Interior Chinatown (2024) s01e07 Episode Script

Detective

1
[typewriter keys clicking]
Whoever this belonged to
was under surveillance by the cops.
[Willis Wu] My brother disappeared
and he worked for this department,
and it was your job to find out
what happened to him.
My parents are having
some kinda midlife crisis.
[Lily Wu] I don't want to
live in the past anymore.
I want to have reason
to get up in the morning again.
Even my best friend
thinks I'm an asshole.
You all look like shit!
[customers cheering]
And none of it matters
because you don't even know who I am.
Wu. Yeah, I heard about this.
It's a cold case.
Chinatown informant
working for the IC unit went missing.
Your brother was one of ours.
[Lana] I know
who your brother was meeting.
- Me.
- [Miles Turner] This is exciting.
Don't you like this feeling?
No, I hate it.
[projector whirring]
[typewriter keys clicking]
[typewriter bell dings]
- [gentle piano music playing]
- [seagulls calling]
[older brother] Okay. [sighs]
Where to?
[clears throat]
Looks weird.
Yeah, I'm gonna take over
navigation from now on.
Literally upside down.
[older brother] Oh, it's one of those
upside-down maps.
Right, right, right, right, right.
[Lana Lee] We are here.
If we went past the shallows
and then turned through the rocks,
then we are in open water.
- Right.
- Mm-hmm.
Then what?
Then we sail around the world.
On this thing?
Yeah.
[both laugh]
Alright, great, I'm in.
I'm trusting you with my life.
Okay.
[seagulls calling]
[gentle piano music playing]
Okay.
[Willis] You knew him?
[sighs] Yes.
So from the beginning,
this was all an act.
You walked into the restaurant
saying you needed my help.
- [Lana] That part wasn't a lie.
- That part wasn't a lie? That's never
When was I supposed
to tell you something like that?
[Willis] I don't know.
The moment we started working together,
or maybe when you
pretended we're partners,
or literally anytime before now.
A detective and a waiter, partners
I'm so stupid.
You're not stupid, Willis.
So you guys dated?
- For how long?
- A few months.
You didn't know him.
- Willis
- [paper crunching]
[door opens]
It ain't every day an old case
gets cracked open.
- Chief's waiting in his office.
- Let's go.
[newscaster] [on TV]
The recent wrongful arrest
of a Chinatown resident
has the department under fire,
with activists criticizing tactics
and calling for reform.
[turns off TV]
[Chief] I got a call from the DA,
5:30 in the morning.
I don't like getting a call from the DA
at 5:30 in the morning.
Take a look.
- What is this?
- Ask him.
It's my brother.
Tech Guy went digging
through the archives,
and pieced together a partial timeline.
Tell 'em.
Yep, I, uh, did that.
[Chief] It's called detective work.
I-I-I thought it got deleted.
Nothing ever really gets deleted, kid.
So this is an open case
from over a decade ago
and at present, our leads are thin.
We don't have a current status
on the Painted Faces or the informant.
The only thing that we know for sure
is that detectives Carrey and McDonough
were working with the informant
through the Chinatown Task Force
until November 14th of that year.
And then what happened?
McDonough got shot.
The body was never recovered.
His partner, Carrey,
filed an incident report,
but it's sketchy on the details.
But he's the last man standing
so it's up to us
to fill in the missing pieces.
Seriously, Chief,
why is this our top priority?
Maybe it's because you dragged in
the restaurant manager with zero evidence.
Do you have any idea
how this looks out there?
It's a pattern of neglect.
Crime is spiking in Chinatown
and now all of a sudden
we've lost track of an informant,
and we've buried the story
of his disappearance
along with one of our lead detectives.
So we need to figure out
what the fuck happened,
and close the case! You got it?
Great.
Green, you're with Lee.
Come on, Chief.
I want you to figure out
what happened on the docks that night,
and I want you to figure out
where this guy went.
Turner, Carrey's mother
lives in a trailer park
over on the far east side.
I want you to give her a visit.
Take the kid with you.
You don't know, maybe he'll be helpful.
- Oh, no, I-I usually
- Thanks, Chief.
I'll ride with Turner.
[suspenseful music playing]
["I Walk the Night"
by Bruce Connole playing]
I walk the night,
I walk alone down empty streets ♪
I turn my eyes away
from people I might meet ♪
The wind cries softly
through the desert air ♪
The only one who'd even dare ♪

Lord, I'd like to leave this town ♪
[Willis] The world looks different.
Turner feels it, I feel it.
It's a new day.
Same case but now I'm on it.
Have you been out this far before?
[Miles] I didn't even know
this area was in our jurisdiction.
[Willis sighs]
- Where do you live?
- Condos. Downtown.
[Willis] Nice.
I bet they got nice bathrooms, huh?
Yeah.
Bathrooms are very important for me.
Did you always want to be a detective?
It's complicated.
[therapist] Of course, it is.
You're burned out, Miles.
Burned out?
When was the last time you took a break?
I
[slow, pensive music playing]
I can't remember.
Um
it's been a while.
Over a decade.
Let me ask you this.
Why did you become a detective?
Your father
I don't wanna talk about him.
[therapist] Okay.
We don't have to talk about him.
Thank you.
[therapist] But let me
put something in your head.
We all have roles
we don't always wanna play.
It's about how you approach them.
For a lot of people,
it would be a dream to be you.
So what do you suggest?
[therapist]
Gratitude is a good place to start.
[speaker] [on tape] I appreciate
the opportunities I've been given.
My work is meaningful.
- [Willis] You alright?
- Huh? Yeah, I'm fine.
Let's go find our guy.
[slow, dramatic music playing]
[Lana] What are you thinking?
I'm thinking we wouldn't be here
if you hadn't pulled that shit last week.
Look where I am now. No Turner.
My career's headed in the wrong direction.
You don't think this case is important?
[sighs] Oh, who am I to say?
Who am I to wonder why
we're all suddenly looking
at a file that's ice cold
with no new leads?
Let's just wrap this shit up.
Informant appears on the docks
out of nowhere, no vehicle.
Wasn't he being surveilled
by the department at that time?
Where did he come from?
Our guy left the detective
to bleed out on the docks
and ran in this direction
towards the marina.
Vanished.
What's there?
What's there?
Beach bar, the Shrimp Shack, Penny Arcade.
[Sarah Green] It's 4:00 in the morning.
Right, yeah. They would be all closed.
Spent a lot of time down there, huh?
Do you think you're fooling me?
I'm a detective.
Come on. What do you know?
[Hazel Carrey] Would either of you
like a cannoli?
Oh, half a cannoli.
Uh, eat from this side.
I didn't put my mouth on that part,
if it matters.
Uh, I'm okay. Thank you.
We're here to talk about
your son, Mrs. Carrey.
We haven't spoken for years.
[Hazel scoffs]
We had a falling out.
Must be hard
doing everything on your own.
No, I get along just fine.
I, I have my church ladies,
and Meals on Wheels
brings me my groceries every Sunday.
Meals on Wheels, huh?
This far out?
Are you a detective, too, like my son?
I'm just along for the ride.
Don't sell yourself short.
He's one of our most promising recruits.
Um
What can you tell us
about his partner, McDonough?
Um, any idea what happened to him?
I don't keep in touch with my own kid.
Think I kept track of someone else's?
Do you remember
what happened with your son
when his partner was shot?
[chuckles] That was a long time ago.
My memory gets fuzzy
spending so much time alone.
In fact, it's time for my nap.
We'll see ourselves out.
[soft, dramatic music playing]
Have a nice nap.
[Lana] Back then, there was
a sailboat anchored out there.
I'd page him, he'd call me back
to make a plan,
and we'd start at the bar,
then we'd walk down the pier,
and we would head out to the boat.
Whose boat was it?
The owner of the bar.
We talked about how we were gonna leave,
head out to open waters
and sail around the world.
Leave on this thing?
I've been back
to the pier a dozen times.
The boat is gone.
The night he went missing, he called me.
- Where are you?
- [older brother] [on phone] Lana, just
It doesn't matter. Just listen to me.
I'm not safe here, okay?
Strange things keep happening,
like really weird stuff
- Okay, you're scared.
- [older brother] keeps happening to me
that I can't explain.
You should call the police.
He said that he couldn't
see me for a while.
- He didn't say why.
- [older brother speaking indistinctly]
Okay, just slow down.
A couple weeks went by,
I page him, nothing.
So I figured he'd just moved on.
Cut to nine months ago,
I got this envelope in the mail.
No return address.
Just a bunch of newspaper clippings
about his disappearance,
and that's when I realized
that he'd been missing all these years.
Who sent this?
Someone who wanted me to know.
[Sarah sighs]
What are you thinking?
I'm thinking that I was right about you.
Well, you've never liked me, so.
I knew that you were hiding something.
Look, I'm sorry, okay?
[sighs] I don't need sorry,
I need honesty
which seems to be a big problem for you.
I care about my job, okay?
I don't need to like you
in order to do it.
In fact, actually
it's better that I don't.
But I need to be able to trust you.
Let's go get a drink.
- Now?
- Yeah, now.
You two hung out
on the magical sex boat, right?
Your boyfriend called you
from the docks that night.
Maybe he was running for the boat.
If so, there could be evidence on it.
Yeah, I told you the boat is gone.
Yeah, maybe it wasn't seaworthy,
but it could be in storage nearby.
Yeah, or chopped up for firewood.
Maybe. But the person
most likely to know that would be?
The owner of the boat.
Who's also the owner of the bar.
It's detective stuff, Lee. Try to keep up.
You're not very good at this, are you?
[rock music playing]
I got no reason ♪
Why are we here?
You think the church lady's
the one collecting these?
[patrons chattering indistinctly]
[rock music playing over speakers]
You seeing what I'm seeing?
- Those ladies?
- [Miles] Mm-hmm.
- Been here a minute.
- [Miles] Yeah.
I gotcha.
[Willis sighs]
Whatever my friends are having.
Detective Carrey, what do you know?
You're gonna need to
come up with somethin'
a little stronger to jog our memory.
Bartender, keep 'em coming.
[music continues]
[Willis sighs]
- Cheers.
- [customer 1] Cheers.
Cheers.
[Miles] Hmm. Whoo! [exhales]
- [customer 2 sighs]
- [sighs]
Yes.
So, Detective Carrey.
He used to come in here all the time.
He'd get sloppy every night
and complain about work.
And his mom would come and drag him out.
Carrey's partner got mixed up
with some Asian fella.
[echoing] Somethin' bad went down.
[dramatic music playing]
["Sandstorm" by Darude playing]
[TV announcer]
Deep Watr, for those special nights.
Are you hard enough?
["Sandstorm" continues]
[muffled rock music
playing over speakers]
[horn blares]
Told you, I've walked the docks.
If it's here,
I haven't been able to find it.
Yeah, well,
you've never walked 'em with me.
So, tell me, before the call,
anything else happen?
We had a fight.
He was acting strange towards the end.
He thought someone was watching.
That he wasn't safe.
Not at home, not at work.
Not even with me.
[sighs] You know what?
It's like they're doing
this to me deliberately.
Doing what?
Changing the rules,
just messing with me.
[Lana] What are you talking about,
changing the rules?
Nobody's messing with you.
Nobody's messing with you except for me.
And that's just boat stuff.
Come on, dude.
We don't get any time together.
You're always working.
Don't, don't.
They'll see us.
Who's gonna see us?
Your bosses, your people?
Your people don't even know I exist.
Yeah.
And they never will.
[Lana] What are you so afraid of?
[Lana sighs deeply]
[Sarah] The one time you open up
and maybe it wasn't real.
[sighs] I can relate.
Maybe I didn't even
really know him, you know.
Maybe I just, like,
knew some idea of him, some fantasy.
Rejected. I reject that.
You reject my fantasy?
[Sarah] You cared about him,
that wasn't a fantasy.
And seeing you was a risk,
but for him, it was worth it.
So whatever happened that day,
he was protecting you when he ended it.
Yeah, that's real.
His name is Jonathan.
We're gonna find Jonathan.
[door hinges creak]
[horn blaring in distance]
Two? Would you like a table
or to sit at the bar?
Is the owner around?
We have a few questions.
Of course.
Um, let me just
- [keypad beeping]
- [waitress sighs]
[clears throat]
[line ringing]
The line's busy.
Do you care to have a seat while you wait?
We have a discount for law enforcement.
Ten percent off cheesy poppers.
Or I'd be happy to comp them.
That sounds great.
I saw tapes of my brother
with what's-his-face?
[sighs] Detective Carrey,
and the guy wouldn't even
shake my brother's hand.
I got so mad just seeing that.
[Miles] Hmm.
[Willis sighs]
You're much nicer than that.
Ah, different times.
Progress, right?
You know, this isn't half bad for a hero.
[Turner clears throat]
[Willis] You know, I was thinking.
Carrey's mom had a delivery box
from Mario's Deli.
Mm, love me some Mario's,
but Meals on Wheels
doesn't usually send old ladies
$30 boxes of cannoli.
Exactly, unless it's not
from Meals on Wheels.
Someone is buying it for her.
Detective Carrey.
It's Sunday, her delivery day.
Good thinking, Wu.
[suspenseful music playing]
[car engine revving]
[tires screech]
[mysterious music playing]
I think it's him.
[door bells jingle]
[mysterious music continues]
Detective Carrey?
Hey. [whistles]
Detective Carrey.
- It fuckin' is him!
- Wu.
- Willis.
- [Willis] Hey!
[suspenseful music playing]
[tires screeching]
- [car horn honks]
- [driver] Be careful, you idiots!
["Survivor"
by Genesis Owusu playing]
When I shake, I shake oceans ♪
I'm electric, shock to stun ♪
When I get hot, I burned the sun ♪
Firearms could not box with God ♪
Do what you may, what comes will come ♪
[Carrey grunts]
[Carrey grunts]
Have your chance and roll the die ♪
I could be bored, I'd rather die ♪
- [grunting]
- I am the dark side of the moon ♪
Kick in the doors of the saloon ♪
[grunting]
Hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey!
[Carrey groaning]
[Willis] It is him.
He fucked with my brother,
he fucked up my family,
he fucked up my whole life.
Fuck, man. [exhales]
That's how they're training now?
Shut up!
[both panting]
Oh, so they got a new kung fu guy.
What did you just call me?
Why would you call me that?
Because you look like him.
He was your brother, right?
Why was it so hard to find you?
[Carrey scoffs]
[Carrey] Things didn't end well.
Not something I like talking about.
Well, that's too bad.
You're gonna have to talk about it.
It wasn't some cushy dead-end
at the department.
Top brass made it very clear
I couldn't show my face
anywhere in the city.
I shouldn't even be talking to you two.
My brother's been missing for 12 years
and we know you didn't care for him.
What? Wh
What, you think I'm the reason
you can't find him?
[laughs] Now, that's rich.
What's that supposed to mean?
I was worried about him.
Some people,
they break easier than others.
Your brother was all over the place,
questioning everything.
He was avoiding us,
and McDonough said he could handle it,
but I had a bad feeling.
And then he crossed the line.
We caught him with the Painted Faces.
[speaking Mandarin]
He was in charge.
I was ready to bring him in,
do things by the book.
But McDonough said he was fragile,
that he needed to be the one to do it.
[gunshot echoes]
And that was the end of that.
No way.
Are you saying that his brother
I think you know what I'm saying.
There's no way.
It was him.
Your brother killed McDonough.
It's the only explanation
that makes any sense.
I'd tried to warn the chief that night.
I told him it had all gone too far
and now my partner was alone
with this troubled kid.
But it was too late.
McDonough never came home,
your brother gone.
The department cleaned up their mistake.
I got stuck with nothing
and here we are.
That's enough. Turner, let's go.
One more thing.
[Willis sighs]
How did you track him to the waterfront?
He was a flight risk.
We knew he'd be there, and about the boat.
What did you know about this boat?
- She's stalling.
- [Lana] Yeah.
Alright, while we wait,
why don't you walk me through the time
leading up to his disappearance?
It was always easy for me to find work.
I can slot into any role,
be whatever the job required me to be.
It was fun, trying on different hats,
trying on different versions of myself.
[dog barks]
Ugh. Not at all relevant to our case,
but wonderful to be
on this journey with you, Lana.
Right, well, you asked me to share,
so that's what I was doing.
Sharing makes me uncomfortable.
[Lana] Yeah, that's not surprising.
It's no wonder Turner can't talk to you.
- He said that? Fine, fine.
- [clears throat]
I watch murder documentaries,
and I pickle.
You pickle?
On the house.
Thank you for your service.
Still stalling, huh?
Any luck with the owner?
No, I'm sorry.
Whoops.
Could you try calling him again right now?
- Okay, okay. Jesus.
- [Sarah] Thanks.
You're
[Sarah scoffs]
Wait.
Wait, I recognize that guy.
He used to work here back in the day.
Still working here, huh?
Hey.
[Lana] Green.
[Sarah] Police!
[intense music playing]
Hey!
[both grunt]
[groaning]
We are looking for the sailboat.
Yeah, you said there is no boat.
So what happened to it?
It was stolen years ago.
You report it?
[scoffs]
It wasn't my boat.
Whose then? Who do you work for?
Technically it's my name on the lease
but I assign everything up the chain.
Shell companies on shell companies.
Then who is the parent company?
[sighs]
HBWC.
What?
[bar employee]
That's who cuts my paychecks.
They own the whole waterfront.
Now, if you don't mind,
I've got work to do.
Knock yourself out.
[brakes squeal]
Why are we here?
[sighs deeply] I needed to make a stop.
I'm sorry for what you heard today.
I really am.
After he disappeared,
the whole building went quiet for a month.
I remember when my mom got the call
the look on her face.
She said, "I lost my son."
And she wasn't even looking at me.
So, yeah, no offense, but you're crazy.
People wanting you, looking up to you.
I'd trade anything for that.
I'd trade anything to not share a shower
with 30 other people,
to have a real job,
to have people look you in the eyes
because they see you.
That sounds pretty good to me.
[pensive music playing]
[Willis sighs]
I lost my dad when I was young.
About the same age you were
when your brother disappeared.
So
maybe I can imagine.
I'm sorry.
[Miles] He was a cop.
He loved it. [laughs]
Uh
I never wanted to do this, you know.
But, you know, after he got killed
it made me feel like
I could get closer to him.
Like, it was something
we could do together, you know.
So I know what it's like
to live for someone else.
Tell yourself you're doing it for them.
It feels good.
It means something.
Until it doesn't.
[Willis] Turner
[Miles] Hey, I've been watching you.
You are good.
You really think I can do it?
You're already doing it.
You're in it, man.
[pats legs]
[keypad beeping]
[line ringing]
[Miles] [on phone]
Green, we need to talk.
[Sarah] You're leaving, aren't you?
Yes.
- I'll
- [Miles] You'll be okay.
I was gonna say, "Miss you."
Oh.
We found Carrey.
And?
- [Miles] The brother was on the run
- [turns on speaker]
he killed McDonough.
Top brass covered it up.
Yeah, there's something else.
Carrey and McDonough
had been surveilling him.
He had access to a sailboat, right?
Maybe he was trying to escape.
[suspenseful music playing]
Do you still have that map
of the waterfront?
[Lana sighs]
The call from the docks was goodbye.
To escape, he would've had
to sail the boat into the shallows
through this passage and into open water.
[sighs] Okay, but you said it yourself.
This part was a fantasy,
so why would he even try that?
He killed a cop.
[somber music playing]
He was scared, he was desperate,
he didn't know how to sail.
We should look here.
There was no way
that he could get past these rocks.
[music continues]
[inaudible dialogue]
[inaudible dialogue]
I'll call it in.
Take all the time you need.
[music continues]
[speaker] [on tape] An important part
of self-care is gratitude.
A daily gratitude practice
can offer many benefits.
Physical, emotional, even spiritual.
To be grateful is to be humble,
to appreciate what has been given to you,
to appreciate the roles that you play.
Yes, you are the star of your own story.
[cell phone ringing]
[Lana] [on phone] Don't hang up.
Can we, um
Can we talk?
We found your brother's boat
at the bottom of the marina.
He's gone, Willis.
I'm so sorry.
[dispatch] [on radio]
We need all hands on deck.
We've got a 10-54 at Sixth and Main.
[somber music playing]
[Carrey] Some people,
they break easier than others.
[Willis] They broke him.
They broke Johnny.
Broke my parents.
But I don't wanna be broken anymore.
It's time for my story.
[car engine revving]
["Nobody Move"
by Hanni El Khatib playing]
[tires screech]
[sirens wailing]
I ain't going back where I came from ♪
Been treated like a rat
where I came from ♪
Put the money in the bag
and put the bag down ♪
And I'll get outta here ♪
Ain't the time to be a hero ♪
Ain't the time to act tough ♪
Nobody better hold me down ♪
So please shut up ♪
Nobody moves and nobody gets hurt ♪
Nobody moves
and nobody gets hurt ♪
Nobody moves and nobody gets hurt ♪
Nobody moves
and nobody gets hurt ♪
Nobody moves and nobody gets hurt ♪
Nobody moves
and nobody gets hurt ♪
Nobody moves and nobody gets hurt ♪
Nobody moves
and nobody gets hurt ♪
[fanfare plays]
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