[♪ Peggy Lee on radio] I remember when I was a little girl,
our house caught on fire.
I'll never forget the look on my father's face
as he gathered me up in his arms
and raced through the burning building out on the pavement.
And I stood there shivering in my pajamas and...
We should not be doing this.
...whole world go up in flames.
And when it was all over...
[Maisie] I wanna go to Dairy Queen.
Maisie, I know what I'm doing.
Pull over. It's right up here.
♪ Is that all there is? ♪
♪ If that's all there is, my friends ♪
♪ Then let's keep dancing ♪
♪ Let's break out the booze And have a ball ♪
♪ If that's all ♪
♪ There is ♪
We just gonna sit here and say nothing?
Marshall.
Maisie is sitting out there, Lois.
She gets paid to sit there and judge.
Look,
it's been a long, long run between us, Marshall.
A long run.
I realized a long time ago what was happening between you two.
I wasn't heartbroken.
I mean, I lost the capacity for that,
which made me understand
why you went in search of something else, Marshall.
- We don't have to do this, Lois. - I didn't blame you.
I mean, I didn't hide how far I felt from you.
Why wouldn't you wanna be with someone who actually liked you,
which I could no longer do.
After you couldn't hide how disappointed and disgusted you were
with our daughter's weight gain in college.
It wasn't disappointment or disgust, that was you.
I was helpless.
Hundred pounds in one year. It's biblical. It was a curse.
Exactly.
And that's when you love people more.
And your reaction to that made me think I could no longer love you.
So sleeping with her husband was your way of showing love?
Do... Do you...
- Do you hear yourself, Lois? - Look.
There are very few things people are not capable of.
You taught philosophy.
And for the record, I will never not be sorry about that.
I like you, Redd.
I always have.
She was your nurse in my dream.
But, Marshall, I heard you.
When you whispered in my ear in the hospital and wished me dead.
Just fucking die.
And not in a merciful way, so...
I was pushed to that.
Well, we all know how love could turn to hate, don't we?
I don't wanna live like that.
In a constant state of catastrophe and in an endless rage,
so with regards to you and I in the future,
I want us to just be at peace, okay?
Here are divorce papers.
You can have whatever you want.
The Danish china, the silverware, all of it.
Anything. Take it.
And whatever peace you can muster up.
And I will do the same, just...
elsewhere.
Where?
Well, when I was a kid,
I went to Florida with my folks, a little town called Tarpon Springs.
We fished,
ate seafood, stayed in a motel.
It beckons.
[Marshall] Does it?
[stammers] I'm just supposed to be grateful now?
That... That's what's expected of me?
[sighs]
I will always remember that I loved you once, Marshall,
then we had a complicated daughter,
and I got hard.
Big deal.
[chuckling] That...
That's the sum of your collected wisdom about who you are?
Let's set the record straight.
"Hard" implies that you are still a recognizable human,
but you are impossible to categorize.
A Chimera, a fucking beast made of fury.
And good luck letting that go because it's ingrained in you, Lois.
It is you, Lois.
- Marshall, let's not do this. - No, no.
- She's trying-- - No!
I did want you to die. You bet.
It would've been a fucking mercy to both of us.
The cunt and the asshole keel over.
Both of us need to be dead.
The world would be prettier.
That's our show, folks.
[door opens, closes]
[Maisie] I have to tell you, Miss Lois,
I think the Virgin Mary would forgive me, but this cone is heaven.
It-It's heaven. We should come to Dairy Queen every day.
- Should we do this? - Hmm.
Time to go see the kid.
Don't know why you won't let sleeping dogs lie.
If you don't, you'll get up with fleas.
That's actually two sayings conflated into one.
[Maisie scoffs]
I don't know why you are just a cop with that fancy education.
You could've been a dentist.
[laughs]
What?
[engine starts]
[sighs]
[knocking]
It's good to see you.
So... So, what is this?
Are you here to beg for more forgiveness, to apologize more? I mean--
Nah. I know I was a bad mother.
[laughs]
An unforgivable one, eventually.
Eventually?
But you... Look, girl, you sucked.
And I was there for you. Through all of it.
The two nervous breakdowns, the-the time you joined a goddamn cult.
Okay, I did not join a cult.
- That was a group of like-minded-- - A cult.
All the bad boyfriends.
I was there for all of it, Merritt. And I tried, and I tried.
So what? All of this justifies you sleeping with the man that I married?
Of course not, Merritt,
but you were a bitch for two decades.
And I had had enough.
Okay, so...
What, did you wanna make it impossible for me to ever touch him again?
You marked him like a dog.
He got me, Merritt, my ways.
- Ugh. - He and I
had more in common than the two of you, if we gonna be real about it.
Oh, my God. Did you love him?
Did you?
Or was he just a provocation?
Can a crazy person actually love?
'Cause you were crazy, and so was I.
[scoffs, sighs]
Merritt, the things we do to each other, us humans.
If you knew how bad it could get,
maybe you would've been less of a shit all those years.
So that's why you stole him from me, to show me?
[sighs]
Look,
I am leaving, okay?
I'm moving away to somewhere warm.
Bye.
One last thing.
That slap of yours the last time I saw you,
that really hurt.
Good.
[exhales sharply] Now...
if you ever decide to have a real relationship with me,
come find me.
'Cause after all I've been through, baby girl, that is the only kind I want.
[TV news reporter] ...thanks for joining us.
We have a breaking news update on the devastation...
- [phone vibrating] - ...left in the wake of the hurricane,
which just made landfall overnight
- [phone continues vibrating] - ...as a powerful Category 4 storm.
Now, entire communities are facing catastrophic damage.
Winds exceeding 140 mph have flattened homes,
uprooted trees and left widespread power outages.
Emergency services are overwhelmed...
Duval here.
Can you repeat that, please?
Text me the address.
Major highways are impassable due to debris
and it could take days, or even weeks, to restore electricity.
And clean water...
- [shower curtain jangles] - [water running]
[Dr. Witticomb] Does some of it make sense to you now?
Your dreams and hallucinations are like jigsaw puzzles.
Impressionistic but made up of reflections from your own experiences.
But not all of it.
In my experience, we are watching the world burning,
living through the end of the world.
[Lois] The fire came up out of nowhere.
[Lois's father] Nothing comes up out of nowhere, Lois, dear.
Well, is there any way around it, Daddy?
My father taught me how to camp, and I forgot most of it,
but I think that he was the gas station attendant
that gave us the fire tents.
Gotta be prepared for the worst.
A moral force,
teaching lessons.
I miss him, you know.
He's the reason I am who I am today.
He was also a sheriff in the high desert, so...
So you think you summoned him to save you with the fire tent?
I wanna get back to the dreams of murder.
Actually, I would like to call in a colleague of mine. He has a PhD.
He is brilliant in the nascent study of dreams and coma landscapes.
We are just at the beginning of understanding
what the brain, what neurons in trauma can do, catalog.
He's been working with me on your exceptional case.
He is, in a word, if I may say,
brilliant.
May I call him in?
May I smoke?
Of course, if you need that.
I do.
Go ahead. Bring him in. What's his name?
Dr. Milton Smythe, PhD.
[door opens]
[motor whirring]
[through speech-generating device] Hello, Lois.
It's nice to finally meet you.
[Dr. Smythe] Your mind is extraordinary to me.
The murders from your dreams
that bear no resemblance to any case you ever had.
What is that, do you think?
The milk plant.
[all crying]
Women tied to milking machines.
That was...
In my mind, in my... my... my subconscious,
women losing agency, control over their own bodies,
being forced to reproduce.
I never had a case like that, but...
it was distressing to me the way this world has turned on women.
You know that's how I got the COVID that put me in a coma.
Maisie and I went to a women's rights rally at city hall.
[Dr. Smythe] Based on my research, an issue you would die for.
And almost did.
And then there was the drug den.
[Dr. Smythe] Yes.
You never had such a case, but you described every detail.
An unrecognizable codex of words, a language on the walls.
And the Burnside family.
I don't wanna talk about it, 'cause that I do not want to conjure up.
We have to, Lois.
You've dealt with so many horrors in your career.
This is the culmination of all of them.
We have to discover what it means, what it felt like when you drove up...
what you saw,
what was revealed.
[coffee cup thuds]
[siren wails]
[sighs]
I got a call around dawn.
I was at home.
[siren wailing]
[Dr. Smythe] You described pulling up
and seeing your horrified police colleagues.
Stay with it.
[Dr. Smythe] Describe it.
You described viscera, blood, intestines and body parts
on the walls of the living room...
some sick art project.
And you walked into the kitchen.
From what place does this get conjured up?
I don't know.
I don't know how this is... I don't...
This is in me, but... but from where?
I want you to be free from the grip of your trauma.
And while some nightmares are better left alone, some we have to confront.
The ones we don't forget, what I call "failed dreams,"
because we should not remember them.
You saw the future.
You envisioned it.
Dr. Smythe, if I may. I have an observation.
[Dr. Smythe] Of course.
Sharing is caring.
I went to a lecture on empathy in New York a bit ago.
Well, I think this proves
that there is less empathy now than there was previously.
At least in student populations.
So, what are we to make of this?
Is empathy seeping out of human nature?
Why are we hardening?
Is the ubiquitous media humming in the background
numbing us to the signs and clues of life in the people all around us?
Maybe it's the isolation of our moment.
Less human interaction,
more technology supplanting communion.
But regardless of what it is,
brain imaging is showing our mirror neurons changing, markedly.
And this can only mean
that the human species is also changing.
[camera shutter clicks]
[Dr. Witticomb] He called it a de-evolution of the species.
And I think you're prefiguring this, Lois.
Like Moses.
A prophet, as it were.
That is an interesting choice of words for a psychiatrist.
A prophet?
Maybe.
Let's leave it. Let's let it be.
So, what's next for you?
Now that you're healthy and retired.
Healthy... Hmm.
I really wanna get back to myself, you know?
I built... built up such a wall,
and I don't let anyone in.
And I hate it.
I wanna get back to loving life and loving people.
Maybe the best way for me to do that
is to move out of town.
Stay in touch, Lois. Please?
- Will do. - [Dr. Smythe] Lois.
If I may make an observation.
Yes.
Your soul touches me.
And your soul touches me.
Thank you.
[Lois] Maisie.
Oh, boy.
I'm gonna go to the shop...
for some of those nice shortbread cookies from Scotland you like.
Goody, goody gumdrops.
[Lois] Redd.
[sighs]
I can't tell what season it is from what grows anymore, can you?
I mean, it's fall in the desert.
What is going on in the world?
In this town?
You know the old Groucho joke?
About not wanting to belong to any club that would have you?
Yeah.
That's me.
I don't want Marshall, Lois.
Not like this.
I mean, it's not... it's not fair.
Goddamn it.
I mean, was fine when he was yours.
You know, I got him part-time. I could be my own person.
Go on long goddamn drives. Take off if I wanted to.
Not get out of bed if I didn't want to.
Not have dinner if I didn't want to.
Not cook.
Then a couple of times a week, you know...
some little ritual with him. Company.
Company and martinis and a fuck and an old movie.
And then the rest of the time, I could...
I could look up for pottery online
or old Chanel No. 5 bottles
for the whole day if I wanted.
The whole day.
But now, he's just there.
[Lois] Yeah.
That's what happens with men his age, Redd.
[chuckles] They are always fucking there.
Molting.
I thought you loved him.
He's just become banal.
Well... [chuckles] ...you can't bring him back here, kid.
We have a policy.
No refunds, no returns.
Yeah. I know, I know.
- Not your circus, not your monkeys. - Ding, ding, ding.
But when I heard you say that you were going someplace...
Tarpon Springs.
Yeah.
Why did you come see me, Redd?
I mean, out of all the people.
Don't you have any real friends?
Does anyone?
Anyway, I looked up Tarpon Springs.
Little Victorian bungalows.
That's what I want.
Walk on the beach, warm gulf waters.
Alone with my thoughts. You know?
My silence.
Nobody else's noise going around in my head. Least of all Marshall's.
Why do women think they need men when all they need is Tarpon Springs?
You want my advice? [sighs]
Break up with him.
Rip the Band-Aid.
Don't look back.
Go find your silence.
Get you a goddamn dog, a cat.
Something to keep from talking to the walls.
Hell, a parakeet.
Yeah.
[chuckles]
[sniffles]
Send me a postcard from somewhere.
Why does "away" sound so good?
[sighs]
[door opens, closes]
[crackling]
[phone ringing]
[ringing continues]
Hello.
I need you.
Megan?
- Lois, I need you to come down here. - What do you want?
I know you fucking hate me right now.
But it's a family, and I've been here all day.
And the media's found out.
And I need you to just come down here, okay?
Text me the address.
[siren wailing]
It's the worst thing I've ever seen.
[camera shutter clicks]
[shutter clicks]
[timer ticking]
[ticking continues]
[water bubbling]
[gags, sobs]
[ticking slows, distorts]
[ticking stops]
[insects chirping]
[♪ classical music playing]
[phone ringing]
[groans]
- [coughs] - [ringing continues]
- [ringing] - [Lois sighs]
[exhales]
Stop calling me.
I have no choice.
You... You... You do.
I'm done. Do you understand?
This is your case. You solve it.
What the fuck do you think my life is, some episode of Murder, She Wrote,
where you can just call me and I'll figure it all out?
Those days are done.
The test came back on what was in that kitchen.
Lois...
Could you come to my motel, please?
Sulfur?
I don't wanna talk about it on the phone. Just come.
[engine stops]
[car door closes]
Someone read my medical reports.
Huh?
My dream reports.
Someone is painstakingly trying to recreate them.
A copycat. A copycat is using my dreams.
What? I don't understand.
They... They used your coma dreams
to slaughter an entire family in the most horrific way?
- Yes. - Why?
I saw it. This is the case I was seeing.
Did I bring this thing into being?
But my...
My dreams were... on the other side.
They were... They were beyond.
I mean...
Did I bring this monster back with me?
What are you saying?
I don't even... I don't understand.
I need to wake up.
I need you to cut me.
Cut you?
Lois, what the fuck?
If you cut me and I bleed,
I'm here, you're here.
I'm not dead.
I need...
I need to see my blood, I need to feel it.
Just a small cut.
[clicks]
[gasps]
[sighs]
[remote control clicks]
[TV news reporter] We are just above the canyon,
where a brush fire has broken out a few hours ago.
Flames have quickly spread across approximately 50 acres,
and that's to do with the dry conditions and strong winds in the area.
And as you can see, smoke is just building up,
creating visibility issues for both...
Justin.
[panting]
- What are you doing here? - Think I can't track you down?
[both grunting]
Fucking bitch.
- [grunts] - [groans]
You leave me a fucking note?
[panting]
[Justin, muffled] Mm-mmm. Mm-mmm.
[screams, groans]
[muffled commotion]
- [whimpering] - You little bitch!
- [Megan whimpers] - [loud thump]
No!
[both grunting]
[Megan gasps, pants]
[gasps, grunts]
No, no! [grunts]
[Justin] Ah! [groans]
Dumb bitch. [grunting]
- [Megan grunts] - [Justin shouts]
- [crashing] - You wanna kick me out of my own home?
Give me an ultimatum? Here's your fucking note!
- Eat it! - [trigger cocks]
[Lois] Get the fuck off her, asshole.
Okay. [grunts]
Is this why I'm out? You finally turned gay.
Yeah, I get it. I get it.
Stop. You will stop.
- Uh-uh. No, baby, no, no, no. - [Lois] Megan.
[whimpers]
You're the crazy bitch, aren't you?
- [Megan whimpers] - She talks about you.
- [Megan] Lois. - Did you put her up to it?
- [Justin] Leaving? - [whimpers]
Hmm? Did you empathize with her
because your life is so totally deeply fucked?
[laughs]
Oh, we know all about you, babe.
Megan, what is this?
[crying]
You.
Turn around, put your hands on the wall.
Assume the position, asshole.
Just do what she says.
Don't shoot him. He's sick.
He's not well, he's sick.
It's a dream. It's not real.
No, no, no. It's all real, baby.
- It's a dream, it's not real. - No, this is all real.
[Megan sobs]
Yeah, you've been awake.
You're awake. You've been awake this whole time.
This whole time, girl. It's been you.
Awake.
- [snickers] - [Megan] Dream. It's not real. [sobs]
Empathy.
See, it's leeching out.
Studies show we're hardening.
Numbing.
Lois, don't hurt him.
Don't fucking move.
You know you can't kill me. Don't you?
- [laughs] - [Megan gasps]
Wanna bet?
[gunshot]
[gasps]
[breathing raggedly]
You wanna bet?
[crying]