Previously on "The Irrational"...
Nearly all irrational behavior
is driven by our emotions.
It's nice to meet you, Izzy.
I had up to fifth-degree burns on 60% of me.
Got a couple sixes.
I survived. You will too.
Your scars won't have to feel like this.
You can come through this with a good life.
Do you know Professor Rachel Myers?
- Yeah. - She offered me a position.
I know. What happened was crazy.
But it's always crazy.
I have to tell you something,
and I don't want you to be upset or hurt.
You're taking the job with Rachel Myers.
You know what this means. You're number one now.
You'll have to help the professor choose a number two.
[ALLEN STONE'S "SUNNY DAYS]
♪ She's the wave that I am riding ♪
♪ The thunder to my lightning ♪
♪ She's the one and only cake that I am icing ♪
♪ Oh, something's coming over me ♪
[DOORBELL CHIMING]
♪ I'm obsessing ♪
I'll be right there.
♪ Head over feet ♪
♪ You know life ♪
♪ It ain't always ♪
Need access to my backyard again?
[GUNSHOTS]
[THUDDING]
[DRAMATIC MUSIC]
♪ ♪
Synced & corrected by -robtor- www.addic7ed.com
[LIGHT MUSIC]
♪ ♪
This place is ridiculous.
It doesn't even feel like a real school.
It's actually fun.
[LAUGHS] Thanks, Izzy.
Learning doesn't have to be boring.
It all depends on the approach.
I can't believe how fast they redid this place.
It's impressive.
I could say the same thing about you.
Look how much progress you've made in less than a year.
Thanks.
The doctors say I should be ready for laser therapy soon.
It's supposed to help with the scarring
and mobility issues too.
That's great news.
From what I've read, laser therapy works
on old scars too.
[CHUCKLES]
Ever thought about it for yourself?
I have not.
I can send you the studies.
Well...
how about I show you the cafeteria?
♪ ♪
[KNOCKING]
Sorry to bother you.
How was your visit with Izzy?
She's doing great.
Something tells me she's not the one
I should be worried about right now.
I think I finally found
the perfect person for our team.
He went to Stanford Undergrad, Northwestern Grad School.
Field of study is psychobiology,
which I thought was a fun, new perspective for our group.
And he's in the lounge right now.
It sounds great,
but why are you doing your nervous pacing thing?
[CHUCKLES]
It's Simon Wylton.
And I'm worried about hiring him because he's a Wylton,
and I'm worried about not hiring him
because he's a Wylton.
What part of him being a Wylton
actually factored into your decision?
None. The truth is I saw his last name was Wylton.
I didn't realize till our interview
that it was that Wylton.
Rizwan, you know what this department needs.
If you think he's the right person for the job,
let's give him a chance to prove it.
If there's any blowback, I can handle it.
Let's not keep him waiting.
Simon, good to see you.
It's been too long.
Alec... um, Professor Mercer,
it's great to see you too.
I'm kind of geeked out to be here.
This was always the most fun spot on campus.
Well, I've got some good news.
You're hired... starting now.
What? Really?
We do things a little differently around here.
You join the team for a week trial period,
learn the ropes, get acclimated.
And then after a week, we'll evaluate.
That sounds amazing. I, um... I won't let you down.
[PHONE RINGING]
Me? Uh, OK. [CHUCKLES]
Uh, hi. Um, Professor Mercer's phone.
Right, and is that Marisa with one S or two?
- I... I got it. - Oh.
- Thanks. - Sure.
Hey.
[SUSPENSEFUL MUSIC]
[INDISTINCT CHATTER]
[HELICOPTER ROTORS THRUMMING]
♪ ♪
- Hey. - Hey.
The victim is Serena Barton from Channel 4.
I guess that explains all of this.
Yep. It's not every day that
the face of the 11:00 news is the 11:00 news.
What happened?
Looks like a knock-knock burglary gone wrong.
But there were two similar murders
in two different states last week.
- This makes three. - You think they're linked?
I'm not big on coincidences,
especially when they cross state lines.
It's been a nightmare at the Bureau.
They bumped our SAC to the head of Intelligence
but haven't found us new leadership.
With no one steering the ship,
I could use all the help I can get.
Any guesses who your new boss is gonna be?
Knowing the FBI, it'll probably be
the safest, most boring choice.
Wow.
Detective Brown, meet Alec Mercer.
He's consulting on the case.
- Hi. - Eric Dent.
Works with Secure View Sentries.
They provide security for a lot of the houses in the area.
He was first on scene after the murder.
Yeah, one of our clients heard gunshots next door,
hit the panic button.
I followed protocol.
I didn't see anyone suspicious in the area,
but the front door to this house was ajar.
That's how I found the body.
Eric gave us backend access to Serena's doorbell camera.
Forensics is analyzing it now.
Thanks, Eric. I can walk you out.
Yeah, sure.
We know if anything was stolen yet?
A few of the drawers were rummaged through.
Brown talk to Serena's husband.
He said the only items missing were an amethyst geode
and a high-end pair of sneakers.
A rock and some sneakers?
Mm-hmm.
It looks like our robber wasn't very good at robbing.
Which leads me to believe that
the robbery was just a pretext.
The whole point of a knock-knock burglary
is to make sure that someone is not home
so that you can clean house without confrontation.
In all three cases,
our killer was knocking to make sure someone was home.
So he could kill them?
Exactly. And not only that.
The killer smashed her veneers, same as the other two.
You think this is a serial killer?
It has all the earmarks of one.
Except one.
Serial killers target people they think won't be missed
because they have one goal, to keep on killing.
Why would a serial killer target a high-profile victim?
[SUSPENSEFUL MUSIC]
[DOORBELL RINGS]
Everything OK? Can I help...
[GUNSHOTS]
♪ ♪
Who's going to talk to the reporters?
I guess I'm going to have to do it.
- Here she comes. - Excuse me.
We are still assessing
whether this murder is related to the previous murders.
Are you saying this is a serial killer?
We don't know that yet.
What about the people at home? Should we be scared?
We should take the same precautions we always do.
Is it definitely a city worker?
Who is he targeting?
I understand that you're worried.
There are a lot of unknowns.
But this is my community too,
and you can trust me when I say that
we are taking every single measure possible
to find this individual and bring them to justice.
♪ ♪
Now exhale slowly to the count of five.
[SOFT MUSIC]
Now repeat.
Meditative breathing not only soothes the soul,
but helps with critical thinking and productivity.
And one final round.
[SINGING BOWL RINGING]
♪ ♪
Great job, tribe.
Professor Myers, I just have to say,
I love our morning meditation.
Before this, I could barely sit still for five seconds.
Me neither. [LAUGHS]
Turns out I just had to find the right practice.
- And the right place. - Mm.
The last few months have been incredible,
but I'm ready to take on more responsibilities.
Is there anything that I can take off your plate?
You're a worker bee.
And that's commendable, but trust the process.
Let me set the pace.
Of course. You're right.
[CHUCKLES]
- Hey, Phoebe. - Hey, Ava.
I hope this doesn't sound weird,
but I overheard your convo with Rachel.
And I know she doesn't really encourage collaboration,
but I was wondering if you could look at a paper that I'm writing.
Of course. I'd love to help.
Yeah? Cool.
Send it my way. I'll take a look.
OK.
A serial killer?
- For real? - I don't know.
Real serial killers...
the ones sensationalized by the media, anyway...
they're extremely rare nowadays.
There's cameras everywhere,
and it's hard not to get caught.
Their whole goal is not to get caught.
But this guy goes to houses with cameras.
I mean, why take that risk?
- Hey. - Hi.
Hey.
Saw you on the news earlier.
Gotta say, you did your thing, sis.
You were great.
Well, it didn't feel great.
Public speaking is really not my thing.
You could have fooled us.
I might have eased the crowd,
but people need answers.
They want to know that the next knock on their door
isn't gonna be a serial killer, and I can't promise that.
- I'm gonna check in with Brown. - [PHONE CHIMES]
See if they found anything else in forensics.
I... I know.
Damn.
Remind me to never send you a text again.
[SIGHS] Izzy sent some articles.
Uh, she's thinking about getting
the scar revision procedures.
She thought I might be interested.
Are you?
[SIGHS] With what time?
If I'm not here,
I'm doing my research at Wylton,
and I can't take a year off.
Mm-hmm.
Is that what you tell Izzy?
Look, with Izzy, it's different.
She's got the rest of her life ahead of her
and the chance to change it.
She can afford to take a year off.
The risks are low. The benefits are high.
With me, on the other hand...
I talked to Brown.
He thinks they caught the killer.
His name is Carlos Perez.
He's a construction worker,
builds sewer lines for the city.
Worked in Serena Barton's neighborhood.
Giving him easy access.
I got an eyewitness that said she saw a construction worker
run out of Serena's right after the gunshots.
She ID'd Perez this morning.
- You use a lineup? - Of course.
That neighborhood is busy with construction.
There could have been at least 25 men with the same outfit.
Yeah, but this one did five years for burglary.
And check his socials.
He has some sort of resentment toward the rich.
OK.
A few tweets hating on the rich.
Do you have any physical evidence, DNA or...
We're still combing through everything.
But in my experience, if it walks like a duck...
It doesn't necessarily make it a duck.
It could be negativity bias, which causes people
to judge their present situations
based on their past negative experiences.
Mm.
You saying I'm bad at my job?
- I... - [LAUGHS]
You were right to call in Perez,
but according to this,
he hasn't committed a crime in over 10 years.
That we know of.
Look, I've seen this a million times.
Criminals, they fall off the wagon,
and they go back to the life.
Still, to jump from some burglaries in 2010
to multiple homicides now is a huge leap.
I told you, I have an eyewitness.
This eyewitness, how sure is she about what she saw?
100%.
She didn't second-guess herself once.
You mind if we talk to Perez?
He's in holding. Be right back.
100% sure.
That's exactly the problem.
What are you thinking?
I'll tell you what.
How about you talk to Carlos?
What you gonna do?
An experiment.
[TENSE MUSIC]
I did a lot of awful things I'm not proud of.
And my world got really small.
But I'm 11 years clean and sober
ever since I went in.
What was your method?
B&E, smash and grab?
Reseller?
I was high out of my mind.
There wasn't a system.
I was just surviving, you know?
Are these your socials?
OK, that was over a year ago.
I don't even use that account anymore.
Trust me, if you had my job,
you'd want to blow off some steam once in a while too.
But I had nothing to do with that murder.
Where were you on Wednesday afternoon then?
Across town, eating lunch in Nottoway Park.
Look, I'm no saint.
I did a lot of messed up stuff when I was using.
But I didn't do this.
♪ ♪
[SUSPENSEFUL MUSIC]
Quick pop quiz.
Out of all the 12 cards, how many spades are there?
- Three. - Three.
Are you sure about that?
Look closely.
There are five in total.
1, 2, 3, 4, 5.
We don't count the two red spades,
only the three black.
Our mind sees what it expects to see.
Hey, I saw you hitting on my girlfriend.
- Don't lie. - I would never do that.
- Please just chill out! - No way!
I want you to admit it.
I want you to admit it right now, or you're gonna regret it.
Well... hey, someone stop him.
He took my phone!
♪ ♪
So now that I got your hearts racing a little bit...
the crime you just saw,
I'm gonna ask you some questions about it.
[INDISTINCT CHATTER]
OK, get ready to lock in your answers.
What type of bag was Rizwan holding?
Was it a backpack, a duffel bag, or a laptop bag?
Go.
♪ ♪
Remember the guy that was yelling at Rizwan?
What color was his shirt?
Was it yellow, green, or blue?
♪ ♪
OK, last one.
What kind of hat was the thief wearing?
This one's open-ended.
♪ ♪
Now, from zero to 100%,
how sure are you of your answers?
♪ ♪
Wow, so some of you were 100% sure.
Thanks to a hidden camera,
we can see what it actually was.
It was a laptop bag, a green shirt,
and that last question was a trick one.
He wasn't wearing a hat.
So let's see the results.
Only 15% of you got all three answers right.
Under stress, people are often wrong.
Even so, some are quick to judge,
and they will say that they are 100% sure.
And someone who is 100% sure can only be sure of one thing,
that they are overconfident.
Stress can affect how our short-term memories
are encoded into our long-term ones.
Almost moments after a stressful event happens,
we start forgetting.
That's why witness stress
leads to less accurate eyewitness accounts.
I know you don't want to hear this,
but there is not enough evidence to convict Carlos.
There is now.
Some new evidence came in today.
Carlos said he wasn't in the neighborhood
the day of Serena Barton's murder.
Right.
Eyewitnesses make mistakes,
but cameras don't.
[TENSE MUSIC]
OK, I was in the neighborhood,
but I swear I didn't kill anyone.
Carlos, I told my friend Alec here
that I'm inclined to believe you,
but we are the only ones on your side.
If you don't tell us the truth,
you could be convicted for four murders.
OK. OK, I lied.
But I was there to see a woman.
[TENSE MUSIC]
Her husband's a cop. If he knew, he'd kill me.
What's her name?
Bree Garland.
We met about a year ago
at a bar called the Bronze Rabbit.
I knew she was married,
but she said she was over with him,
that it wasn't a real marriage, you know, that kind of thing.
You still seeing each other?
On and off.
After a few months, she broke it off.
But then a... a few weeks later, she called me.
The last time we hooked up was
the day the newscaster was killed.
After that, she called it off again.
It's called limerence.
It can seem like love, but it's more like obsession.
People can get a high from it.
The problem is, when limerence wanes,
so does their interest.
If you're telling us the truth,
Bree could alibi you, right?
Please, if her husband finds out, he'll kill me.
I'd rather be in prison.
So we talk to her where we won't find him.
It's a marriage in name only.
I'm leaving him.
Why do I have the feeling you've said that line before?
Carlos Perez.
Oh.
That's what this is about.
He says that he was with you
the day Serena Barton was murdered.
Are you his lawyer?
I'm kind of lawyer-adjacent.
If I alibi him in court,
my husband will kill me, for real.
Mm.
You could sign an affidavit in private.
I'll think about it.
When people have trouble making decisions,
the default position is do nothing, rather than act.
But in this case, inaction is a very real action.
[TENSE MUSIC]
Carlos will go to prison
for four murders he didn't commit
for the rest of his life.
The real killer will keep on killing people.
Can you live with that?
♪ ♪
Hey, Mom.
Yeah, I just got off.
Yeah, I know, I know.
Dentist appointment tomorrow morning.
Yeah, the one by the old karate studio, right?
[CHUCKLES] Don't worry.
I did not forget.
OK, love you.
[GUNSHOTS]
[THUDDING]
Scott? Scott!
Honey, please answer me.
Oh, gosh. Scott, please.
You're scaring me!
[POLICE RADIO CHATTER]
[INDISTINCT CHATTER]
[SIREN WAILING]
I appreciate the ride, Simon,
but you don't have to come to the crime scene.
- No, I... I want to. - You're sure?
I might be able to help.
I did my, uh... my thesis
on the, uh, psychobiology of psychopaths.
I've never seen a serial killer IRL, though.
IRL. I hope you never do.
Hey, you brought Simon.
Isn't he new?
He wants to help.
Well, the CSI techs are still working the crime scene.
Ballistics match the other murders
and the teeth-kicking ritual.
One of the common brain abnormalities in serial killers
is a reduction in size and activity,
the prefrontal cortex.
Causes them to be more obsessive-compulsive.
Er, exactly. Yeah, they, uh, they live for a pattern.
Shooting a blue-collar kid in the middle of the street is...
[CLEARS THROAT] It's off pattern
if you've been shooting the rich on their front doorsteps.
[GULPS] So, in my opinion...
[CLEARS THROAT] I'm sorry.
[CLEARS THROAT]
[RETCHING, COUGHING]
That's a normal biochemic reaction
to seeing a murder victim up close.
He has a good point, though.
Serial killers don't change their MO.
The MO is the point.
So you're still not convinced it's a serial killer?
At least not the traditional kind.
There's a reason he's choosing the victims he's choosing.
We just need to figure out what it is.
[CRICKETS CHIRPING]
[KEYS CLACKING]
[KNOCKING]
I was just emailing you.
Your paper is great.
- Really? - Really.
You have a lot of interesting findings.
OK, good. Yeah.
I have been working on it for almost a year.
Just... uh, just a few small comments and one thought.
The title doesn't really do it justice.
What?
You don't like "Improving Idiosyncratic Fit
Across a Multitude of Chat Clients"?
Maybe something more fun.
AI's role is to help us find the perfect product,
so maybe, um,
a play on finding the perfect fit.
Um, how about "The Glass Slipper"?
Oh.
Yes, I love that.
Uh, hey, chatbot, find me my glass slipper.
Yes, that's it. That's the one.
That's so good.
[SOFT MUSIC]
♪ I'm always lurking with people ♪
♪ Looking for a... ♪
[RATTLING]
- Hey. - Hey.
Oh, I'm starving.
What in the "Magic: The Gathering" is going on?
I'm trying to find a pattern among our victims.
[SIGHS]
This shade of blue stimulates creativity,
and the cards are a way of tricking my mind
into finding connections,
like our brain does with playing cards,
like suits or numbers.
Or tarot arcana.
OK.
That's pretty clever, but in my experience,
pattern finding is much easier on a full stomach.
Nice.
[LAUGHS]
So I've been reading up on those laser treatments
that Izzy mentioned.
It seems legit.
You know, that new stuff that they're doing is really exciting.
Yeah.
Izzy seems really hopeful about it.
I'm not talking about Izzy.
You remember when you tried to teach me how to swim?
I was seven, and the only thing I hated more than raisins
was the deep end of the pool.
And it terrified me, but you
showed me that it wasn't so scary and that...
Ah.
I know what you're getting at,
but it's not the same thing.
So please, just leave it.
♪ ♪
Ugh!
Why?
They put cilantro on my fried rice.
Cilantro city here too.
This is gonna taste like soap.
You can blame OR6A2 for that.
OR-who?
OR6A2.
It's our cilantro-hating gene.
Wait a second.
[SUSPENSEFUL MUSIC]
Mm-mm.
You're doing the whole "Beautiful Mind" thing again.
♪ ♪
It's their genes.
Our killer's signature was to smash their teeth in.
And it turns out nearly all of our victims
have had extensive dental work.
You think their bad teeth is a genetic condition,
like our cilantro gene?
Maybe.
[PHONE KEYS CLICKING]
Amelogenesis imperfecta.
It causes abnormal enamel formation,
and it is hereditary.
Our victims, I think they're somehow related.
OK, thanks, Rizwan. Let me know.
Simon didn't show up for work this morning.
Is it too early for I told you so?
I'm not ready to give up on the kid just yet.
Fine.
How about you were right?
All five victims were siblings...
donor siblings, to be exact,
conceived at a donor clinic in DC,
which leads us to sperm donor number 3462.
Number 3462 cleans up nicely.
Steve Thomas.
Apparently he invented something called Map Moves,
paved the way for all the navigation apps that we use today.
It still doesn't answer the central question.
Why would anyone want these siblings dead?
Maybe donor dad has some answers.
[SUSPENSEFUL MUSIC]
Hi. Angelo Petrillo.
I hear you're Steve's attorney.
How long have you known him?
Well, we go way back, Yale Undergrad.
Just a couple of scrappy scholarship kids
trying to fit in.
But Steve was different.
He was a machine.
He took twice the number of credits required in a semester.
Mm, sperm donations paid for his meal plan.
What happened to him?
Well, he never stopped being that machine.
He worked seven days a week with only three hours of sleep.
Eventually, his lifestyle caught up to him.
He had a stroke and then another.
That's when I got the call saying he made me
executor of his estate.
Asked me to divide his fortune among his biological children.
Giving you access to a secret list of donor kids,
the same list that the killer is using to target his victims.
Hey, legally, I'm not allowed access
to any of that information until Steve passes.
Those records are sealed until then.
What about their inheritance? Is it substantial?
Yeah, like I said, I don't know how many kids he has,
but either way,
$50 million isn't exactly chump change.
No, it isn't, but it's definitely motive for murder.
What we're dealing with here is similar to a tontine.
A ton-who?
Back in World War I,
soldiers would pool their money,
and the ones that survived the war would split the pot.
The more deaths, the bigger the share for the survivors.
OK, that's bleak.
Steve unknowingly created a tontine amongst his children.
They weren't raised together, so they were strangers to one another.
You run the numbers. $50 million split evenly among, say,
20 kids, that's $2.5 million.
And with each murder, the share increases.
Now, with five kids dead,
the killer would get a million more dollars.
That's a geometric progression.
Each death becomes more valuable than the last.
A huge incentive for someone wanting to win big.
[PHONE BUZZING]
It's the donor clinic.
They've tracked down all the donor kids.
One of them is probably the next victim.
Not only that.
One of them is probably the killer.
[SUSPENSEFUL MUSIC]
Phoebe? Hey.
I was in the neighborhood.
Thought I'd say hi.
How's Professor Myers?
She keeping you busy?
Uh, yeah.
I mean, it's super low-key,
but it's good for my stress levels.
We, uh, do daily meditations.
Seriously?
You once told me your definition of hell
was doing nothing for 10 minutes.
Hmm.
- I'm working my way up to 3 minutes. - [CHUCKLE]
So it's about the intention.
[PAPERS RUSTLING]
Are you OK?
Uh, of course.
Then why did you mark this student's name as incorrect?
[SIGHS]
Honestly,
I hired a new RA on a trial basis.
OK.
He called in sick today, his third day.
Maybe he is sick.
Professor said he freaked out at the crime scene.
Professor said that?
OK, not those exact words, but today he's a no-show.
I'm putting together profiles of the donor's siblings.
Donor siblings?
It's a new case we're on.
And I'm grading last week's papers
and prepping the professor's lecture for tomorrow... alone.
That's a lot to do alone.
[SIGHS]
I met with dozens of qualified candidates.
I could have chosen anyone else.
I think I messed up, picked the wrong one.
OK.
You must have chosen this guy for a reason, right?
You weighed the pros and cons?
Yes, I did everything you said.
Well, that's the purpose of a trial week, right?
See if he's a good fit for you, if you're a good fit for him.
Even if the answer is no, that's OK.
Maybe you just need to trust the process.
[UPBEAT MUSIC]
It will be OK, Rizwan.
Look at you all Zen.
The meditation is totally working.
♪ ♪
As for your other problem, how about I grade the papers,
you work the case,
and we organize the lecture together?
- Really? - Of course. I'm on my lunch break.
That gives us an hour.
We've done far more in less.
♪ ♪
- Wait. - You're saying someone is...
Trying to kill me?
And you think I did this?
I was in the hospital.
I was at my kid's soccer practice.
In Paris.
Screw where I was!
You dragged us in here
and make us answer a million questions,
but what are you doing to protect us?
Everyone, including this guy with an attitude,
has an alibi for at least one of the murders.
Which means they're all potential targets, right?
I'm going to notify Brown.
Keep them under police protection.
What?
It took us forever to get this list of siblings,
and that was with a warrant signed by a judge.
How did our killer get their hands on it?
[SUSPENSEFUL MUSIC]
[CHUCKLES]
Genetic testing.
Sites like Two DNA Chains help the FBI
find killers through their living relatives.
You think our killer is using one of these sites
to track down their siblings?
Or they could have used all of them.
I mean, that's what I would do.
The siblings were scattered through several sites,
but one person showed up related to all of them.
Did you get a name?
A username.
It's pretty generic.
Ed33.
You have to upload your DNA to these sites,
right, to get a match?
Which means all we have to do is get a warrant,
and then we have our suspect's DNA.
Simon, you're here.
Yeah.
Um, sorry about earlier.
I'm feeling a lot better now, though.
No worries.
There, uh, anything you want to talk about?
No, I'm good. Thanks.
I just want to focus on the case.
Any news?
We've been tasked with getting DNA samples
from all the donor siblings
who aren't on any of the genetic sites,
see if their DNA matches up with our suspect's.
So far, they've all consented.
Which is good and bad news, right?
I mean, if I were the killer,
I probably wouldn't consent to a DNA swab.
I'm betting we don't get a match.
[SIGHS] It just doesn't track.
Only an heir to Steve's fortune
would want their siblings dead, right?
So it has to be one of the donor siblings we met.
[SUSPENSEFUL MUSIC]
What if we're all getting so caught up
in the high-tech biology, we're missing a simple fact?
Steve was once a young biological machine
with sexual drives.
You're right.
Steve was a tech disruptor, super risk prone, right?
He could have brought that lack of caution
to his own sex life, fathered an illegitimate son.
Or it was just the '80s.
[LAUGHS] True.
I'll call the professor.
[SOFT MUSIC]
♪ ♪
You were asking for more to do.
I've got the perfect assignment.
- Really? - Yeah.
I've been working on a grant proposal,
so I need you to proof it and suggest edits.
- I'd be happy to. - Wonderful.
It's for a study in how AI can improve
the consumer experience, particularly with online shopping.
Take a look. See for yourself.
The title's pretty cute, right?
The Glass Slipper is a nice touch.
It's great.
♪ ♪
Detective, I got your message.
You said there was a new development?
I was working protection detail for one of the siblings,
Jack Polanski.
I parked here a few houses down, and that's when I saw him.
Are you sure it was him?
He was wearing the vest and everything.
I mean, he walked up to the house,
was about to ring the doorbell, and then he stopped.
Something spooked him.
- You get a look at his face? - I couldn't see.
By the time I got close enough,
the guy jumped into his service truck and took off.
Don't worry. I got... I got a photo of his plate.
We're running the plates now, but it'll take a second.
Some kind of technician?
Can't quite make out the initials.
That damaged back bumper looks familiar.
It was at Serena's house,
the... the SVS patrol officer we met.
- Eric Dent. - You think it was him?
Quick way to find out.
[PHONE RINGS]
Hey, Alec, what's up?
Can you look up an Eric Dent, D-E-N-T,
from Secure View Sentries?
Try and find a picture of him smiling.
I got you.
[KEYS CLACKING]
Hmm.
He doesn't smile in any of his pics.
Let me try his work profile.
[KEYS CLACKING]
[SUSPENSEFUL MUSIC]
Damn.
I see why he's so angry.
Those teeth.
It's the amelogenesis imperfecta. I'll call you back.
Eric may not be a donor sibling,
but he is a sibling.
And just as much an heir as the others.
But if he made me, he'll go underground, disappear.
He's come too far to bail now.
Something called goal gradient shows us that
when people get close to the finish line,
it's nearly impossible for them to stop.
It's irrational, but Eric's invested.
He's got to end this.
And if I'm right... [SIGHS]
He's got one more person to kill.
[TENSE MUSIC]
Security cameras are still on.
I just tried Steve's lawyer.
It went to voicemail.
Kylie did a deep dive on Eric.
His mother was a waitress.
She had one-night stand with Steve
decades ago.
She died last year... cancer.
Eric's grief could be fueling his resentment.
It's not about money anymore.
We need to protect Steve.
Alec, stay here.
SWAT should be arriving soon.
If you see anything, call me.
Don't try to Jedi mind-trick this guy.
Let's check the house.
[SUSPENSEFUL MUSIC]
♪ ♪
[KNOCKING]
♪ ♪
[CLICKING]
Clear.
[GASPS]
FBI.
We're just checking to make sure everything is OK.
Power went out.
Mr. Thomas's machines.
- What happened? - We're not sure.
Why didn't you answer the door?
I had my headphones on.
He doesn't get too many visitors.
Battery backup won't last more than an hour.
We need to get him to a hospital.
- It's safer there. - I'll call an ambulance.
Hopefully it gets here before Eric does.
He probably shorted the power.
Chances are he's already here.
[SUSPENSEFUL MUSIC]
♪ ♪
It's over, Eric.
You're too late.
The FBI is already inside.
Wait, wait.
Like you care?
You don't know me.
I do know you.
I know that your mother struggled to take care of you,
but she did the best she could.
My mother?
My mom would be here right now if she had the money,
all the money that he could have given her!
She would.
It's not fair what you went through.
I'm guessing she told you about your father before she died.
I went to him.
I told him who I was.
He said he'd take care of me, just like he was
taking care of the rest of the test tube babies,
as if we were the same.
It's not right!
It's not right.
That's when you looked them up, and you saw
how much better they were living.
- It hurt you. - He owes me!
The only thing I wanted from that man is what I'm due!
I understand, Eric,
but after the first few murders,
you knew you weren't getting that money.
But you couldn't stop.
You resented them, and you hated him.
But you're not just your father's son.
You're your mother's too.
You were there for her.
You put her life before your own.
Now the question is, who are you gonna be?
The person who lives in the shadow of their father
or the person your mother knew and loved?
And will you live long enough to prove it?
[SUSPENSEFUL MUSIC]
♪ ♪
Eric Dent, you're under arrest.
[ELEVATOR BELL DINGS]
[LIGHT MUSIC]
♪ ♪
Hey, Kylie, what's up?
Now, I probably shouldn't be telling you this,
but I can't keep it to myself.
Guess who is being tapped to be the head of your department.
I hope it's not Ned in Narcotics.
No.
It's you.
♪ ♪
How do... how do you know that?
Uh, let's just say...
upgrading all the FBI's computers to a new email system
has its perks.
You're the new boss, Boss.
Honestly, nobody deserves it more than you.
[ELEVATOR BELL DINGS]
[INDISTINCT CHATTER PLAYING ON SPEAKER]
[KNOCKING]
Come in.
Uh, you're busy.
I'll come back.
No, no, no, no, no, it's fine.
[BEEPING]
[CHIMING, POWERING DOWN]
People say that noise is bad,
but studies have found that noise on this level
increases alertness to the brain
and boosts performance,
which is why people write in coffee shops.
Or it's because the caffeine stimulates
dopamine release, which improves motivation
and increases divergent thinking.
That's another influence.
But you didn't come here to talk about coffee.
No.
Um, today's the last day of my seven-day trial.
Before you make any decision, I just wanted to be honest.
The other morning when I said that I was sick,
I wasn't.
I lied.
The crime scene.
It was a lot.
And I wasn't sure I'd be able to do this job,
let alone do it right.
Crime scenes are upsetting.
I'd be more worried if it didn't bother you,
considering your family's history
and your brother's accident.
It wasn't about that.
Look, you and I both know what it's like
to have the worst thing that's ever happened to us
replayed over and over again on the evening news.
OK, maybe it was a little about that.
But still, I was dishonest.
I didn't show up for you. I left Rizwan in the lurch.
It was wrong.
[LAUGHS]
I guess Detective Brown isn't the only one
with a negativity bias.
What do you mean?
You're so worried about the things you did wrong
that you're forgetting about all the things you did right.
You pulled off your performance for that experiment.
You brought valuable insight to the crime scene.
And best of all,
you helped us track down Eric Dent.
Simon, that was your first week.
And I know you can do the job, but the question is,
do you want to?
I do.
Very much.
I swear.
Well, then, young one...
welcome to the team.
♪ There are no answers ♪
♪ There are only questions ♪
I was talking to Simon about negativity bias
when I realized I was guilty of the same thing.
I was so scared of reliving my past,
being back in that hospital,
that I wasn't giving myself a fair shot at the future.
You were right.
I'm not too busy to consider laser therapy.
I was just lost in my own negativity bias.
But for good reason.
I mean, it's not like being in the hospital was
a walk in the park.
Those surgeries, they were hard and painful.
So call it bias if you want, but I get it.
Still, I know better now.
You do.
Look, if you want to get the treatments, I support you.
And if you don't, that's cool too.
You know I got your back no matter what.
I just don't want you to miss out on life
because of fear.
And you would want the same for me.
In a heartbeat.
[KNOCKING]
You order something else?
Guess who I invited over.
Hey.
Heard there was an order for an extra side of cilantro.
I'm just kidding. I brought dessert.
[LAUGHTER]
Thank you. Come on in.
You must be the famous Izzy.
I've heard so much about you.
Same. It's so good to finally meet you.
I thought Izzy could come around for dinner
to help me weigh the pros and cons of the treatment.
Now, that's what I like to hear.
I'm very lucky to have this one as a sister.
[CHUCKLES]
I know.
[LAUGHTER]
Now let's eat.
All right.
[VOCALIZING]
♪ ♪