Law & Order: Special Victims Unit (1999–…): Season 13, Episode 22 - Strange Beauty - full transcript

In the criminal justice system,

sexually based offenses are
considered especially heinous.

In New York City,

the dedicated detectives who
investigate these vicious felonies

are members of an elite squad
known as the Special Victims Unit.

These are their stories.

I'm scared, Mommy.
I want to come home.

I... If I got a car,
would you pay for it?

Okay.

Oh!

I will never understand
white people.



Cuban-Italian.

That still doesn't
make that right.

Nice view you
got there, partner.

Oh, don't you start.

Nice one.

All right, Nick, Fin,
this is Sam Reynolds.

How y'all doing? Hey, Sam.

This is my Captain from Atlanta.

Got me transferred up here.

And Don Cragen
and I go way back.

We hated to lose this
one. Mmm-hmmm.

It's our gain.

Why don't you take over, Sam?

My five-year-old
attacks me at dawn.



You know what?
I'm out of here, too.

I just got off a double shift.

Do not bet against
Rollins. She's a shark.

Hush up. Hush up. I know it.

'Night. Later.

So, uh, how are you
doing up here, anyway?

New York was a fresh start.

Lord knows I needed it.

Yeah, you had to get
out of Dodge, Amanda.

Drunk or not, the Deputy
Chief was out of line.

I shouldn't have
taken it so personally.

No lasting harm, no foul. Right?

Right.

Oh.

So, you, uh, making any
friends up here in the big city?

Well, you just met my partner.

No, I said friends.

Anybody that calls you Rollins
is another cop, not a friend.

Oh, Lord.

Hey, you know I worry about you.

I know how
squirrelly you can get.

I'm fine, Papa Bear.

Uh, Captain.

Did you forget you're married?

Separated.

I mean...

You can't say we both
haven't thought about it.

I know.

But you just catch me
by surprise right now.

I get that. Okay,
I'll tell you what,

why don't I go get
us another round?

Yeah. Yeah, yeah.

And you know what? I'm
going to take this real quick.

Okay?

Anyone, please, help me!
Help me! Please! Help me!

This is Detective
Amanda Rollins.

I've got a possible
taxi abduction.

A white female, struggling
in the back of a cab.

Medallion 6-Q-0-9.

They're heading down and
turning from Houston Street south...

Rollins, still here? What,
are you fishing for OT?

No.

Last night, I saw a girl.

It's a possible abduction in a
cab on the Lower East Side.

Could tie in with the
yellow cab rapist, The Sikh.

We have two open
cases from last year.

Okay. Anything
more solid to go on?

The medallion number matches
a cab stolen in Chelsea yesterday.

But the driver's report says
he was struck from behind,

so he never saw the assailant.

The cab turned up
about an hour ago

a couple of blocks
from the Lincoln Tunnel.

CSU's going over it now.

And I've got her description
in to Missing Persons,

but no matches yet.

Hey, might have caught a break.

Desperate mother's been
calling every squad in the NYPD.

Says she got a
panicked call at midnight

from her daughter
who never came home.

Description
matches Rollins' girl.

All right. Rollins, you saw
the girl. Go talk to the mother.

Is this your daughter?
That's Nina three years ago.

She's 19 now.

She's been in and out of
the house for the last year.

Do you have any idea who she
was with when she called you?

No. I don't know where she goes.

I don't know who
her friends are.

But last night, she called me

and she sounded
like a scared kid.

She asked me if I had
money to pay for a ride home.

She said that she was
feeling out of control.

What do you think
she meant by that?

I don't know. She... She's
been going through a phase.

How so? Like, change
of hair, change of clothes?

Try piercings, tattoos.

She got an octopus
tattoo on her left ankle.

And the next thing I know,
she was covered with them.

Has she had any
boyfriend issues lately?

I... I don't really
know her, anymore.

Mrs. Raedo, we're going
to need some DNA samples.

Am I going to see her again?

That's the girl I saw screaming
in the back of the cab.

Almost 12 hours ago.

So let's run her cell records,

find out her last contacts.

Joaquin.

Little bitch.

Yo, Detective Amaro. Nice suit.

Yeah. Why aren't you at school?

This is where the money is.

Detective Amaro can
talk to you about that later.

You recognize this girl?

Yeah. Nina. She filled out some.

She got some tats. She's fine.

Tell us where we can find her?

Seems like you want
to go to juvie, hustler.

All right. I'm not
so sure about now,

but she used to be with Pablo.

Pablo. Is that her boyfriend?

What, he live up on the roof?

Yeah, he got some
pigeons up there.

But take it slow, Detective.
Pablo's Golden Gloves.

Yeah, I ain't scared.

That sound like pigeons to you?

More like a love shack.

NYPD Nina Raedo?

What the hell?

Nina Raedo in
here? Go away. Huh?

Why don't you
come with me? Wait...

Who's Nina? Who's Nina? Easy.

Keep your voice down. Huh?

Tiffany's mad jealous.

And I broke up with
Nina three months ago.

The girl was just
too wild for me.

What, do you mean
partying? Drugs?

No, man. She liked
to cause trouble.

One time, we're at this club.

She started coming
on to three dudes

just to bait me into
a fight with them.

Good times.

She make enemies playing
it close to the edge like that?

I don't know. I washed my hands.

And then last night, she
comes over, wanting to hook up.

Said she was scared.
She only felt safe with me.

I was like, nah.

You sure about that last part?

Tiffany was on her way over.

What time was that, Pablo?

Uh, around midnight.

All right. Then, you
know how Nina got home.

Car service down the
block. She'd used it before.

Nina okay?

You want a car, you gotta call.

You see this girl last night?

Yes. And I told
her the same thing.

You want a car, you
gotta call. Outside.

So, she was here.
Yeah. Twice, I told her.

She... She gave me attitude.

Then, she said she was going
to look for another car service.

But there aren't any
others around here.

Right. So, where did she go?

I saw a cab pull up in
front just as she came out.

I guess she went in.

Hey. I was very busy.

You've got cameras in here.

We're going to need
to see your tapes.

So, that's her. That's Nina.

Dispatcher's telling Nina.

"You want a car, you call."

But you've got to
call from outside.

Catch twenty-two.

This guy must have
been in the army.

Well, there's a cab.

Switch to the outside camera.

That's the medallion
number I saw.

Slow it down.

Push in?

This driver's not our
Sikh. He's a white male.

Can you isolate on him?

Any hits on her cell
phone after this? No.

Well, we know she was abducted.

The question now is, when
is she going to turn up?

You said we had to
see this for ourselves?

Just came in an hour ago.

A young woman's left leg,

freshly severed.

With an octopus
tattoo on her ankle.

Some guy fishing off his
boat on the Gowanus Canal

reeled in the leg.

The description
matched Nina's tattoo.

We're running the
DNA. Pretty clean cut.

I'd say it was done
with a surgical saw.

And there's still evidence
of living response to trauma

in the bony tissues.

You mean Nina could have been
alive when her leg was amputated.

There was anesthetic
in the marrow.

Why go to that
trouble for a corpse?

So, a healthy leg, cleanly
severed from a living person.

I... I mean, I've heard
of that in drug wars.

But I don't think
that's what this is. No.

And there's something else.

A fisherman reeled it in.

Nobody fishes in
the Gowanus Canal.

It's so polluted, it's
a Superfund site.

So, you've got your
workshop all set up here

right beside your houseboat?

I guess that makes it
pretty self-contained, huh?

I'm... I'm the River Keeper.

Everything I need is down here.

I find the scraps
for my inventions.

The fish I eat for dinner.

What doesn't kill you
makes you stronger, huh?

So, you're telling us you found
the leg when you were fishing?

You'd be surprised
what comes floating by.

I found a tiger cage
once. No tiger, though.

What do you do
with this band saw?

I didn't use it to cut
anybody's leg off.

See? See? This is why
I don't trust the cops.

Right now, we'd really appreciate
a little cooperation. Okay?

Or we could just tear up your
workshop looking for evidence.

Look around if you have to.

Bring on the luminal
and the UV lights.

You won't find blood.

I was just trying to
do the right thing.

Same as I did 11 years ago.

What happened 11 years ago?

I found that other leg.

Isn't that why you
guys are here?

Did you notify the police? Yeah.

Wasn't much follow
through, though.

They got kind of busy.

It was three days before
the planes hit the towers.

This Gowanus guy
was telling the truth.

He fished it out of the
canal 11 years ago.

Female, amputated two
inches above the knee.

And it got set aside
and left in a fridge

at the city forensic
anthropology department.

Fin and Rollins found
saws in his workshop.

Is there any way that...
No. I already checked.

Both of these women lost
their left legs to surgical saws.

It's a different kind of
scoring on the bone.

Wait, so, both were totally healthy
limbs removed professionally?

Yes.

And the marrow in both bones
had traces of the same anesthetic.

Propofol.

What about the reaction
in the bony tissue?

Was this victim alive
when her leg was cut off?

I can't be sure, but I think so.

Good luck.

Yeah.

Liv, what are we looking
at here? I have no idea.

Well, it just got weirder.

Crime lab got a DNA hit.

On Nina? No. On this leg.

And the woman it
belongs to, she's still alive.

Lisa Everly. Yeah?

Can we talk to you a
minute? I'm not soliciting.

Uh, we know that.
That's not why we're here.

We just...

We wanted to ask
you about your leg.

What's it to you?

Your boyfriend into that?

Can you tell us what happened?

It got cut off. It was
a long time ago.

I'm not looking back. So...

Whoever did this, he needs
to pay for what he did to you.

He already paid. Excuse me?

For 25 grand, you can do
whatever you want to me, too.

Wait, you took money

in exchange for letting
someone cut off your leg?

I don't expect you to understand

if you've never
been that far down.

I was already destroying
myself, anyway.

I was going to get
clean, go upstate.

But all the money went
straight into my veins.

We just really need to
know who did this to you.

Just another John. I was
so messed up back then,

I wouldn't recognize
him if I saw him again.

Wait, do you remember
where it happened?

He had a room at
the Palace on Bowery.

Were you under anesthetic?

Yeah. It was good stuff.

But weird. I was pretty
out of it afterwards.

I don't remember anything else,
and I'm not good with details now.

The Palace Hotel
used to be a flop house.

Now, down the block, they're
getting two grand a night for a suite.

I'm still trying to...

Are we really looking
for somebody who pays

for the pleasure of
amputating women's limbs?

Nina wasn't paid,
Captain. She was abducted.

Okay. So, he's escalating?

Or maybe he's just burned
through all the willing victims,

and now, he's moved
on to the unwilling ones?

Well, I know it's
been three days,

but if Lisa survived,
maybe Nina's alive, too.

Maybe not.

A body just turned up
near the Gowanus Canal.

Is it her?

That poor girl. I hope she
was still under when she went.

Cause of death?

Heart failure from
a drug reaction.

She was full of propofol.

Any sign of sexual assault?

Not that I can see.

All the damage to her
body was done surgically.

So, he puts her under general
anesthetic to cut off her leg

and he accidentally
administers too much?

Or maybe he was done with her

and he deliberately
left her to die.

There's something
else I need to show you.

She had ear pointing
surgery. What?

A small wedge of cartilage
is removed from the ear,

then sewn into a point.

Well, it... I mean, these
cuts are fully healed.

It's not from the same attack.

I was getting to that.

She had this done a while ago.

And the tattoos and the
piercings are even older, right?

Her body, it's a
record of her journey

into body modification.

How does that track with her
leg being forcibly amputated?

Well, that's your job.

What I can tell you about this
subculture is, it pushes the edge.

Tattoos used to be subversive.

Now, kindergarten
teachers have them.

Which means the fringe
has to go even further.

I've seen stretched
earlobes, forked tongues,

steel plates implanted
under the skin...

Amputation is the next frontier.

So, maybe, for Nina,

the tattoo and the piercings
was like a gateway drug.

And whoever did this to her

was maybe somebody
that she met from this world.

So, we just follow her path.

I mean, look. This tattoo
right here is distinctive.

Looks like it even has
an embedded signature.

The artist shouldn't
be too tough to track.

Kenji Yashimi. Not now.

This your work?

Yeah, a personal favorite
from two years ago.

One of a kind.

Yeah, well, you can do it again.

The girl who had it is dead.

Will you sit tight?

Hey, Nina's dead?
What happened to her?

When's the last
time you saw her?

About six months ago.

That's around the time
Nina got her ears pointed.

That your work, too?

No... I mean, Nina came in
asking about having that work done,

but like I told her, we
have a celebrity clientele.

I don't do job
stoppers. Job stoppers?

Face tattoos,

elf ears...

Idiotic fads for people
too young to realize

they'll never have
a career after that.

You know what I'm talking about.

That white tat.

Classy.

Do you have any idea who
she might have gone to?

Hey, go bother Seth Moretz.

I heard him talking
to Nina about elf ears.

Chick was obsessed.

Seth works here? Not anymore.

I fired him after I caught
him trying to steer my clients

towards his body mod business.

Hey, Seth. Come on.

Look, I don't
have time for this.

I need to drop this bike off.

No, actually, you're going to
have to hold up here a minute.

We need to talk to you
about Nina Raedo. Nina who?

The girl you talked to
about getting the Spock ears.

Not Spock, grandpa.
Arwen. You know, Liv Tyler.

Lord of the Rings?

So, you did talk to Nina
about operating on her ears.

Hey, you're not going
to get me on that.

I don't mess with people's
ears. Except with my music.

Oh, yeah?

What do you use this for?

Just to fill up my bike tires.

Really? You need a face
mask to fill up your bike tires?

Well, we got a tank
of nitrous oxide.

The serial number is
on it and everything.

Guess what. You're
going for a ride.

And you won't need your bicycle.

Hi. Can I help you?

Yeah, we're looking
for Dr. Gene Brightman.

He is in with a
patient right now.

Yeah.

Doctor, I need you up front.

Jess, I'm about
to start a crown.

How can I help you?

Uh, we have a few questions.

Is there a more
private place to speak?

Jess, keep Mrs. Leary calm.

Don't ask her about her kids.

This way.

What is this about? It's
a police investigation.

Nina Raedo.

Is she a patient of yours?

No. I don't think so. Why?

You missing any
nitrous oxide tanks?

Not that I'm aware of.

Well, we found one
where it shouldn't be,

and traced it
back to your office.

You know a Seth Moretz?

For God's sake. That imbecile.

How do you know him?

He used to date
Jess, the receptionist.

I thought she'd
gotten rid of him.

So, it is possible that he stole
a nitrous tank from your office.

This kid? Anything's possible.

I'll have Jess do an inventory.

Better do it yourself.

She's gone.

Jess Hardwick is not
answering her cell phone.

We put her apartment
under surveillance.

What else do we know about her?

No priors. She worked
for the dentist for five years.

Dr. Brightman swears by her.

He blames the boyfriend.
Uh-huh. That's fair enough.

Let's see who the
boyfriend blames.

Bad news, Seth.

We talked to Dr. Brightman.

He's pressing charges
for his stolen nitrous tank.

What do you care
about that? Seriously.

I didn't know dentists
qualified as special victims.

Well, they don't. But Nina does.

Nina?

I... What is that? I don't...

I had nothing to do with that.

Are you telling me
you don't know her?

Look hard. And don't lie.

She might have
come into the old shop.

You mean Kenji
Yashimi's tattoo parlor.

He told us that he fired
you for doing elf ears.

Did you do hers?

No. That's wrong. I swear.

I'm not good with
snipping and sewing.

Okay. Now, I get it.
He's just the steerer.

It's his girlfriend, Jess, who
does the operations. Right?

So, where is she? I don't know.

Hey, wake up, Seth.

We already got you for
possession of stolen property.

And you're this
close to homicide.

I didn't touch Nina. I swear.

It was Jess. She did her ears.

She's got the skills.
Seth, Where is she?

Try Coney Island. Freak Night
at the Mermaid Hotel tonight.

She'll be there, working.

You need a password to get in.

You got a tattoo?
I never noticed.

Yeah. My little reward for
getting through March Madness

without putting down a bet.

Good for you.

Not what I expected.

It's a little tame
for Freak Night.

Ready to party?

Who are you?

I hardly know,
sir, just at present.

Enjoy your evening.

Damn.

Oh, my God.

Your ears are gorgeous.

Do you mind if I stare?
Not at all. Go ahead.

She's been thinking
about getting hers done.

Yeah. Did it hurt? Not if
you know who to go to.

Because yours are
the best I've ever seen.

Do you mind?

Who did them? Go see Jess.

She's working tonight.

Cash only. Like, 600 bucks.

Baby? Anything you want, boo.

You know I got you.
She's in the truck out back.

Great. And my man can
come, right? He likes to watch.

Jess is cool with that.

Open it up.

NYPD! Stop.

Drop the blade.

Okay.

You don't need the guns.

I'm coming out.

So, let me get this straight.

You see yourself
as helping people

be the architects
of their own body.

Exactly.

I thought that's
what gyms are for.

Not blades and syringes.

Plastic surgeons change
people's appearance every day.

Facelifts, nose
jobs, breast implants.

Except they have medical
licenses, and you don't.

And they buy their equipment,

not steal it like you do.

Jess, we know about
your side business.

We know you altered
Nina Raedo's ears.

Yeah, and that was her choice.

And what about
amputating her leg?

Was that her decision, too?

Uh... I'm sorry. What?

You injected her with
propofol, cut off her leg...

Except something went wrong,

and Nina ended up dead.

Nina's dead. ROLLINS: Yeah.

Tell us how it happened.

You didn't mean to
give her too much.

It must have been a mistake.

I'm sorry. This is...
This is all wrong. I...

I would never use anything
stronger than Lidocaine.

I would never get involved
in an operation like that.

No?

What happened to your leg, then?

This?

I lost it to bone
cancer when I was 15.

It took a lot of work,

but now, I'm proud.

Because I'm extraordinary.

I help people achieve their
own perception of beauty.

It's a vision of
their true selves.

But I would never
ever subject someone

to what I have been through.

Well, that was a
pretty moving story.

Anybody else having a
problem choking it down?

Well, she's saying that
she helps empower people

through body modification

and draws a clear
line at amputation.

I believe her. FIN: I don't.

She and her boyfriend have
been robbing dentists blind.

Nitrous, surgical tools...

We need to at
least check and see

if she's been stealing
anesthetic, too.

I agree.

This dentist she
works for, Brightman,

what kind of practice
does he have?

His brochure says it's cosmetic.

Okay, good. Then, he
shouldn't be ordering propofol.

Check with the Controlled
Substance Database.

See what's on his scrip
pads and who's signing them.

So, Gene Brightman.

He's written prescriptions

for Oxycontin,
Percocet, Vicodin.

Heavy-duty painkillers,
but no surgical anesthetics

in the last six months.

So, Jess was telling the truth.

Maybe. But something
strange did pop up.

I found several
prescriptions for propofol

under the name
Dr. Hal Brightman.

One, six months ago,

one from two weeks
before Nina disappeared.

Was it a mistake
in the data entry?

It doesn't seem that way.

Different doctor,
different address.

Ordering heavy-duty anesthetic?

What kind of surgery does he do?

Well, that's just
it. He doesn't.

He's a psychiatrist.

Nina Raedo. No.

I don't know that name.

Can I ask what this is about?

Is this your prescription?

Propofol?

There's no way this
came from my office.

I have no use for anesthetic.

But is that your
prescription pad?

Yes, but it's not my signature.

Go through my order history.

I don't even like to
prescribe Prozac.

I still believe in
the talking cure.

So, does anyone else have access

to your prescription pad?

I guess anyone who works in a
pharmacy that my patients use.

And any of the assistants
I've had over the years.

When did this start?

Uh, we're looking at over
five years. Sporadic orders.

My God.

There's another possibility.

That drug can be
used recreationally.

Some of my patients have
substance abuse problems.

Okay. Well, we'll
need their names.

I want to find whoever this is,

but I can't violate
confidentiality.

You know that.

Even if I'm the
victim of a crime.

Okay.

Do you know a Jess Hardwick?

Yes. I do, actually. She
works for my brother.

Right. Dr. Gene
Brightman, the dentist.

Yes. Why?

Okay. Can you think of any way

that she would have access
to your prescription pad?

I'm trying to think.

I don't remember her ever
coming to our country house.

Your country house?

My brother and I share
our mother's old house.

We've been fixing it up.

And you bring your scrip pad
with you when you go there.

For emergencies.

Well, is it possible your
brother used your scrip pad?

Why would he do
that? He has his own.

Excuse me. I have a
phone session with a patient.

Well, he shut us down fast.

Right when we started asking
about his brother, Dr. Gene.

That's a weird coincidence.

Nina sees Jess for her ears.

And Jess works for Dr. Gene.

And Dr. Gene's brother has
propofol ordered under his name

that he's not aware of?

Dr. Gene. I mean, he's
smart enough to know

writing his own
scrip for propofol

could have tripped
an alarm in the system.

And dentists have
some medical training.

Maybe Jess isn't the
only one doing body mod

in Dr. Gene's office.

I told you, I don't
know Nina Raedo.

Well, can you tell us where
you were Saturday night?

At the family country
house in Sag Harbor.

Alone?

Don't tell my brother,
but I had a date.

Well, we'll need her name.

His name. Paul.

No one in my family knows, okay?

Well, we'll need Paul's number.

Okay, but this cannot be
a matter of public record.

Outing my client could
seriously damage his practice.

Not as much as a murder charge.

These accusations
are horrifying.

I would... I would never
be involved with this.

Look...

when I was a little boy,

my mother lost her
leg in a car accident.

Okay, Gene.

But you do have a woman
working for you in your practice

who performs body modifications.

She uses your surgical
instruments, your painkillers...

I told you I had
no idea about that.

No idea what she
does outside of work.

And... And I fired her.

Well, after we arrested her.

And these medical
supply orders...

A large bone saw.
Also, no knowledge.

No.

Look, somebody stole
your brother's scrip pad.

It might have been Jess.

Really?

So, how would she have access?

I know this violates
confidentiality,

but she was a
patient of my brother's.

For a long time.

She was a troubled girl.

He was the one who
asked me to give her a job

to help her out.

I thought that he'd
stopped treating her.

But for all I know, she
goes back from time to time.

I never took
Dr. Hal's scrip pad.

With the work I do,
you don't need propofol.

But you have been
in Dr. Hal's office.

You were his patient.
Yeah, but not for years.

How long ago were
you seeing him?

I started when I was 14.

I'd been diagnosed
with bone cancer.

I was depressed and anxious.

And then, you were still
seeing him when you were 15.

Right? When you lost your leg?

Yes.

You know, Dr. Hal was great.

He was so supportive
and encouraging.

Helped me see
myself in a new way.

So, why did you stop seeing him?

I don't want to say
anything bad about him.

What happened, Jess?

After a while, I started
feeling better about myself.

Just, like... Like, stronger.

But I felt like he didn't
want to let me go.

He just kept saying
that I was not ready,

and that we had more work to do.

And I just felt like
we were stuck.

We were just going
over the same issues.

The same issues?
You mean your leg?

Yeah. My leg.

Did he ever tell you
anything about his mother?

About her accident?

Mmm-mmm.

Well, it turns out his mother
lost her leg in a car crash

when he was a boy.

Are you kidding me?

Oh, my God.

Jess, is there any
way that Dr. Hal

would have known about the work

that you were doing on Nina?

Oh...

Oh, wait a minute. There was...

Yeah, there was one time.

When?

At the office.

He came in to drop off
some keys for Dr. Gene

and Nina was in there.

She'd got an infection
after I did her ears

and she needed an antibiotic.

She pulled back
her hair to show me

and... he just
kept staring at her.

So, we've been looking
at the wrong brother.

I know dentists are depressed,

but if we're wondering
who the crazy one is

between a psychiatrist
and a dentist,

I'm going to go with the
head shrinker every time.

Well, Suffolk County PD
confirms the mother's car accident.

She lost her left leg when
the brothers were nine and 13.

When did Jess lose her leg?

While she was in therapy
with Dr. Hal when she was 15.

Which makes it early 2001.

All right. So, six months later,

he amputates Lisa,
the prostitute's leg.

Why?

I mean...

Maybe he doesn't
think he's hurting them,

but that he's improving them.

Well, maybe he does.

But just remember,
he was smart enough

to try to pin it on his brother
last time you saw him.

So, we let him think that
we're still on that track.

You really think Gene
did this to these women.

I'm sure that this is
very difficult to hear.

He had enough medical training.

He ordered the propofol.

He had an assistant
who could help.

I need to speak
to him about this.

Doctor, we're way past that now.

The only way you
can help him now

is by making us
understand what led to this.

You know, psychological
state can be a mitigating factor.

Can you think of
anything from his past

that can explain this?

Well, it could have something
to do with our mother.

She was in a car accident
when we were kids.

It changed everything.

That must have been
hard on both of you.

It was terrible.

It disfigured her,
inside and out.

She lost her beauty,
her leg, peace of mind...

She was in a depression
for the rest of her life.

Well, I can certainly understand
why you would become a psychiatrist.

You want to help people.

My brother had the
same motivation.

He saw how losing her
looks affected our mother.

The whole lower half
of her face was wrecked.

That's why he went
into cosmetic dentistry.

So, he healed the outside,
and you heal the inside.

What we're trying to understand

is Gene's fixation on
limbs and amputation.

To the layperson,
it sounds bizarre.

But I've seen trauma become
sexualized in certain cases.

Gene was nine when
our mother was disfigured.

Do you think that those feelings

could have been reawakened

after you introduced
Gene to Jess?

I'm afraid it's possible.

A beautiful girl facing
the loss of her leg

with bravery and grace.

But that's the
thing, though, Doc.

See, you're saying
that Jess' sexuality

awakened his obsession.

Your brother's gay.

What?

Did he tell you that?

He did.

That can't be.

If my brother were gay,
I think I would know it.

There seems to
be a lot of things

you don't know
about your brother,

or yourself.

The pathology that
you're projecting,

the details don't fit him.

They fit you.

You were 13.

You were the one
who was hitting puberty

when your mother
had her car accident.

You were the one that
was coming of age sexually.

And Jess was your patient
when she was a teenager.

Coming into her sexual
maturation when she lost her leg.

So... you see how we're
a little bit confused here?

Yes, and I'm trying to help
you people to get it straight.

Just like you helped Nina Raedo?

I told you, I don't
know who that is.

We know that you saw her
at your brother's office, Hal.

Remember? You
couldn't stop looking at her,

when she moved her
hair back from her ear?

Jess told us.

She seemed like a
very vulnerable girl.

And after I saw what
she had done to herself,

I thought that I could help her.

Help her deal with
her body issues.

She had problems
before she met me.

Body dysmorphia,
substance abuse...

She was out of control.
So, you did talk to her.

Yes. And I offered
her limited advice.

But that is as far as it went.

But here's the problem, Doctor.

See, we have video footage

of you putting
her into the taxi.

I don't think I
should say any more.

We're not like
these other people.

We know that you
were trying to treat her,

that you were trying to make
her see her own true beauty.

Yes, but I did
nothing to harm her.

She's dead now, Hal.

And we need to understand
how that happened.

You have two choices.

Either she threatened
to report you

and you intentionally killed her

with an overdose of propofol

or... it was an accident.

You're not trained as
an anesthesiologist.

She had a bad reaction.

So, which was it?

I tried to wake her up.

I did everything I could.

I would never hurt
any of my girls.

She just never woke up.

Hal, you just said you would
never hurt any of your girls.

There more?

None of them felt any pain.

I kept them under
while they were here.

You took every
precaution. I can see that.

You didn't want them to suffer.

How many of them were there?

Six in all.

Nina was a tragedy.

But none of the other
five had any problems.

They're more complete
now because of me.

I transformed them.

Why can people accept
sex reassignment surgery,

but not this?

This all started
with Jess, didn't it?

Yes.

But I never laid a hand on her.

It's just that when
she lost her leg,

she was so amazing.

The way she
embraced her new body,

it was the most courageous
thing I've ever seen.

I thought all women
should be like her.

Not like...

Your mother.

You couldn't save her,

so you would save
all these other girls

by transforming them.

Who was the first?

The hooker. She needed help.

So, you were going to fix
her to be more like Jess?

She was better afterwards.

I'd follow her and watch her.

And after that,
you just kept going.

Every few years, there
would be a new girl.

And I'd pay her,
and she'd be grateful

for what I did for her.

But there's only
so many like that.

And that's why
you went after Nina.

If Nina's heart hadn't stopped,

she would have
been grateful, too.

Society's not ready for me.

I can look at women

and know how beautiful
and powerful they can be.

Like you two. You
think you're special?

You're boring.

But you could be so much more.