Nine Perfect Strangers (2021) s02e07 Episode Script

1
This is the next phase
in my therapeutic work,
and it is potentially
an enormous breakthrough.
This is the first time
that I've had friends.
Will you let me take you somewhere else?
I've never experienced
anything like that in my life before.
More people need to experience this.
She's on the edge of something
that could change the world.
If we accept his help,
he needs to atone for what he has done.
When are you going to tell her?
I can't go on like this forever.
Luckily, I don't have forever left.
I wanna go back to when I was little.
I don't want you going there alone.
[MARTIN] You can go on this journey
with your daughter.
- [RAPID BEEPING]
- Hey. Hey, hey, hey.
- She has ALS.
- What?
[MASHA]
Martin, he went against my orders.
[MARTIN] I should not have been
conducting this exercise alone.
It's inexcusable what's happened.
You came to me a broken woman,
but I thought we managed to fix you.
I was wrong.
Stop it, stop it, stop it!
Helena, don't leave me.
♪
[HELENA] It is my wish
that you both share responsibilities
for this place.
It'll be good for you, Martin.
[MARTIN]
Well, it's not good for this place.
Just stop.
Just stop and make it work, okay?
[HELENA COUGHING]
[CELLS GLITCHING]
- Are you okay?
- [HELENA COUGHING]
[HELENA] Yeah, yeah, yeah, fine.
- [COUGHING]
- I didn't mean to inflame you.
[HELENA] I'm fine!
[HELENA CONTINUES COUGHING]
Mother, I
- [COUGHING]
- I don't like her.
[CELLS GLITCHING]
I don't trust her.
- [BREATHING HEAVILY]
- I'll go to America.
I'll get her here.
But just tell me one thing,
what if she fails?
If she fails, then we fail.
[HELENA BREATHING HEAVILY]
[DOOR CLOSING]
She won't fail because she doesn't fail!
Unlike some people I know.
[GLITCHING]
[SUBTLE, SUSPENSEFUL MUSIC PLAYING]
[CAR DOOR OPENS, CLOSES]
- How is she doing?
- She's happy you're here.
[MUSIC FADES OUT]
- [HELENA] You're very good to me.
- [MASHA SIGHS]
- [LIQUID POURING]
- You were very good to me.
[HELENA SOFTLY CHUCKLES]
And I'm just happy
to be back with you
able to take care of you.
I I know this isn't how
you remember this place,
- [COUGHING] or, or me.
- Take this. Mm.
- Mm.
- [STRAW SLURPING]
- You're perfect.
- [CHUCKLES]
[SIGHS]
- Mm.
- Hmm.
I want you to have it.
- What?
- Zauberwald.
I want it to be yours.
But Martin, he's, he's your son.
- He should inherit it.
- Mm-mm.
Martin is a great scientist,
and I love him more than life.
- You know this.
- Of course.
And in my eyes, he's perfect.
But I have to be objective, too,
and when I look at him
[CLEARING THROAT]
honestly, we have rugs with more charm.
[SHUSHING] You can't say this.
- No.
- I'm sorry, dear,
but I have no time left to waste
on being polite or nice.
And he'll stick around
and he'd be very helpful to you.
But we're at a difficult chapter
in this place's long history,
and we need a leader.
A leader with vision.
If anyone can bring
this place back to life
it's you, Masha. It's you.
[SUBTLE, SUSPENSEFUL MUSIC PLAYING]
[SNIFFLING]
[MASHA BREATHING HEAVILY]
[SISTER AGNES] Martin?
Martin, are you alright?
You know, it's been a long time
since anyone asked me that.
[FIRE CRACKLING SOFTLY]
Are you?
Well
I just put one of my patients
in grave danger.
I'd like to say it's because
I was set up to fail,
but really
it's because I follow orders.
I think I made, um, a little hell
for myself through my own cowardice.
You had, um
a crisis of faith?
Yes?
[AGNES] [SIGHS] You could say that.
What did it feel like?
[SIGHS] Uh
Oh,
like the ground you'd been walking on
is suddenly air.
You're never really
just standing or walking.
You're, you're falling.
You're just an empty vessel plummeting
further and further away from yourself.
[WHISPERING] I think I'm having
a crisis of faith, Sister.
- Am I a bad person?
- Martin
I feel incapable of doing anything good.
- You're not.
- Well, I did nothing good.
I know that.
What I'm trying to understand is,
am I capable of doing evil?
[TINA] Hey.
Is Victoria okay?
Yeah, why does she have an entire
medical team attending to her?
Victoria had an adverse reaction
to her medication.
Hold up. The same medication
that we've been taking?
[MARTIN] Yes.
What, are we gonna need
intensive medical care?
I don't know. Do any of you
have a serious medical condition
that you didn't disclose to me?
- [BRIAN] Oh, my God.
- What's going on?
Basically, Martin here
dosed a terminally ill woman
with heavy psychedelics.
Wait, Victoria's t-terminally ill?
What is going on is that Masha
is running a madhouse.
- Well, we knew that. [CHUCKLES]
- And that she's putting me
and she is putting all of you in danger.
What are you talking about?
Maybe we should just ask
her future business partner.
How do you know that?
[SUBTLE, SUSPENSEFUL MUSIC PLAYING]
[DOOR OPENS]
Masha.
Oh, Peter, uh,
I thought you were with Victoria.
I was. She's, uh, she's resting.
I heard that we're gonna be
in business together,
you and me and Dad.
He can be very convincing, can't he?
[SIGHS]
You don't feel his heart is in it.
[CHUCKLES SOFTLY]
Have you been spying on us, Martin?
[MARTIN] Let's stick to the topic.
David wants to buy Zauberwald.
David and Masha want to rip it
right out of my family's hands.
Kind of reminds me
of when I was younger.
I was obsessed with magic.
So much so, that my parents,
they, they hired my favorite magician
to play at one of my birthday parties.
I loved him, I kind of idolized him.
He could do the impossible.
But after the performance,
my dad pulled him aside
and convinced him to sell him
his little book of magic tricks.
He said it was a present for me,
but, um,
I think it was more for himself
because he hated the wonder of it all.
He hated the power that not knowing
gave somebody over him.
So, he made it into something
that he could buy.
Something that he could own.
This whole "retreat," this entire thing
has been about seducing an investor.
[WOLFIE] Is that true?
You know what,
maybe we should talk to my doctor,
get you some nice smooth benzos
for your anxiety.
Maybe throw in a few antipsychotics
while we're at it.
This is insane.
You see, right now, my dad,
he's impressed with you.
And he's sticking around for you
to tell him how to do your trick,
and he will give you
anything you want for it.
Money, attention, apologies, even love.
But you need to know
what it is that you want from him,
because trust me,
he's not gonna stick around for long.
[BOOK SLAMMING]
[DAVID] Look, I really haven't got time
or the inclination
to stand around here
arguing with Masha's assistant.
Right, yes, assistant.
Would you rather that I just
stand like this and smile?
- Because that's all I am?
- Well, assistant's my best guess
'cause, frankly, I don't know
what purpose you serve here.
I am here!
I am here because this place
has belonged to my family
for generations!
And if Masha wouldn't have duped
my mother on her deathbed,
then I would be the one in charge.
I watched over my mother
throughout her illness,
hauled her to doctors,
wheeled her around this crumbling place.
And then, this pop star,
she just swans into our home
in her final days and supplants me
as her guardian angel.
And my mother was in love
with Masha's pain.
But her own son,
the one who diligently
followed in her footsteps,
I could never compete
with the former patient she'd healed.
- I'm trying my best.
- Well, it's not good enough, Martin.
- I I am trying to say
- Stop!
that I am sorry, Mom.
Masha came here for treatment
after the death of her daughter.
She was an absolute wreck.
So, my mother was very proud
when she thought that she healed her,
but my mother didn't work with her.
I am working with her, so I have
to address that she is just as unwell.
Actually, I would say
that she's a lunatic,
and we have to point that out
Martin, just, just, just take a breath.
Okay.
I don't know about the rest of you.
I now have some insight
into exactly why your mother
didn't want you running this place.
- Excuse me?
- [DAVID] I'm no doctor,
but I know that a real
mental health professional
would never call a grieving woman
a lunatic.
- [SCOFFS]
- And he definitely wouldn't disclose
her confidential patient history
in a shameful attempt to discredit her.
I think your mother
knew exactly what she was doing.
Her only mistake
was letting you stay on here
as Masha's assistant.
'Cause, clearly,
even that job's above your pay grade.
[DRAMATIC ORCHESTRAL MUSIC PLAYING]
Jesus.
The fuck?
[DRAMATIC ORCHESTRAL MUSIC CONTINUES]
- [TINA] I told you.
- [WOLFIE] Yeah? Not now.
- Okay?
- I'm so I'm like a fucking oracle.
- Jesus Christ.
- I saw this.
What do you want?
You want a fucking medal?
I would love a medal,
I would love a fucking medal.
[BOTH CONTINUE CHATTERING INDISTINCTLY]
- [AGNES] Martin.
- [MARTIN] Hm?
[WHISPERING] Be kind to yourself.
Mm.
[AGNES SIGHS]
[DRAMATIC ORCHESTRAL MUSIC
CONTINUES PLAYING]
[SIGHS]
[GLASS SHATTERING]
[SUBTLE SUSPENSEFUL MUSIC PLAYING]
[GLASS CRUNCHING]
[MACHINE BEEPING]
[IMOGEN]
Why would she not have told me this?
[MATTEO] Imogen, you know your mother.
To admit she needs nurse,
it means she is sick,
which is a thing she hates.
And it means you feel sad or bad to her,
which is a thing she hates even more.
So instead, we say I'm her lover
and which is truth.
B-But first, I-I was nurse to her.
No, I just I can't understand
why she didn't tell me this.
- [SNIFFLING]
- How much did you talk with your mother
in last year?
I don't know, I don't keep track.
Three or four times.
If you count texts. [SNIFFLING]
I mean, you'd think that she
could work it into the conversation.
"Oh, by the way, maybe we should
spend more time together
since it seems that I'm dy
[CHUCKLING] dying."
It's like I said.
She didn't think I could handle it.
She wanted you to remember her
like you always do.
[INTENSE, DRAMATIC MUSIC PLAYING]
[EXHALES SHARPLY]
♪
[WIND ROARING]
[KEYPAD BEEPING]
[MUSIC INTENSIFIES]
- [MUSIC STOPS ABRUPTLY]
- I'm worried about Martin.
- Yeah?
- He said something to me.
He wondered if he was capable of evil.
What?
Well, what does that mean? [CHUCKLES]
I have no idea,
but it put me back in a dark place.
- What do you mean?
- I've taken great care
not to put myself in any situation
where anyone relies on me, and
Aggie, listen.
I haven't known you for long,
and forgive me
if this is, like, forward of me,
but I have good instincts about people,
and I would trust you with my life.
- [SCOFFS]
- What? What, I said something wrong?
No, no, no,
you're-you're very kind, thank you.
- No, no, no, I said something wrong.
- It's just that people
did trust me with their lives,
and some of them died.
[SUBTLE, SUSPENSEFUL MUSIC PLAYING]
I think I need some time alone.
- Oh, okay. No.
- I just need space to think.
- Of course, of course.
- [AGNES SIGHS]
[DOOR OPENING]
[DOOR CLOSING]
[MACHINE BEEPING]
[CLEARING THROAT] Is
this a spa treatment?
So, what was the plan?
Were you just gonna call me once a month
and tell me how wonderful
gallivanting around Europe was
while you were dying in a hospice?
How long do you have?
Possibly a few years,
if I'm lucky and very careful.
Yeah, I've noticed how carefully
you've been selecting your wine,
so that bodes well.
I'm sorry, Immy.
I've never been good at honesty.
I
It's just too painful, too messy.
- This is a lot to process.
- Mm-hm. It certainly is.
In my session, I went back
to the day that Dad died.
It was too much.
And I honestly don't know
how I'm gonna lose you too.
- [SOBBING]
- Baby, listen to me, listen to me.
There's so much of me right there,
right there inside of you.
Whether you like it or not,
you're never gonna lose me
for as long as you live.
God,
I hadn't thought about it like that.
[BOTH LAUGHING]
Darling, we don't have a lot of it,
but we do have some time.
So, come on, let's just
make the most of it.
I'll take whatever time I can get.
Did anyone ever tell you
you look just like Ava Gardner?
You, whenever you're trying
to get on my good side.
[BOTH LAUGHING]
[KNOCKING]
So, uh, can the doctor check in on her?
Of course.
Get some rest, okay?
[KISSES]
[SUBTLE, EMOTIONAL MUSIC PLAYING]
[TINA] I mean
I can't even fathom how fucking
inappropriate this whole thing is.
It's like, we walk down to dinner
and you've got fucking Norman Bates
screaming at Mr. Clean.
It's It, it
You can't write this shit.
- Babe.
- Hm?
Babe?
What are you doing?
Why are you over there?
I'm reading.
[SUBTLE PIANO MUSIC PLAYING]
[CHIPS CRUNCHING]
I know what you're doing.
What?
I was pushing you away,
so now it's your turn to push me away.
- [CHUCKLES SOFTLY]
- It's cool.
But can we
can we skip it
and just go back to normal, please?
That's really not what I'm doing, babe.
[SUBTLE PIANO MUSIC CONTINUES PLAYING]
"That's not what I'm doing." [SCOFFS]
[CHIPS CRUNCHING]
[WIND BLOWING]
[FIRE CRACKLING]
[DOOR OPENS, CLOSES]
[BLOWING]
- Hey there.
- Hey.
What are you doing out here?
Well, actually, I was, uh,
I was waiting for you.
Waiting for me?
Yeah, I wanted to see how you were
and, um, how your mom was doing.
But I'm very conscious about,
you know, giving you your space,
and I did think you would want to
come out for air at some point, so
It's, uh,
quite the fire you've got there.
You should have seen it
about five minutes ago or so.
Uh, it was like a whole pyre
of masculinity.
[FIRE CRACKLING]
[IMOGEN SIGHS]
So, did you get to spend
some lovely quality time
with your daddy?
You know, in hindsight, um
I should have chosen
the incredible woman
that wanted to spend time with me
rather than the,
the very shitty
shitty man that didn't.
You really think
he's a shitty, shitty man?
Actually, I do, yeah.
You know, I've spent most of my life
scavenging for scraps of love
and attention from him.
And I thought that coming here
would fix that somehow.
It hasn't.
Do you know the real reason he's here?
Scouting for a hostile takeover,
just off the top of my head.
I mean, there's not a shred of decency
in that human anymore, is there?
Well
can I interest you in a
an emotionally abusive mother
whose hobbies include keeping
her terminal illness a secret?
Oh, my God, Imogen, I'm so sorry.
[SIGHS]
Are we gonna be this
crappy with our kids?
Our hypothetical kids, of course.
If we ever have any.
- Separately or otherwise.
- Okay.
Thanks for clearing that up.
[SOFT MUSIC PLAYING]
I mean, you gotta admit they'd be, uh,
they'd be pretty cute though,
wouldn't they?
[CHUCKLES] Stop.
[WIND HOWLING]
[WIND THUMPING WINDOWS]
[SIGHS]
[SIGHS] Oh, God.
- Can't sleep?
- Oh, Jesus Christ!
God, I thought I'd put you away.
- I don't like it in there.
- [SIGHS]
It's like a coffin.
Yeah, well, you're an inanimate object.
You can deal with it.
You're thinking about
what Agnes said to you.
I might be.
What business of yours is it?
You're wondering if you're ever
really, truly gonna be healed.
Are you here to make me feel better
about myself, Jessie Bear,
or to be an obnoxious little demon?
You can't stop thinking
about what happened to that kid
you freaked out in front of,
and to the thousands of other kids
- who looked up to you like a saint.
- Come on!
It's probably healthy for them
to-to take me off a pedestal!
I mean, they had to learn
that Santa Claus isn't real
at some point, too.
Well, you're not Santa Claus, Brian,
and you're never gonna be healed.
You're always gonna have
that anger inside you.
You're always gonna backslide
like the pathetic, sad,
angry asshole that you are!
That's why you need me,
- because you're fucked up
- Why are you doing this to me?
- [JESSIE BEAR CHOKING]
- I don't
I don't understand
why you're always attacking me.
- I just I can't do this.
- [JESSIE BEAR EXCLAIMING]
I cannot do this anymore.
I'm not listening. I don't wanna hear.
- [MUFFLED EXCLAIMING]
- Now, fuck off!
I'm not listening!
La, la, la, la, la, la! Enough!
[BRIAN PANTING]
["PROTECTION FROM EVIL"
BY IBIBIO SOUND MACHINE PLAYING]
♪
[MUTTERING INDISTINCTLY]
[BLENDER WHIRRING]
[VOCALIST SINGING]
[WHIRRING]
[BEEPING]
Mommy, please come to me.
[STOMPING AND SCREAMING]
["PROTECTION FROM EVIL" CONTINUES]
[MARTIN SHOUTING]
[SHOUTING INDISTINCTLY]
[EXCLAIMING]
♪
[EXCLAIMING]
- [MARTIN SLURPING]
- Spiritual, invisible ♪
Protection from evil ♪
Spiritual, invisible ♪
- [ECHOING] Come to me, Helena.
- Protection from evil ♪
Spiritual, invisible
protection from evil ♪
Come to me.
[DISTORTED] Come to me.
♪
Mommy, I need you, please!
[LAUGHING MANIACALLY, GRUNTING]
Whoo! Whoo!
[LAUGHING]
I have feelings!
♪
- [MUSIC STOPS ABRUPTLY]
- [DOORBELL CHIMING]
[DAVID] [THROUGH MONITOR]
Can I come in?
- [BUTTON CLICKING]
- [DOOR OPENS]
[FOOTSTEPS APPROACHING]
Hi.
You sent for me?
- Are you alright?
- I'm fine.
How are the others?
How is Victoria?
They're all, um they're fine.
What's that?
[SUBTLE, SUSPENSEFUL MUSIC PLAYING]
It's my tea. I take it every day.
It's a very carefully controlled dose.
[CHUCKLES SOFTLY]
- [GASPS SOFTLY]
- [MASHA] It opens a portal
so I can communicate
with the people that I've lost.
Connects the past and the present,
and memory and reality.
It keeps my past alive,
it's a tiptoe into the present
and helps me feel less alone.
Well, it's helped you develop
a revolutionary new form of therapy.
I don't know if you really appreciate
how big this can be.
I mean, we-we could start here
at Zauberwald,
this could be the pilot program.
I could buy out that Austrian gremlin.
I can give you complete ownership.
[MASHA]
So, if you believe in this partnership,
if you really believe in it,
then why don't you give up
the rest of your work?
The military contracting,
and the media empire,
and all of these things that you do?
And you could focus directly on this.
- You're not serious?
- Of course, I am.
Why wouldn't I be?
Well, because the things
you've just referred to
constitute the core of my business.
You don't have enough money?
Well, they're the money-makers.
They're-They're what
allow me to take risks.
To invest in
altruistic endeavors like this.
Look, if you're worried
about the PR angle, um
the connection to the military hardware
and all that, I it's easy.
I can just, uh, I can set up
a shell company
and invest in you through that.
Nobody needs to know who's backing you.
Masha?
Come on, talk to me.
- What is it?
- I want you to do something with me.
What?
I want to introduce you to her.
- To who, to our daughter?
- Yes.
I want you to meet her.
- How?
- We would take a dose together.
A very large dose, controlled,
and I will walk you through the portal
and you can meet her.
[WHISPERING] And we will see her
and talk to her together.
- How does that work?
- Do you trust me?
Hm? Do you?
[SUBTLE, SUSPENSEFUL MUSIC PLAYING]
I trust you.
Great.
[WIND WHISTLING]
[MASHA SIGHS] Are you ready?
Yeah. Are you?
- You look nervous.
- [SOFTLY CHUCKLES] I'm excited.
Me too.
[SUBTLE, SUSPENSEFUL MUSIC PLAYING]
[MASHA] This will be a larger dose
than you are used to.
[SCREEN BEEPING]
[WHISPERING] It won't be easy,
it might be painful,
but you will grow from this.
Close your eyes.
Breathe in and out.
♪
[EXHALES SLOWLY]
So, we're going through with it?
Your grand finale?
[EERIE, SUSPENSEFUL MUSIC PLAYING]
[FIREWORKS EXPLODING]
What?!
- [FIREWORKS CONTINUE EXPLODING]
- [TINA GASPS]
[MASHA] [OVER SPEAKERS]
Everyone, please meet me downstairs
- for an emergency meeting.
- [TINA] Get up!
[MASHA]
There is nothing to panic about.
- Meet me downstairs
- [WOLFIE] Are you okay?
- for an emergency meeting.
- Ah!
- What time is it?
- [WINCING] Ow.
What is this?
- [FIREWORKS CONTINUE]
- [MASHA] I repeat,
meet me downstairs
for an emergency meeting.
[FIREWORKS EXPLODING]
What the fuck?
[FIREWORKS BOOMING]
[FIREWORKS WHISTLING]
[MASHA] I repeat,
meet me downstairs
for an emergency meeting.
What the hell's going on?
[INTENSE, DRAMATIC MUSIC PLAYING]
[DAVID] What's happening?
[MASHA SHUSHING]
[INTENSE, DRAMATIC MUSIC CONTINUES]
[WHOOSHING SOUNDS]
[SHUSHING ECHOING]
[CHUCKLES] Ah.
[DOOR CREAKING OPEN]
[WIND RUSTLING]
Hello?
- Hello?
- [HELENA] Jesus, it's nasty out.
I haven't seen weather
like this in decades.
Hello.
I've missed you.
[DISTORTED WHOOSHING]
[MUFFLED CHATTERING]
[SUBTLE, SUSPENSEFUL MUSIC PLAYING]
[FIRE CRACKLING]
[DAVID] What's happening?
Why is everybody looking at me?
Good evening, David.
And thank you all
for joining us at this late hour.
[CHUCKLES SOFTLY]
[EXHALES SLOWLY]
What is this, a, a trial?
Trial, hearing.
Breakout session. [LAUGHING]
[VOICE DISTORTING]
Shared hallucinogenic experience.
[NORMAL VOICE] Sentencing.
I've done nothing wrong.
Then you have nothing to worry about.
[WHISPERING]
Thank you for participating.
This won't be easy
and it might be painful.
But you will grow from this.
[INTENSE, DRAMATIC MUSIC SWELLS]
♪
[MUSIC FADES OUT]