The Watcher (2022) s01e04 Episode Script

What's wrong?
How could you do this to me?
Do what?
How could you do this to our family?
- I don't know what you're talking
- I know, Dean.
I know what you did.
We should've had this information.
The letters, the murders
Should've been disclosed
before we bought the house.
You're saying you had no idea about this?
None whatsoever.
Nothing about any letters, nor
murders in the house.
I'm sorry, but that
just strikes us as hard to believe.
Hand to God,
this is the first I'm hearing of this.
You do understand why
we're upset here, don't you?
The fact that none of this information
was disclosed to us at the time of sale.
What if, for example,
I'm forced to sell this house?
Will I feel right about not disclosing
this information to the next owner?
No,
I wouldn't be comfortable with that.
So, you are thinking of listing the house?
Mr. Brannock,
I'm not entirely sure I know what to say.
I understand why you're upset and sorry
to hear about what you're going through.
But even if I did know about,
say, the murders in the house,
as a listing agent, I would be under
no obligation whatsoever
to disclose that information,
unless I was specifically asked.
- That's bullshit.
- It's not bullshit.
It's New Jersey state law.
Can we at least know
who the previous owners were?
Legally I'm not obliged to tell you.
But in this case, I actually don't know.
It was an LLC. I never met
any of the members of that LLC.
I dealt with a business manager at a firm
that was contracted by them, I presume.
You don't find that suspicious at all?
Developer making improvements to a house
for profit Not unusual at all.
Okay, well, if this developer
was so into their improvements
why'd they leave the basement unfinished?
Well, you bought the house over asking,
so I'd say whatever they chose
to do or not do, it worked.
Okay, so, who'd the LLC
buy the house from?
- I don't have that information.
- Okay.
Does the name Andrew Pierce
mean anything to you?
No, of course not.
He's one of the previous owners
of the house, from a while ago.
He told me
that he was getting threatening letters.
Told me that weird shit
was happening in that house.
His wife killed herself.
All very tragic, but it has no bearing
whatsoever because I was not aware of it.
Would you be willing
to testify to that in court?
Uh-oh. Oh, no.
Are you threatening
to sue me, Mr. Brannock?
Yeah, Darren, I am.
Well, go ahead.
It'll be a waste of time and money,
because I know the law,
I'll tell the court what I told you.
I didn't fall off a turnip truck, one day,
and suddenly own the area's
number one real estate agency the next.
Okay? I follow the law
and I play by the rules.
That's the Darren Dunn difference.
You don't wanna believe that then
I will be happy to prove it in court.
- Karen, will you see the Brannocks out?
- Of course.
She doesn't have to see us out.
It's not that big an office.
- Have a great day. Hmm.
- Mm-hmm.
So, did I hear correctly?
You are listing the house?
We don't know, Karen.
Well, I'll call you.
We'll all have lunch at the club.
Hmm.
Oh, fuck.
This came for you.
Okay. Well,
what about your five o'clock call?
I would have to push it to next week.
And your 8:30 tomorrow
with Rick and Davis?
I don't know.
Just see if they can do 2:00 p.m.
I've got a thing in the morning.
Adult male, age 41,
identified as Samuel Bright.
His body discovered in
the driver's seat of a Ford Taurus.
Cause of death,
a single gunshot wound to the head.
No signs of other DNA
inside or outside the vehicle.
The body seemingly
untampered with postmortem.
- I was calling your name.
- Fuck! Jesus.
Okay, I just You scared me.
You coming to bed?
No, I'm not really tired.
I'm actually feeling pretty wired.
I don't understand why
he would give us all of this evidence.
This John Graff stuff.
Who, Chamberland?
Yeah.
Maybe he's just trying to help.
That guy?
What, by exposing a 25-year cover-up
involving the entire town,
including the police department?
Why would he
It's weird.
- I'm gonna go to bed.
- Night.
- Good night.
- Okay.
Hey, what about a little sexy time?
What?
Nothing.
Can you
- What, you have the whole basement?
- Yeah, it was storage.
And then I told my mom,
if I can have it, I'd make it nice.
- Clean it out.
- Ellie?
One sec.
Come on.
What did we say about locking the door?
- What? Sorry. I forgot.
- What do you
Who you talking to?
I was talking to a classmate.
I have a geometry quiz tomorrow
and I wasn't sure what chapter it's on.
- Now I'm going to bed.
- Okay.
Uh
What, you came to see
if I've got someone in here?
You know what? Go ahead, search my room.
Just not the closet.
The football team's in there.
Okay, please, I don't need the visual.
- I just wanted to say good night.
- Okay, good night.
I love you, Ellie-girl.
I love you too, Dad.
It's not my fault,
you know, I try.
- Born this way. Not my fault.
- Yeah. Of course.
- I think I should.
- You should.
Hey, what are you doing here?
I thought you were done last week.
I should've called first.
One of these cameras is out,
so I just gotta replace it.
I think a squirrel
chewed through the wire.
What the hell? What's that gonna cost me?
Dad, come on, what's wrong with you?
What're you doing out here?
Shouldn't you be getting ready for school?
If that's eyeliner, wash it off.
- Continue.
- It won't cost you anything.
It's under warranty.
So, then you'll be done?
Yeah, I got to order it.
Put it in tomorrow.
- Then
- Thank you.
Then I'll be done.
Okay, wait, hold on.
- When was this?
- I don't know. A couple weeks ago?
He said he was the building inspector.
I checked and there's no inspector
named John in Westfield.
You think you had a conversation
with John Graff in our home,
and you're just now telling me this?
To be fair, I didn't even know
who John Graff was at the time.
It's the secrecy, Dean.
That's what I don't like.
You're up here all night, drinking coffee,
not sleeping, not communicating
and that's exactly
what happened the last time,
right before the bankruptcy.
- Can we not talk about this?
- No, I
Can I interject, for a moment?
Dean, I know who you thought
you saw, the other day at your house,
but I struggle to believe
it's the real John Graff, okay?
Come on!
The guy kept talking about his daughter.
Telling me that I should go to
the same church that he went to.
Even said his name was John.
Which is one of
the most common names in America.
Why did he tell you his real name?
Why not lie and say, "Hi, I'm Gary"?
You could be right. Sure.
Nobody knows what he looks like.
It could be him.
But I struggle to find a connection.
You think he's alive
and writing those Watcher letters to you,
but John Graff got Watcher letters too.
So, did he write them to himself?
Or somebody else did,
and now he decides that
he's going to write
the same kind of letter to you?
The logic starts to break down.
It's not who I think The Watcher is.
If anything, it makes sense that
that inspector fellow is somebody
pretending to be John Graff,
who's trying to scare you.
Fine, but at a certain point,
isn't that enough?
The lengths to which
whoever this is, is going to torture us.
When do we say enough is enough?
Look, I hate to say this,
I think we need to sell this house.
What? I thought we were on the same page.
We talked about it.
I know it would be bad, okay?
And it would take
every cent of our equity, but
And it'll be just like
the bankruptcy all over again.
Whatever happened
to staying strong for the kids?
- This is for our kids! That
- Timeout, please.
Timeout.
I am not here to tell you
if you should sell your house.
But before you decide anything
I did a little digging on that Dakota kid,
and I think I found something definitive.
- Really?
- What?
Think about it.
Family moves in. Big house.
They have some money.
He does security. That's his business,
making people feel safe.
But to make people feel safe,
they have to feel unsafe.
Are you following me?
He has motive to terrorize you.
It's good for business.
So, I had an associate tail him.
It turns out
that this kid likes video games.
Now that is good news.
Most gamers are online a lot.
It's how they socialize.
They put on headphones
and talk to each other.
So if he is up to something, then maybe
we can catch him bragging about it.
And what you'd want to do
in this situation is not legal, okay?
So, this didn't happen,
if you get my drift.
Okay, what do we do?
It's called sniffing.
You hijack a part of the data
as it's being transmitted
between a router and a device.
Then you run a Brute Force program
on it to decipher it.
It can take a while,
but once you get it, you are in.
Have a look at this.
- What is this?
- Gamers have screen names.
How they sign in,
how other players know who they are.
In this world, it's your name.
Holy shit!
- The Watcher.
- The Watcher.
It ain't Jasper Winslow.
It ain't the dead couple.
It ain't John Graff.
It's our friend Dakota.
Excuse me.
I was thinking about what you said,
and, you know, how we'll lose all
our equity if we sell the house right now,
and, well,
you're about to make partner,
so we'll be okay.
We don't have to worry about money, right?
Yeah.
Yeah, babe.
Look
You know, the thing is
It's not really
about money anymore, right?
We moved out here
because we wanted to feel safe, right?
And the opposite's happening. It's
It felt safer in the city.
Never felt more unsafe
in my life out here.
And I know I know you feel the same.
Hmm?
Yeah.
Yeah, I know.
I know, I know.
I think they're dating.
Who?
Ellie and Dakota.
- What? What makes you think that?
- I just know.
Oh, my God, why couldn't we get
a normal security company?
Why did we have to cheap out
and get some
You're right, okay?
You're right. I fucked up.
Okay? This whole screen name thing
Theodora's right, you know?
He's got motive.
Okay, so, what are we supposed to do?
I don't wanna be this kind of parent
and I know you don't either, but
you have her iPhone passcode.
I know.
Look, the only thing that matters now
is that we protect her, Nora, okay?
And if this kid is The Watcher,
I swear to God
Okay.
Dinner's ready.
Oh, and, uh, new rule,
no phones at the table.
But Carter gets to watch his iPad.
No iPads either.
Come on.
You guys text at the table
way more than me. Just so you know.
Hmm.
Okay.
Ah!
- Jesus!
- What happened?
Nothing, I'm fine.
I got something in my eye.
- I'll run to the bathroom.
- Are you okay?
- Do you need help?
- I'm good, thanks.
He's fine.
Hey! What the hell is this?
- Give that back!
- What is it?
- You lied to me.
- Put that away. Let's go upstairs.
- Were you in on this, Mom?
- You lied to me, okay?
I asked you straight up and you lied.
It's none of your business.
It's not my business?
- You're 16 and he's 19.
- He's terrorizing us
- and you lied.
- Well, screw you.
- You're grounded, okay?
- Grounded?
You're living in your room now.
No phone, computer, iPad.
You come home from school,
straight to your room.
We check on you, 'cause you're a liar.
- You can't do that! I fucking hate you!
- Watch me!
- Ellie!
- Hey!
You know what?
You took me away from all of my friends.
What else am I supposed to do?
You did this.
I hate you, Dad.
- Hey, hey! You lied to me.
- Yo, what the fuck?
I saw the photos, your texts.
You're sleeping with
my 16-year-old daughter?
I'm not. I swear.
You're sending us those letters,
aren't you?
My dad is attacking someone
outside my house, 657 Boulevard.
I know about your screen name, asshole.
- In your video games
- Get out of my face.
That's your name, huh? The Watcher?
- Look, that's just a coincidence.
- Oh, really?
No, I don't think so.
You saw us coming a mile away.
We're an easy target for you.
- Some rich city assholes.
- Let him go!
- Ellie!
- No! Nora, get her inside.
- Get her in the house.
- I swear!
Get back inside right now.
They're fine.
They're just talking. I promise.
I'm trying to help you.
I don't need your help. Gonna match
up that fucking DNA of yours.
Dude, the cops are here?
I can't wait to show them that.
Fuck.
Sixteen years old,
you should be ashamed of yourself.
- I'm telling you I never touched her.
- Know what?
We made out once.
What's going on here?
- Thank you for coming.
- You okay?
This guy was sleeping with
my 16-year-old daughter.
I'm not.
He's been sending
harassing letters to my house.
I don't know
what he's talking about!
Can everybody move along?
I'm not going anywhere.
This one.
If you so much
as lay a hand on that child.
- Nobody's laying a hand on anybody.
- You'll cast a spell on me?
Here, that's the picture.
That's what he sent
to my 16-year-old daughter.
Okay, age of consent in New Jersey is 16.
- What?
- So that's not a crime.
Okay. Could you please
call detective Chamberland?
He'll know what's going on here.
Officer, we have been
getting threatening letters from somebody
called The Watcher.
That is this kid's screen name.
So, arrest him.
Detective Chamberland is off today.
- How does that matter?
- I won't arrest this kid.
- Thank you.
- What are you saying?
He's terrorizing my family.
Talk to Chamberland about that.
He can ask this gentleman some questions,
but that'll be up to him.
Unless you get a warrant.
I'm willing to answer any questions.
I'll give you my number if it helps.
Mr. Helpful.
Thank you. You're free to go.
- What?
- Mr. Brannock, just watch it, okay?
- Need a hand with that?
- What's going on?
Chamberland is back tomorrow.
- Call him then.
- Get the fuck off my property!
Show's over everybody.
Not very neighborly.
You're home early.
Sweetie. What happened?
He said I did something I didn't do.
Who?
The family I've been working for.
They said I've been harassing them.
And you're telling the truth now?
Yes.
Oh, no.
What we're asking for,
and you'd have to agree to this,
we can't force you to do it,
is to provide us a DNA sample
to match with the DNA on the envelopes.
My client has done nothing wrong.
He has nothing to hide.
I'll give you a sample
and answer any questions.
I didn't do anything wrong.
You didn't have anything to do
with any of the letters?
No. I mean, I know of them
because he told me.
That's why
I was helping with the security system.
And the screen name?
The Watcher is my son's nickname,
which I gave him when he was
working as a security guard,
'cause he complained
that he only sat there, watching.
We think the state has an interest in
whether or not
that information was obtained legally.
Well, if your goal
was to scare the shit out of that kid,
mission accomplished.
Yeah, detective, we talked about it
and whatever happened
between him and our daughter
It's a family issue,
so we don't want to press charges.
You can't anyway. He's 19.
She's 16. Nothing illegal about that.
- In New Jersey.
- Yeah.
Kid agreed to give a DNA sample.
It'll take about two weeks to process.
I talked to the lab this morning,
they say the DNA
from your, uh, Watcher envelopes,
should be ready in the next week or so.
I gotta ask.
I feel like ever since I've met you,
you've said the same thing.
I'm just wondering, when do you think
it's gonna actually be true?
And here I thought I was
sticking my neck out for Theodora
to help you two.
Hmm.
Maybe I should quit being so nice.
But, like I said, you know
Just gotta be patient.
Budget cuts. What can you do?
What are you pulling me for?
- I just want you to keep calm, okay?
- I'm just
Hey, everybody. Um
So, I've been off of this lately,
which I'll get to, but
what I'm about to say is really painful,
but it's something I've been living with
and it's best we process this together.
Hey, I thought we said 12:30.
- How are you even here right now?
- What?
Don't tell me you don't know.
Know what?
Hey, everybody. Um
So, I've been off of this lately,
which I'll get to, but
- Dean, is this your daughter?
- What I'm about to say is really painful,
but it's something I've been living with
and it's best we process this together.
I'm in love with someone who
happens to be African-American.
And because of that,
now I'm locked up in my room.
They took away my phone,
and I'm recording this
on my brother's iPad.
We used to live in New York and it
He was nothing like this,
but now it's just
You have anything to say to me?
You're on my ass all the time.
It's what you get.
No. No, Ellie, that is not an answer.
You know I'm not racist, Ellie.
I know and I don't care.
Fuck it.
- Dad!
- Calm down.
- Dad!
- Dean! No, calm down.
Stop.
You just destroyed my life.
You destroyed this family.
- He's crazy!
- Go to your room, now!
You're fucking crazy, Dad!
Jesus Christ, Dean!
What the fuck is wrong with you?
Uh I'm so sorry.
Your membership
has been temporarily suspended.
Excuse me?
It says
"Pending internal investigation."
So, we're banned
because people think we're
People think we're racist?
- Yeah.
- Oh, my God. We are not!
That's the world
we're living in right now.
I'm running a risk just talking to you.
Don't worry. I'm not going anywhere.
I'm a good, loyal friend.
But, seriously, this is going to affect
everything for you from now on.
And unfortunately,
the Internet is forever.
Good luck getting Ellie into
a good college.
I don't wanna bum you out, but I mean,
I don't think Dean
will be employed much longer.
Jesus Christ, Karen.
I know. It's over.
Your life as you knew it is over.
But the good thing is
that you get to start over.
Nora, we've been dancing around it,
but now you don't have a choice.
You need to divorce Dean
and sell the house.
I drew up a contract.
- What? Karen. This is
- Yeah.
- No, I'm serious.
- No.
It's a pocket listing.
I'm not going to put it on MLS.
I have a lot of great clients that know
your house and they're very interested.
And I think by the end of the day
I could get you, maybe,
I don't know, three really great offers.
Then you just have to show them to Dean
Who's crazy, by the way.
I saw Ellie's TikTok
and I found it to be very compelling.
Okay, that's enough.
First of all, he's not crazy,
and I'm gonna have
to talk to him before I sign that.
Why?
Why would you have to ask
for your husband's permission
to live your life?
You know who's watching you right now?
Your daughter.
Why don't you be her hero?
You know, save her.
Hello?
Yes.
No problem.
Um Jack wants to see you.
This is, uh
I don't know what this is.
What it is, is the contents of an envelope
a messenger put on my desk an hour ago.
It said, "Watch me."
- That's you in bed isn't it?
- Yeah, that's me. But I
What? We don't have
a camera in our bedroom.
Mind telling me who that is?
This is insane, okay?
It's a setup is what it is.
This is a doctored video or something.
That doesn't look doctored.
I'm telling you
this didn't happen, okay? It's
This kid who installed my security system,
he's clearly coming after me.
Wait a minute.
I've seen that nightgown before.
This is bad, Dean. She's young.
She's dressed up to look like Pat Graff.
And who's Pat Graff?
She's a dead girl.
You did this.
Yeah. I put a camera in your room
and I sent that footage to your boss.
You're done.
I didn't sleep with that girl.
I don't even know who she is.
You hired that girl.
You got her to dress
like John Graff's daughter
in the same nightgown she got shot in.
How'd you know about it?
I never know what you're talking about.
I didn't hire anyone.
I put that camera there
'cause I thought The Watcher might be you.
What?
Why would you say that?
With your money troubles,
and your wife wanting that house?
I thought you wrote those letters
to yourself to get away.
I figured I'd catch you writing one
while your family was asleep.
Or if I didn't see you do it,
at least I could rule you out.
And your family moved out
and I saw you with that girl.
And I would have just left it.
But you had to come and press me.
Come at me like I was some criminal.
You know how that made me feel?
To walk into a police station
with my mom and a fucking lawyer?
Can you understand how
different it is for me than it is for you?
Yes. I do. I'm sorry.
You swear you don't know
who that girl in the video is?
You didn't put her up to this?
No.
How the fuck did she get into my house?
What's wrong?
How could you do this to me?
Do what?
How could you do this to our family?
- I don't know what you're talking
- I know, Dean.
I know what you did.
Okay.
Babe, you gotta listen to me.
I'll show you something.
Look at that picture.
That's Pat Graff.
Look at the nightgown she's wearing.
It's got little cherries on it.
The girl on that video
is wearing the same nightgown, okay?
Somebody hired her, who knows the story.
- Who knows that we know the story.
- Fuck you.
- I won't do this.
- I didn't do it.
- Don't touch me!
- I promise you, okay?
I didn't do it, okay?
I never even woke up.
We're being setup. I'm being setup here.
I don't know who that girl is.
I don't know who she's working for.
I don't even know how she got in.
The alarm was on.
- I want you to leave.
- What? No!
I want you out of this house.
We're selling this house.
And I'm filing for divorce.
Nora, baby, I swear.
I I swear.
One day you'll know
that I'm telling you the truth.
Good. I look forward to that.
Now get the fuck out!
- I'm not going to.
- Get out!
I'll be outside, sleeping if I have to.
I'll protect this family.
- From what?
- You
- Hey, honey.
- Hey, listen.
- Everything's fine.
- Everything's okay. Okay?
Come on. I love you.
You're okay, you'll be fine.
- Let's go upstairs please, honey.
- Go up.
- Everything's fine.
- It's okay.
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