Hold it right there!
Johnny?
It's been so damn long,
I thought you'd forgotten your Uncle Karl.
You son of a gun!
Uncle Karl...
Wait.
-Is that me? -Yeah.
Shell Beach is where I grew up?
That's what I said. Shell Beach.
-Your home town. -I need to get there.
How do I get there?
I don't know. I haven't been there in years.
You must remember. You must have some idea.
Sorry, Johnny.
The old cracker barrel ain't what it used to be.
-It was so bright there. -Brighter times, I guess.
You were always scribbling in that damn book.
That's me and your Pa.
What a couple of handsome fools.
What happened to my parents?
Where are they now?
They're dead, Johnny.
They died when the house burned down.
I looked after you.
You don't remember that, really?
What's that? What is that?
It's a scar.
You burned your arm pretty bad in the fire.
What does it mean?
It means these are all lies!
My husband told me he'd been here.
He told me he wanted to test himself.
See if he was...
capable of...
I wanted to talk to her.
I thought she could help me find him.
I'm going to call the station.
It's beautiful.
It was a gift from my mother.
She died recently.
I keep it with me to remind me of her.
I'm sorry.
It's a funny thing, though.
I can't remember when she gave it to me.
How do you think I could forget a thing like that?
What's happening, lnspector?
I'm not sure I know anymore.
I left your old room like it was.
You can sleep here tonight.
Glad to have you back, Johnny.
-Even if it is for just a night. -Karl.
-Is that the right time? -Why, sure.
That clock's kept perfect time since I bought it.
A.M. or P.M.?
-What do you think? -I don't understand.
How can it be night already? What happened to the day?
You're tired. Anything's possible.
Get some sleep.
We'll straighten all this out tomorrow.
Come on...
He's here. He's acting peculiar.
I know. He's not himself.
Keep him there, and I'll be right over.
-I'll try. -Thanks. Bye.
I can't promise anything. We'll play it as it comes.
We just wanted to help.
Karl. Uncle Karl.
If you're in trouble, maybe we can do something.
Haven't seen you in so long.
Mr. Murdoch, you've been the cause of much distress.
-Start talking. -There's no need for this.
There's no escape. The city's ours. We made it.
What are you talking about?
We fashioned this city on stolen memories.
Different eras, different pasts, all rolled into one.
Each night we revise it, refine it, in order to learn.
-Learn what? -About you.
You and your fellow inhabitants. What makes you human.
-Why? -We need to be like you.
I understand you now.
I remember that which you do not, what you've been missing.
The ocean, yes? Running along the waves as a child.
Meeting Emma at the river, that first kiss that followed.
-What are you? -You've seen what we are.
We use your dead as vessels.
Get in!
-What about her? Ring a bell? -She was alive when I left her.
-What about this? -This is nothing.
It must mean something-- all those pictures.
What pictures?
-I don't understand this. -Stop playing games with me.
-Stop telling me lies. -I am not telling lies!
Help me out. Make me understand.
I have this jigsaw puzzle in my face, and it makes no sense.
You think it makes sense to me? I'm as confused as you are.
Let me ask you a question. Have you heard of Shell Beach?
-Sure. -You know how to get there?
-Yeah. -Tell me.
-Right. You just go to the... -Where? Where do you go?
Give me a second, will you?
You can't remember, can you?
Thinking that's kind of odd?
Wait. I got a better one.
When was the last time you did something during the day?
-What do you mean? -I just mean during the day.
Daylight. When was the last time you remember seeing it?
I'm not talking about a distant, half-forgotten childhood memory.
I mean, like, yesterday. Last week? When?
Do you have a single memory?
You don't, do you?
I don't think the sun even exists in this place.
'Cause I've been up for hours and hours, and night never ends.
-That's crazy. -You're damn right it's crazy.
But listen to me, Bumstead. It's not just me.
It's all of us. They're doing something to all of us.
Shut up. I've heard enough.
-Please listen-- -Shut up!
There has to be an explanation.
Explain this.
I'm so sorry.
I never meant to hurt you. I don't know why I did.
I wish I could take it back.
You didn't do it.
This affair of yours,
whatever you think you've done, you didn't do it.
I don't believe it happened.
-What do you mean? -This will sound crazy.
What if we never knew each other before now?
What if the first time we met was last night in our apartment?
And everything you remember,
and everything I'm supposed to remember never really happened.
Someone just wants us to think it did.
But how can that be true?
I so vividly remember meeting you.
I remember falling in love with you.
-I remember losing you. -Time's up.
No, wait, please. Just one more minute.
I love you, John.
You can't fake something like that.
No, you can't.
Inspector? Sir?
Detective Walenski killed himself last night.
I thought you should know.
The chief wanted to see you. Sir?
I knew you'd track the killer down.
Shoelace.
-How can we help you, sir? -You can sleep.
Sleep. Sleep.
Evening.
I wanted to be the first to congratulate you about the case.
Take us to Murdoch.
Sleep.
I knew you'd come eventually.
Isn't it time you gave me some answers?
Yes, of course. Won't you please sit down?
I come here often.
It's one of the few places I'm allowed some peace.
You see, they have an aversion to water.
One could almost call it a phobia.
Who are they? What do they want from me?
Right.
For now, let's say you're the subject of their experiment.
We all are.
I'm sorry, but I have no time to do this the right way.
Everything you need to know is in this syringe.
I need you to inject yourself. It's the only way to understand.
-You're kidding, right? -We're running out of time!
-You have to do this now. -Give me the gun.
He's more disturbed than we thought.
I may not be the judge of personality you are,
but you're the one who looks disturbed.
You don't know what you're doing.
What exactly is in this, Doctor?
All the answers you've been looking for, I swear to you.
Guess I'll hold on to it for safekeeping, if you don't mind.
Let's go, Doctor.
Go? Where are we going?
Shell Beach.
That's where you wanted to go, isn't it, the ocean?
Won't find anything there. I've been there--
Then you can show us the way.
I won't. I refuse. You can't make me go there.
Don't you understand? They'll be waiting for us.
I don't understand. There used to be a bridge here.
Try that again, and your friends will find you in the canal.
Don't hurt me. I'll tell you everything.
It doesn't matter anymore anyway.
What?
Who are you people?
Must go to the end of the canal.
We will give you some more pretty things soon...
-Anna. -I'm not Anna.
You will be soon, yes.
I have another use for her first.
I call them Strangers.
They abducted us and brought us here.
This city, everyone in it... is their experiment.
They mix and match our memories as they see fit,
trying to divine what makes us unique.
One day, a man might be an inspector.
The next, someone entirely different.
When they want to study a murderer, for instance,
they simply imprint one of their citizens with a new personality.
Arrange a family for him, friends, an entire history...
even a lost wallet.
Then they observe the results.
Will a man, given the history of a killer, continue in that vein?
Or are we, in fact, more than the sum of our memories?
This business of you being a killer was a sad coincidence.
You have had dozens of lives before now.
You happened to wake up...
while I was imprinting you with this one.
Why are they doing all this?
It is our capacity for individuality, our souls...
that makes us different from them.
They think they'll find the human soul...
if they understand how our memories work.
They have collective memories. They share one group mind.
They're dying. Their race is on the brink of extinction.
-They think we can save them. -Where do I fit in?
You're different. You resisted my attempt to imprint you.
Somehow, you have developed their ability to Tune.
That is how they change things, how they built this city.
They have machines buried beneath the surface...
that allow them to focus their telepathic energies.
They control everything here, even the sun.
That's why it's always dark. They can't stand the light.
Why do they need you?
When they first brought us here,
they extracted what was in us and stored the information,
remixed it like paint...
and gave us back new memories of their choosing.
But they still needed an artist to help them.
I understood the human mind better than they ever could,
so they allowed me to keep my skills as a scientist...
because they needed them.
They made me delete everything else.
Can you imagine what it's like to erase your own past?
What about my past? What about my childhood?
Shell Beach. Uncle Karl.
What about this? This was blank when I found it.
You still don't understand. You were never a boy.
Not in this place.
Your history is an illusion, a fabrication,
as it is with all of us.
You made those drawings happen with your gift.
You say they brought us here.
From where?
I'm sorry. I don't remember.
None of us remember that... what we once were...
what we might have been... somewhere else.
I've taken you this far. You don't need me anymore.
Let's go.
There is no ocean, John.
There's nothing beyond the city.
The only place home exists...
is in your head.
Stop!
Please!
Now you know the truth.
You'll allow yourself to surrender...
or it will result in this one's death.
What do I care?
She's not my real wife. She's nothing to me.
But you do still care, don't you, Mr. Murdoch?
I have become the monster you were intended to be.
Shall I end her life now, as you would have?
-Don't hurt her, please. -Then surrender.
Sleep.
Now.
Sleep.
Kill him.
Kill him !
He is powerful, yes, dangerous.
But he can also lead us to what we seek...
what the doctor calls the soul.
It is time for our experiment to move into a final phase.
We no longer need the other subjects.
The time for study is over.
It is time to be one with John Murdoch.
It is time, Doctor. Imprint.
Shut it down!
Shut it down forever.
What are you doing?
They want to imprint you with their own collective memories.
They want to make you one of them...
so they can share your soul.
But I've got other plans.
Imprint, Doctor. No more disobedience.
I'm sorry. The pain will only last a moment.
Remember, John.
You'll rise to greater heights than that.
One day when you're older, you'll understand.
Remember.
That's it, John. Practice makes perfect.
Now, remember what I told you. Never talk to strangers.
John, remember.
You're probably wondering why I keep appearing in your memories.
It's because I have inserted myself in them.
They were fabricated to teach you about the Strangers.
Give you a lifetime of knowledge in a single syringe.
You will survive, John. You'll find strength within yourself.
And you will prevail.
Remember.
-Hi, Uncle Karl. -Johnny!
Getting the hang of it, John. Maybe one day I'll work for you.
Here's the machine the Strangers use to amplify their thoughts,
the machine that changes their world.
You must take control of it. You must make the machine yours.
I know you can beat them, but you must concentrate.
Something's wrong.
There is no time for romance.
The world can be what you make it.
What have you done?
You have the power to make anything happen...
but you must act now.
I knew you could do it, John. You have their power now.
-You control their machines. -Where's Emma?
She's not Emma anymore. She has been reimprinted.
-So give her back her memories. -I can't.
The facility where they stored the memories has been destroyed.
I'm sorry.
What are you going to do now?
I'm gonna fix things.
You told me I had the power, didn't you?
I can make these machines do anything I want.
Make this world anything I want it to be.
Just so long as I concentrate hard enough.
Where are you going?
Shell Beach.
-What's the fare? -A quarter.
-Please. -Oh, no, sit.
Thank you.
Been waiting for you, yes?
-What are you doing? -I'm just making a few changes.
-We're sure that's what we want? -I'll take my chances.
I'm dying, John. Your imprint is not agreeable with my kind.
But I wanted to know what it was like.
How you feel.
You know how I was supposed to feel.
That person isn't me. Never was.
You wanted to know what it was that makes us human.
Well, you're not going to find it in here.
You went looking in the wrong place.
It's so beautiful here.
So bright.
Do you know if Shell Beach is around here?
I think that's it over there.
I'm headed that way myself.
Would you like to join me?
Sure.
I'm Anna, by the way. What's your name?