Grotesquerie (2024) s01e08 Episode Script
In Dreams
1
♪
♪
[MERRITT] a significant hurdle is
the efficient delivery of RNA
molecules to cancer cells
while avoiding off-target effects.
It's unstable in the body.
And then there's a high
likelihood of immune responses.
The answer, I believe
is in developing
ultra sophisticated nanoparticles
to encapsulate and
protect RNA molecules,
improving their stability.
Let's, uh, pick this up
next session, guys, okay?
[WITTICOMB] It's good
of you to see me, Doctor.
I didn't think you would.
You're the last holdout within
your mother's inner circle.
[CHUCKLES SOFTLY]
Well, Doctor Witticomb,
I'm not really sure what good I'd be,
or even what your
approach to her therapy is.
I mean, how exactly am I
important to this process?
It's controversial, what I do.
Neuroimaging.
Functional MRI and EEG show
patterns of brain activity
that look like aspects
- of dream activity.
- So she was
"Locked in" rather than comatose?
She was in a liminal state,
and at times, very aware of her dreams.
She has an extraordinary recall of them.
And if we can advance the science
of communicating to people in comas,
my hope is we can find
ways to awaken them.
[SOFTLY] Well
I'd feel like an asshole
if I didn't help.
Thanks.
- [CHUCKLES SOFTLY]
- I should warn you,
it's not an enjoyable process.
You'll hear things you won't like.
Do you mind if I record you?
Fire away.
In her dream,
you were in, um, some
sort of reality television show.
Television? I hate television.
The only thing I watch is, like,
The Wire on a loop.
[CHUCKLES]
So, what's the name
of the show I was on?
Half-Ton Trauma.
A show in which morbidly obese people
Try to lose weight.
I told you this would not be easy.
[SIGHS]
Well, that woman isn't easy.
Your star patient.
[LOIS GRUNTS SOFTLY]
[JILL] Just center.
Good, good. Okay. It's okay.
It's okay. Just try it again.
Good, just
- Oh.
- Shit.
I couldn't do this
before I was in a coma.
Jesus Christ!
[SIGHS]
What the fuck do you want?
Just want to see how you're doing.
Fuck off.
You tried to kill me.
I heard all of it. All of it!
- Lois, you hallucinated half of what you heard.
- Mm-mm.
- Mm-mm.
- I wasn't trying to kill you.
- I was trying to keep you alive.
- [JILL] Lois, please
I-I I am done
with all of this, all of you.
I-I want to go home.
I just want to go home.
Okay, let me just One second.
It's okay. Let me just
- It's okay.
- Don't touch me.
- Okay, just reach out
- Don't touch me!
[INDISTINCT P.A. ANNOUNCEMENTS]
- [QUICK BEEP]
- [SHARP THUMP]
- [QUICK BEEP]
- [SHARP THUMP]
[MONITORS BEEPING RAPIDLY]
[HEART MONITOR FLATLINING]
[MAYHEW] Paddles!
Mom, you better fight.
[MAYHEW] Clear. I need adrenaline.
- You fucking bitch. Fight!
- [URGENT CHATTER]
♪
You know, I never understood
why you're such a royalist.
Look at them, disasters in the making.
Di, filled with terror and hope.
Charles,
grim and loving someone else.
[REDD] I'm gonna roast a chicken. Yeah?
Could use a prep chef.
[MARSHALL] Um
I don't really want to move,
I'm not hungry.
It's fine, yeah.
I could use the activity actually.
Maybe you'll be hungry
by the time it's ready, huh?
[MARSHALL] Mm.
Always think of the future,
even if it's only in
one-hour increments.
[CHUCKLES SOFTLY]
That's why I like the royal family.
They're always thinking about the future
but always in relation to
the traditions of the past.
I guess we need all
the rituals we can get.
Like roasting a chicken.
[LAUGHING]
I'm not staying in it.
She's awake. I'm divorcing her.
I'm done.
Can you do that?
I mean, can you live with that decision?
You stayed for all of it.
Why would you stay with me anymore
if I didn't leave now?
The ritual of it?
You being here?
And, you know, I think that maybe
this is the place
where you're really at peace, right?
Don't do it because you think
you'll lose me if you don't.
I started the process
to get her out of my life.
I saw the lawyer, Mr. Berger.
He's drawing it up.
I hope she has some
sort of life after all this,
that she realize that to
stay together is impossible
when you know too much
about who you both are.
She knows I wanted her to die.
I whispered in her ear during visits.
First it was, "You can go."
Then it progressed to
Please just fucking die.
She heard everything the doctors said.
Can you imagine
the level of stamina and control
to be in a coma and never turn off
your fucking satellites and antenna?
[EXHALES SOFTLY]
Charles.
I always admired him.
She was clearly mentally ill.
He was clearly hardwired for duty.
He kept going, living in his duty.
Finally finding happiness
with the woman he always loved.
♪
- I think I'll eat now.
- Yeah.
Interview one,
with Chief of Police, Megan Duval.
[CLEARS THROAT]
So, you would not
describe your relationship
with Detective Tryon as adversarial?
No. She was a mentor to me.
She was thrilled when I became chief.
I listened to her. I took her counsel.
And what about
the case of Andrea Salana?
♪
How do you think she handled that?
[MEGAN] She blew it.
She totally blew it.
She should have helped
that woman way earlier,
and I was very up-front about it.
Go on.
It was shit police work,
and she was guilty, she was slipping
and she was tired and, um
And I fucking let her know it.
It did result in some tension,
but she was always
very up-front with me,
and I had to pay her the same respect.
We did have one fight
right before her retirement party
where I let her know how I felt.
She had sudden qualms
about actually leaving,
and I said, "Hey, babe, it's time."
[LAUGHTER, CHATTER]
I had made this punch.
What color was the punch?
Purple.
Violet really.
It was awful.
- Go to hell.
- Cheers.
[WITTICOMB] Thank you, Chief.
One last thing. The color of the punch,
was it more like
the color of a bruise?
Yes.
Very much so.
And were there bruises
on Andrea Salana's body
when she was found dead? Purple bruises?
♪
She had been beaten to death, yes.
She looked like a different
species from all the bruising.
[SNIFFLES]
[SIGHS]
[TRAIN HORN BLARES]
♪
[TV PLAYING QUIETLY]
You're late.
I'm mad hungry.
Mmm.
[SIGHS]
Blood sugar must be low or something.
- I don't know.
- I'm not in the mood for your shit, Justin.
I'll heat up the Chinese.
♪
[MICROWAVE BEEPS, WHIRRING]
[SIGHS]
[PAINED GRUNTING]
[MEGAN GROANING]
[CHUCKLES SOFTLY]
Is this what you want?
Is it?
You know I'm gonna have
a shiner from your fucking fist!
And they know you at the precinct.
Too many bruises, too many
emotional crying calls.
You want me to just end this for you?
Is that what you want, Justin?
You don't have the fucking balls, Meg.
Just get the fuck out.
It's my house.
My house, my rules,
- my
- [GUN CLICKS]
[PANTING]
Fine. Stay then.
Enjoy dinner,
- you fuck.
- [SHOUTS]
Fuck!
Fucking bitch!
["SLOW BURN" BY BABY ROSE
AND BADBADNOTGOOD PLAYING]
Don't you worry ♪
An old flame used to show me ♪
Fire don't have to burn ♪
He said, "Baby, don't you worry" ♪
Don't you worry ♪
There's only more to learn ♪
[WATER SPLASHING]
Every laugh,
every touch, every kiss ♪
Can haunt me at times ♪
[SPLASHING CONTINUES]
I would lie if I said in your eyes ♪
I don't see the signs ♪
Carry on, no longer yours to love ♪
But your memory chimes ♪
Back and forth sometimes ♪
If I stay till the end, will I find ♪
Your love ♪
Your love, babe ♪
Is fire in my veins ♪
Slowly burns, slowly burns ♪
Only you can set me free ♪
It's taken ahold of me ♪
Future turns to flashes ♪
Time turns into ashes ♪
'Cause only you can make me ♪
Stay ♪
- [DOOR OPENS]
- [BELL JINGLES]
[OVER RADIO] Only you can make me ♪
Stay ♪
Hello.
Checking in?
Only you can make me ♪
Stay ♪
And only your love can make me ♪
Stay ♪
Would you like some ice, my dear?
Just a quiet room, please.
Stay ♪
Thank you.
And only your love can make me. ♪
- [DOOR OPENS]
- [BELL RINGS]
So, we finally meet.
Well, we did meet, but
you were barely awake,
coming back from the dream state.
So, are you ready to go
back to the real world?
Uh, I mean, I am.
It's just
It's a lot to process.
You know? And
My dreams were just so real.
And it will take a long time to unpack,
but we can do that together.
If you want, sessions
a few times a week,
sifting through whatever
you do remember?
I was in a coma for six weeks, and it
Felt like a lifetime.
Then, other times,
it just felt like
one long
night of an endless nightmare.
And-and sometimes I feel like
I'm-I'm still in a coma, and I'm just
in a maze,
trying to work my way through.
[STAMMERS]
I feel like that now.
We are both very much awake.
And I think there are very few cases
as valuable as yours, Lois,
in terms of understanding
the ways in which
the subconscious plays a part
in activating and healing
and even reawakening the brain and body.
Are you sure?
I was there, Lois.
I saw your brain activity.
I saw areas of your brain light up.
I know the emotions you were feeling,
and I know when you felt them.
I just feel
I just feel
Stuck.
My dreams were very
Very violent, I know.
Yeah.
And when you're able to discuss those
and what you recollect of them,
the more you'll be able to put
the violence in context
so you can move forward.
Do you remember any of
the conversations we had
where you told me some
of what you dreamed?
put them all together
and made one body
[WITTICOMB] We did
this for several days.
like a Frankenstein.
Mm-hmm.
Let's begin.
Why do you think you put your daughter
on a TV show called Half-Ton Trauma?
You would say because
I felt disgusted by her.
Is that what I would say?
What would you say?
I've seen a lot.
You know? In my job,
enormous shut-ins
dead of heart disease,
lifted out of their homes by a crane.
In the dream, there were
times when you force-fed Merritt.
This is a safe place to talk about it.
I don't know why I was
that angry at her.
In dreams,
it's safer to express anger
than in waking life.
Or perhaps you aren't angry
at all but ashamed of her?
Which could be even harder
for you to process than anger.
Is that possible?
I don't I don't, I don't,
I don't even know
why we got to talk about this.
I-I just want to put it all behind me
and move forward.
I read somewhere
that-that-that we're not even
supposed to remember our dreams.
That's why we don't, and
May I tell you what I think?
You felt a lack of
control in your marriage,
so you put your husband in a coma.
Uh-huh. What else?
You felt threatened by
your colleague, Megan,
a person who seemed
to do everything right,
when you were always in the wrong,
a "holier than thou" figure,
so you literally made her a nun.
And what about Grotesquerie?
Does it represent me?
Grotesquerie is the stand-in, the totem.
For the way the world,
according to Lois Tryon, now is.
What your work exposed
you to, what you suppress.
The long-term PTSD of the work you did.
I looked that word up.
"Grotesquerie." It means
"to live in a world
"that is grotesque
"and make-believe."
It was hardly make-believe.
You were a homicide detective
dealing with the most
unspeakable crimes.
I've read your case files.
What you dealt with could only
be described as such, grotesque.
I feel like you were
the tip of some spear,
fighting the spirit of evil in our time.
Almost someone who sacrificed themselves
in order to combat it.
Maybe.
I have seen the worst
of the worst of the worst,
daily, endlessly.
Endlessly.
In my dreams
I was still a drunk.
Which I am not.
"Anymore. Not anymore."
But dreams of using
are very, very common
in addicts and alcoholics.
A way of making sense of the shackles,
trying to free oneself.
Is sobriety not a lifetime of
day-to-day decision making?
What about Andrea?
Go!
Andrea?
What do you think?
Your guilt, Lois.
Mishandling that case
was the tipping point.
A horrible tragedy,
but also the catalyst
for you finally asking for help.
Yeah.
My sponsor, Ed. Merritt's husband
In the dream, you made
him a caretaker. Fitting.
How did the affair with
Ed begin in real life?
[SCOFFS]
He was just there.
It's that simple, Doctor.
Getting sober is a shock to the system.
You have to relearn how to be a person.
You gonna let me off the hook
for fucking my daughter's husband?
Only you can do that.
What else?
[SIGHS] Dr. Mayhew. Charlie.
[SIGHS] This is
particularly fascinating to me
because it proves that you were
cognizant of your surroundings.
Well, he-he turned out to be the killer.
You felt powerless.
You were hearing someone
who was supposed to be your ally
talking about ending your life,
taking you off the ventilator.
So you thrust him with Megan.
They became lovers in your fantasy.
The two people trying to
take your job and your life.
You were so alone.
The only person who cared
about you in the end was
Marshall's girlfriend.
Whom you cast as a nurse
in charge of his care.
The person your husband
was cheating on you with
became a malevolent archetype.
I didn't hate her.
I mean
there were some
feelings of bitterness, but
that woman is a goddamn saint
to deal with Marshall all those years.
I mean, God only knows
what would've happened
if I would've had to
deal with him by myself.
Maisie, who worked as your housekeeper,
you board her as well, I believe?
What about Maisie?
In your dream
she murdered children.
I find it interesting that,
of the many people
who incurred your wrath
she wasn't one of them.
You helped Maisie,
got her to the hospital,
empathized with her.
And in return, she
helped you catch the killer.
You know how we met, Maisie and I?
[PROTESTORS CHANTING]
Choose life! Choose life!
- Choose life! Choose life!
- [OVERLAPPING SHOUTING]
[CHANTING AND CLAMORING CONTINUE]
[LOIS] She chained
herself to an abortion clinic.
Choose life! Choose life!
[PROTESTORS CHANTING]
Choose life! Choose life!
[LOIS] I got called to the scene.
They cut her loose, and
She was yelling in my face,
all this pro-life nonsense.
[INAUDIBLE DIALOGUE]
♪
And the more she wailed
the more I saw myself.
Under the
layers of grandstanding
was the same stuff.
Love.
Fear.
Hope.
Most of all, hope.
[WITTICOMB] And what about today?
Do you still feel hope?
It comes and it goes. Hope.
A very wise conclusion.
To be continued.
Yup. [SIGHS]
♪
I got it. I got it.
♪
♪
Thanks.
[MEGAN] Do you know why
nobody was there to pick you up?
[LOIS] I got a pretty good guess.
The affairs.
Everyone was interviewed
by the brilliant Dr. Witticomb
so you know something about my dreams.
That and my general unpleasantness.
[MEGAN] Let me set you
straight on a few things.
I'm not your enemy.
I have only respect for you.
I idolized you.
You want to turn me into
a killer, that's your business.
Jesus Christ.
They were the dreams of
a woman in a coma, okay?
They're not binary representations
- of real feelings.
- Oh, you don't resent me?
You don't feel I pushed
you out of your position?
Usurped you?
[LAUGHS]
Look, kid, I have
enough to feel shitty about
for things that I did in my waking life.
Let's not make me responsible
for my subconscious, too.
Y-You think, if you had
a glimpse into your mind,
you'd like what you saw?
Really like what you saw?
[MEGAN] That's exactly the response
of your entire generation.
"We're not responsible for anything."
[ENGINE SHUTS OFF]
And you millennials blame us
for everything around you.
Such fucking professional
victims, all of you.
E-Entitled,
outraged at-at real grown-up shit.
It's the real world.
Not something we did to you.
Well, let's count them.
The selfishness acts.
Doing nothing to tackle
the problems you create.
Leaving us to clean up all your messes.
The way you left me to clean
up the Andrea Salana mess.
Okay.
That's what this is about.
You resent me for that case.
It's not about global
warming or whatever the fuck.
I was your partner. I looked bad, too.
And I trusted you.
And I'm named in her family's lawsuit
against the department because of you.
But I'm not your enemy.
Clearly, you're not.
I mean, you were kind
enough to pick me up today,
to give me lessons in your virtues.
Typical millennial self-righteousness.
Surprised you ain't
sued me and my dreams
for emotional distress.
I should.
Grow the fuck up.
[CAR DOOR OPENS]
[CAR DOOR CLOSES]
And one more thing.
You may have heard
in my dream coma state
that you were possessed,
foaming at the mouth.
Fascinating. I did not know this.
Also in my dream state,
I distinctly remember
you having bruises.
Much like you do right now.
Then, like now, subconscious
or motherfucking reality,
let me be clear, baby girl.
You are being possessed.
Break free while you can.
I see you.
[CAR DOOR CLOSES]
[SIGHS]
[LOIS] Maisie?
[CHUCKLING SOFTLY]
Welcome home, Mrs. Tryon.
Maisie.
[MAISIE] I said to that doctor,
"Mrs. Tryon is the person who helped me.
"That's who she was and
that's who she has been."
He didn't want to hear it.
Kept digging for darkness.
I said, "She saved me
and gave me a job."
And who can blame someone
for what they see in their dreams?
Everyone has a shadow.
Don't they know that?
Why isn't anyone here for you?
You are.
But [SIGHS]
Dreams, they are
The closest you get to truth, I think.
Maybe all my anger at everyone
Maybe that is my deepest truth.
That's good.
- Ten.
- [LOIS EXHALES]
Okay, good.
- 11, good.
- [LOIS STRAINS]
One more, one more.
- [GROANING]
- 12. Good job.
One more, one more. Come on.
- [LOIS] It's too heavy.
- [JILL CHUCKLES]
Okay, okay, that's good.
You know, you could only
do five when you started.
You're up to 12.
I feel like a kindergartener.
Don't be so quick to
compliment me, Jill.
[MAYHEW] Lois, you are the only
patient that I've ever met
that scoffs at positive reinforcement.
[LOIS] Because I know it's manipulation.
It's how I used to get
my suspects to confess.
One day, you're gonna
confess to me, too.
Didn't you hear it when
I was in that coma?
I heard everything.
["IT AIN'T NECESSARILY SO"
BY SAMMY DAVIS JR. PLAYING]
It ain't necessarily so ♪
It ain't necessarily so ♪
This is not a very
good idea, Mrs. Tryon.
Are any of my ideas good?
Hiring me.
That's the only one.
[LAUGHS]
Okay.
I got to do this, Maisie.
I have to.
David was small but ♪
[BIRDS CHIRPING]
[LOIS SIGHS]
Hey.
I figured I'd hear from you.
You been out, what, a day now
and you rush over and see me?
We need to talk.
Are you sure you want to talk to me?
Might want to talk to
my husband instead.
I can write down his address for you.
If you're looking to pick
up where you left off.
Sucking his dick.
Get it all out now.
So we can talk.
You know, there's something
I've been needing to say to you, so
Avante.
I have an idea about
what you want to talk about.
The main thing you want
to discuss, and I don't care.
You really think I'm
that unsophisticated?
I mean, your dreams are your dreams.
I'm not gonna castigate you
for how you see me in them.
The shut-in slob living at home,
depending on you? [LAUGHS]
Desperate to go on a
reality television show
for the sclerotic obese, right?
Did I I got that right, right?
That's how you picture
me in your dream life?
Well, Mom, I have two
postdoc degrees in biochemistry,
and I am perfectly
prepared to accept the fact
that in order for you to deal with me,
you had to reduce me to a fat freak
because you're so fucking insecure.
Look, I hate that I felt that way.
I know how wrong it is.
How wrong it was.
But all I can say is that
"W-We're not responsible
for our dreams"?
I know that.
I agree!
But that is not your crime, lady.
That is not your unforgivable sin.
You know that.
So can we please just
cut the deflective bullshit
and have a real come-to-Jesus?
- Okay.
- Please.
You want to talk about
how I could have possibly
slept with your husband.
Okay, it was
[SIGHS]
misplaced aloneness.
It was
It was self-pity and
booze and
finding myself alone in life.
I mean, your father had
basically abandoned me
[STAMMERS]
This was not about sex, Merritt.
Okay? It was about
emotion.
It was about connection.
[PANTING]
Most women will find
someone suitable to cheat with.
Someone outside of their orbit.
Their child's own partner?
Most women would find that to be taboo.
But not you.
You're not like most women, are you?
[CHUCKLES DERISIVELY]
You are something else entirely.
You see, all that time spent
around killers and psychopaths,
it's rubbed off on you.
Consider that.
They were contagious and
you caught their diseases.
Why not?
You see, I-I remember
I remember when you weren't
a fucking insane person, Mom.
I remember when you were a good mother.
Walking me to school,
waiting there until I felt
safe before you left.
I remember all the good parts.
All of them.
And that's what makes this even worse.
Please allow yourself
to understand that
my husband's betrayal
is totally predictable.
But yours?
[SCOFFS SOFTLY]
Yours broke my heart.
You broke my heart, Mom.
And I wake up every day stunned by it.
Amazed by it.
S-Still unable to process it.
I could only hope
that you feel the same.
But I know you don't.
Get the fuck out of my house.
[RETREATING FOOTSTEPS]
We should go get a vanilla milkshake.
[SIGHS]
[CHUCKLES SOFTLY]
I did tell you that it was a bad idea.
[LOIS] Yeah.
It was a new beginning.
It's what I need to
go on.
Let's get a milkshake.
Ow.
[ENGINE STARTS]
♪
♪
♪
[MERRITT] a significant hurdle is
the efficient delivery of RNA
molecules to cancer cells
while avoiding off-target effects.
It's unstable in the body.
And then there's a high
likelihood of immune responses.
The answer, I believe
is in developing
ultra sophisticated nanoparticles
to encapsulate and
protect RNA molecules,
improving their stability.
Let's, uh, pick this up
next session, guys, okay?
[WITTICOMB] It's good
of you to see me, Doctor.
I didn't think you would.
You're the last holdout within
your mother's inner circle.
[CHUCKLES SOFTLY]
Well, Doctor Witticomb,
I'm not really sure what good I'd be,
or even what your
approach to her therapy is.
I mean, how exactly am I
important to this process?
It's controversial, what I do.
Neuroimaging.
Functional MRI and EEG show
patterns of brain activity
that look like aspects
- of dream activity.
- So she was
"Locked in" rather than comatose?
She was in a liminal state,
and at times, very aware of her dreams.
She has an extraordinary recall of them.
And if we can advance the science
of communicating to people in comas,
my hope is we can find
ways to awaken them.
[SOFTLY] Well
I'd feel like an asshole
if I didn't help.
Thanks.
- [CHUCKLES SOFTLY]
- I should warn you,
it's not an enjoyable process.
You'll hear things you won't like.
Do you mind if I record you?
Fire away.
In her dream,
you were in, um, some
sort of reality television show.
Television? I hate television.
The only thing I watch is, like,
The Wire on a loop.
[CHUCKLES]
So, what's the name
of the show I was on?
Half-Ton Trauma.
A show in which morbidly obese people
Try to lose weight.
I told you this would not be easy.
[SIGHS]
Well, that woman isn't easy.
Your star patient.
[LOIS GRUNTS SOFTLY]
[JILL] Just center.
Good, good. Okay. It's okay.
It's okay. Just try it again.
Good, just
- Oh.
- Shit.
I couldn't do this
before I was in a coma.
Jesus Christ!
[SIGHS]
What the fuck do you want?
Just want to see how you're doing.
Fuck off.
You tried to kill me.
I heard all of it. All of it!
- Lois, you hallucinated half of what you heard.
- Mm-mm.
- Mm-mm.
- I wasn't trying to kill you.
- I was trying to keep you alive.
- [JILL] Lois, please
I-I I am done
with all of this, all of you.
I-I want to go home.
I just want to go home.
Okay, let me just One second.
It's okay. Let me just
- It's okay.
- Don't touch me.
- Okay, just reach out
- Don't touch me!
[INDISTINCT P.A. ANNOUNCEMENTS]
- [QUICK BEEP]
- [SHARP THUMP]
- [QUICK BEEP]
- [SHARP THUMP]
[MONITORS BEEPING RAPIDLY]
[HEART MONITOR FLATLINING]
[MAYHEW] Paddles!
Mom, you better fight.
[MAYHEW] Clear. I need adrenaline.
- You fucking bitch. Fight!
- [URGENT CHATTER]
♪
You know, I never understood
why you're such a royalist.
Look at them, disasters in the making.
Di, filled with terror and hope.
Charles,
grim and loving someone else.
[REDD] I'm gonna roast a chicken. Yeah?
Could use a prep chef.
[MARSHALL] Um
I don't really want to move,
I'm not hungry.
It's fine, yeah.
I could use the activity actually.
Maybe you'll be hungry
by the time it's ready, huh?
[MARSHALL] Mm.
Always think of the future,
even if it's only in
one-hour increments.
[CHUCKLES SOFTLY]
That's why I like the royal family.
They're always thinking about the future
but always in relation to
the traditions of the past.
I guess we need all
the rituals we can get.
Like roasting a chicken.
[LAUGHING]
I'm not staying in it.
She's awake. I'm divorcing her.
I'm done.
Can you do that?
I mean, can you live with that decision?
You stayed for all of it.
Why would you stay with me anymore
if I didn't leave now?
The ritual of it?
You being here?
And, you know, I think that maybe
this is the place
where you're really at peace, right?
Don't do it because you think
you'll lose me if you don't.
I started the process
to get her out of my life.
I saw the lawyer, Mr. Berger.
He's drawing it up.
I hope she has some
sort of life after all this,
that she realize that to
stay together is impossible
when you know too much
about who you both are.
She knows I wanted her to die.
I whispered in her ear during visits.
First it was, "You can go."
Then it progressed to
Please just fucking die.
She heard everything the doctors said.
Can you imagine
the level of stamina and control
to be in a coma and never turn off
your fucking satellites and antenna?
[EXHALES SOFTLY]
Charles.
I always admired him.
She was clearly mentally ill.
He was clearly hardwired for duty.
He kept going, living in his duty.
Finally finding happiness
with the woman he always loved.
♪
- I think I'll eat now.
- Yeah.
Interview one,
with Chief of Police, Megan Duval.
[CLEARS THROAT]
So, you would not
describe your relationship
with Detective Tryon as adversarial?
No. She was a mentor to me.
She was thrilled when I became chief.
I listened to her. I took her counsel.
And what about
the case of Andrea Salana?
♪
How do you think she handled that?
[MEGAN] She blew it.
She totally blew it.
She should have helped
that woman way earlier,
and I was very up-front about it.
Go on.
It was shit police work,
and she was guilty, she was slipping
and she was tired and, um
And I fucking let her know it.
It did result in some tension,
but she was always
very up-front with me,
and I had to pay her the same respect.
We did have one fight
right before her retirement party
where I let her know how I felt.
She had sudden qualms
about actually leaving,
and I said, "Hey, babe, it's time."
[LAUGHTER, CHATTER]
I had made this punch.
What color was the punch?
Purple.
Violet really.
It was awful.
- Go to hell.
- Cheers.
[WITTICOMB] Thank you, Chief.
One last thing. The color of the punch,
was it more like
the color of a bruise?
Yes.
Very much so.
And were there bruises
on Andrea Salana's body
when she was found dead? Purple bruises?
♪
She had been beaten to death, yes.
She looked like a different
species from all the bruising.
[SNIFFLES]
[SIGHS]
[TRAIN HORN BLARES]
♪
[TV PLAYING QUIETLY]
You're late.
I'm mad hungry.
Mmm.
[SIGHS]
Blood sugar must be low or something.
- I don't know.
- I'm not in the mood for your shit, Justin.
I'll heat up the Chinese.
♪
[MICROWAVE BEEPS, WHIRRING]
[SIGHS]
[PAINED GRUNTING]
[MEGAN GROANING]
[CHUCKLES SOFTLY]
Is this what you want?
Is it?
You know I'm gonna have
a shiner from your fucking fist!
And they know you at the precinct.
Too many bruises, too many
emotional crying calls.
You want me to just end this for you?
Is that what you want, Justin?
You don't have the fucking balls, Meg.
Just get the fuck out.
It's my house.
My house, my rules,
- my
- [GUN CLICKS]
[PANTING]
Fine. Stay then.
Enjoy dinner,
- you fuck.
- [SHOUTS]
Fuck!
Fucking bitch!
["SLOW BURN" BY BABY ROSE
AND BADBADNOTGOOD PLAYING]
Don't you worry ♪
An old flame used to show me ♪
Fire don't have to burn ♪
He said, "Baby, don't you worry" ♪
Don't you worry ♪
There's only more to learn ♪
[WATER SPLASHING]
Every laugh,
every touch, every kiss ♪
Can haunt me at times ♪
[SPLASHING CONTINUES]
I would lie if I said in your eyes ♪
I don't see the signs ♪
Carry on, no longer yours to love ♪
But your memory chimes ♪
Back and forth sometimes ♪
If I stay till the end, will I find ♪
Your love ♪
Your love, babe ♪
Is fire in my veins ♪
Slowly burns, slowly burns ♪
Only you can set me free ♪
It's taken ahold of me ♪
Future turns to flashes ♪
Time turns into ashes ♪
'Cause only you can make me ♪
Stay ♪
- [DOOR OPENS]
- [BELL JINGLES]
[OVER RADIO] Only you can make me ♪
Stay ♪
Hello.
Checking in?
Only you can make me ♪
Stay ♪
And only your love can make me ♪
Stay ♪
Would you like some ice, my dear?
Just a quiet room, please.
Stay ♪
Thank you.
And only your love can make me. ♪
- [DOOR OPENS]
- [BELL RINGS]
So, we finally meet.
Well, we did meet, but
you were barely awake,
coming back from the dream state.
So, are you ready to go
back to the real world?
Uh, I mean, I am.
It's just
It's a lot to process.
You know? And
My dreams were just so real.
And it will take a long time to unpack,
but we can do that together.
If you want, sessions
a few times a week,
sifting through whatever
you do remember?
I was in a coma for six weeks, and it
Felt like a lifetime.
Then, other times,
it just felt like
one long
night of an endless nightmare.
And-and sometimes I feel like
I'm-I'm still in a coma, and I'm just
in a maze,
trying to work my way through.
[STAMMERS]
I feel like that now.
We are both very much awake.
And I think there are very few cases
as valuable as yours, Lois,
in terms of understanding
the ways in which
the subconscious plays a part
in activating and healing
and even reawakening the brain and body.
Are you sure?
I was there, Lois.
I saw your brain activity.
I saw areas of your brain light up.
I know the emotions you were feeling,
and I know when you felt them.
I just feel
I just feel
Stuck.
My dreams were very
Very violent, I know.
Yeah.
And when you're able to discuss those
and what you recollect of them,
the more you'll be able to put
the violence in context
so you can move forward.
Do you remember any of
the conversations we had
where you told me some
of what you dreamed?
put them all together
and made one body
[WITTICOMB] We did
this for several days.
like a Frankenstein.
Mm-hmm.
Let's begin.
Why do you think you put your daughter
on a TV show called Half-Ton Trauma?
You would say because
I felt disgusted by her.
Is that what I would say?
What would you say?
I've seen a lot.
You know? In my job,
enormous shut-ins
dead of heart disease,
lifted out of their homes by a crane.
In the dream, there were
times when you force-fed Merritt.
This is a safe place to talk about it.
I don't know why I was
that angry at her.
In dreams,
it's safer to express anger
than in waking life.
Or perhaps you aren't angry
at all but ashamed of her?
Which could be even harder
for you to process than anger.
Is that possible?
I don't I don't, I don't,
I don't even know
why we got to talk about this.
I-I just want to put it all behind me
and move forward.
I read somewhere
that-that-that we're not even
supposed to remember our dreams.
That's why we don't, and
May I tell you what I think?
You felt a lack of
control in your marriage,
so you put your husband in a coma.
Uh-huh. What else?
You felt threatened by
your colleague, Megan,
a person who seemed
to do everything right,
when you were always in the wrong,
a "holier than thou" figure,
so you literally made her a nun.
And what about Grotesquerie?
Does it represent me?
Grotesquerie is the stand-in, the totem.
For the way the world,
according to Lois Tryon, now is.
What your work exposed
you to, what you suppress.
The long-term PTSD of the work you did.
I looked that word up.
"Grotesquerie." It means
"to live in a world
"that is grotesque
"and make-believe."
It was hardly make-believe.
You were a homicide detective
dealing with the most
unspeakable crimes.
I've read your case files.
What you dealt with could only
be described as such, grotesque.
I feel like you were
the tip of some spear,
fighting the spirit of evil in our time.
Almost someone who sacrificed themselves
in order to combat it.
Maybe.
I have seen the worst
of the worst of the worst,
daily, endlessly.
Endlessly.
In my dreams
I was still a drunk.
Which I am not.
"Anymore. Not anymore."
But dreams of using
are very, very common
in addicts and alcoholics.
A way of making sense of the shackles,
trying to free oneself.
Is sobriety not a lifetime of
day-to-day decision making?
What about Andrea?
Go!
Andrea?
What do you think?
Your guilt, Lois.
Mishandling that case
was the tipping point.
A horrible tragedy,
but also the catalyst
for you finally asking for help.
Yeah.
My sponsor, Ed. Merritt's husband
In the dream, you made
him a caretaker. Fitting.
How did the affair with
Ed begin in real life?
[SCOFFS]
He was just there.
It's that simple, Doctor.
Getting sober is a shock to the system.
You have to relearn how to be a person.
You gonna let me off the hook
for fucking my daughter's husband?
Only you can do that.
What else?
[SIGHS] Dr. Mayhew. Charlie.
[SIGHS] This is
particularly fascinating to me
because it proves that you were
cognizant of your surroundings.
Well, he-he turned out to be the killer.
You felt powerless.
You were hearing someone
who was supposed to be your ally
talking about ending your life,
taking you off the ventilator.
So you thrust him with Megan.
They became lovers in your fantasy.
The two people trying to
take your job and your life.
You were so alone.
The only person who cared
about you in the end was
Marshall's girlfriend.
Whom you cast as a nurse
in charge of his care.
The person your husband
was cheating on you with
became a malevolent archetype.
I didn't hate her.
I mean
there were some
feelings of bitterness, but
that woman is a goddamn saint
to deal with Marshall all those years.
I mean, God only knows
what would've happened
if I would've had to
deal with him by myself.
Maisie, who worked as your housekeeper,
you board her as well, I believe?
What about Maisie?
In your dream
she murdered children.
I find it interesting that,
of the many people
who incurred your wrath
she wasn't one of them.
You helped Maisie,
got her to the hospital,
empathized with her.
And in return, she
helped you catch the killer.
You know how we met, Maisie and I?
[PROTESTORS CHANTING]
Choose life! Choose life!
- Choose life! Choose life!
- [OVERLAPPING SHOUTING]
[CHANTING AND CLAMORING CONTINUE]
[LOIS] She chained
herself to an abortion clinic.
Choose life! Choose life!
[PROTESTORS CHANTING]
Choose life! Choose life!
[LOIS] I got called to the scene.
They cut her loose, and
She was yelling in my face,
all this pro-life nonsense.
[INAUDIBLE DIALOGUE]
♪
And the more she wailed
the more I saw myself.
Under the
layers of grandstanding
was the same stuff.
Love.
Fear.
Hope.
Most of all, hope.
[WITTICOMB] And what about today?
Do you still feel hope?
It comes and it goes. Hope.
A very wise conclusion.
To be continued.
Yup. [SIGHS]
♪
I got it. I got it.
♪
♪
Thanks.
[MEGAN] Do you know why
nobody was there to pick you up?
[LOIS] I got a pretty good guess.
The affairs.
Everyone was interviewed
by the brilliant Dr. Witticomb
so you know something about my dreams.
That and my general unpleasantness.
[MEGAN] Let me set you
straight on a few things.
I'm not your enemy.
I have only respect for you.
I idolized you.
You want to turn me into
a killer, that's your business.
Jesus Christ.
They were the dreams of
a woman in a coma, okay?
They're not binary representations
- of real feelings.
- Oh, you don't resent me?
You don't feel I pushed
you out of your position?
Usurped you?
[LAUGHS]
Look, kid, I have
enough to feel shitty about
for things that I did in my waking life.
Let's not make me responsible
for my subconscious, too.
Y-You think, if you had
a glimpse into your mind,
you'd like what you saw?
Really like what you saw?
[MEGAN] That's exactly the response
of your entire generation.
"We're not responsible for anything."
[ENGINE SHUTS OFF]
And you millennials blame us
for everything around you.
Such fucking professional
victims, all of you.
E-Entitled,
outraged at-at real grown-up shit.
It's the real world.
Not something we did to you.
Well, let's count them.
The selfishness acts.
Doing nothing to tackle
the problems you create.
Leaving us to clean up all your messes.
The way you left me to clean
up the Andrea Salana mess.
Okay.
That's what this is about.
You resent me for that case.
It's not about global
warming or whatever the fuck.
I was your partner. I looked bad, too.
And I trusted you.
And I'm named in her family's lawsuit
against the department because of you.
But I'm not your enemy.
Clearly, you're not.
I mean, you were kind
enough to pick me up today,
to give me lessons in your virtues.
Typical millennial self-righteousness.
Surprised you ain't
sued me and my dreams
for emotional distress.
I should.
Grow the fuck up.
[CAR DOOR OPENS]
[CAR DOOR CLOSES]
And one more thing.
You may have heard
in my dream coma state
that you were possessed,
foaming at the mouth.
Fascinating. I did not know this.
Also in my dream state,
I distinctly remember
you having bruises.
Much like you do right now.
Then, like now, subconscious
or motherfucking reality,
let me be clear, baby girl.
You are being possessed.
Break free while you can.
I see you.
[CAR DOOR CLOSES]
[SIGHS]
[LOIS] Maisie?
[CHUCKLING SOFTLY]
Welcome home, Mrs. Tryon.
Maisie.
[MAISIE] I said to that doctor,
"Mrs. Tryon is the person who helped me.
"That's who she was and
that's who she has been."
He didn't want to hear it.
Kept digging for darkness.
I said, "She saved me
and gave me a job."
And who can blame someone
for what they see in their dreams?
Everyone has a shadow.
Don't they know that?
Why isn't anyone here for you?
You are.
But [SIGHS]
Dreams, they are
The closest you get to truth, I think.
Maybe all my anger at everyone
Maybe that is my deepest truth.
That's good.
- Ten.
- [LOIS EXHALES]
Okay, good.
- 11, good.
- [LOIS STRAINS]
One more, one more.
- [GROANING]
- 12. Good job.
One more, one more. Come on.
- [LOIS] It's too heavy.
- [JILL CHUCKLES]
Okay, okay, that's good.
You know, you could only
do five when you started.
You're up to 12.
I feel like a kindergartener.
Don't be so quick to
compliment me, Jill.
[MAYHEW] Lois, you are the only
patient that I've ever met
that scoffs at positive reinforcement.
[LOIS] Because I know it's manipulation.
It's how I used to get
my suspects to confess.
One day, you're gonna
confess to me, too.
Didn't you hear it when
I was in that coma?
I heard everything.
["IT AIN'T NECESSARILY SO"
BY SAMMY DAVIS JR. PLAYING]
It ain't necessarily so ♪
It ain't necessarily so ♪
This is not a very
good idea, Mrs. Tryon.
Are any of my ideas good?
Hiring me.
That's the only one.
[LAUGHS]
Okay.
I got to do this, Maisie.
I have to.
David was small but ♪
[BIRDS CHIRPING]
[LOIS SIGHS]
Hey.
I figured I'd hear from you.
You been out, what, a day now
and you rush over and see me?
We need to talk.
Are you sure you want to talk to me?
Might want to talk to
my husband instead.
I can write down his address for you.
If you're looking to pick
up where you left off.
Sucking his dick.
Get it all out now.
So we can talk.
You know, there's something
I've been needing to say to you, so
Avante.
I have an idea about
what you want to talk about.
The main thing you want
to discuss, and I don't care.
You really think I'm
that unsophisticated?
I mean, your dreams are your dreams.
I'm not gonna castigate you
for how you see me in them.
The shut-in slob living at home,
depending on you? [LAUGHS]
Desperate to go on a
reality television show
for the sclerotic obese, right?
Did I I got that right, right?
That's how you picture
me in your dream life?
Well, Mom, I have two
postdoc degrees in biochemistry,
and I am perfectly
prepared to accept the fact
that in order for you to deal with me,
you had to reduce me to a fat freak
because you're so fucking insecure.
Look, I hate that I felt that way.
I know how wrong it is.
How wrong it was.
But all I can say is that
"W-We're not responsible
for our dreams"?
I know that.
I agree!
But that is not your crime, lady.
That is not your unforgivable sin.
You know that.
So can we please just
cut the deflective bullshit
and have a real come-to-Jesus?
- Okay.
- Please.
You want to talk about
how I could have possibly
slept with your husband.
Okay, it was
[SIGHS]
misplaced aloneness.
It was
It was self-pity and
booze and
finding myself alone in life.
I mean, your father had
basically abandoned me
[STAMMERS]
This was not about sex, Merritt.
Okay? It was about
emotion.
It was about connection.
[PANTING]
Most women will find
someone suitable to cheat with.
Someone outside of their orbit.
Their child's own partner?
Most women would find that to be taboo.
But not you.
You're not like most women, are you?
[CHUCKLES DERISIVELY]
You are something else entirely.
You see, all that time spent
around killers and psychopaths,
it's rubbed off on you.
Consider that.
They were contagious and
you caught their diseases.
Why not?
You see, I-I remember
I remember when you weren't
a fucking insane person, Mom.
I remember when you were a good mother.
Walking me to school,
waiting there until I felt
safe before you left.
I remember all the good parts.
All of them.
And that's what makes this even worse.
Please allow yourself
to understand that
my husband's betrayal
is totally predictable.
But yours?
[SCOFFS SOFTLY]
Yours broke my heart.
You broke my heart, Mom.
And I wake up every day stunned by it.
Amazed by it.
S-Still unable to process it.
I could only hope
that you feel the same.
But I know you don't.
Get the fuck out of my house.
[RETREATING FOOTSTEPS]
We should go get a vanilla milkshake.
[SIGHS]
[CHUCKLES SOFTLY]
I did tell you that it was a bad idea.
[LOIS] Yeah.
It was a new beginning.
It's what I need to
go on.
Let's get a milkshake.
Ow.
[ENGINE STARTS]
♪