Previously on Persons Unknown... www.addic7ed.com dqh.tony@yahoo.com
What is this place?
Good morning ladies and gentlemen and how are we enjoying our stay?
- Who the hell are you? - Liam Ulrich, the new hotel manager at your service.
You will be restricted to this floor for a short period of time.
What the hell are they doing?
As a token of their appreciation for the inconvenience this will cause you
the management has placed a complimentary gift in each of your rooms.
- This means you were a... -... Priest. - That explains a lot.
Remember what Angela said "the town is the program".
Angela was insane.
Special service for our most special guests.
If you do interfere I will not hesitate
to put a bullet right between your eyes Joseph.
- Not even for a nano-second. - Body bags.
- Where is the right thumb? - It's been severed.
You cut off their thumbs?
How else could these bodies be positively identified by the authorities
thousand miles away from here?
Everything must be done in the most expeditious manner.
All participants have been sedated. Everything will be completed by the morning.
See to it then.
Mommy? (Mommy?) Mommy? (Mommy?)
I love you, mommy. Bye bye.
No, Megan. I'm still alive, baby. Ok baby? I'm coming home, I promise.
Megan?
Megan! Megan! Megan! Megan!
Erika?
- I'm sorry. - What? What?
- I don't think I can do this anymore. - Come on, you're the bravest person I know.
- No, no I'm not. - Janet, you're amazing.
- I don't think you even know that. - Erika, what if we don't make it through this?
- What if we die in this place? - We're not gonna die.
If I die in here, then my daughter is gonna be all alone.
You can't think like that. Janet, we're not gonna die.
Alright? I'll make sure of it.
Erika, you can't make promises like that.
No one can.
Ladies and gentlemen, we are experiencing some rough turbulence
so the captain has turned on the "fasten seat belt" sign
and has requested that you return to your seats immediately.
We should be passing through the storm quickly
and expecting minimal delay arriving in San Francisco as scheduled.
Than you for your cooperation.
Subs by: Rengarr & serraphine rangler_11@hotmail.com
Good morning, ladies. I trust you slept well?
- How's that any of your business? - You look tired, Janet.
No, I'm fine.
Are you sure there isn't anything I can do to help?
I can take it from here.
- I'm gonna go to breakfast. - I'll meet you down there.
You know, if I didn't know better I'd think you were following me, Joseph.
We oughta kill that man, Joe.
Then we're not better than he is.
He's after her you know.
Might be getting through to her. And what are we gonna do to stop him?
Everything we can.
Hand forged, hardened steel blade from Italy.
You can't get quality like this anymore.
That blade against the strop and the scent of barbisol...
...And I'm 9 years old again going to the barber with my father.
Men like the three of us enjoy the simple pleasures.
Is that not right Mr. Blackham? I guess so. Heh.
So, umm...
...What's the deal with this place anyway?
I mean why is everything frozen in time?
Beats the hell out of me.
- You don't know? - There's quite a lot I don't know.
But here's a rule I like to live by "if you want to succeed...
...Don't sweat the details. " Tilt your head would you? - Yeah.
I like that.
Ooh, you could practically hypnotize a person doing that, you know?
- Yes, I do. - Hey, don't forget, okay? I'm next.
Don't worry, Mr. Blackham. I can't wait to get you in this chair.
- Good morning, sergeant McNair. - What are you two doing?
Obviously getting a shave.
- Hey uh, the line is back here in case you were wondering. - I wasn't.
Maybe it's just me, but I don't think I'd let a man I barely know
who works for the people who kidnapped us hold a straight blade to my throat.
Blackham I could see...
But you, Charlie? I thought you were smarter than that.
- Oh come on... - Hey... The guy offered Charlie a shave.
No need to go all defcon 4. Talk about paranoia. Wow!
Turn to your right. We're almost there.
Now...Finished.
- How do you like the shave, Mr. Morse? - Great.
Next.
- - Hi. - Hi. - Hi.
- How long were you out of the country? Four days. - Two weeks.
We were out of the country for two weeks, but we were in our last place San Nicasio for four days.
- Business or pleasure? Business. - Pleasure.
I was there on business, and my girlfriend here came down to party.
- Party, party, party! - Open your bags, please.
- Tequila! - Party!
- Genuine souvenirs of San Nicasio. - You can't eat just one!
Open these please.
- Your business? - Uh, I'm a journalist.
I'm the editor of the San Francisco Register.
The Register? That series you did on the migrant farm workers
who were denied medical care, wow! Powerful stuff.
Yes, thanks.
- Welcome home. Thank you. - Next.
- That was a compelling performance. - Uh, I'd give it seven thumbs up.
- Hey Mark. - Eh, Detective Gomez.
- Have a good trip? - You know, it had it's moments.
- Travelling somewhere? - Yeah, to jail with you.
- You're under arrest for the abduction of Janet Cooper. - Oh come on!
You're free to go.
I'll get that.
- I'll be okay. - Ok.
Are you scared?
- It's my job not to be. - It's not your job anymore.
But even without your dogtags, you're still a marine inside aren't you?
Sometimes I just wanna
put my head down, close my eyes and wake up back in the core.
But then you wouldn't be here with me.
- Can we talk? - No.
Come on, listen, just, let's just talk. I don't think we have anything to talk about, Joe.
- I think we do, I think we, I think we need to, we need to talk. - Just let me go!
- He's gotten to you hasn't he? - Who? Ulrich?
- Yeah. - Please.
- What is it then? - It's you, Joe.
- Me? - I mean, at least Ulrich is out there with who he is and what he is. You...
You don't even know who or what you are.
You're so caught up in your own pile of garbage that you can't even see straight anymore.
I can't afford to get caught up in that with you Joe.
I just can't.
- Miss Damatto. - Grant.
I got a huge story. Huge, gigantic.
- When did these come in? - Last week.
Well have security send a card up to my office.
- Miss Damatto, see... - No grant, you can't imagine what I went through
to get here, so if you value your job and your jugular
you're gonna let me go on through.
I can't, 'cause you don't work here anymore.
- Why? - The paper got bought last week.
The new owners hired some guy named Joder Rayne as editor.
- Triple Pulitzer Joder Rayne? - I don't know anything about that, but the mood
around here got real serious. No more marguerita Fridays,
no more stories about aliens...
Right, just stories about migrant farmworkers.
Yeah. Only serious stuff now.
- This looks like... - A real newspaper.
They fired everybody.
- I don't believe what they're saying about you. - Thanks.
- Good evening, Janet. - Mr. Ulrich.
I do wish you'd call me Liam. Mr Ulrich was my father.
And a more unpleasant bastard never walked the face of this green earth let me tell you.
- Liam, then. - Is everything alright?
Apart from the obvious, lack of personal freedom, I'm fine thanks.
- I know what you're going through. - Yes, so you say.
Sometimes it can seem like the people in charge are just careless sons of bitches.
But the truth is, they care deeply for you Janet.
A wedding ring?
There was a fire. I was rushing home from a board meeting.
I was a school principal.
Elaine, my wife, was at home with Bobby and Beverly.
It was movie night.
I turned the corner and I saw the flames.
I ran up to the house, but it was too late.
Liam, I'm sorry.
Do you trust me?
- What is this place? - We jokingly call it the inner sanctum, but it's a kinda
command center.
From here we can monitor practically every inch of the town. From here we can
introduce stimuli.
- A fancy way of saying screw with us. - It's not quite as random as all that.
It's a process by which the program sort of nudges you in a certain direction.
Well I wouldn't call the pain wall "nudging".
And yet it's been weeks since anyone tried to actually leave the perimeter.
- Why are you telling me all this? - Because you can handle it.
You may not like it. You might fight like hell against everything we're trying to do for you, but
in the long run, we believe that you are someone who will come to understand
not only what we're trying to do, but who will embrace it.
Fully and willingly.
I wouldn't count on that happening anytime soon.
Time is something this program has.
In abundance.
- Hey don, it's me Kat Damatto. - Hello.
- - In 6-c. - I know.
Uh well my key is not working, so I was wondering if you could buzz me up please.
- No. - What do you mean "no"?
- Hah, you've been evicted. - You can't evict me.
Yeah, I can. I know what you did and I think it's disgusting.
- What did I do? - Like you don't know. Get out of here before I call the cops.
Well you can't call the cops. You, you can't do that. You can't just go into someone's apartment
and take their things and then... Hey...
- Why the hell did you come back here? - This is my home.
- Not anymore. - Edick, what is going on?
My job is gone, my bank account's been wiped. My credit cards are frozen. My cell phone's dead.
Throw it away. GPS still works.
Oh wait, is that what you've been doing? You've been following me?
Is that how you've been following me? What, they're paying you to track me?
I put you on a flight to Rome.
No you hit me on the head with your gun.
Then, put you on a flight to Rome, but you're so damn stubborn
you and Renbe had to be heroes right? We're not heroes.
You know what they think here?
They think you stole pain pills from children with cancer and sold it to junkies.
- That is ridiculous! - Were you ever in city hospital?
One time about a year ago, we were short handed and I...
They ran pictures of you in the hospital on TV
in your own paper. They made it make sense.
Okay?
Take care of yourself and keep your eyes open.
- What are you drinking? - I was just thinking about you.
- That's a little frightening. - No.
- I have a proposition for you. - Ok, stop. Don't say anything about "freshairr"
or hooters or any other crap... I wasn't gonna say that.
Would you agree that Ulrich guy is a good egg?
He helped you in your business, right?
Him and the other guys behind the camera, yeah.
Well why not let them help us more then they've already done?
- You mean like sign up? - Yeah.
You know how many times I've thought about that?
Thank God. At least two of us have our eyes on the ball.
Bill...
This is a manipulation.
A manipulation. It always has been.
Do you know what the term "quid pro quo" means?
Yeah that's lawyer speak for I grease your palm, you grease mine.
And what are we supposed to grease their palms with? Our souls?
Oh come on Charlie! You're sounding like McNair.
I mean, look, these people can save us.
You know, they can actually change our lives.
Well not enough to make me forgive and forget what they've done to us.
Bill, you've gotta stop looking for the easy way out of things all the time.
If they could only understand what awaits them on the other side of all this.
- All of you. - Liam, are you even aware
of how creepy that sounds?
I was confused and angry when they first tossed me into this place when I lost my family.
Just like you. Just like the good reverend Joseph Tucker.
Although, Joe seemed to take to the challenges with a certain zeal shall we say.
- In what way? - He wasn't afraid to use a gun.
- So he did shoot you? - Yes, indeed. Three times.
- I have the scars to prove it. - So, not everything Joe says is a lie.
Not everything.
Poor Joseph. Like so many others in this sad world of ours is petrified of the truth.
Which is?
That what we do, what we think, who we are is just behaviour.
Programmed in your ancestral DNA,
modified by years of external stimulus.
What you and I imagine to be free will is just an illusion.
And that's the truth?
I know it sounds implausible, but half a century of research
has build quite a convincing case.
So if I were to...Do this?
It would have nothing to do with my wanting to kiss you?
There'd be no free will involved? Just be. What'd you call it?
An illusion.
And your response? To me kissing you. You're not controlling that?
You're not allowing yourself to enjoy it?
- It's just...- A pre-programmed response to external stimulus.
So the theory goes.
- So now it's just a theory. - A very good, well researched theory.
I think we should, we should go.
Yes, absolutely.
- Unbelievable! - Evening, Joseph.
- You took her downstairs? - It's none of your business, Joseph.
- Janet? - Yeah, he did, Joe.
- Liam's been nothing but open and honest with me. - Honest? You're being honest, Liam?
Just stay out of it, Joe.
It's time you've understood that any romantic connection you've imagined with you and Janet...
Is dead.
Stop it! Stop it! Stop it!
- Do you know what they say about revenge, Joseph? - I do.
Liam... Liam, please.
- Please. - As you wish.
You wanna tell me about those thumbs?
Thumbs belonged to people murdered in San Nicasio.
In a small forest town there.
And you were in this south American mid-western forest town because?
- I was looking for Janet. You find her? - No.
Yeah no one's found her. Starting to look like someone killed her.
- I didn't kill Janet. - But you have been busy.
I didn't kill those people either. They were already dead.
- So you just cut off their thumbs. - No! No!
Look I know it sounds crazy, but I was connecting Victoria Fairchild's murder to
Janet's disappearance to the blue cover-all guys.
- "Blue cover-all?" - They're part of some kind of world wide conspiracy
or something. They killed those people in San Nicasio.
Probably Victoria Fairchild, maybe even Janet.
Look, why would I risk my life bringing
thumbs into the country if it wasn't to identify the murder victims?
All things you'll discuss at 1 o'clock with our shrink.
Come on! Have you run the prints for the thumbs?
Yeah. They belonged to six people that all disappeared on the same day last year.
- Well there you go! - Go where?
To the blue cover-all guys. To the guys who chased us out of San Nicasio with automatic weapons!
You find them, and you'll find your killers.
So you saw these blue cover-alls kill these people?
So nobody saw that?
Yeah, that's what I thought.
A life, people, a chance to be normal
love
thank you very much.
Ok... what?
Nothing, we're just sitting here eating breakfast.
No, you haven't said a word to me since we had that talk.
- Which talk is that, bill? - Look, Charlie, stop playing with me.
I don't wanna die. It's all I'm saying.
None of us wanna die, bill.
- I just know that Ulrich isn't the way. - You don't know that for sure.
Charlie, come on man, I don't want to do this alone.
Come on! Do it with me.
Wake up!
I don't care what Ulrich and his people do for you
or promise you. You can't trust them, bill.
None of us can ever trust them.
- I hope you come to your senses. - I think I have!
You have any idea what you're doing with Ulrich?
I'm trying to get back to my daughter.
Now, you don't understand. I've been here before.
What does that mean, Erika? You've been here?
Prison. Janet, this is a prison!
Guys in charge act like your friends but they only want what they want.
- That's exactly what Ulrich is doing. - Well maybe you're wrong about him.
Not about this.
- I can handle it. - No.
No, you can't.
I'm gonna tell you something no one else knows.
Erika is dead.
- What do you mean? - Erika was with me in jail.
She was tall, strong, didn't take it.
I didn't really know what to make of her, she didn't say much but she always kept me safe.
She helped me survive.
Then one night, the guards wanted her.
And she said she could handle it.
I watched her die the next morning.
I got this tattoo for her.
You guys thought it was my name but
I used to be Teresa Randolph.
Listen to me.
You can not trust that man. No matter what he tells you.
Please.
And...Your response? To me kissing you. You're not controlling that?
You're not allowing yourself to enjoy it?
- It's just... - A pre-programmed response to external stimulus.
So the theory goes.
I think we should, we should go.
We gotta do something now, Joe. Before it's too late.
I don't know what's going on with Janet, but she's got a thing for Ulrich.
- I know. - So what'd you say? Everything we can?
Everything we can.
What's the matter, Liam?
Things were going my way. I knew where I was going.
I had a job I thought was important. And I was good at it.
- And then what happened? - Then I met you.
And everything I worked so hard to get rid of came flooding back.
Now I remember why I never look back.
And I understand why intemacy is forbidden.
All the precautions, all the secrecy... I mean...The pain wall?
All the power that you people enjoy and it's intimacy that scares you?
It's not my rule, it's their rule.
But their rules have served me well.
But now you, you... Get me to question everything.
- I'm no longer sure of anything. - So what?
Relish it.
I mean, human beings aren't a series of rewards and punishments.
A soul is... It's a mysterious thing.
And yours is just...Waking up.
Why wake it up? What good can come from it?
Freedom.
I mean, where would you rather be, Liam?
Think about it. If we could be anywhere?
- We? - We have needs, don't we?
So I just...Give in? Give up?
Throw everything I know away to pursue a feeling?
You could.
Get as far away from me as possible, Janet.
The closer you come, the more you'll suffer.
Those thumbs have gotten the attention of the FBI, interpol, the NSA...
And agencies I've never heard of.
- Are you serious? - I've been taken off the case.
- Why? - No reason given.
- What about me? - Tomorrow, you're scheduled to be transfered to a government holding cell.
- No city listed. - No city?
But you'll never get there because mistakes were made here.
You've been misfiled into release. Oops!
When your name's called, don't ask questions, just go.
Thanks. Gomez!
Why?
What is wrong with this picture?
- Renbe. - Oh thank God!
- Keep walking. - How'd you find me?
I've been following you since you got out of jail.
- Who posted your bail? - No one. Gomez sprung me.
- What, he believed your story? - Well, he believes there's something big going on.
- And getting bigger. - Hey, you got a cell phone on you?
- Yeah, but the battery is dead. - Let me see it.
They can track you with it.
- I haven't slept since we got off the plane. - Me neither. I'm exhausted.
Yeah. I know a place we can go. Come on.
You know, the secret of giving a great shave is this:
Hot towels, sharp blade and a steady hand.
Good afternoon. How can I help you Mr. Morse?
You can leave me and my friend there alone.
- I'm not sure I know what you're talking about. - Sure you do.
- Bill, lets go. - No.
I'm almost finished with Mr. Blackham here. Maybe I can interest you in a scalp massage?
Oh I just had one. It almost put me to sleep.
I'm not interested in anything you have to offer, Mr. Ulrich, and neither is bill.
I think Mr. Blackham can speak for himself.
Or maybe he just needs someone to remind him that he doesn't have to sell his soul to the devil.
So I take it that I'm the devil?
No. You're just the devil's lackey.
Isn't that how you ended up here, Mr. Ulrich?
The real bosses never show their faces, they just send in their errand boys.
Well you dug in a little too deep there, didn't you Mr. Ulrich?
My God!
Getting me all comfortable, trusting and then you like...Slit my throat?
I assure you, it was an accident!
- Of course it was. - Charlie was right about you.
Our souls aren't for sale.
Those two are very chummy.
Yeah, with Ulrich too.
I saw them in the barber shop with him earlier this morning.
- You think he turned them? - Maybe.
Janet's been spending a lot of time with Ulrich too.
I don't know who to trust anymore.
Me. You can trust me.
Sure no one will find us here?
No, I made the owner a small fortune a few years ago.
He owes me.
Ooh, I forgot about that. You have any glasses around here?
- We're not drinking this. - Yes we are!
- We're not. - Mark.
That's not a worm in there.
There's no way in hell they put all my evidence in one place.
Janet?
Just give me a minute, please.
Okay.
I know what you're doing but it's not gonna work.
- It is working. - You think you've got Ulrich in the palm of your hand, but you don't.
Alright? He's a born liar. He's made promises before.
Ask him about the burns on his arm.
Joe, he already told me about the fire. He lost his family.
- Ask him for the truth. - Why don't you tell me?
- 'Cause you wouldn't believe me? - You're probably right.
What's the matter?
My life is an open book to you.
- Yes. - Well I deserve the same!
- And in complete honesty. - Ok.
I need to know the truth about the fire.
I already told you. I was driving back...
No Liam, I know what you've already told me, but I think you're lying.
It's not really what happened is it?
My family is alive, I think.
The fire was here, during my level 1.
- I set it. - Why?
Because I couldn't understand why I'd been chosen.
Or what I could become. All I wanted was to get out of here.
- Yeah, I know how that feels. - You do, yes!
You feel absolutely desperate, you think you'll never see your family back home again.
- Yeah. - Then I figured,
if I was the sole survivor, maybe they'd let me get back to my life.
- The sole survivor? - My hands were shaking so much
when I poured the kerosene out... I must have spilt some on my shirt.
So you burned people?
I knew what I was doing was wrong.
Against every principle I've learnt, against everything I ever taught my own children,
but I was surrounded by strangers I didn't know, in a place I didn't know.
I'm sorry for what I did.
But you of all people should understand why I had to do it.
Can't you?
Please say you understand.
I do.
Thank you, Liam.
Yes, Liam?
I have wonderful news. Janet Cooper is on board.
- You sure? - Yes.
- Because of her feelings for you? - No.
- Because you're in love with her? - Because we understand our value within this program.
Our connection makes us perfect instruments.
Well that is good news. Congratulations.
Thank you, madam director.
- Goodbye, Liam. - Goodbye.
- Yes, ma'am? - I need some warrants prepared for my signature.
- Yes, ma'am. - It's for town 27.
Your town, Neil. I need red cards for all the participants
and one for Mr. Ulrich.
- You're flushing 27? - Yes.
Second town in as many weeks, but I've exhausted all my options.
The pollution has become to thick to clear.
- Have the warrants on my desk by morning. - Yes, ma'am.