Zoo (2015) s02e09 Episode Script

1 MITCH: A year ago, the animals started acting strangely, but no one noticed until they began attacking, coordinating, evolving.
The animals were mutating, and it was happening faster than anyone expected.
(screaming) The government came up with a plan.
PSA NARRATOR: Thanks to the Noah Objective, in six to ten years, the world's animal population will be thriving once again.
You cannot exterminate every animal on the planet and then repopulate it.
MITCH: But messing with Mother Nature could be catastrophic, so a group of us are trying to save the animals.
Jackson Oz and Abraham Kenyatta, animal experts.
Dariela Marzan, Army Ranger.
Jamie Campbell, a reporter who's been following this story, found me, Mitch Morgan, a veterinary pathologist.
Together, we're going to find a cure for the animals.
Time is running out.
Previously on Zoo So you're saying that some traveling carney grifter from the 1890s invented the Triple-Helix.
If we are gonna un-invent it, we've got to find descendants from every one of those animals that he X-rayed.
Shaw gave me the name of a contact in the nearest safe zone.
They can take everyone from town.
Are you sure you want to do this? Let's move out! I remembered what happened in Boston.
My father injected me with the ghost gene.
I don't know what kind of father does that to their own son.
You don't have a fraction of a clue what I had to do to survive.
I'm gonna tell him your little secret.
What secret? That meeting Jackson in Uwei as a young man wasn't a coincidence.
That you knew Robert Oz long before you met his son.
Just tell me where my mother is.
ALLISON: The rescue team found her caravan.
It was well, there was some sort of animal attack.
What did this? Your mother.
She killed all of them.
(birds cawing) (man speaking Swahili in distance) (distant thunder rumbles) My mother spent her whole life healing, and she killed all these people.
I'm so sorry.
Hey.
Look, a relief worker spoke to a few of the victims before they passed.
Your mother had been self-medicating for weeks, trying to reduce her symptoms.
Finally, it got so bad that a few of her neighbors decided to take her to a safe zone in Massingir They thought the doctors there might be able to help.
Well, they sure as hell didn't help, did they? I know how hard this must be, but we are one animal away from the cure.
- We need to stay focused.
- She's out there, I have to find her.
No, Jackson, it is too dangerous! She's my mother.
And what if you do find her? What then, rafiki? (closing zippers) Then I will go with you.
- No.
No.
- (speaks Swahili) Jackson.
"We take care of those we care about.
" Mind your head.
Taiwanese authorities declared a mass evacuation of Jinshan.
This following a coordinated multi-species attack on the nuclear power plant.
- Belgium and France, - MITCH (calls): Jamie? - Also have a dependence - Can you come down here a second? On nuclear power, are taking pre (footsteps approaching) Still working on Pierce's mystery bones? Yeah.
Any progress? No.
I'm having trouble concentrating.
Listen, can, um (sighs): can we do what people do sometimes and just maybe try and start over? Yeah.
Sure.
Let's let's move on.
Uh, okay.
Yeah.
Um we still need one last animal I can't even identify it.
And once I do, we're still gonna have to go and track one down, God knows where.
Well, it's got four legs How many things can it be? About three million.
That's how many quadrupeds there are on this planet.
See, our mystery animal is about the size of a really big lion, but according to the bones in its feet, it walked in a plantigrade fashion.
Plantigrade, sure.
What's plantigrade? Feet flat on the ground, as opposed to digitigrade, which is up on its toes like lions do.
This is more like a bear.
Okay, so we're looking for a bear.
Oh, wait, there's more.
Range of motion of the mandible is about 120 degrees, so that makes it more like a snake.
Also, there's the length imbalance of the front and hind legs, which makes it more like a hyena.
On top of all that, I got a bunch of spare parts.
I don't know what those are.
So if by "am I making any progress," you're asking me if I have any idea what these bones are trying to tell me, the answer is a big fat no, with a snake-hyena-bear-lion on top.
Well, is it possible the bones don't even go together? We have a problem with Jackson's mother.
She can't have gone far.
- (distorted bellowing, growling) - I've lost her trail.
Can you hear that? No.
Jackson, there's nothing.
(distorted growling) (panting): Sometimes it comes and goes, but I hear things that are far away up close.
The mutation.
It's a distress call.
A lion.
There must be predators nearby.
And since animals are no longer preying on each other, that must mean a new apex predator.
My mother.
Safe zone's about a mile away.
We're out of ammunition.
Any animals come, we're targets.
Hardest target to hit - is the kind that moves.
- Do you still think leaving your friends to help us was the right decision? I promised I'd get these people to safety.
That's what I'm gonna do.
One mile, that's all, Father, just one more mile.
(insects buzzing) (quietly): It's blood.
Must be close.
He must have been calling for his pride.
(distant roaring) (low growling) (distant bellowing) (rustling) Jackson.
(roaring) Abe! (growls) Mom.
- Mom! - (snarls) (wheezing) Mom (snarls) (yells, growls) (weapon fires) (snarling) (weapon firing) (snarls) (gunshots) It's me.
(low growling) It's your son.
You're okay.
I'm gonna take care of you.
- (low growling) - It's okay, Mom.
It's Jackson.
(groans, coughs) You're fine.
Stop.
(growls) Just stop.
Okay? (wheezing) (low growl) - (gunshot) - (gasps) (Abraham singing in Swahili) (sighs) I'm sorry, rafiki.
Don't be.
I did what I had to do.
It was an act of mercy.
There was nothing else you could have done.
I could have stopped this.
I could have found an answer.
We tried as mightily as any men could.
We will we will find that answer.
(screeching in distance) Before I met you, I came into her clinic an angry young man with no purpose, no family.
She gave me my medicine, and then kept making excuses to make me stay.
She understood that I needed a different kind of medicine.
I will always bless her for that.
For giving me a second chance to have a mother and a brother.
If you don't mind me asking why did you leave your friends? One of them asked me to pull the trigger, to kill someone who needed killing.
Mm.
And you didn't want to do that? People die.
I just don't want to be responsible for it anymore.
(horses whinnying) Everyone, inside! Now! Come on! Inside, inside! DANELA: Move it! - (whinnying) - (screaming) DARIELA: Get out of the way! Everyone inside! Now! Now! Move it! (neighs) Hyah! Hyah! (horses grunting, whinnying) (yelling) (grunting) (whinnies) Come on, come on.
Come on! (panting) Go! Go, go, go! (horse whinnying) (both panting) (horse whinnying, banging on door) They were targeting you, Dariela.
Why-why why would they be targeting you? (banging) Everything about these bones says they're from the same skeleton - Color, texture - Well, if we can't identify them, - we're back to chasing storms.
- I realize that.
(door closes) Jackson, oh, my God.
- What happened? - She was shot.
She she mutated.
My father must have given her the ghost gene like he did to me.
But I need to know for sure.
(panting) If he did, she's gonna have the same mark as me A three-point scar.
MITCH: Okay.
(sighs) (beep) This light will cause old scars and injuries to fluoresce if, uh the mark is deep enough.
ABRAHAM: That's where she was bitten by a rhino calf.
(Jackson grunting loudly) My father did this.
If he wasn't already dead, I swear I'd kill him myself.
Jackson, I understand that you're in pain, I really do Maybe I don't care! About any of this! Do you understand? Jackson.
Maybe you should listen to Allison and try to hold on.
JACKSON (mumbling): I can't.
My head I don't know how much longer we're gonna be able to manage him.
Messed up my bones.
Wait a minute.
Sometimes, out of chaos comes clarity.
If I'm right about this, somebody's gonna owe me a very large, very cold double martini.
Okay, I know what it is, but it's insane.
JAMIE: Immortal jellyfish, ice lizard, earthquake sloth - They're all insane.
- Yeah, well, none of those - are extinct.
- ALLISON: What exactly - are you talking about? - The one animal that we need most has been extinct for 14,000 years.
How could Pierce have experimented - on an extinct animal? - I don't know.
'Cause I can't read the mind of a guy who's been dead for 100 years.
Which, right about now, sounds pretty recent, doesn't it? Is there a chance that the saber-toothed tiger still exists? It's not a tiger, - it's a cat.
- Oh, for God's sake! The saber-toothed cat went extinct during the Ice Age.
That's the Pleistocene era.
What if you're wrong? If there's even a shadow of a doubt, we need to pursue it.
She's right.
Oh, great.
You too? If there's a chance Any chance at all That this animal still exists you and I both know that there's only one place to find that answer.
No.
I'm sorry.
No.
- Alison, no.
Mitch, I - I am sorry, but this is our last shot, and I am taking it.
Trotter, this is Allison Shaw.
We're wheels-up for Helsinki.
Anyone gonna tell me why we're going to Helsinki? Because that's where one of the greatest cryptozoologists of our time has chosen to sit out the animal armageddon.
And if you don't know what a cryptozoologist is, that's a "scientist" who goes around in search of animals that may or may not exist.
Like Bigfoot? Yeah, Bigfoot, Loch Ness Monster, - Easter Bunny all that.
- Okay, so, we're going all the way to Helsinki to meet a quack? Oh, not just any quack.
This particular quack is a raging alcoholic, pathological hypocrite, a straight-up cradle robber and he's also my dad.
(whistles softly) (whinnying) They're hunting me.
- But why? - The group I was working with They think some people have a special gene that makes the animals leave them alone.
So, you're saying you have the opposite? I don't know.
But I can't talk to my friends until we get to the safe zone.
Eight blocks.
The same distance Jesus walked to the Crucifixion.
Yeah, well, hopefully this ends a little better.
I'll draw the horses away, you get everyone out of here.
You can't outrun a horse.
I can sure as hell try.
It's not there.
(grunting) You really think that's gonna help? You have to tell Jackson about his father.
I can't.
Abe, I am done with the secrets and the lies.
I know that you're trying to - protect him, but - I can't tell him the truth because it is so much worse than you know.
Robert Oz is alive and working for Reiden.
How does it get any worse than that? You think you know me.
But I'm not the man you think you know.
Jackson's mother, Elizabeth When I first met her, I came into her clinic, and I told her I had a fever.
When she leaned over me I shouted that she'd had a wasp on her shoulder.
I reached over to brush it away, and then Then what? I injected her with the needle that Robert Oz had given me.
Even though Robert told me it was an inoculation, I only believed him because I needed the money.
I tried to slip out of the clinic, but Elizabeth made me stay for dinner.
The guilt I felt over her kindness changed something in me.
I promised that I would protect her and her son as long as I was able.
But now now I know that it was because of me that she's turned into a monster.
It is because of me she is dead.
It is all because of me.
So, no this does not help.
But it does hurt.
And somehow, that is even better.
(thudding) (grunting) (sighs) I might vomit.
Mitch, please.
Well, well, well.
Look who decided to swing by Helsinki.
Prodigal son.
Favorite ex-wife.
- Come on in.
- Thank you.
Watch your step.
Watch your step, now.
(laughing) No party, huh? No.
I mean, where are you hiding the barely-legals? - Mitch, please.
- (laughing): It's okay.
He gets his grudge-holding from his mother.
Yeah, you remember her.
Max used to refer to her as "water under the bridge.
" (Allison clears throat) Your mother left me.
Yeah, well, you were banging her best friend, so - I was vigorous in those days.
- ALLISON: Oh.
- Robust.
- Let's not dignify your behavior, Max.
I've been, uh, following your exploits.
It's a damn shame that cure didn't work.
What are you doing in Europe anyway, Max? Aside from hiding out in Helsinki with let me guess A fast boat and a clear shot to one of those islands for when the animals actually take over.
No, I just happened to have been in the neighborhood when everything went south.
Looking for, what, a Cyclops? Don't be ridiculous.
The Arre River monster, actually.
It's a fascinating creature.
It's like a giant moray eel.
- (laughs quietly) - MITCH: That actually makes sense.
You in search of a mythical creature that resembles an enormous penis.
(Allison clears throat, Max laughs) - Ali? - Mm.
You care for a drink? I have a beautiful bottle of Tignanello with your name on it.
Actually, Max, this isn't a social call.
The world is falling apart.
I need you to stop by the plane.
Our plane? My plane Max.
My plane.
So let me see if I understand this correctly.
The woman who left me and the son who hates me have someone gotten themselves into such a pickle that they actually need me.
(whickering) (engine revving) (whinnying) (engine revving, indistinct shouting) (engine revving) (loud whinnying) Come on! Come on! Come on! Come on! (distant shouting) Come on, keep running.
Go.
Down the hill! (loud whinnying) (engine revving) (loud, overlapping chatter) Everyone inside! - Quickly now! - MAN: Incoming! Run through the gate! (groaning) (engine revving) (whinnying) (engine revving) Come on, come on, come on.
Go quickly, quickly, quickly.
Keep moving.
Clear the gate.
There's one more coming.
(pop, whoosh) (engine revving) (whinnying) (tires squeak) (engine revving) (whinnying) (tires squealing) (tires squealing) Come on! (engine revving) Come on! MAN: We gotta close the gate.
Don't you touch that gate! (engine revving) - Close it now! - Please! (loud whinnying) (mechanical clang, hissing) You got to be kidding me.
- Come on! - Close the gate! Right now! Come on! (loud whinnying) (thumping against gate) (groans) (thumping, whinnying continue) Oh.
(panting) REPORTER: I can report at this time that we have confirmation the Noah Objective will launch in four days.
That statement was issued only moments ago by the United Nations in cooperation with the International Animal Defense Group.
Again, the Noah Objective will launch in four days.
This countdown clock will continue until the day the gas is released.
The end for the animals and with it, hopefully, a new beginning for us all.
(sighs) Oh.
Are we redecorating or embracing sloth? Ah.
You saved my stash in case I came back.
No, Max.
I saved your stash because I forgot it was there.
- (clears throat) - Peace offering? I get to keep the fish.
- (Allison clears throat) - Suit yourself.
Oh.
Oh.
Still good.
Hell of a candy.
So where are these bones - you want me to look at? - Well JAMIE: You guys need to see this.
Oh.
Hello.
Hi.
Jamie Campbell.
- Max Morgan.
- Your father? In name only.
Pleasure to meet you, Jamie.
Please don't kiss her hand.
Earlier today, a statement was released by General Andrew Davies of the IADG.
Davies has confirmed that with the approval process all but complete, the Noah Objective will launch in what is now three days and 22 hours.
Son of a bitch.
Well, we've got a world to save, and in some great cosmic irony, I actually need your help, so let's get this over with.
Can Jamie come, too? Yes, Max, Jamie can come, too.
So we've got less than four days to find an animal that we all know has been extinct for, oh, 14,000 years.
This is remarkable.
Truly.
Our information suggests it may have been alive as recently as 100 years ago.
And if it was, maybe there's hope we can still find one.
A saber-toothed cat? Yeah.
A saber-toothed cat.
We need to find out how old these bones are, but there's soil contamination, so carbon dating's not gonna get us close enough.
Well, there are ways.
But they'll confirm exactly what I'm telling you.
This cat's been dead for thousands of years.
We need to know for sure.
You know, a few years ago, I came across what I thought were Loch Ness monster remains.
I dated the bones, measuring the aspartic acid.
So can we do this? Alas, once again, it wasn't Nessy.
And, uh I-I do believe that it was my last shot at her.
The, uh, pursuit of the unattainable.
Can motivate a life.
(laughs) - Max? - Yeah.
Can you date these bones or not? Yes and no.
Bones have to be completely clean.
Otherwise, the desiccated soft tissue will just throw off the results.
Okay, so, let's clean 'em.
What's the problem? 'Cause in order for the bones to be completely cleaned, they need to be boiled for 72 hours, which is more time than it sounds like you have.
Or we could just do this.
- Mitch! - Yeah.
See, jellyfish are carnivorous.
I'm sure Moe here would be delighted to chew off any dry tissue, seeing as he hasn't had lunch yet.
That's my boy.
(laughs) (indistinct crowd chatter) I need to use the phone.
It's important.
You should relax now.
You're safe.
If we're to believe what they're telling us, in another four days, the whole world will be safe.
Thanks for patching me up, but if I don't get to a phone, you're not gonna like what happens in another four days.
(sighs) My mother didn't have a scar when we moved to Africa, Abe.
I just looked at this old picture.
No.
My father He-he gave me the injection before we left Boston, but but he obviously he didn't give it to my mother.
And you're wondering how it happened.
Did my father visit Africa, Abe, while I was out on safari, or when I was at school? N-No, I don't think so.
Well, then, here's the problem.
Either my father gave her this injection, or somebody else did.
(P.
A.
beeps) TROTTER: Abe, urgent call for you.
(Abraham sighs) (beeping) Abraham Kenyatta here.
DARIELA: God, it's good to hear your voice.
Dariela.
Where are you? We made it to the safe zone, but something happened.
What is it? I was attacked by horses.
They came after me, Abe.
But you are okay? Yes, but I was traveling with all those people from Holbeach And the horses They singled me out.
What? I don't understand.
There's something about me.
Or there's something about them.
The people that she's with.
Dariela, did the horses target any of the others at all? No.
It's like they didn't even see them, like the animals are with Jackson.
No, they'd all have to have the gene.
Or the mutation is changing.
(water gurgling) Amazing thing about jellyfish is they eat, poop and procreate all from the same orifice.
Kind of like you, Max.
(laughs) If I could do that, I'd never leave the house.
(laughing) This is nice, Mitchell, no? Us working side by side after all these years? Not really, no.
We could turn over a new leaf.
Trust me, there will be no leaf-turning.
(chuckles) Oh, yeah.
Lovely.
(hissing) ABRAHAM: Hey, guys? We just spoke to Dariela.
ALLISON: Yes? And? MAX: Give that ten minutes.
We should get some answers.
In the meantime, I'm going to reacquaint myself with my Scotch.
JACKSON: You know how we thought that the ghost gene infected 2.
2 million people? ALLISON: That was Davie" projection they're all gonna be collateral damage if when the Noah Objective releases the gas.
Judging by what she just went through, our numbers were wrong.
- How wrong? - Based on what she saw, there may be billions of people with the ghost gene.
Just in.
We have confirmed reports of animal attacks in Tel Aviv, Sydney and Ottawa.
Casualties in Sydney appear to be in the thousands in what looks to be another coordinated, multi-species attack.
- That attack was said to be - Lieutenant Marzan? in the area surrounding the iconic opera house - and the financial district downtown.
- Hey, Doc.
I found something rather unexpected in your blood results.
I thought you should know.
martial law while the Israeli Defense Board has begun evacuating much of Tel Aviv Authorities declined to speculate on how No.
Is this for real? Oh, my God.
Maybe I was right.
About what? Maybe they were targeting me.
Who? I have to get back.
I have to get to Finland.
Does somebody have a chopper around here? Because I need it now.
We got it.
All right.
Based on the aspartic acid levels, this saber-toothed cat was alive a hundred years ago.
MITCH: What is that? That means that bones showed traces of a synthetic bio-active compound.
So we weren't just wrong about the extinction date.
This animal was Somebody made him.
Made him? MITCH: A hundred years ago.
ABRAHAM: How is that even possible? What aren't you telling us, Max? You're sure these were never tampered with? Beyond a shadow, - sure? - Hundred percent.
Wait, what does this mean? Three years ago, I was in Chile, searching for what the locals called a sea monster.
I figured what they'd seen was a giant squid, but Their descriptions were oddly consistent with Pelycosauria.
Um, that's aquatic dinosaurs.
Besides the fact that pelycosaurs have been extinct for 66 million years, it seemed very unlikely that the Chilean locals would have ever heard of him, let alone been able to so accurately describe them.
What does this have to do with the saber-tooth? They talked about a secret research facility located off the coast on one of the Juan Fernández Islands.
What kind of research facility? They supposedly had developed a synthetic bio-active compound that allowed them to recreate extinct animals.
I didn't believe it until now.
ALLISON: Max.
We need a saber-toothed cat.
Well sounds like there's only one place on Earth you can find it.
And they call it Pangaea.
(creature wails) (large cat roars) Looks like a fiber-optic company laid about $50 million worth of cable between the mainland and the Juan Fernández Islands.
ALLISON: And, according to the Chilean Port Authority, there's supply ships making runs every other week.
So, the rumors are true.
The island exists.
The question is, which island? Well, we just fly into Concepción, - and start looking.
- Five people against the kind of money and brain power that would have to be behind this? Well, it's not the worst odds we've ever faced.
Tomorrow I'll check Jackson's blood.
Make sure he won't reject the cure.
Last step of the journey, kids.
We need to speak in private.
Now, rafiki.
Trotter, can you please file a flight plan - to Concepción, Chile? - TROTTER: Yes, ma'am.
So this is good-bye? Yes.
Yes, Max, this is good-bye.
You know, it doesn't have to be.
- ALLISON: Really? - MAX: Really.
Just let your team do the dragon chasing.
MAX: Ali.
Stay in Helsinki with me.
You are unbelievable.
She's a grown woman, sport.
I'm starting to have a little déjà vu here.
- Oh - Mitch.
MAX: Here we go.
12 years ago, the Pierre Hotel, I think it was, right? You were being honored for something.
For contributions I made to the zoo.
Yeah, I funded a very elegant rhino enclosure.
And you delivered a pretty great speech.
Yeah, not the one you gave for dinner, the one you gave at dessert to my girlfriend.
Can we please not do this right now? You should have said something if it bothered you.
Yeah? Like what? Hey, Dad, really appreciate it if you didn't try to skeez her out from under me.
Well, in-in hindsight, it was rather poor form.
- Yeah, you think? - Hey.
I married her.
You weren't even ready to give her a damn friendship bracelet.
Oh, my God.
I was young and stupid.
You feel better now that you got that off your chest? Hey, Max.
Get the hell off our plane.
We can do this, Abe, okay? We fly into Concepción.
We choose an island.
We start there.
Process of elimination, we just It was me go through What was you? Elizabeth, it it I did it.
Did what? I injected her.
What are you talking about? I'm trying to tell you that it was me.
I injected your mother.
(laughing): What? How would you do that, Abe? Where would you have even gotten it? Your father came to me.
Mitch, I'm I'm sorry.
Don't apologize for him.
I'm not.
I'm apologizing for me.
I was young.
I-I didn't know what it meant.
Well, it messed me up.
Yeah, well, you didn't act like it.
Well that's what I do.
Yeah.
Still Here we are.
JAMIE: Hey, Max.
Oh.
You forgot your fish.
Thank you.
You know, I'm glad I met you.
You are? Why's that? I don't know, I guess for the first time I feel like I understand why Mitch is so irritating.
Because I married his girlfriend? And just having you as a father.
I'm not that bad.
- No? - No, no.
My life's work has been the endless search for the mythical, and really, what's more mythical, more out of reach than love? I think you love my son.
Ha, I think you're crazy.
(laughing): Okay.
Fine.
Another thing I got wrong today.
But I love my son.
So, would you do me a favor and tell him that for me? Yeah, I will.
Thank you.
You're welcome.
Bye, Max.
You're not so bad.
(whispering): My father my father.
What? Why would Why-why-why would you do that? He gave me $200.
She was the only family I had left, Abe.
No, no, that's not entirely true.
If you are referring to yourself, how dare you.
No, no.
I'm talking about your father.
My father is dead.
Your father is still alive, and he's working with General Davies.
Jackson! (whispering): This is insane.
Mitch.
Mitch, it's me.
(grunting) Jackson! (Jackson grunts) Jackson! (gunshot) (glass shatters) DANIELA: The vehicle bay.
He ran to the vehicle bay.
I'm sorry.
I'm so sorry.
He's gone.