The 'Burbs (2026) s01e05 Episode Script

1
I'll see you at the block
party on Sunday, right?
What block party?
The hoa throws it every year.
The whole village comes.
Marty's famous pie.
Don't you dare touch that woman's pie.
I wanted to tell you to
stop ignoring my lawyer.
Dj machine, you were looking a little dry.
Are you trying to get me drunk, man?
- Naveen!
- Stop it!
- What were you drinking?
- Those boys are always
getting themselves into trouble.
I wish I could tell her I'm sorry.
- Megan or Kate?
- Alison.
Okay, buddy. Let's get you home.
I have him. He's loose and ready to talk.
Copy. I'll see you in five.
I'm trying to imagine Rob
and naveen as teenagers.
They had this secret underground place.
Naveen called it the pit.
Okay, this might sound crazy,
but 20 years ago, a teenage
girl was murdered out here.
And I thought it was our
new neighbor who did it.
But now, I think it was Rob.
He knew the girl and he lied about it.
He left her a voice message
saying that she regret
whatever she did to him.
He had anger problems.
He saw a psychiatrist.
And the other night,
he was wielding a knife.
Samira, what are you doing here?
Rob, please, answer your phone.
Don't be such a dick.
Thank god.
I was starting to think
you weren't coming.
John?
It's me. It's Alison.
Rob, is that you?
Don't come any closer.
Samira, what are you doing down here?
What am I doing down here?
What are you doing down here?
And, why does your mother
have a dead girl's phone?
She doesn't. I put it there.
- I knew it.
- Samira.
Stay back. Stay back or I will
Or what? Slay me by a cell?
Shit, I might.
Tell me the truth.
Okay. I heard the voice
message on this phone,
on Alison's phone.
What message?
This one.
Alison, this isn't cool.
You're going to regret this.
You're fucked.
What did you do to
that girl? Did you kill her?
- What?
- Did you kill her
in a teenage rage and hide her body
in your creepy underground lair?
Are you out of your mind?
- Answer me!
- Jesus, no!
Do you actually think I could be capable
of doing something like that?
You tell me.
Samira, you know me.
From where I'm standing, I don't
I don't know anything about you.
Well, then, maybe it's time that you did.
We shouldn't have let
her go in there by herself.
Alison knows what she's doing.
I mean, she said she's
almost done this before.
My mom says people who
hang out at Hank's are trash.
I mean, we don't know who this guy is.
We could go to jail.
Nah, juvie, the worst.
Okay. Well, what if we
need to hire lawyers?
I mean, we can't hire
lawyers without them
- telling our parents.
- Shit.
Here she comes.
- Play it cool, play it cool.
- Whoa, look at this!
Holy shit.
Did she actually do it?
I'm starting to think you're not really
living life on the edge.
What? And you are? Since when?
What's up, nerds?
Now, who thought I couldn't do it?
I never had a doubt in my mind.
Yeah. I mean, if anything,
he believed in you too much.
- Aww.
- Bunker?
- Yeah.
- Bunker.
- Let me get some.
- That was a lot.
- Let me get some.
- Oop.
There we go. Take it easy now, please.
- Okay.
- What do you guys think?
- What is that?
- My tune or dj?
Yo, could I borrow your
cellphone real quick?
Okay. Look, I want to support you
I'm gonna get it this time.
Why don't you go
back to the card tricks
from last week?
I have to master sleight of hand
using heavier objects.
Houdini spent hours,
you know, doing knuckle
exercises, untying knots.
Yeah. You know, that
knot thing you showed me
was actually pretty cool.
Yeah, this is what
practical magic is all about.
Okay. No. Hey, give that back.
Hold on a sec.
Okay. In my hand, I have
an ordinary cell phone
- My cell phone.
- From a brave volunteer.
Now, the single swipe of my hand,
your phone will disappear.
Shit!
I'm sorry. I'm sorry. Is it okay?
- It's all good.
- Nice one, naveen.
Shut up.
Your parents would've been pissed?
Not really. As far as they're concerned,
the less contact I have with
the outside world, the better.
They threatened to
take away my computer.
Maybe they're just worried that you're
messaging random strange
men in online chat rooms.
I'm assuming they don't
want you to get hurt.
That's what he's saying.
You know what? I honestly don't think
they give a shit what happens to me
as long as I'm stuck on this
fucking cul-de-sac forever.
Are you still upset they didn't
let you go to that audition?
Because I promise, they'll be
they act like being a backup dancer
is the same thing as being a stripper.
Well, maybe if you just talked to them.
No.
There's no point, but they'll see.
One day, they'll wake up,
and I would just be gone.
In the meantime, let's get wasted.
Whoo.
Robert, we go around the
hogan door and hollering.
Around what?
Robert Fisher, what's
the matter with you?
- Are you drunk?
- No, Mr. Fester Mrs. Fester
that would be illegal.
I just had some bad orange juice.
You're still running
around with that Grant girl,
aren't you?
- When I tell your mother
- Please don't. - Robert,
I expect better from you.
We all do.
What a fucking stupid town.
A fucking piece of No,
no, stay away from me!
I'm just turning on the light.
Okay.
Look, I get why you're
feeling like you are.
I mean, it must have been
pretty crazy to discover
a secret underground
bunker with a morbid shrine
to a missing teenage girl.
This is not helping your case.
I know what it looks like, okay?
But Samira, you do know me.
I would never ever have hurt Alison.
You swear on miles' life?
Yes. I'd never lie to you.
Okay. Let's back that up
because there are a
lot of lawyers and wives
that would say that obscuring
and withholding the truth
constitutes as lying.
Okay. Yes.
I never intentionally lied to you,
but I only ever withheld the truth
because I really, really
didn't wanna go there.
Well, we're going there.
Now.
Okay.
The truth is,
I don't know exactly
what happened to Alison,
but I am responsible.
Please look into the doorbell cam.
State your name and
the family password.
Rory, is that you?
It's me, Lynn gardner,
the cookie addict you sell to every week.
You know me.
And the most recent family password?
Juvenile of the cash money hot boys.
Thank you for announcing yourself
as a trustworthy adult.
You may enter.
Where are our two
favorite fishers And Rob?
Well, miles is in his
bouncer, but as for the adults,
your guess is as good
as mine, Mrs. Gardner.
Samira was here, then she wasn't.
Rob came by, but he left, too.
Did they go back to the party?
- Was it that good?
- No.
No. No, no, no.
This was the best thing about it.
So I brought some to share.
Aww.
Hi.
It is getting late
and my parents are gonna
worry if I don't get home soon,
but I can't leave miles.
I can watch him.
You? You can go.
I've done it before. He loves me.
Okay. I'll just text Samira.
Her stored milk is in the fridge.
He needs to eat again in about an hour
- before he goes down.
- Okay.
And he's really into light jazz right now.
Bye.
So, what are we gonna
get into this time, Mr. Miles?
Are you going to be
a well-behaved baby?
No?
Because auntie Lynn has a headache.
Sugar does that to me.
You'll understand when you're older.
Whoa. Let's see.
What do we have here inside down
at the fishers' medicine cabinet?
Testosterone booster?
Don. How dear.
Aspirin. There we are.
Down the hatch.
Is that a rothko?
Hello, naveen.
You said you were taking me home?
I did. I meant mine.
And yeah, it's a rothko,
one of his lesser-known pieces,
but still a fucking rothko.
Who are you?
You up?
How you doing, big guy?
Okay.
I get it. Message received.
- What message?
- Good.
Y'all saw me sippin' and slurrin',
mixing my midori's with
my sours at the block rager,
and now you're worried about
old dj naveen the machine.
Is his life falling apart?
Has he hit rock bottom?
Well, I'm touched.
But just so you know, I
can stop any time I want.
Yeah, your circumstantial
drinking is not why we're here.
Not that we don't care
about you, buddy, but
way off.
What do you know
about the disappearance
and possible murder of Alison Grant?
That's what you guys kidnapped me for?
You're free to go at any time. I mean
Good. Good.
No.
You
What the hell?
You're the one that
slapped yourself, dumb-ass.
What, what, what was that?
No. Where is he going?
We thought maybe you'd be overjoyed
to unburden yourself.
Unburden myself for the
kind of day that I've had?
My soon to be ex-wife is
sleeping with my dentist.
I totally blew it with the hot widow,
and I have the kind of 7:00 pm hangover,
that means I'm not gonna sleep tonight,
and I'm gonna be
thinking about every regret
that I have in my life,
and feeling my body
for possible cancers.
But you wanna dredge up the past.
Let's forget about the past for a minute.
You look starved.
- Yeah.
- That's right.
Soak it up, buddy.
Nice good cop.
So, my partner and I here
have been looking into some loose ends
in the Alison Grant case,
and there's no good way to tell you this,
but a lot of loosies are
pointing towards you.
- God.
- You and Rob were questioned
- by the police, right?
- Yeah.
And we gave statements.
Yeah. And what did you tell them?
You guys know. You
saw the police report.
Goddamn it! You little fucking punk.
This cul-de-sac is meant to be safe.
And I'm gonna make
sure that it stays safe,
so you're gonna tell me right now
where were you when
Alison disappeared.
Nice bad cop.
Are you guys are you
guys serious right now?
And dude, you danced to my beats.
Your beats were sick, yes.
But I need you to
answer the question, man.
Answer my fucking question now.
Fine. I'll tell you everything.
I'm so sick of the secrets anyway.
And I've never really
talked about what happened,
'cause we swore ourselves to secrecy.
For the boys.
Are you out of your mind?
Okay. It's not that big of a deal.
Not that big of a deal?
Okay. How did you even meet the guy?
- I told you, a chat room.
- It's how people connect.
That's how perverts connect.
What's going on? What
are you talking about?
Yeah. Ms. Alison over here
just met this random
old dude on the Internet.
Now they're gonna run away to the city.
He's not some old dude. He's 19.
Does this guy have a name?
Yeah. John.
- John. Yeah.
- Yeah.
He grew up around here
and he has a bunch of friends
that are dancers and choreographers.
And he wants me to meet them.
He thinks I have real talent.
And how does he know that?
Jealousy is not the best look on you.
Okay. Okay. How do we know this guy
is who he says he is?
Because I do, okay?
He sent me a picture.
He's cute and he's nice.
And he wants to help me, okay?
Is that so hard to believe?
I just want you to be safe.
Dude, who are you, my dad?
I knew you were a nerd,
but I thought you were
a little cooler than this.
This is just really important to me.
Could you cover for me, please?
Where did you tell
your parents are going?
The lock-in at your church.
I don't have a church.
You guys, it's just this weekend,
and then, I'll be right back
to chugging oj and vodka
and watching naveen fail at magic.
- Thanks.
- Please, do it.
For the boys?
For the boys.
Robert, stop bouncing
that ball and go to sleep.
I'll sleep when I'm dead, bev.
Robert Raymond Fisher,
you do not speak to
your mother like that.
One new voicemail.
Rob, please, answer your phone.
Hey, it's Alison.
Don't be weird.
Alison, this isn't cool.
You're going to regret this.
You're fucked.
So that's why I left a message.
I wasn't threatening her.
I was trying to change her mind.
You felt something wasn't right.
Yeah.
But I was too late.
She was gone and never came back.
Never saw her again.
So that's it?
Yeah. What do you mean?
I mean, all the drama, the secrets,
and you were just trying
to be a good friend?
Yeah, I was a good kid.
I mean, I was known
to hide a little bit of weed
in my cd case from time to time,
but mostly, I followed the rules.
It doesn't make sense.
I promise you, I'm telling the truth.
No, I believe you. I just
a girl from the suburbs goes missing
and disappears into thin air?
No manhunt spearheaded by
some angry woman on television,
pretend that she's a lawyer?
I mean, Alison's white.
Well, this is the part of the story
that goes a little bit complicated.
So these cops knew about
this alleged male dancer
that Alison snuck off to meet?
Why wouldn't they question him?
They didn't know who he was.
We didn't know who he was.
John from the city who
maybe grew up around here?
I mean, not exactly a lot to go off of.
- Plus, we felt kinda
- Angry? -Jealous?
Yeah yes. Okay.
But also, she was our friend
and she asked us to
cover for her, so we did.
We were kids, man.
We thought she was coming back.
But she didn't.
No.
Anything?
It's been three days.
I mean, what do we do?
Do we call her parents?
And do what? Admit we lied?
She'll be busted and so will we.
Yes, but what if she's actually in trouble?
What if that guy wasn't
who he said he was?
Okay? If she's in trouble,
we have to help her.
Okay. So we we're gonna find her.
We go into the forest
and we find the train tracks
until we find something.
No, not like in "stand by me."
- Just like in "stand by me."
- Do you not remember
what they were looking for in that film?
- No.
- A body.
A dead body.
They were?
I must have fallen asleep before it ended.
Look, if we can't go to her parents,
then we have to go to someone else.
Okay? Another adult, one we can trust.
Look, I love that you
boys are trying to play cop,
but it's pretty cut and dry.
I mean, the family
receives a runaway letter.
But, officer Daniels, she
didn't run away, okay?
She said she was coming
back. She told us, sir.
This happens sometimes, boys.
A girl tells a boy one thing,
- and then, she does another.
- No, it's not like that.
It's in the hands of the parents now.
The Hinkley hills police
department can't go chasing
after every troubled teen
that decides to run away.
Okay. Well, why not?
What the hell else do you have to do?
Well, what he means is,
we might have some
information that could help.
- Such as?
- She was meeting this guy named John.
Said he was 19.
He lives in the city.
- You don't say.
- But he grew up here.
Well, that should
narrow it down right there.
Are you not supposed
to be writing this down
or taking statements or something?
Doing your fucking job.
What he's trying to say
is we're trying to help however we can.
Bill, you wanna take these
boys' statements down
regarding the Grant runaway?
I mean, what the hell else
do we have to do, right?
You got it.
Who wants to go first?
Me.
Come on, Robert.
A runaway letter in the mail?
I mean, do you seriously believe that?
That she could just lie to us like that?
Dude, I don't even know what to believe.
Like, I feel insane.
I just don't think she ran away.
I just don't I just
She wouldn't abandon us like that.
Yeah.
Robert, can you get that?
Hey there. Robert.
- Hi.
- Officer festersen.
Did you find anyone?
Did you find anyone named John?
Look, boys.
I can only imagine what
you're feeling right now.
The Grant girl was your friend.
Alison.
Her name is Alison.
Alison. Of course.
We should've come sooner.
- What?
- She said she was coming back,
I don't know, she was
only going for the weekend.
And I feel like if I came sooner,
- I would have been able to
- look, look, boys.
You're both good kids.
You did what you thought
was right at the time.
I won't tell you not to have any regrets.
God knows I've got plenty.
But all you can do is learn from them
And move on.
- Yeah.
- Okay?
So, which one is it? Did
she run away or was she
- Well, what happened?
- See?
That's where we got stuck
and that's where we've
been stuck for 20 years.
Maybe she abandoned
us without a trace.
Maybe some dance-loving
stranger murdered her.
I mean, what are we
supposed to do with that?
- Still.
- Did the guy tell her
not to hang out with
us 'cause we're nerds?
Or did we actually let her happily skip
into a murder scenario
and abandon her?
And after a while, we just
we couldn't talk about it anymore.
Town kept talking though, right?
Town couldn't shut up.
Most people thought that she was dead.
Some people thought
her parents murdered her,
especially 'cause they
left town in such a hurry.
- Did you think that?
- I think they just wanted
to get out of here.
Too many rumors, too many memories.
But Rob and I had to stay.
And some people
well, they thought that
We
- This is sad.
- Very.
You see why I don't talk about it?
It really screwed me up.
But the only thing that
Rob and I are guilty of is
Missin' our friend.
I mean, that's understandable.
- It sure is.
- And it's admirable
what you did. It's
It's very human.
- I'll say.
- Sometimes there are parts
of your past that you
don't wanna keep facin'.
Things you've been
through that you just
- Rather forget.
- I hear you, brother.
Yeah. There are things
that keep me up at night.
The odd sound and
The dark.
I'm sorry that we did
like a semi-kidnapping.
That must have been really
- triggering for you.
- No.
I was like passed out.
- It's cool.
- And my bad cop bullshit,
that was really rough. I'm sorry.
It was fun, but it was awful.
Wait, you mentioned that
you three used to hang out
in a bunker in the woods.
Where is that?
- Dude.
- We we buried that deep.
Show us?
Yeah. I mean, no one's
been in there for years.
- Shit.
- You know what? I gotta pee.
Why don't you guys go
and I'll meet you after?
- We can wait. It's fine.
- No.
- You know, when you got a
- Vagina?
Or is it your trick bladder, per chance?
- Don't worry about it. Just go.
- All right. Come on, man.
Let's go face our past.
My past.
By the time naveen
and I went off to college,
we had stopped coming
down here altogether.
Haven't been here for 20
years until a couple of nights ago.
There's still one thing I don't understand.
Why do you have this?
I found it months later after everything.
It was lodged in the dirt, 10 feet away
from the door to the bunker.
Why didn't you give it to the police?
Because I checked it
and there was no suspicious
messages other than mine.
It's not like anyone was looking for her.
It was like nobody cared.
And as long as I had it,
it was like, maybe she was still out there.
That maybe she might come home.
I've held onto it for so long.
Rob.
I'm so sorry.
It's okay.
I mean, it it's not okay.
But we're all just fumbling through life,
trying to process things as
best as we can, aren't we?
I should have told you everything
as soon as we moved out here.
But I didn't realize this thing
- would dredge you all up.
- I'm sorry.
Your wife is too nosy for her own good.
I mean, I wasn't a hundred
percent with you either.
I accused you of being
a teenage murderer.
You know, I broke into
your neighbor's house
and used our baby as a decoy.
- It's
- I mean, I wasn't gonna bring
- any of that up, but
- We've both been
a little off since the
baby and moving here.
And I like it here and
I love our family, but
I wanna love us here, too.
Maybe we can fix that.
No more hiding shit from each other.
No more secrets.
Only the fun kind.
- Whoa. It's open. Hello?
- Naveen?
It's this way. Yeah. Come on.
Shit.
Are you done yet?
You're putting out this
- no. Are you done yet?
- No, I'm not done.
I'd just begun.
So, I'd just begun too.
But you know what? When I'm finished
with this you can go on, sweetheart.
Baby miles.
I think I'm a bit sleepy.
I I'm just gonna put you down.
What pills did I take?
Shit.
Bev, what have you done?
Hi. You've reached Samira,
but why are you calling me? Text me.
Samira, miles is fine,
but I am a teensy bit on
accident Dana, it's Lynn.
Hello.
I'm about 42 minutes into a double dose
of bev Fisher's old benzos.
It was a mistake. I swear.
They were in a bottle for pain relievers.
What else is she hiding?
I'm with baby miles and I am desperate
not to fall into a drug-induced coma.
Tod, I don't think I have ever called you
on the phone before and I
hope this doesn't land me
on some kind of a list.
I'm in a bit of a pickle.
So, if you could swing
by the Fisher house
Good.
Man, doesn't it feel good to revisit
and examine our core
moments and accept ourselves,
- and process all of that?
- You literally told me
to bring it down and bottle it up
- the other night.
- Not now, Rob.
Wild that we all decided to go down
- surviving into our past tonight.
- Not that wild,
considering that your
past have been a point
of obsessive focus for everyone else
in the room bunker.
I guess it's just
flattering to be thought of.
Aww, Rob, the manners.
That is Your mom
would be really proud.
- Are you still drunk?
- Drunk on love?
What is that?
Dude, Alison's sardines.
Sardines?
God. Yeah.
She had a thing for them, didn't she?
A great source
of protein and
nutritionally complete food.
Yeah, I mean her
breasts smell weird as shit.
- Do you want 'em?
- Fuck you, dude.
Get that shit away from me.
Sardines.
Who else likes sardines?
Me.
And Betsy.
- Her, too.
- Gary's wife?
Gary's wife.
She fed us sardines, Rob.
That's a highly eccentric snack choice
that I never wanna revisit.
Betsy never wants to leave the victorian.
So she clearly doesn't wanna be seen,
and she's around the same age as us.
What does she look like?
A lot like that photo, to be honest.
Well, the years can be cruel to all of us.
She does look familiar, though.
Cute picture.
Is that your family?
It came with the frame.
Look, I don't wanna sound ridiculous,
but what if you're not the only one
who moved back home?
What are you saying?
What if Betsy Is Alison?
Holy shit, what?
Well, then, we need to see her.
If it's her, then we'll know.
What are we doing? Let's go.
In there, we can just go now.
Yay. You're home.
You're back.
- You're back.
- My little man.
My gosh. Lynn, you are a lifesaver.
Thank you.
Little man was such a good boy.
Hey, are you okay?
You have sodded a vice.
You look tranqued out.
- What's going on?
- I'm I'm fine.
Why don't you answer your phones?
Actually, never mind.
Just don't listen to your
voice mails, any of you.
I need some air.
- You're in the air.
- No, no, the air over there.
We're gonna be listenin'
to those voice mails.
- What the hell?
- I think naveen and I
should go over there on our own.
We'll be right here.
- Be safe.
- Okay.
- Ready?
- Yeah, what did I miss?
Meh, not too much.
Marty, I need you.
How long until these things wear off?
Lynn?
Bill.
Who you talking to?
No one.
I could have sworn I
heard you say Marty.
Sometimes I talk to my dead
husband when I'm sleepy.
I accidentally ate some drugs
and I don't even know if
they're prescription or not.
Please don't arrest either of us.
Lynn, I'm retired.
I was just out for a walk.
But whose drugs did you steal?
Bev Fisher's.
Agnes told me that
she has quite the stash.
She does.
And they're all mislabeled.
It's barely my fault.
I was looking for headache medicine.
Did you know that Don takes
testosterone supplements?
- I did not.
- Do you take them?
You're so tall.
Let me join you
and sit with you till you're ready to stand.
You're gonna be all right, Lynn.
Will you hold my hand
so I don't float away?
What would Agnes say?
She'd kill us both.
All right. What do we say if it is her?
How are you?
What happened to you?
- Never thought of that.
- We'll just play it by ear.
Yeah, yeah.
It's probably not gonna be her.
Here goes nothing.
Maybe she's not home. You know?
Maybe we should just go
back. Maybe she's not home.
The car's not there.
Samira said she never leaves the house.
- She's gotta be in there.
- Okay.
Betsy?
Alison?
If it's you in there, then it's us.
Rob and naveen.
Yeah. She'd know that, but it's all right.
Your friends who missed you.
Who worried about you.
Who have been desperate to
find out what happened to you
for the last 20 years.
So, please open the door.
I don't know what else to do.
- Alison!
- What the fuck?
- Ali
- Dude!
She doesn't want anyone to
know that she's here, right?
So, if she wants us to
stop, she'll have to let us in.
- Alison!
- Alison!
- Alison!
- Alison!
Jesus. Will you nerds shut the fuck up?
My god.
It is you.
Get inside before anyone sees me.
My gosh. It is her.
Do you think it's safe?
I mean, what if she imprisons them?
To keep them from telling her secret.
You know, inflicts on
them what was done to her.
Trauma begets trauma.
That's how it works.
Well, she does love a knife.
Can we not?
What's happenin'?
It's Gary.
We thought you were dead.
- I never thought you were dead.
- Shut up.
Yes, you did.
Did you know we were both here?
Yeah. I have windows.
What the hell? Why
didn't you say something?
Or come and find us?
It's you.
It's really you.
For the boys!
- For the boys.
- For the boys!
I feel worried. Should we feel worried?
- He's back.
- You have to go.
- What? Why?
- Well, he can't see you here.
- What are you
- No, no. This way.
- This out this way.
- What's going on?
Couldn't you just tell us? Are you okay?
Where are we going?
Go down across the
cellar. Watch for the hole.
Go through the doors and
the padlock code is 666.
Alison, I'm gonna come and save you.
God, Gary's goin' in.
Right there. Come on. Come on.
- Run, Rob, run.
- It's about to go down.
Shit, shit.
Rob, are you okay? What happened?
- You were right.
- It's her.
You were fucking right.
- What did Gary say?
- He didn't see us.
We heard the car pulling in,
but from the way she got us out of there,
one thing's very clear to me.
Gary may be Alison's husband,
but he might also be her captor.