Hi.
My name is merritt try on.
I'm 27 years old,
and when you're as big as me, not much fits,
but I think I am the perfect fit for your show.
- No, do not do it... - Mom.
Like that.
No.
- No, no, no. You sound a mess. - Mom, please.
You-you-you sound stiff, like a robot.
"My name is merritt.
This is my story."
And why you got this filthy hospital curtain up here?
Okay, it's my backdrop.
Let's record again.
Do not interrupt me.
Okay, Ms. Diahann car roll.
I won't say nothing.
Take two.
Ever since I was a little girl,
I've had a problem with food.
I mean, or...
At least, what I thought was a problem.
It was what I ran to when I felt scared or sad...
Or trapped.
But I'm starting to realize that maybe
that food wasn't the only problem.
It was that anxiety and depression
Christ on a cracker.
All right, you're done.
Thank you. No, thank you.
Merritt, why do you have to debase yourself? Why?
- They want a story. - Tell them how smart you are.
Tell them you graduated at 16.
Tell them you got a perfect score on the sat.
Want to know why? That is a story.
They don't want to hear that, okay?
They-they want to hear about adversity and hardship.
Okay, I have seen a lot of victims in my life, merritt,
and believe me when I tell you, baby, you are not one of them.
Well, you can go. Thank you.
Please, go.
I will.
Let the goddamn light in and let everybody see
how wretched and horrible your life is.
All right, go.
You're still here... So that's funny.
Okay, baby girl, I'm-a go.
But mama is literally cooking you up something
you gonna love.
So, wait. Let me get this straight.
You're making me a turducken.
You bet.
- Wow. - We have the makings of
a fresh full-fat Turkey
with a layer of andouille sausage stuffing,
then, a very good muscovy duck,
carefully deboned and gently placed
within the Turkey's cavity.
And then last, but certainly not least,
an organic free-range motherfucking chicken
within that,
all layered with this andouille sausage stuffing,
if you dare.
I dare.
How did you learn how to make a turducken,
and why did you wait so long?
Listen, I told you,
I would help you actualize your dreams
of worldwide fame.
This dish has over 12,000 calories,
so if you eat that over four days, that's, like...
It's like 3,000 a day.
Ding, ding, ding.
But I intend to eat this in one,
possibly two days.
Here's the deal.
You don't give me shit about what I like to drink.
Understand me?
Vodka, martinis, any of it.
In exchange, I'll help you
get where you want to be, weight-wise.
Take it or leave it.
It's a deal.
Can I watch you make it?
Can you fill 'er up first?
I don't want to get raw poultry on the vodka bottle.
You'll love this next part.
This is where it gets delicate.
You need steady hands,
like those of a trauma surgeon.
We got to make it look like a Turkey again,
not flattened roadkill.
So, we
sew up the back.
Then we truss the fowl, like roping a calf.
And finally, a simple shoelace knot, and voilà,
one engastrated Turkey.
Wow.
Wait. I'm sorry, you said, "castrated"?
Engastrated.
It means the remains of one animal
are stuffed inside of another animal.
How do you even know that?
Lately, I can't sleep at night,
so I read cookbooks, girl.
That's interesting.
Well, how long is this thing gonna take,
because I think I will need a snack.
Will you now?
About three hours.
But if that's too hard for you,
I can make you an omelet or something.
Ooh, yeah. What kind?
I think we got some morels left.
A little mascarpone, a little Jack.
Pour mama another drink, could you?
This is the greatest thing ever invented,
and the kindest thing you've ever done for me.
You know, I was gonna make
cherries jubilee for desert, but I can't.
That's okay.
I'm gonna have some more of that turducken for dessert.
Okay.
So, what's this all about?
I mean
you used to put out a frozen lasagne,
- if anything. - Okay, relax.
Now, my domestic skills, I admit,
were slow to develop.
I do miss your father's cooking, though.
All those layered flavors.
See? I knew you missed him.
I know you miss him. You have to.
Okay, I miss certain things about him
that made me stay as long as I did.
I mean, those are things from long, long ago.
That's nostalgia, baby.
Well, tell me the story
- of how you and daddy met. - My god.
Why do you want to hear that story again?
Because I want to hear it again.
I've told you this a thousand times before.
Make it a thousand and one.
- Okay, okay. - Thank you.
I was working in riverside near the university.
Taking classes during the day, working at night.
Ooh, I loved being there.
I could've done this for a living.
And Marshall comes in with his students,
like, every Friday night,
which I start really looking forward to.
Into the real. That's when the truth
I got you some extra dumplings.
You're a goddess, Lois. You're a goddess.
And was la can right in his notion
that we are the words we speak?
Lois, are we not the words we speak?
You're a wise woman.
I don't know about that, but I do think
you get the face you earn and the ass you work for
as you get older.
Who had the extra chili paste?
You? You want one, too?
Your kindness is noted.
I love his table.
His students love him.
They light up the place, laughing, happy.
Now, where were we?
Cheers, Ms. Lois.
To the end of the day and the end of the night.
And he would stay after so we could talk.
We loved it.
Maybe we were the words we speak.
That's good.
Wait a minute,
I saw you on campus the other day, didn't I?
You... you're a student there, aren't you?
I am, indeed.
My daddy wants me to be a lawyer,
and I'm straining to be interested. Pre-law.
Why don't you just change your major to something else?
Like philosophy?
I love philosophy.
I know you do.
People need it.
They don't realize it, but they do.
I am interested in the law,
just not interpreting it, parsing it, using it.
I would much rather defend it.
You the lone ranger in this mad, bad world.
- You bad, girl. - Yes.
There is something about
the idea of a woman with a badge and a gun.
It's just... powerful.
I agree.
We should go on a date.
- When? What? - Now.
Right now. Now more than ever, baby.
Ooh.
And then we were together.
Nobody looked at me like he did.
Ooh, ooh.
Be careful.
I told you I would be done with this puzzle
before dinner was ready.
You did, you did.
The last piece is never as much fun as the first.
I think every piece is fun for you.
You know, you should be a detective.
You'd be wasted as a lawyer.
Maybe.
You don't want to waste
that little squirrel brain of yours on torts
and depositions, no.
You like to get... Underneath that,
you like to root around in the dark...
Ha! Cheers to that.
Let me get up there by this food.
It's too hot over there.
Oof. You ready?
And he was so right.
All I've ever wanted
was to live in a universe of order.
Solve all the chaos.
I don't, I don't know how he knew that about me
right away, but he did.
Truth is, I know what it is now. I'm...
Hypervigilant.
I see everything, everywhere.
It's no fun.
You listen to me.
You be on guard to be careful
about what love can do.
It can turn a soft soul hard or a hard soul soft
when it needs to be brutal.
That makes me sad for you, mommy.
It is sad.
But it's also survivable.
God. All of it.
All of it's survivable.
I just don't know whether or not that's a good thing.
So, what? You just...
You-you curl up like a pill bug and... And die?
Sometimes, obviously.
Well... I know I'm not allowed to,
speak of your drinking, but does that apply to,
all love or... Just romantic love?
If you're asking me if I love you,
most days I do.
And even when I can't, I want to.
- Stop drinking. - Stop eating.
Mom. Mom!
Answer the phone.
That could be the hospital calling about dad.
Hello?
Lo, it's cranburn.
It's five, we have another body.
Text me where.
Fuck me.
Y-Yep.
Let's do it.
I don't know. It's like a Frankenstein.
How did they even get in there to do that?
Just slow down, officer. Would you?
The doors, the exits are closed inside.
There's no signs of b&e.
I got it.
Okay.
What is it?
Let me think.
Who are they?
- Who are...? - The body parts.
Son, who do they belong to?
We don't know. We don't know.
The DNA will take a few days.
Can somebody cut that music off?
And these fucking lights! Jesus!
We're working on it right now.
We have to locate the controls somewhere
Lois, it's a, it's a crime scene,
you can't just
Lois, you cannot be here.
Not like this.
I can't be here?
Can this be here, Jack?
'Cause it is.
That shit is real.
And it's right in front of our eyes, Jack.
You are not in control.
You reek of vodka, which is hard to do.
Lo. Stay away.
Go home. Sleep it off.
I'm sorry, but I have a duty to the force,
to the community.
Exactly who in the community do you have a duty to, Jack?
Jessica holt?
Is that who you're talking about?
You got a duty to her?
Drea rhymes? Nini Lynn-Taylor?
- Danny cotter? - W-What...?
- Who-who are you talking about? - Them!
The body parts.
How dare you not know who they are!
Drea... Was a part of the broadside motel crew...
Pimp had gotten physical with her,
she was afraid.
She came in, you took the goddamned report.
And then what did you do, Jack?
You locked her up!
She came to you for help.
How do you know...?
Jesus, Jack, she had a tattoo on her ankle,
cherry blossoms.
A symbol of transience, fleeting beauty,
the fucking irony.
That's her leg.
Danny cotter used to wander all the time
between 7th and camino, looking for dope.
I shot that boy up with narcan
more times than I can even count.
Told me how he got the scar on his chest.
Had open heart surgery when he was a baby.
Six months old.
Mitral valve.
Rheumatic fever.
Nini.
All the girls went to her for ink, for piercings.
She used to say to me all the time,
"officer try on, give your husband a thrill,
let me Pierce you down you-know-where,"
and I said, "child, no."
"The only reason I'm saying that is
'cause my man don't deserve a damn thrill."
And you want me out of here?
For the community, Jack?
You don't know the community!
And you don't love these people.
You would just as soon wait three days
for the DNA to come back, tag 'em all "does,"
throw 'em in a mass grave
with a headstone made out of concrete
'cause they ain't worth the price of a rock to you!
Then go home.
You go home and you watch the news
and you see what's going on elsewhere
that's so bad... so, so bad.
But what about right here, Jack?
That's how you love the community.
You.
- Did you get all those names? - Yes, ma'am.
I want to know every person that they spoke to
in the last two weeks.
I want pictures of everything.
I want it tagged and bagged and on my desk in an hour!
- Do you understand me? - Yes, ma'am.
The monster is out there,
and after the night he had, he's tired as a motherfucker.
And he is slow right now,
so we might be able to catch him.
So move!
Move, people!
You heard her.
Move, people.
I apologize,
for my hostility.
No, I fucking don't.
Stop pouting, Jack, 'cause you know I'm right.
You know it.
Come on, sister, we're up.
What do all these cases have in common?
These are all well-known sex workers in town.
I mean, all of you have collared them at one point or another.
Do you have collective amnesia?
With all due respect,
what the hell is the nun doing here?
Is she a confidential informant or something?
Because she has the insights we lack.
Or you lack.
It's because you're not using your imagination,
you're always two steps behind.
Sister, you have the floor.
Preach.
Killing as an art form.
This is a language he uses, an essay,
taking something from his unconscious,
making it real so we can use language to describe it.
- Read la can. - Exactly.
- Bingo. - I'm sorry, read who?
We need to decode the language he's speaking,
and then we'll have him.
Think of it as hieroglyphics.
The bodies, and what's on them.
- Bam. Exactly. - The tattoos.
On the shoulder, a shamrock.
The arm, another clue.
A Lily. Two flowers.
One, the symbol of mourning. The other, the symbol
of the father, the son and the holy spirit.
Are you hearing this?
People, are you... do you see what she is saying?
By their ink alone,
I can tell who every recidivist in this town is.
If I could, all of you I would fire
for not recognizing those people.
Okay, lo, I admit, we're lagging.
It's a surgeon.
A coroner, s... someone who knows anatomy.
And knows how to sew.
A trauma surgeon, a-a medic.
Check the army and air force bases.
And it's someone who knows me.
Detective try on is being taunted.
- Explain, please. - Jesus.
Because of my relationships with the sex workers.
I've helped all of them.
I've... driven them to clinics,
taken them to detox, fought for, advocated for,
protected them even when I was arresting them.
This is known by him.
He has a... Deep contempt for me.
He hates sex.
It's filthy, steeped in sin.
He's a cleaner, a prophet,
trumpeting the coming of the end.
Bam.
Listen to her.
Lois?
Find the surgical thread he used.
Who supplies it?
What size was the needle?
How did he get his construction there?
How did he hang it?
Check warehouses. You got to... Find connections.
Sniff it out. Smell it.
Unravel the string.
Lois?
Come on, chief. How much more
before this becomes an I.A. Issue?
More like an a.A. Issue.
Did you smell her? She reeked.
And why is the creepy nun all over it all the time? Why?
Who's this la can person? Does anyone know who he is?
Yeah, he's a fucking French philosopher.
Dead. So he didn't do it.
- Don't you know anything? - Jesus,
you are all so eager to get rid of her.
Her husband is in a coma.
And guess what? She's right.
She's being taunted by this killer.
She is Lois try on.
She has closed more cases than all of us.
Show some goddamn respect.
- Yeah, but she's sick, so... - she needs our support.
Maybe she'll solve this case.
She's a once-in-a-lifetime detective,
and you'll miss her when she's gone.
Bye. Dismissed.
Fuck off. Go.
Charles, dear boy, you've done wonderful work.
It's not that.
It's more granular and nuanced.
It's a matter of where
your energies can be better focused.
The morbidity of the reporting, it's too much.
We would just like to put the newspaper to bed for a bit.
I think that this is exactly the wrong moment for that,
bishop, mother superior.
Have you seen the throngs?
The readership mushrooming?
Bill, you've seen the subscriptions multiply.
This paper is profitable, finally.
First time in decades.
These stories are pornographic.
Exactly, and what's so bad about that?
Nobody but us is discussing the implications of all of this.
Politicians win by capitalizing
on the great fears within the populace.
The church used to do this, by the way.
Quite effectively, I might add.
You burn a witch, people flock toward you,
and then everyone is trembling before the doors of the church!
Maybe he's right, you know?
The numbers are proof, in a way.
Donations up, attendance is up.
And the newspaper's driving that.
This desert town, military bases,
farm workers, retirees,
it's low hope, it's low income, it's low support.
And here we are.
We don't stop publishing.
We publish more.
Maybe a Spanish edition.
That's not a bad idea.
Charlie here makes a lot of sense.
We tell them more than the local papers
and the local news does.
My neighbor rabbi chabon,
he said his congregation Beth shalom are all reading it.
Maybe because we offer
exactly the kind of blinding vision that we should be,
and that no one else is.
Because make no mistake, these murders are parables.
They are.
Proverbs 4:25-26.
"Let your eyes look straight ahead."
"Fix your gaze directly before you
"and give careful thought to the paths for your feet
and be steadfast in all of your ways."
Do you have any notes, bishop?
Okay, then, keep going.
Cast your bread upon the waters, son.
But with a little less relish, perhaps?
I'm s... I'm so sorry.
Less relish?
Yes.
No.
No, more.
With all due respect,
if the church does not modernize,
it will die, bishop.
Spinning classes online.
OnlyFans for the god-fearing.
For couples of faith, perhaps.
Hello there. Salutations.
- It's sister Megan. - Yes, I know that
from your caller I.D. that popped up.
Right. I'm a ding-a-long. Of course.
Sorry, father.
How can I help you, good sister?
Well...
Gosh, golly, I'm working on tomorrow's story,
and let me tell you, it's a pip.
A killer story.
She's got puns. Give me the headlines.
Sure, okay.
That's why I'm calling. There are things
I want to publish here, and, I mean, it's something.
- Something... - Graphic.
Not for the squeamish.
I feel it's heretically controversial,
and I need to know I won't get fired if I run this.
An example, please.
I'm not a mind reader nor a mystic, sister.
Sure, okay.
Hold onto your communion wafers, father, this is bold stuff.
"At the crime scene,
"bodies of dismembered sex workers were arranged
"in a terrifying tableau.
Male and female hookers on the stroll"
I like that. That's very clever.
Me, too.
"hookers on the stroll were snatched
"from their street corners or darkened Internet spots
"of sin and shame, slaughtered
"and then arranged in a stomach-churning,
catholic mise-en-scène."
- Are there any suspects? - Yes,
Lois strongly believes, and I concur,
that a freak a do doctor or nurse or medic
is-is involved here,
someone specializing in surgical precision.
Interesting. There's precedent for this.
"Precedent"?
In the 1980s, I believe, in New York City,
there was a medical professional
who came under great investigation
connected with the west village murders.
It was a horrible case.
All the victims were members of the homosexual community.
They were viciously tortured
before being stabbed.
Strange fellow, this
murderous man, he was a sodomite nurse.
Yes, yes.
An anesthesiologist who specialized in spinal taps.
And did you know, father,
this cruising killer was actually
featured in the movie the exorcist?
That's a great movie, it's one of my faves.
He was the one the director hired
to give Regan her spinal taps.
This is great reporting, sister.
What I'd like you to do is bring a hard copy
for me to red line in one hour.
And... This is great, sister.
You're doing god's work.
Come in.
Would you mind closing that door, please?
Well, that was quick.
Is that a bioré pore strip on your nose?
Cleanliness is next to godliness.
Isn't that what they taught us?
Is that the article?
For my approval?
Yeah.
Here.
If I may be so bold... We have that in common.
Why did you have me deliver this story in person?
I could have emailed it to you.
This is excellent.
This is incredible.
Gripping.
Maybe I like seeing your angelic face.
It lifts my spirits.
Would you mind?
Drying my back?
Let's go to the press with this.
You have my permission.
Sister... No... no.
No!
"For all that is in the world, the desires of the flesh,"
"the desires of the eyes, the pride of life"
"come not from the father,"
"but from this world."
My god.
Don't just stand there gaping!
You're a detective, you must've seen worse than this.
I can't hold him and do this at the same time.
What is it?
And where is your team?
My team?
My team are all spread out.
Spread out and spread thin.
It's a bloody huge bedsore.
We better pray we're not too late to stop sepsis.
Come and hold him.
Hold him!
For god's sake, help me.
God's sake!
How come this is first time you're noticing this?
Because we'll be damned if we're the only ones
caring for him while you drink yourself into oblivion.
Jesus!
I can't... I'm gonna be sick.
Now don't you dare vomit your boozy bile, detective.
You'll kill him if it gets in there.
- All right. - I got to sit down!
No, no, no, not yet.
Not yet, not yet.
I can't. I... I need to dress this.
All right, I got to dress him.
All right, you can let him down now.
Gently, gently.
How could you let this happen?
You should be ashamed of yourself.
There she sits, doing nothing.
Simply wringing her alcoholic hands,
weeping vodka-filled tears,
negating any responsibility.
Well, officer, this is a tiny, small-town hospital,
and you terrorize the staff and you berate us.
People flee when you come around.
They flee!
So this is what happens when you bully the people
trying to help you.
The time has come.
The time has come for a talk.
I am not unsympathetic.
You, hunted by this demonic killer.
It's hard.
But still...
There are things that must be accomplished
and I'd like to offer one way.
What is this?
Give me power of attorney over Marshall.
You just can't do it, can you?
Not like this.
Are you insane?
Have you lost your mind?
Why would I?
Because I care about him more than you do.
And you know that to be true.
So just let him go?
Walk away.
Nobody will blame you.
Everyone will understand.
You're in an alcoholic's haze.
You should check in to our rehab.
It's just here.
28 days.
Yes, 28 days with nothing else but drying out
on your poor addled mind.
- No? - No.
He's my husband.
I'm not gonna abandon him.
But you already have.
Look, I have my ways.
I could get a court order.
I could get you declared incompetent,
have you held, you'd lose your job.
This case that you're on,
this case that is all you seem to care about,
as if this killer were an atomic bomb
waiting to be detonated.
He is.
I think you'll sign this power of attorney.
Or else risk losing so much more
than our dear Marshall.
Thank you, handsome.
What's your name?
Ed. Ed laclan.
But you can call me Eddie.
Eddie.
Something tells me when you're done
with your little ciggy break here,
you're gonna want to get the hell out of here.
And I don't blame you.
But should you be driving?
Probably not, but I'm going to anyway.
- Of course you are. - Of course I am.
Windows down... Hair blowing in the wind.
You know it.
A little earth, wind & fire on the radio?
Don't act like you know me.
I know a little something.
You want to go with me?
Only if I can drive.
Miss sassy pants.
Flirting with orderlies.
Whoa, whoa, who is the one flirting?
You are lighting cigarettes in the wind.
And smiling like a cartoon cat.
- Mr. Eddie lac... - Laclan. - Laclan.
Yes.
You are oddly beautiful.
Or beautifully odd.
I can't seem to figure it out, but I sure want to.
Do you now?
And does that line always work?
"Oddly beautiful or beautifully odd"?
- Only when it's true. - Talk your talk.
Miss...?
Lois. Lois try on.
It's like heaven, isn't it?
It sure is.
But we're not allowed out there, Lois.
In that case, I'm gonna leave, fast Eddie.
Listen, I really don't think you should be driving right now.
I can tell your reflexes are off a little bit.
I don't want you to have any regrets.
Who doesn't have regrets, ed?
Come on now.
Lois?
Lo?
Lo.
God...
Am I actually handcuffed?
You were arrested.
Blood alcohol 13.
Highway patrol found you on Pearl blossom.
God.
I'm trying to make it go away.
Why would you do that?
'Cause none of the other assholes at the precinct
can solve this one.
Hello, ma'am.
I have something for you that looks like it's meatloaf.
Enjoy.
I have to go and try and explain to highway patrol
why this should go away.
So, congratulations, you've managed to do
what countless bribers and politicos couldn't:
You turned me dirty.
Damn it.
Ouch, that was rough. How you doing?
Notice I didn't say "I told you so"?
You just got here.
There's a keyring in my purse. It has a cuff key on it.
Use it. I'm police.
I just figured that one out. Yeah, thank you.
An you want me to be complicit in a crime with you too now?
Tell me, why should I help you?
I'm trying to catch a killer.
On the hunt? That old excuse.
Yeah.
Try something else, sassy pants.
Come on.
Fast Eddie.
- "Fast Eddie." - Please?
Help a sister out.
I am such a sucker for you problem child types.
There's just something about you.
Powerless.
Totally powerless.
Thank you.
Can you help me get out of here?
Help you get out of here?
If you make it quick.
Because any moment, some asshole's gonna barge in here
with a lot of orders, and a bunch of testosterone.
And that's just the candy-striper.
Now, where are your clothes?
Over there.
Okay.
Need any help getting that on?
I do not.
I just, if you could... Turn around, I got it.
All right.
And don't peek.
- Come on. - I'm coming.
Let's get out of here.
After you.
You really are a gentleman, aren't you?
You have no idea.
Captioned by media access group at wgbh access.Wgbh.Org