, maybe.
I think we can expect more out
of your journalistic efforts than that.
Because, I'm sorry,
where is the bloodlust?
Where is the fear?
[Father Charlie chuckles]
It's not in that story.
Don't worry.
It's all part of the process.
The waiting.
Excuse me.
You're an observer. That's what
makes you such a good journalist.
You like to watch.
Maybe I'm stuck.
Maybe I need to push myself harder.
You are right.
Because there's always
something worth seeing.
If If you look close enough.
You were watching me.
Earlier, in the rec room.
Anything worth seeing?
It was [breathes heavily]
an exaltation of God's glory
through physical prowess.
It's kinda become my side hustle.
The Pedaling Priest.
I could become a coach, start my own show.
Some of the older bishops,
they deride all excessive exercise
as vanity.
They see it as worshipping oneself.
A sin of the flesh,
but to that I just say
"Do you not know that your bodies
are temples of the Holy Spirit,
which is in you.
Therefore honor God with your bodies."
Yes.
Exactly.
[Father Charlie sighs]
This is exactly what they're talking about
right now at the Vatican.
An Ecumenical Council has congregated
so that they can discuss a radical change.
And this would completely disrupt
all of the archaic interpretations
of the scripture.
And this is regarding sex and lifestyle.
And even, possibly, potentially
- celibacy for those in the cloth.
- [gasps]
[chuckles nervously]
That's difficult to imagine.
Is it so difficult?
Parishioners are losing faith.
And the youth
are not being called to serve
quite in the same way as they used to.
- The church is dying.
- Mm-hmm.
And the bishops and the Pope,
they they know this.
[Sister Megan gasps]
They know that change must come.
[Sister Megan breathing heavily]
It is still a sin.
We are
- [gasps]
- and we always will be
[Sister Megan] Sinners.
[breathing heavily]
[whispering] So fuck it.
[kisses]
[Sister Megan groans]
- [Sister Megan grunts]
- [loose buttons clatter]
- [sideboard thumps]
- [Sister Megan groans]
[Lois sighs]
[Eddie] Hey, Detective Sassy-pants.
- How you doing? Rough day?
- [sighs]
Hell yeah. You can tell?
I know the look.
How's Marshall?
He's circling the drain.
And I
Listen. Babe, I owe you
a countless number of apologies
for my less than perfect comportment.
Comportment?
That's a fancy word
for being human, right?
You're fine. We're good.
- We're good, huh?
- Yeah.
I appreciate that.
You've always been this gentlemanly?
What can I say?
You know what?
Let me bake you something.
What's your favorite cake?
You know what I like?
Pop-Tarts, without the frosting.
What? [chuckles] That's not even cake.
Let's do something.
You mean, like, a date?
Sure, we can call it that.
[group attendee]
I was listening to this one preacher,
says over the AM radio
from the middle of the desert,
- "Hell is actually right here on Earth."
- [alarm beeping]
- So when you die, you don't go to hell.
- [loud beep, click]
So I think, "Well, why not die, then?"
So I set out to do it with tequila.
- I quit the job, I quit everything, man.
- [tracheostomy breathing]
Except the tequila.
It's not an easy way to kill yourself.
You get very sick
and you find yourself in a hospital.
Your loved ones crying.
Begging you to live.
And that's hell. Hurting your loved ones.
And I've slipped [sighs] three times.
And every single time,
it's people like you that help me up.
So if this is hell, then,
how come there's folks like y'all?
[clapping]
[whispering] Can we please
go get something to eat now?
You get it, right?
You gotta slow down the sauce.
- How'd you get off it?
- [sighs]
So, I was your typical ski-bum.
I loved the slopes
until I tore out all my ligaments.
And then,
I hightailed up to Juneau, Alaska.
- [chuckles] Alaska? What'd you do there?
- Mm-hmm.
- Tell me.
- [chuckles]
I worked at a male strip joint.
[laughs]
Jiggling it for horny mamas
coming off of cruise ships.
Tell me more.
I rocked a banana hammock with the name:
"Big Peter and His Banana Splitter."
- [laughing]
- I know you made that up.
Thought it was classy.
- No.
- No?
Well, it worked for all those ladies
off those cruise ships.
'Cause I would get drunk with them,
take one back to my cabin, and
if I got a tip, well,
I told myself it was for dancing.
Not all the other stuff.
Ended up on the streets.
- Was that your rock-bottom?
- [Eddie chuckles]
- [sighs] Oh, I had ways to go, Lady Lo.
- Mmm.
But that's pretty much the gist.
I don't know. Long story short,
I was just missing my dignity. You know?
Indeed, I do.
[sighs]
[Eddie] Listen, Lo.
[sighs] I had to find stuff to live for.
You? You haven't lost your dignity.
So don't.
All right?
[Lois sniffles]
[car engine growls]
I would invite you in,
but it's a little complicated right now.
Yeah. You have a kid, right?
A daughter.
- She fine like you?
- Stop.
- [chuckling]
- I don't wanna talk about her right now.
She's a wonderful girl. I just
I don't know
if I'm the right mother for her.
[Lois chuckles]
[Eddie] Here, let me get that for you.
Thank you.
[crickets chirp]
[sighs]
You're a real one. You know that?
Right back at you, Lady Lo.
[phone dial clicks]
Sister. Hey, uh, it's not too late, is it?
[Sister Megan]
Father Charlie is so happy to do this.
He is glad he can do something for you
in this time of need.
Did you wanna talk to me
before he sees you?
Yeah? Exchange some recent theories
about our killer, maybe?
- [Lois] You okay? You seem nervous.
- [Sister Megan] I'm fine.
Just frustrated that in terms of our case
we seem to be at an impasse.
[Lois] We're working hard.
Cases get solved
and sick people get better.
[Sister Megan] Most murders go unsolved.
And the majority of people in hospitals
usually die there, alone.
Don't be naive.
I thought you were smarter than that.
[Sister Megan] He's right inside.
In the booth.
So
how does this shit work [grunts]
stuff work?
I take it that this is
your first confession?
What goes on in the booth,
stays in the booth.
Does that sufficiently
answer your question?
I am sick of my own bullshit.
I have let so many people down,
mostly myself.
I I need to be stronger
and-and sharper as a cop.
And better as a wife and a mother, but
still I climbed into the bottle.
[Father Charlie] You'll stop.
You're getting ready to, I can tell.
And while my husband is dying,
I'm starting an affair.
Of course you are.
But God forgives us our weaknesses,
so long as we
So long as we what?
I haven't seen a sign of God lately.
I mean, is He even listening?
Well, maybe His silence is essential
to our free will.
I think that there has been a change
in the basics of human nature.
Something old, brutal and hellish is here.
I don't think
that you're crazy to think that.
You sense it.
Nobody can do anything about it.
It's like
the darkness that hangs in the air
even when it's sunny and light.
It's like God just
just locked up and left.
Adios.
And so, what if He did, Lois?
What if He's gone?
What if that's exactly what He's done?
Big Daddy's left
and gone on a business trip, so
[exhales] We have the codes.
We know the rules
that goodness is governed by.
And maybe this is His way of telling us
that it's time
that we figure this shit out on our own.
He didn't just leave, Father.
He left the keys to the candy store
to the devil.
[scoffs]
- [TV chef] Let's keep things easy.
- [door opens]
- Just a few basic ingredients.
- [door closes]
Garlic, butter,
a little white wine, fresh parsley.
[footsteps approaching]
Miss Merritt,
you and that couch are gon' fuse together.
You've been watching TV all night?
While you talking,
I got it open.
At first I thought
it was like a Karakuri puzzle box.
You know, opens in a few steps
but it can be kinda tricky.
Uh-uh-uh.
But then I was like,
no maybe it's like a Rubik's.
You know, it's gonna be an algorithm.
But no, this thing has it's own logic,
it teaches it to you as you go.
- I've never seen anything like it.
- You know what? I don't care.
What was in the box?
This.
[phone dial beeps]
[line ringing]
Sister. I got something.
It's coordinates.
[phone ringing]
- [phone continues ringing]
- [answering maching clicks]
[answering maching beeps]
[Lois] Fast Eddy, I need a fast favor.
I know it's the crack of dawn,
but can you come by my house?
I got good coffee.
[Merritt laughs]
What is this?
Are you trying
to play match maker or something, mom?
[Eddie] Would that be so funny?
Merritt.
I am trying to keep you safe. Okay?
Something is after me.
Or us. Okay?
Get your ass in there.
Your mother doesn't want you
sleeping by yourself overnight.
Thank you. Is that so bad?
I don't know you.
Something's going on, now.
I'm not stupid, mom.
Are you two having relations, hmm?
- You here to spy on me and report back?
- Jesus.
Merritt.
He works at the hospital,
taking care of your father.
Hmm.
Are you sure you're not having an affair?
I'm glad you find this so entertaining.
I'm very single.
- Hmm? You? Why? You gay?
- No, not yet at least.
But, we'll see
what the future holds, though.
Mmm. Well
Do you like to watch old movies
all night, hmm?
When I can't sleep,
my mom comes in and we watch old movies.
I like Westerns,
and cooking shows.
Cooking shows?
What can you make?
Ooh [imitating French accent]
chicken tenders
with a lemon caper sauce
- and, uh, panko crust.
- Mmm
And can't forget
my mom's famous tuna wiggle.
[Lois] What the fuck is tuna wiggle?
Like a casserole.
What house rules does she have?
Do I need to enforce anything?
- [scoffs] You enforce me? [chuckles]
- Mm-hmm.
Juts try me, baby.
I'll run straight through you.
Hey.
Keep this pepper spray on you
at all times.
It is powerful,
but not exactly legal. Okay?
Cool.
I might just use it on you.
Hey. Nobody is leaving this house
at night while I'm gone.
Okay?
Ed agreed to take off work
for a couple of days to protect you.
Just like he protects me.
[Lois] So, have you ever heard
of this show called Good Times?
It's about this Black family
that lived in the ghetto.
Florida was the mother.
James, Thelma, J.J. and Michael.
And, like you,
they always prayed to a white Jesus.
I never understood that part.
Like, don't you think
your god should look like you?
I don't know how to love Him ♪
What to do, how to move him ♪
I've been changed, yes, really changed ♪
In these past few days
when I've seen myself ♪
I seem like someone else ♪
I don't know how to take this ♪
I don't see why he moves me ♪
He's a man ♪
He's just a man ♪
And I've had so many men before ♪
In very many ways ♪
He's just one more ♪
Should I bring him down? ♪
Should I scream and shout? ♪
Should I speak of love ♪
Let my feelings out? ♪
I never thought I'd come to this ♪
- What's it all about? ♪
- [radio switches on]
[radio crackles]
[Lois]
Don't you think it's rather funny ♪
I should be in this position? ♪
I'm the one who's always been ♪
So calm so cool ♪
No lover's fool ♪
Running every show ♪
He scares me so ♪
["I Don't Know How to Love Him"
continues playing]
[both]
I never thought I'd come to this ♪
What's it all about? ♪
Yet if he said he loved me ♪
I'd be lost, I'd be frightened ♪
I couldn't cope, just couldn't cope ♪
I'd turn my head ♪
I'd back away ♪
I wouldn't want to know ♪
He scares me so ♪
I want him so ♪
I love him so ♪
[radio presenter] You're listening
to 100.9, the desert breeze.
Jesus Christ Superstar.
"Hot patootie, bless my soul".
This show made me either want
to be a nun or a Broadway star.
I love this song.
I auditioned with this song.
It's about a whore, Mary Magdalene.
She's confused.
She's in love with a man
she can never truly have.
- Been there, done that.
- See, she doesn't know how to love Jesus.
He's not like other men.
He's one of a kind.
And and frightening.
- Nevermind.
- Okay. Stop.
I can't Wait.
Wait, you auditioned for what?
Juilliard.
I got in,
but the church just called me more.
You remind me of a cat.
[Sister Megan purrs]
[Lois laughs]
I have to say, this trip feels
like a fool's errand. The devil's trick.
What do you mean?
You know what I mean.
A trap. A setup.
It's like a horror movie,
people are sitting in the dark watching.
And the stupid heroine
is creeping down into the dark cellar
and everyone in the audience is screaming,
"Don't go into the cellar, Jamie Lee!"
Because everyone knows the killer's
in there, ready to attack.
It's a setup. And here we are.
Heading down into the cellar.
Are we smarter than this?
Don't we know how this movie ends?
[Lois sniffling]
Do you smell the smoke?
Fire season. We're close.
[Lois] Is he trying to tell us something?
[Sister Megan] Yes. Psalms 88:6-7.
"You have put me in the lowest pit,
in the darkest depths.
Your wrath lies heavily on me.
You have overwhelmed me
with all your waves"
English, please.
He-He's in the darkest place imaginable.
Cut off from God and God's love,
in the darkness.
And the part about the waves,
is the relentlessness of his punishment.
How does this even happen?
A massive fire pit
in the middle of nowhere.
Lois.
We have company.
[person] Hey. Hey.
Hey, you need to leave.
Hands! Lemme see your hands.
They're fine. Hands are visible.
Now, I don't know
what the fuck you're doing here.
But that thing
is getting bigger by the day.
You got ID?
Hey, can you not point
that thing at me, please?
Look, I'm not armed.
You ladies don't wanna hang around here.
There's been earthquakes averaging
3.4 to 4.2
almost consistently
for the past two weeks.
I'm Joe Ritter. Doctor Joseph Ritter,
US. Geological Survey.
I was camped out here when we got word,
I've seen it widen.
What the hell is it?
It's a sinkhole
over a natural gas deposit.
This is a fault line you're on.
What're you doing out here?
Well, trying to keep people like you away.
Until someone decides,
whether it's the National Guard,
U.S. Army or some other outfit takes over.
What're you doing out here anyhow?
Nobody knows about this yet.
You seen anybody else out here?
Car and a pickup.
But they-they-they just took off
before I could see the driver.
I didn't know
there were natural gas fields out here.
It was just detected.
It's worth billions.
Or I don't know.
Maybe hell finally opened up
and it's not science at all.
[preacher] The holiness about God.
If you can go
to the presence of God unsaved,
He would literally annihilate you.
You're gonna be in hell in a heartbeat,
then to come before a holy God.
Rightfully holy. Holy, holy.
Die walking in the presence of God,
without the Blood covering in your soul.
You'd scream for him, beg for him
[Sister Megan] I hate those people.
You don't say?
Grotesquerie is trying to scare us.
He's doing a pretty good job of it,
don't you think?
Shit.
What do we do now?
There was a motel back in the valley.
We're gon' have to spend the night.
["Is That All There Is?" playing]
[Peggy Lee] I remember
When I was a little girl ♪
Our house caught on fire ♪
I'll never forget
The look on my father's face ♪
As he gathered me up in his arms ♪
And raced through the burning building
Onto the pavement ♪
And I stood there
Shivering in my pajamas ♪
And watched the whole world
Go up in flames ♪
Is that all there is to a fire? ♪
Is that all there is? ♪
Is that all there is? ♪
If that's all there is my friends ♪
Then let's keep dancing ♪
Let's break out the booze ♪
And have a ball ♪
[Lois] Hi.
If that's all there is ♪
And when I was twelve years old ♪
My daddy took me to the circus ♪
- [hammering]
- [person grunting]
I'm venturing to guess that you have dogs.
I had 'em.
W Why'd you say that?
She likes you. [panting]
Doesn't like girls usually,
but the girls that she does like
tend to be girls who also have dogs.
Digging for buried treasure?
Making a fire line.
It's like this thing
just sprang up out of nowhere, right?
No.
Nothing comes from nowhere.
We did it.
Burned fossil fuels,
increasing the greenhouse gasses,
depleting the ozone layer.
Just nobody cared.
You know if there's a way around the fire?
Too late for that.
You think we should go back?
Definitely too late to turn back. [laughs]
Do you know what the tipping point is?
The global temperature is up
three degrees centigrade.
The threshold is four.
The only thing to do now is
improvise, adapt and overcome.
You gotta go through it.
- Through the fire?
- Uh-huh.
Heat rises.
So you wanna get to lower land.
Safest place to be in on the road.
You're lucky. You got a car.
You'll survive.
Probably.
But not everybody though.
Never everybody.
Well, what about you? I mean,
didn't somebody come through here
to evacuate this place?
[laughs] You mean run away?
There isn't anywhere left to run away to.
Here.
You take this.
You gotta be prepared for the worst.
You feeling a little hot,
feel free to dowse yourself off.
And just
Time to hit it.
It's time to get the hell out of here.
How you getting reception, anyway?
- [car engine starts]
- ["Let's Dance" playing on radio]
Let's dance ♪
Let's dance ♪
I can barely see a thing.
[motorcycle approaching]
Put on your red shoes
And dance the blues ♪
Let's dance ♪
To the song they're playing
on the radio ♪
Hey.
I'm not gonna let
anything happen to you, okay?
We're gonna be fine.
The safest place for us to be
is right here on this road.
And we got this baked potato thing,
we can hunker in it together.
It's my fault.
Well, according to Al Gore back there,
it's all our faults.
So beat yourself with a feather,
not a bat.
No, I've done something.
I've sinned.
You mean drooling over Father Charlie?
Having impure thought?
Not thought.
Oh, shit.
Wait, you and him
[crying] I swore fidelity to God.
It's adultery of the highest order.
Hey, hey, hey.
Because a man who's your boss,
in position of authority over you,
pulled you in some coat closet
and got handsy,
you blaming yourself?
Listen, I work a ton
of sexual assault cases
No, I wanted this.
Badly.
I made this happen.
- Okay.
- It's my fault.
- Everything
- Okay.
Forget about him for a second. Okay?
You think all of this is happening because
a nun had a thought, acted on it.
And now all hell is opening up,
and coming just for you?
No.
Not just for me.
It's larger than that.
It's coming for all of us.
What I've done, it's part of it.
Lois, have you ever committed this sin?
Adultery?
Lois. Stop!
[brakes screech]
[Sister Megan] Come. Get inside!
Come in, you're safe.
He's coming.
- What?
- [sobbing] He's coming, he's coming.
- Who?
- Him!
Go!
[tires screech]
Let's dance ♪
Put on your red shoes
and dance the blues ♪
Let's dance ♪
To the song they're playing
on the radio ♪
Let's sway ♪
While colour lights up your face ♪
Let's sway ♪
Sway through the crowd
to an empty space ♪
If you say run, I'll run with you ♪
And if you say hide, we'll hide ♪
Because my love for you ♪
Would break my heart in two ♪
If you should fall, into my arms ♪
And tremble like a flower ♪
Let's dance ♪