ReGenesis s03e06 Episode Script
Phantoms
I'm training for the Muskoka Ironman.
I thought it might be fun to go for a ride after work, together, sometime.
- Mayko! - Oh God.
Been intimate with anyone since the accident? - What does that have to do with it? - How you feel about yourself, emotionally, physically.
They are connected.
I get these shooting pains below the knee.
in Sutter Washington with Dr.
Joanna Sabean, regional case officer for the Centres for Disease Control.
We're testing 20 birds for avian flu.
- Hi! Sorry am I interrupting? - This is Joanna, an old friend of mine.
How well do you know her? No.
Don't even think about it.
Joanna and I were married for 3 years.
How could I not know this about you? What's not in the news is that there's also sick people.
If it's not avian flu, what is it? - Could it be environmental? - Well exactly.
And that strand of my investigation is being shut down by the EPA.
Methylmercury.
I've never seen concentrations like this.
They're off the dial.
- I gotta get that.
- Not yet.
I got to.
It could be Carlos with the test results.
What? David? Yeah, Carlos.
Whaddya got? The fish are contaminated with mercury.
- Very contaminated.
- How bad are we looking at? - Fifty parts per million.
- That's off the scale.
EPA did an enviro assessment on the lake as part of the sale of the property.
Let me guess, all the tests came back normal.
Yeah, so either the lake suddenly became toxic or Or the EPA is in on it.
What's the source? Have Bob and Mayko check possible sources.
I will.
David, I need to speak to Joanna.
Basically to tell her that she was right about the EPA cover-up.
Well I'll be sure to pass that on to her when I see her.
Can you put her on the phone, please? Hey babe.
Okay.
Don't be.
Bye.
Whatever he said about me it isn't true.
I don't know about that.
ReGenesis Team NorBAC Transcript & Presync Bbsiocnarf, Golgi, Linwelin, Lovechange Version NoTag 1.
0 Olympia Pulp and Paper.
Let me guess, it used to be on Lake Mcgraw.
That's right.
Employed 173 people during its peak Processed 456 million tons of raw timber into pulp from 1923 to 1964 - when it shut down operations.
- In those days, mercury was used as a kind of slime-icide.
Mainly to control bacterial growth and fungi.
What? You said slime-icide as you know, as opposed to microbicide.
That's funny.
Slime-icide.
What else? Well, they spent 4 decades dumping their waste into the Lake Mcgraw watershed.
So why's it coming out now? The mercury could have collected into a contaminated mass.
- So we think this toxic blob - Toxic blob.
- Sorry, this contaminated mass - That's good.
is beginning to break up.
- Why? - Seismic activity? The area gets over a 1000 earthquakes a year.
So the mercury biomagnifies.
Contaminated fish get eat by the ducks.
Ducks get eat by the hunters.
A nice little food chain.
Possible source number 2 The area was heavily mined during the gold rush.
Mercury was used to help separate the gold - from other minerals.
- They estimated that 10 million pounds of mercury was lost during the process.
Yeah, but that would be, like, 150 years ago.
The mercury would have dispersed into the environment, by now.
But some of that mercury ended up in retention ponds that were abandoned when the area was mined out.
The ponds evaporated and left concentrated mercury that eventually leached back into the watershed.
Okay, scenario number 3: Enviropower.
It's a massive, coal-fueled power plant on the coast.
They supposedly put in mercury scrubbers in March 2005, in response - to the EPA's Clean Air Mercury Rule.
- Could have been too little too late.
We're looking at an airborne contamination.
I want you, to get samples from each of the sites.
Do isotope fractionation on the mercury in each sample.
Compare to the mercury in the lake water.
We find a match, we'll figure out who's milfing Mother Nature.
- Milfing? - We're on it, David.
There's a foot between my legs.
It's a Geisha move.
Bothering you? It's making it a little hard to focus on my meal, yeah.
Multitask.
You feel like coming up to Toronto for a visit anytime soon? Not really.
'Cause you know, we may never see each other again, right? That's what makes it so hot.
You think? Answer your phone.
What? I have something I think you might enjoy, David.
Looks like our mercury contamination goes - all the way to the governor's office.
- No shit.
Really? Governor Gibson is part of an investment group that sold that tract of land to a Casino and Resort developer over 3 years ago.
And of course he's claiming to have no knowledge of any mercury contamination? And he has the EPA tests to back it up.
Question is: whether it'll hold up in a court, considering what we found out there.
I know a couple of good lawyers who could keep that tied up in litigation for 20 years.
Which is plenty of time to forget what the fuck happened up there.
- I'll let you know what I hear.
- Okay, thanks Wes.
You up for a little fun, Geishagirl? Whadda you have in mind? I'm thinking maybe a visit to the Governor's office.
Oh, I'm all over that.
If there's corruption, collusion or anything improper going on at the EPA, we'll root it out.
What are you gonna do to clean up that lake? - What are we looking at? - You've got a couple of choices.
You could use biosorbants.
Genetically alter the bacteria with a surface protein That binds itself to the mercury.
Lake Mcgraw isn't the only mercury problem this state has had.
We've been pitched this solution elsewhere and rejected it.
Based on? - Timeframe is unacceptable.
- And pumping all the water out through an activated charcoal filter that binds the mercury? - No, it's cost-prohibitive.
- Cost prohibitive! Okay.
Cheap, fast and proven: put a shit ton of electrodes in that lake, electrochemically precipitate the mercury with a current and nuke everything! - Wouldn't that kill the fish? - The fish are poisoned.
I don't think the governor's gonna think that's a viable solution to clean it up.
Come on, Bosch.
Don't be so negative.
Put a positive spin on it.
"Come visit beautiful Washington.
Now our lakes won't kill you.
" You know, why don't you two leave the clean up to us.
And focus your talents on where we desperately need your help: finding the source of the mercury.
There's one thing I hate more than a smarmy bureaucrat, it's a smarmy bureaucrat who point.
Yeah well, you threw some pretty good punches in there.
Not enough.
Have you always been this feisty? Wanna watch me crack some walnuts with my bare hands? So we finally got the mercury samples? Enviropower, gold, pulp and paper from Lake Mcgraw.
- I'm going to need results tonight.
- Sure.
Okay.
So, how are we doing? Ready to send off to the Mass Spectrometer.
I'll do that.
Thank you.
What about the pain journal you were gonna keep for me? Gordon, I don't need to keep a journal.
- The Percocet help? - No.
Actually, the pain is getting worse.
What's your physio say? Switch liners.
Didn't help.
Checked my gait.
I don't The pain comes down like a ton of bricks.
- I'm doing something completely normal.
- Such as? I don't know, like, like, I'm I'm sitting on my blanket under a stupid tree and And then it's like everything below the stump is being crushed in a vice.
Oh, God.
You're experiencing a phenomenon known as phantom limb pain.
This is not a phenomenon, Gordon.
I told you, the pain is real.
Muscles and nerves at the amputation site are still sending signals.
So that my brain thinks that my left leg is still there.
I know, I know.
I wasn't asleep in rehab, okay? I'm sorry.
I'm just I'm not a head case.
Well, you're a scientist.
You like tidy, empirical solutions.
I like meds that make the pain go away! - Not gonna happen.
- Fuck.
Conventional medicine isn't gonna solve what's going on up here.
I can't have a relation I can't have a relationship, alright? I just want my body back.
I need to do something.
Fuck.
There is one therapy that sometimes gets results.
It's a bit out there.
It's all about that mind-body psychobabble stuff you love.
Let me guess, incense and rebirthing.
No.
More like self-hypnosis.
That's an improvement.
So what do you think? You've really got me where you want me, don't you? What time is your flight? We've got time.
What? Here on the shoulder? It happens all the time.
Look at all the skid marks.
Desperate lovers pulling over for one last frenzied grope.
You're worse than me.
I got the head office call.
They're taking me off the mercury case.
- When did this happen? - Last night.
I didn't wanna ruin the evening.
Screw 'em.
We're in this together.
They need help with a C.
Difficile outbreak at a hospital in Racine Wisconsin.
A little off the map, but a good place to bury me.
What are you grinning at? I just cannot get you in the same frame as Carlos.
What was that about? I fell in love with this smart, sexy guy in Biology 101.
Before either one of us knew it, we were married and two years later, he fell in love with a guy down the hall.
Well, it must have been some guy, eh.
Sorry, I guess that must've messed you up a bit.
Made me who I am today.
Meaning? Meaning no serious relationships.
I like things open and direct.
Qui totum vult, totum perdit.
The one who wants the whole thing loses it all.
What time is it? - 3:30.
- Pull over.
- I have those fractionation results.
- And? Should take a look.
- Have you told David? - No.
What do you mean none of the samples match? The mercury in lake didn't come from any of the possible sources we considered.
The mercury's gotta be coming from somewhere.
- Just not where we thought.
- Thank you for that insight, Rachel.
I think that was intended to be rhetorical, David.
- Square 1.
Theories? - I was thinking that the mercury, and don't yell at me before I'm finished, that it has something to do with the Red Rain theory in India.
Bob, you're not gonna tell me that you think the mercury's from outer space.
No, listen.
It's only one theory that the origin of the Red Rain is extraterrestrial.
He's right.
There's evidence that red algae becomes airborne from a body of water via a water spout.
It could also just be high winds picking up red sand from the Arabian desert.
- Wait a minute.
- There's a lot of explanations.
Do you have the mercury samples from the lake? - Right here.
- Call them up.
Can you plot them by depth? Highlight the highest concentrations of methylmercury.
Where is it? Deep in the lake.
Dead centre.
Mercury converts to methylmercury through organisms in the environment, correct? Agreed.
Where are the purest samples of mercury? On the eastern shoreline.
- The most degraded? - Centre of the lake.
Plot a line, from here to here.
It's a direct line.
From purest to the most degraded mercury.
And it points right to the source, I bet.
Bob, do you have an aerial view? Yeah, the glacier.
Well, there's only 1 way to contaminate a glacier at 14,000 feet.
Mercury is airborne.
But we checked the air in and around Enviropower.
We didn't look high enough.
The Jet stream.
That means it could be coming from the other side of the planet.
Could be.
Let's get some core samples from the glacier's ice.
See if that's the case.
- David, I still think that - I don't wanna hear another word about the fucking Red Rain! Okay, so what is this thing? Trust me, Mayko.
Have a seat.
Sure.
Put your legs up on the table.
Yeah.
Either side.
- Let's have your prosthetic.
- Okay.
Now, concentrate all of your attention on your healthy leg.
Okay.
And wiggle the toes of your left foot.
I can't.
You can.
Focus your mind on your left foot and wiggle your toes.
Okay.
And rotate your left foot slightly.
How does it feel? I don't understand.
We're reprogramming the neural pathways associated with your injury.
That is one beautiful leg.
You have to come back here for a number of these sessions.
You can commit to that? As long as there's no sharing in group.
Focus your mind on your left leg.
Practice bending at the knee.
Try it.
That's it.
How does it feel? Good, it feels good, it feels really good.
Alright Wes, what the hell is so So goddamned important? Yeah.
You know Charlie Gibson? He's been running the state of Washington for so long, we refer to the capital as Gibsonville.
I've actually heard that.
Charlie's an old, old friend of mine.
Swell.
He called me the other day.
He said he had some concerns with one of my operations.
Well, I told him I'd have some - face time with you, David.
- Time's up, Carl.
This shit might work with one of your CDC grunts, but not with me, not here.
I don't know what you're talking about nonetheless For Christ's sakes, just say it.
The EPA is gonna sweep this whole thing - under the carpet.
Isn't it? - On the contrary.
You have triggered a complete in-house review of procedure.
- In-house, huh? Great.
- And Charlie Gibson, under further reflection, has decided to step down.
Given the circumstances.
Too public a screw-up, eh? The Army Corp of Engineers is working on cleaning up the lake.
I managed to procure federal money from the National Disaster Fund.
What about the source of the pollution, Carl? A billion tons of crap coming from every industrial country on the planet.
David, you know as well as I do that that's an ongoing international debate.
And many studies will be needed before we come to a conclusion.
Well, let's hope we're all around to see how that debate turns out! And here I was, about to congratulate you and your team on some excellent work.
I even had a little presentation.
I don't need your presentation.
You're a goddamn hard man to compliment, David.
Only when I'm looking bullshit in the face.
Can I tell you a secret? You're right about me.
I don't care.
I never have and I never will.
This is all about money.
Big money.
So big that you'll never wrap your tiny, little brain around it.
We can't live forever, David.
Neither can this planet.
So why fight it? Why worry about tomorrow? The future of the world? Why should I care about that? Doesn't matter to me.
So, fuck the future.
Fuck it all.
Fuck you.
Yeah, yeah.
I'm coming.
So wrong.
- Huge mistake.
- No, no, no.
We were never supposed to see each other again, remember? We lasted 72 hours.
I think that's an accomplishment.
Come in.
I'll get your bag.
I was on my way to Racine and I thought all of a sudden why not stop off in Toronto.
It's, right on the way.
It's a It went by like that.
How long can you stay? - I leave in the morning.
- That's not long enough.
Sure it is, if we don't quit wasting time.
Buddhists don't believe in a separately existing external world.
Gotta love those Buddhists.
They believe that we are inextricably connected to all other matter in the universe.
You know, that's very scientific thinking to my mind.
The more we learn, the more we see how everything is interconnected.
Bob, the samples from the glacier have arrived.
Core samples of frozen history of pollution over the last 1000 years.
Sorry.
I'm sorry, you're talking to me.
I wasn't sure.
- Him? Not him, right? Me.
- No, you.
You.
I'm, I'm kinda the world's shyest stalker.
You were gonna call me.
Remember? Cold feet.
I mean, foot.
So how's the pain? I'm working on it.
Look, okay, want I wanted you to know is that, um When I was with you that night it was like I couldn't breathe, you know? And maybe I won't be able to be with anyone for a long time.
- You're with me, you realize? - But you know - what I mean.
- I know what you mean.
I know.
Look, there's no pressure.
You gotta get your life back in balance, and all that stuff but Mayko this stuff with your leg, it's gonna pass.
You think so? Yeah.
I know so.
- Do you like barbecues? - I'm vegan.
Can't I do anything right? You know, Mayko, I remember you doing something really, really well.
- Yeah? - Yeah.
- What's that? - I don't know I just know Riddlemeyer's not gonna follow through on that polluted lake.
And this all came clear to you in a dream? It wasn't a dream.
It was a fucking nightmare.
Surprise.
The White House is in bed with Big Business.
Well, there's no room for them all in my bed.
You know, there's something deeply sexual about our shared cynicism.
The thing that eats the shit out of me is how good he is.
- How do you mean? - Oh, he so knows his game.
Yesterday he presented me with this.
Token of his appreciation.
The guy is good.
Knows how to get the knife under your shell.
You're just a sentimental old slob, aren't you, Sandström? Qui totum vult, totum perdit.
Yeah, that too.
I gotta go.
To Racine.
Come on.
You are gonna choose a trip to Wisconsin over more incandescent sex with me? Christ, you're needy.
Well, I'm gonna hold my breath.
I could have drowned.
Would have made it a lot easier to go to Racine.
These are the mass spec results we got back on the ice core samples.
We can see that over the past 1000 years, the glacier had normal trace amounts of atmospheric mercury.
Until 1972.
See at that point, we see that the concentration increases slowly and steadily until the late 1980s.
And then it's hockey sticks.
So what's the source? Chinese coal-burning power plants came on line around 1971-1972.
The Chinese economy's growth mirrors this graph.
See, in the late 1980s it began to take off.
It's the fastest growing economy in the world.
With no checks and balances on it whatsoever.
With a jet stream conveyor-belt right over us.
The scary part? China'll bring 1000 more coal-burning power plants online by 2030.
And all we do is debate.
Great.
You know, every glacier on the planet is melting.
All the shit that's in them, heavy metal and acid is just gonna come out.
We're all going to have to deal with it, because it's a small fucking world.
It's so small that you do something on one side and it affects everything.
It's gonna get worse, the Indian and the Chinese economy is about to explode, they've no environmental safeguards.
North America's not blameless in all of this.
We haven't even ratified Kyoto.
gases come from our cars.
There you go.
It's like the whole world is smoking this giant cigarette.
- Can I put this in the freezer? - Sure.
It's all about the money, right? Well, Mercury was the Roman God of Commerce.
The hypocrisy makes me want to puke.
- Hey, you made it! - Hey! You all know Milo.
Hey Milo, how do you want your burger? - I'm good, thank you.
- He's a vegan.
Sorry.
I forgot to mention.
Not a problem.
I think I've got an energy bar in my sock drawer.
It's a mind-body feedback loop.
Your brain thinks that the missing limb is still there.
The motor cortex, the language centres are still trying to contact the leg.
But the leg is gone, so when my brain sees the reflection of my healthy leg in place of the missing one It can finally achieve the feedback loop.
And if I'm lucky, after a dozen or so sessions, my brain will have realized that there is no leg there.
And if there's no leg there, there can be no pain.
Wow, it's sort of a neurological amputation of a phantom limb.
- There you go.
- It's amazing.
Really is.
- Good for you.
- Thank you.
Well, I've got some reports to read, so I've gotta get going.
- Bye.
Nice to see you again.
- Yeah you too.
Bye.
So how are you? I just got this from my son, Craig.
He's in Wyoming doing research on black bears.
What kind of research? I'm not sure what the project is this time.
He's an adrenaline junkie.
He wants to be as far outside the system as he can.
I know the type.
from Cairo to Cape Town.
Who does he get that from? You or your ex? I think he's running from the 2 of us as fast as he can.
- A refill? - No thanks, I gotta get going.
- Have a good night.
- You too.
And I can see all this interconnectedness, birds falling from the sky in Washington because of the heavy metal pollution spewing out of the smokestacks in China.
We're fucked.
Because the human community is only concerned with the next paycheck, the leaders with the next election, nobody's thinking long-term.
Humanity has to step up, assume responsibility, face the facts.
- Game over.
- Tilt.
Who wants to live in a world without hope? What do you do - if there's no hope? - Hope? Come on, Bob.
The human species only responds to catastrophy.
You gotta hold a blowtorch up to mankind's cheek if you wanna get any kind of response.
What do we do, David, to make a difference? I don't know, Bob.
Drive a Prius.
neurological amputation of a phantom limb.
- There you go.
- It's amazing.
Really is.
- Good for you.
- Thank you.
Well, I've got some reports to read, so I've gotta get going.
- Bye.
Nice to see you again.
- You too.
Bye.
- She knows all about us.
- Oh yeah? Like what? Like what is gonna happen next.
Come with me.
What's gonna happen next? A little top secret commando mission, maybe.
- I didn't think you were coming.
- C'mon.
Get in.
Oh, wait.
- What? - Ha! Nothing.
- Will you stop it? - What? Just come here.
Stop! I'm - I'm kind of wasted.
- Yeah, I noticed.
Wha Right here? Just you, me and Mother Nature.
Looks fine.
David! I have something that might be interesting for you.
An EPA Technician, who was wanted in connection with this massive land sale fraud, was just arrested in a Nevada brothel.
During questioning, the technician, Larry Hakchek, implicated a real What medications have you tried? Hang on a second.
Yes Well, is she still conscious? Yes, of course Thank you.
What's wrong? That was the hospital in Racine.
Joanna's in quarantine there.
She's infected with CDAD.
I still don't understand the difference between C.
Difficile and CDAD? Alright, C.
Difficile.
Just one of a whole number of bacteria living in our intestines.
Harmless, unless it's out of whack with other bugs inside us.
- If it's out of whack? - Then we have a problem.
It produces toxins that cause C.
Difficile Associated Disease.
- CDAD.
- Okay, so that's CDAD.
The C.
Difficile Associated Diseases can lead to pseudomembranous colitis.
Basically your colon swells shut.
Eventually nothing passes through, not even diarrhea.
How do we treat it? Well, in this case, it seems to be completely antibiotic-resistant.
Excuse me.
If this was to get out in the developing world, it would kill millions.
Oh Yeah.
We put in the call to the Centers for Disease Control about 11 days ago.
That's when we realized this wasn't any run-of-the-mill strain of CDAD.
- Joanna had just been assigned here.
- Yeah, exactly.
When did she begin to show symptoms? - 2 days ago.
- Anyone else? Well, we've got multiple cases but Dr.
Sabean seems to be hit the hardest.
- What antibiotics have you tried? - Vancomycin and metronidazole.
- Okay, what are we looking at? - Toxic megacolon.
Before you guys go in, there is one more thing that you should know.
What's that? We stopped hydrating Dr.
Sabean this morning.
- Blood in the stool? Stomach pain? - Yeah, both.
There's a definite constriction of the lower gastrointestinal tract, so we're keeping her closely monitored.
You guys want masks? Why, is it airborne? Fuck it.
There's a couple of pretty faces.
How are you feeling? Okay.
We're gonna get you back on your feet in no time.
Joanna, do you have any idea how you contracted it? Were you on antibiotics for anything? You don't have to be on antibiotics to get it.
I thought I did everything by the book, but I must have picked it up in here.
Jesus, you think an American hospital would know how to observe procedure.
David I fucked up, okay? They followed HICPAC isolation procedures down to the letter.
I just must have touched something.
- I got it in my system.
- How? - I don't know.
- Well, think Joanna.
I mean, - did you ingest something or - David.
I'm sorry.
I think what David's trying to say is, we don't like seeing you like this.
Well, I don't like being in here either, so What are you guys gonna do about it? We need to do 3 things.
First: find out why this C.
Difficile is antibiotic resistant.
Second: find something to fight it with.
Third: find out where it's coming from.
I'll get TIGR to sequence the genome, see if we can't figure out this antibiotic resistance problem.
Good.
I want Bob figuring out a way to kill this thing.
Alright, every antibiotic and cocktail possible tested.
We'll work up some kill curves? Tell him to keep elevating the concentrations until it dies.
- What about the source? - Get Mayko on it.
I got her access to all the patient's personal and medical records.
Have her find any and everything that connects them.
Right away.
Hola amigo.
How long have you been there? Awhile.
Still a tough guy to pin down.
Listen, I need to tell you something.
What? About us.
What it was for me.
- Christ, am I that sick? - Just let me say this.
Okay.
I never had a chance to tell you how much I appreciate what you did for me.
- A kick in the pants.
Big deal.
- No.
You gave me permission to be myself.
When I needed to go to Africa, you shot down my excuses.
And when I had to hurt you the most you let me go.
It's because I love you.
I always will.
I know that.
And I love you.
Gracias, mi angel.
Qui totum vult.
No, no.
You haven't lost anything.
I'm scared, Carlos.
Don't be.
We're going to beat this.
Okay? I tried to kill it, David.
Nothing kills it.
No amount of any antibiotic.
Nothing? - I'm going to send you the kill curves.
- I believe you.
It just means we haven't found what we're looking for yet.
Well, it's too big.
I'm gonna have to outsource some of the work.
You know I don't like to outsource work.
You can't trust other people's - protocols and procedures.
- I know, Bob.
- Well, I'll do it this time.
- Thank you, Bob.
Alright.
Sorry to barge in like this, but I didn't think you'd mind.
Good news? You be the judge.
Take a look at this C.
Difficile.
See, this merged image shows the in situ hybridization along with the morphology.
Wait a minute.
- Am I looking at 2 plasmids here? - Yeah, and I'm pretty sure that the one is carrying the virulence factors.
The other one's got the antibiotic resistant markers.
But how did this other plasmid get in there? We found a deletion in a number of the regulatory genes in this strain.
Do you remember the NAP1 strain? It was responsible for that outbreak a few years ago, wasn't it? Precisely.
Well, it had the same class of mutations.
Now, the NAP1 strain produced 23 times more toxins than anything we'd ever seen before.
And this new strain? Twice as potent as NAP1.
This thing is a toxin factory that cannot be killed.
- What? - We just finished running the tests.
Baby toys, books, bedpans.
Everything in that hospital, basically.
- Even the air ducts.
- Code Blue.
Room 104.
- And we found where it was hiding.
- Code Blue.
Room 104.
In a plant, David.
In the soil of a fucking potted plant.
Mums.
They were sold as a local fundraiser for Spina Bifida research.
Apparently, a local greenhouse supplied all the plants.
Do you want the address? Tell him we need some Epinephron right away, stat! David, are you still there? I'm shipping $175,000 worth of product.
I don't ship these plants in 24 hours, I'm dead.
And if you do, somebody else might be.
Escuche! Soy doctor.
Pensamos que la tierra es muy mala.
Might have the same thing as Joanna.
Listen! I support an entire village in Chiapas.
- What do you do for Mexico? - What do I do for Mexico?! There's millions of migrants working on farms in this state.
You can't turn it around all by yourself.
Tell them to send everything that they have, and then I'll Oh, my god! Are you okay? No, no, Bob, just leave it! What's wrong Bob? Everything is fine, Weston.
I thought it might be fun to go for a ride after work, together, sometime.
- Mayko! - Oh God.
Been intimate with anyone since the accident? - What does that have to do with it? - How you feel about yourself, emotionally, physically.
They are connected.
I get these shooting pains below the knee.
in Sutter Washington with Dr.
Joanna Sabean, regional case officer for the Centres for Disease Control.
We're testing 20 birds for avian flu.
- Hi! Sorry am I interrupting? - This is Joanna, an old friend of mine.
How well do you know her? No.
Don't even think about it.
Joanna and I were married for 3 years.
How could I not know this about you? What's not in the news is that there's also sick people.
If it's not avian flu, what is it? - Could it be environmental? - Well exactly.
And that strand of my investigation is being shut down by the EPA.
Methylmercury.
I've never seen concentrations like this.
They're off the dial.
- I gotta get that.
- Not yet.
I got to.
It could be Carlos with the test results.
What? David? Yeah, Carlos.
Whaddya got? The fish are contaminated with mercury.
- Very contaminated.
- How bad are we looking at? - Fifty parts per million.
- That's off the scale.
EPA did an enviro assessment on the lake as part of the sale of the property.
Let me guess, all the tests came back normal.
Yeah, so either the lake suddenly became toxic or Or the EPA is in on it.
What's the source? Have Bob and Mayko check possible sources.
I will.
David, I need to speak to Joanna.
Basically to tell her that she was right about the EPA cover-up.
Well I'll be sure to pass that on to her when I see her.
Can you put her on the phone, please? Hey babe.
Okay.
Don't be.
Bye.
Whatever he said about me it isn't true.
I don't know about that.
ReGenesis Team NorBAC Transcript & Presync Bbsiocnarf, Golgi, Linwelin, Lovechange Version NoTag 1.
0 Olympia Pulp and Paper.
Let me guess, it used to be on Lake Mcgraw.
That's right.
Employed 173 people during its peak Processed 456 million tons of raw timber into pulp from 1923 to 1964 - when it shut down operations.
- In those days, mercury was used as a kind of slime-icide.
Mainly to control bacterial growth and fungi.
What? You said slime-icide as you know, as opposed to microbicide.
That's funny.
Slime-icide.
What else? Well, they spent 4 decades dumping their waste into the Lake Mcgraw watershed.
So why's it coming out now? The mercury could have collected into a contaminated mass.
- So we think this toxic blob - Toxic blob.
- Sorry, this contaminated mass - That's good.
is beginning to break up.
- Why? - Seismic activity? The area gets over a 1000 earthquakes a year.
So the mercury biomagnifies.
Contaminated fish get eat by the ducks.
Ducks get eat by the hunters.
A nice little food chain.
Possible source number 2 The area was heavily mined during the gold rush.
Mercury was used to help separate the gold - from other minerals.
- They estimated that 10 million pounds of mercury was lost during the process.
Yeah, but that would be, like, 150 years ago.
The mercury would have dispersed into the environment, by now.
But some of that mercury ended up in retention ponds that were abandoned when the area was mined out.
The ponds evaporated and left concentrated mercury that eventually leached back into the watershed.
Okay, scenario number 3: Enviropower.
It's a massive, coal-fueled power plant on the coast.
They supposedly put in mercury scrubbers in March 2005, in response - to the EPA's Clean Air Mercury Rule.
- Could have been too little too late.
We're looking at an airborne contamination.
I want you, to get samples from each of the sites.
Do isotope fractionation on the mercury in each sample.
Compare to the mercury in the lake water.
We find a match, we'll figure out who's milfing Mother Nature.
- Milfing? - We're on it, David.
There's a foot between my legs.
It's a Geisha move.
Bothering you? It's making it a little hard to focus on my meal, yeah.
Multitask.
You feel like coming up to Toronto for a visit anytime soon? Not really.
'Cause you know, we may never see each other again, right? That's what makes it so hot.
You think? Answer your phone.
What? I have something I think you might enjoy, David.
Looks like our mercury contamination goes - all the way to the governor's office.
- No shit.
Really? Governor Gibson is part of an investment group that sold that tract of land to a Casino and Resort developer over 3 years ago.
And of course he's claiming to have no knowledge of any mercury contamination? And he has the EPA tests to back it up.
Question is: whether it'll hold up in a court, considering what we found out there.
I know a couple of good lawyers who could keep that tied up in litigation for 20 years.
Which is plenty of time to forget what the fuck happened up there.
- I'll let you know what I hear.
- Okay, thanks Wes.
You up for a little fun, Geishagirl? Whadda you have in mind? I'm thinking maybe a visit to the Governor's office.
Oh, I'm all over that.
If there's corruption, collusion or anything improper going on at the EPA, we'll root it out.
What are you gonna do to clean up that lake? - What are we looking at? - You've got a couple of choices.
You could use biosorbants.
Genetically alter the bacteria with a surface protein That binds itself to the mercury.
Lake Mcgraw isn't the only mercury problem this state has had.
We've been pitched this solution elsewhere and rejected it.
Based on? - Timeframe is unacceptable.
- And pumping all the water out through an activated charcoal filter that binds the mercury? - No, it's cost-prohibitive.
- Cost prohibitive! Okay.
Cheap, fast and proven: put a shit ton of electrodes in that lake, electrochemically precipitate the mercury with a current and nuke everything! - Wouldn't that kill the fish? - The fish are poisoned.
I don't think the governor's gonna think that's a viable solution to clean it up.
Come on, Bosch.
Don't be so negative.
Put a positive spin on it.
"Come visit beautiful Washington.
Now our lakes won't kill you.
" You know, why don't you two leave the clean up to us.
And focus your talents on where we desperately need your help: finding the source of the mercury.
There's one thing I hate more than a smarmy bureaucrat, it's a smarmy bureaucrat who point.
Yeah well, you threw some pretty good punches in there.
Not enough.
Have you always been this feisty? Wanna watch me crack some walnuts with my bare hands? So we finally got the mercury samples? Enviropower, gold, pulp and paper from Lake Mcgraw.
- I'm going to need results tonight.
- Sure.
Okay.
So, how are we doing? Ready to send off to the Mass Spectrometer.
I'll do that.
Thank you.
What about the pain journal you were gonna keep for me? Gordon, I don't need to keep a journal.
- The Percocet help? - No.
Actually, the pain is getting worse.
What's your physio say? Switch liners.
Didn't help.
Checked my gait.
I don't The pain comes down like a ton of bricks.
- I'm doing something completely normal.
- Such as? I don't know, like, like, I'm I'm sitting on my blanket under a stupid tree and And then it's like everything below the stump is being crushed in a vice.
Oh, God.
You're experiencing a phenomenon known as phantom limb pain.
This is not a phenomenon, Gordon.
I told you, the pain is real.
Muscles and nerves at the amputation site are still sending signals.
So that my brain thinks that my left leg is still there.
I know, I know.
I wasn't asleep in rehab, okay? I'm sorry.
I'm just I'm not a head case.
Well, you're a scientist.
You like tidy, empirical solutions.
I like meds that make the pain go away! - Not gonna happen.
- Fuck.
Conventional medicine isn't gonna solve what's going on up here.
I can't have a relation I can't have a relationship, alright? I just want my body back.
I need to do something.
Fuck.
There is one therapy that sometimes gets results.
It's a bit out there.
It's all about that mind-body psychobabble stuff you love.
Let me guess, incense and rebirthing.
No.
More like self-hypnosis.
That's an improvement.
So what do you think? You've really got me where you want me, don't you? What time is your flight? We've got time.
What? Here on the shoulder? It happens all the time.
Look at all the skid marks.
Desperate lovers pulling over for one last frenzied grope.
You're worse than me.
I got the head office call.
They're taking me off the mercury case.
- When did this happen? - Last night.
I didn't wanna ruin the evening.
Screw 'em.
We're in this together.
They need help with a C.
Difficile outbreak at a hospital in Racine Wisconsin.
A little off the map, but a good place to bury me.
What are you grinning at? I just cannot get you in the same frame as Carlos.
What was that about? I fell in love with this smart, sexy guy in Biology 101.
Before either one of us knew it, we were married and two years later, he fell in love with a guy down the hall.
Well, it must have been some guy, eh.
Sorry, I guess that must've messed you up a bit.
Made me who I am today.
Meaning? Meaning no serious relationships.
I like things open and direct.
Qui totum vult, totum perdit.
The one who wants the whole thing loses it all.
What time is it? - 3:30.
- Pull over.
- I have those fractionation results.
- And? Should take a look.
- Have you told David? - No.
What do you mean none of the samples match? The mercury in lake didn't come from any of the possible sources we considered.
The mercury's gotta be coming from somewhere.
- Just not where we thought.
- Thank you for that insight, Rachel.
I think that was intended to be rhetorical, David.
- Square 1.
Theories? - I was thinking that the mercury, and don't yell at me before I'm finished, that it has something to do with the Red Rain theory in India.
Bob, you're not gonna tell me that you think the mercury's from outer space.
No, listen.
It's only one theory that the origin of the Red Rain is extraterrestrial.
He's right.
There's evidence that red algae becomes airborne from a body of water via a water spout.
It could also just be high winds picking up red sand from the Arabian desert.
- Wait a minute.
- There's a lot of explanations.
Do you have the mercury samples from the lake? - Right here.
- Call them up.
Can you plot them by depth? Highlight the highest concentrations of methylmercury.
Where is it? Deep in the lake.
Dead centre.
Mercury converts to methylmercury through organisms in the environment, correct? Agreed.
Where are the purest samples of mercury? On the eastern shoreline.
- The most degraded? - Centre of the lake.
Plot a line, from here to here.
It's a direct line.
From purest to the most degraded mercury.
And it points right to the source, I bet.
Bob, do you have an aerial view? Yeah, the glacier.
Well, there's only 1 way to contaminate a glacier at 14,000 feet.
Mercury is airborne.
But we checked the air in and around Enviropower.
We didn't look high enough.
The Jet stream.
That means it could be coming from the other side of the planet.
Could be.
Let's get some core samples from the glacier's ice.
See if that's the case.
- David, I still think that - I don't wanna hear another word about the fucking Red Rain! Okay, so what is this thing? Trust me, Mayko.
Have a seat.
Sure.
Put your legs up on the table.
Yeah.
Either side.
- Let's have your prosthetic.
- Okay.
Now, concentrate all of your attention on your healthy leg.
Okay.
And wiggle the toes of your left foot.
I can't.
You can.
Focus your mind on your left foot and wiggle your toes.
Okay.
And rotate your left foot slightly.
How does it feel? I don't understand.
We're reprogramming the neural pathways associated with your injury.
That is one beautiful leg.
You have to come back here for a number of these sessions.
You can commit to that? As long as there's no sharing in group.
Focus your mind on your left leg.
Practice bending at the knee.
Try it.
That's it.
How does it feel? Good, it feels good, it feels really good.
Alright Wes, what the hell is so So goddamned important? Yeah.
You know Charlie Gibson? He's been running the state of Washington for so long, we refer to the capital as Gibsonville.
I've actually heard that.
Charlie's an old, old friend of mine.
Swell.
He called me the other day.
He said he had some concerns with one of my operations.
Well, I told him I'd have some - face time with you, David.
- Time's up, Carl.
This shit might work with one of your CDC grunts, but not with me, not here.
I don't know what you're talking about nonetheless For Christ's sakes, just say it.
The EPA is gonna sweep this whole thing - under the carpet.
Isn't it? - On the contrary.
You have triggered a complete in-house review of procedure.
- In-house, huh? Great.
- And Charlie Gibson, under further reflection, has decided to step down.
Given the circumstances.
Too public a screw-up, eh? The Army Corp of Engineers is working on cleaning up the lake.
I managed to procure federal money from the National Disaster Fund.
What about the source of the pollution, Carl? A billion tons of crap coming from every industrial country on the planet.
David, you know as well as I do that that's an ongoing international debate.
And many studies will be needed before we come to a conclusion.
Well, let's hope we're all around to see how that debate turns out! And here I was, about to congratulate you and your team on some excellent work.
I even had a little presentation.
I don't need your presentation.
You're a goddamn hard man to compliment, David.
Only when I'm looking bullshit in the face.
Can I tell you a secret? You're right about me.
I don't care.
I never have and I never will.
This is all about money.
Big money.
So big that you'll never wrap your tiny, little brain around it.
We can't live forever, David.
Neither can this planet.
So why fight it? Why worry about tomorrow? The future of the world? Why should I care about that? Doesn't matter to me.
So, fuck the future.
Fuck it all.
Fuck you.
Yeah, yeah.
I'm coming.
So wrong.
- Huge mistake.
- No, no, no.
We were never supposed to see each other again, remember? We lasted 72 hours.
I think that's an accomplishment.
Come in.
I'll get your bag.
I was on my way to Racine and I thought all of a sudden why not stop off in Toronto.
It's, right on the way.
It's a It went by like that.
How long can you stay? - I leave in the morning.
- That's not long enough.
Sure it is, if we don't quit wasting time.
Buddhists don't believe in a separately existing external world.
Gotta love those Buddhists.
They believe that we are inextricably connected to all other matter in the universe.
You know, that's very scientific thinking to my mind.
The more we learn, the more we see how everything is interconnected.
Bob, the samples from the glacier have arrived.
Core samples of frozen history of pollution over the last 1000 years.
Sorry.
I'm sorry, you're talking to me.
I wasn't sure.
- Him? Not him, right? Me.
- No, you.
You.
I'm, I'm kinda the world's shyest stalker.
You were gonna call me.
Remember? Cold feet.
I mean, foot.
So how's the pain? I'm working on it.
Look, okay, want I wanted you to know is that, um When I was with you that night it was like I couldn't breathe, you know? And maybe I won't be able to be with anyone for a long time.
- You're with me, you realize? - But you know - what I mean.
- I know what you mean.
I know.
Look, there's no pressure.
You gotta get your life back in balance, and all that stuff but Mayko this stuff with your leg, it's gonna pass.
You think so? Yeah.
I know so.
- Do you like barbecues? - I'm vegan.
Can't I do anything right? You know, Mayko, I remember you doing something really, really well.
- Yeah? - Yeah.
- What's that? - I don't know I just know Riddlemeyer's not gonna follow through on that polluted lake.
And this all came clear to you in a dream? It wasn't a dream.
It was a fucking nightmare.
Surprise.
The White House is in bed with Big Business.
Well, there's no room for them all in my bed.
You know, there's something deeply sexual about our shared cynicism.
The thing that eats the shit out of me is how good he is.
- How do you mean? - Oh, he so knows his game.
Yesterday he presented me with this.
Token of his appreciation.
The guy is good.
Knows how to get the knife under your shell.
You're just a sentimental old slob, aren't you, Sandström? Qui totum vult, totum perdit.
Yeah, that too.
I gotta go.
To Racine.
Come on.
You are gonna choose a trip to Wisconsin over more incandescent sex with me? Christ, you're needy.
Well, I'm gonna hold my breath.
I could have drowned.
Would have made it a lot easier to go to Racine.
These are the mass spec results we got back on the ice core samples.
We can see that over the past 1000 years, the glacier had normal trace amounts of atmospheric mercury.
Until 1972.
See at that point, we see that the concentration increases slowly and steadily until the late 1980s.
And then it's hockey sticks.
So what's the source? Chinese coal-burning power plants came on line around 1971-1972.
The Chinese economy's growth mirrors this graph.
See, in the late 1980s it began to take off.
It's the fastest growing economy in the world.
With no checks and balances on it whatsoever.
With a jet stream conveyor-belt right over us.
The scary part? China'll bring 1000 more coal-burning power plants online by 2030.
And all we do is debate.
Great.
You know, every glacier on the planet is melting.
All the shit that's in them, heavy metal and acid is just gonna come out.
We're all going to have to deal with it, because it's a small fucking world.
It's so small that you do something on one side and it affects everything.
It's gonna get worse, the Indian and the Chinese economy is about to explode, they've no environmental safeguards.
North America's not blameless in all of this.
We haven't even ratified Kyoto.
gases come from our cars.
There you go.
It's like the whole world is smoking this giant cigarette.
- Can I put this in the freezer? - Sure.
It's all about the money, right? Well, Mercury was the Roman God of Commerce.
The hypocrisy makes me want to puke.
- Hey, you made it! - Hey! You all know Milo.
Hey Milo, how do you want your burger? - I'm good, thank you.
- He's a vegan.
Sorry.
I forgot to mention.
Not a problem.
I think I've got an energy bar in my sock drawer.
It's a mind-body feedback loop.
Your brain thinks that the missing limb is still there.
The motor cortex, the language centres are still trying to contact the leg.
But the leg is gone, so when my brain sees the reflection of my healthy leg in place of the missing one It can finally achieve the feedback loop.
And if I'm lucky, after a dozen or so sessions, my brain will have realized that there is no leg there.
And if there's no leg there, there can be no pain.
Wow, it's sort of a neurological amputation of a phantom limb.
- There you go.
- It's amazing.
Really is.
- Good for you.
- Thank you.
Well, I've got some reports to read, so I've gotta get going.
- Bye.
Nice to see you again.
- Yeah you too.
Bye.
So how are you? I just got this from my son, Craig.
He's in Wyoming doing research on black bears.
What kind of research? I'm not sure what the project is this time.
He's an adrenaline junkie.
He wants to be as far outside the system as he can.
I know the type.
from Cairo to Cape Town.
Who does he get that from? You or your ex? I think he's running from the 2 of us as fast as he can.
- A refill? - No thanks, I gotta get going.
- Have a good night.
- You too.
And I can see all this interconnectedness, birds falling from the sky in Washington because of the heavy metal pollution spewing out of the smokestacks in China.
We're fucked.
Because the human community is only concerned with the next paycheck, the leaders with the next election, nobody's thinking long-term.
Humanity has to step up, assume responsibility, face the facts.
- Game over.
- Tilt.
Who wants to live in a world without hope? What do you do - if there's no hope? - Hope? Come on, Bob.
The human species only responds to catastrophy.
You gotta hold a blowtorch up to mankind's cheek if you wanna get any kind of response.
What do we do, David, to make a difference? I don't know, Bob.
Drive a Prius.
neurological amputation of a phantom limb.
- There you go.
- It's amazing.
Really is.
- Good for you.
- Thank you.
Well, I've got some reports to read, so I've gotta get going.
- Bye.
Nice to see you again.
- You too.
Bye.
- She knows all about us.
- Oh yeah? Like what? Like what is gonna happen next.
Come with me.
What's gonna happen next? A little top secret commando mission, maybe.
- I didn't think you were coming.
- C'mon.
Get in.
Oh, wait.
- What? - Ha! Nothing.
- Will you stop it? - What? Just come here.
Stop! I'm - I'm kind of wasted.
- Yeah, I noticed.
Wha Right here? Just you, me and Mother Nature.
Looks fine.
David! I have something that might be interesting for you.
An EPA Technician, who was wanted in connection with this massive land sale fraud, was just arrested in a Nevada brothel.
During questioning, the technician, Larry Hakchek, implicated a real What medications have you tried? Hang on a second.
Yes Well, is she still conscious? Yes, of course Thank you.
What's wrong? That was the hospital in Racine.
Joanna's in quarantine there.
She's infected with CDAD.
I still don't understand the difference between C.
Difficile and CDAD? Alright, C.
Difficile.
Just one of a whole number of bacteria living in our intestines.
Harmless, unless it's out of whack with other bugs inside us.
- If it's out of whack? - Then we have a problem.
It produces toxins that cause C.
Difficile Associated Disease.
- CDAD.
- Okay, so that's CDAD.
The C.
Difficile Associated Diseases can lead to pseudomembranous colitis.
Basically your colon swells shut.
Eventually nothing passes through, not even diarrhea.
How do we treat it? Well, in this case, it seems to be completely antibiotic-resistant.
Excuse me.
If this was to get out in the developing world, it would kill millions.
Oh Yeah.
We put in the call to the Centers for Disease Control about 11 days ago.
That's when we realized this wasn't any run-of-the-mill strain of CDAD.
- Joanna had just been assigned here.
- Yeah, exactly.
When did she begin to show symptoms? - 2 days ago.
- Anyone else? Well, we've got multiple cases but Dr.
Sabean seems to be hit the hardest.
- What antibiotics have you tried? - Vancomycin and metronidazole.
- Okay, what are we looking at? - Toxic megacolon.
Before you guys go in, there is one more thing that you should know.
What's that? We stopped hydrating Dr.
Sabean this morning.
- Blood in the stool? Stomach pain? - Yeah, both.
There's a definite constriction of the lower gastrointestinal tract, so we're keeping her closely monitored.
You guys want masks? Why, is it airborne? Fuck it.
There's a couple of pretty faces.
How are you feeling? Okay.
We're gonna get you back on your feet in no time.
Joanna, do you have any idea how you contracted it? Were you on antibiotics for anything? You don't have to be on antibiotics to get it.
I thought I did everything by the book, but I must have picked it up in here.
Jesus, you think an American hospital would know how to observe procedure.
David I fucked up, okay? They followed HICPAC isolation procedures down to the letter.
I just must have touched something.
- I got it in my system.
- How? - I don't know.
- Well, think Joanna.
I mean, - did you ingest something or - David.
I'm sorry.
I think what David's trying to say is, we don't like seeing you like this.
Well, I don't like being in here either, so What are you guys gonna do about it? We need to do 3 things.
First: find out why this C.
Difficile is antibiotic resistant.
Second: find something to fight it with.
Third: find out where it's coming from.
I'll get TIGR to sequence the genome, see if we can't figure out this antibiotic resistance problem.
Good.
I want Bob figuring out a way to kill this thing.
Alright, every antibiotic and cocktail possible tested.
We'll work up some kill curves? Tell him to keep elevating the concentrations until it dies.
- What about the source? - Get Mayko on it.
I got her access to all the patient's personal and medical records.
Have her find any and everything that connects them.
Right away.
Hola amigo.
How long have you been there? Awhile.
Still a tough guy to pin down.
Listen, I need to tell you something.
What? About us.
What it was for me.
- Christ, am I that sick? - Just let me say this.
Okay.
I never had a chance to tell you how much I appreciate what you did for me.
- A kick in the pants.
Big deal.
- No.
You gave me permission to be myself.
When I needed to go to Africa, you shot down my excuses.
And when I had to hurt you the most you let me go.
It's because I love you.
I always will.
I know that.
And I love you.
Gracias, mi angel.
Qui totum vult.
No, no.
You haven't lost anything.
I'm scared, Carlos.
Don't be.
We're going to beat this.
Okay? I tried to kill it, David.
Nothing kills it.
No amount of any antibiotic.
Nothing? - I'm going to send you the kill curves.
- I believe you.
It just means we haven't found what we're looking for yet.
Well, it's too big.
I'm gonna have to outsource some of the work.
You know I don't like to outsource work.
You can't trust other people's - protocols and procedures.
- I know, Bob.
- Well, I'll do it this time.
- Thank you, Bob.
Alright.
Sorry to barge in like this, but I didn't think you'd mind.
Good news? You be the judge.
Take a look at this C.
Difficile.
See, this merged image shows the in situ hybridization along with the morphology.
Wait a minute.
- Am I looking at 2 plasmids here? - Yeah, and I'm pretty sure that the one is carrying the virulence factors.
The other one's got the antibiotic resistant markers.
But how did this other plasmid get in there? We found a deletion in a number of the regulatory genes in this strain.
Do you remember the NAP1 strain? It was responsible for that outbreak a few years ago, wasn't it? Precisely.
Well, it had the same class of mutations.
Now, the NAP1 strain produced 23 times more toxins than anything we'd ever seen before.
And this new strain? Twice as potent as NAP1.
This thing is a toxin factory that cannot be killed.
- What? - We just finished running the tests.
Baby toys, books, bedpans.
Everything in that hospital, basically.
- Even the air ducts.
- Code Blue.
Room 104.
- And we found where it was hiding.
- Code Blue.
Room 104.
In a plant, David.
In the soil of a fucking potted plant.
Mums.
They were sold as a local fundraiser for Spina Bifida research.
Apparently, a local greenhouse supplied all the plants.
Do you want the address? Tell him we need some Epinephron right away, stat! David, are you still there? I'm shipping $175,000 worth of product.
I don't ship these plants in 24 hours, I'm dead.
And if you do, somebody else might be.
Escuche! Soy doctor.
Pensamos que la tierra es muy mala.
Might have the same thing as Joanna.
Listen! I support an entire village in Chiapas.
- What do you do for Mexico? - What do I do for Mexico?! There's millions of migrants working on farms in this state.
You can't turn it around all by yourself.
Tell them to send everything that they have, and then I'll Oh, my god! Are you okay? No, no, Bob, just leave it! What's wrong Bob? Everything is fine, Weston.