The Imperfects (2022) s01e06 Episode Script

1
["You Need to Calm Down" playing]
You are somebody that I don't know ♪
[Tilda] I can't believe Burke and Finch
are a Jekyll and Hyde like Juan.
Not like Juan. I'm not a Jekyll and Hyde.
- What's the difference?
- You know
Finch gets to plan the murders.
The Chupacabra acts out of instinct.
Sounds like you're justifying murder.
Wouldn't you?
Absolutely. Yeah.
I tell you what I could murder,
more of these nach-achos.
The key is to actually spread the beans.
Not to throw toppings everywhere
and hope for the best.
- Then, you
- Shut up.
Burke and Sarkov
are discussing her AGDS symptoms.
She knew something was wrong,
but she didn't know what. Okay.
I can't believe she didn't tell us.
She straight up lied to us.
- Nightmares from an allergy medication?
- I'm sure she had reasons.
She wanted us to do her dirty work,
so she made it seem
like she was doing us the favor.
[Abbi] Look at it this way.
Dr. Sarkov is here now
because of Dr. Burke.
He's gonna fix us all
because of Dr. Burke.
And she jumps
to the front of the line. Okay.
Maybe he can fix me at the same time.
Right? Burke and I
are both shape shifters.
I think "transformer"
is an appropriate description.
- No. Transformers are robots in disguise.
- Whatever.
Look! Even if you and Burke are
trans-morphers, it doesn't mean
you get to jump to the front of the line.
I go first, remember?
[Abbi] Since our side effects
are from the same protein glitch,
a fix for Dr. Burke is a fix for us all.
- [Juan] Are you serious?
- I don't see why not.
Okay. But who would it fix?
Juan or the Chupacabra?
Yeah, I don't want to be like
the Chupacabra forever.
Don't worry,
the chances of that are very slim.
Well, I hope so.
If he does stay Chupi forever,
I'm not walking him.
Chupi dumps must be enormous.
Ew.
Oh, you're still here.
- My Uber hasn't arrived.
- Probably your horrible rider rating.
- Or lack of cell service.
- Well, that's kind of weird.
- Most of the time it works.
- There's nachos left.
- I'm good.
- Maybe one of us could give you a ride.
Or you could walk.
I was thinking the same thing.
Hannah, wait. Tilda.
You're being too loud
You're being too loud ♪
And I'm just like ♪
What?
You need to calm down ♪
Your blood pressure is through the roof.
I'm chalking that up
to the stress of the transformation.
- How bad is it?
- It's very unpleasant.
I can't believe
you experimented on yourself.
What were you thinking?
That I'd rather not be killed
by the genetic disorder that I discovered.
- Eh, but I approve.
- Seriously?
You could've called me.
You should've called me.
- You weren't taking my calls.
- I would've taken that one.
Granted, you would have had to
have left a message, a very detailed one.
But I would have returned the call.
You're here now,
which means Juan showed you Yake's work.
That's not the only reason,
and I don't think this is Yake's work.
He was never this exacting.
He traced the flaw to an abnormal protein.
After the work Abbi and I did,
I think something in the stem cells
is having an incredible effect on
mitochondrial DNA and protein synthesis.
Well, how do you propose
we fix the side effects?
Hopefully together.
"What you're doing is unethical, Alex.
It's one thing to try and cure people,
another to twist them
into your own specifications."
- One, I don't sound like that.
- Exactly like that.
Two, if we work together, we can
fix the flaw and reverse the side effects.
We both get what we want.
The last time we had this chat,
you refused to renounce your "moral code."
Well, I can't have much of a "moral code"
if my alter ego is a serial killer, can I?
[Abbi] Hannah. Wait.
Look, I know Tilda can be
a bit of an acquired taste.
Caviar is an acquired taste.
Tilda is just mean.
No, she's not.
You only say that
because she can hear everything.
No, I'm saying it because I believe it.
I'll talk to her, I promise.
Look, I get you're trapped here in this
whole "friends by circumstances" thing,
but I'm not.
I came to warn Burke about Finch,
I warned her.
My work here is done.
But thank you,
for offering to set Tilda straight.
- I do appreciate the gesture.
- You're welcome.
If you're ever in the area,
you should stop by the coffee shop.
Yeah, I'd like that.
What?
I thought maybe your pheromones
Never mind.
You should definitely stop by.
Someone's totally crushing on our girl.
- Sarkov and Burke?
- Abbi and Hannah.
Sarkov and Burke
sound like a science class.
- Oh, Abbi, Abbi.
- Abbi's telling Hannah she's ace.
And that is the correct answer, Hannah.
What did she say?
Now they're talking about cells,
proteins, a new experiment
- Abbi and Hannah?
- Sarkov and Burke, dumbass.
- Oh, okay.
- It's just, like
It's just a bunch
of trucks driving around.
There's just too much noise.
[groans]
Well, maybe
Try picturing the sounds like if they were
individual tracks in a song, you know?
And then just turn down the ones
that you don't want to hear.
Oh, you're lucky you're cute.
- Well, it's worth a try.
- Okay.
Okay.
Ah
[high-pitched ringing]
Okay.
[Sponson] Snipers in position?
[agent on radio] Affirmative!
"Target acquired"?
[gunshot]
I'm the target?
- Was that a gunshot?
- Get down.
- [agent 1] Ready!
- [agent 2] Move!
Don't try. No signal.
- Who's out there?
- [Tilda] I don't know.
There's at least 10, probably more.
They all have guns.
- Whoever shot at us is getting reamed.
- [shouting in distance]
They're not supposed to kill us.
Yet.
Why does everybody want to kill us?
I'm adorable, right?
It's probably those assholes
who have hunted us since Portland.
Wait, who's hunting you?
A quasi-government agency called Flux.
Like the FDA for science.
We think it may be them.
[Juan] FDA? They're more like the FBI.
They're the government
secret science police.
I think we can all agree they're assholes.
That clears everything up. Thanks, Tilda.
- Stay here.
- Abbi, be careful.
[door opens]
[Tilda] So
I hear caviar's an acquired taste.
- That sounded like a gunshot.
- It was.
- [Sarkov] It's Flux, it has to be.
- I can't believe I went to their job fair.
- [alarm blaring]
- Damn it. Not now.
You could've mentioned those.
- Haven't needed them.
- Debatable.
It's not gonna stop them forever.
We need to get me out.
- Why you? They're after us.
- [Sarkov] This isn't a competition, Annie.
- [Abbi] It's Abbi.
- There's no jurisdiction for these people.
There's no arrest warrants.
They're science assassins.
You've heard of cold fusion?
The Tesla death beam?
- Water engines?
- Yeah. Urban legends.
That's what Flux wants you to believe.
And now they're here,
which means I can't be.
So, chop-chop.
You want me to figure out your escape?
Yeah. As quickly as possible.
If they find out what we've been up to
- Now you want to share credit.
- You're the one
- who doesn't want to go there.
- Fine.
- Dr. Burke?
- He's right. We need to get out of here.
Okay.
She's a nightmare.
- We need to get Burke and Sarkov out.
- Good luck.
There's a mobile command unit
and troops all over.
I think the technical term
for our situation is "fucked."
- I should've left when I could.
- Now they're calling in the big gun.
- We should all get down!
- Get down!
Uh, are you sure?
Uh, yeah. I'm sure.
[knocking on door]
Uh, hello?
[woman]
I'm looking for Abbi, Juan, or Tilda.
How does she know our names?
I don't know.
But she said your name first.
Stupid alphabetical order.
Okay, I'm coming out. Don't shoot.
[door opens]
Nice ride.
Company car.
Dr. Dominique Crain.
Chief Science Officer, Flux.
So you're "the big gun"?
- An old nickname.
- How'd you get it?
Taking shots at unarmed civilians?
That was the overzealous action
of an agent.
- He will be disciplined.
- 'Cause disciplined sounds fair.
In his defense,
your friend did eat his nose.
[Juan] I bit it off. There's a difference.
I got this, Juan.
Protocol dictates this kind of response
when a GP presents as dangerous
to the public.
- A "jeep"?
- GP. "Gifted person."
It's Flux-ese for human victims
of science experiments gone awry.
Mostly we chase down radioactive monkeys
or glow-in-the-dark rats, but
every now and then we come across
some rogue human experimentation.
We find encounters
with GPs can get a little hairy.
- Literally.
- Your point?
After Portland,
you landed on our red list.
Hence, the show of force.
Your agent threatened Juan and his family.
He was just defending himself.
Oh. And that mess at the warehouse?
Your people who tried to abduct us
to experiment on us?
If those scientists were my people,
you and I would not be having
this conversation.
We're only dangerous if provoked.
And I'm here to give you a chance
to prove that.
Come out peacefully. Let us run our tests.
Everybody's happy.
And if we don't?
There are a lot of misperceptions
about Flux.
Depending on who you talk to,
you know, we're either
"science regulators" or "science police"
- I've heard "science assassins."
- Mm-hm.
I believe our mandate
is much simpler than that.
We're the reason people
don't have to believe in monsters.
And then she gave us 15 minutes
to come out.
That was four minutes ago.
All of us?
- Well, us and Dr. Burke.
- She didn't mention me?
I don't think they know you're here.
- And if we surrender?
- [Abbi] No one gets hurt.
- They don't know I'm here?
- I can tell them.
If I get captured,
any hope of a cure goes with me. So, no.
Now, surviving until morning
is the bigger priority.
Wait. If Flux considers them the threat,
and she's given up on an escape
I haven't given up.
Our best action
is to move forward with the tests.
Creating a synthetic stem cell
that erases our side effects
is gonna take you a lot longer than
nine minutes.
We'll need you to buy us time.
We will focus on the extra-nuclear
mitochondrial DNA.
And we need to observe it in action.
If only we had a stable,
repetitive mutation to observe.
What? No.
Are you sure you'll be safe here?
We'll be fine.
This is not a good idea.
We've seen how he treats test subjects.
If we had more time,
we could do it differently. But we don't.
[furniture scraping]
- You could help.
- I am helping.
Keeping an ear on the troops
and an eye on you.
What is your problem with me?
[Tilda] You have to ask?
Burke was never in danger from Finch.
She is Finch!
You didn't know that.
Two people are dead because of you.
I am not gonna let number three
be anyone I care about. Or Sarkov.
These Flux assholes are after you.
This is your problem. I'm out of here.
- Here, let me help.
- What are you doing?
- Leaving!
- No, you can't go out.
- It's too dangerous.
- She's an adult.
Hey. My name is Hannah Moore.
I own Moral High Grounds.
It's a coffee shop
in the University District.
And I am not with these assholes. Not you.
I'm not a scientist.
And I don't do weird shit.
- No offense.
- No, it is kind of weird.
I just want to go home.
- What are they saying?
- They're not saying anything.
- Hannah, please don't.
- Abbi, don't.
Hey, guys. What's going on?
- Oh, just Hannah creating drama!
- No.
Abbi, get back inside.
[agent] We've got movement
at the front door. Two HVTs.
- If you leave, I leave.
- You can't. It's too dangerous.
- [Abbi] This isn't?
- Out of your mind?
- Get inside now! What are you doing?
- [agent] Permission to engage?
- Juan! Juan!
- [Sponson] Engage.
[gunshot]
[Crain] Hold your fire.
I'm shot. I'm shot. I'm shot!
Wait. I'm good.
- Juan, go get the first aid kit. Go.
- I'll get towels.
Hannah. Hannah. Hannah, it's okay.
Hannah. Hannah?
Hannah, look at me. Look at me.
You're gonna be okay.
[distorted] You're gonna be all right.
You're gonna be okay.
I told you to hold your fire.
You just shot a bystander.
There's no such thing as bystanders.
There's only GPs, rogues, or witnesses.
And you know how the board feels
about witnesses.
Either way, these GPs now think
that we've declared war on them.
We have.
This is not how I run things.
I want those assets alive,
and you are letting your personal bullshit
get in the way.
Ignore my orders again,
and you'll spend the rest of your career
mopping out cages at the menagerie.
Would you like that?
That's what I thought.
How many are you willing to lose?
You lose your hearing
when you lost your nose?
None of them!
I'm not talking about your precious GPs.
How many agents are you willing to lose?
You saw what those things did
to that lab in Portland.
I also saw their jerry-rigged facilities.
We have substantially
superior containment protocols.
Scientists always say that.
And my people always have
to come in and clean up.
When it comes to monsters,
there's only one rule.
As long as they're allowed to live,
people die.
[Sarkov sighs] This takes me back.
I was just thinking the same thing.
Stanford.
Oh, Stanford. Remember Chickensaurus?
Chickensaurus.
We hadn't even been introduced yet,
and you claimed you could devolve
a chicken into a dinosaur.
You kept telling me I was full of shit.
- You were what, 15?
- Fourteen. Thank you.
And you are still the smartest student
I ever taught.
- I wonder whatever happened to that thing?
- Oh, it was delicious.
You ready?
Remember. Blood sample,
skin sample, and saliva swab.
I feel like blood
and skin's gonna be okay, but
saliva's gonna be touch and go,
something tells me she bites.
- My glasses.
- Oh, yeah.
- And take pictures.
- Uh-huh.
- [bones cracking]
- [groaning]
- You.
- Hello.
- You're gonna feel a little pinch now.
- Son of a bitch.
Another pinch.
Motherfu!
I'm gonna skin you alive
and wear you like a pantsuit.
Lovely image.
But what have I ever done to you?
Everything you've done to her.
Oh, 'cause you're Sydney's Id.
How boring.
Still the reductionist.
I think of myself as Sydney
unbound by the emotional constraints
pounded into her by society.
I am Sydney free from self-doubt
hammered into her psyche.
And I am Sydney not giving a fuck!
- That's nice.
- You're not even listening, are you?
- One more pinch.
- Keep it up.
When I kill you,
I'm gonna kill you slowly.
[gasps] So scared.
[screams]
[phone line ringing]
They're trying emergency services again.
Patch me in.
[man] 911, what's your emergency?
[Abbi] I need an ambulance.
My friend's been shot.
Hello? Hello?
Hi Abbi, it's Dominique.
An ambulance is en route.
As soon as you surrender,
we can send them in.
What kind of sick fuck uses someone's life
as a bargaining chip?
If she dies, I swear
Abbi, remember our conversation.
I'd be very, very careful what I say next.
- Shove your 15 minutes up your ass.
- [call disconnects]
[Sponson] If this is how you run things,
we'll be here all night.
You were right about Portland.
What a fucking mess.
- You did collect a lot of data though.
- Not just data.
Blood and tissue samples. Pheromones too.
You know what I don't have
is a sense of their capabilities.
There are ways
we both can leave with what we want.
I would consider anything
that'll get me a real cup of coffee.
- [high-pitched ringing]
- [heartbeat thumping weakly]
[Abbi] Tilda?
Her heartbeat is weak.
Slow.
[Abbi]
If we don't get her to a hospital soon
God, I barely even know her,
but I feel like my heart
is being ripped out.
- And I know that sounds ridiculous.
- [Juan] It's not ridiculous.
You don't have to know someone
that long to care about them.
She didn't have to be here.
She was just trying to help us.
She's made some bad decisions
Do you want to be punished
for every bad decision you ever made?
I was gonna say
she doesn't deserve to die.
You should've thought about that
before you drove her out.
Keep an eye on her.
There's something I need to do.
Hey, she didn't mean it.
Yeah, she did. And she's right.
She looks just like my grandmother. Video.
You're not pretty enough
to be this stupid.
Now take off these restraints,
and let me put you out of my misery.
[Burke] Hmm. Sounds just like her too.
[Sarkov] Say hello to Sydney. Hi, Sydney.
- Wow, she certainly loves you.
- Mm.
What else did she say?
- Quite a bit actually.
- Could you be more specific?
She's your subconscious, Sydney.
I'm sure you already know.
Don't take anything she says to heart.
She's a psychopath, she's not me.
Well, actually, technically she is.
Psychologically and genetically.
- The same DNA?
- Yeah.
That's you. That's Finch.
It's incredible.
- Same DNA but different expression.
- And show me your arm.
- Nothing there.
- Exactly.
I took five tissue samples there.
- Five?
- A legitimate number.
My point is,
your injuries are not her injuries.
So my cells could be reverting back
to stem cells before becoming Finch cells.
I wonder if the injuries are relocating.
My liver is sore.
We need to observe this transformation.
Ready?
- Well, ready isn't really the right word.
- Okay.
- [pounding]
- [Abbi] Dr. Burke. Dr. Burke. Dr. Burke!
- We're busy.
- [Burke] Abbi, what's wrong?
- They shot Hannah.
- What?
Which one's Hannah again?
Which one did you use on Doug?
- Doug was a failed experiment.
- Which one?
Tell her, Alex.
- But
- Now.
It was that one.
Maybe you wanna wait.
Your hearing has been saving our asses.
Yeah, a lot of good that did Hannah.
You didn't shoot her. Flux did.
Why are you so nice to me?
Because I care about you.
Then I'm a lucky girl.
'Cause you, Juan Ruiz,
have a really big heart.
- Abbi, are those stem cells?
- [Abbi] Doug's stem cells.
- Are you sure you wanna do that?
- Not at all.
[Juan] Then you shouldn't do that.
[Abbi] I shouldn't try to save her life?
Doug was miserable because of stem cells.
In constant pain.
He got to choose if he lived or died.
Hannah deserves that choice.
[Tilda] Doesn't look like
you're giving her a choice.
- [Hannah gasping]
- [Abbi] Hey.
- Hey.
- Abbi?
[Abbi] You're gonna be okay.
- [rock music blaring on speakers]
- [whimpering]
Now what?
They're using music
to cover their movements.
- It's working.
- Where are your cans?
- In the living room.
- [Juan] You go upstairs.
Tilda, you watch the main floor.
I'll patrol the rest of the house.
I'll wait here.
Isolated tracks.
Isolated tracks. Shit.
[Juan snarling]
[agent yelps]
Gas released.
[rock music continues]
I can breathe, but you can't.
- [Sarkov] Well, Sydney was right.
- [crashing in distance]
The cells revert back
to an embryonic stem cell state
before transforming into Finch cells.
Do you hear what's going on?
- They're fighting.
- People sacrificing themselves, for you.
They're fighting for themselves.
- Keep telling yourself that.
- I'm honoring the agreement.
They protect the lab
so Sydney and I can finish.
- You don't care about a cure.
- You don't know that.
But Sydney does.
She also hopes you'll come to your senses
and do the right thing.
- But we both know better, don't we?
- Blah, blah, blah, blah
- You are exhausting.
- You can't help yourself.
You're like the scorpion
in that dumb allegory.
- I can think of someone I'd like to drown.
- You don't have the ovaries.
[laughs]
[sighs]
Your cells remember
what they're supposed to be.
Memory is a fascinating thing,
isn't it, Al?
- You've figured it out, haven't you? Liar.
- Not yet.
I think I've had just about enough of you.
She'll never trust you again.
You know that, right?
[Abbi] No one gets past this door.
They shot me with a sonic canon.
All it did was knock me on my ass.
They used an electric shotgun shell on me.
I think it tickled.
I'm immune to poison gas.
Keep falling back.
No. That doesn't make sense.
They had us pinned down. Why retreat now?
They're hoping they got what Crain wanted.
Hannah.
Oh, thank goodness.
Oh, no.
No. No. No.
This is all my fault.
No, it isn't.
Those weapons that they were using on us.
They were testing our limitations.
This was all a test.
- [Abbi] We were poked and prodded.
- Again.
GPs doesn't mean "gifted people."
It means guinea pigs.
And you know what? I am fucking over it.
I'd rather die fighting
than live under a microscope!
They wanna see what we can do,
let's show them
what we can fucking do tonight.
- We show them that guinea pigs bite back.
- Fuck yeah!
You want monsters?
We'll give you fucking monsters.
- "Guinea pigs bite back"?
- It worked for Tilda.
I don't think it was
your speech that worked for Tilda.
My fucking pheromones.
[Crain] Any of these weapons
should've killed the target instantly.
These GPs are extraordinary.
And they're also cold-blooded killers.
Hmm. Yes.
I want Burke alive.
[agent] Agent Sponson,
we have movement at the front door.
Get out there.
These two idiots
and eight more between us
and that command center.
And two snipers hiding in the trees.
Juan, snipers.
Tilda. Masks.
[agent] Get down. On your knees.
- Go. I'm not the enemy.
- [agent] I said, "Get down."
You are.
My God.
I know. I thought the side effects
were another failure, but they're not.
I've spent seven years trying
to fix something that wasn't broken.
Did you figure it out? Can you fix us now?
Yeah. And you will not believe
how easy it is.
All we have to do is control
the mitochondria's protein expressions,
and we're done.
So, will you?
- Yeah, eventually.
- Alex.
No, listen to me.
- We are so close.
- We have to help those kids.
Do you see what is going on?
We have to make them human.
And we will. Of course.
- It's just
- Introduction to Modern Poetry.
I can't believe you'd use that on me.
Introduction to Modern Poetry.
This is unfair.
Sydney, I was an eight-year-old boy.
A failing grade
would've cost me my Bachelor's
Introduction to Modern Poetry, Alex.
I never should've told you that.
Fine.
I'll make a cure.
But then you and me, we are even.
All right?
What about Flux?
I'll take care of Flux.
[high-pitched ringing]
Juan.
A little help?
[Sponson] Ferro, come in. Watch your six.
Goreman, you copy?
- Hudson?
- [gunshots]
[pounding on door]
[Abbi] Dr. Crain? Got a second?
Reinforcements are on their way.
They'll never get here in time.
Okay, let's all take a moment.
Mistakes have been made, on both sides.
I think we can all agree
this isn't what we want.
- Could've fooled me.
- We've got nothing to talk about.
- [Crain] Amazing.
- [Abbi] Hannah.
- I thought you might need this.
- Yeah.
[gun cocks]
This might not be the best time.
[Crain] I don't want any trouble.
- Lower your gun.
- [Crain] Rather not.
- You saw what I did to your friend?
- [Crain] He's more of a colleague.
[Abbi]
Consider your next actions very carefully.
You've landed on our red list.
Hence, this show of force.
[Crain] Cute.
Fair to give you
the same chance to surrender.
[Crain] And if I refuse?
[Burke] Then we'll surrender.
Not exactly what I had in mind.
The only way to end this is to kill Crain
and everyone else here.
[Crain] They're ahead of you on that.
And even that won't stop Flux.
They'll never stop hunting you.
[Crain] She's not wrong.
As for you, everything you want.
The science of synthetic stem cells,
a living sample, you can get from me.
Let them go, and I'm all yours.
[Crain] And if I say no?
We go back to plan A.
[Tilda] Sounds good to me.
[Crain] Deal.
[Tilda] Hannah.
So glad you're not dead anymore.
What does she mean, "anymore"?
Don't try to save me.
[Crain] Did you say something?
No. Just thinking out loud.
They wouldn't let me pack much.
[Crain] Time to go.
Dr. Burke.
Thank you.
Abbi.
Water my plants.
You realize if they step out of line,
our deal is off?
I do. And so do they.
You're a living sample,
but never told me your affliction.
- Wondering if you made the right deal?
- Something like that.
[flesh squelching]
You're dead, Crain.
Do you hear me?
- You're dead.
- That is pretty good.
[Finch shrieking]
[vehicles departing]
So I guess we can add "save Burke"
to our list of things to do?
We're not going after Burke.
Says who?
Burke.
She whispered a message to me.
"Hold on to Alex, he can fix you.
And don't try to save me."
She said that?
Something tells me
it won't be easy to hold on to him.
No. He's trying to sneak out right now.
You're kidding, right?
- I was just gonna get some air.
- With all of your stuff?
Not all of it.
You're not going anywhere.
How do you propose to stop me?
I got this.
Introduction to Modern Poetry.
- Hey, that is not your marker to call.
- [Tilda] She told me to remind you.
Well, let's be clear.
If I'm gonna fix you, you will owe me.
Fine. Whatever.
["Hush" playing]
[Sarkov]
And I'm taking the upstairs guest room.
So
That's it.
Don't act so special ♪
We're getting fixed.
What I do ♪
We're getting fixed.
Is not for you ♪
Forget about it ♪
You made this mess ♪
Then why do I feel
like we just made a deal with the devil?
Don't you ignore or forget about it ♪
Every night ♪
Got you runnin' in circles, I know ♪
Touchin' me ♪
Get your paws off my Dolce cologne ♪
Back it up ♪
Off my throne
'Cause you know you wanna ♪
Make me ♪
Walk away and forget about it ♪
Every night ♪
Got you runnin' in circles, I know ♪
Touchin' me ♪
Get your paws off my Dolce cologne ♪
Back it up ♪
Off my throne
'Cause you know you wanna ♪
Make me ♪
Walk away and forget about it ♪
Hush ♪
Forget about it ♪
Hush ♪
Hush ♪
Hush ♪