68 Whiskey (2020–…): Season 1, Episode 5 - Pain Management - full transcript

A coordinated attack catches the base by surprise; Davis and Roback stumble upon an unusual operation in the Afghan hills; Alvarez helps Hazara.

- What time is it?

- Almost 5:00.
- P.m.?

- A.m.

- Shit, I don't know whether
to eat breakfast or dinner.

- It doesn't really matter.

- Fuck it, I'll just get
a coffee and a muffin.

What's that?

- Sponsoring Alvarez's
green card.

12 pages
of mind-numbing paperwork

she's been up my ass for.

- You better hope their native
language is chicken scratch.



- Filling out these tiny boxes
is fucking agony.

What kind of sadist
created these forms?

- Somebody with
a short last name.

- Agh.

- What are you gonna do to me?

- You fucking idiot.

Cooper and I came home
from the store,

front door was wide open,

walked in and he was dead
in the living room.

It's about
pretty much it.

- Didn't hear anything?
See anything?

- Nope.

- This didn't surprise you,
did it?

- Did it surprise you?



- Didn't surprise me at all.

- Motherfuckers!

- Oh, shit.

- Let's go, let's go, let's go.

- Give me a hand!

Three, two, one.

- How is he?
Can you hear me, soldier?

- Incoming!

- Jesus.

We gotta get him to the cash!
- Cash is toast!

O.R. took a direct hit!
Casualties there too!

- Where do we take him?
- D-FAC!

- Three, two, one.
Lift!

- Three, two, one.
Lift!

- All right, listen up!

We're gonna triage
priority levels!

You know the drill.
Red is immediate attention.

Yellow is anything that can
wait six hours to live.

Green is walking wounded.

Anything that's not red...

Gets field-dressed

and will have to wait
to get further treatment.

I want more of these cots.
Find me more and blankets.

I don't see my medication here.

Where the fuck
are all my drugs?

- Hardly anything
was salvageable.

I brought all that I could.
- You're bleeding.

What happened?
- I was in the O.R.

when it got hit.
- Are you gonna be okay?

- I'll be fineI had my back
turned to the explosion.

Just need a small dressing.
- Good, 'cause I need you.

- Anything you surgeons need
from my supplies,

just say the word.

I always say you can eat off my
floor, can operate off it too.

- Good to know.
- Head trauma.

Probable internal bleeding.
- CT scan survive?

- A lot of equipment was lost.
- Fuck.

- How's your leg?
Okay.

Hold still.
Okay.

Where were you
when the shells hit?

- Walking out to the wire
to smoke up.

Never got there.
What about you?

- In the lounge.
By the way,

you wouldn't happen to have
another copy

of that green card
application, would you?

Spilled coffee on mine.

- You're a terrible husband.
- Yeah.

Yeah, from my dad's side.

- Sergeant Alvarez, take Nurse
Ellis and go to the supply hut.

Bring me back all the goddamn
morphine you can find.

- Yes, ma'am!
Come on.

All right.

- Come on, come on, come on.

- Two, three.

Let's go.
Let's go, let's go.

One, two, three!

- I know that look.
Talk to me.

- Every FOB's on lockdown.
No evacs until further notice.

- Where the hell are we
supposed to take our wounded?

- Sir, QRF has engaged
the mortar position

half a mile from
our perimeter.

Hill two three bravo.
Firefight in progress.

I'm also hearing FOB Resolute's
now getting hit too.

- Listen up, people.
This is a coordinated attack.

You know what to do, do it.

If they won't let us move
patients out,

then let's bring
resources in.

Contact Bagram
and get us a resupply

- Already did, sir.
They said they'll add us

to the list
but no promises on timing.

- Shit.

Call Camp Dwyer, requisition
- Already talked to them too.

They said at least 12 hours.

- 12 hours?

- Everyone's covering
their own asses, sir.

You know how it works.

- Let Major Holloway know

we're gonna be on our own
for a while.

- Yes, sir.

- Corporal Durkin?
- Yes, sir?

- Did the Starbucks get hit?
- Still standing, sir.

- Two double Americanos.

- Right-handed?
- Left-handed.

- Well, it's a good job you're
an interpreter not a surgeon.

- Yes.

- We were maybe 10 yards from
the supply hut when it got hit.

- I think she has
internal bleeding,

but the CAT scan
and X-ray machines

were destroyed in the blast.
- How the hell am I supposed to

do this without imaging?
Damn it, I'm flying blind here.

- They're looking for
an ultrasound in the wreckage.

- Well, I'll take
any goddamn thing I can get.

- Everything in that supply hut
is gone.

- Jesus, this is insane.

They haven't even given us
a timeline for resource supply,

got patients that may have to
wait six hours for surgery,

and there's no morphine,

even though we happen to be
right in the middle

of the fucking opium
capital of the world!

- I think I know of a place
where the Major can find

what she needs.

- She's not talking about
collecting sap

from poppy fields.

She's speaking rhetorically,
she's venting.

She's pointing out the irony
of the

- Yes, I understand the irony
she was pointing out.

Thank you.
But what I'm saying is

I know where to find morphine.
It is not far.

- Talk to me.

- There's been chatter
among the locals.

- What kind of chatter?

- They have seen stocks
of medical morphine.

- How do they know
it's medical grade?

- The vials have EU labels.
- That's good enough for me.

Sergeant, if what
he's saying is real

and it's out there,
I want it.

I'm ordering you and your crew
to go find it

and bring it back to me.

- Ma'am, I'm happy to go,

but this could all be rumors.
Don't you need me here?

- Performing major combat
surgery without anesthesia

hasn't been attempted
since the Civil War.

I need that fucking morphine.

- Ma'am, you don't need
all of us out there.

At least let me stay here
and help.

- Sold.
- One more thing.

- What is it?

- Are you gonna be particular
about how we get this done?

- Not in the least.

- Hey, where the hell
are we going

and what the fuck are we doing?
- Excellent questions.

- Khalil's the man.
He knows.

- Where the fuck are we going?

- It's near this village
right here.

It is
a morphine processing plant.

- Says who?
- Says Khalil.

And Holloway thinks
it's worth a look-see,

so let's make it quick and get
back with the pain relief.

- I'm at half-fuel, I just
put in a request to top off.

- We don't have time to top
offwe're not going that far.

- We're gonna go on
a wild goose chase

with no flight plan
at half fuel

while the Taliban fills the air
with mortar and rockets?

- That's certainly one way
to look at it.

- Is there another?

- We've been ordered
to go on a wild goose chase

with no flight plan
and half fuel

while the Taliban fills the air
with mortars and rockets.

- You've allayed
all my concerns.

- Kay.
Let's take the fuck off.

- Oh, come on, come on.
Get on with it, already.

- I'm working as fast as I can,
sir.

- Doing what exactly?

- Trying to see the extent
of the damage.

- Let me save you some time.
It's a minor wound.

Just patch it up
and get me back in the game.

There's too much bloody work
to be done.

- Can't see what I see.
- Ahh, tell me what you see.

- A subscapular penetration.
2 by 3 centimeters.

- Superficial.

- I'm looking right at it.
It's pretty fucking deep.

Sir.

I haven't lost consciousness,

I'm not having
any difficulty breathing,

my pulse is normal.
Like I said, it's superficial.

Now just patch it up
and let's go.

- Wanna make sure nothing
is hiding in there.

Can't believe
you don't feel this.

- All right, I feel it.
I lied.

Happy now?

What do you want to be
when you grow up, Sergeant?

- My dream is to go
to medical school, sir.

- Well, I'll let you in
on a little secret.

It's all just
rote memorization.

Series of if/thens.

The truth is, any idiot
can graduate medical school.

- Very inspiring, sir.

- You need instinct
to be a great doctor.

Unfortunately, you're either
born with it or you're not.

Can't be taught.

- Well, then let's hope God
has smiled down upon me.

- Hurry up.

Come on,
come on, come on.

- Yes, sir.

Do you really work this slowly
in the field?

Ah, aah!

- Too tight?

- Oh, I'mI'm sorry, sir.

- No you're not.

Oh, shit.
All right, come on.

We're needed.
Time's up.

Let's go.

All right, help me
help me with these wounded.

- Sir, QRF has successfully
engaged a mortar position.

Three enemy dead.

- Something tells me they had
more than one mortar position.

Tell QRF
keep searching the perimeter

and get me
that crater analysis.

- Yes, sir.

- Put together a battle damage
assessment of the base.

I need to know what's still
operational and what isn't.

- On it, sir.

- I hope you are enjoying
the sheer pleasure of being out

while the Tally
are lighting up the sky.

But it is now time
to grab your cocks,

because I've got to make sure
they don't get a second shot!

- Whoo-hoo!

Whoo!

- I hate when he does this!
- What?

It's like Disneyland except
you don't have to wait in line

for three fucking hours!

- You don't look so good,
sir.

- Save the color commentary
and hand me what I ask for.

- I think you should sit down.
- I'm not the patient.

Now hand me the blade.

I asked for the 10-blade.
This is the 15.

- You didn't call a number.
- Yes, I did.

- You did not, sir.

Suction.

Uh, you're blocking my view.

- It's tight in there.
- Uh, yes, it is.

So try not to obscure
everything I need to see.

- You're getting close
to a tendon.

- I'm well aware.
Thank you.

All right.
Forceps.

Gotcha, you bloody bastard.

All right.

Needle.
- You're really sweating, sir.

- Needle, please.

Now you medics
have a reputation, you know?

- Reputation?
- Mm-hmm.

You look down us doctors.
You think we're all pussies

because we never venture
outside the wire.

It's true, isn't it?
- No, sir, it's not.

- The truth is,
I could do your job.

It's just that
I'm terrified of flying.

Always have been.

Come from a long line
of RAF pilots, though.

My father,
both my older brothers...

Of course they're terrified
of blood, so you know what?

Screw them.

Aw....

- Sir, your wound
has opened up.

- No, no, I'll be fine.
- No, no, I think we need to

go back in and see
what's going on in there

- Uh, you know if Tiger Woods
can win the U.S. Open

with a broken leg,

I can perform surgery
with a topical wound.

- It's not a topical wound.
- It most certainly is.

- Is not.
Help!

- This doesn't
exactly look like

the high rent district to me.

- We're in Afghanistan,
all right?

I would like to see what your
Fifth Avenue would look like

after two hostile invasions
and an 18-year civil war.

- Probably look a lot
like my neighborhood.

'Sup.

I've seen some ghetto
pharmacies in my day,

but this is sad.

- Yeah, Khalil, this is not
the morphine we're looking for.

- Of course.

Salaam alaikum.

Wait here.

- Who do you think was the
first guy to figure out

this stuff
would make him so happy

he'd blow one his cavemen
buddies just to score more?

- I don't know.

I used to know this kid
from back home

who used to shoot black tar
up his ass to get high.

- Say what?
- Yeah.

He and I used to work
the night shift at Denny's.

But he was terrified
of needles,

so every day before work

he'd mix it with canola oil,
stick it in a baster and

- Yeah, I get the picture.

So you're suggesting
we should turn this tar

into morphine suppositories?

- Kid ended up dying
of internal bleeding.

Doubt it was the canola oil.
- All your stories make me sad.

- Why are we wasting time here?

- To get the location
of a refining facility

all the locals
have been whispering about.

And now I have it.

Thank you, Khalil.
You're welcome, Khalil.

- Let's go.
- Let's go.

- Tell me what you see.
- Shrapnel.

Lodged between the four rib
and the scapula.

- Oh, bloody hell.

- Yes, it is.

Must've bounced off the bone
and hid in the pocket.

You shouldn't have rushed me,
sir.

- All right, well, you're gonna
have to get it out of there.

- Sir, that's surgery.
I'm not trained to do this.

- Stop complaining.
You want to be a doctor?

Prove yourself, all right?
I'll talk you through it.

- Okay, but there's a lot
of tissue in the way.

- Well, you're just going to
have to trim some of it,

all right?

Like you've seen me do
on all the others.

All right,
now just create a path

and pull it out
with the forceps.

- Sir, that'll be real hard
for you without pain meds.

- Tell me something
that's not bloody obvious!

- Well, I can ask
Major Holloway to spare some.

- No, no!
Leave it for the others.

- Yes, sir.

Oh!

Oof.
All right.

Guess I'm about to test
my tolerance for pain.

- You're certainly
testing mine.

- The fuck is this place?

- About as far off the main
road as I'm comfortable with.

- Who the fuck are you?

- United States Army.

We're medics
out of FOB Guardian.

- What are you doing here?

- We're looking to secure
a supply of morphine.

We were sent by
our commanding officer.

- Wait here.

- Morphine production?

Another scam SecCorp's
got their dicks in.

Someone's gotta hold
these fucks accountable.

- I'll be sure to bring it up

at their next
stockholder's meeting.

Hans Ruegsegger.

How may I assist you gentlemen?

- We need
some medical morphine.

As much as we can.

What is this place?

- You can say it's
an experiment, really.

See I'm working for
a Berlin-based

pharmaceutical company.

- You're German?
- Swiss.

Let me show you around.

We've been testing
the feasibility

of turning raw opium
into morphine here.

Right where it is grown.

Cut out all the shadowy
middlemen, corrupt bureaucrats.

Turns out we've been saving
a tremendous amount of money

doing it this way.

So far it's been
a smashing success.

- Smashing.

- We're planning six more
processing plants

here in the next year.
Our investors are very excited.

- Anyone bother to tell
your investors

there's a civil war going on?

- We have arrangements.

The world has never seen
a free market quite like this.

- So look,
our forward operating base,

the one that makes it safe
for you to do all this,

is in desperate need
of some morphine,

but we're a little
short on time, so

- Under normal circumstances

I would be happy
to supply you, but...

unfortunately,
everything I have right now

has been spoken for.

I'm quite sorry.
- Spoken for, huh?

What would it take
to speak louder for this stuff?

- If you want to cut in line,
it will cost you.

But since you are
U.S. military,

I'm happy to try
and work something out.

The least I can do
is entertain an offer.

- There's a bout a grand
in petty cash on the bird.

- What will 1,000 U.S. dollars
get us?

- For real?

What kind of bullshit?

No wonder my mom's medical
bills are through the roof.

Big Pharma's got everybody
by the short hairs.

- Look, those three vials
are not gonna cut it.

It's barely enough
for a weekend in Reno.

And we don't have
any more money.

- But of course you do.

- You know something we don't?

- I know that you flew in here

in a $20 million
Black Hawk helicopter

bought and paid for
by the U.S. Army.

The same army that supplies
every one of its bases

with a healthy amount
of reconstruction money

This is the coin of the realm,
gentlemen.

And if you need these supplies
as desperately as you claim,

then I suggest that you
get back

into your overpriced chariot
and get some.

Go, go, go, go.

I'll wait.

- A morphine
processing facility.

- Yeah, in the middle
of nowhere, sir.

- Run by a German guy?
Swiss.

- In a linen suit.
- Perfect for the climate.

Sir.

- He wants money.

More than the petty cash
we had on the bird.

- A lot more.

- How much money
are we talking about?

- He didn't give us
an exact figure,

but he kept talking about
reconstruction funds.

- It's something
that can happen.

But I need to know,
is he legit?

- It seems so, sir.

He, uh,

he had a bunch of SecCorp guys
guarding the place,

but none we recognized.
They're not from here.

- SecCorp?
- Yeah.

- Christ.

That means this is some
fucked up version of legit.

- Yeah.

- Okay, let's do this deal
before it gets any shadier.

We need these drugs yesterday.
- Yes, sir.

- Take care of it.

- Where we going?
- Just follow me.

Stand over there.

Turn around.

Don't be idiots.

The combination changes
every day.

You can turn back around now.

- Reconstruction funds...

- Used to buy off
local politicians,

grease various wheels,

and pay off the families of
victims of collateral damage.

It helps with their healing.
And their silence.

- How much is in there?

- That's classified, but
I usually have to refill it

every week with cash
brought in from Bagram.

- Right under
our goddamn noses.

- Will $100,000 be enough?

- Sure hope so.

- I'll give you more
just in case.

I'm only authorized to
disperse 250 grand

in any 24-hour period.
So let's do that.

- It feels kind of light
for this much cash.

- Everyone says that.

- You need a receipt
or anything?

- This money's used for
the kinds of things

they don't wanna leave
paper trails for.

- Damn, girl.

There's a whole other side
of you to dig into.

- Mmm.
Too late.

- It's never too late.

Roback.
- Yeah?

- Be careful.

- Nice to know you care.

- What about me?

- You be careful too.

Now both of you
get the fuck out of here.

- Right, remember what I said
one clean motion.

- Just figuring out
my angle of attack, sir.

- Angle of attack?

You're not raiding
the bloody Bin Laden compound.

Just get on with it.
- Yes, sir.

- Wow.

- How big?

- Like a chickpea.
- What?

It can't be.

Well, how'd you miss that
the first go round?

- I did not miss it.

I was exploring for it,
and then you stopped me.

- Well, explore better
next time, Sergeant.

Oh, thank God,
the grownups have arrived.

How's it looking back there?
- You'll live.

Give me a 5/8ths needle.

- Uh, what kind of closure
are you making?

- Vertical mattress.
- Oh, no, no, no.

I want a simple closure.
- My way will be much stronger.

- No, but I don't want that.

A vertical mattress
is not called for here.

- It's not up for discussion.

- I do simple closures all the
timeit'll be no problem.

- Tough shit, I'm your surgeon,
and I'm in a hurry.

- Sir, Ma'am
- Stay out of this, Sergeant.

- Look, I'm telling you

there's a much higher risk
of necrosis

if you do it your way.
I can show you the data.

- You can't show me shit
right now.

You're just worried about
being at the beach

without your shirt on.

- It's my bloody scar,
isn't it?

- Private Kelly just took
a turn for the worse.

- I'm not having
this fucking argument.

Here.
You can do it his way.

- Ma'am, suture isn't really
my purview.

- It is now.
- Wait, wait, wait.

What's going on?

- The sergeant's gonna
suture you up.

So if I were you, I'd be
a lot fucking nicer to her.

- Bloody hell.

Oh, God.

- They left the door open
for us.

You've gotta be
fucking kidding me.

- How the hell did they clean
this place out so fast?

- German efficiency?

- He was Swiss.
- Eh.

- What do we tell
Colonel Austin?

Collective fever dream?

- The truth.
Hans got spooked.

- Drug dealers move out as soon
as they smell danger's close.

I had this neighbor who cleared
all his shit out

as soon as he found out
one of his buyers

was the police chief's son.

- Smart guy.
- Not really.

He just moved to the next
garage over, got busted.

It's Hemet, not Medellin.

- What now?

- The fuck was that?

- Go.

- I don't see nothin'.
- Up on the left!

- That's not good.
- Shit just got real.

- We're not equipped to engage.
- Got no choice, amigo.

That morphine's out there,
and it's our job to find it

and get it back.

- Let's fuckin' do this.
- Okay.

- Shut the fuck up!

- Khalil, who are those guys?
- Taliban.

- You sure?
- Yes.

They're Haqqani network.

- Talk about sleeping
with the enemy.

- Swiss motherfucker.

- Shut the fuck up!

- God damn.

- Well, that'll be a lovely
story to tell our kids one day.

- Let's grab that morphine
and go.

- That's it for the morphine.

- Thought we were doing
half doses.

- We just finished
the last drip.

- Damn it.

- I have the needle
through the skin now.

- All right, now pull the line
up through as we discussed.

Do you feel that?

- My, God, yes.

Just assume that I can feel
all of this

and everybody else's pain too,
all right?

Now come up through the skin

on the other side
and pull it through.

Are you okay?
- I'm nervous, sir.

- Everyone's nervous
their first time, okay?

You should have seen me
with my first patient.

My sutures looked like an angry
game of knots and crosses.

Thank God
he was under anesthesia.

You can do this, all right?
It's just surgery.

- Right.
Just surgery.

- Make sure the edges
of the skin line up

so that there's no gaps
and no dog ears!

This is of utmost importance
to me, all right?

I'll have to live with this
the rest of my life.

- No pressure.

- How's it looking?

- Pretty good, I guess.
- You guess?

- It looks great, sir.

All right.

Now loop it around and make
the knot like we discussed.

Oh, remember to keep the edges
nice and even!

All right?
No lumps, no dog ears.

- Nice work, Sergeant.
Halfway home.

- Uh, Sergeant, if you could
just stop what you're doing.

This will only take a moment.

Aaaaaaaahhhhh!

- Then the German accused
the Taliban of putting the IED

too close to the lab.

- Turns out he had a point.

- The Taliban replied
that they put it there

to protect the lab.
- Two sides to every story.

- That is when the German
got arrogant,

and uh, what is this word?
Dummkopfs.

- Something
you don't call somebody

when they're pointing
an AK-47 at you.

- Yes,
Taliban were deeply insulted.

The rest needs
no translation.

- Helluva shot.

- We can't leave
Americans behind.

- Of course not.

Gonna bring 'em back
on the bird with us.

Make sure they get home
to their families.

- How much morphine are we
supposed to take back with us?

- As much as we can carry.
- Roger that.

Son of a bitch.
- What?

- That's Sasquatch's SUV.
Taliban painted it white.

- SecCorp to the ANA
to the Taliban.

- And I'm gonna drive it back
to SecCorp.

- Are you out of your mind?

- We've been telling Sasquatch
we have what he wants.

Well, now we have
what he wants.

You take the morphine
back to the bird.

I'm driving this back.

- There's too many bad guys
out here, amigo.

- I don't care.
I'm driving it.

- No you're fucking not.

This will still be here.

We take the keys
and then we come back for it.

- I don't wanna chance it.

I'm driving this back.
Give me the key.

- See any survivors out here?

- What are you getting at?

- As far as
everybody's concerned

we paid for the morphine.

- Nobody's asking for receipts.

- We take the cash.

- We'd be damn fools
if we didn't.

- Now let's fucking bring back

what we were sent out here
to fucking bring back.

- Dust off 31,
this is Delta Sierra,

we're ready for extract.
Over.

- Roger that, Delta Sierra.
On the way.

- First thing you're gonna do
with your cut?

- Buy a Bentley.

Or pay my mom's medical bills.
How 'bout you?

- Gonna get my family
the hell out of Hemet.

- Sons of bitches.

They think that they can get a
free shot at us on the return?

- Look out!
- Suck on this!

- What the fuck?

- I thought you were going
for the cash!

- It was closer to you!
- I'm right-handed.

It was closer to you!

- That doesn't make
any fucking sense.

Where the fuck were you?

- One of the bags fell out.

We need to go back
and pick it up.

- We don't have enough fuel
to circle back.

Besides, that RPG says it's
Taliban country down there.

That shit is gone, man!

- Fuck!
- Fuck.

- Don't worry about it.

Everyone makes a few dog ears
on their first try.

- What?
- Kidding.

It's perfect.

Don't worry, you'll still
look good in your Speedo.

- Well, fortunately for you,

you were born
with bloody good instincts.

- Thank you, sir.

- Stick with me, Sergeant.

I'll prepare you to be
a damn good doctor

without all of that
mindless memorization.

- I would like that, sir.

- No questions asked?

- No questions asked.

- Thanks for not just
leaving them out there.

- We don't roll like that.

- What do you tell the family
of a contractor killed

thousands of miles from home?

- We're sorry,
but your son died

protecting a German
opioid corporation

who split profits
with the Taliban?

- You tell 'em they'll be well
taken care of financially.

- I hope they'll think
it was all worth it.

- They know what
they signed up for.

- Well, it's not exactly Medal
of Honor material, is it?

- I just keep playing it
over and over in my head.

This must be what it's like
to lose the Super Bowl.

- At least those losers
get a cut of the TV money.

- That bag was closer to you.

I'm sure of it.

- You misremember.

The mind plays tricks.

- All you had to do
was grab it.

I was going for the morphine.
- Look.

Do me a favor.
Stop reliving it.

You're not doing anybody
any good.

- I need a receipt
for that cash.

- What?

Just fucking with you, guys.

- Stupid.

- Uh...

You always have access
to those reconstruction funds?

- Yeah.

Thanks, man.

- Mm-hmm.

- Look, a fresh new copy!
- Ah.

- I'm not even gonna
say a thing.

I'll get it done, I promise.

I even have my own pen.

- Great.
Hmm.

What is your deal?
- I get easily distracted.

Son of a bitch.
- What?

This is the blue fob.

The blue fob that Sasquatch
has been looking for

this whole time.

It's a thumb drive.
- Give me that.

We need to get
that fight back on, amigo.