When I started this gig,
I thought people would come looking for me.
Come looking for my help.
But the more I'm in it, I realize it's me looking for them.
Coffee?
Yeah, thanks.
- Blind date for breakfast? - Not a date.
Too bad.
And I see them everywhere.
The faces of addiction are all around me
and I can't look away.
Anything else?
Oh, I'm good. Thanks.
And it's not just me who sees them.
It's my crew too.
No, I don't know. Listen, Akani, it just died.
The El Camino just died.
It's not running.
Yeah. No, tell William I'll be there as soon as I can.
No, I got it covered.
I'm good. I'm hanging up now.
Now, they have this vision
and they see it everywhere just like me.
They didn't ask for this journey, I get that.
But they followed me on it.
Thank you.
Thank you. Look, you got treats.
Treats.
- Hey, man. - Hey.
- The usual? - Please.
Hey, are you the guy I'm supposed to meet?
What do you want?
No, I just noticed that...
- What? - No, nothing.
Sorry about that.
- Thanks. - Yeah.
Guess you're not his type.
Oh, you think?
Okay, Sarah.
All right.
I love you, Sarah.
I love you more.
- Have a good day at work, Dad. - You too.
Come on. Come on.
What happened to your face, Sunshine?
You ought to see the other guy.
I'd like to. Believe me.
You're gonna karate chop his ass?
Yeah, something like that, Sunshine.
I'm gonna tell him his day of reckoning is coming.
Go in there. Go.
That's my son.
He's getting drug-tested on Wednesday.
And then I wonder.
You gave me this gift of always seeing them.
Why don't you always let them see me?
So, what's he on?
Cocaine. Alcohol.
Could be more.
Does he know you're reaching out to me?
- Why not? - We don't speak.
I found out about his problem, I tried to get him help.
Any contact at all with him since then?
We see each other on the job but we don't speak.
Well, listen, I gotta be really honest with you.
Grabbing a cop, never easy.
It's like anyone else.
Yeah, except for the gun and the whole above-the-law thing, sure.
But you'll do it?
Well, I have a feeling I can't say no.
I'm not trying to threaten you.
I just need my son to get clean, so he can pass that test.
He comes to this diner all the time, every day, just like clockwork.
Understood.
Hey, thanks for meeting me. I appreciate it.
Hey, hey. Hey, hey.
I got you white instead of green, right?
Oh, thanks.
I noticed the green made you a little anxious.
You noticed that?
Well, I know you just think I'm a great-looking pair of skinny jeans
hanging around here all day, but...
- Not eating wheat. - It's gluten-free.
I got it from the bakery on Washington.
Hey, I need your truck. Switch cars?
- Why? - Because I need to pick up something.
- Where are you going? - Nowhere.
Been there.
Great view.
- So you wanna take a ride? - Don't crash it.
Back again?
Oh, you noticed?
I notice everyone in my line of work.
Have a seat.
Oh, is that right?
All right, well, what do you?
What do you notice about him?
He's left-handed but eats right.
Come on.
Yeah, he's wearing his watch on his right wrist.
Look which leg his napkin's sitting on.
If he was gonna eat left-handed his napkin would be on his right leg
so he wouldn't have to put down his fork to wipe his mouth.
- You're pretty good. - Thank you.
What about me? What do you see?
Ten years sober.
- What? - Your coin.
Right, okay.
We get a lot of guys coming in after meetings.
Hey, a little fellowship never hurt anybody.
- Right? - Yeah, I've been to a few myself.
Maybe we could go to one sometime together.
Maybe we could.
See, you didn't notice.
Excuse me.
Gonna try again, huh?
Excuse me.
I saw you here earlier today.
Something you need help with?
I know you've got a drug test coming up, and I'm here to help.
Who are you working for, huh?
My name is William Banks.
Ask some of the guys on the force.
Yeah, what do they say?
They all know where to find me.
Hopefully, if you're trying to get clean, no questions asked, I'm the guy.
- Yeah? - Look, Leonard, listen to me.
I know you got a test coming up.
I can flush you out.
Yeah? Then what?
Then get you sober.
- I got everything under control. - How's that working out for you?
- I got it under control. - Yeah, I can see that.
Just like I see your gums bleeding.
I'm not looking for some holy-roller to tell me my sins will be washed away...
Look, how I roll ain't holy, brother,
but I do have an obligation to tell you you cannot do this on your own.
- Who sent you to me? - Your father.
No, he didn't.
Your father, Franklin, asked...
- My father needs to stay away... - Leonard, listen.
More importantly, he needs to stay the hell away from me. You tell him that.
Tell him to stay as far away from me as possible.
Yeah, this is definitely nowhere.
And that's nobody.
Nobody nowhere?
And we're gonna put nobody in this truck and take her somewhere.
Because we're picking up homeless people now, is that it?
I've been walking by that woman nearly every day for two years.
Two years.
I buy her water. Her dog snacks.
And today?
Today somebody beat her up,
so today she needed somebody to stick up for her.
Did you happen to tell anybody else about this?
- Nope. - No.
Do you think he is going to be into it?
Nope.
- Do you think she's gonna be into it? - No.
God, I love the way you think.
Sunshine.
What's up?
Hey, foxy.
I found something out about you.
What?
That's piss you're drinking.
It is not.
So you make me waste it
because you said that's what it was and it's not what it is.
- I have an idea. - What?
You wanna take a ride?
Okay, guess we can get going
now that the St. Andrews's kids are here.
You guys have a good day?
It was okay. Yeah, thanks, Terry.
So do you teach or play?
Play.
Yeah.
Yeah, I thought you might look a little old to be teaching.
What do you play?
Mozart, Dvorak.
I'm learning Chopin.
Like Charlie Chopin?
Tough crowd.
So where do you rehearse at?
My dad. He teaches me.
He sells pianos at Pico Street Pianos.
Is your mom a musician too?
No.
Hey, Dad.
We got back our spelling tests.
I got 100 percent.
Did you hear me, Dad?
I got a perfect score.
Sweetie.
You should celebrate.
Excuse me?
You should take your daughter out and celebrate.
That is, if you think you can stay sober long enough to do that.
My name is Arnie Swenton.
What is this?
Help.
With what?
With your Thermos, buddy.
Look, I saw you this morning, drunk,
and your daughter was taking care of you.
I see you again now
and your daughter is still taking care of you.
Okay, get your stuff together.
Come on. Let's go.
Look, I'm telling you right here, right now,
I'm your last best chance to get your world together
before it falls apart.
This is our stop, Sarah.
Please, stay on the bus, sir.
Please, just give me a chance to help you change your life,
change your daughter's life.
Sir, please, stay on the bus.
Scooter. Scooter, come here.
Hey. Hey, what are you doing in here?
- This your dog? - No, he's Sunshine's.
Okay. Who's Sunshine?
I think she said she used to live in her car, but now she's in back.
In back? Here?
- Yeah. - And who are you?
I'm Sarah. My dad's in back too.
- With Sunshine? - Yeah.
- And his name? - Harrison.
And he lives in the car with her?
No, we live in an apartment.
Right, right, okay.
Stop, stop, stop.
Look at what you did.
You were right.
Couldn't do it alone.
You think you can get me clean?
Get me clean.
I just need to take care of a few things while my dad's staying with you guys.
Sure you don't want something to drink?
No, we're...
We're okay. Thanks.
I have to write two checks today.
So where's your mom?
She died when I was a baby.
So it's just you and your dad living here?
I have to practice my piano as well.
Hey, Harrison, you need anything?
I need to go home now.
Look, I know it's uncomfortable...
No. I'm fine. I just...
I met your man on the bus and I got caught up in the moment,
but this is a mistake, because...
- Just take a seat. - L...
I don't have a problem.
I don't.
I...
- You'll be all right. - I don't have a problem that warrants...
- Just take it easy, just take it easy. - I just wanna go home.
I need to go home.
Leonard? Hey, wake up.
- I just got your test results. - Oh, yeah?
What came back?
Let's put it this way, we could smoke your hair and get totally wasted.
I just took you off the chloral hydrate,
but I'm gonna have to keep pushing the fluids hard to flush this shit out.
We wanna get you clean for that test next week.
Look, the levels of narcotics in your system should have killed you,
but like all good addicts, you've built up a tolerance.
How long is this gonna take?
Eighteen hours to get everything out of your system.
Eighteen hours.
Short-term solution to a permanent problem.
Yeah, I'm not here for therapy.
You might wanna think about it.
Get some help. Start a program.
I don't need help. Don't need a program.
I just need you to do your job and flush me out.
It's nice to have a bath.
I mean, I get showers and everything at the Y
or at the shelter, but...
I made a few calls for you today about a sober living house.
- Rehab? - No.
In Pasadena.
It's a safe place where you come and go during the day.
You have meals.
People to help you.
I can't afford nothing like that.
Well, don't worry about it, Sunshine, because this is covered.
Right. Nothing's free.
Well, this is.
Scooter, you want a yard?
Would you like a yard?
They don't allow dogs there, Sunshine.
Well, then I ain't going.
There's a shelter that will take care of him.
- Nope. - Come on.
He needs me.
- Do you wanna think about this? - He needs me.
Give me a towel.
Now.
Let's say we get you flushed out in time to pass your drug test.
Great.
I'm guessing the second you walk out of that test, you score and binge.
Yeah.
Well, this isn't the kind of pain that you ever build up a tolerance for.
- Get out. - Ain't never gonna get better.
- Get out. - It ain't gonna hurt less.
Get out.
Hey.
I don't know what to do about this little girl, bro.
I can't even really call her a little girl
because she's so self-sufficient, it's scary.
She's the child of an alcoholic, right?
Don't confuse her ability to survive with maturity.
Get some rest.
Sometimes I don't know how any of them
or any of us survive.
If I could just reach inside these people
and take away their pain,
remove the one thing that's hurting them the most,
I'd do it.
Offer them the relief and comfort they need
so they don't have to hurt anymore.
Hello?
What do I owe you?
For your services, what do I owe you?
- Just expenses. - Are you sure about that?
Six hundred.
You guys really think this through?
You think this is the best plan?
It's the only plan, Mr. Banks.
Leonard, thank you for agreeing to make this effort...
I can't talk to you now.
Okay.
Well, thank you for your help.
Split this with Swenton.
I don't want it.
I don't know how I can still be drinking.
I take one look at Sarah,
I know there is nothing more important to me in this world than she is.
And, still knowing that, I...
I know...
I can't stop drinking.
So, you know, I really... I have to ask what's...?
What's more important, really?
Really. Right?
Well, listen, Harrison,
we don't wanna have to call Child Protective Services.
- No. - Because once she goes into foster...
Wait, what are our other options then?
Honestly, there aren't any.
Well...
Hey, Dad, you need to change.
All right.
Man, I don't know how I ended up here.
Look, how you got here isn't important.
What you do when you get out is.
But what are we gonna do with Sarah?
I have a sister-in-law in Valencia.
Dude.
Hey, hey. You need a key for that.
Sunshine, everything okay?
No, I am not okay.
I feel like crap a la mode.
Yeah, well, that's just the alcohol leaving your body.
L...
I don't like it here.
Well, is there anything I can do to make it better?
You can open up that front door and let me go.
There are no locks on my front door.
Tell Akani I said bye.
Hey, wait. Hold it.
Where you gonna go, huh?
GQ, I know I ain't got much.
No, I got less than nothing, but it's mine.
I own it, and I don't owe nothing on it.
You still didn't answer my question.
I know I...
I know this don't make no sense.
What does?
My dog, and my white wine,
and the ocean,
and my car, all right?
My car makes sense to me.
That's my home, my car. Home.
Hey, you wanted to go home?
I wanna keep you here.
This is what we call a compromise.
Cool?
We find you a place, you get your battery back.
Whatever, GQ.
Passed the test.
Well, you ever need something, you got a friend here.
Yeah, thanks.
You need to eat.
Yeah, but I don't...
Your body probably doesn't even process all the food anymore, does it?
Is that your daughter?
You wanna tell me where she lives?
I'm not looking to disrupt anyone's life.
I just thought that maybe if we took Scooter to her,
she might look after him for a few months
until you're ready for your own place.
So that cop comes in here every morning, right?
No, twice a day.
So how long you been in the fixing game?
Oh, with the bikes and stuff? I guess about seven years.
No, not the motorcycles. People.
Well, I don't really fix them.
Saying fixing them makes it sound like they're broken somehow.
You know, what I do is I...
I take the pieces that are already there,
kind of rearrange them a little bit and make them fit better.
I like that.
You know, I was broken before the legs.
I was broken like that.
Living with my boyfriend-slash-dealer.
Heroin.
This would make great first-date conversation.
- Better than mine. - Yeah?
How did yours start?
Let's see, after I got out of the joint, I relapsed with the heroin twice.
So after my dealer-boyfriend got involved with the cops
and I got shot in the back and I lost my legs...
So how did that happen?
My boyfriend got a big shipment in, of course, we had to try it.
The next thing, the door comes flying off the hinges,
the place is swarming, there's all these cops. We started running.
The cops, they stole the dope and then they started shooting.
Did they ever...? They ever catch the cops?
I mean, I had to ask, right?
You know why they didn't catch them?
I was really, really high.
I couldn't make a positive ID because I was in a blackout.
So the cop, he skated away and I rolled.
I heard you passed the test.
- What are you doing in there? - Having tea.
- Why are you talking to her? - Leonard.
She talking about me?
- Listen to me. - Was she talking about me?
Easy, Leonard. Easy.
You stay out of my shit.
Leonard, don't go in there.
Hey, Leonard.
Let's go have some coffee somewhere, huh? Somewhere else.
What did she tell you?
Just that she got shot by a cop in a drug bust, all right? That's it.
That's all she knows. It's all right.
That's not all right.
That's all wrong!
You're too high, Leonard. You're too high, man.
Don't go in there. Hey, Leonard.
I screwed up, man.
I'm so... I'm so messed up.
I can help you, Leonard.
I can help you.
I shot that woman.
You know, you really got this whole thing figured out, huh?
Well, don't let a few strategically placed buckets fool you.
I'm going up in front of Internal Affairs.
My partner, he...
He was worse off than me.
Busted stealing drugs.
Started talking.
My name was the first one to come up.
First one they went after.
I didn't give them anything, you know.
They were gonna go after my dad.
Just to get to you?
I don't know what to do, William.
My dad had no idea.
No idea what we were doing.
He just wants to get you clean.
After the shooting, I lied to him.
He believed me.
He always believed me.
My grandfather was a cop, William.
My uncles, my cousins.
The way they would wear their uniforms,
that was total pride, man.
That blue,
when they put it on, it did something to them.
And me, it just...
I don't know, it did something entirely different.
Every day I put it on, it scared the shit out of me, honestly.
I didn't know if the vest was there to stop the bullets from getting in
or stop my heart from jumping out of my chest.
I wanna stay here.
I need to go into sober living for just a little while,
but I'm still gonna work at the piano store.
You've been living fine with me. I've been doing good, haven't I?
- Yeah. - I can take care of you, Dad.
You've been doing better than good, sweetheart,
but you've been doing everything.
You could stay with me as long as you need.
You can go and visit your dad any time you want while he's getting better.
I don't wanna visit him.
I wanna stay with him.
I wanna stay with my dad.
Please. Please, don't get rid of me.
Please, I'll do better. I can be good.
I'm not getting rid of you, darling.
I'm not getting rid of you.
- You acted like you were my friend. - I am.
You acted like you cared.
Because I do.
- I hate you, Swenton. - No.
I hate you so much.
I wanna stay with my dad.
- I wanna stay with you. - I know.
Okay. It's all right.
- It's gonna be all right. - Please, Dad, don't leave me.
Please, Dad. Please.
Why is this happening?
- Please, Dad. - It's gonna be all right.
It's gonna be all right.
It's all right. It's okay.
Look, I understand she needs help,
but I don't want anything to do with her.
I'm sorry, I can't help you.
Come on, Scooter.
Guess they're not really good with dogs.
I can't believe she doesn't even care about her own mom.
Good dog.
Hey, come on.
Am I the only one that wants you too? Am I?
I'm pretty decent with animals.
I feed Swenton twice a day.
Oh, that skinny thing? No, thank you.
Sunshine, it's only three months.
I appreciate it, I do.
But Scooter's all I got.
Then think about how much more you can give him when you're sober.
Thank you for having me.
And I'll take really good care of him.
And if you will ask that handsome gentleman
to put my car battery back in my car,
I would like to go now.
- You're choosing a dog over your life. - Oh, it is not that simple.
- Do you understand what I said? - I heard what you said, I'm not stupid.
Okay, well, then, leave him here with me, while you go to sober living.
- I can't do that. - Why?
Scooter's the only thing in the world I've got to take care of.
He's the only thing in the world that needs me.
Come on.
You leaving?
I can't hide here.
Thank you.
So you go into Internal Affairs and lie, then what?
Back on the force, still addicted?
Who gets hurt next because of you, man?
How long before you hurt yourself?
See, because it's all still gonna be out there. All of it.
And you're gonna need more than a vest to hold you together.
What if I don't wanna be held together anymore?
Then you were right.
- About? - Me knowing nothing.
But if I do...
And I know you go in there every day to stare at her,
pay her 20 bucks for a doughnut.
Why don't you just talk to her?
Tell her the truth.
Okay, thank you.
No, thank you.
- Yes. - What's up?
I just found a dog-friendly sober house. How awesome is that?
- How awesome is that? - Awesome.
Hey, what's up?
Sarah didn't show up for school this morning.
I'm gonna take care of it. I know where to find her.
Franklin?
How's my son?
Dad?
Thanks for bringing these in.
Well, I'm with you whatever you need me for.
I wanna be there with you.
I gotta do this alone, Pop. I gotta get out of it alone.
No, you don't.
Dad, that night...
Is hearsay.
No, it's not, Pop.
What they're accusing me of, I did it, all of it.
No, no, you listen to me.
Your partner needed someone to take down.
Dad, I did what they said.
I was stealing.
I was using drugs.
That woman?
Dad, I shot the woman.
Dad, I was high and I shot that woman.
Then I lied.
I lied to my superiors, the investigators, the lawyers.
I lied to you.
I'm gonna go to IA.
I'm just gonna go in and tell them everything.
Then why the dress blues?
Because it's the first time I'm honoring the uniform, Pop.
I need a moment alone with my boy.
I'm sorry, Pop.
Sunshine.
Sunshine, you are gonna love me.
Come on, Sunshine.
Nobody wants me.
- I do. - No.
I do.
Will you help me?
So how you doing?
Honestly?
No idea.
Well, that's a pretty good place to start from.
Yeah.
What?
Were you this upbeat when you were trying to kick?
Puking in buckets, trying to get straight?
I was a train wreck, straight up, but I got through it.
Came through the other side.
Let me tell you something...
If you can do it, anybody can do it, right?
No, I mean, sometimes this train still slams into the wall,
but only this time I don't get thrown that far off the rails.
- And if you can do that, guess what. - What?
That's a pretty good place to start from, huh?
That's good to know.
Before I go to this hearing, could we?
Can we make a stop?
Yeah.
She's late.
I was gonna take her to school as soon as we finished.
- Bye, Dad. - Bye.
- I love you. - I love you more.
Your aunt's outside.
Whatever decision you make, whatever you wanna do,
I'll live with it.
I've played this moment out in my head for years.
The drama, the sadness, the rage.
You know what?
It's not even about that.
All I ever wanted was the truth.
And you just gave me that.
You know, the real truth is that I would've died a drug addict
if I hadn't got shot that night.
It's not what I wanted to have happen, but, in a way, you...
You took me out of my old life and you forced me into a new one.
Thank you.
When I started this gig,
I thought people would come looking for me,
come looking for my help.
But the more I'm in it, I realize it's me looking for them,
and I see them everywhere.
The faces of addiction are all around me
and I can't look away.
But whether these visions are a gift or a curse,
whether these people take my hand or not,
it's all two sides of the same...
Well, you know.