MAN: He passed away a few minutes ago.
I'm sorry.
There wasn't anything we could do.
WOMAN: I just don't understand how this could have happened.
I understand if you need a moment to process,
but if there's anything I can do,
anything at all, just tell me.
Well, maybe there is something.
Nice.
[seductive music]
[phone beeping]
SAM: Shit.
[clambering]
[hot dogs sizzling]
[door opens]
SAM'S DAD: Hey!
Hey, Dad.
What's cooking in here?
Oyster Rockefeller and filet mignon.
SAM'S DAD: Ooh la la.
You are spoiling me, kiddo.
How's work, Dad?
Actually, I had this one really funny character.
This total cowboy shit-kicker came in,
walks up to the bar and says, "I'll have my usual."
And I was like, "Sorry, Sir, I don't know.
What is your usual?"
And he says, "Hold on a second.
You mean to tell me I've been coming here for two weeks
and you ain't even learned my usual drink?"
And I thought, well, unless it's my piss in a wine glass,
no, I don't know what your usual drink is.
Then he gets all quiet and, you know, leans in.
He looks me dead in the eye, raises up his fist and he says,
"I get two shots of Jaeger, one splash of lemon-lime sodie
and a maraschino cherry in a frosty mug."
So what do you do?
I served it to him, in one of my special fart glasses.
[Sam laughs]
How was school?
It's, uh, it's fine.
SAM'S DAD: Fine?
What's up?
It's nothing.
Doesn't sound like nothing.
It's just some dumb thing that happened.
I mean, I don't want to make you mad
when you just got home from work.
[sighs]
Sam.
I got Saturday D-hall for calling
my chemistry teacher a stupid asshole.
Is he?
[scoffs] Yeah.
Still probably shouldn't have called him that, huh?
Doesn't matter, right?
I mean, next year is high school and...
Sam, teachers talk.
You don't want to get known as that asshole kid.
I know.
So, don't fuck up your future, okay?
You think these little things don't matter.
They pile up, trust me.
Before you know it you're serving two shots of Jaeger
to some cowboy shit-kicker.
Yeah, I know.
I'm sorry.
Stupid.
Don't say it to me.
Say it to your teacher on Monday, right?
Hey, I need you to be a rich biologist, okay?
Emphasis on the rich part.
I don't give a shit about biology.
Who else is going to pay for my
retirement bill in Cabo?
I thought you wanted to retire in Miami.
I did.
Turns out I hate Cuban food.
Really makes me shit, like a lot.
I'm guessing you're going to need me to give you
a ride to detention in the morning, huh?
I, uh, I have to be there by eight.
Eight?
I guess I'm not sleeping in.
Hey, I'm not trying to make you feel bad.
Love you, pal.
[heavy breathing and moaning]
SAM'S DAD: Interesting.
SAM: I'm gonna go to my room.
Probably a good idea.
[sighs]
[speaking foreign language]
[somber music]
[TV beeping]
[eerie music]
♪♪
[eerie music]
♪♪
[eerie music]
♪♪
SAM: Dad.
Be good, Dad.
Hey, Doc?
Hey, Doc!
Yo, medicine woman!
BOTH: What?
No, the new one.
Is this normal?
Normal is a pretty relative term here.
What the fuck does that mean?
Okay, well, on the list of kinks to work out,
spooky dreams is sort of at the bottom.
He'll be fine.
It'll last 10 minutes and then I'll bring him out.
And what if you don't bring him out?
Then he doesn't come out.
You transition out of REM sleep on your own
and you cross the fatal wavelength, the end.
So you guys got this all figured out, then.
No, we've just isolated some causal factors.
Yeah, we don't know a time.
All we know is that in the void between
napping and dreaming is the kill switch.
We can talk about all of this later.
What I really need is for you two to take those.
Please.
Bottoms up, Doc.
[somber music]
JOHN (over radio): Caller for Ellis, over.
ELLIS: Ellis here. Go ahead.
JOHN (over radio): Found a way in by the news trucks.
Just take a sec.
There's a bunch of chairs and shit blocking the door.
ELLIS: Copy that.
[suspenseful music]
Thanks, Beverly, and I'll see you this weekend,
but not at the beach, because over here in, uh,
over in Central Texas, if you look under my balls
we've got some, some cold weather coming.
ELLIS: Quit fucking around.
BETH: Jesus!
JOHN: What?
You know I always wanted to be a TV weatherman.
ELLIS: You barely have a face for radio,
and you probably just gave away our position.
JOHN: To who?
[boom echoing]
MAN: Listen.
Right now you have the entire arsenal of Seal Team 5
pointed right at your faces.
If you make a move, we will fire.
There are no rules of engagement.
There is no minimal use of force.
Your death will be violent.
If you are looking for supplies,
the fifth floor of the blue building
across the street is what you want.
If you're looking for anything else,
you will not find it here.
You have 10 seconds.
Then I'll be brief.
MAN: Now, you have nine.
Listen, Mr. Oz or God
or whoever the hell you are.
MAN: Eight.
I'm tired.
So, you'll forgive me if I don't go
just walking out of that door.
MAN: Seven.
The only thing that's kept me going over these last days
has been reaching this place.
MAN: Six.
And you tell me to get the fuck out?
That's going to be a bit of a problem, your problem!
MAN: Five.
The way I see it, I'm dead anyway.
The only thing that's left is how it's going to happen.
MAN: Four.
And if I can go out by taking down even one of you
motherfuckers responsible for this,
well, that'll be fucking peachy keen.
Three, two, one.
[gun firing]
[glass breaking]
[suspenseful music]
You?
Welcome to Channel 37.
[sharp inhale]
Don't be a pussy, Jake.
SARAH: Oh, I can't watch.
Sarah?
You're not actually going to do that, are you?
Yeah, I was, I was thinking about it.
Mm-Mm, no.
Put that down.
I've got a better idea.
Come on.
There you go.
Okay.
We are going to do the I'm awake dance.
The what?
The I'm awake dance.
Ready?
Okay, first I want you to gallop in place like this.
There you go.
Slowly, but steady.
Okay, now pretend like you're holding onto
little reins, like this.
Okay [laughs], now this is the serious part.
Ready?
♪ I'm awake, I'm awake, I'm awake, I'm awake, I'm awake ♪
♪ I'm awake, I'm awake, I'm awake, I'm awake ♪
Yeah [laughs].
♪ I'm awake, I'm awake, I'm awake, I'm awake, ♪
♪ I'm awake, I'm awake wake wake ♪
BOTH: ♪ Wake, wake, awake, wake, wake, wake, wake, wake, ♪
♪ wake, wake, I'm awake, I'm awake ♪
♪ Wake, wake, awake, wake, ♪
♪ I'm awake, I'm awake, I'm awake ♪
Guess she doesn't know, does she?
♪ I'm awake, wake, wake, awake, wake ♪
This is so sad.
Get out of here.
That's no fun.
Then, I won't be able to see if you tell her the truth.
The truth about what?
Shut up.
About how he's a fuckup and how he let you die.
[laughs] I'm not dead.
Wait, Jake.
Did I die?
No, no, you're fine.
You're lying again, Jake.
Why do you do that?
Lying is boring.
Hey, do you want to see your body?
It's right in here.
Oops, wrong one.
This is mine.
See, I put all my favorite butterflies on it.
Sorry, I forgot.
Yours is over here, right under Lilly's.
[crying] Jake, how could you let this happen?
JAKE: Fuck.
[door closes]
I'm running out of room, Jake.
I'm running out of room and I just don't have enough space.
This is a problem.
Where am I going to put him?
No, leave him alone.
Oh, I know.
She doesn't need this anymore.
[rollers squeak]
Ew, this one's old.
How long was it 'till they found her, two, three weeks?
I guess it takes a while when nobody cares.
Remember the message that she left you just before?
That was really nice of her.
[beep]
JAKE'S MOM: Hi, sweetie, it's Mom.
I'm just calling to say I'm sorry.
I'm so sorry for everything.
I need you to know I will always be proud of you,
even when you fail.
I love you, Jake, so much.
Goodnight.
He's fine.
You guys worry too much.
Shut up.
Does this mean they've changed your mind?
Changed your mind about what?
Having kids.
[laughs] God.
What?
Every fertility clinic should have a giant poster,
a poster that says, "Don't do it". [laughs]
My God are they that bad?
Yes.
No, well,
not that bad.
[machine beeping]
Shit.
Their heart rates are going up.
Oh, shit.
Shit, their windows are too short.
What the fuck happened?
Tell me what to do, Lex.
Give 'em that.
Reinduce.
Maybe it'll buy us some time.
Okay.
[steady beeping]
Okay, okay.
[steady beeping]
[alarm buzzing]
Shit.
Sam, Sam, Sam.
[steady tone]
No, no, no, no, no, no, no, he's unresponsive.
LEX: Ally.
Get the defibrillator.
LEX: Ally, no, no, no, babe.
Hey, Jake!
I need to start doing compression.
Let go of me. - Ally, stop, stop it.
Why are you, let go!
Fuck!
Damn it!
[steady tone]
God.
[steady tone]
Shit.
What went wrong, Lex?
It's part of the risk.
But, at least we can be together again.
What?
Without these distractions.
What are you talking, what are you talking about?
What's wrong with you, Lex?
You're right.
That was a dumb idea.
I'm so sorry, Ally.
No, no!
[gun fires]
Welcome back.
Yep.
[crunching]
[Ally breathes deep]
Well?
Well, what?
[laughs] What do you want me to say?
Yes, I'm shooting a death signal
and it's killing billions of people?
I couldn't even win the Peabody.
Not for lack of trying.
Is there any chance somebody could have
hacked your signal, something like that?
How would I know?
What time did you get here?
About 4:00 A.M.
I usually get here sooner, you know,
to prep for the morning broadcast,
but I had to deal with my dead wife.
What an inconvenience.
It's bigger than her.
People need to know what's happening.
They need a voice.
They always need a voice.
Isn't that what the Emergency Broadcast Signal is for?
[laughs] God, broadcast signal.
[imitating emergency signal]
Focus here, Alonzo.
Is there anybody who could have put that out?
I don't think, programmer, intern.
It was on when I got here.
I'm on-air talent, I don't make fucking signals.
What do you people want from me?
I want to know why you're manning a station
that could be killing the world!
Every day for 30 years I've anchored here.
I'm the first face that the city sees when it wakes up.
Can you grasp that?
They look to me for information,
and for the last five days, I've fought through
power outages, looters and doing whatever it takes
to keep the broadcast going, to keep the channel open.
When a cause is determined in China, or when a cure
is found in Beirut, me and my team,
we'll be the first to report it.
We'll tell the people what they need to know, save them.
Team?
Phillip, Caitlin.
I couldn't do a show without 'em.
ELLIS: Shit.
Oh, man.
All right.
Alonzo, listen to me.
We need to shut this place down, just to be sure.
Can you help us do that?
You know what you're asking?
You want to cut us off from the world.
I know you don't want to hear this,
but it's got to be done.
I mean, just on the slightest chance, it's got to be done.
Now, you know this place.
You can make this a lot easier for us.
But, you help us, you don't help us, understand,
we are shutting this station down.
Now, Alonzo, I need to know,
are you going to help us?
Yes.
I didn't hear that.
Yes, I'll help.
You, uh, you need to kill the feed from the control room.
You're going to have to cut the power as well.
That would be the, uh, generators, sublevel two.
All right.
Show us how it's done.
So, this nightmare drug, why don't I just take it
back to back 'till we get a solid eight hours?
That'd be nice.
Unfortunately, the body doesn't work like that.
You need time to flush out neurotoxins from the brain,
so this is a temporary solution.
So, how much time does it buy us?
A day, maybe three.
We don't know.
Sodium thiopental?
Yeah, it's part of the cocktail.
It's a bastardized version of a narcolepsy drug
that Dr. Abrams' crew was working on
when the shit went down.
And you knew to come here.
I referred a patient here once.
Thought it was worth checking out.
Turns out it was.
I had a friend who was a narcoleptic
and every time he'd laugh he'd fall asleep.
This one time at Walmart, I tickled him
and he passed out into a pile of onions.
That's awesome.
That's cataplexy, but similar.
So, um, why do the nightmares happen?
Well, basically, it's shock.
Your brain is struggling to deal with
the sudden onset of REM sleep and it can't handle it.
All right, think of it like this.
Think of REM as being drunk.
You want to get hammered, but you don't necessarily
drink the entire bottle of vodka, do you?
Of course not.
The trick is to soak a tampon in vodka
and insert it in the rectum,
bypassing the stomach and liver altogether.
So, you're trying to get into our brain rectums?
Hey, he understands metaphor.
Except, you know, you can actually do that,
but I'm sure you know all about it.
All the twelve-year-olds are doing it these days, I hear.
I'm 13.
I'm sorry.
You must be a real pro, then.
This is Dr. Abrams.
He is the guy in charge.
Nice to meet you.
Uh-Huh, so you are the youngest person who's ever
taken this phase of the drug.
How do you feel?
Like I just rode a roller coaster while being
punched in the stomach, but, uh, kind of, kind of better.
Mm-Hmm.
And you're the girlfriend?
I'm usually introduced as Doctor.
Oh, okay, Doctor girlfriend.
You're a radiologist, right?
I've been taking scans of the affected,
sometimes right at the moment of death.
Right at the moment of death?
I'm going to need your expertise at the very least,
someone with a keener set of eyes to, uh,
take a look at the scans.
Lex can show you the way.
Sorry for the rush, uh, except not really,
because every minute we don't have a solution
we sort of lose millions of people.
So, I'm going to go work on a solution.
Thank you, Doctor.
Nice to meet you.
DR. ABRAMS: Yep.
Wow.
Asshole.
He seems smart.
He seems crazy.
He's both.
But, if anyone can figure it out, it's going to be him.
Oh, great.
Lucky us.
LEX: All right, how about that tour?
JEFFERY: Found it.
JOHN: That's a lot of, uh, generator stuff, yeah.
JEFFERY: Your show, Alonzo.
All right, now you've got to power down
the big generator and the batteries behind it.
It's not hard.
JEFFERY (over radio): Yeah, of course,
'cause who didn't play generators
and batteries when they were a kid?
Well, it's a good thing you're still young.
You can learn.
It's the big green handle in the center console
and the batteries are in a wall behind it.
Where's the broadcast kill switch?
You've got to wait 'till the batteries power down,
otherwise it's just going to auto-cycle every few minutes.
You waited five days.
Another few minutes is not going to kill you.
At this rate, it just might.
Have you spoken with anybody overseas at all?
Uh, it's been a good two days,
but the last time I heard it was a mess.
Britain's reporting it was a neurotoxin,
but they couldn't cite proof.
Boko Haram, ISIL, North Korea were all claiming credit
and saying that they were immune, but as far as I know,
they were all subsequently wiped out.
[generator powering down]
Okay.
The batteries, wait for the batteries.
I did hear one interesting rumor though,
one that was widely reported but wasn't
totally reliable,
safe sleep zone.
A what?
A safe sleep zone?
It's a place where you can sleep and not die.
Someplace that was somehow unaffected.
Did they say where it was?
That's the thing.
Everybody kept reporting different places.
It was Malaysia, Madagascar, Australia,
but enough rumors and enough proximity,
sure seemed like there was something to it.
Call it journalistic instinct.
[batteries powering down]
What the hell do I know?
I can't even win a fucking Peabody.
And now the show must end.
All right, now get ready to cut the breakers.
Copy.
You want to do the honors?
Yeah.
[exhales]
Here's hoping.
[alarm blaring]
What the?
[pounding on door]
COLIN: Shit!
Colin!
[alarm blaring]
ELLIS: Wait!
[gun firing]
Alonzo, what are you doing, man?
That's a pretty nice toy, isn't it?
Security lockdown.
Thank 9/11 for that.
Alonzo, you've got 10 seconds to let us out of here.
Or what, you gonna reverse the security protocol yourself?
You know that would be pretty hard to do,
since you just disabled its generator.
Ellis, Beth, what the fuck is going on?
[static crackling]
I think we messed up.
Wow.
LEX: Yeah, there's two more boxes of 'em.
Two boxes?
How many people?
234.
That REM shot didn't exactly exist four days ago.
This one, this one died of a gunshot wound.
Oh, right, that one.
No, he was going to die of a gunshot wound,
but then he volunteered to die by sleep instead.
Who shot him?
Oh, you know, just one of our friendly neighbors.
We don't have the greatest relationship with the locals.
We try to share what we can,
but let's just say that the early clinical trials
didn't really go so great.
Hasn't been without sacrifice,
even the two days I've been here.
But hopefully, we're past that now.
[knocking on door]
Dude, come with me, now.
[ominous music]
SAM: What is it?
JAKE: Just get ready.
[ominous music]
Look.
[water bubbling]
Over here.
SAM: Holy shit.
Whoa.
Sharks.
Look, man, there we are.
ALLY: Incredible.
Yeah, these guys.
They were studying them, how they sleep.
It's not like us.
It's more of a suspended animation.
Maybe when it's done we can have a fish fry.
[Ally laughs]
[Ally sighs]
I'm glad you're here.
Me too.
[soft music]
Fuck.
[low ominous music]
[sizzling flesh]
[Alonzo gasping]
You lied to me, Alonzo.
You said you weren't part of this.
I didn't lie to you.
I'm trying to help these people, unlike you,
trying to stifle their information, their voice.
People need to hear a voice.
BETH: Keep him talking.
Otherwise, who do they turn to?
Is it you?
Are you the one they turn to?
Listen, man.
They were left.
Then, they heard about that safe zone
and jumped on a boat and went on their way.
Millions of people count on me!
Don't you understand that?
[punches thudding]
[grunting]
Come on, come on, come on, baby.
[thudding]
[grunting]
[Colin yells]
[Beth screams] No!!!
[grunting]
No, please no, please no.
[breathing heavily]
[Beth sobbing]
[pen scratching]
[sigh]
[footsteps approaching]
[knocking on door]
What's up, Doc?
You rang?
The next phase needs subjects.
Yeah, I know.
DR. ABRAMS: I need you to talk to the newcomers,
especially the kid.
I figured.
Do you know them?
Just Ally.
Why don't we let them settle in for a couple of hours
and then I'll ask?
We'll still need more.
Sergeant,
maybe you can help.
You want me to go into town and ask for volunteers?
They weren't too keen last time.
Besides, Mark and I shot at a few earlier.
Then you'll need to be convincing.
Convincing, I'm sorry.
Are you asking?
I'm asking for volunteers so we can develop
a cure to save the human race.
What I am not asking is for you to ask me
how to do your job.
I don't tell orderlies how to prep a patient.
I don't tell interns how to get coffee.
Figure it the fuck out, or we all fucking die.
Is that clear?
Crystal.
We'll get our subjects, Alexis.
Make them count.
[crickets chirping]
Hey, Slade, they sent more of those shots.
There's three for you if you want 'em.
I'm not taking that shit.
Look, I don't want to tell you your business,
but I haven't seen you take anything in two days
and we're worried for you.
He wanted to make video games,
Michael, my son.
Sounds like it would have been a fun job.
Wish everything was...
He was dyslexic.
Saw it pretty fast once he started school.
Smart kid but he struggled a little bit, you know?
I held him back in the first grade
and always felt bad about that.
Bought him a PlayStation.
They say it works well with hand-eye coordination.
He kicked some ass at them Army games.
You know, uh, after he killed you, he took his character
and made him sit on your face over and over again.
I forgot what it was called, but he just...
Uh, you mean tea-bagging.
Yeah, sounds about right, tea-bagging.
Anyway, he loved it.
Made him want to make those games one day.
I just wanted my son alive and they...
[glass shattering]
My son is gone, Todd.
And they're still here!
Living safe in their little compound.
It's going to get worse.
And when it does, I'm going to be ready.
[gun cocking]
Do you enjoy living off scraps?
Do you enjoy living after my son suffered?
Look, everything is so fucked up at this point.
I just enjoy living.
Of course you do, Todd.
Have a good night.
[somber music]
JEFFERY: Come on.
It's not working.
I can see that.
Hey, look, you don't happen to have
any more of those syringes, do you?
It's all upstairs.
Of course it is.
[sighs]
You know, another 20 minutes down here.
Yeah, I know.
JEFFERY: Fuck.
[sobbing]
I'm sorry about choking your friend.
Sorry about killing him.
When all of this is over I'll do a, I'll do a tribute,
I'll do a tribute for all of you, in the, in the summertime,
when the weather's nice.
Oh, come on.
Come on, You got this.
You got this.
[sharp exhale]
Wait.
Okay.
This whole thing is just like one big engine, yeah?
Yeah.
What do engines need?
Keys.
No.
No, they need fuel, okay?
Air, electricity.
We already have the first two.
All we need now is a spark.
Let's see, we could use the electrical sockets.
We could wire something from there.
We can use the light switches.
What about a battery?
Okay, yeah.
You just want to run to Walmart
and get me a battery real quick?
Or we could walk over to this one
and use it.
[affirmative] Huh.
You know what Alexander the Great did
after he conquered the known world?
He built a lighthouse, the lighthouse of Alexandria,
one of the wonders of the, of the ancient world.
Gave them light, gave them knowledge.
And as long as it was manned, they, they were protected.
And that empire held for 300 years.
And then a, uh, guy came along.
Julius Caesar was his name.
And he knew, he knew what to do to take their light,
take their warning, and he snuffed out their light
and took the kingdom for his own.
Somebody has to...
take care of the fires.
Somebody has to keep the light.
[generators starting up]
Nice.
[low somber music]
[grunting]
Prepare 9 o'clock news.
[grunts]
[low somber music]
[mumbling]
Lot of slime, a lot of bugs in 'em. [laughing]
Got to get rid of those bugs.
[laughs] We have a guest this morning, a live guest.
[Alonzo laughing]
Emphasis on the word 'live'. [laughs]
Welcome to the news.
I'm Alonzo Alv...
[gun fires]
[Beth sobbing]
Fuck local news.
[Beth sobbing]
JEFFERY (over radio): So, I'm not sure which of these
cuts off power to the master controls.
It's sort of a rat's nest.
ELLIS (over radio): Then, fry the whole thing.
[electricity zap]
[tense music]
[Ellis sighs]
[tense music]
[Ellis gasping]
Somehow I thought saving the world would feel...
bigger.
I've done it a few times in D & D
and this is what it feels like.
JOHN: So, now what?
There's really only one way to know, know if it worked.
Somebody's got to fall asleep.
JEFFERY: Is there really no other way?
No other way I can think of.
Million dollar question.
Who's it gonna be?
[dramatic music]
[ominous music]
♪♪
[ominous music]
♪♪