Limetown (2019) s01e06 Episode Script
A Simple Life
1 FEMALE NARRATOR: Previously on "Limetown" I only mourn Max Finlayson.
What he was able to build was a foundational shift, something that would have tilted the axis of the Earth.
Mind-to-mind communication? If you keep telling this story, everyone who talks to you will die.
You have to stop, Lia.
Do you understand? I only mourn Max Finlayson.
I only mourn Oskar Totem.
If there is a god for this world, Oskar Totem would be what she would send to save it.
[DRAMATIC MUSIC.]
[AGITATED CHATTER.]
[PEOPLE YELLING AND SCREAMING.]
Move out! Move! Move! Holding! Holding! - Go, go, go, go.
- Yeah, that's right.
Give it to me.
Now.
Moving now.
Number six! Stay back.
Nobody move.
Stay back! I have it.
Move! Get back! Oh.
Look at me, Deirdre.
No, Deirdre, look at me.
Don't touch her.
Don't touch her! Don't touch her! [SCREAMS.]
[SIGHS.]
[EERIE TRANQUIL MUSIC.]
Deirdre? Deirdre? - [DEIRDRE STRAINING.]
- If you attempt to find Deirdre Wells in any way, she dies.
[PANICKED GROANING.]
[SCREAMS.]
[CASE SLAMS.]
[EERIE MUSIC.]
[SCREAMS.]
[EASYGOING COUNTRY MUSIC ON RADIO.]
[GUN CLICKS.]
[GUN CLICKS.]
[GUN CLICKS.]
[GUN CLICKS.]
Coming up next on "'60s at 6" is the 1961 classic from The Drifters, "Some Kind of Wonderful".
[SINGING.]
Wonderful, wonderful.
[SINGING.]
All you have to do is touch my hand To show me you understand And something happens to me.
That's some kind of wonderful.
At any time my little world seems blue, I just have to look at you and everything seems to be some kind of wonderful.
I know I can't express this feeling of tenderness.
There's so much I wanna say While ultimately neither incriminating nor revelatory, Villard's interview was provocative.
Communication beyond physical devices, beyond screens, beyond your wildest imagination.
I only mourned Oskar Totem.
If there was a god for this world, Oskar Totem would be what she would send to save it.
And he knew it too.
The only thing larger than his intellect was his ego.
My name is Lia Haddock, and you're listening to American Public [RADIO CRACKLES.]
I need to speak to Lia Haddock.
Who am I? Who is she to tell lies about my work? Walk over to her desk right now, and you tell her Dr.
Max Finlayson is on the phone.
Yes, that Max Finlayson.
I can't believe we're about to talk to the Dr.
Max Finlayson.
Yeah, you think there's a way I can negotiate a limit of your Signals questions? Lia, come on.
I'm a professional.
All right.
But it is getting hot though.
I'm just saying.
Oh, my God.
Really? Jesus, Mark.
Haddock.
You talking about me? Call me Max.
This is my producer, Mark Green.
It is such an honor, doctor.
- Signals.
- Yeah.
You in a band or something? You guys weren't followed, right? You followed my instructions? - All of them.
- That's good, 'cause unlike our friend R.
B.
Villard, I don't have a top secret bunker in which to hide.
Who exactly are you hiding from? [LAUGHS.]
You don't waste any time, do you, Haddock? I'm gonna get to that soon enough, but first, I want to talk about that lying dung heap Villard.
Oskar Totem was responsible for a lot of things, but the discovery of mind-to-mind communication was not one of them.
So why would Villard say otherwise? That's exactly my point, Matt.
- It's actually Mark.
- The man was lying, and I could not stand for it.
- Oh, so that's why you - Villard doesn't matter.
Oskar doesn't matter.
If you're the brains behind Limetown, then own it.
If you're the man responsible, make us believe it, and the rest of the world will too.
[CHUCKLES.]
I can see you're good at this.
What can I say? My ego steers the ship.
Enough with the chitchat, then.
Let's move away from the water.
I'm freezing my balls off.
I'm gonna move pretty quickly, so if there's anything you don't get, just shout, okay? - Okay.
- Okay.
Okay.
Let's start at the beginning of human history.
How's that? Since we've been walking upright, man has been trying to answer the same question: how do I, Max, transmit an idea from my mind to yours, Lia, with the least amount of information lost during dissemination? Cave drawings and the alphabet, telegraph, television, telephone, the Internet these were all precursors.
Precursors to what? - Your head.
- Ding, ding, ding.
Mind-to-mind communication.
Now, the implant - you guys see the scar? - Oh, yeah.
The implant was designed to definitively answer that question.
If you want no information lost, you must remove every barrier, sharing information directly from one mind to another.
So mind-reading is like sending a mental text message.
Not even close.
Mind-reading implies work.
This is more of a direct link.
Imagine, if you can, every child is implanted at birth with a small metal pill, the size of an aspirin, conductive on one side, so it's able to pick up the billions of electrical bursts that constitute human thought, decode them, and then send that signal out to its brothers and sisters implanted elsewhere, and you can only hear it if you have it.
- That's - "Impressive" is the word you're searching for.
- I was gonna say "monstrous".
- Ah.
Well, I had a 50-50 chance.
So there's an implant in your head right now? - Does it work? - Well, technically yes, but not without another person with the implant, and The Supplement to bring it all together.
- What is The Supplement? - Ah.
Well, the implants are only the hardware.
Think of The Supplement as the software that makes it all work.
Most thoughts we have are unfinished, seemingly meaningless: "jump", "bird", "what?", "log", "first", "orange".
You put two people with the implant in the same room, and then 10 people, then 100 people, there's so much noise you can barely hear your own thoughts.
That's where The Supplement comes in.
It allows you to focus on one voice at a time.
- What's in it? - A little bit of this, a little bit of that, tiniest dose of LSD You're saying everyone in Limetown - was on psychotropic drugs? - Not everyone.
It was an experiment.
You have a control group.
Wait, Limetown was one big experiment? Thanks to me, yes.
What about Oskar? What was his role in all this? Oskar was a con man.
He hadn't touched a scalpel in years.
If it wasn't for me, The Supplement, the implant none of it would have happened.
- This this is a dream! - - [CHEERS AND APPLAUSE.]
- [WARM MUSIC.]
What about the Man They Were All There For? What about him? He was the secret sauce, but I made the hamburgers.
Next question, please.
- Max - Next question, please.
You said I could ask anything.
Look, I'm an asshole, but I'm an asshole who almost changed the world, and you're the one lucky enough to tell my story.
Fine.
Well, we had some hiccups along the way, but the implant, while permanent, was a success.
Some hiccups? Is that what you would call Cyndi Walter? "Winona"? She paid the price for progress, and because of her, we learned that the implant was a one-way street, no give-backs.
She suffered severe memory loss, fugue states.
She doesn't remember her own daughter.
It's all very unfortunate, but she knew the risks.
How could she have? I mean, how could you and Oskar have even known the risks? You were performing radical brain surgery with unproven technology.
Tech was good.
It's just it's people.
Warren Chambers spoke about the advance from animal to human trials.
- Mm-hmm.
- Who was the first? Now you're talking my language, Haddock.
Frankie B.
and Eloise M.
They loved cats, and they knitted sweaters together, and on that day, they changed my life forever.
Thank you all for being here.
Let's bring in The Supplement, please.
[DISQUIETING MUSIC.]
I think you guys know I'm prone to speeches.
[CHUCKLES.]
When I was 12 years old, I remember But today's not about us.
It's about you, and you, and most importantly, it's about Eloise and Frankie.
Let's get on with it, shall we? Sounds good to me.
These are ICS flag tests.
You know, Max, I don't think that'll be necessary.
Let's go old school on this one.
I need you to focus on Eloise.
Now, Eloise, I want you to think deeply about what I just said.
Focus on the words and their meaning.
- My God.
- Frankie, breathe.
This is really strange.
Remember, this is just like when you were a kid on the monkey bars.
You hold on to one bar, and you reach for the next bar.
[ECHOING INDISTINCT VOICE.]
That's it.
Reach for the next one.
[INDISTINCT VOICE.]
.
Concentrate on reaching Eloise.
[ECHOING.]
I can hear the future.
I I BOTH: I can hear the future.
[CHEERS AND APPLAUSE.]
The man craved attention you know, obviously more than I did and in the end, it was his undoing.
What do you mean it was Oskar's undoing? My apologies.
This has taken much longer than I anticipated.
It was a pleasure meeting both of you.
Good luck with your story.
- Wait.
Max - I'm tired.
I'm old.
I'm going inside.
You guys know the way back.
Well, that's it, then? I mean, we just started.
Against my better judgment, Haddock, I like you, and because of that weakness, that interminable tone of guilt grows louder and louder and Max, you made the greatest breakthrough of the 21st century, possibly the history of humankind, and right now, everyone thinks that Oskar Totem is responsible for it.
- Is she always this tenacious? - Yes, I am.
Fine.
Let's take this clambake inside.
Safer there.
Safer? Safer from what? Welcome.
[SIGHS.]
Is this your house? Oh, you'll want to keep this one around, Haddock.
He's a sharp one.
Seltzers? Yes.
Thank you.
See, I knew it.
You are a "Signals" fan.
"I am not proud, but in the end, it was inevitable.
Fate" BOTH: "Destiny.
We're all just stardust in this vast unknowable universe.
" [BOTH LAUGH.]
- It's from the - Yeah, I got it.
So, Max, do you live here alone? Yeah.
Just me and my crappy Internet.
What about your wife, Deirdre? She's not here.
Do you mean she's not here right now, or she never was here? I don't know where she is.
I don't know if she's alive or dead.
Those of us who had the implant we were all separated and relocated - By whom? - I don't know.
So what happened to the rest of the people? I couldn't tell you.
The people that separated you and your wife and placed you here - [CELL PHONE CHIMES.]
- Are they responsible for threatening me and for Warren's accident? Maybe, and perhaps, Lia, darling, the clock started the minute I picked up that phone.
I know what's coming for me.
I'm so sorry.
I have to take this.
I got to step out for a second.
Yeah.
I'm so sorry, Max.
Okay.
Where were we? We were talking about people who frankly don't want us talking about them, Haddock.
Look, I don't know who they are, but I do know that it was Oskar who let them in.
Why do you say that? One night, I was using Oskar's private bathroom Now, sue me.
I liked the potpourri in there.
I finished my business, but on the way out, I saw that Oskar was still in his office [INDISTINCT.]
your judgment in terms of the shade He took out this folder with a hummingbird sticker on the side.
A hummingbird? - Mm-hmm.
- Did you know what that meant? I had no idea.
Maybe it was some kind of a secret project or something.
Well, a super duper double secret project, if we're being technical, Haddock.
Did you ever find out what it was? I made inferences.
We developed tech at Limetown that far surpassed anything that our competition had, so it just seemed par for the course that somewhere, someone was courting Oskar the whole time the kind of someone that would stick a hummingbird sticker on something and call it "Operation Thunderclap" or what have you.
The question is: did Oskar cave? Did he give up all our secrets in return for untold riches? You think he didn't? You think he died a martyr.
I think he did and they killed him anyway.
[PENSIVE MUSIC.]
Follow me.
I want to show you something.
[DOOR MOTOR WHIRRING.]
[SIGHS.]
Now, when I first got here, I didn't know the difference between sharps and flats.
My mother used to play, but I always thought it was a waste of time.
But once I had nothing but time, I realized how wrong I was.
I liked Oskar.
I did.
[MINOR PIANO MUSIC.]
I liked working with someone who had vision.
But I don't mourn Oskar.
I hate what happened to him, but you can't deny that he made his bed.
That's rather harsh.
[MAJOR MUSICAL FLOURISH.]
Better? I've had a lot of time to ruminate on it, Lia.
A lot of people died because of him.
A lot of people.
A lot of people suffered and then died because of him.
Who killed Oskar Totem? [SOMBER PIANO MUSIC.]
I don't know.
I don't believe you.
People were wearing masks.
Buildings were being destroyed.
There were people beaten senseless.
It was chaos, pandemonium, people running everywhere, all at the same time.
You weren't there.
[PEOPLE YELLING.]
You know that I heard his every thought as if whispered in my own ear? Every bumbling apology, every terror-stricken Hail Mary that his mind could conjure, I heard.
At the risk of sounding crass, the whole thing was actually quite illuminating.
The mind holds out hope.
It MacGyvers everything that it can, desperately seeking some sort of external salvation.
"Why couldn't my hands be free? Why didn't we leave when we had the chance? Perhaps we could reason with them.
" Then, when the physical world no longer has anything to offer, the mind turns inward, upward, spiritual.
Oskar was a devout atheist, but at that point, what was the harm in asking? I think Oskar would be pleased to know that even in his final moments, he was contributing good data.
Like I said, as a scientist, it was illuminating.
[PENSIVE MUSIC.]
[PEOPLE YELLING.]
Hey.
What are you doing out here? Hey, what do you think these are for? I don't know.
But you practically begged me to bring you out here to meet the Dr.
Max Finlayson, and what do you do? You bail and take a call.
Lia, I had Mike at the office listen to the raw Villard interview.
Okay.
I see where this is going.
No, no, no, no.
You edited tape.
Mark, this is a strategy.
This is what got us to the next place.
Now, that may sound questionable to you, but what would you have done? - I would have - You would have what? You would have let the story just die? I wouldn't have lied to get to the truth.
Everything okay here? Well, I'm gonna take that as a no.
It'll make for one hell of a ride home.
Sorry.
We are we're ready to start again.
I'm not.
I've said everything that I wanted to.
We're done here.
It's time for you to go home.
Yeah.
I'll get the car.
Thank you.
Max, what are those speakers for? They emit a very loud tone.
I've done some studies on myself that show at the right decibel levels, that tone could really mess with the implant, the theory being that if I ever get cornered, I can just flip those suckers on and slip into the night.
Are you gonna be okay? [PENSIVE PIANO MUSIC.]
Haddock, I hate asking favors, but would you hold on to that for me, just in case? - Of course.
- Thank you.
Maybe someday, it'll find its way home.
It was a pleasure meeting you.
Safe travels.
Thank you.
Thank you, Miss Haddock.
[LAUGHS.]
Have you got something you want to say? Well, between this and blackmailing our boss with your affair, what is there to say, Lia? Well, I'm sorry your sensibilities are so delicate.
Oh, no, no, no, no.
Don't make this about me.
You manufactured tape, and if people ever found out that this is how you got your story, you'd be done.
Yeah, you don't think I know what I'm doing.
I think you know exactly what you're doing, and that's what scares the shit out of me.
Now, you got away with it just this one time, though but if this ever comes back to bite you in the ass, I'm not gonna have your back.
- [CELL PHONE BUZZES.]
- It's Max.
- [ODD TONE OVER PHONE.]
- Max? What is that? [SPEAKERS BLARING.]
Max? Good-bye, Dorothy.
Max, is someone there with you? They're all here, Lia.
They want you to know something.
I was wrong.
Wrong about what? Don't try to run! - [GUNSHOT.]
- [GASPS.]
[SINGING.]
Only some kind of wonderful.
Oh, yeah.
Wonderful, wonderful.
We sacrificed Warren Chambers.
We sacrificed Max Finlayson.
That's who we sacrificed.
You have to stop.
[UNEASY MUSIC.]
I need this, Mark.
What he was able to build was a foundational shift, something that would have tilted the axis of the Earth.
Mind-to-mind communication? If you keep telling this story, everyone who talks to you will die.
You have to stop, Lia.
Do you understand? I only mourn Max Finlayson.
I only mourn Oskar Totem.
If there is a god for this world, Oskar Totem would be what she would send to save it.
[DRAMATIC MUSIC.]
[AGITATED CHATTER.]
[PEOPLE YELLING AND SCREAMING.]
Move out! Move! Move! Holding! Holding! - Go, go, go, go.
- Yeah, that's right.
Give it to me.
Now.
Moving now.
Number six! Stay back.
Nobody move.
Stay back! I have it.
Move! Get back! Oh.
Look at me, Deirdre.
No, Deirdre, look at me.
Don't touch her.
Don't touch her! Don't touch her! [SCREAMS.]
[SIGHS.]
[EERIE TRANQUIL MUSIC.]
Deirdre? Deirdre? - [DEIRDRE STRAINING.]
- If you attempt to find Deirdre Wells in any way, she dies.
[PANICKED GROANING.]
[SCREAMS.]
[CASE SLAMS.]
[EERIE MUSIC.]
[SCREAMS.]
[EASYGOING COUNTRY MUSIC ON RADIO.]
[GUN CLICKS.]
[GUN CLICKS.]
[GUN CLICKS.]
[GUN CLICKS.]
Coming up next on "'60s at 6" is the 1961 classic from The Drifters, "Some Kind of Wonderful".
[SINGING.]
Wonderful, wonderful.
[SINGING.]
All you have to do is touch my hand To show me you understand And something happens to me.
That's some kind of wonderful.
At any time my little world seems blue, I just have to look at you and everything seems to be some kind of wonderful.
I know I can't express this feeling of tenderness.
There's so much I wanna say While ultimately neither incriminating nor revelatory, Villard's interview was provocative.
Communication beyond physical devices, beyond screens, beyond your wildest imagination.
I only mourned Oskar Totem.
If there was a god for this world, Oskar Totem would be what she would send to save it.
And he knew it too.
The only thing larger than his intellect was his ego.
My name is Lia Haddock, and you're listening to American Public [RADIO CRACKLES.]
I need to speak to Lia Haddock.
Who am I? Who is she to tell lies about my work? Walk over to her desk right now, and you tell her Dr.
Max Finlayson is on the phone.
Yes, that Max Finlayson.
I can't believe we're about to talk to the Dr.
Max Finlayson.
Yeah, you think there's a way I can negotiate a limit of your Signals questions? Lia, come on.
I'm a professional.
All right.
But it is getting hot though.
I'm just saying.
Oh, my God.
Really? Jesus, Mark.
Haddock.
You talking about me? Call me Max.
This is my producer, Mark Green.
It is such an honor, doctor.
- Signals.
- Yeah.
You in a band or something? You guys weren't followed, right? You followed my instructions? - All of them.
- That's good, 'cause unlike our friend R.
B.
Villard, I don't have a top secret bunker in which to hide.
Who exactly are you hiding from? [LAUGHS.]
You don't waste any time, do you, Haddock? I'm gonna get to that soon enough, but first, I want to talk about that lying dung heap Villard.
Oskar Totem was responsible for a lot of things, but the discovery of mind-to-mind communication was not one of them.
So why would Villard say otherwise? That's exactly my point, Matt.
- It's actually Mark.
- The man was lying, and I could not stand for it.
- Oh, so that's why you - Villard doesn't matter.
Oskar doesn't matter.
If you're the brains behind Limetown, then own it.
If you're the man responsible, make us believe it, and the rest of the world will too.
[CHUCKLES.]
I can see you're good at this.
What can I say? My ego steers the ship.
Enough with the chitchat, then.
Let's move away from the water.
I'm freezing my balls off.
I'm gonna move pretty quickly, so if there's anything you don't get, just shout, okay? - Okay.
- Okay.
Okay.
Let's start at the beginning of human history.
How's that? Since we've been walking upright, man has been trying to answer the same question: how do I, Max, transmit an idea from my mind to yours, Lia, with the least amount of information lost during dissemination? Cave drawings and the alphabet, telegraph, television, telephone, the Internet these were all precursors.
Precursors to what? - Your head.
- Ding, ding, ding.
Mind-to-mind communication.
Now, the implant - you guys see the scar? - Oh, yeah.
The implant was designed to definitively answer that question.
If you want no information lost, you must remove every barrier, sharing information directly from one mind to another.
So mind-reading is like sending a mental text message.
Not even close.
Mind-reading implies work.
This is more of a direct link.
Imagine, if you can, every child is implanted at birth with a small metal pill, the size of an aspirin, conductive on one side, so it's able to pick up the billions of electrical bursts that constitute human thought, decode them, and then send that signal out to its brothers and sisters implanted elsewhere, and you can only hear it if you have it.
- That's - "Impressive" is the word you're searching for.
- I was gonna say "monstrous".
- Ah.
Well, I had a 50-50 chance.
So there's an implant in your head right now? - Does it work? - Well, technically yes, but not without another person with the implant, and The Supplement to bring it all together.
- What is The Supplement? - Ah.
Well, the implants are only the hardware.
Think of The Supplement as the software that makes it all work.
Most thoughts we have are unfinished, seemingly meaningless: "jump", "bird", "what?", "log", "first", "orange".
You put two people with the implant in the same room, and then 10 people, then 100 people, there's so much noise you can barely hear your own thoughts.
That's where The Supplement comes in.
It allows you to focus on one voice at a time.
- What's in it? - A little bit of this, a little bit of that, tiniest dose of LSD You're saying everyone in Limetown - was on psychotropic drugs? - Not everyone.
It was an experiment.
You have a control group.
Wait, Limetown was one big experiment? Thanks to me, yes.
What about Oskar? What was his role in all this? Oskar was a con man.
He hadn't touched a scalpel in years.
If it wasn't for me, The Supplement, the implant none of it would have happened.
- This this is a dream! - - [CHEERS AND APPLAUSE.]
- [WARM MUSIC.]
What about the Man They Were All There For? What about him? He was the secret sauce, but I made the hamburgers.
Next question, please.
- Max - Next question, please.
You said I could ask anything.
Look, I'm an asshole, but I'm an asshole who almost changed the world, and you're the one lucky enough to tell my story.
Fine.
Well, we had some hiccups along the way, but the implant, while permanent, was a success.
Some hiccups? Is that what you would call Cyndi Walter? "Winona"? She paid the price for progress, and because of her, we learned that the implant was a one-way street, no give-backs.
She suffered severe memory loss, fugue states.
She doesn't remember her own daughter.
It's all very unfortunate, but she knew the risks.
How could she have? I mean, how could you and Oskar have even known the risks? You were performing radical brain surgery with unproven technology.
Tech was good.
It's just it's people.
Warren Chambers spoke about the advance from animal to human trials.
- Mm-hmm.
- Who was the first? Now you're talking my language, Haddock.
Frankie B.
and Eloise M.
They loved cats, and they knitted sweaters together, and on that day, they changed my life forever.
Thank you all for being here.
Let's bring in The Supplement, please.
[DISQUIETING MUSIC.]
I think you guys know I'm prone to speeches.
[CHUCKLES.]
When I was 12 years old, I remember But today's not about us.
It's about you, and you, and most importantly, it's about Eloise and Frankie.
Let's get on with it, shall we? Sounds good to me.
These are ICS flag tests.
You know, Max, I don't think that'll be necessary.
Let's go old school on this one.
I need you to focus on Eloise.
Now, Eloise, I want you to think deeply about what I just said.
Focus on the words and their meaning.
- My God.
- Frankie, breathe.
This is really strange.
Remember, this is just like when you were a kid on the monkey bars.
You hold on to one bar, and you reach for the next bar.
[ECHOING INDISTINCT VOICE.]
That's it.
Reach for the next one.
[INDISTINCT VOICE.]
.
Concentrate on reaching Eloise.
[ECHOING.]
I can hear the future.
I I BOTH: I can hear the future.
[CHEERS AND APPLAUSE.]
The man craved attention you know, obviously more than I did and in the end, it was his undoing.
What do you mean it was Oskar's undoing? My apologies.
This has taken much longer than I anticipated.
It was a pleasure meeting both of you.
Good luck with your story.
- Wait.
Max - I'm tired.
I'm old.
I'm going inside.
You guys know the way back.
Well, that's it, then? I mean, we just started.
Against my better judgment, Haddock, I like you, and because of that weakness, that interminable tone of guilt grows louder and louder and Max, you made the greatest breakthrough of the 21st century, possibly the history of humankind, and right now, everyone thinks that Oskar Totem is responsible for it.
- Is she always this tenacious? - Yes, I am.
Fine.
Let's take this clambake inside.
Safer there.
Safer? Safer from what? Welcome.
[SIGHS.]
Is this your house? Oh, you'll want to keep this one around, Haddock.
He's a sharp one.
Seltzers? Yes.
Thank you.
See, I knew it.
You are a "Signals" fan.
"I am not proud, but in the end, it was inevitable.
Fate" BOTH: "Destiny.
We're all just stardust in this vast unknowable universe.
" [BOTH LAUGH.]
- It's from the - Yeah, I got it.
So, Max, do you live here alone? Yeah.
Just me and my crappy Internet.
What about your wife, Deirdre? She's not here.
Do you mean she's not here right now, or she never was here? I don't know where she is.
I don't know if she's alive or dead.
Those of us who had the implant we were all separated and relocated - By whom? - I don't know.
So what happened to the rest of the people? I couldn't tell you.
The people that separated you and your wife and placed you here - [CELL PHONE CHIMES.]
- Are they responsible for threatening me and for Warren's accident? Maybe, and perhaps, Lia, darling, the clock started the minute I picked up that phone.
I know what's coming for me.
I'm so sorry.
I have to take this.
I got to step out for a second.
Yeah.
I'm so sorry, Max.
Okay.
Where were we? We were talking about people who frankly don't want us talking about them, Haddock.
Look, I don't know who they are, but I do know that it was Oskar who let them in.
Why do you say that? One night, I was using Oskar's private bathroom Now, sue me.
I liked the potpourri in there.
I finished my business, but on the way out, I saw that Oskar was still in his office [INDISTINCT.]
your judgment in terms of the shade He took out this folder with a hummingbird sticker on the side.
A hummingbird? - Mm-hmm.
- Did you know what that meant? I had no idea.
Maybe it was some kind of a secret project or something.
Well, a super duper double secret project, if we're being technical, Haddock.
Did you ever find out what it was? I made inferences.
We developed tech at Limetown that far surpassed anything that our competition had, so it just seemed par for the course that somewhere, someone was courting Oskar the whole time the kind of someone that would stick a hummingbird sticker on something and call it "Operation Thunderclap" or what have you.
The question is: did Oskar cave? Did he give up all our secrets in return for untold riches? You think he didn't? You think he died a martyr.
I think he did and they killed him anyway.
[PENSIVE MUSIC.]
Follow me.
I want to show you something.
[DOOR MOTOR WHIRRING.]
[SIGHS.]
Now, when I first got here, I didn't know the difference between sharps and flats.
My mother used to play, but I always thought it was a waste of time.
But once I had nothing but time, I realized how wrong I was.
I liked Oskar.
I did.
[MINOR PIANO MUSIC.]
I liked working with someone who had vision.
But I don't mourn Oskar.
I hate what happened to him, but you can't deny that he made his bed.
That's rather harsh.
[MAJOR MUSICAL FLOURISH.]
Better? I've had a lot of time to ruminate on it, Lia.
A lot of people died because of him.
A lot of people.
A lot of people suffered and then died because of him.
Who killed Oskar Totem? [SOMBER PIANO MUSIC.]
I don't know.
I don't believe you.
People were wearing masks.
Buildings were being destroyed.
There were people beaten senseless.
It was chaos, pandemonium, people running everywhere, all at the same time.
You weren't there.
[PEOPLE YELLING.]
You know that I heard his every thought as if whispered in my own ear? Every bumbling apology, every terror-stricken Hail Mary that his mind could conjure, I heard.
At the risk of sounding crass, the whole thing was actually quite illuminating.
The mind holds out hope.
It MacGyvers everything that it can, desperately seeking some sort of external salvation.
"Why couldn't my hands be free? Why didn't we leave when we had the chance? Perhaps we could reason with them.
" Then, when the physical world no longer has anything to offer, the mind turns inward, upward, spiritual.
Oskar was a devout atheist, but at that point, what was the harm in asking? I think Oskar would be pleased to know that even in his final moments, he was contributing good data.
Like I said, as a scientist, it was illuminating.
[PENSIVE MUSIC.]
[PEOPLE YELLING.]
Hey.
What are you doing out here? Hey, what do you think these are for? I don't know.
But you practically begged me to bring you out here to meet the Dr.
Max Finlayson, and what do you do? You bail and take a call.
Lia, I had Mike at the office listen to the raw Villard interview.
Okay.
I see where this is going.
No, no, no, no.
You edited tape.
Mark, this is a strategy.
This is what got us to the next place.
Now, that may sound questionable to you, but what would you have done? - I would have - You would have what? You would have let the story just die? I wouldn't have lied to get to the truth.
Everything okay here? Well, I'm gonna take that as a no.
It'll make for one hell of a ride home.
Sorry.
We are we're ready to start again.
I'm not.
I've said everything that I wanted to.
We're done here.
It's time for you to go home.
Yeah.
I'll get the car.
Thank you.
Max, what are those speakers for? They emit a very loud tone.
I've done some studies on myself that show at the right decibel levels, that tone could really mess with the implant, the theory being that if I ever get cornered, I can just flip those suckers on and slip into the night.
Are you gonna be okay? [PENSIVE PIANO MUSIC.]
Haddock, I hate asking favors, but would you hold on to that for me, just in case? - Of course.
- Thank you.
Maybe someday, it'll find its way home.
It was a pleasure meeting you.
Safe travels.
Thank you.
Thank you, Miss Haddock.
[LAUGHS.]
Have you got something you want to say? Well, between this and blackmailing our boss with your affair, what is there to say, Lia? Well, I'm sorry your sensibilities are so delicate.
Oh, no, no, no, no.
Don't make this about me.
You manufactured tape, and if people ever found out that this is how you got your story, you'd be done.
Yeah, you don't think I know what I'm doing.
I think you know exactly what you're doing, and that's what scares the shit out of me.
Now, you got away with it just this one time, though but if this ever comes back to bite you in the ass, I'm not gonna have your back.
- [CELL PHONE BUZZES.]
- It's Max.
- [ODD TONE OVER PHONE.]
- Max? What is that? [SPEAKERS BLARING.]
Max? Good-bye, Dorothy.
Max, is someone there with you? They're all here, Lia.
They want you to know something.
I was wrong.
Wrong about what? Don't try to run! - [GUNSHOT.]
- [GASPS.]
[SINGING.]
Only some kind of wonderful.
Oh, yeah.
Wonderful, wonderful.
We sacrificed Warren Chambers.
We sacrificed Max Finlayson.
That's who we sacrificed.
You have to stop.
[UNEASY MUSIC.]
I need this, Mark.