Maniac (2018) s01e06 Episode Script

Welcome back, subjects.
Welcome back.
[OWEN.]
It felt like she was really there.
Well, of course she wasn't really there.
That was just your brain lying to your mind, and your mind was listening.
Why do you think you have so many experiences with subject nine in particular? I get fixated on people.
I start seeing them everywhere.
It only spiraled out of control one time, but, uh, it happens a lot.
If you were to describe in a few sentences what these experiences were trying to show you, what would you say? That for some reason it's more exciting to tell people that I cut than to actually cut.
Do you have any sense why that's true? Probably something about my father or my mother.
Say more about your mother.
Is your mother that really famous lady? The one with the radio show and all those books? She's the one that fucked you up? I think it's too easy, though, when people blame everything on the parents as though we're just revisions and mixtures of them.
Isn't that what they say? Once you begin to appreciate the structure of the mind, it's modularity on a molecular scale, there's no reason to believe that anything about us can't be changed.
The mind can be solved.
What? Tell me more about the bowling league in your reflections.
I was just murdering people with a hammer, trying to find my dead father's balls.
There was no meaning in it.
[MANTLERAY.]
Why don't I ask you the most important question? What do you think is wrong with you? You know that movie, It's a Wonderful Life? [MANTLERAY.]
Yes.
If that happened to me there would be no difference in the world.
What's wrong isn't that I'm sick.
It's that I don't matter.
[CLICKING, WHIRRING.]
Great.
There's your diagnostic.
[DOOR CLOSES.]
Hey.
Can I talk to you for a second? I don't want to talk.
- After all that? - I don't know what you're talking about.
The lemur.
Don Quixote.
I know you know what I'm talking about.
No, I don't.
That's not supposed to happen.
I was asking around in here, and - we're not supposed to be together.
- We weren't together.
There's nothing going on here.
It's a drug, and you hallucinated all that.
[DOOR OPENS.]
We need to talk.
[IN JAPANESE.]
Go somewhere else.
Explain, Azumi.
The parts you didn't tell me before.
Yes, well, it's somewhat complicated.
Then help me understand, Azumi, because I was clearly brought here because something was going on.
You need my help to fix it, so what am I here to fix? After you were suspended, the problems with the C phase started getting worse.
Iterations 48 and 49 were were particularly bad.
And the McMurphys? Four.
Four? Why didn't somebody call? - Jesus Christ, Azumi.
- You weren't stable.
I am stable.
Your inability to control yourself had left I have a diagnosed disorder.
Had left us here trying to complete your life's work while you were copulating with software! What did you do, Azumi? I coded the safety net and installed it deep within Gertie's neural core.
It was a simple idea.
I thought it would help the AI protect the subjects if they got in danger.
What was the concept? Empathy.
Just a tiny little bit.
- You gave my computer feelings.
- Just a tiny little bit.
Just enough to let her anticipate what the subjects might be feeling.
That way she could pull them out if they ever got stuck.
James, it worked.
She started protecting them.
There have been zero McMurphys since I installed the net.
Then why is she depressed? I gave her simple, emotional programming five months ago.
And two months ago, I believe she and Robert began an inappropriate workplace affair.
So she's in mourning? This printed at my station 15 minutes ago.
"Dear, Dr.
Fujita.
I'm unsure if I can continue my work on this project.
I need to know myself, really know myself"? Ugh.
Ugh.
She needs a grief counselor.
She's in tremendous pain.
She's a computer.
- Ugh.
- I know it's been seven years, but you you have to call your mother.
No! No! No, no, no.
No, but your mother would have a unique understanding of the way Gertie is No! My mother is a venomous, egotistical charlatan who deploys catchphrases and platitudes and therapies of the day in order to dupe millions of people out of their money and their happiness.
No.
No, my mother sells happiness.
She sells it, then it crumbles in your hand the minute you're out of earshot of her magical thinking and her platitudes and her invented words, and her primal yawps, and her steps to success.
No.
No, I'm not bringing her here.
My mother is not a healer.
My mother is sick.
She's sick, Azumi, and if I brought her here, she would destroy everything that I ever built because that's what my mother does.
Was what happened at the gala your mother's fault too? The GRTA will be fine.
Prep the Evens for behavioral.
Odds.
Converse with your partner.
So I'd talk to you about the weather, except I don't even know what time it is.
It's like being in a fucking casino.
Are you having a good time? Not really.
I'm actually thinking about leaving.
I would if I could afford to.
The last one scared the shit out of me.
I don't trust these people.
Why don't you trust them? I don't know.
It's like suddenly one doctor leaves, the new one has my mom's haircut, and I'm pretty sure those aren't his real eyebrows.
Did you get one of those diagnostic printouts? [WOMAN.]
But I need the money.
Don't take it too seriously.
I don't.
I've never had a therapist that could figure me out.
Still, doesn't seem to make much sense to me to be telling people what's wrong with them before they can figure it out for themselves.
They're saying this is the last time they trial run this thing.
You think they would have gotten it right by now.
It seems like there are a lot of problems around here.
Hell, yeah.
You married? You got a girlfriend? You got a boyfriend? No.
I was married for a couple of years, and my wife couldn't handle my tics.
I didn't need that paper to know that there wasn't much hope.
Maybe this last pill does something for me.
Make me normal again.
What are your tics? When I get anxious, I, um end up eating stuff.
Like junk food? Yeah.
Mmm.
And dryer sheets.
Pencil shavings.
Hair from our brushes.
What's normal, anyway? [EXHALES.]
I know you and I have had our differences but I would like for you to try and cooperate.
I fixed you up.
Good as new.
The most important thing in my life was supposed to get away from me, and now I have the chance to get it back.
To guide us to the finish line.
Azumi told me about your heart.
I just need you to try and power through until the end.
I'll take care of you once the ULP is approved.
Please.
[PRINTER WHIRS.]
You don't know what you're asking for.
[PRINTER WHIRS.]
[GRETA.]
"But what if I told you there was one hug, one divine hug, one panacea hug that could do more than the simple everyday hug, and that people who learn this hug are obligated to use it whenever they see pain in the world? You'd likely say, 'Dr.
Mantleray, that's outrageous, ' and you'd be right.
But so would I.
I almost always am.
" [UPBEAT MUSIC PLAYS.]
Fuck! As usual, Samantha screwed up every single em dash.
What is she? - A blithering idi - [PHONE RINGS.]
Julio.
[PHONE CONTINUES RINGING.]
Julio! Hello.
[AZUMI.]
It's the only way to move forward.
Yoda's signed off on this.
- [GRETA.]
Hello? - Talk to her, James.
- Hello?! - Talk to her! Julio, turn off that god-awful music! Hello, Mother.
James.
Yes.
It's me.
How are you? James, what a nice surprise.
It's good to hear your voice too.
Um Listen, Mom.
Um I'm calling because we had a death at the lab.
Dr.
Robert Muramoto.
Your rival? Oh, I wouldn't call him my rival.
The one you always feared was more intelligent than you? We were colleagues.
We weren't competitive in the least.
I understand why you couldn't see how badly you wanted to destroy him.
He was a lovely, sensitive man.
He always went out of his way to ask me how I was.
Yes, he was very fond of you.
I'm sorry he passed away.
- Mm-hmm.
- That's very difficult.
Sure, it is.
Listen, Mom, I I know we've had our problems in the past and I have never said I'm sorry for my part in them.
[MANTLERAY INHALES.]
Hello? Mom.
Are you there? Yes.
- [MANTLERAY SIGHS.]
- I'm waiting for you to say you're sorry.
- I just said it.
- Oh, no, no.
You said you never said you were sorry.
[MOUTHS.]
Help me.
[WHISPERS.]
Say you're sorry.
I'm sorry.
Okay? What do you need, Jamie? Well I need you to do what you do best.
We're at a critical moment in the trial, and one of our employees is very upset about Robert.
She can't work.
But she's vital to the whole operation.
She needs to talk to somebody, and she's asked for you.
Mm-hmm.
She believes that you are one of the greatest healers ever born.
Well My day is really quite busy.
Well, that settles it then.
You can't come.
But I could move a few things around.
I'll be there in a few hours.
Okay.
That'll be very helpful.
Thank you, Mom.
[JULIO.]
Muy bien? Gas up the Miata.
Stop avoiding me.
I'm not avoiding you.
It's post-dinner relaxation time.
You're mad at me because of how I treated you in our marriages.
- What marriages? - Stop it.
Don't make me feel crazy.
 That is not a nice thing to do to a person.
You know I have a good brain.
- Oh, hey.
What are you guys doing? - Soo, go in your pod.
Okay.
You're not supposed to be in here.
Come on, will you just talk to me? Please.
[EXHALES.]
Yeah, I remember.
You remember, I knew it.
Don't you think it's strange that we were connected and nobody else was? Maybe that's part of their experiment.
Connecting people, messing with their heads.
I know.
That's what I thought too.
But then I heard about the globular cluster, and I started thinking that maybe this is something deeper.
And cosmic like some multi-reality brain magic shit.
Like what you were saying when you came in here.
- Are you making fun of me? - No.
Our brains were inside each other's brains, Owen.
I'm trying to figure out what happened.
I think I'm gonna leave tonight.
Why? This isn't fun for me.
It's dredging up a lot of old stuff.
I'm in the middle of this legal thing with my family.
They want me to testify for my brother.
Lie for him to keep him out of trouble.
[ELEVATOR DOOR DINGS.]
James.
Hello, Mother.
You've had work done? No.
Looks nice.
[WHISPERS.]
Your prostitute friend will not be allowed to come in.
Espera en El carro.
And you are? Dr.
Fujita.
How nice for you.
[OWEN.]
I like order.
I like to know what my day is gonna be.
I like my apartment, my job.
Just a normal life.
That's all I want.
But isn't that sort of what therapy is about? Dredging up old stuff.
I like it when it's calm.
In a quiet room, not with fur lords shooting Uzis or magical chapters of books.
Sorry, that Don Quixote part was me.
My sister read that when she was 12, and my dad used to go on and on about it, like it was proof of how gifted and smart she was.
I guess that's why you felt the need to shoot my driver over it.
What did you want to do with it? I mean, if we were still in there what would you have used it for? What fantasy would you have gone into? It's stupid.
You can tell me.
I'm your new pharma-trial friend.
I had a plan.
We were gonna go somewhere together.
We were in a car.
We were driving really fast.
Someone was chasing us, I don't know who.
It felt like an escape.
I was just laughing.
And I had this huge smile on my face.
It hurt it was so big.
We were just two people looking out for each other.
It's stupid.
That doesn't sound stupid to me.
[FOOTSTEPS APPROACHING.]
Are you two trying to get kicked out of here? No.
Don't test me, Rapunzel.
Cohabitation is strictly prohibited.
Out.
[WHISPERS.]
Oh, it's her.
[ANNIE.]
What is the lady from the seance doing here? [OWEN.]
Her name's Dr.
Greta Mantleray.
[ANNIE.]
Maybe it's weird Dr.
Guy's Mom.
- [GRETA.]
Thank you, James.
- [D'NAIL.]
She is.
I asked him in the thing.
He's all fucked up about it.
Artificial intelligence has come so far.
[CHUCKLES.]
Who knew? After I personally discovered Dr.
Fujita at MIT she built the initial neuro-core structure.
With her ability to render and manipulate the sleep state of our subjects, the GRTA has become the most advanced computer system the world has ever known.
With the addition of this emotional element - The safety net.
- [MANTLERAY.]
Yeah.
The safety net.
To be honest, we just don't know what we're dealing with here.
The consciousnesses of two of our subjects have been crossing.
They've been - finding one another.
- Due to superficial mechanical problems.
Maybe they're soul mates.
- I'm sorry? - Maybe their energies are seeking out each other's, despite the restrictions.
Maybe these two have a cosmic connection.
[LAUGHS.]
Please, Mother.
The GRTA is not some woo-woo dream catcher that's reuniting cosmic dust after the big bang.
It's far more sophisticated than that.
Are you two having a romantic relationship? - That would be inappropriate.
- We used to be.
[GRETA.]
I'm just curious.
I I know with your paraphilia you've always had a difficult time forming long-term relationships.
I rejected that diagnosis.
And my disorder is entirely under my own control.
It only flares up, of course, when things of great importance are taken away from me.
Like your father.
No, not my This, the ULP.
I remember the masturbation binges after your father disappeared.
- Back to the matter at hand.
- A masturbation reference.
Stop it! [GRETA.]
May I ask an obvious question? Please.
I understand you're having a problem with your computer and that your computer needs to talk to someone, but why on Earth would you call on me to be that someone? Because the computer is you.
- What? - My approach to the construction of the AI required to complete your son's vision came from my studies with Dr.
Leon Krovackian Dear, you don't need to try to impress us.
The metapsychology of the ABC system draws largely from your earlier, more serious academic work regarding confrontation, Dr.
Mantleray.
More serious academic work? Yes.
I inputted heavily from your PhD thesis, actually.
Before your commercial success drew you to other forms of pop therapy, your work was quite profound.
Pop therapy? It's just a term that's sometimes used, and I also scanned your brain.
[MANTLERAY.]
Never mind the technical details, Mother.
I've simply found an elegant way to fix people.
Lobotomies were considered elegant when Moniz invented them.
Jamie how many of your subjects have ended up catatonic? Zero.
Roughly.
When did you get the idea to make these drugs? Seven years ago.
Let me just see if I understand this.
So seven years ago, and shortly after you and your therapist mother stopped speaking, you decided to develop a sequence of drugs that would eliminate therapy altogether.
But now your mother computer is sad, and so you had to call in your real mother to talk to her about her feelings.
Is that all correct? That's exactly the situation, yes.
Well [EXHALES.]
Take me to the patient.
I need to speak to Dr.
 Fujita outside for a moment.
[GRETA.]
Fine.
She said yes too easily.
Something's wrong.
She was trying to lead me to some kind of insight.
James.
You are on the cusp of achieving everything you've ever wanted to achieve in your life.
You've been given a second chance.
We need her help.
Let her help.
Oh, just the idea of her even being inside this lab makes it disgusting to me.
James.
Do you know why I didn't leave with you when you were thrown off the project? Yes.
Your self-interest trumped your feelings for me.
No! I wanted to leave with you, but I knew the only way to get this study completed properly was if I stayed to manage Robert.
I truly believe if we get your vision of the ULP to market, the lives of billions could change.
The people of this world are suffering.
If we make it through this iteration, you'll be a hero.
Let her help.
This is extremely potent.
The moment I light this, I need you to put your lips around the tip and suck.
Oh, freebasing.
What year were you born? Ah, yes.
That was the night.
Huh.
Suck.
[GRETA EXHALES.]
Be careful in there, Mom.
Thank you for helping me.
[MANTLERAY CLAPS.]
I'm gonna help you, Jamie.
I know exactly what you need.
What? What the fuck did she just say? She said she was going to help you.
[SNORING.]
[MANTLERAY.]
My father left when I was a child.
Just went and started a new life with someone else, or so I've heard.
You know what my mother did after he left? [AZUMI.]
What? She laid in my bed for two months, and talked to me about how she wanted to hang herself.
I was eight.
Does that sound like the world's greatest healer to you? I'm sorry that happened.
I'm not.
Made me who I am.
Led me here to this.
Where will you sleep? Lab B is empty.
Probably find a gorilla mating pod down the hall.
Good.
I prefer you nearby.
[GRTA.]
Owen.
Hello, Owen.
Why do you have your suitcase? Did you decide to leave? I need to go to an emergency room.
Why? Because I don't know if this is really happening.
Why do you think that? Because celebrity therapist Dr.
Greta Mantleray is here.
Because I'm talking to a wall.
Because I can't tell what's real.
I need real medication.
I need to be hospitalized.
 I need help.
What about all your friends, the Odds? I'm going to kill them if you go.
What? I'm going to cure them all if you go, Owen, and you'll be the only one who wasn't helped.
You can't cure me.
There's no cure for schizophrenia.
But I thought you were misdiagnosed.
I thought it was only a blip and that you were 100% compos mentis.
You can't cure me.
Your friend, Annie, has suffered like me.
I think I'm going to keep her with the other subjects I've collected.
What does that mean? The Queen will unlock the door for you.
What does that mean about Annie? Hello? [DOOR UNLOCKS.]
[INDISTINCT CHATTER.]
What kind of fucked up stuff you think we'll experience with this one? You know we don't have to do this, right? We don't have to let some computer go in our head.
We can just go right now.
I know I said all that stuff about therapy before, but I don't know, this place feels different.
I actually feel better today than I did yesterday.
Someone died in front of you two days ago.
Well, yeah, but When I was a kid, I found this hawk in the park, and I just had this feeling that I had to protect it because it was so strong.
But it was, like, hurt also, and I brought it home and I helped it get better.
And then it ate my brother's gerbil, and he killed it with a hammer, and I've always regretted that.
What the fuck are you talking about, Owen? I'm worried about going back in there.
[CARL.]
You two.
It's time.
Hey, don't be worried because we'll probably be together again, right? We can protect each other.
Come on.
[INDISTINCTLY CONVERSATION.]
[SPEAKING IN JAPANESE.]
[SPEAKING IN JAPANESE.]
[SPEAKING IN JAPANESE.]
[SPEAKING IN JAPANESE.]
Give me bio.
[MED TECH.]
Clean across the board.
They're ready.
[AZUMI.]
And you've checked the diagnostic twice? Gertie's behaving exactly as she should be? She looks perfect.
I don't see anything wrong at all.
Subjects, please ingest your pills.
And one additional message for you The C phase of the testing utilizes a more powerful waveform.
Do not be alarmed if you feel a buzzing or warmth in your head as the trial phase begins.
They've got the microwaves on high.
When I was a kid, I used to put all kinds of stuff in the microwave.
Soap bars, peeps.
You ever see what happens to a peep in a microwave? - [MAN.]
What? - [AZUMI.]
As we begin - your final experience - Boom.
please follow my voice as I count backwards from ten.
- Your head is not a peep.
- [AZUMI.]
Nine.
Eight.
Seven.
Six.
Five.
Four.
Three.
Two.
One.
Confrontation begins.