Balls Deep (2016–…): Season 2, Episode 6 - Dead - full transcript

I'm gonna die.

And so are you.

How and when remains
to be determined,

most likely by
a forensic pathologist.

If you're fortunate enough
to croak in a hospital,

the autopsy will
probably be done

right there in the basement.

If you're out on the street...

of a gunshot wound or car crash,

probably haul you to the city
medical examiner's office,

or coroner if you're kinda
further out in the country.



But if you should
expire on your own,

leaving a bunch
of questions unanswered

for your next of kin
and loved ones to wrangle with,

you can always order
a private autopsy

by a freelance
forensic pathologist

such as Dr. Rebecca Hsu,

who operates
out of Phoenix, Arizona,

capital of America's
southwestern death state,

where people have been
coming to croak

for going on 200 years.

All right, fellas.
Are you hot?

So, this is sorta the training
grounds for this kind of thing.

This would be a mortician's kit

that they would use
to actually do makeup.



So you might use wax,
and you can see

there's a back wall there

where you see all sorts of
different faces done.

I have seen people
work miracles.

There are people
in a car accident,

and their face is just smashed.

- Yeah.
- Can't even tell.

Keep in mind, it's been 10 years
since I had to do this.

How often do, uh, pathologists
kinda cross over

with, uh, mortuary science?

I think I'm
the only one, Dr. T.

I don't think anyone's
ever had another.

So you've met the one and only.

What's the relationship like?

Morticians are worried
about how everything looks.

Pathologists are worried
about chopping it up

and getting it off their table
as quickly as possible.

Right. So obviously
there's a little conflict

of interest sometimes
on certain things.

But in general,
all of our protocols

are made in such a way

as to not interrupt
with the funeral proceedings.

What kind of wax is this?

Oh.

Getting the ear to look
sorta ear-y.

- Now I see it.
- Now do you recognize it?

- Yeah.
- Yeah. As you can see,

they're not exactly perfect.

- Pretty close.
- But you don't --

you don't see the two of 'em
together at the same time.

Oh, okay, true.

Especially when you --
- You don't need to talk so loud.

I can hear you real well.
I got two sets of ears.

And the mouth
is the easiest to make.

And it gets the most criticism.
- Because it's --

Because nobody's ever seen
the dude with his mouth closed.

Right.

Mm-hmm. That's true.
- Okay.

I gotta get back in here.
- Thank you, Dr. T.

Thank you, Dr. T.

Yeah, so you just kinda
do this little --

I mean, it's fun, really.

- It is very Playdough.
- Yeah.

And this is what a typical room
would look like,

actually, in a funeral home.
- Mm-hmm.

Nowadays, people don't
like the big old urn of,

"Oh, my gosh,
Grandma's on the shelf,"

type of thing, so this --
this is an urn as well.

- Oh.
- This is an urn as well.

Well, you know, babies also die.

Right, right, right.

You can actually
be made into a jewel.

Did you know that?
- I've seen that, yeah.

So if you wanna be a diamond,
hon, you can be a diamond.

Isn't that exciting?
Yes, very nice.

So now I have all these choices.
I'm like, "Well, hmm,

what do I wanna be
when I die?"

My desk is kind of
everywhere in this house.

It just sorta depends on what
space the kids have not invaded.

So, I'm gonna bring out
some of our stuff.

I have my computer here --
one of 'em anyway.

So far, it kinda looks
like regular office work.

Lot of folders, some mailings.

Okay, this is less office-y.
These are...

I mean, that's half a head.

That's what happens when
you put a shotgun to your head.

Now you see why I don't
let my kids see my books.

Of course not. I shouldn't be
looking at this.

I mean, I did not realize...

Well, first of all, I'd never
heard the term "pneumoscrotum,"

which I guess is air
in the scrotum.

I certainly didn't realize
that was a possible side effect

of, uh, CPR.

You know what?
As I get older,

and the more I see,
the more I appreciate

just being able to breathe
and have a heartbeat.

It's more of a freak occurrence
that we stay alive

at any given point in the day than...
Pretty much.

...given how much
can go wrong.

You know what?
That's why I'm always smiling.

Because if I'm not
the guy on the gurney,

as long as you're not the one
in the body bag,

your day was not that bad.

That's true.
Okay?

So right now I'm just
picking up the kids here.

Okay.
Do you find your work

ever making you
extra protective?

If you call making sure
that wherever you live,

you have already memorized

the locations of anyone
who's a child molester,

yeah, maybe, kinda, you know.

Was Phoenix chosen
due to its low density

of child predators or...

Out here we chose because

I had gotten a position
about 3 1/2 hours from here

where I was
a surgical pathologist.

I also ran
multiple laboratories.

And I also was the deputy
medical examiner.

It was an interesting thing.

That -- Milwaukee was
a little different

and seeing what Jeffrey Dahmer
did, that was pretty cool.

He had too much time on his
hands. That's all I'm gonna say.

- No kidding, right.
- Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Definitely.
But very artistic guy.

Why you need to kill people

to paint their skulls,
I don't know.

But hey, you know,
whatever floats your boat.

Did you actually
physically see his work?

Yes.
I saw his work.

And you know,
everyone needs a hobby.

Yeah.
Right-o.

Go, go, go. Hurry, hurry,
before they make me go too far.

Hi.

How'd it go today?

You guys hungry?
You have any idea

what you want for dinner
so I can get that started?

- I don't know.
- You have a ton of homework.

Any science?
- No.

I have to study
for my math test.

Oh, guys, we have to do some,
like, cage cleaning today.

It seems like everybody
decided to poop,

both lizards and both snakes.

Everybody is just having a time.

And, uh-oh,
now I'm getting a call.

All right.

Of course I lost it.

Yes, hello, ma'am.
Would it be okay

if I give you a call back
when I get to the office?

Thanks, bye-bye.

Okay, guys, so, Mommy
might have an autopsy.

So I will let you know.

Yes, hello, Catherine.
This is Dr. Hsu.

I'm so sorry, it sounds like
you're about to lose someone.

I'm very sorry for that.
I lost my mom a couple years ago

and it's never easy.
Hang in there.

And I will be ready
for you if you need me.

Thank you.
Have a good day.

Not it's

It's a different word
you're saying.

Certainly, I examine all
the organs internally.

And then I also do
a microscopic examination.

And I will personally sit down
and go over the entire thing

with you line by line
if you like.

Oh, and do you know
when the funeral is?

And are they gonna cremate?

This is usually how my day goes.

A family is about
to lose someone.

And so they'd like
to speak with me

as to the pros and cons
of the autopsy.

It's kinda refreshing
how there's

a glibness to your tone.

You're not as maudlin
as I've experienced with,

like, funeral directors,
you know,

that are really stagy,
sort of, uh...

- Used car salesman?
- Yeah, exactly.

Used car
salesman-style sympathy.

Um...

I think when you see
enough suffering...

- Yeah.
- ...it's different.

I don't like foul odors.
Ugh.

I don't know what's in there,
but it smells like decomp.

So I want it to go away.
So... All right.

- You'd think, uh, with your...
- That's nasty.

...with your job, that wouldn't
be quite so offensive.

Everything needs to be clean --
the fish tank,

the sink tanks.

Okay, so I was gonna
give Nancy a call.

Oh, okay, that's your friend

who's the forensic psychic,
right?

Yeah.
I've had several situations,

cases where she's
been consulted.

I'm not gonna say I believe
in everything paranormal.

I don't.
But I've met people

who have abilities
that really can't be explained

by our current
scientific knowledge.

There's certainly questions that
she can answer that I can't.

How you doing, Nancy?
- I'm doing fine.

Let me see.
What do I do?

Um, I see my picture.
Ooh!

Okay, that blushes me up.

I look like a ghost.
- Thomas, come say hi.

- Hi, Thomas. How are you?
- Good.

How are you doing?
- I'm doing good.

What term --
what's the best term?

Just -- just say it.
You won't offend me.

Medium -- medium --
well, I'm -- I'm --

I'm juggling medium, psychic.

And those are the two.

And so there's lots of psychics.

But there's not as many mediums.

When the body dies,
the soul continues to live.

So I'm connecting
with the spirit

of the person whose body died.

Like, especially when
you're doing kind of,

like, forensic work,
does dying feel a distinct way?

It's like slipping away.

It's not painful.
You're here one minute.

And the next minute,
you're over here.

Tom, it was so nice to meet you.

Great to meet you, too.
Thank you so much.

You're going to be well
in your career, oka?

Oh, good. Gotcha.
Thank you so much.

With each passing case,

my confidence level
in her abilities goes up.

Right now, can't be
accepted as testimony.

She could've told
people months ago.

And she's done that.

She's contacted police saying,
"It's this guy."

Some listen. Some don't.

Nine times out of ten,
she's been right, dude.

I mean, really right, like,
dead on the money right, okay.

Until we figure out
how what she's doing works...

- What she's doing, yeah.
- ...we really can't make it

admissible in court.

So I'm gonna have
to go get my dad soon.

I was gonna go down and see him.

"CSI," I mean, "Star Trek" is
closer to reality than "CSI."

Is there a particular thing
that all the shows get wrong?

Is time of -- is time of death
something that's like --

Time of death is
one of the biggies.

'Cause they, like,
everyone nails that.

That's the first thing they...

Time of death and just the sheer
speed at which things happen.

Oh, okay.

Okay.
So we're here to see Dad.

Okay. All right, Dad.

So in addition
to raising two kids,

running a very active
pathology private practice,

Dr. Hsu is also looking
after her older father.

So they'll just be recording
our conversation, okay?

We're just taking Grandpa
to the dentist,

uh, for some new dentures.

I don't know if working
so closely with death

invigorates your sense
for getting things done

and taking on more things
than most people

kind of accomplish
in their own life,

or if Dr. Hsu's just

a normal energetic person
who likes to do things

and just happens
to have a weird job

that's closely associated with,

uh, the more ghoulish elements
in our, uh, species.

All right.
Good job, Dad.

Do you think that your work's
made you more comfortable with,

like, aging and mortality and...

- It has made me more patient.
- Okay.

It has made me more patient
because I get it.

Stored in here somewhere,

I have the actual hearts
and things I've cut up before.

Have to take a look at those.
These are just aprons.

That's for us if we gotta
do something messy,

which -- Yeah.
It gon' be mess--

The closer you are,
the messier it is, you know?

All right.
- What's that?

- Some fun stuff.
- Oh, secret.

It's a surprise.
It's a surprise.

Secret bag of thing.

Just don't, you know,
don't take a bite.

It's all I have to say.
Gotcha.

Okay.

Consider it your early workout,

in preparation
for moving bodies.

- I see.
- Yeah, that's it.

All right.

We are ready to roll.

Ready to roll.

* Rolling, rolling

I do have to warn you,
this is an infectious case.

We have to be very careful.
Okay.

What -- what kind of infection?

I think hepatitis
and possibly sepsis.

I don't know what organism.
So basically, it's dangerous.

And I wanna minimize
peoples' exposure.

- Okay.
- How you doing?

Lee, I got a few friends
with me today.

This is Thomas.
- Hi.

Hi.

So, Dr. Hsu recommended

wetting my hair
because apparently,

that helps keep the smell

from sticking to it
a little better,

which kinda seems
counterintuitive.

But this whole process

is sorta counterintuitive,
really.

It's like performing surgery,

but without the goal
of keeping somebody alive.

Even, like, scrubbing up,
like where the usual idea

is that you're trying to provide
a sterile environment

for the person
you're working on,

here, the person
you're working on

is the least sterile environment
basically that exists.

Okay.
- All righty.

Lindsay, right now,
is labeling everything.

Right exactly right on the
side and on the top there.

Go ahead and finish up
the rest of those.

I'm sorta doing a lousy...

Even the pens are dead.

All right, hon.
Let's get you dressed up.

Apologies if you have
to redo any of those.

- Don't have time.
- Thank you.

Turn around, please.

Yeah, thank you.

There you go.
Let me see if this will...

Put it over your head,
you know what I mean?

All right, Thomas. We need you
thisaway, man, thisaway.

Oh, sorry.
It's not locked.

Got it?
- Yep.

Um, Thomas, over here.

Can you grab his leg
right there?

Pull him my way.

- His, uh, right leg?
- Yeah.

Yep.
Just pull him this way.

Roll him.
Ah, man, he is slippery.

Got it.
Okay, tuck.

Let me get the other side.

Okay.

Pull this...?

Pull it out.
Thank you.

Then that goes in
that big red bin

right behind you.

Good heavens.
We might be here a while.

Ah, yeah.

This is gonna be
a workout today.

There you go.
Okay, Thomas.

Hold this on his foot 'cause
I have to measure his height.

Oh, sorry.

Why are his toenails so long?

Is that, uh...
We see that a lot.

He circumcised?
- Yes.

Okay. All righty.
Okay, Thomas.

You're gonna help me
do stuff now.

I can't smell anything.

Like, it was a little weird
until I touched him.

And then it just felt like
a weird -- like some weird doll.

Just a really weird --
Right, right.

- Yeah, big doll.
- Make sure you're good

'cause it's gonna get a little
more fragrant in a minute.

- Here we go, yeah.
- All right. Very good.

Wow.

No joke.

See, this is
Jeffrey Dahmer's mistake.

Should've just gone to forensics
instead of his twisted hobby.

- And get paid for it.
- That's right. Ah, yeah.

Uh, you might wanna
stay a little back

for this just for a sec
until I'm sure

that you're not gonna get hit
with a lot of pus.

I have been hit in the face
with all sorts of juices.

And it's just not very pleasant.

No. This is remarkably
similar

to field dressing
an animal so far.

Yes, yes, it is.
All righty.

You were asking me
what this is for.

The bolt cutters, yeah.

Well, I have to get
in somehow, don't I?

So I just go and, you know...

Trimming the hedges.

-Ready? -Yep. -Come on over.

Snip, snip.
- Yep.

- Give me the suction.
- Did I screw that up?

Nope.

Everybody good?
Everybody good?

Okay. So, I'm removing
the chest plate

now from the heart
and from the lungs.

These are adhesions.
- Yeah.

Maybe he had pneumonia
at some point

or some sort of fluid
in the lung.

You can also see it
in any kind of cancers.

We're gonna measure
what's in here.

Okay, Thomas.
You're on. We're draining stuff.

Now, what's this coming out?
Is this blood or...

Well, this is probably
decompositional fluid.

See, if he had a pneumonia
or something,

you're gonna have
this fluid on your chest.

- Mm-hmm.
- But I need to know how much.

- About 225.
- 225.

You can write SS
for serosanguineous fluid.

So I'm cutting through the base
of the tongue right now...

Mm-hmm.
Cutting through the esophagus.

- Oh, yeah. Okay.
- All right.

Removing the fat layer
from the surface of the heart.

Oh, geez.
That's the heart?

That thing's just yellow, yeah.
- It's very fatty.

I wanna go into
the pulmonary artery and see

if there's anything there to see

that I might have
to be worried about.

Yeah, it's gonna
be crunchy, I think.

- What makes it crunchy?
- Hardening of the arteries.

Oh, okay.
Literal hardening, yeah.

Literal, yes.
Toss it in the hole.

Okay, on to the next thing.

I need to get the brain out.

Oh, boy.

Scalp's much thicker
than I would've guessed.

It's gonna be a minute, yeah.

It is kinda relieving
how hard everything

is to pull apart, I feel like.

- You know how to hammer?
- Yes.

Tap that.

- Ooh.
- Thank you. Very good. Okay.

So this looks pretty normal.

Oh. Hello.

I feel like the natural fear
is that the more

and more you kinda open up
a body and pull things out,

the more gruesome it's gonna be.

But, uh, I'm finding,
like, the less it

actually just kinda
resembles a person,

the more it just seems like,
you know,

one of those anatomical dolls.

Kinda gets easier
the more parts you remove

because it is less human.

All the humanity is
in buckets and on scales.

I really don't wanna blow
this up because, believe me,

stool everywhere
gets real messy.

Ooh. We're already
in the intestines.

Yes, we are.
Darn it.

There's gonna be bile
everywhere.

Oh, here comes the smell.
Wowzers.

All right.

Ooh, wow.
That one caught in the throat.

Are you okay? Or are you feeling
too woozy?

If you're feeling too woozy...

I'm not woozy.
I'm ralph-y right now.

I just gagged slightly.

I don't wanna barf in my mouth.

If you need to step back,
that's fine.

Oh, the gallbladder is a doozy.

Whoa. So he's probably
got some stones

or something going on there.
Oh, my.

My, my, my, my, my.
Ooh!

Oh, the kids always
get upset with me

when I'm covered in poop
when I come home.

This is a lot.
- Yeah.

This is enough for,
like, you know,

you, me and three or four
of your closest friends.

It's like the devil's
cake batter there.

Oh, God.

Ugh.

Okay. Hang on a second.

All right. Ahh.

Well, that was fun.

- Is that okay?
- Yep. Just one more.

Just so you can
get a feel for it.

And then take a...
- Teeny chunk.

So those little plastic
boxes that have tiny samples

of each organ
get taken to a place

that encases them
in wax or paraffin.

And then from there,
they can be sliced by,

presumably, a machine because

it's used to make
microscopic slides

out of each those little,
uh, sections.

Whew.

Ahh. Okay.

Got the needle?
And some string.

The lungs didn't look good.

The heart is big enough
to have him

keel over and die
with just that.

There's more than
one problem here, so...

- Yeah.
- Yeah, it's kinda sad.

I sew skin way better than I
sew, like, let's say clothing.

Once I sew, I'm done.

So, after six hours
working on the body,

Dr. Hsu is no closer really
to a cause of death.

She's just basically eliminated
the probable cause of death.

I mean, more work for her.

So I guess we have to go
to the microscope

to try to figure this one out.

I think this is a bum ticker.

I don't think this is
a brain thing.

But I just have to be sure

because I didn't see anything
on autopsy, really.

But that doesn't mean
there's not something

microscopic in
a really important place.

So, um, that's sorta
the question right now.

And the brain,
as you can imagine,

especially since I...

Is that me?

Might be.

Sorry.

It's -- it's remarkable
how much this reminds me of,

like, the carving station
at O'Ryan Steakhouse.

You know, I don't like
steakhouses that much.

And I think you now know why.

I have got to get me
one of those.

Remind me where
he got this knife, okay?

We'll talk later.

I think we have extra.
But it is very dangerous.

It is extremely dangerous.

Pause.

Of course.

This looks like a totally
normal, healthy brain.

The gray matter ribbon

should be 2
to 3 millimeters thick.

And it is.
Should be a sharp border

between the gray matter
and the white matter.

- Mm-hmm.
- Which there is.

- Okay.
- The way we arrived

at the checklist
was actually in relation

to evaluating dementias.

So these categories
were developed

along the lines of dementia.

So there's a --
a Lewy body dementia

that's a Parkinson's
plus dementia.

Is that --

is that the one can look for?

Excuse me.

No worries.

So the one in question
is gonna be letter I.

- Okay.
- It hits you as wrong.

The pattern really bothered me.

Yeah, no, I agree.

You got some inflammation.

But in the midst of this,
you know, glandular structures

usually are circular.

Instead, we have these
almost like a stream

of dark cellular materials.

I really don't think
this killed him.

And that's all I
really care about.

Yeah.
See, this is the stuff

here that bothers me.

Well, and that brings me
to his bladder.

If you have a bad enough
infection lasting long enough,

maybe that's part of what
we're sort of dealing with.

This is all solid inflammation.

Okay, think pus.

He's got a, yeah,
a rip-roaring cystitis.

I -- it's unbelievable.

The lungs killed him, clearly.
That's not the issue.

Right. He probably had
the cystitis

which caused the,
uh, peritonitis,

which produced the clots
in the blood vessels,

which went through his lungs

and produced
the pulmonary embolism.

- Right.
- And the bacteria

that are in the bladder
also get in the blood stream.

Basically, it's probably related

to his urinary tract infection,

is my impression --
Believe it or not.

People think it just
contains -- it's only here.

It doesn't work that way.

The body's much more
in contact with itself.

It tries to adapt by
moving stuff somewhere else.

And all it does is
spread the infection.

And usually you don't die from
having a problem in one spot.

Yeah.

This is totally
a medieval torture device.

Gotta make it tender.
- Oh, it is a tenderizer.

Pokey, pokey,
pokey, pokey, pokey.

Don't use it on
your brother, sweetheart.

- No, I won't.
- Just making sure.

I think I love this family.

They've got, uh,
a really good sense of weird

where it's not just
like full-blown, like,

affected Addams Family,

like, you know,
mortician's family.

But they -- they pick
the good elements.

And they've kinda been,
I feel like,

picked and chosen in response
to Rebecca's work with the dead.

You might think that
being exposed to death

on a daily basis
may make you fear

for your own mortality more
and more and kinda close off.

She's kinda taken
the opposite tack

and pursues life to its
fullest extent every day

'cause I guess she knows
how it's gonna end.

She's running, like,
a pathology business.

She's learned funeral direction.

She's got some sideline
going with her psychic friend,

Nancy, who helps
the police a lot.

And she takes care of,
well, her two kids

and her aging Chinese father,
who, uh, lives up the road.

Very, very, very,
very, very busy life.

So, living the goth dream.

Living the goth dream
without blowing it.

Come on. Come on.
Come on. Get it. Get it.

Get it, yeah.
Good girl.

Whoa!