# #
Why must I go through this awful ritual?
Don't be so dramatic, David.
It's just a high school reunion.
The only reason I bought these stupid tickets
was to show off my beautiful wife.
Who's oh-so flattered, but too pregnant to stand
and too cheap to let you waste both $100 tickets.
Sagebrush High class of '98.
It-it made Lord of the Flies
look like Fantasy Island.
And the only way I survived those four awful years
was by being utterly invisible.
And now I am supposed to go back
without being forced at gunpoint?
I bet there'll be cupcakes.
What if you go into labor and I'm not here?
It's not going to happen, but I'll call your cell.
The reunion will be good for you.
Everyone will see the amazing guy you've become.
And you'll see how everyone's grown up, evolved.
I love you.
Go.
You're gonna have fun!
# Yo, I'll tell you what I want #
# What I really, really want #
# So tell me what you want, what you really, really want... #
- (men chattering, laughing) - Come on, man!
Don't fight it!
- (grunts) - Hey!
(laughs)
- (laughter and chatter continue) - Let's go!
(Spice Girls' "Wanna Be" continues in background)
- Hey. - Hey.
H-Hi, Becca.
Name?
David Phillips.
I don't have a Phillip Davis.
No, David Phill...
It's fine.
Here.
(table thumps)
Sorry.
# Give it to me, baby #
# Uh-huh, uh-huh #
# Give it to me, baby #
# Uh-huh, uh-huh #
# And all the girlies say I'm pretty fly for a white guy #
# #
# Uno, dos, tres, cuatro, cinco, cinco, seis #
# You know it's kinda hard just to get along today #
# Our subject isn't cool but he fakes it anyway... #
Hey. Come on.
# He may not have style #
# But everything he lacks, well, he makes up in denial #
# So don't debate, a player straight... #
MAN: And the fourth most
exciting thing about working in
insurance-related actuarial science
is the way you see the world differently.
This place is a den of liability.
Rising exponentially with each drink that's consumed.
Half of these people aren't even chewing
their hors d'oeuvres to a safe consistency.
Not to mention the bacterial populations in the lavatories.
I mean, you can get any number of STDs...
- Excuse me. - Oh.
Well, be careful, they're running rampant in there.
Running rampant in there.
Hey, guys, cake.
(burbling)
Becca.
- RUSSELL: Hey. - PHILLIPS: Hey.
You all right?
Yeah, no, I'm fine.
I-I've seen dead bodies before.
But, uh...
It's not the same, huh?
I spoke to her an hour ago.
Well, Doc's gonna be here in a couple of minutes.
You able to keep everybody away
from the immediate scene till the policemen came?
I did the best I could, but former hall monitor
doesn't exactly demand respect around here.
Did you know the victim really well?
From afar.
Becca Sabin was queen of the class.
A head cheerleader, social secretary.
She planned all this.
Well, most of it.
So, queen of the class
15 years after her reign.
Question is: Which one of her subjects did this?
# Who... are you? #
# Who, who, who, who? #
# Who... are you? #
# Who, who, who, who? #
# I really wanna know #
# Who... are you? #
- # Oh-oh-oh # - # Who... #
# Come on, tell me who are you, you, you #
# Are you! #
ROBBINS: Irregular laceration.
Judging by the amount of blood,
appears to have severed an artery
and bled out into the bubble tray.
The assailant might've grabbed one of these...
hand-me-down weapons.
There's a whole confiscated armory here.
SANDERS: I never understood the kids
who'd bring this stuff to school.
I mean, showing off your pair of nunchucks
- is worth expulsion? - Yeah, right?
Well, that's addled essence of adolescence.
Brain's prefrontal cortex
doesn't fully develop until your 20s.
Means your teen years are spent
oblivious to consequences and prone to reckless behavior.
Our killer's about 15 years too late for that excuse.
Yeah, you think a decade and a half
would let everyone grow into mature and caring adults.
Not always the case.
SANDERS: Well, no visible blood
- (distant siren wails) - On any of the sharp implements.
I'll bring them back to the lab anyways.
Got a bloody handprint in the bubble tray.
No ridge detail.
Killer may have wiped their hands in the soap.
Trace from the killer could've been
carried out in the bubbles.
Which means it could've landed anywhere
on anyone at the party.
Hundreds of popped, red bubbles out there;
may have to check them all.
Why don't you start with a smaller task.
I found this in her palm.
STOKES: Looks like glass.
WOMAN: Becca was my best friend in school.
Kind of ruled the place.
Kate and Pippa.
Were you still close?
We drifted.
Career, loving family, busy social life.
I'm sure Becca had things going on, too.
So looking forward to catching up.
I bet.
Kelly, I'm afraid I'm going to have to
take your dress.
You can change into a gym uniform.
This stain's from one of the ill-advised bubbles.
Just red dye.
Isn't it?
Well, it's nice to see a couple of gorgeous ladies
printing and swabbing.
And casually trampling our search and seizure rights.
Kidding.
The CSUs I work with, they could take a few pointers.
- Are you law enforcement? - Attorney.
Partner at Hoyt and Mendelsohn.
Manhattan.
I was supposed to take a red-eye back tonight,
prep for a big depo.
But what's a reunion
without the valedictorian?
Yes, Becca and I,
we were on different tracks in high school.
Never really got to know each other.
I was Harvard-bound, she was... enjoying herself.
And there he is.
Hey, Janet.
You know, Davey was a brain back then.
If he applied himself, he could've been a doctor.
Instead of, um...
I'm the assistant medical examiner.
Glorified Igor.
Kidding, Davey.
Nice seeing you, Janet.
MAN: Hey, igor!
(laughter)
MAN: Becca was amazing.
We met and we married last year.
That's a tough one, losing your wife.
I'm sorry, Mr. Foster.
Were you and Becca together the whole evening?
No, I couldn't keep up with her.
Between the hosting and the mingling.
I just parked myself at this table with a scotch.
Did you notice any tension
between Becca and her classmates?
No.
As far as I know,
Becca had lost touch with everybody here.
Tonight was supposed to be about her...
reconnecting.
(sighs)
Thanks.
Watch the blood, boys.
(phone ringing)
Stokes.
SANDERS: Hey, it's Greg.
I just finished with all the blades
I brought back to the lab.
No blood on any of them.
That's a bummer.
Hey, you know that green sliver
we pulled from the victim's palm?
SANDERS: Yeah, it's glass,
but Hodges couldn't identify the source.
Think I just did.
Let me call you back.
(beep)
(copier whirring)
(grunting)
(copier whirring)
PHILLIPS: Decedent's heart is grayish in color.
It's consistent with exsanguination.
Otherwise healthy.
Stomach contents.
Smell of alcohol.
Presence of a partially-digested bready substance.
It's a crab puff.
Didn't you eat, like, seven of them
while you were lurking around in the corners?
I can't believe you get to see me naked.
Phillip Davis, random weirdo
who probably had a massive crush on me.
This is my job.
I am the assistant medical examiner.
They throw you that title instead of your 50 cent raise?
If you're so smart,
how come you're not a doctor?
Well, I was planning on being one...
Phil.
Concentrate.
Don't mutilate.
It's David.
And I didn't have a crush on you,
I had a crush on Lizzie Burns, so...
Concentrate, Phil.
(door opens)
David.
ROBBINS: David?
Everything okay?
Yeah. Uh, fine.
Uh, fine, Doc.
Um, stomach lining...
uh, the stomach lining exhibits
a crater-shaped sore.
It's approximately 12 millimeters.
It looks like a peptic ulcer.
One centimeter diameter erosion
of the lower esophageal sphincter.
Could be acid reflux.
Exacerbated by stress.
Or alcohol consumption.
(echoing): One...
vodka tonic.
Moving on to the throat.
The, uh...
epiglottis is inflamed.
Likely result of the trauma from the laceration.
The majority of the sharp-force trauma
is centered in the trachea,
with an irregular cut through the adjacent tissue,
transecting the carotid artery.
Also noting an incidental
injury to the victim's lip.
Possible cold sore,
- often associated with... - Don't even.
...herpes outbreak.
BECCA: Charming.
No wonder you didn't start
dating until you were 26.
25, technically.
Pardon?
Uh, nothing, uh...
Likely C.O.D. Is exsanguination caused by
the transection of the carotid artery.
Gee, you think the giant gorge ripped through my throat
might have done it?
Paging Dr. Einstein.
I'm gonna get some air.
(hard rock instrumental playing)
RUSSELL: Copier has a pretty good memory, doesn't it?
Maybe you do, too, Kelly.
Is that why you attacked Becca?
Some old grudge stirred up?
I didn't kill her.
That fight at the copier? If I didn't stop her,
she would've terrorized the reunion.
Wow.
What does that mean?
She was up to her old tricks.
"Games Bitches Play."
Um, I'm sorry?
She made these.
"Reunion Bingo.
"As you booze and schmooze your way
"through the evening, fill in the names
"of your classmates who have
"the following quirks:
"Bulimic.
"Screwing the babysitter.
Snorted Daddy's fortune."
Five in a row gets a prize.
Becca started handing the cards out.
I grabbed them from everyone.
She went to the storeroom to copy more.
I can't believe you're doing this.
No! No!
- Don't touch it! - Give it!
(copier whirring)
Ah, you bitch.
She was fine. Went back to the party.
You know, a stupid little game may ruffle some feathers,
but it hardly warrants an assault.
Or worse.
This wasn't some innocent prank.
Becca's husband...
Grady Foster. Yes, we spoke to him.
He's a therapist.
Mm-hmm.
He's my therapist.
I had no idea I was pouring my secrets out
to the husband of the gossip queen,
until I saw the two of them walk into the party together.
I'm on that card.
Klepto.
Working on it.
Good.
I didn't kill Becca.
But I bet anything
there are other alums who are patients of Grady.
RUSSELL: Whose secrets ended up
on Becca's bingo card.
Would give any of them a reason to stick a knife in her throat.
So, I just spoke with Grady Foster.
He refused to divulge any of the names of his patients.
Confidentiality.
And he insisted that his wife knew nothing
about what happened in those sessions.
So Becca, what,
just guessed at all these secrets?
FINLAY: Maybe.
Okay. So, the one patient
- we do know... - Klepto Kelly.
Right. Has an alibi.
The photos from the partygoers' cameras
put her at the far side
of the room for the 15 minutes before
the bloody bubbles actually start to appear.
So, she may be guilty
of a few misdemeanors,
but she certainly didn't kill anybody.
Anybody on this card with a secret had motive.
Even if Becca was guessing,
the people with the secrets did not know that.
But if Grady won't help us, there's no way for us
to determine who those people are.
- Mm. - Did David say anything about the card?
He said he didn't want to
"disparage anybody by guessing."
His words.
- A true gentleman. - Mm.
(cell phone ringing)
He's really hoping he can help solve this one.
Well, if it helps us catch a killer, I'm all for it.
- Nick needs me. - Bye.
Uh, figured out a way to determine
which alumni are patients of Becca's husband.
Which makes them all suspects, right?
Theory to beat.
STOKES: Surveillance footage
from a gas station next to Grady's therapy office.
Catches the whole parking lot.
Very smart.
STOKES: Catalog the license plates
of all the cars entering the lot,
run them through DMV against the alumnis' cars.
(chuckles) Nice one, bud.
STOKES: Yeah, I thought you might like that.
So, what was your high school experience like?
I was usually, uh,
in the back of the van,
sandwiched between a guitar case and a hitchhiker.
Oh, that's right.
I'm sorry, I forgot the, uh,
traveling family caravan.
Wasn't that bad.
Depending on the hitchhiker.
RUSSELL: Little late for a visit.
Now, who's that?
Zoom in.
That's our victim, Becca Sabin, two nights ago.
Digging up dirt.
Wait a minute, now, who's that?
That's Grady Foster.
Her better half.
BRASS: You lied to us, Mr. Foster.
You said that Becca never had access
to your patients' secrets.
She did.
And when she started spilling those secrets at the reunion,
jeopardizing your whole practice,
you shut her up.
Of course I was mad with her for snooping.
I figured she was just curious.
Secret lives of strangers.
I didn't realize she knew any of my patients
until I saw those patients at the reunion.
Well, that's convenient.
Additional suspects, all mingling together,
makes it easier to commit the crime.
Do you not think I knew the kind of woman I married?
I had Becca pegged
within five minutes of meeting her.
Narcissistic.
Manipulative.
With a near-pathological hunger for gossip.
And I loved her for all of it.
I never laid a hand on her.
Now, unless you've got evidence
of anything other than a... a marital spat...
...I believe this session's time is up.
(whirring, beeping)
Is that the last of the 99 red balloons?
I've swabbed way more than 99 of these bastards.
There's a few on that post there behind you,
that I haven't gotten to yet.
Nick said that the therapist office surveillance
didn't turn up any alums who were patients.
I thought we'd already spun the suspect bottle
to Dr. Hubby himself.
No physical evidence against him.
Did you go to your high school reunion?
Ten-year was last year.
Didn't make the trip out.
You?
The one area of history I choose not to dwell in?
My high school years.
But you...
beautiful blonde,
sunny SoCal... you must have loved it.
Yeah.
Could've been worse.
I've got some trace on this one.
(cell phone beeps)
Just got a text from Brass.
Some kid tweeted LVPD,
"You idiots missed a dead body at Sagebrush High.
50 yard line."
# #
Well, he's breathing.
I think I found the culprit.
Sir.
(shouts)
Come on!
(grunts)
Come on!
Gooch!
They're running the blitz.
Block, damn it! Block!
(growling): Oh, yeah!
(groans)
We need a first down.
You need a time-out.
Greg, we need backup.
Super Dave.
Hey, Nick.
Um, Russell said that I could check in.
Um... I heard about the new suspect.
Yeah, Sean McHenry. You know him?
Yeah, I know Sean.
Big man on campus.
Quarterback.
He dated Becca Sabin all four years.
- Really? - Mm-hmm.
Well, her bloody handprint
ended up on his back last night.
Wow.
Well...
for what it's worth,
he was a colossal jerk in high school.
- Really? - Yeah.
Hmm.
Janet.
What are you doing here?
I'm representing my client.
I'm sorry, why would you want to help him?
Easy, Dave.
Take it easy, buddy.
He called me, requested my counsel.
If you've got some post-wedgie grudge
against the guy, grow up.
High school's over, David.
What do you do for a living, Mr. McHenry?
He's an educator.
What capacity?
A gym teacher.
Gym teacher.
Okay. What grade?
- Junior high. - STOKES: Junior high.
Well, that's a tough age, isn't it? (chuckles)
Hey, speaking of,
it must be hard to have your best days
15 years behind you, huh?
(scoffs) How's that?
Wrangling dodge balls for little kids?
(chuckles)
When all your classmates have passed you by, forgotten you...
well, like with Becca,
she married a much more successful man.
(scoffs) Becca was still into me.
- Sean... - She was.
She was all over me.
- At the reunion? - Yeah.
She took me back into that storeroom.
We were making out like we were 16.
Or...
maybe you wanted it to be... like you were 16 again.
Huh? You followed her back there,
she shut you down, you grabbed the knife...
- No. - What about the blood on your back?
She had a little cut on her palm.
That's probably how the blood got there.
She was into me. She was.
STOKES: Come on...
Sean, really?
She was.
For a minute, and then she backed off,
said she had to get back to the party.
- And you just let her go? - Yeah.
- I'd had enough of the reunion. - Okay.
Then what?
Then I went to the closest liquor store.
Took the bottle out under the Friday night lights
to drink alone.
'Cause you're right.
Those were the best days of my life.
Can this be over?
It can.
You're not holding my client?
No. No, no.
Don't go far, Sean.
(wry chuckle)
Never have.
Trace from your burst bubble is asbestos and acrylic tan paint.
Piece of popcorn ceiling.
Mm-hmm. As you no doubt remember witnessing
at the temple to 1974 that is my mother's home.
Note the addition of a second
gray-colored paint on said ceiling kernel.
Ceiling in the cafeteria is white.
Ceiling in the storeroom is tan.
Take a look at this.
Ceiling access panel... gray paint.
Right above the bubble tray.
BRODY: Someone opened it.
# #
(gasps)
Are those guys gonna blow up all of our evidence?
Not all of it.
Whoa!
Bomb squad managed to separate the non-explosive
parts from the bomb, served it up for us to analyze.
And I got the ceiling panel over there, too.
Morgan said that they were basic pipe bombs.
SANDERS: Yeah.
The pipe end caps were loosely sealed,
so the detonation would have been all flare, no bang.
Yeah, well, the bomber didn't know that.
- Mm. - Okay, so here's a new theory:
Bomber sneaks into the storeroom...
SANDERS: Becca picks the wrong time to refill the bubble tray.
Unplanned stabbing.
Killer flees without detonating the bomb.
So, Sean McHenry is still our prime suspect.
Yeah, Becca's bloody handprint's on his shirt.
All right, what do we have here?
Uh, ignition device.
Some consumer electronics item.
I guess Hodges can dig into that.
Yeah.
Duct tape that wrapped the bomb
and attached these to it.
Looks like plaster.
Too fragile to be shrapnel.
Maybe a form of the bomber's signature?
These pieces fit together.
I'll work on this puzzle.
So, I've been looking through
Sean McHenry's Internet and e-mail history
for any research he might have been doing,
and bomb-making came up empty.
But I might have found out why he planted it.
Why is that?
Well, he got pink-slipped
from his gym-teaching job last week.
That's a bit of a leap to bombing a reunion, isn't it?
It really had nothing to do with the reunion.
The school board just voted
to eliminate gym class from the district junior highs.
Sean got all bent out of shape,
demanding that they rethink their decision.
Of course they didn't, he's out of a job.
Now,
where do you think
the school board is gonna meet next?
Sagebrush High, school cafeteria.
And the entire school board is gonna be sitting
along that very same wall where we found that bomb.
So the reunion was not the bomb's target.
It was the opportunity to plant it.
I'll call Brass.
- Russell. - Yeah?
Just hit the liquor store near the high school
to check out Sean McHenry's story.
Store clerk has him on camera
buying whiskey within an hour of Becca's death.
That much we already know from Sean, though, don't we?
But big man on campus left out one big thing.
A bright yellow Dumpster on the edge of the store lot.
It was begging to be searched.
And I found this.
Sean bought whiskey, but he also dumped the weapon.
Print this and get it over to Henry.
Let's get a profile on the blood.
Nice work.
Sean McHenry, LVPD!
Get your hands up.
SEAN: What the hell is this?
You're under arrest.
You, too. Out.
Counseling your client, I see.
You red-staters still familiar with the notion of warrants?
Yes.
I have two.
One to arrest Sean for the murder
of Becca Sabin, and the other one
gives me the right to search for explosives.
What?
I don't understand.
You didn't tell your girlfriend
about the bomb you planted at the school?
What are you talking about?
Your vendetta against the school board,
how you were planning to blow them all away.
You mean, telling them that gym class is the only thing
keeping some of these kids sane?
You think I'd hurt people over that?
Get him out of here.
(Sean stammers)
Can I at least put some clothes on?
What you got?
I ran DNA on the blood from the knife.
It is Becca Sabin's blood.
But?
There was something odd.
The blood was completely dried out.
Dehydrated.
for 20 minutes
before it would dissolve.
It was a little frustrating,
but finally I had something I could work with.
What would cause that level of dehydration?
Normally? Long-term aging of the blood
or exposure to extreme temperatures.
None of which goes along with our story.
Guy plants a bomb, stabs a girl, tosses the knife.
Which means there's more to the story.
(chuckles) Thanks.
Yeah.
# #
(trilling)
SANDERS: This plaster mask
was attached to the bomb.
Whoever this girl is...
...she means something to the bomber.
I thought you might recognize her.
Her name's Caroline.
You know her?
I did.
Till she killed herself.
PHILLIPS: Caroline Hartwell was a fellow misfit.
Two years behind me.
I used to see her in the library reading all the Ray Bradbury.
I like Ray Bradbury.
Some of the seniors...
Sean McHenry, Becca Sabin...
they used to make fun of her.
The way she dressed, the scar on her lip.
Spring of '98,
she was a sophomore, and she hung herself.
Tell me about this.
Art students would make these masks of themselves.
Then they'd put them up on the wall until the end of the year.
So anyone could have taken Caroline's mask, right,
and kept it until now, and then used it in the bomb?
Revenge on her behalf.
Maybe.
Guys, I got a print off the bomb's duct tape.
AFIS match to a work card.
Man named Max Dinello.
Also, I found a partial print from him on the inside
of the ceiling panel.
Oh, here he is.
Class of '98.
He was friends with Caroline.
There's no Max Dinello on the list
of people processed at the reunion.
PHILLIPS: Cut the hair, add a few years...
- Hey. - Hey.
I spoke to him.
He must have snuck out before the police arrived.
I'll call Brass.
Look, planting the bomb
and stabbing Becca have to be related, right?
Yeah, I think so.
Timeline's too tight to be a coincidence.
Yeah, but it doesn't make sense.
If Max Dinello's the bomber and the stabber,
then how did the knife end up at the liquor store
that Sean McHenry went to?
Max could have planted it, right?
I mean, if what he was after
was revenge for Caroline, then framing one of her tormentors
accomplishes the same thing.
But how did Max know that Sean went to that liquor store?
Hey, guys.
I was looking up background on Max Dinello.
He is a teacher at an alternative school
for troubled teens.
And I was checking out the school's Web site.
I came across this photo.
That's Sean's attorney, Janet Morris.
SANDERS: Yeah, only, she's not
an attorney anymore.
She's a lunch lady.
You kidding me?
SANDERS: The school confirmed it.
She lives at home with her parents in Henderson.
Unis are on their way to pick her up now.
So Max and Janet are working together.
The vengeful outcast
and the tarnished golden girl joining forces?
RUSSELL: Max plants the bomb,
stabs Becca when she catches him.
Janet plants the knife and then frames Sean for the crime.
(phone chimes)
Gets to play big-shot attorney.
Max Dinello's not home.
Brass has put a broadcast out on his car.
- (knocking on glass) - You have a minute?
I was looking for Henry, but he's not around.
You want to talk?
About how you let the killer flee?
Good one. I'm gonna look for Henry.
David. David. Come on.
I'm kidding. Come in.
Grab a lab coat.
You know, even in high school, I knew that
these were much cooler than any stupid letterman's jacket.
Attracts a finer breed of woman, too.
Well, you can't argue with Elisabetta.
Only because she can't conjugate when she's angry.
(chuckles)
So, uh...
- what's got you down? - Just wish I had
more answers, instead of feeling like that lost kid again.
Even on a normal case, we're not working crossword puzzles here.
It can get tough.
And, whether you like it or not, you are involved.
It does help
to have a gorgeous Mediterranean goddess waiting for you at home,
if you can arrange that.
- (chuckles) - Although...
I have to say, you're doing quite well for yourself.
Hmm.
Something bothering you?
HODGES: The evidence.
I'm thinking this bomb is a blast from the past.
What do you mean?
Start with... duct tape's old.
The logo on the end of it was used
by the company from '93 to 2000.
The ignition components
are from a walkie-talkie that was manufactured in 1998.
And the batteries that were in it
have a "use by" date
that puts their sale at spring '98.
- So what are you saying? - I'm saying
I don't think that this bomb was placed at the reunion
for something that happened in 1998.
I think it was placed there in 1998.
But we know that the ceiling panel was accessed
during the reunion.
Right. By your pal Max Dinello.
So what was he doing?
Like, adjusting something on the bomb?
Or... defusing it.
When I was lifting prints off of the tape,
I noticed these spots.
As if something dripped on it,
sapping all the moisture from the adhesive.
What could do that?
This.
Liquid nitrogen.
Sometimes used in defusing bombs.
Poured over the components, it temporarily freezes them
so that the bomb can be removed safely.
I'm almost positive that some liquid nitrogen
got splashed onto this bomb.
Henry did say that the blood he found on the knife
was dehydrated, like it had been exposed to extreme temperatures.
Thanks.
Tissue, tissue. Throat, lip.
The sample from Becca's lip doesn't exhibit
the intranuclear inclusions of a viral sore.
Instead, the cells have irregular vacuoles
and darker nuclear chromatin,
qualities caused by the flash-freezing of tissue,
as you'd expect from contact with liquid nitrogen.
Now, ingesting liquid nitrogen
could have caused the swollen epiglottis,
the irritation that I had attributed to the acid reflux
and the injury to the stomach
that I had previously deemed an ulcer.
They were caused by one event.
Ingesting liquid nitrogen.
Exactly.
That's very impressive, you guys.
Hey, not me.
All David.
Mr. Dinello.
Look, I teach my students to own up to their crimes.
I failed to do that.
But I'll do it now.
You don't have to waste your time.
I killed Becca Sabin.
Okay. Um, speaking of time,
l-let's, um... let's back up 15 years.
You placed a bomb
in the ceiling above the spot where Becca and Sean
and the other cool kids had lunch every day, right?
You wanted vengeance for Caroline Hartwell,
for what those kids made her do to herself.
But you never set that bomb off back then.
Why?
A teacher.
Mr. Miller.
Math.
He was one of the good ones.
He saw some of the things that I had...
(sighs) Scrawled in my notebooks, and...
I told him to leave me alone.
He told me enough people had done that already.
He didn't know about the bomb or what I was up to,
but...
he said whatever it was, it wasn't worth it.
So, 15 years, you become a teacher yourself,
helping kids going through the same stuff.
But that bomb... still there.
Every day.
Surrounded by innocent kids.
I was pretty sure that it wouldn't go off accidentally.
I told myself that. For years.
But there was always a chance.
And if that bomb did go off, hurt somebody...
Then everything that I had done to change,
to help my students change, it all would've been wiped out.
So the reunion was a chance for you to sneak back in
and make sure that didn't happen.
What are you doing?
(groaning)
Why didn't you just
report the bomb to the police?
With everything that's been in the news, I couldn't bear
the kids at that school, teachers like Mr. Miller,
hearing that the same thing had almost happened
at Sagebrush High, too.
So, how does that lead to a stabbing?
MAX: The liquid nitrogen was choking her.
There was no time.I had to do something.
(choking)
Shh, shh! Relax, relax, relax.
An emergency tracheotomy.
She was struggling. Fighting him, so...
it didn't work.
MAX: She wouldn't hold still.
She was terrified of me.
And then she was gone.
Max wanted to turn himself in.
I told him not to.
He was just trying to do good.
He didn't deserve to have his life ruined.
I put the knife in the nitrogen tank.
I told him to get out of there. I'd get rid of the evidence.
So Max didn't deserve to have his life ruined?
But Sean McHenry, he did?
You knew about the liquor store and planted the knife there.
You framed him.
You got to act out your lawyer fantasy.
You got to sleep with the class stud as a nice perk.
You didn't lie about Harvard.
How does somebody
at the top of their class end up here?
I couldn't wait to get out of high school.
Into the real world.
I busted my ass.
Undergrad, law school.
100-hour weeks as a grunt
at a New York firm.
But nothing changed.
Pretty got promoted, gossip counted
more than achievement,
and one day I just broke down because...
High school never ended.
So what'll happen to them?
Max and Janet?
Doesn't look good.
Obstruction, accessory,
maybe even manslaughter.
You know what I think their real crime was?
Getting lost in their pasts.
Janet trying to live up to old ambitions.
Mm-hmm.
Max trying to undo an old mistake.
I was one of those freaks who liked high school.
Come on.
I mean, there are plenty of other contenders
- for the worst years of my life. - (Phillips chuckles)
But what do you get for dwelling on them?
Anxiety, uh, self-loathing and high blood pressure.
You know, I think at some point,
you just have to move forward.
(cell phone chiming)
Excuse me.
Hi, honey.
How long between contractions?
(Phillips chuckles, baby coos)
Guys.
Come on in.
(Phillips chuckles)
Guys, Joshua Adam Phillips.
- Doc, you're first. - (whispers): I'd be honored.
Hey, young man. Yes.
Amy, he's perfect.
- Thank you. - (Robbins chuckles)
I am utterly envious.
You're a lucky guy.
I am.