Defending Jacob (2020): Season 1, Episode 5 - Visitors - full transcript

Yesterday.

A child came out to wonder.

Caught a dragonfly.

Inside a jar.

Fearful.

When the sky was full of thunder.

And tearful.

At the falling of a star.

Then the child moved ten times.

Round the seasons.

Skated over ten clear frozen streams.



Words like "When you're older".

Must appease him.

And promises of someday.

Make his dreams.

And the seasons they go round and round.

And the painted ponies go up and down.

We're captive on the carousel of time.

We can't return We can only look.

Behind from where we came.

And go round and round and round.

In the circle game.

And the seasons.

They go round and round.

And the painted ponies go up and down.



We're captive on the carousel of time.

We can't return We can only look.

Behind from where we came.

And go round and round and round.

In the circle game.

Thank you to our eighth grade chorus
for a wonderful performance.

We are, all of us, trying to process the
mixed emotions we're feeling right now.

Ben's mother, Joan, is here
and asked to say a few words.

This is, of course,
an incredibly hard day for us,

but I think Ben...

But I think Ben would have wanted me here.

To let his classmates know...

how proud of them he would have been.

We wanna thank the school,
and the PTA especially,

for the endowment
that's been established in Ben's name.

It means a lot to our family.

To Ben's friends...

we wanna wish you every success

as you continue on to high school
in the fall.

And to your parents...

appreciate them.

I know you do, but please.

We forget sometimes.

Thank you.

Thank you, Joan.

I know I speak for all of us when I say
Ben is in our hearts today and every day.

Are you gonna say something?

You're sitting there
like somebody's got a gun to your head.

You wanted me to come. I'm here.

So, that's how it is, huh?

What'd you expect?

I don't know.

I mean, it's been a whole life, almost.

And not once did you ever come visit.

What kind of a son turns his back
on his own father like that, huh?

What kind of a man?

I know I'm a fucking bad guy
and all, but...

I'm still your father.

You came out big anyway.

She must have fed you good.

She did fine. With everything.

I heard the cancer got her.

What do you care?

- I don't.
- Then don't talk about her.

I knew her before you did.

Did Dr. Vogel explain
what we need from you?

Yeah, she said it had something to do
with my grandson.

Told her I didn't know I had a grandson
till I saw him on the news.

Well, you do.

He's a good kid.

Can't be that good
or you wouldn't be here.

What is he, 13, 14?

He's 14.

Fourteen and they already
got him on a fucking murder. Jesus.

Who'd he kill?

- No one. He's innocent.
- Yeah, me too.

Must run in the family.

Fuck you. Calm down, relax.

You say he's innocent, fine.
He's innocent.

So...

I help you out here...

you can pull a couple strings,

give me a shot at some daylight
before I croak?

Absolutely not.

So...

I'm helping you why?

Because he's your grandson
and he's in trouble.

What's my grandson's name again?

Jacob.

We named him after Laurie's father.

My wife's father.

She didn't wanna meet me, huh?
Your wife?

I wouldn't let her even if she did.

See, there you go again with the fucking
attitude when you should be apologizing.

For what?

For abandoning me.

For leaving me to fucking rot in here.

You're a goddamn lawyer,
for Christ's sake.

What the fuck is so funny? Huh?
You cocky little prick.

Walk in here with your fucking attitude.

You wouldn't be talking so tough

if they didn't have
this bulletproof glass between us.

So you gonna apologize or what?

I didn't come here to apologize.

I came here to get you to spit on a Q-tip.

Are you gonna do it or not?

What do you need it for?

I just need it.

Ask nice then.

Look, the guard already has the swab kit.

- All you gotta do is...
- Tell the guard to shove it up his ass.

Or yours.

- Okay, listen...
- Yeah, too late.

Will you wait a minute?

Will you pick up the phone?

Hey!

You gave it your best shot.

He fucking played me.

He was never gonna take that test.

Just wanted to find a way to get
some power over me, and I gave it to him.

It sounds like he was trying
to ensure another visit.

It might be worth it.
The guy's been locked up since the '80s.

A little kindness
from his only son might...

No. He's just gonna string me along,
trust me.

I know his type.

I'm not going back.

Then we'll do it the hard way.

- I'll get a court order.
- Yeah, but then what?

Logiudice will hear about it.
He'll pursue the same evidence.

He'll find a way
to use it against us in court.

It's exactly what I would do.

I don't see another way.

There isn't. Let's just let this go.

Let's give it a little more time, huh?

Maybe the old man will come around.

Listen.

There's one more thing.

I thought we agreed. No interviews.

What?

I guess Laurie didn't get the memo.

Look, I said I'm sorry.
I explained to you how it happened.

It was just careless.

I was emotional,
and I didn't mean what I said.

The part about you.

That I've never had a real friend,
that part?

I'm just glad
they didn't ask you about Jacob.

What's that supposed to mean?

It's for me.

- Hey.
- Hi.

- Nice shirt.
- Shut up. Here.

Nice. I'll get some spoons.

I brought mint chocolate chip
and cookie dough.

Hi. I'm Sarah.

I'm Laurie. It's nice to meet you, Sarah.

We've heard a lot about you.

Looks like you got a summer job.

Yeah. It's my first week.

My scooping arm's really sore.

Sarah's mom said she can hang out
for a couple hours, if that's okay?

Of course. Absolutely.

She's never seen Borat.

Well, Jake can practically recite
the whole thing.

See ya.

She's adorable.

Yeah, she's a good kid.

I'm sorry I gave you a hard time
about the article.

No, it's fine. You had a right to.

No, I didn't.

Were you angry?

Angry?

About the comments your wife made
in the Globe.

Those weren't comments.
She was blindsided.

She described your family as isolates.

- The neighborhood pariahs.
- Which we were.

But it came across as a rather
tone-deaf bid for sympathy, didn't it?

And she never once mentioned
the Rifkins' own suffering.

- We were under a lot of stress.
- This was how long before the trial?

Eight or nine weeks?

Something like that.

And you still believed,
with absolute certainty,

that your son
was innocent of any crime?

- Of course.
- Never had a doubt?

Not even for a minute?

Never.

What about Laurie?

She felt the same.

Joan.

All right. Let's go, kid.
Come on now. Keep 'em up. Up.

There you go. That's it.

I'm not trying to put you in a tough spot,

but you gotta understand
where I'm coming from.

I just wanna know
if you questioned him again.

Fine. Yes, I talked to him again
at the school.

If Derek Yoo's a suspect,
I have a right to know.

Is he a suspect?

Duff, please.

Fuck!

Look, I got a tip,
I thought it might've been something.

That's all I can say.

I already briefed Logiudice. He determined
there was nothing exculpatory.

- That doesn't mean there's nothing there.
- The kid has an alibi, Andy.

His mother drove him to school
the morning of.

His mother? His mother. That's his alibi?

If you already cleared the kid, what's the
harm in telling why you questioned him?

- Okay, I'm late for a meeting.
- Wait. Was there motive, is that it?

Let go of my door.

Will you at least tell me
who tipped you off?

Let go of my door.

Was it a kid?

A boy? A girl?

Duff, please!

Laurie. Did I misread my calendar?
Am I seeing Jacob today?

No, he's home. With his tutor.

He can't really do anything this summer,

so we figured he may as well
get a jump on ninth grade.

Okay.

Is there something I can do for you?

I...

Laurie?

Look, I'm sorry. I know you're really
busy. I shouldn't have come here.

I'm sorry.

I'm sorry.

I don't know what I'm doing...

- It's okay.
- I'm sorry.

Let's talk in my office.

- Bye.
- See you.

- Good to see you.
- Bye.

My mom's here.

- See you later.
- Later.

Hey, Derek.

Lacrosse game?

Clinic.

Cool.

I was just picking up
Jacob's graduation certificate.

- You need a ride or...
- No. My mom's coming.

She's just late. She had car trouble.

Well, say hi to your parents
for me, will ya?

Sure. Yeah.

Oh, hey, how did it go, by the way?

The interview with Detective Duffy?

You know, she and I used to work together.

I...

I don't think I'm supposed to talk to you
about this stuff.

What stuff?

Oh, you mean Ben Rifkin stuff?

Sure, sure.

Yeah, you're probably right.

What about Jacob? Can we talk about him?

I don't know. I don't think so...

'Cause it never made sense to me
why you were so quick to say he did it.

I only said he had a knife.

Well, you wrote,
"Everyone knows you did it."

You know, our lawyer has a theory

that it was an attempt to try
and draw attention away from yourself.

What? No.

That would align
with what Detective Duffy was saying.

She said she heard something about you...

and that something
made her look at you differently.

That's 'cause Sarah told...

What was that?

I said I didn't do it.

No?

I know you think you know Jacob.

But you don't.

Jake's got this dark side.

He goes on these sites.

He calls it "cutter," like, cutter porn.

There's this one he's really into.
The Cut Up Room.

All kids watch porn, Derek.

No, this isn't just porn.

It's creepier.

It's all about, like,
tying people up and stuff.

I don't even know why I came down here.
I'm so embarrassed.

Oh, please don't be embarrassed.

Maybe there was something
you wanted to discuss with me?

No, there's nothing.

You sure?

Yeah. I...

It's okay.

What you said the other day
about everything being confidential...

Absolutely.
We're on the same team here.

Well, there was this...

I remembered this other thing.

Maybe I should just tell you.

It happened so long ago.
Jacob was only five.

We were at his friend Dylan's
bowling party.

And Jake got paired up with another boy.
I think his name was Grant.

I don't know why,
but Jake and this other boy,

they kept fighting over whose turn it was,

who got to use which ball.

Anyway, I was busy talking to another mom
when I happened to look over

and see Jacob picking up a bowling ball
from one of the racks.

He started carrying this heavy ball
over to where this boy was sitting.

Jacob kept walking toward him.

And I swear he was staring at the back
of this boy's head in a way that...

Anyway, I rushed over,
and I snatched the ball out of his hands.

I don't think anyone even noticed.

But the way Jacob looked at me,
it was like...

nothing.

No fear. No shame.

Just... nothing.

I don't even know
why I'm telling you this.

Now that I'm saying it out loud,
it sounds even crazier.

I mean, he was five.

Do you think Jacob
was trying to harm this other boy?

No, I don't.

Honestly, I don't.

But what if he was?

And I just didn't look closely enough?

Then, in a way, isn't this all my fault?

Have you heard of something
called the Boring figure?

You've probably seen it.

It's a drawing that either looks like
an old woman looking at us

or a young woman turning away from us.

Yes, I know what you mean.

It's what's known
as an ambiguous illusion.

And I actually think it might be a fitting
analogy for what you experienced.

It is?

In a situation like yours,

it's not uncommon to hold in your mind

two radically different perceptions
of your child.

In fact, it's understandable.

I like the poster, by the way.

The one in the waiting room.

I don't know if you picked it out...

It's soothing.

I just...

I just wish I knew what was real.

Not just with Jacob, with everything.

I think about the lives we had,
the people we were.

It's like after someone dies...

you know, and you have trouble
remembering their face.

Maybe I'm just losing my mind.

Laurie, this really isn't my place,

but I do think it may be a good idea
for you to talk to someone.

Couldn't I just talk to you?

I'm a biological psychiatrist.
It's different.

I just thought...

Sorry.

Thank you.

Excuse us.

- Hey, Mr. Barber.
- Hey, Sarah.

We burned through that mint chip you
brought by, figured I'd pick up some more.

Yeah, sure. Pint or half-gallon?

Pint should do it.

Hey, listen, Sarah, is there any chance
you and I could talk for a few minutes?

Yeah, sure.

I get my break at 4:30.

- Hi.
- Hi.

Please.

Thank you for talking with me.

And thank you for being
such a good friend to Jacob.

It's not easy being isolated
the way he is and...

Anyway, Laurie and I
really appreciate it, so...

Yeah, sure, no problem.

I was thinking about that day
that I interviewed you at the school

and you asked me about Jacob, remember?

I think so.

Later that night I got an anonymous e-mail
from somebody

directing me to what Derek wrote
about Jacob.

That was you, wasn't it?

I guess you were looking out for him
even then?

Kind of, yeah.

Sarah, are you the one who contacted
Detective Duffy about Derek?

Why?

He's gonna hate me.

Who, Derek?

Jacob.

Jacob? Why?

You know Ben's cell phone?

The one that's missing?
Yeah, what about it?

It wasn't missing.

Derek had it.

Start from the beginning.

Well... Ben and I had this thing.

It wasn't even that.
We were in the same English class.

And so we'd talk sometimes.

Sometimes we'd text at night.

One night he...

He asked me to send him a pic.

Yeah, that kind.

I tried to crop my face out, but you could
still see enough to tell it was me.

On Monday,
Derek was at lacrosse practice

and he overheard Ben
and some other kid talking about this...

this blow job
he's gonna be getting from me.

The next day he found me and, I mean,
he just kept asking me about it.

And he wasn't gonna let it go
until I finally told him about the selfie.

And that after I sent it to Ben,
Ben said...

He said if I didn't give him a blow job,

he was gonna send the photo out
to the entire school.

How'd Derek react to that?

He just got kinda quiet.

And he said, "I'll deal with it."

Well, the next day
Derek showed up at my house,

and he said he wanted
to show me something.

Hi.

Here.

It's Ben's.

What?

He said he stole it
from Ben's bag at lacrosse practice.

We got in kind of a fight about it.

Derek was pissed
I didn't want the phone but...

This is bullshit.

I never told him
to steal it in the first place.

I mean, what if someone found out?

Did he know
what kind of trouble we'd be in?

I knew I'd hurt him.

I mean, he'd done it all for me.

And two days later...

someone killed Ben.

"I'll deal with it."

Derek could've just been referring
to stealing Ben's phone.

- But maybe not.
- Maybe Ben found out about the theft.

Maybe Ben and Derek fought.

Maybe Derek was feeling
so rejected by Sarah

that he wanted to really prove
his love for her.

I agree. It is potent. It's motive.

But it is not exculpatory.

No, not yet.
But I talked to Sarah about the phone.

She thinks that if Derek destroyed it,
he would've told her.

There's a chance that Derek
gave that phone to the police.

You think Duffy has it?

If CPAC has it in evidence,
we have the right to examine it.

Who knows what's in that phone?

I'll call Detective Duffy first thing
tomorrow and ask her about it myself.

You did good, Andrew.

Jacob, you've been pretty quiet.

What does "exculpatory" mean?

It's evidence that proves
a person isn't guilty.

Well, I'm gonna head home.

I'll walk you out.

Thank you, Joanna.

Good night.

Hey. You okay?

You looked like
you were having a hard time with that.

Whatever. She's just a liar, that's all.

I don't think that's fair.

She kept a secret because she was scared.

- She's still your friend.
- She's not my friend.

What don't you get about that?

She was only hanging out with me
because she felt bad about what she did.

You don't know that for sure.

Whatever.

Everything is cool.

Everything's okay.

Why just b...

What do you think about me taking Jacob
tomorrow to go fishing at Lake Lashaway?

Remember that place I used to take him
when he was little?

It's usually pretty empty.
It'd be easy to keep a low profile.

He could probably use a little break.

What do you think?

Come here.

The day you ambushed Derek...

I didn't ambush Derek.

I went to the school and he was there.

Fine.

Derek says that he told you about Jacob's
interest in something called "cutter."

He did.

What was your reaction?

It worried me. But I also thought
Derek might've been lying.

Had you ever heard about
anything like this before?

Cutter porn?

- No.
- Never caught Jacob looking at it?

- Never showed up on his browser history?
- Never.

Did you check his history?

Of course. We're not idiots.

Kids delete things.

Derek mentioned a specific site
at this time too, didn't he?

The Cut Up Room?

- He did.
- Did you look into it?

Yeah, I did.

And what were your impressions?

It's what I expected.

Wasn't on it very long.

How did Laurie feel about the site?

I didn't tell her about it.

No? You didn't feel
that she had the right to know?

I was afraid she'd overreact.

I see.

But you thought it was okay?

No. I didn't say that. Of course not.

Did you talk to Jacob about it?

I intended to.

But did you?

Andy.

No.

It's pretty good, right? Admit it.

Yeah, it's not bad.
I like it better than the last one.

It's got kind of
a Bryan Ferry thing going on.

Who?

Who?

I'm picking the next one.

Thank you.

I feel like we're in a commercial.

One of those father-son moments.

Can I ask you a question?

Was it weird seeing your dad again?

A little.

He look the same?

Yeah, pretty much. Older.

He was a dick to you, huh?

That's one way to put it.

You hate him?

No.

No, not really.

You don't feel bad for him, do you?

No. Not at all.

Sorry you had to go through that.

You wouldn't have had to go see him
if it wasn't for me.

Hey.

Hey, listen to me.

There's nothing
I wouldn't do for you, okay?

Nothing.

Dad...

I'm scared.

I know you are.

Believe me,
if I could take your place, I would.

In a minute.

I know. It's all I think about sometimes.
Going to jail.

We're not going to let that happen.

Bribe the jury?

Trial's still eight weeks out, buddy.

Seven weeks, three days.

That's still a lot of time.

Anything can happen between now and then.

And if we go to trial, we're gonna
fight harder than anyone's ever fought.

They gotta convince all 12 jurors.

We just gotta convince one.

Look, I know it's hard, buddy, but why
don't you leave the worrying to me, okay?

You wanna make yourself useful?
Catch us some dinner.

That was fun. Thanks, Dad.

- Movie night?
- Sure.

You wanna choose or should I?

Are there any good Eddie Murphy ones
I haven't seen yet?

Yeah, absolutely. Let me think...

Hang on a second, buddy.

Joanna.

I tried you earlier.
It kept going to voice mail.

Yeah, sorry, we're in a bad area.

CPAC has Ben's phone.
Derek turned it over.

- Really?
- I just brought a motion to compel.

If there is anything on that phone,
we'll get to see it.

Logiudice looked like
he just locked his keys in his car.

Yeah, I bet.

Oh, and I have more news.

I got a message from Liz Vogel
when I was at the courthouse.

Apparently your father's
had a change of heart.

- What do you mean?
- He's agreed to give a DNA sample.

She's going back to the prison
to pick it up first thing in the morning.

Andy, did I lose you?

No, I'm here. Just...
You sure he's not messing with us?

It doesn't sound that way.

Listen, I have to go.
We'll talk tomorrow, okay?

- Okay. Thanks, Joanna.
- Bye-bye.

What's wrong?

Nothing. That was actually good news.

Tell your face.

Hi, Ferris. How's your bod?

Oh, my God. You're dying?

Uh-oh.

- Is it serious?
- I don't know. I hope not.

Think I may need a kidney transplant.

Shit.

Are you upset?

You went to go see him today, didn't you?

You got him to change his mind.

We only talked for a few minutes.

He wasn't as scary
as I thought he would be.

You didn't have to do that.

Yes, I did.

What?

You have his eyes.

Hello?

Who is this?

Hello?

Damn it.

Hello?

Look, either have the guts
to say something

or don't call this number again.

Fuck!

Matt, turn down the music!