Limetown (2019–…): Season 1, Episode 8 - Scarecrow - full transcript

- Previously on "Limetown"...
- Goodbye, Dorothy.

- [gunshot]
- [gasps]

This whole story
has to stop, Lia.

The whole thing has to stop.
It cannot continue.

Would you hold on
to that for me?

- Of course.
- Thank you.

Maybe someday
it'll find its way home.

We had an agreement, and yet,
five seconds later

you turn around and agree
to talk to Deirdre Wells.

I can't just sit here
and let people die like this.

Hello, agent Siddiqui.



Mark called.

[grunts]

[gasping]

He told me
about Deirdre Wells.

And you have the full support
of the FBI behind you.

[tense music]

[door opens, footsteps]

[door closes]

[sighs]

[music continues]

[beeps]

Are you asking me
to wear a wire?

No.
I'm telling you to wear one.

I'm absolutely
not wearing a wire.



Lia, we're here,

and there is no time
for a negotiation.

So just wear the wire.

And let me be very clear.

If you disable it,

you will have Interpol

entirely up your ass
in, like, 60 seconds.

And I will have
to shut down your story...

and take everything from you.

Do you understand?

[water running]

[music continues]

My name is Lia Haddock,

and I am an investigative
reporter for APR.

And I have spent
many sleepless nights...

[muffled thuds]

[whispers]
Many sleepless...

I have spent many

sleepless nights
recently asking myself

if I should continue
to tell this story.

[breathily] Lia.

And the only answer
I have come to

with any real certainty

is that I have to tell it.

Because if anything
has been made clear to me,

in following this story...

is that someone
must be held accountable.

It is...

bigger than me.

It is bigger than APR.

This is why I will continue.

[dark music]

I met Deirdre Wells at her home

somewhere outside
of the United States.

So you lived here this
whole time, since Limetown?

That's right.

15 years.

15 years...

Of trying everything
I possibly could

to escape the feeling
that I had blood on my hands.

But it wasn't until
I heard your show...

That I realized...

How simple
the solution really was.

There's only one way
to free yourself of guilt,

and that's by
telling your truth.

All of it.

My name is Deirdre Wells.

I'm deaf, so I'm speaking
to you through an interpreter.

This isn't my voice,
but this is my story.

And I was responsible
for the panic at Limetown.

I met Max in 2001.

He was a brooding,
genius asshole.

Hey, hey.

I loved him right away.

[soft music playing]

Stay.

Stay.

Why do you writers
have to go to these retreats?

What is it
that you are retreating from?

Are you gonna call me?

You gonna... you gonna write?

Are you even gonna
think about me?

Your scarecrow.
Why?

Why the hell's that?

Oh.

I think you're entirely
too sexy to be a Dorothy.

Ten years later,
when Max asked me

to go to Limetown I said,
"No, I have a novel to write."

He then very calmly,
very honestly said to me,

"I'm going to change the world,

"and I can't
do that without you.

We're going to Oz,
and I need my Dorothy,"

so I said okay.

We should pause here,

to talk about
the technology itself

and its spread in the town,
for context.

The late Dr. Chambers told us
about the ill-fated

but successful animal trials
of the product.

And the late Dr. Finlayson
told us

that the human trials
were also a success.

From there, it was decided
to give the surgical implant

to half the town using the
other half as a control group.

Living in Limetown made you
a part of a grand experiment,

whether you liked it or not.

When Max got the call and
Deirdre didn't she was scared.

Max saw it as the only way
everyone would know

the process was fair.

Deirdre saw it
for what it was...

a clear divide

between the haves
and the have-nots.

[dark music]

[indistinct chatter]

[distorted]
And that's why I married her.

- [both laugh]
- She's very...

Awful.
Awful too.

[laughs]

Max?

- Max?
- [laughs]

I'm sorry.

Gary over there was just
telling Lisa

that it's so funny
how sometimes, uh...

What?

It... it doesn't matter.

Don't. Don't.

What is the special today,
please?

Those who were given
the implant

were required
to take a daily supplement

that was regulated
at the pharmacy.

Now, the supplement
allowed users

to focus their communication
between specific partners.

Without it,
there was only noise and chaos.

Now, this is important
to remember for later.

For people without the tech,

the pharmacy
remained a pharmacy.

And that is where Deirdre met
her first ally in isolation.

Old school.

Writing things down.
Pen and paper.

And I'm...

S-P-E-N-C-E-R

Yeah.

What do you do?

Oh.

[chuckles]
Did he deliver?

If you want,

a group of us
not on the list...

not picked... we get together

and make fun
of all these...

[mutters]
Dorks.

If you want to come.

Cool.

I'm gonna see you around,
old school.

In the real world,

I don't think Spencer
and I would have connected.

We were so different,

But there...

I could tell
he was so lonely.

I was too.

- Deirdre, this is Harvey.
- It was nice to listen.

Nice to be heard.

When I asked Deirdre if
the relationship with Spencer

ever became romantic
she answered no

with the same sense
of whimsy and detachment

that I felt
throughout her interview.

It reminded me of something
my father used to say.

Trauma either cracks your walls

or puts another coat
of paint on 'em.

[dark music]

The evolution of the group

exposed this difference
between them.

Deirdre painted.

Spencer cracked.

Daddy-O's became ground zero
for the left-behinds.

We even came up with a name
for ourselves... the Old School.

For me,
it was like group therapy,

but for Spencer...

it became a union.

It isn't right
what's happening.

He became fixated
on this idea.

Everyone working so hard,

but only half of us
reaping the benefits.

Those assholes
won't even speak to us anymore.

He was so angry.

It's like...
it's like we're not even here.

As the tension between
the Old School

and those
with the tech escalated,

Dr. Finlayson made
a proposal to Deirdre

that seemed to break every rule
of A/B testing.

Speaking for myself,

his explanation for doing so

seemed to be
in complete disregard

of his character-defining
objectivity.

Love was not
a good enough reason

for his decision.

Why not?

[sighs]

Oh, you mean your comrades
in the Old School?

Those people?

- I need you to do this.
- Why?

Because I don't want
to lose you.

I mean look at us.
It's like we're strangers.

Like, we don't know
any of the same words anymore.

Remember when you described
riding a horse?

That connection you felt
to another living creature?

You said riding gave you
a physical way of communicating

that didn't require signing
or spoken words.

It just was.

I want that for you.
I want that for us.

Oh, I know. It's gonna be
our little secret, right?

We'll do it on the sly,
all right?

We're gonna do
the surgery tonight.

Now.
Quick and easy.

Nobody has to know
but you, me, and Oscar.

No.
There's no time.

I need you.

[soft dramatic music]

[faint indistinct chatter]

[music continues]

I hope you know what
you're doing, Max.

She's awake.

Hey.
You all right?

It's all right.

Hey.

It's okay.

I love you.

I love you most of all.

The thing you have
to understand about Max is...

He...

always operated
on a different scale.

He wasn't trying to fix me.

He was trying to fix all of us.

And maybe, for a small,

perfect window of time,

it worked.

Okay.

To be able to hear
my husband,

for him to be able
to hear me,

was completely transformative.

But that feeling
that this is better,

it didn't last long.

Why not?

The tech expresses
what you are thinking,

like words express
what you're thinking,

but not why
you're thinking them.

The horror of this technology
is it gets rid of any pretense.

You're exposed all the time.

Max knew I was angry before
I even knew why I was angry.

Your vulnerability
is just bounced back and forth

between the two of you.

We both felt a disaster coming,

but we didn't know if it was
in the town or with us.

Eventually,
things became so bad

we couldn't be in
the same room together.

The same house.

But when I was
with the Old School

I felt just as alone.

I was still inside my secret...

Mm.

Terrified of being revealed.

I have a few thoughts
to share,

regarding the pharmacy.

It should be mandatory

that all the staff
speak with their voice.

Maybe...

maybe all departments
should have to have one of us

as... one of the Old School.

[tense music swelling]

[faint indistinct chatter]

Maybe...

Dorothy, I do miss you,

most of all.

[music continues]

[music intensifies]

[distant chatter]

We need to...

How long have you had
the tech?

Deirdre, tell me.

Traitor!

I tried to hang on
to all of it.

That was reckless.

The next day,

Oscar called
an emergency town forum

back at the diner.

There was so much fury.

Please listen to me.

My friends, please.

My friends, we have done
everything possible

to be transparent.

This experiment...
I'll answer questions shortly.

We don't have questions.
We have demands.

- Right.
- Right!

We demand to know why Deirdre
Wells was given the technology.

Yeah.

What else are you,
and Dr. Finlayson,

and the rest of the
administration hiding from us?

- all: Yeah!
- Tell us the truth.

- Yeah, tell us the truth.
- I know you're angry.

- We are!
- Yes!

- I know you're angry.
all: Yes!

We have been lied to
every step of the way.

We have been misled.

He promised us the world.
all: Yeah!

- We should be angry.
all: Yes!

We are done
being your God damn lab rats.

We are all leaving
this... town.

- Yeah!
- Please... please listen to me.

We are doing this together.

This incredible, incredible
thing is about all of us.

We've come so far.
Don't... don't go.

Not yet.
You can't leave.

We can't leave?

You're telling us
we can't leave?

Of course you can leave.
I'm asking you not to.

Hey, hey.

Don't touch me.

Don't touch him!

It happened just like that.

Pure rage in an echo chamber.

A mob mentality
with no guardrails.

Deirdre said
the turn to violence

escalated quickly, after that.

The Old School had reached
a boiling point,

and those with the tech

could only hope
for the heat to die down.

You chose his side, Deirdre.

The tech is bad.

It doesn't
bring people together.

It doesn't solve
all your problems.

It only hurts people.

It needs to die here.

It is a lesson we learn
over and over again.

The rage of a community

that feels left behind
is capable of anything.

[dark music]

[all shouting]

It took them a day,

but without the supplement

we were in a bad place.

We could hear every thought.

Feel every emotion.

There was no way of knowing

if this was spontaneous, or...

If it was just a culmination

of some dark fantasy
Spencer always had inside him.

[music continues]

[distorted shout]

There was a poetry
to the revenge

that seemed
beyond the will of a mob.

[distorted shout]

[screaming]

all: Ahh!

Whoever's idea it was,
it was genius,

because whatever doubts
I had about the tech...

Or whatever regrets I had...

they were
exponentially magnified

the moment I realized

I was going
to feel Oscar burning.

I was going to hear him
beg for death.

And I did.

Please stop.

Put a bullet in my brain.

Make this stop, please.

Help me!

Please!

And then, in the middle
of the most traumatic thing

I've had the misfortune
of experiencing...

Something miraculous happened.

I was transported.

Wait.

What do you mean transported?

[dramatic music]

Taken somewhere.

You mean emotionally?

Exactly.

Comforted.

I don't know for a fact,

but I think,

finally, it was him.

I've never felt something
like that, in my life,

and you were calm.

Calmer than you've ever been.

I had heard Max drunkenly
talking about it once.

How pure his gift was.

And then just as suddenly.

Don't touch her!
Don't touch her!

That was the last time
I saw Max

or anyone from Limetown.

Deirdre, Max tried
to find you years ago,

and he only stopped because
he was afraid you'd be harmed.

[soft piano music]

You don't have blood
on your hands.

You're not complicit.

[music continues]

[beeps]

I turned the wire off because
I already knew the answer.

I mean maybe I had
always known the answer.

Deirdre, who was the Man
That You Were All There for?

[pounding on door]

- Polizei!
- [speaking German]

- Why are the police here?
- I'm sorry.

I'm so sorry.

I couldn't have done
this interview any other way.

- [pounding on door]
- I trusted you.

Deirdre,
I need to hear the name.

Please.

I need to hear you say it.

[thuds, overlapping shouting
in German]

Are you listening now?

[men shouting in German]

- [speaking German]
- Don't let them stop you.

Have you always
been listening?

Psst, Apple.

[indistinct chatter]

There's only one way

to release yourself
from guilt,

and that is to tell your truth.

All of it.

So here is all of it.

Mark Green is a good man.

He was a good man,
and he didn't deserve

what happened to him, but...

And I know this now...

Because I learned something
about myself

that I would never have learned
in any other way.

I would do it again...

Because my truth...

is that once you left,
Emile,

there was no peace.

Limetown was
the disappearance of you...

And knowing
what happened there...

Knowing what happened there,
I would...

I'd kill for it.

And I would die for it.

[dark music]

[distant shouting]

Are you there, Emile?

Are you listening?

[shouting continues]

That's the story.

That's the Man
They Were All There For

and the...
the girl he left behind.

[door opens]

- That's now what I said.
- I heard what you said.

[door closes,
indistinct chatter]

The have and have-not.

Hello?

Hello, Lia Haddock.

I have all the answers
about Limetown.

Are these answers the
most important things to you?

Lia, Mark is dead.

- [grunts]
- Was he murdered?

They don't know.

You're going
to walk out of here right now,

and go downstairs,
and out on Fourth.

The FBI is about to seize
everything related to Limetown.

You're live, Lia.
You've gone viral.

Okay, well, welcome, everyone
who is listening right now.

- Hello, Lia Haddock.
- Yes, hi.

Would you like to come on in?