The Sinner (2017) s02e04 Episode Script

Whatever's going on in Mosswood, Julian's in the thick of it.
When a boy that young kills, it's really never just his fault.
That whole Niagara Falls story, you giving permission.
That wasn't true.
You knew that that couple wasn't coming back to Mosswood with your son.
Memorize this number.
You need anything, give me a call.
- You must be Harry.
- Yeah.
Glen Fisher, heard all about you.
Heavy metal and tear gas.
It worked at Waco.
I talked to the judge, and he's ordered an MHE psychological evaluation.
So why did you give her the tea? - Because she lied.
- And what happens when you do? You split in two.
Hey, hey, hey, hey, hey.
It's okay, it's okay.
Detective, she's not the mother.
My friend, Marin, the one who went into Mosswood.
I took your advice, and I followed up.
Look what I found.
Julian, it's everywhere.
So you were the attending doctor at Julian's birth? Not at it, I was I was called in for the paperwork.
Dr.
Poole? Oh, my God.
I need to show you something.
"Every day, I search for an escape from the labyrinth.
"Every day, the Minotaur hunts me.
"Running only gives the bull more power.
"The only way out is inward.
"I must accept that at the center of the labyrinth, "I will not face the Minotaur, but myself.
"I am the Minotaur.
I am hunting myself.
" Well, he certainly sounds devoted.
Yeah.
Devoted enough to kill himself instead of talking.
I wonder if there's more out there.
More of what? More like him.
Who's this? It's only a dream.
It's not real.
I promise you.
I can't tell what's real.
Did the test like you said.
When can I go home? The test didn't go like we planned.
They have some more questions now.
About what? About you.
About whether you're healthy, mentally.
Which we both know is ridiculous, but that's what they think.
It just makes our self-defense plea a little more difficult, but it's okay.
One minute, folks.
- I'm never going home, am I? - Yes, you are.
I'm going to get you out of here.
- Julian, look at me.
- No.
There is nothing wrong with you.
You are exactly the way you're supposed to be.
You can't ever forget that.
But you can't get me out.
That's not true.
Nothing on Mosswood anywhere.
If he treated patients there, maybe it was off the record.
So I ran a check on his physician's license number.
- And? - Spotless record.
Except for one complaint to the state medical board 15 years ago.
What kind of complaint? Malpractice suit that went nowhere.
It was filed by a Carmen Bell.
- Do we have an address? - Yeah.
1 Brunswick Drive.
That's Deakins Psychiatric Institute.
It looks like it started in the kitchen.
You see what happened? My mom was cooking dinner on the stove.
This is usually my nap.
We won't keep you.
We just want to ask you a few questions about Dr.
Sheldon Poole.
Um, you filed a malpractice suit in 2002, is that right? I don't want to talk about Dr.
Sheldon.
- Can I ask why not? - Because they changed my meds, and I'm tired, and this is usually my nap.
So now, what do they have you on? Is it Seroquel? - And Risperidone.
- Mm.
God, yeah, for years, my mother was on that lithium.
Mm, lithium's the worst.
Swells your ankles.
Gives you nightmares.
There was a lot of that when she lived here.
She lived up on the 4th floor.
Up until 1975.
I was sent to Dr.
Sheldon by the people I was living with.
I guess you could call it a commune.
Mosswood Grove? Yeah, how did you know that? I think it's the only one around here.
Why did they send you to a doctor? It was supposed to be just a simple abortion, but he took the whole uterus.
I'm sorry, he removed your uterus? And when I complained about it, he came up with all this paperwork saying that I had consented to the surgery.
So then, what did you do? I went to the police.
I gave a deposition and everything, and that's when things started happening.
- What do you mean? - People were following me, going through my things, shooting words into my head.
- Who? Who was following you? - All of them.
The judge, the DA, my mom, my dad.
Everyone, everybody.
Once they deem you a danger to yourself, it's basically a free-for-all.
Carmen, um Do you recognize This girl? A lot of girls came through Mosswood.
A lot of guys too.
Chewed up and spat out.
Did you see this girl? You should look in the lake.
Lake? They called it the purple lake.
- Um, the purple lake? - Yeah.
The Beacon, he liked to surround himself with pretty things, but he got bored really easily.
What was that name? The Beacon? Who was he? He's the one who planted the eggs in my brain.
Huh.
Is this the Beacon? Can I keep this? - Um, sorry, it's evidence.
- Please, please, please.
They don't let me have anything.
- I can't have - Please, please.
- We can arrange um - Give it, please.
- Miss Bell - Please, please, please! - Please, please, please, please! - Okay.
Carmen, calm down.
We need to follow up on her deposition.
See if we can back up anything that she says.
You don't believe her.
Just thinking about those eggs in her brain.
Vera's left a voicemail.
Well, play it.
Okay.
It's Vera.
I was thinking about what you said the other day and I think I found something.
I want to show it to you before I show it to anybody else.
Can you come by tomorrow morning? It's important, thanks.
She's trying to rope you in.
Yeah, probably.
We need to go hard at her.
Confront her about Marin.
- Force a DNA test.
- No, no.
If she feels better being in control, fine.
Let her be in control.
I need to get in there.
Don't worry, we're going to find out about your friend.
All the movies here suck.
None of this is scary.
It's like a manufactured dopamine rush to make you think you're having a real experience, when actually, you're just sitting there - getting brainwashed.
- Here we go.
Just look at Rudy.
He just sits there, watching MSNBC, counting his cigarettes every night.
He's a zombie, and he doesn't even know it.
Can we just chill? Have a normal night, and not have everything be turned into some diatribe against society? In Mosswood, they call it "resisting," what you just did.
I don't want to talk to you about that place.
- It's a sign of unhappiness.
- I'm unhappy? Yeah, because you lie.
I lie? You lie to yourself every day.
About what? Marin, can't we just make this a fun night? Look.
- Did you steal that? - Maybe.
Hey.
- Hey, Mr.
Fireman.
- What are you girls up to? You guys have anything to mix this with? Don't do this to yourself, Tom.
You're going to regret it.
Do not sign off on this.
Have a seat, we were just having a chat about your pal, Harry Ambrose.
This guy likes to pick apart slam dunk cases.
It's a sickness.
He's got to go.
- Excuse me? - Look, he took apart this case against Cora Tannetti last year, and now, I hear he's been hounding Judge Emerson to punt Julian Walker back down to family court.
With all due respect, maybe that's where he belongs.
That's my decision, not yours.
Certainly not his.
But if my constituents want to see this Walker kid get time, that's what's going to happen.
Well, in that case, maybe it's a good idea that Ambrose is around.
As an outsider, he'll help make things at least seem impartial.
I'd hate for your office to be accused of bias.
Tom, put a leash on this guy before he does any real damage.
- I know, I'm sorry.
- It's all right.
He's an asshole.
I'm just thinking about your career.
You have a lot of years ahead of you in this county.
Don't screw it up.
What was the name on that deposition tape? Bell, it's Carmen Bell.
That is strange, you are the second person in two days looking for this tape.
Really? I couldn't tell you who he was, though.
- He didn't sign in.
- What did he look like? He was a very thin man.
He took it.
- Hello? - This is Julian.
Julian, hey.
How's it going? How you doing in there? My mother doesn't think that I should talk to you.
Well, she's probably just being protective.
Mothers, you know, they tend to get that way sometimes.
I don't think that she can get me out of her.
She says that she can, but I don't believe her.
Uh, she's doing the best she can, I tell you that.
We all are.
She won't tell me how long I'm going to be in here.
Okay, you've been charged with two counts of second degree murder, and that carries a sentence of 15 to 25 years each.
So The earliest I can leave is in 30 years? No, no, that's just, uh I think your lawyer's going to do a lot better than that.
Can you be my lawyer? Um No, I, uh I can't be your lawyer.
That's not how it works.
- I got to go.
- Call me back.
Hey, Julian - Hello.
- Hey.
Please leave your gun and your phone and your badge in your car.
You have to come in like everybody else.
Strip down.
Julian is with me.
I'm holding him.
Inside my pouch.
I can feel his whole weight inside of me.
I'm so happy.
Hold it.
So who is this? Bess McTeer.
But Julian won't stop crying.
Why is he crying? Because they're going to find us.
So I put my hand over his face just to quiet him, and he stops breathing.
So what was that? A dream? A fantasy.
Bess was unable to have children.
It became a defining issue for her.
I didn't want to see it at the time, but it's clear to me now that she developed an unhealthy attachment to Julian.
So she took him.
That's what you're saying? Julian knew he was being abducted.
He acted in self-defense.
Why do you have that recording? It's a session.
The work.
- You record all the sessions? - Only with permission.
Did you do that stuff to Julian? With Julian.
I don't know if we can take any of this seriously as evidence.
We have to have a lot better understanding of what these sessions are all about.
I told you, it's therapy.
Can I observe a session? That's not possible.
It's confidential.
Can you do it with me? Now? Yeah.
As requested, all the lakes in a 25 mile radius of Mosswood Grove.
- All 42 of them.
- Thank you.
You get this from Carmen Bell? Yeah? What are we looking for, exactly? I'm not sure.
Hey.
What's wrong? What am I doing? What do you mean? I'm just Here.
- Running around like a loser.
- What, no.
You're not a loser.
You're going to college next year, you have a plan.
What am I going to do? I'm living at my dad's and commuting to Syracuse.
I'm going to see you all the time.
Nothing's going to change.
Hey.
We said we weren't going to do that anymore.
Sorry.
Forget it.
Well, it's a little hard to forget it when it's there all the time.
- What are you talking about? - You're doing it again.
- What? - You're lying to yourself! Where are you going? Marin! 200 years ago, a Pentecostal tent revival was build right here with the rock in the middle.
And before that, the Seneca believed that a man and a woman were locked inside as a punishment for breaking their vows.
So now what does it mean to you? All I know is that I feel better when I'm close to it.
It's like something from a dream.
Julian told me about some of his dreams.
- I know.
- About some kind of monster - that visits him at night.
- The old hag.
- That a fairy tale? - It's an archetype.
They exist in some form in cultures all over the world.
Usually, she appears as an old woman in a cloak.
She sneaks into your room at night, and sits on your chest.
Have you ever been visited by her? No.
Are you sure? You were going to show me the work.
This way.
Hey.
Hey.
- What the hell happened? - I'm sorry.
It's okay.
I'm glad you called.
- Where's Marin? - She's gone.
- Where'd she go? - I don't know.
All right, let's go find her.
Come on, here we go.
Marin? Marin.
Stop, damn it.
Marin, God damn it.
It's 2:00 in the goddamn morning.
You know I can't leave you out here.
What is going on? How's life in the weeds? Oh, it just never ends.
It's Sisyphean.
What brings you out on a school day? It's not public yet, but um It's possible that Marin might actually be the mother of the kid we arrested.
Marin, really? Do you remember the night that she ran off and joined Mosswood? And we were driving around trying to find her? You mean the night you drank enough rum to flood a small fishing village? Yeah, I remember.
Do you remember what she said to you that night? Oh, honey, I I can't remember last week, are you kidding? Come inside let's get some iced tea.
Marin, Jesus.
I can't be her friend anymore.
- Don't say that.
- I'm serious.
She's the one who changed, not me.
What is that? What, did you guys get drunk and get tattoos? Um, this is something they draw at Mosswood.
It's a labyrinth.
It doesn't look like a labyrinth.
Because you have to use your imagination.
Hold on.
That's it.
Right? You get it? I don't know what it means.
- Did she say anything else? - Nope.
You guys were both so trashed.
It wasn't long after Mom died.
A couple of years.
I think I was still messed up over that.
You too, probably? It was a long time ago.
You hear that? Weeds calling me.
Bye.
Tell me about your daughter.
Are you two close? Sure.
You don't sound so sure.
Oh, it's just we haven't gotten to talk much lately.
- That's all.
- Why not? Oh, just because.
You're very good at quarantining yourself, aren't you? Lifelong practice? Now, is that part of the work that you're doing with Julian? Prodding a little bit, and forcing him to answer your questions? I don't force anyone.
Well, he's a kid, so it's hardly like he has a choice.
This work, it's all about invitation, not confrontation.
Julian certainly benefits from it.
Maybe, up until recently.
There's your cruel streak.
I knew it was in there somewhere.
I do get cranky.
Listening to analysis while we're wandering around in the woods.
You like to be in control? You know something about that? This way.
Okay.
Hey, Vera! Vera? Vera? You mentioned on the phone that you had a copy of the book "Escaping the Labyrinth.
" That's right.
Uh, Lionel Jeffries.
Yeah, we ran one printing of that back in 1987, I want to say.
- Before the controversy.
- What controversy? He was a psychotherapist in Canada.
Had quite the devout little following until these allegations of physical abuse and sexual abuse.
It's a shame; the book itself is actually quite interesting.
How so? His whole thing was about a return to ritual.
Symbolic play, and re-enacting trauma.
That sort of thing, so you can see how that could easily go off the rails.
- Where is he now? - That is a good question.
Uh, after he lost his license in the 90s, he disappeared.
Oh, there it is.
Somebody ordered it last month, and it was sent back as undeliverable.
Can I see that envelope? Self storage, Niagara Falls.
Can I keep this? Whoever was renting this unit paid cash.
They stopped paying last month.
I was about to start clearing it out.
Looks like somebody was living here.
These are all kid's clothes.
What's the name on the agreement? Uh, let's see.
Walker, Julian.
Tell me what you see.
A pile of sand.
What's in the pile of sand? I see my father.
I see my father.
And then? What do you want to do? - There you are.
- What is all this, huh? What you think you're doing? Oh, don't leave the door wide open.
I wandered around in the dark for a little while, but I am on to you now.
I knew you'd find your way.
Make yourself at home.
I don't think so.
I'm heading out of here.
No, no, no.
It's too late for that now.
We'll go in the morning, when it's light out.
Hey, are you are you playing games with me? Is that it? Is that it, huh? Finally, there you are.
You're limping.
Sit down.
Sit.
It's swollen, and I don't have any ice.
Too tight? No.
Don't move.
- Who's on the mantle? - The Beacon.
He was the leader of Mosswood back when Mosswood had a leader.
This is his cabin.
What time is he expected home? He's gone now.
But he did most of his writing and meditating right here in this room.
Green tea.
Not Jimson Weed.
This is where he developed the ideas I'm trying to pass on to my son.
And those are what? Most of us spend our lives trying to suppress the parts of ourselves we deem inappropriate.
We spend our lives trying to detach from all of that beautiful feeling.
And it doesn't work, does it? Julian is a new kind of man.
At one with nature.
Fluid with all of the darkness, and all of the light.
You're never going to show me what the work actually is, are you? You've already been doing it.
Can I ask you? Did your mother ever leave you lost in the woods? I'm not here to talk about my mother.
What are you feeling right now? Be honest.
I don't trust you.
That's fear.
I'm scared, too.
And a sexual pull, right here.
- What are you doing? - I don't know.
There's no way to know.
What else? Anger.
Rage.
Oh And underneath that rage, if you could just taste what's there.
What would it be? Mom? Mom? Oh, God, oh, God.