Mr. Mercedes (2017) s02e06 Episode Script
Proximity
1 Previously on "Mr.
Mercedes" How's school and shit? You don't talk much about it.
It's fucking Harvard.
It's Ivy League.
Case closed.
MONTEZ: So, what you're saying is, he shouldn't still be lying here? I can't make him sit up and talk.
But you led me to believe that you could.
Barry in R&D, he just showed me this prototype.
It's an eye-brain thing.
What if you practiced what you would say to Brady? Fuck you you sniveling little prick, and you'll never hurt me again.
Did you know that Sadie thought Hartsfield was communicating with her? The moment Sadie jumped, Brady's EKG, through the roof.
- Can I get a copy of those reports? - What are you doing? I know that she's been feeding you information.
I'm gonna walk through your investigator's license review myself.
Stay away from Mercy Gen.
Montez threatened to pull our license.
DONNA: To knowingly go down that same rabbit hole this time, taking Jerome and Holly Do you even know what the hell you're doing? [BARKING.]
- [DOG WHINES.]
- [BLADE SLICES.]
AL: I don't understand.
- I don't understand.
- Someone killed my dog.
If you help me with this I will forget about what we discussed yesterday.
[MISSISSIPPI JOHN HURT'S "I SHALL NOT BE MOVED" PLAYS.]
I shall not, I shall not be moved I shall not, I shall not be moved Just like a tree Planted by the water I shall not be moved I'm on my way to Heaven I shall not be moved On my way to Heaven I shall not be moved Just like a tree Planted by the water I shall not be moved Oh, I shall not, I shall not be moved I shall not, I shall not be moved Just like a tree Planted by the water I shall not be moved [MUSIC ENDS.]
[BOYS LAUGHING.]
Come on, Kermit.
Stop dragging your feet.
[CHUCKLES.]
[SINGSONG VOICE.]
Kermit, Kermit.
[BOY LAUGHS.]
Isn't the brain a wonderful thing? Remember that Dr.
Seuss book, "Oh the Places You'll Go!"? [CHUCKLES.]
That pretty much sums it up, don't you think? Don't move.
I have your dick in a clinch knot.
Pretty withered, as peckers go.
My guess one yank, it'll come right off.
Aah! Maybe I put it on eBay.
Although, I'm not sure who would bid on it.
Ida, maybe.
Donna, no.
Seen it.
Holly? I used to have a little choo-choo train when I was younger.
Used to pull it around.
- Choo-choo! Choo-choo! - Ah! Where were we? Yeah, the human brain.
Fascinating.
Look, this could be real, or you could be having a nightmare, which would mean you were having a dream of you having a dream when you were younger.
Let's think about that.
If, while asleep, the machinations of the mind are complex enough for you to be having a dream within a dream, all the while factoring actual conscious obsessions, is it any wonder the line between reality and fantasy sometimes gets a little blurred? - [GRUNTS.]
- Okay, if this is a dream, then you'll likely wake up any second, in which case, if you want to ask me anything, now is kind of the time, Sport.
Go ahead.
Did you make that nurse jump off the ledge? Ooh, interesting question.
Though it doesn't make much scientific sense for me to be able to control the actions of other beings from my hospital bed, does it, Kermie-Wormie? That would make me rather Godlike and you a pretty dumb shit to be picking a fight with the almighty.
Oh, shit, where's my head? Your morning routine You can't think straight without your morning piss, can you? All right, big guy, I'm sorry.
Up you get.
It's pee-pee time.
Come on.
Let's be having you.
Come on.
You can do it.
I-I-It's pee-pee time.
Okay, big guy, lots to do today.
Choo-choooo! Okay, now, don't mind me.
Relax.
Just let it happen.
Take your fucking piss! [BIRDS CHIRPING.]
IDA: Seriously? Yeah.
I mean, it was it was beyond vivid.
[DOG BARKING IN DISTANCE.]
He was sitting right on the edge of the chair, string tied to me dick, tugging on it like a little choo-choo.
Okay, um, I'm gonna make a suggestion right now, one that is sure to repulse you.
Ugh, you're not gonna propose sex again, are ya? Well, Bill, actually, I don't think you're that lucky a guy.
So, no, what I'm gonna say is you need to get yourself into therapy.
Ah, for fuck's sake.
Bill, you're sitting here, making room for the possibility, however slightly, that a vegetative man led you by your penis to your bathroom on on on what? On a on a dog leash? No, it was just a piece of twine.
Sorry, no leather involved.
Lookit, I know it was a dream, all right? A dream no less preposterous than your obsession that Brady is a body-snatcher.
Honestly, Bill.
[BARKING CONTINUES.]
You never had a weird dream or two, no? I'm talking about your reality.
Your procreational digit was in a noose.
Now, I'm no shrink, but I just think it represents some sort of crisis in your sense of your mortality.
[SCOFFS.]
Give me a break.
And I'm not finished.
You know it's rude to turn away when someone's talking to you, right? Especially when that someone is me.
[SIGHS.]
The fact that it's Brady, there's puppeteering, and then there's puppeteering.
Here's my question How fucked up do you want to be? [INTERCOM CHATTER.]
[MONITORS BEEPING.]
Pathetic.
[BEEPING CONTINUES.]
Deformed.
Weak.
I had to have three surgeries to fix what you did.
My perforated small intestines? Oh, yeah.
Ulcers.
The internal bleeding almost killed me twice in the first week.
You know, the worst of it It it's been me against the world my entire life, you know? And I've had to rely on being able to tell the good from the bad, to know danger when I see it, and I didn't see you.
No, you didn't.
Oh, fuck.
I had this [SIGHS.]
tricycle when I was a kid.
It was the one thing my parents left me.
My foster parents had it, and I used to ride that shit around the RV park.
And one day, this couple came with their kid.
She was about the same age as me Megan.
And Megan's dad beat the shit out of my foster dad, said he'd stole from him.
He went inside the trailer, and he brought back a TV and radio and some other shit.
And then he tried to take my tricycle.
And I fought.
Whew! [LAUGHING.]
I fought them.
I fought them like a little crazy maniac.
And, finally, they held me down and they flipped over the tricycle, and underneath was a name written in black marker.
Never noticed it before.
"Megan.
" Th-that was the most worthless that I've ever felt.
Until you stabbed me.
Y-You know what I don't get? You held that knife an inch from my fucking eye.
Why didn't you finish the fucking job? I was painting a bigger masterpiece that night, and you got away.
That's what I don't get.
And I'm afraid that if I don't get it, I'm just gonna be completely lost forever.
I need to know.
Why did you let me live? Why'd you show me mercy? Fucking why? Fucking why? For mercy? [MONITORS BEEPING RAPIDLY.]
[DOOR OPENS.]
SCAPELLI: What's going on here? Who are you? I'm Lou Linklatter.
- I'm one of the people he tried - Well, you can't be here.
- Get your fucking hands off me.
- Security! - You cannot be - Get your fucking hands off me! Security! He doesn't need your protection.
- - [SPEAKS INDISTINCTLY.]
Get your fucking hands off me! Get your fucking hands off me! Mercy was my mistake.
Get your fucking hands off me! The hell's going on? - It's Hartsfield.
- What? Hartsfield.
No.
No.
[BANGING.]
- - [MONITORS BEEPING RAPIDLY.]
Fuck.
Fuck.
[BEEPING CONTINUES.]
[BEEPING STOPS.]
[MONITORS BEEPING STEADILY.]
What exactly did he say? He evidently didn't vocalize.
He made letters appear on the screen, and then it vanished.
You don't know what it said? That's all I know.
It was a lot of chaos and confusion, and that's how word swirled its way down to me.
You know, in the bowels of the fucking E.
R.
, which is where he transferred me.
Do we know anything more about the visitor? Rumor is it was one of his victims the girl he stabbed at the gala.
Ah, shit.
Okay, well, if you hear more Don't come to the hospital, Bill.
I will come to you.
[DOOR OPENS.]
[DOOR CLOSES.]
So, what was the message, though? It was unclear.
Was it in Latin? Did you not hear me say, - "It was unclear"? - Do not snap at me, okay? I'm not my mother's snap-ee, and I won't be yours.
So, I looked up the message that the dog killer left.
It's "occupandi temporis.
" It's "seize the moment.
" Um, some people use it interchangeably with "carpe temporis," but others use "occupandi" specifically because "occupandi" means more to occupy, to inhabit.
So you think Brady's inhabiting people? You're worse than me.
Well, what do you think he's doing? I don't know.
I do have some good news.
Montez has agreed not to pull our license.
- Really? - [CHUCKLING.]
Yeah.
That is good.
If we find out who killed his dog.
Okay.
So is there bad news? Um Uh, no, no, not bad-bad.
No, no.
I meant I've decided to, um, entertain the idea of psychological help.
Because? What do you mean "because"? Due to public fucking demand.
I mean, between yourself, Jerome, Donna, Ida, everybody's laying claim to me being as mad as a box of frogs.
Wait, but we're claiming that less now because Brady could be occupandi temporis-ing.
I mean, all my research reveals it to be less far-fetched.
You know what? Well, it's more than just me obsessing.
You know what I mean? I mean, I may have hallucinated this morning.
How so? I had a dream.
It was different.
It was more It was like sort of a heightened reality or something.
It made me wonder if it was a fucking dream at all.
Okay.
What did you see? Him.
I mean, look.
I mean, given the case and how you obsess, it would make sense that he would invade your dreams, too, right? Yeah, that's another word for "occupy," isn't it, "invade"? Okay, so what else? Donna thinks I'm not well.
Ida thinks I'm not well.
You know, I'm I'm starting to take the point.
I mean, why [SIGHS.]
Just let's say for a second that Brady can get inside of people.
Yeah.
What's possessing me to try to get close to him? Because if you see a wrong, you try to right it.
[SIGHS.]
Yeah.
DR.
SETH: It's the same thing as before.
When that girl came in, his heart rate practically doubled.
- Brain activity, though? Coma levels.
- And who was she? All she said was she was one of his victims.
I need you to find her.
If she was treated here after the attack, then she's in the system.
Okay, well, he's got the fMRI today.
We'll find out if he's in there.
I'll prep him for the magnet.
Oh, hey, Seth.
I want the results sealed to everyone but me, okay? Well, that's not protocol.
That's not protocol? Does that look like protocol lying in that fucking bed? [MONITORS BEEPING.]
So, who was that girl? What does she mean to you? [BEEPING CONTINUES.]
All right, listen to me, Brady.
We are both on the same side, okay? I'm your "get out of vegetative state free" card.
Add to that, should you be brought up to trial, I'm your defense.
I've seen your orbital cortex.
I can point to the low activity, the genetic variants.
I will testify that you had no control over your actions.
Do you see what I'm saying, Brady? I'm not just talking about bringing you back to life but a free life at that.
But to do that, you and I, we need to work together.
Come on.
HODGES: Is this the only camera you have? MONTEZ: Thought it was enough.
He's got an odd kind of swagger, doesn't he? Mm-hmm.
Heavy work boots.
Did you find any tread? Uh, right here.
Uh, size 12 Timberland.
They sold 2,300 of them in the last 5 years in this county.
Fuck.
Okay, I've been through combat, and I can't watch this shit.
[MOUSE CLICKS.]
Ah, Jesus.
[LAPTOP CLOSES.]
Problem is, you're not telling me everything.
You're not.
So maybe this is a good time to start, right? I don't know much.
As for what you do know? Our Dr.
Frankenstein has done some experiments on regenerating the brain.
He's had some positive developments with our friend.
That's why I was running a little interference, tried to back you off.
So what's your angle? Come on.
You haven't exactly been playing by the book, have ya? You got an angle? Maybe a little celebrity of my own.
And what do I get? Someone kills my fucking dog.
Yeah.
Yeah.
You know, I I believe in God.
You know, like heaven and shit.
I figure when someone dies, you can still connect with them.
I still talk to my mother.
I know she can hear me.
But with a dog it's all about, like, the eye contact and the touch.
When a dog is gone, I don't know, it's like the most gone there is.
Yeah, that's why I got a tortoise.
You know, figures to outlive me, so I don't have to concern myself with talking to him in heaven or any of that.
What do you mean, like a turtle? I mean like a tortoise.
I don't care for turtles.
Who else was on the floor when you were talking to Brady? I was the only one in the room.
I mean, yes, there were people in the fucking corridor doctors, nurses, and shit.
Wait a minute.
There was, um There was a big guy.
He was, uh, pushing a a book cart or something, but he couldn't have fucking heard what I said.
I'm not going crazy.
I was the only one in the fucking room.
Who'd be so depraved to stab an innocent dog? Another reason for the tortoise.
Yeah, they got the hard shell.
All right, let me see if I can check any of that stuff out.
The doctor's name is Babineau.
B-A-B-I-N-E-A-U.
Just see what you can pull up.
Okay.
And can't you just question him directly? - I mean, see what he - No.
Doctor/patient privilege.
Anyway, from what I'm gathering, he doesn't figure to be forthcoming.
Just get on it, will ya? Okay.
And where are you heading now? I'm meeting an acquaintance for coffee.
An acquaintance? What acquaintance? Like, a "none of my business" acquaintance or a work-related acquaintance? Jesus balls.
Are we married now? Oh, "Jesus balls" yourself.
Your vulgarity doesn't work on me anymore.
Just get on Babineau, would you, please? TECHNICIAN: Let's get him stabilized.
All right.
Okay, that's good.
[INDISTINCT TALKING.]
You got enough tubing? - Yeah, give me a little bit more.
- Okay.
[MACHINE WHIRS.]
[WHIRRING STOPS.]
[SIGHS.]
[MACHINE PULSATING.]
[RUMBLING.]
[CLATTERING.]
MAN: We're soaring over the Empire State Building.
At 102 stories high and almost 1,500 feet tall, the art-deco building was originally part [RUMBLING INTENSIFIES.]
John Jacob Astor's descendants building the [PULSATING CONTINUES.]
[DOG BARKING IN DISTANCE.]
So, how you doing overall? Uh Pretty good.
Pretty good.
[SIGHS.]
Oh, yeah, I mean, you said "overall," so [CHUCKLES.]
overall, I'm doing really shitty, actually.
How are you? Pretty much the same.
Uh The word is that when you visited him, his heart rate shot up.
[CHUCKLES.]
[CLEARS THROAT.]
So so does that mean that he somehow knew that I was there? I don't know.
I mean, to be honest with ya I'm I'm I'm finding it hard to keep up with the science of it, but bottom line seems to be that anything is possible.
Fuck.
Yeah, you and me both.
I thought that I was gonna feel better going to see him, that I'd get some sort of, like closure or some sort of shit, and I didn't.
I just feel fucking worse.
[SIGHS.]
You know the worst part? The worst part is that I kind of felt bad for him lying there with all that shit in the bed.
I felt bad for him, for Brady Hartsfield.
I don't want to fucking feel bad for Brady Hartsfield.
Did you say anything to him? A couple couple things.
Uh, he stabbed me, so I kind of had a bone to pick.
[LAUGHS.]
[CHUCKLES.]
Good for you.
I I feel bad for everything that's happened to you.
You tried to warn me.
Remember? Told you you had the wrong ice-cream man.
I feel like, um, when I was standing in that room, that he was still among us.
I don't know if you've felt that.
I don't think he's gone.
You know what they say, that nobody's really gone, right, even after they die? That, like, they live on in the people that they leave behind.
And for Brady Hartsfield, that's, uh that's you and me.
That's about it.
[KEYBOARD CLACKING.]
TECHNICIAN: All right, when I played the description of the Empire State Building for him, uh, increased blood flowed to the parahippocampal gyrus.
Then I played the commercial about Taylor Swift's facial structure, and it triggered the fusiform gyrus region just like a healthy, conscious patient.
I mean, he's in there.
It's pretty clear.
Al? Al Jursak? That's my name.
What can I do ya for? I'm Bill Hodges.
I'm a private investigator.
P.
I.
? You mean like Magnum? - No, sir.
- No, no.
Baretta, huh? Nor him.
Uh, may I ask you a few questions if you've got a minute? Well, I-I-I kind of do have to get home soon, uh, 'cause I-I promised Reggie I'd give him a haircut.
Ah, yeah? Who who's Reggie? He's my brother.
See, I give him haircuts, he makes me soup.
Ah, that sounds like a good plan.
Do you remember a Mr.
Montez? - The district attorney man.
- Yeah, yeah.
Remember the first time that he visited Brady Hartsfield? - Were you in the room? - No.
Oh, no, no, no, sir.
Dr.
Babineau told everyone to give him and Mr.
Montez total privacy.
Okay, all right, well, listen, do you mind me asking you, where were you yesterday afternoon? I-I-I-I don't remember.
- You don't remember? - No, sir.
That happen to you often, that you don't remember where you were yesterday afternoon? Well, uh, I don't know.
[STAMMERS.]
Most most of the times, I do, but sometimes I don't.
[CHUCKLES.]
Well, if you remember, will you remember to call me? [CHUCKLES.]
Yes, mister.
Yeah, sure.
I will, sir.
What you got going on your door there? - Oh! Oh, that's just probably blood.
- Blood? Yeah, you know, we get it in our shoes in the E.
R.
You know, blood, urine, feces.
You don't wear booties? Oh, no, we absolutely do, but sometimes they tear.
You know, uh, actually, uh, a lot of times, they tear.
Here, let me clean it off for ya.
Oh, no, no, you don't have to do that.
- No, no, no.
- That's okay.
No, but it's It's okay.
You okay with that? You okay if I clean the blood off your car there, Mr.
Jursak? Of course, of course.
[CHUCKLES.]
You know, mister, you really are a nice man.
Yeah, you have yourself a good afternoon.
You, too, sir.
And and and and thanks again for, you know [CAR DOOR CLOSES.]
[ENGINE STARTS.]
This is this is fantastic, Felix.
Yeah.
He communicated.
He communicated.
I mean, as far as "fuck offs" go, this one can be monetized for a billion dollars and who knows how many multiples.
Yeah.
Why the ambivalence? [SIGHS.]
Honestly? [CHUCKLES.]
Kind of scared me a little bit.
And, you know, first on a, "What have I done?" level.
And second? [SIGHS.]
Well, he's he's a killer.
He's murdered people.
I was suddenly afraid of him.
Well, what do you think he's gonna do? He's just gonna hop out of the bed and come after you? No.
All I can say is I was frightened.
Do you know what the most terrifying thing in the world is? Success.
So maybe you and I should both be scared shitless.
[SIGHS.]
Felix, we did it.
You you did it.
Do you realize how close you are to becoming a household name? And not just in the medical industry.
This is huge.
Maybe.
[CHUCKLES.]
I am so proud of you.
[CHUCKLES.]
- [BOTH CHUCKLE.]
- What are you doing? Oh, you don't you don't know what I'm doing? Hmm? Why don't we go upstairs? Why? We don't have kids yet.
What have you got against kitchens, huh? Cornell undergrad, Columbia Medical, and he did his residency at New York-Presbyterian Hospital.
Mr.
All America right here.
Mm, his wife, Cora, works for Vitalta.
A pharma company? Yeah.
Uh, made its name with ErythoFlo.
It's a stroke drug.
ErythoFlo.
- Mm-hmm.
- ErythoFlo.
Hmm.
It says it's 98% similar to a drug created by a Jià nkang Ni Pharmatech.
- Jià nkang.
- Does that help us at all? Let's see.
Well, here's a photo of Cora with the CEO of Jià nkang Ni.
- Mm.
- This photo was taken one year before ErythoFlo hit the market.
That's interesting.
Okay, look, check this out.
Amnesty International does not like Cora Babineau's friends over here at Jià nkang.
Let me see.
It says they filed a lawsuit alleging civil-rights violations in prisons.
Look, gag orders all around a month later.
Okay, but what is a pharmaceutical company doing in prisons? [INSECTS CHIRPING.]
Give any more thought to my suggestion about getting some psychological help? Why do I need a shrink when I got you, Ida? Well, if that's an invitation for my analysis you are an addict, and Brady is your drug.
That it? That all you got? He brought an intensity to your life, an adrenaline high, a dopamine rush call it what you want.
You became more alive when Brady Hartsfield entered your life.
He even unwittingly opened you up to love with Janey.
It certainly wasn't his intention, but he made your life richer, more exciting, more thrilling.
He brought you back from the dead, Bill.
[DOG BARKING IN DISTANCE.]
Which might explain why you're trying to bring him back from the dead.
That's very impressive, Ida.
Here's the thing.
It's not my imagination that's bringing him back.
He communicated with a doctor today.
[DOG BARKS.]
Really? That's the rumor.
So the official line to anyone who tells me I'm mad is that I'm gonna ride the madness out just a little bit longer before I start flirting with ways to get rid of it.
- My God.
- Yeah, I know.
Bill, I found something on the doctor and his wife.
- They're mixed up in something.
- What? Well, before we get into that, the preliminary results came back from the blood on Library Al's car.
It's canine.
[CHUCKLES.]
- Yeah.
- [CHUCKLES.]
Cheers.
[DOG BARKS.]
Do me a favor.
If I go to break this guy's fucking neck, just look the other way.
We'll have none of that.
We could be dealing with diminished capacity.
I really do think this guy's a bit of a simpleton.
A simple man doesn't stab a dog.
There's nothing simple about this case.
He killed my fucking dog.
Seems to be the refrain.
Motherfucker.
Easy.
Police! Police! - Hands where we can see them.
- Reggie! Reggie! Reggie! [GRUNTS.]
[INDISTINCT SHOUTING.]
Al! Al! Hey, Al! You motherfucker! You killed my fucking dog! Fuck you, you piece of shit! I I didn't do anything! - Fuck you! - Get your hands off my fucking brother! LIBRARY AL: I swear I didn't do anything! Hey, check it out.
[CRIES.]
Oh, no, no.
I didn't do anything.
So they found the bloody gloves and the knife, so he must be guilty.
You would think so.
But you don't think.
You know when you can smell evil? Well, you can sniff the lack of it sometimes.
I mean, no motive, no record.
Makes as much sense as Sadie McDonald diving off that roof.
And one thing that Sadie and Library Al had in common - Brady Hartsfield.
- Mm-hmm.
Okay, so, this is everything I have on the doctor and his wife.
She has some serious ties to this pharma company in China that just so happens to be working on this big, uh, brain regeneration drug.
- Wow.
- Yeah.
Just Just park that for a second.
Just take a seat, Jerome, will ya? [SIGHS.]
What are you doing here? Uh, tech support? Thought any more about school? I'm on break.
You going back? I don't know.
I kind of like it here.
Yeah, that was my concern.
[SIGHS.]
Well, what's not to like about this place? I mean This is our lives.
It's your summer fling.
What if I want this life? Who'd want this life? Hey.
Me.
Why? [SIGHS.]
Because there's a world that nobody talks about, a world that lives under the surface of what we say is the world, you know? The fuck you talking about? This world, i-it's the blood, the oxygen, the air, you know, the lower G.
I.
system, the things we can't see, but it's actually really keeping us alive.
Go on.
I want to be part of that world.
That's fine.
Be a part of it with a Harvard degree.
Harvard's lies and and whole subtext language, that's the complete opposite of what's leaving people's mouths.
You know that, right? It's actually fucking designer labels and $100,000 cars and people calling me "bro" and "homey" and "yo" just 'cause they swear that they're cool or they're on some sort of hipster-friendly wave or or this whole post-modern meta-pseudo "I'm not really racist but I'm actually fucking racist.
" It's fucking It sucks.
It really sucks.
You lost me at subtext.
It's just cold and empty.
This doesn't solve things.
This would do it for now.
And maybe you're right, Bill.
'Cause I don't know anything.
I don't know shit.
No.
Read those.
Okay.
HODGES: There is nothing here for him.
He's got an opportunity that very few people get.
If there's one thing I learned from my mother, the hardest thing about parenting is knowing when not to.
The fuck does that mean? Hey, hey.
[MONITORS BEEPING.]
So, here's our golden boy.
This isn't Vitalta equipment.
It's ours.
It prevents muscle atrophy.
Any more communication? No, nothing since "fuck off.
" Hey, Brady.
How you doing in there, big guy? I'm Cora.
I'm very much looking forward to meeting you.
Ooh.
Wow, you're kind of cute.
Doc, babe you did not tell me about wifey.
Holy shit.
What can I do to get you to come out of that coma, huh? [BEEPING CONTINUES.]
[MONITORS BEEPING RAPIDLY.]
Hey, wait, his heart rate's going.
I do have that effect on people.
[INDISTINCT CONVERSATIONS.]
Excuse me, Dr.
Babineau? My name's Bill Hodges.
Might ring a bell or not.
Uh, first of all, let me congratulate you on your fine work, both of you.
You've made remarkable progress with Mr.
Hartsfield.
I'm sorry.
I don't know what you mean.
He's in a coma, one that's likely irreversible.
You know, modesty, I admire.
False modesty, not so much.
Word is all over the hospital and a bit beyond its walls, as well, that Brady has an ability to communicate.
Who told you he communicated? I have several sources.
I'm gonna get right to the point.
That would be nice.
I've done my research on you and you.
You may have done some on me.
It's irrelevant.
I have a special relationship with Brady Hartsfield.
You said that you were getting to the point? I did.
I can understand your impatience.
Time is money, right? And you've got a lot riding on Brady's recovery, you and your Chinese pharmaceutical affiliates.
Okay, so, here's where I can be of help.
Now, you want Brady to emerge, all right? It's possible, in fact probable, that the only person who can really get to him is the one who already got to him.
That would be me.
So I'm offering Let me be part of whatever protocols you've got going here.
I can get that crazy bastard to crawl out of his hole.
How exactly do you We appreciate your offer, but there are no protocols at play here out of the ordinary.
And as far as my private corporate interests, none of them have any bearing on Brady Hartsfield or his treatment.
So it's just a funny coincidence, then, that your company makes a brain-regenerating drug that could make you billions of dollars should it prove to be effective.
Yeah, it certainly is a coincidence.
I mean, funny or not, I guess that does depend on one's sense of humor.
It's fucking funny.
Now, let me be perfectly honest, okay? I know what you're doing.
I know what you're up to.
If you wake this particular brain, you'll be opening a box that you may not be able to close and shit so ugly you cannot even imagine it will spill out.
So let me be there if it happens, okay? I'll even provoke the fucker.
That way, if he does show up, I can put the cuffs on him and we bring him to trial.
And And if he doesn't come out of hiding? We ship him to a secure facility.
No.
Never happen.
Are you serious? 100%, never happen.
You're risking lives? [SCOFFS.]
I think you're being a little dramatic and a tad unhinged.
Were we looking for help, we would truly appreciate yours.
Mm-hmm.
You know, that sad fuck is your lottery ticket only if he wakes up.
The best bet to provoke him right here.
What's in it for you? He killed people dear to me, and given what's been going on in your hospital lately, I'm not sure that his potential has been capped.
I'll take him dead, I'll take him alive, I'll take him shipped out outside the city where he cannot hurt people.
But this in between shit it makes me nervous.
Yeah, I really do understand that.
I wish that we could help you.
You need to wish harder.
We need to move faster.
You need to wake him up.
Come on, because some private detective came and told He's working for somebody, Felix.
My bet's the police.
- M-Maybe FBI, I don't know.
- What? Why? What, you think that he's coming to us because he wants justice? Please.
Who does that? That fat smurf is on somebody's payroll, and it's either government surveillance, or worse, it could be corporate.
You need to wake Hartsfield up before this all blows up in our faces and it all gets shut down.
They have no grounds to shut us down.
If anything, we're on stronger turf than ever.
He's snooping around in our Chinese protocols, and it's making me fucking nervous.
Why? Cora, why? [ENGINE SHUTS OFF.]
[SIGHS.]
So, you know that they tested it on monkeys.
Yeah.
They didn't stop there.
What are you saying? In a prison in China, they gave a test group Cerebellin and they gave a control group sugar pills, and the test group complained of blinding headaches, persistent nausea, exhibited signs of palsy.
But it's what happened to the control group that ended the experiment.
Jesus, what happened? They all committed suicide.
The test group? The control group.
The one on the sugar pills.
- Why would sugar cause - It wasn't the sugar.
The test group got into their minds and fucked around in there.
You're telling me the test group caused the control group to take their own lives? It's possible.
It's very possible.
And you didn't think to tell me this before? I'm under strict confidentiality.
I'm your fucking husband! They're my employer.
[SCOFFS.]
Fuck.
Felix.
Fuck me.
[CAR BEEPS.]
Hey.
Do not turn this into something it's not.
What the fuck am I turning this into, Cora? I just need you to stay focused.
It's not hard to connect you to Jià nkang Ni.
No one's gonna care about that, no one's gonna give two shits if you get in there and you open him up and you get him talking.
You.
You put your forceps on his regrown tissue and you tell him that if he doesn't speak, you're gonna rip it out of his fucking head.
How am I supposed to justify a craniotomy at this point? I don't know.
You had no choice due to increased inter-cranial pressure.
And what if they don't buy it? What then? I do not function well from a state of fear, Felix.
Neither do I! Are you fucking kidding me? [CRYING.]
You don't get it, you don't understand, and you can't understand, because you were born safe.
Oh, come on.
Don't give me that shit.
You lied to me.
If he remains in a coma, Felix, and they get a warrant, we're never gonna survive this.
We will never survive.
That That detective may be nothing more than what he represented himself to be.
I know a man on a mission when I see one, and I do not want to be that man's mission.
[CROWS CAWING.]
Fuck.
- How's it going, buddy? - Whoa.
No visitors.
And I'm under specific orders to restrict your access.
Well, I'm overriding those orders.
And you are? The district attorney in charge of reducing your career to rubble should you piss me off.
I'm Antonio Montez.
I'm here to interview the suspect.
Yes, sir.
I might have more luck on my own.
All right, go for it.
[MONITORS BEEPING.]
HODGES: Hear me in there? Olly olly oxen free.
That's what we used to say as kids when we were playing hide-and-seek, trying to get people to come out.
Olly olly oxen free.
Come on out, Brady.
Come out, come out wherever you are.
Don't worry.
I haven't come to kill you this time.
Actually, it's more to say thanks.
You pointed it out to me, and I think the penny has finally dropped.
Wittingly or unwittingly, you enriched my life, quote-unquote.
Last year, I was alone.
I was drinking myself to death.
Now I have friends, a community, a job, satisfaction even, that I helped put an end to some evil, specifically yours.
Who knew that you could make me happy make me whole, anyway.
So, wait, wait.
This is where you get in my head? My head? I don't think so, you fat fuck.
Anyway, that's all.
Just came to say thanks and goodbye.
Fred.
[SWALLOWS.]
Fred.
The fuck are you? All right, it'll be in there a hell swing and a month ago there.
Jesus fucking Chri It's borderline stalking now.
You okay? Fine.
Really? [CHUCKLES.]
Really, yeah.
[SWALLOWS.]
I remember the big speech you gave me.
I've given you many.
Yeah, the one about after your husband either died or faked his death to escape your clutches.
That one.
Mm.
I remember.
Well, you said you didn't know how you'd go on, so you just started by making breakfast, right, and then you went to the library or the store or whatever.
I Yeah, I fucking lost interest at that point.
Anyway, the point was that you just woke up and did stuff and then some more stuff, and suddenly, you had a life.
One you wanted, even.
I'm doing that.
I just wake up, I go to work, mostly with people I like, I come home, I have a beer, say hello to a tortoise, sometimes a stalker.
I don't know if it's a it's a life, but it's a start.
It's a start.
[SWALLOWS.]
There's no sex in it for ya.
[CHUCKLES.]
- God.
- [LAUGHS.]
Good night, Bill.
[LAUGHS.]
Jesus Christ.
[BOTH LAUGH.]
Good night, Ida.
Good night.
[CHUCKLES.]
[CELLPHONE CHIRPING.]
Mercedes" How's school and shit? You don't talk much about it.
It's fucking Harvard.
It's Ivy League.
Case closed.
MONTEZ: So, what you're saying is, he shouldn't still be lying here? I can't make him sit up and talk.
But you led me to believe that you could.
Barry in R&D, he just showed me this prototype.
It's an eye-brain thing.
What if you practiced what you would say to Brady? Fuck you you sniveling little prick, and you'll never hurt me again.
Did you know that Sadie thought Hartsfield was communicating with her? The moment Sadie jumped, Brady's EKG, through the roof.
- Can I get a copy of those reports? - What are you doing? I know that she's been feeding you information.
I'm gonna walk through your investigator's license review myself.
Stay away from Mercy Gen.
Montez threatened to pull our license.
DONNA: To knowingly go down that same rabbit hole this time, taking Jerome and Holly Do you even know what the hell you're doing? [BARKING.]
- [DOG WHINES.]
- [BLADE SLICES.]
AL: I don't understand.
- I don't understand.
- Someone killed my dog.
If you help me with this I will forget about what we discussed yesterday.
[MISSISSIPPI JOHN HURT'S "I SHALL NOT BE MOVED" PLAYS.]
I shall not, I shall not be moved I shall not, I shall not be moved Just like a tree Planted by the water I shall not be moved I'm on my way to Heaven I shall not be moved On my way to Heaven I shall not be moved Just like a tree Planted by the water I shall not be moved Oh, I shall not, I shall not be moved I shall not, I shall not be moved Just like a tree Planted by the water I shall not be moved [MUSIC ENDS.]
[BOYS LAUGHING.]
Come on, Kermit.
Stop dragging your feet.
[CHUCKLES.]
[SINGSONG VOICE.]
Kermit, Kermit.
[BOY LAUGHS.]
Isn't the brain a wonderful thing? Remember that Dr.
Seuss book, "Oh the Places You'll Go!"? [CHUCKLES.]
That pretty much sums it up, don't you think? Don't move.
I have your dick in a clinch knot.
Pretty withered, as peckers go.
My guess one yank, it'll come right off.
Aah! Maybe I put it on eBay.
Although, I'm not sure who would bid on it.
Ida, maybe.
Donna, no.
Seen it.
Holly? I used to have a little choo-choo train when I was younger.
Used to pull it around.
- Choo-choo! Choo-choo! - Ah! Where were we? Yeah, the human brain.
Fascinating.
Look, this could be real, or you could be having a nightmare, which would mean you were having a dream of you having a dream when you were younger.
Let's think about that.
If, while asleep, the machinations of the mind are complex enough for you to be having a dream within a dream, all the while factoring actual conscious obsessions, is it any wonder the line between reality and fantasy sometimes gets a little blurred? - [GRUNTS.]
- Okay, if this is a dream, then you'll likely wake up any second, in which case, if you want to ask me anything, now is kind of the time, Sport.
Go ahead.
Did you make that nurse jump off the ledge? Ooh, interesting question.
Though it doesn't make much scientific sense for me to be able to control the actions of other beings from my hospital bed, does it, Kermie-Wormie? That would make me rather Godlike and you a pretty dumb shit to be picking a fight with the almighty.
Oh, shit, where's my head? Your morning routine You can't think straight without your morning piss, can you? All right, big guy, I'm sorry.
Up you get.
It's pee-pee time.
Come on.
Let's be having you.
Come on.
You can do it.
I-I-It's pee-pee time.
Okay, big guy, lots to do today.
Choo-choooo! Okay, now, don't mind me.
Relax.
Just let it happen.
Take your fucking piss! [BIRDS CHIRPING.]
IDA: Seriously? Yeah.
I mean, it was it was beyond vivid.
[DOG BARKING IN DISTANCE.]
He was sitting right on the edge of the chair, string tied to me dick, tugging on it like a little choo-choo.
Okay, um, I'm gonna make a suggestion right now, one that is sure to repulse you.
Ugh, you're not gonna propose sex again, are ya? Well, Bill, actually, I don't think you're that lucky a guy.
So, no, what I'm gonna say is you need to get yourself into therapy.
Ah, for fuck's sake.
Bill, you're sitting here, making room for the possibility, however slightly, that a vegetative man led you by your penis to your bathroom on on on what? On a on a dog leash? No, it was just a piece of twine.
Sorry, no leather involved.
Lookit, I know it was a dream, all right? A dream no less preposterous than your obsession that Brady is a body-snatcher.
Honestly, Bill.
[BARKING CONTINUES.]
You never had a weird dream or two, no? I'm talking about your reality.
Your procreational digit was in a noose.
Now, I'm no shrink, but I just think it represents some sort of crisis in your sense of your mortality.
[SCOFFS.]
Give me a break.
And I'm not finished.
You know it's rude to turn away when someone's talking to you, right? Especially when that someone is me.
[SIGHS.]
The fact that it's Brady, there's puppeteering, and then there's puppeteering.
Here's my question How fucked up do you want to be? [INTERCOM CHATTER.]
[MONITORS BEEPING.]
Pathetic.
[BEEPING CONTINUES.]
Deformed.
Weak.
I had to have three surgeries to fix what you did.
My perforated small intestines? Oh, yeah.
Ulcers.
The internal bleeding almost killed me twice in the first week.
You know, the worst of it It it's been me against the world my entire life, you know? And I've had to rely on being able to tell the good from the bad, to know danger when I see it, and I didn't see you.
No, you didn't.
Oh, fuck.
I had this [SIGHS.]
tricycle when I was a kid.
It was the one thing my parents left me.
My foster parents had it, and I used to ride that shit around the RV park.
And one day, this couple came with their kid.
She was about the same age as me Megan.
And Megan's dad beat the shit out of my foster dad, said he'd stole from him.
He went inside the trailer, and he brought back a TV and radio and some other shit.
And then he tried to take my tricycle.
And I fought.
Whew! [LAUGHING.]
I fought them.
I fought them like a little crazy maniac.
And, finally, they held me down and they flipped over the tricycle, and underneath was a name written in black marker.
Never noticed it before.
"Megan.
" Th-that was the most worthless that I've ever felt.
Until you stabbed me.
Y-You know what I don't get? You held that knife an inch from my fucking eye.
Why didn't you finish the fucking job? I was painting a bigger masterpiece that night, and you got away.
That's what I don't get.
And I'm afraid that if I don't get it, I'm just gonna be completely lost forever.
I need to know.
Why did you let me live? Why'd you show me mercy? Fucking why? Fucking why? For mercy? [MONITORS BEEPING RAPIDLY.]
[DOOR OPENS.]
SCAPELLI: What's going on here? Who are you? I'm Lou Linklatter.
- I'm one of the people he tried - Well, you can't be here.
- Get your fucking hands off me.
- Security! - You cannot be - Get your fucking hands off me! Security! He doesn't need your protection.
- - [SPEAKS INDISTINCTLY.]
Get your fucking hands off me! Get your fucking hands off me! Mercy was my mistake.
Get your fucking hands off me! The hell's going on? - It's Hartsfield.
- What? Hartsfield.
No.
No.
[BANGING.]
- - [MONITORS BEEPING RAPIDLY.]
Fuck.
Fuck.
[BEEPING CONTINUES.]
[BEEPING STOPS.]
[MONITORS BEEPING STEADILY.]
What exactly did he say? He evidently didn't vocalize.
He made letters appear on the screen, and then it vanished.
You don't know what it said? That's all I know.
It was a lot of chaos and confusion, and that's how word swirled its way down to me.
You know, in the bowels of the fucking E.
R.
, which is where he transferred me.
Do we know anything more about the visitor? Rumor is it was one of his victims the girl he stabbed at the gala.
Ah, shit.
Okay, well, if you hear more Don't come to the hospital, Bill.
I will come to you.
[DOOR OPENS.]
[DOOR CLOSES.]
So, what was the message, though? It was unclear.
Was it in Latin? Did you not hear me say, - "It was unclear"? - Do not snap at me, okay? I'm not my mother's snap-ee, and I won't be yours.
So, I looked up the message that the dog killer left.
It's "occupandi temporis.
" It's "seize the moment.
" Um, some people use it interchangeably with "carpe temporis," but others use "occupandi" specifically because "occupandi" means more to occupy, to inhabit.
So you think Brady's inhabiting people? You're worse than me.
Well, what do you think he's doing? I don't know.
I do have some good news.
Montez has agreed not to pull our license.
- Really? - [CHUCKLING.]
Yeah.
That is good.
If we find out who killed his dog.
Okay.
So is there bad news? Um Uh, no, no, not bad-bad.
No, no.
I meant I've decided to, um, entertain the idea of psychological help.
Because? What do you mean "because"? Due to public fucking demand.
I mean, between yourself, Jerome, Donna, Ida, everybody's laying claim to me being as mad as a box of frogs.
Wait, but we're claiming that less now because Brady could be occupandi temporis-ing.
I mean, all my research reveals it to be less far-fetched.
You know what? Well, it's more than just me obsessing.
You know what I mean? I mean, I may have hallucinated this morning.
How so? I had a dream.
It was different.
It was more It was like sort of a heightened reality or something.
It made me wonder if it was a fucking dream at all.
Okay.
What did you see? Him.
I mean, look.
I mean, given the case and how you obsess, it would make sense that he would invade your dreams, too, right? Yeah, that's another word for "occupy," isn't it, "invade"? Okay, so what else? Donna thinks I'm not well.
Ida thinks I'm not well.
You know, I'm I'm starting to take the point.
I mean, why [SIGHS.]
Just let's say for a second that Brady can get inside of people.
Yeah.
What's possessing me to try to get close to him? Because if you see a wrong, you try to right it.
[SIGHS.]
Yeah.
DR.
SETH: It's the same thing as before.
When that girl came in, his heart rate practically doubled.
- Brain activity, though? Coma levels.
- And who was she? All she said was she was one of his victims.
I need you to find her.
If she was treated here after the attack, then she's in the system.
Okay, well, he's got the fMRI today.
We'll find out if he's in there.
I'll prep him for the magnet.
Oh, hey, Seth.
I want the results sealed to everyone but me, okay? Well, that's not protocol.
That's not protocol? Does that look like protocol lying in that fucking bed? [MONITORS BEEPING.]
So, who was that girl? What does she mean to you? [BEEPING CONTINUES.]
All right, listen to me, Brady.
We are both on the same side, okay? I'm your "get out of vegetative state free" card.
Add to that, should you be brought up to trial, I'm your defense.
I've seen your orbital cortex.
I can point to the low activity, the genetic variants.
I will testify that you had no control over your actions.
Do you see what I'm saying, Brady? I'm not just talking about bringing you back to life but a free life at that.
But to do that, you and I, we need to work together.
Come on.
HODGES: Is this the only camera you have? MONTEZ: Thought it was enough.
He's got an odd kind of swagger, doesn't he? Mm-hmm.
Heavy work boots.
Did you find any tread? Uh, right here.
Uh, size 12 Timberland.
They sold 2,300 of them in the last 5 years in this county.
Fuck.
Okay, I've been through combat, and I can't watch this shit.
[MOUSE CLICKS.]
Ah, Jesus.
[LAPTOP CLOSES.]
Problem is, you're not telling me everything.
You're not.
So maybe this is a good time to start, right? I don't know much.
As for what you do know? Our Dr.
Frankenstein has done some experiments on regenerating the brain.
He's had some positive developments with our friend.
That's why I was running a little interference, tried to back you off.
So what's your angle? Come on.
You haven't exactly been playing by the book, have ya? You got an angle? Maybe a little celebrity of my own.
And what do I get? Someone kills my fucking dog.
Yeah.
Yeah.
You know, I I believe in God.
You know, like heaven and shit.
I figure when someone dies, you can still connect with them.
I still talk to my mother.
I know she can hear me.
But with a dog it's all about, like, the eye contact and the touch.
When a dog is gone, I don't know, it's like the most gone there is.
Yeah, that's why I got a tortoise.
You know, figures to outlive me, so I don't have to concern myself with talking to him in heaven or any of that.
What do you mean, like a turtle? I mean like a tortoise.
I don't care for turtles.
Who else was on the floor when you were talking to Brady? I was the only one in the room.
I mean, yes, there were people in the fucking corridor doctors, nurses, and shit.
Wait a minute.
There was, um There was a big guy.
He was, uh, pushing a a book cart or something, but he couldn't have fucking heard what I said.
I'm not going crazy.
I was the only one in the fucking room.
Who'd be so depraved to stab an innocent dog? Another reason for the tortoise.
Yeah, they got the hard shell.
All right, let me see if I can check any of that stuff out.
The doctor's name is Babineau.
B-A-B-I-N-E-A-U.
Just see what you can pull up.
Okay.
And can't you just question him directly? - I mean, see what he - No.
Doctor/patient privilege.
Anyway, from what I'm gathering, he doesn't figure to be forthcoming.
Just get on it, will ya? Okay.
And where are you heading now? I'm meeting an acquaintance for coffee.
An acquaintance? What acquaintance? Like, a "none of my business" acquaintance or a work-related acquaintance? Jesus balls.
Are we married now? Oh, "Jesus balls" yourself.
Your vulgarity doesn't work on me anymore.
Just get on Babineau, would you, please? TECHNICIAN: Let's get him stabilized.
All right.
Okay, that's good.
[INDISTINCT TALKING.]
You got enough tubing? - Yeah, give me a little bit more.
- Okay.
[MACHINE WHIRS.]
[WHIRRING STOPS.]
[SIGHS.]
[MACHINE PULSATING.]
[RUMBLING.]
[CLATTERING.]
MAN: We're soaring over the Empire State Building.
At 102 stories high and almost 1,500 feet tall, the art-deco building was originally part [RUMBLING INTENSIFIES.]
John Jacob Astor's descendants building the [PULSATING CONTINUES.]
[DOG BARKING IN DISTANCE.]
So, how you doing overall? Uh Pretty good.
Pretty good.
[SIGHS.]
Oh, yeah, I mean, you said "overall," so [CHUCKLES.]
overall, I'm doing really shitty, actually.
How are you? Pretty much the same.
Uh The word is that when you visited him, his heart rate shot up.
[CHUCKLES.]
[CLEARS THROAT.]
So so does that mean that he somehow knew that I was there? I don't know.
I mean, to be honest with ya I'm I'm I'm finding it hard to keep up with the science of it, but bottom line seems to be that anything is possible.
Fuck.
Yeah, you and me both.
I thought that I was gonna feel better going to see him, that I'd get some sort of, like closure or some sort of shit, and I didn't.
I just feel fucking worse.
[SIGHS.]
You know the worst part? The worst part is that I kind of felt bad for him lying there with all that shit in the bed.
I felt bad for him, for Brady Hartsfield.
I don't want to fucking feel bad for Brady Hartsfield.
Did you say anything to him? A couple couple things.
Uh, he stabbed me, so I kind of had a bone to pick.
[LAUGHS.]
[CHUCKLES.]
Good for you.
I I feel bad for everything that's happened to you.
You tried to warn me.
Remember? Told you you had the wrong ice-cream man.
I feel like, um, when I was standing in that room, that he was still among us.
I don't know if you've felt that.
I don't think he's gone.
You know what they say, that nobody's really gone, right, even after they die? That, like, they live on in the people that they leave behind.
And for Brady Hartsfield, that's, uh that's you and me.
That's about it.
[KEYBOARD CLACKING.]
TECHNICIAN: All right, when I played the description of the Empire State Building for him, uh, increased blood flowed to the parahippocampal gyrus.
Then I played the commercial about Taylor Swift's facial structure, and it triggered the fusiform gyrus region just like a healthy, conscious patient.
I mean, he's in there.
It's pretty clear.
Al? Al Jursak? That's my name.
What can I do ya for? I'm Bill Hodges.
I'm a private investigator.
P.
I.
? You mean like Magnum? - No, sir.
- No, no.
Baretta, huh? Nor him.
Uh, may I ask you a few questions if you've got a minute? Well, I-I-I kind of do have to get home soon, uh, 'cause I-I promised Reggie I'd give him a haircut.
Ah, yeah? Who who's Reggie? He's my brother.
See, I give him haircuts, he makes me soup.
Ah, that sounds like a good plan.
Do you remember a Mr.
Montez? - The district attorney man.
- Yeah, yeah.
Remember the first time that he visited Brady Hartsfield? - Were you in the room? - No.
Oh, no, no, no, sir.
Dr.
Babineau told everyone to give him and Mr.
Montez total privacy.
Okay, all right, well, listen, do you mind me asking you, where were you yesterday afternoon? I-I-I-I don't remember.
- You don't remember? - No, sir.
That happen to you often, that you don't remember where you were yesterday afternoon? Well, uh, I don't know.
[STAMMERS.]
Most most of the times, I do, but sometimes I don't.
[CHUCKLES.]
Well, if you remember, will you remember to call me? [CHUCKLES.]
Yes, mister.
Yeah, sure.
I will, sir.
What you got going on your door there? - Oh! Oh, that's just probably blood.
- Blood? Yeah, you know, we get it in our shoes in the E.
R.
You know, blood, urine, feces.
You don't wear booties? Oh, no, we absolutely do, but sometimes they tear.
You know, uh, actually, uh, a lot of times, they tear.
Here, let me clean it off for ya.
Oh, no, no, you don't have to do that.
- No, no, no.
- That's okay.
No, but it's It's okay.
You okay with that? You okay if I clean the blood off your car there, Mr.
Jursak? Of course, of course.
[CHUCKLES.]
You know, mister, you really are a nice man.
Yeah, you have yourself a good afternoon.
You, too, sir.
And and and and thanks again for, you know [CAR DOOR CLOSES.]
[ENGINE STARTS.]
This is this is fantastic, Felix.
Yeah.
He communicated.
He communicated.
I mean, as far as "fuck offs" go, this one can be monetized for a billion dollars and who knows how many multiples.
Yeah.
Why the ambivalence? [SIGHS.]
Honestly? [CHUCKLES.]
Kind of scared me a little bit.
And, you know, first on a, "What have I done?" level.
And second? [SIGHS.]
Well, he's he's a killer.
He's murdered people.
I was suddenly afraid of him.
Well, what do you think he's gonna do? He's just gonna hop out of the bed and come after you? No.
All I can say is I was frightened.
Do you know what the most terrifying thing in the world is? Success.
So maybe you and I should both be scared shitless.
[SIGHS.]
Felix, we did it.
You you did it.
Do you realize how close you are to becoming a household name? And not just in the medical industry.
This is huge.
Maybe.
[CHUCKLES.]
I am so proud of you.
[CHUCKLES.]
- [BOTH CHUCKLE.]
- What are you doing? Oh, you don't you don't know what I'm doing? Hmm? Why don't we go upstairs? Why? We don't have kids yet.
What have you got against kitchens, huh? Cornell undergrad, Columbia Medical, and he did his residency at New York-Presbyterian Hospital.
Mr.
All America right here.
Mm, his wife, Cora, works for Vitalta.
A pharma company? Yeah.
Uh, made its name with ErythoFlo.
It's a stroke drug.
ErythoFlo.
- Mm-hmm.
- ErythoFlo.
Hmm.
It says it's 98% similar to a drug created by a Jià nkang Ni Pharmatech.
- Jià nkang.
- Does that help us at all? Let's see.
Well, here's a photo of Cora with the CEO of Jià nkang Ni.
- Mm.
- This photo was taken one year before ErythoFlo hit the market.
That's interesting.
Okay, look, check this out.
Amnesty International does not like Cora Babineau's friends over here at Jià nkang.
Let me see.
It says they filed a lawsuit alleging civil-rights violations in prisons.
Look, gag orders all around a month later.
Okay, but what is a pharmaceutical company doing in prisons? [INSECTS CHIRPING.]
Give any more thought to my suggestion about getting some psychological help? Why do I need a shrink when I got you, Ida? Well, if that's an invitation for my analysis you are an addict, and Brady is your drug.
That it? That all you got? He brought an intensity to your life, an adrenaline high, a dopamine rush call it what you want.
You became more alive when Brady Hartsfield entered your life.
He even unwittingly opened you up to love with Janey.
It certainly wasn't his intention, but he made your life richer, more exciting, more thrilling.
He brought you back from the dead, Bill.
[DOG BARKING IN DISTANCE.]
Which might explain why you're trying to bring him back from the dead.
That's very impressive, Ida.
Here's the thing.
It's not my imagination that's bringing him back.
He communicated with a doctor today.
[DOG BARKS.]
Really? That's the rumor.
So the official line to anyone who tells me I'm mad is that I'm gonna ride the madness out just a little bit longer before I start flirting with ways to get rid of it.
- My God.
- Yeah, I know.
Bill, I found something on the doctor and his wife.
- They're mixed up in something.
- What? Well, before we get into that, the preliminary results came back from the blood on Library Al's car.
It's canine.
[CHUCKLES.]
- Yeah.
- [CHUCKLES.]
Cheers.
[DOG BARKS.]
Do me a favor.
If I go to break this guy's fucking neck, just look the other way.
We'll have none of that.
We could be dealing with diminished capacity.
I really do think this guy's a bit of a simpleton.
A simple man doesn't stab a dog.
There's nothing simple about this case.
He killed my fucking dog.
Seems to be the refrain.
Motherfucker.
Easy.
Police! Police! - Hands where we can see them.
- Reggie! Reggie! Reggie! [GRUNTS.]
[INDISTINCT SHOUTING.]
Al! Al! Hey, Al! You motherfucker! You killed my fucking dog! Fuck you, you piece of shit! I I didn't do anything! - Fuck you! - Get your hands off my fucking brother! LIBRARY AL: I swear I didn't do anything! Hey, check it out.
[CRIES.]
Oh, no, no.
I didn't do anything.
So they found the bloody gloves and the knife, so he must be guilty.
You would think so.
But you don't think.
You know when you can smell evil? Well, you can sniff the lack of it sometimes.
I mean, no motive, no record.
Makes as much sense as Sadie McDonald diving off that roof.
And one thing that Sadie and Library Al had in common - Brady Hartsfield.
- Mm-hmm.
Okay, so, this is everything I have on the doctor and his wife.
She has some serious ties to this pharma company in China that just so happens to be working on this big, uh, brain regeneration drug.
- Wow.
- Yeah.
Just Just park that for a second.
Just take a seat, Jerome, will ya? [SIGHS.]
What are you doing here? Uh, tech support? Thought any more about school? I'm on break.
You going back? I don't know.
I kind of like it here.
Yeah, that was my concern.
[SIGHS.]
Well, what's not to like about this place? I mean This is our lives.
It's your summer fling.
What if I want this life? Who'd want this life? Hey.
Me.
Why? [SIGHS.]
Because there's a world that nobody talks about, a world that lives under the surface of what we say is the world, you know? The fuck you talking about? This world, i-it's the blood, the oxygen, the air, you know, the lower G.
I.
system, the things we can't see, but it's actually really keeping us alive.
Go on.
I want to be part of that world.
That's fine.
Be a part of it with a Harvard degree.
Harvard's lies and and whole subtext language, that's the complete opposite of what's leaving people's mouths.
You know that, right? It's actually fucking designer labels and $100,000 cars and people calling me "bro" and "homey" and "yo" just 'cause they swear that they're cool or they're on some sort of hipster-friendly wave or or this whole post-modern meta-pseudo "I'm not really racist but I'm actually fucking racist.
" It's fucking It sucks.
It really sucks.
You lost me at subtext.
It's just cold and empty.
This doesn't solve things.
This would do it for now.
And maybe you're right, Bill.
'Cause I don't know anything.
I don't know shit.
No.
Read those.
Okay.
HODGES: There is nothing here for him.
He's got an opportunity that very few people get.
If there's one thing I learned from my mother, the hardest thing about parenting is knowing when not to.
The fuck does that mean? Hey, hey.
[MONITORS BEEPING.]
So, here's our golden boy.
This isn't Vitalta equipment.
It's ours.
It prevents muscle atrophy.
Any more communication? No, nothing since "fuck off.
" Hey, Brady.
How you doing in there, big guy? I'm Cora.
I'm very much looking forward to meeting you.
Ooh.
Wow, you're kind of cute.
Doc, babe you did not tell me about wifey.
Holy shit.
What can I do to get you to come out of that coma, huh? [BEEPING CONTINUES.]
[MONITORS BEEPING RAPIDLY.]
Hey, wait, his heart rate's going.
I do have that effect on people.
[INDISTINCT CONVERSATIONS.]
Excuse me, Dr.
Babineau? My name's Bill Hodges.
Might ring a bell or not.
Uh, first of all, let me congratulate you on your fine work, both of you.
You've made remarkable progress with Mr.
Hartsfield.
I'm sorry.
I don't know what you mean.
He's in a coma, one that's likely irreversible.
You know, modesty, I admire.
False modesty, not so much.
Word is all over the hospital and a bit beyond its walls, as well, that Brady has an ability to communicate.
Who told you he communicated? I have several sources.
I'm gonna get right to the point.
That would be nice.
I've done my research on you and you.
You may have done some on me.
It's irrelevant.
I have a special relationship with Brady Hartsfield.
You said that you were getting to the point? I did.
I can understand your impatience.
Time is money, right? And you've got a lot riding on Brady's recovery, you and your Chinese pharmaceutical affiliates.
Okay, so, here's where I can be of help.
Now, you want Brady to emerge, all right? It's possible, in fact probable, that the only person who can really get to him is the one who already got to him.
That would be me.
So I'm offering Let me be part of whatever protocols you've got going here.
I can get that crazy bastard to crawl out of his hole.
How exactly do you We appreciate your offer, but there are no protocols at play here out of the ordinary.
And as far as my private corporate interests, none of them have any bearing on Brady Hartsfield or his treatment.
So it's just a funny coincidence, then, that your company makes a brain-regenerating drug that could make you billions of dollars should it prove to be effective.
Yeah, it certainly is a coincidence.
I mean, funny or not, I guess that does depend on one's sense of humor.
It's fucking funny.
Now, let me be perfectly honest, okay? I know what you're doing.
I know what you're up to.
If you wake this particular brain, you'll be opening a box that you may not be able to close and shit so ugly you cannot even imagine it will spill out.
So let me be there if it happens, okay? I'll even provoke the fucker.
That way, if he does show up, I can put the cuffs on him and we bring him to trial.
And And if he doesn't come out of hiding? We ship him to a secure facility.
No.
Never happen.
Are you serious? 100%, never happen.
You're risking lives? [SCOFFS.]
I think you're being a little dramatic and a tad unhinged.
Were we looking for help, we would truly appreciate yours.
Mm-hmm.
You know, that sad fuck is your lottery ticket only if he wakes up.
The best bet to provoke him right here.
What's in it for you? He killed people dear to me, and given what's been going on in your hospital lately, I'm not sure that his potential has been capped.
I'll take him dead, I'll take him alive, I'll take him shipped out outside the city where he cannot hurt people.
But this in between shit it makes me nervous.
Yeah, I really do understand that.
I wish that we could help you.
You need to wish harder.
We need to move faster.
You need to wake him up.
Come on, because some private detective came and told He's working for somebody, Felix.
My bet's the police.
- M-Maybe FBI, I don't know.
- What? Why? What, you think that he's coming to us because he wants justice? Please.
Who does that? That fat smurf is on somebody's payroll, and it's either government surveillance, or worse, it could be corporate.
You need to wake Hartsfield up before this all blows up in our faces and it all gets shut down.
They have no grounds to shut us down.
If anything, we're on stronger turf than ever.
He's snooping around in our Chinese protocols, and it's making me fucking nervous.
Why? Cora, why? [ENGINE SHUTS OFF.]
[SIGHS.]
So, you know that they tested it on monkeys.
Yeah.
They didn't stop there.
What are you saying? In a prison in China, they gave a test group Cerebellin and they gave a control group sugar pills, and the test group complained of blinding headaches, persistent nausea, exhibited signs of palsy.
But it's what happened to the control group that ended the experiment.
Jesus, what happened? They all committed suicide.
The test group? The control group.
The one on the sugar pills.
- Why would sugar cause - It wasn't the sugar.
The test group got into their minds and fucked around in there.
You're telling me the test group caused the control group to take their own lives? It's possible.
It's very possible.
And you didn't think to tell me this before? I'm under strict confidentiality.
I'm your fucking husband! They're my employer.
[SCOFFS.]
Fuck.
Felix.
Fuck me.
[CAR BEEPS.]
Hey.
Do not turn this into something it's not.
What the fuck am I turning this into, Cora? I just need you to stay focused.
It's not hard to connect you to Jià nkang Ni.
No one's gonna care about that, no one's gonna give two shits if you get in there and you open him up and you get him talking.
You.
You put your forceps on his regrown tissue and you tell him that if he doesn't speak, you're gonna rip it out of his fucking head.
How am I supposed to justify a craniotomy at this point? I don't know.
You had no choice due to increased inter-cranial pressure.
And what if they don't buy it? What then? I do not function well from a state of fear, Felix.
Neither do I! Are you fucking kidding me? [CRYING.]
You don't get it, you don't understand, and you can't understand, because you were born safe.
Oh, come on.
Don't give me that shit.
You lied to me.
If he remains in a coma, Felix, and they get a warrant, we're never gonna survive this.
We will never survive.
That That detective may be nothing more than what he represented himself to be.
I know a man on a mission when I see one, and I do not want to be that man's mission.
[CROWS CAWING.]
Fuck.
- How's it going, buddy? - Whoa.
No visitors.
And I'm under specific orders to restrict your access.
Well, I'm overriding those orders.
And you are? The district attorney in charge of reducing your career to rubble should you piss me off.
I'm Antonio Montez.
I'm here to interview the suspect.
Yes, sir.
I might have more luck on my own.
All right, go for it.
[MONITORS BEEPING.]
HODGES: Hear me in there? Olly olly oxen free.
That's what we used to say as kids when we were playing hide-and-seek, trying to get people to come out.
Olly olly oxen free.
Come on out, Brady.
Come out, come out wherever you are.
Don't worry.
I haven't come to kill you this time.
Actually, it's more to say thanks.
You pointed it out to me, and I think the penny has finally dropped.
Wittingly or unwittingly, you enriched my life, quote-unquote.
Last year, I was alone.
I was drinking myself to death.
Now I have friends, a community, a job, satisfaction even, that I helped put an end to some evil, specifically yours.
Who knew that you could make me happy make me whole, anyway.
So, wait, wait.
This is where you get in my head? My head? I don't think so, you fat fuck.
Anyway, that's all.
Just came to say thanks and goodbye.
Fred.
[SWALLOWS.]
Fred.
The fuck are you? All right, it'll be in there a hell swing and a month ago there.
Jesus fucking Chri It's borderline stalking now.
You okay? Fine.
Really? [CHUCKLES.]
Really, yeah.
[SWALLOWS.]
I remember the big speech you gave me.
I've given you many.
Yeah, the one about after your husband either died or faked his death to escape your clutches.
That one.
Mm.
I remember.
Well, you said you didn't know how you'd go on, so you just started by making breakfast, right, and then you went to the library or the store or whatever.
I Yeah, I fucking lost interest at that point.
Anyway, the point was that you just woke up and did stuff and then some more stuff, and suddenly, you had a life.
One you wanted, even.
I'm doing that.
I just wake up, I go to work, mostly with people I like, I come home, I have a beer, say hello to a tortoise, sometimes a stalker.
I don't know if it's a it's a life, but it's a start.
It's a start.
[SWALLOWS.]
There's no sex in it for ya.
[CHUCKLES.]
- God.
- [LAUGHS.]
Good night, Bill.
[LAUGHS.]
Jesus Christ.
[BOTH LAUGH.]
Good night, Ida.
Good night.
[CHUCKLES.]
[CELLPHONE CHIRPING.]