01x10 - God of Forgiveness, God of Vengeance

[bunniefuu]

So you've never done

construction work before?

No. Like I said, it's just stuff around

the house, helping my ma, you know.

Don't sweat it. There's nothing to it.

And you got the right build for it.

Oh. Well, thanks.

Just come inside,

answer a couple of questions,

and don't even think of it

like a job interview, okay?

What, um What's that smell?

Oh, you know, probably a dead raccoon

or something down in the crawl space.

- Here you go.

- What's this?

What the heck do you think?

It's an RC Cola.

The heck's wrong with you?

Sorry.

- Thanks.

- Yeah.

So you looking for full-time? Part-time?

Oh, I mean, I'll take as many hours

as you can give me, you know?

Just depends on what you wanna do.

PDM stands for painting,

design, and maintenance,

so, you know,

all kinds of work to be done.

You go to that bar a lot?

'Cause I never seen you in there before.

Here.

Let me show you something.

You Catholic?

The only knot I remember from Boy Scouts.

Tourniquet knot.

It gets real tight, don't it?

Your hand'll turn purple

I leave it like that.

Hey, look at me.

I wanna show you a trick.

Ah!

Oh yeah? Yeah?

Mm!

Mmm

Come on, man.

Quit struggling.

You do not want to piss me off.

Trust me.

No!

Please, God! Please, no! Please, God!

God can't help you.

I'm God.

Prison authorities in Illinois

are preparing to execute

one of America's

most notorious serial K*llers.

A federal judge on Wednesday

ruled that the execution

of John Wayne Gacy can go forward.

He is scheduled to die

by lethal injection on May 10th,

giving the confessed m*rder*r

just two months more to live

after a legal battle

that has gone on for more than 14 years.

Here now with more is Frank Currier.

It was 1978.

The world first saw the horrifying images

of body bags being pulled out

of John Wayne Gacy's house near Chicago.

And of Gacy,

later convicted in the t*rture murders

of 33 young men

and boys and condemned to die

Thank God.

They're finally gonna fry that guy.

You do something like that,

you don't deserve to live.

Man's gonna burn in hell

and not fast enough.

He's the worst of the worst.

He is not the worst.

Who's worse than him?

My neighbor.

Oh.

You ever smell a dead body, Linda?

- No.

- I have.

Jeff was cooking 'em up next door.

Smell came right through the vent

into my house.

Can't get it out of my nose.

That smell.

The f*ck?

Sorry. My friend's sitting there.

Whoa.

f*cking loony tune m*therf*cker!

Calm down.

Take care of that smirky ass.

You're a f*cking freak, dude!

Fifty bucks

for your autograph? No way.

Come on, man.

It's got to be worth at least, what?

A hundred bucks.

That's gonna be a collector's item.

I'm giving you a discount.

Hey. I'll throw in some p*rn pics

these girls have been sending me.

I got no use for 'em.

p*rn pics?

Pussies hanging out, everything.

Okay, JD.

Yo, this is bullshit!

Sorry, fellas.

Don't get mad just 'cause

I'm getting a little sun today.

Why does he get private time

in the yard?

Bitch!

Mm.

Yo, I'm tired of your disrespect, Dahmer.

Disrespect?

Playing with your food,

your f*cking sick-ass jokes,

selling your autographs like you

some kind of celebrity or something?

You think prison is a game?

Think we're here

for your f*cking amusement?

Hey, man, I didn't mean any disrespect.

I'm just trying to pass my time.

Same as you.

You ain't the same as me.

I've atoned for my sins.

Whatever you did to get in this joint,

it's clear that you got zero remorse.

I'm a Christian,

and I find your behavior offensive.

Okay.

Stop being an assh*le

and quit your f*cking games.

Scarver! Let's take a walk.

Jeez.

And why exactly

are you doing research on Mr. Dahmer?

I'm not doing research on him.

I just want to see

what he did to get in here.

And see what the big deal about him is.

Time spent in solitary

has put me out of the loop, is all.

Well, Mr. Scarver,

according to the system,

because of your psychiatric condition,

your access to certain

viewing materials is restricted.

Look, like I told the doctors,

certain food causes me

to have these psychotic breaks.

You know, bread, refined sugar,

and all that artificial crap.

Ever since I changed my diet

and found Christ

I've been okay.

Come on, Ms. G. Pretty please?

Oh

Uh

drank a lot, and when he drank a lot,

yeah, he was abusive.

Maybe that's where

it began to go wrong for John Gacy.

He doesn't know, nor does he seem to care.

He loses himself in his paintings.

This is Christ as I see him in myself.

And it's monolithic

because Christ, to me, is monolithic.

He's all things to all people.

You're not worried about facing God?

No. I'm fairly comfortable with him.

At the Catholic services,

I've been the server for the priest

for the last ten years.

And I have no qualms about doing that.

I've had confession, had Communion.

So, I'm at peace with myself.

John Gacy now faces

death by lethal injection.

Tomorrow night we'll hear how

he's the victim for being found guilty.

Hey.

Uh

Can I talk to you a sec?

Absolutely.

So, why do you think

there's so many of us now?

You mean inmates?

No, I mean, uh, guys like me.

People they call, uh,

serial K*llers.

Well, I'm not sure

anybody knows the answer to that.

Some say

it's the interstate highway system.

A relatively new invention

in the history of this country.

You can k*ll somebody and disappear fast,

dump the body a thousand miles away.

Or maybe it was World w*r II or Vietnam.

Dads coming back

from the w*r, they're traumatized.

Don't talk about it.

They're absent, abusive.

They raise troubled sons.

There's also the expl*si*n

and wide availability of p*rn,

which wasn't the case until the 1970s.

You believe there's such a thing as just

being evil?

I think you could

probably guess that I do.

You know, I went

to church as a little kid.

And then one Halloween,

I went as the devil.

And, uh, something felt good about that.

Then I got a little older

and I made an altar to him.

The devil.

And I was planning

on making a life-size one.

That's what I was saving

a lot of the body parts for.

Even in movies, like Star Wars

you know, I always like

the bad guys more, you know?

Well, so did I.

Those characters are written better.

Yeah.

What do you really want to ask me, Jeff?

Well

I was watching that, uh,

that John Wayne Gacy on the news.

You know, people say we're the same

'cause we both did terrible things.

But

I really think we're different.

I admitted to everything.

All of it.

And Gacy still says he didn't do it.

I wanted the death penalty.

And he was saying

that he's not afraid to die,

'cause he's made his peace with God.

And he's gonna go to heaven.

So, I guess my question is,

do you think God's forgiven him

for all that?

Are you asking about him

or about yourself, Jeff?

I don't think I deserve forgiveness

for what I done.

Well, it's not about "deserve," Jeff.

That's the thing about grace.

We don't deserve it, but we get it anyway.

You know, Jesus wasn't alone

when he was dying on the cross.

There were two criminals

that were being crucified with him.

And one of them said to Jesus,

kind of making fun of him,

he says, "Hey, if you're the Son of God,

why don't you save yourself?"

"And save us while you're at it."

But the other one,

he shouts this guy down,

says, "Hold on."

"You and me, we're criminals.

We're getting what we deserve."

"But this guy, Jesus,

he didn't do nothing wrong."

Then he says to Jesus,

"Remember me

when you come into your kingdom."

And so, Jesus turns to him,

and you know what he says?

He says, "Today, you will be

with me in paradise."

Jesus didn't ask him

what he'd done to get crucified,

didn't ask him if he was sorry.

All this guy had to do to be saved

was to believe

that Jesus was the Son of God.

And let us not forget,

Heavenly Father,

that you are a loving,

merciful, and just God.

And we ask that we may practice

mercy and forgiveness in our own lives

as you have shown mercy

and forgiveness to us.

In the name of the Father,

the Son, and the Holy Spirit.

Amen.

Amen.

And Sandra?

She's good.

About to have her second baby.

Praise the Lord.

Boy or girl?

We don't know yet.

We fixing to find out next week.

- Well, give her my best when you see her.

- I will.

So, why'd you want to see me?

Well, Pastor

what you said in your closing prayer

today about forgiveness,

showing mercy,

I mean, I know

it's the Christian thing to do.

And we all have fallen short,

and at some point or another,

we all deserve grace.

But when it comes to Jeff Dahmer,

I can't forgive him.

Even though there may be

something wrong with his brain,

or he couldn't control hisself

I can't.

My heart is full of hate.

Mmm.

Revenge.

I thought him being in jail

for the rest of his life would be enough.

It's not.

I want to see him suffer.

I even have nightmares about it.

And I see myself hurting him.

Giving him pain,

making him beg for mercy.

I'm scared, Pastor.

I'm so scared.

I just wish

I could get past these feelings.

You know? That that

that that I could

stop living in vengeance.

That I could get to a better place.

Maybe, I don't know, maybe not forgiveness

but something close to it?

'Cause if I keep letting hate

and anger consume me

I'm not gonna know myself no more.

You have a big heart, Glenda.

Which can be both a blessing and a curse.

And you have every right

to feel those feelings

and think those thoughts.

But how do I make them stop?

You can't.

You can't.

All you can do is pray for strength

and ask for God's guidance every day.

And perhaps come to church

a little more often.

Yeah.

Yeah.

It's not gonna happen overnight.

It just takes time.

And then one day,

maybe a month from now, maybe a year,

you will see

Jeffrey Dahmer's face somewhere,

and you won't feel a thing.

- Hi, Dad.

- Hey, Jeff.

How you doing?

- Good to see you.

- You too.

- You look good.

- Thanks.

You look healthier.

- I do?

- Yeah.

Hmm.

Maybe it's the pills they got me on.

They gave me that Prozac.

- Oh, yeah?

- Yeah.

What, you think it helps?

Yeah, I think it helps even me out.

And there's no booze in here.

I think that was a lot of my problem.

Yeah, I think so too.

You miss it, the drinking?

Oh, every hour of every day.

Yeah.

So it's probably good

I can't get any, you know?

I was thinking about you and Shari.

You guys should, uh, maybe go

on a vacation with all that book money.

Oh, yeah, the book, yeah.

Yeah. The book didn't do so well, Jeff.

Uh, the reviews were good, but

And I understand why.

I think a lot of people

thought that I was trying to profit

from the victims and whatnot.

You know? It's not true.

But what are you gonna do?

It was probably cursed

from the beginning, so

Hm.

Yeah.

Uh

There's something I gotta tell you.

Something I'm planning on doing.

I want to get baptized.

Jeff

That's wonderful, son.

I thought you'd be happy.

Only problem is

they don't got a baptismal t*nk in here,

and, uh, I still got to

find somebody to baptize me.

It's just That's so great.

- Yeah.

- That's so great.

And, you know, uh

baptism's all about

washing away all your sins.

Uh

God forgiving you is one thing.

I know he can do that, but, uh

I guess what I wanted

to ask you, Dad, is if, uh

if you could ever forgive me.

I will.

I'll forgive you, son.

I do.

I have.

Because you're my son.

Yeah.

That's good.

Thanks, Dad.

Hey there.

Glenda, thank you for coming.

Thank you for inviting me.

You Lao folks

sure know how to throw a wedding.

Please, sit.

Whiskey?

Oh, no. I'm good.

It's tradition.

Okay.

Ooh.

That is strong.

Better not have too many of these

or you might not even remember

your son's wedding.

I'm really happy for you, Sounthone.

You and your family deserve this.

Especially after everything

that's happened.

Today's a good day.

I try to be happy for my family.

I smile. I try to be strong.

I keep waiting

to feel like myself again before.

It just gets worse.

Because every morning I get up,

and I remember

Jeffrey Dahmer is still alive.

But not Konerak.

Not my son.

I get it.

Maybe the best we can do

is just keep pretending to be strong.

And eventually, one day,

maybe we'll forget we're pretending.

Come on, Sounthone.

Let's get out on this dance floor

and show 'em how it's done.

Okay.

"Dahmer vs. Jesus"?

Is this for real?

It's the newest issue

in his Jeffrey Dahmer series.

Hmm.

Just when you thought folks

couldn't stoop any lower.

It's sick.

It's like they're

making him into a superhero.

Freedom of speech, my ass.

I know, girl.

Though, to be honest, I'm not sure

who should be offended more,

us or Jesus.

So what do we do?

I say we file another lawsuit.

But we lost the last one.

Aren't we just gonna lose again?

There's a chance we might.

Then is it really worth it?

Are you saying that we should

just forgive and forget what Dahmer did

and allow these folks

to continue to profit off of him?

Why expend all that effort

to file another lawsuit

if at the end of the day

we lose again in court?

Because it makes a statement.

It reminds people

that Jeff Dahmer isn't a superhero.

He's a serial k*ller.

It also reminds them that our sons

weren't just Jeff Dahmer's victims.

They were real people. They lived.

They sang in the choir,

loved to dance, teased their sisters.

They were young men who had hopes

and dreams for the future.

And mothers

who loved them.

So even if we lose in court,

if we can manage to get that point across,

we win without winning.

I know I'm not going to read this.

But I hope Jesus

whoops Jeffrey Dahmer's ass.

Don't look right at it.

Put these on.

Thanks.

Really makes it hard

to doubt there's a God, doesn't it?

Total eclipse of the sun.

The hour John Wayne Gacy's ex*cuted.

The same day Jeffrey Dahmer's baptized.

We use this for

rehabbing injuries and whatnot.

- Will this work?

- I Um

Yeah, I believe it would.

Anything else you need?

I'm sorry. You're giving me

everything I'm asking for.

I thought this was

gonna be a lot harder.

Religion pacifies.

You know, Warden, I spoke to him,

and I'm gonna tell you

what I told your chaplains here.

Dahmer wants to be saved. It is genuine.

John Wayne Gacy,

do you have any last words?

Uh

How about

you all kiss my ass.

How's that for last words?

Where you going, JD?

I'm getting baptized.

Yeah! Good for you, Jeff.

Someone made that for you?

Yeah, nice, right?

Some lady in Oklahoma.

m*therf*cker, man.

Jeff, I baptize you

in the name of the Father,

the Son,

and the Holy Spirit

for the forgiveness of sin.

I don't know what to do.

God Almighty, Heavenly Father,

you got to talk to me!

You've got to tell me what to do!

Official time of death, 12:58.

That son of a bitch.

- Welcome to the family of God.

- Yeah.

- Yeah.

- Congratulations, Jeff.

You're saved.

Thanks.

Thank you.

Talk to me, Lord, please.

Just tell me what I gotta do.

I'll do it.

Work duty.

So, JD,

what you gonna do

with your 25 cents an hour?

Blow it on p*rn or cigarettes?

Don't know.

Probably just give it to the church.

Well, that's f*cking lame.

Oh.

You got me.

I'm just f*cking with you, man.

Work duty.

Hey. You guys are getting

some help this morning.

Sure.

Fine by me.

I'm gonna clean the locker rooms.

Wanna lend me a hand?

Okay.

Jesse?

What'd you do to him?

Don't cry for him.

Dude m*rder*d his wife.

Stabbed her in the face five f*cking times

and tried to pin it on two Black guys.

Ain't that some sh*t?

But ain't nothing compared

to what you did though, Dahmer.

So, you didn't just m*rder them.

You desecrated their bodies.

And cannibalized their flesh.

Answer me, Dahmer!

Did you really eat their flesh?

- Yes.

- God

And that 14-year-old boy?

- Yes.

- Oh, what the f*ck?

What made you do it?

Did you enjoy it?

I was lost.

I turned away from God.

So you believe in God?

Yes, I do.

I've returned to God.

I feel

changed.

I believe in God too.

But my God is a god of vengeance.

And He punishes evil.

Been in it for a long time.

And when He can't do it himself,

he sends in vessels

to execute His justice.

The Lord spoke to me, Dahmer.

He asked me to punish you

for all them innocent lives you took

and them families you destroyed.

You may convince yourself

that God has forgiven you.

But you can never escape God's wrath.

It always catches up with you.

Always.

See, Dahmer,

I'm His vessel.

Understand?

Okay.

You liked seeing them men

in pain, didn't you?

And that 14-year-old boy,

when you did them horrible things to him.

No.

I drugged 'em first

so they wouldn't feel anything.

Well, Dahmer,

you 'bout to feel every second of this.

In the name of the Father,

the Son,

and the Holy Ghost.

Amen.

Hello?

Speaking.

Oh, no. Uh

Okay, we'll be right there.

- Mr. Dahmer

- Is he okay? Can we see him?

Just, um

I'm afraid it's bad news.

No.

Oh, my God

God, Jeff, I'm sorry.

Oh

I love you.

I've loved you

since the day you were born.

And I'll love you till the day that I die.

What?

I didn't say a thing, did I?

Mr. Dahmer, Ms. Flint?

Please.

I don't understand.

Jeff's body's been cremated.

They sent the remains

to Shari and me two weeks ago.

Half his remains.

The other half went to me, okay?

His mother.

After your son was k*lled,

there was, of course, an autopsy.

And when they do that,

you know, the body is kind of

Dissected?

Lionel knows all about that.

He's who kind of sparked

Jeff's interest in the subject.

You're a piece of work, aren't you, Joyce?

Guys? Look, could we?

The brain was removed

to determine the cause of death.

Now, Ms. Flint feels

that we have an opportunity here

for something good

to come out of all this.

Scientists at Fresno State University

would like to study Jeff's brain.

What Hold on. I don't understand.

Where

Where's his brain been all this time?

I mean, where is it now?

Madison.

In the pathology lab,

at the University of Wisconsin.

No way, no. No way.

Lionel, please. Just listen for once.

He wrote a will.

He said he wanted to be cremated

as soon as possible, his whole body.

You know,

his brain's part of his body, okay?

He said no open casket,

no funeral, no headstone, no marker.

If you care so much about Jeff's wishes,

why'd you have

a memorial service for him then?

It was just a few family friends.

But not his mother.

Okay, the brain should be cremated.

It should have been when the body was.

We have a chance here, Lionel,

to find out why he was the way he was.

Was it something he was born with?

Maybe there was

some small tumor somewhere?

I think each of us has our own idea about

why Jeff was the way he was, don't we?

Oh, stop it. Shame on you.

You know,

they just did this very same thing

with that, uh, John Wayne Gacy.

They took out his brain,

and they made slides and whatnot.

You know what conclusion

they reached? Perfectly normal.

Well, that's what

they're gonna say about Jeff's too.

How do you know?

Answer is no, Joyce.

Never gonna happen.

No, I think we need to try

to put this behind us.

Quit dragging it out and just

you know, move on.

Mr. Dahmer, this is something that

Mrs. Flint will choose to pursue in court.

Yeah, I bet she will.

If you be good, I'mma let you watch

cartoons when we get home, okay?

All right, let's see.

They got Oreos, Chips Ahoy, and Kee–

Cookies! Cookies!

Okay. Which one you want?

All of them!

I'mma get you two.

You know why? You're spoiled.

And you know why you're spoiled?

'Cause you're Granny's little rascal.

Come on, help me put this stuff up there.

You gonna be a big boy and help me?

Next.

The court recognizes

a rather unusual situation here.

It's one I certainly never encountered

before and probably won't again.

We have competing interest

from the two parents of the deceased.

I recognize the statement

of wishes of Jeffrey Dahmer.

And I'm also concerned

with the issue of closure.

This is a rather evil chapter

in our human existence, so to speak.

I believe it would be

beneficial to the public

and all concerned that there be closure.

And that this matter is resolved

once and for all, and we move on.

Therefore

I hereby order the brain to be destroyed.

I also have to say, I object

to the very nature of this inquiry.

When one considers

an individual like the deceased,

there is a temptation to try to know,

and know definitively,

why someone like Jeffrey Dahmer

is what he is.

Or was.

I think there's a real danger there.

There are no easy answers

when it comes to someone like him.

You'll never know why he did what he did.

That's an uncomfortable truth, to be sure,

but it's one you need to accept.

Thank you for seeing me today, Ms. Yang.

Of course, and I appreciate

your patience, Ms. Cleveland.

- We had to reschedule a few times.

- Seven.

I'm sorry?

Seven times.

That's how many times

your office rescheduled this meeting.

But it's okay.

Like all those times

I called the cops on Dahmer,

I'm used to having to be persistent.

So, Ms. Cleveland,

how can I help you today?

Well, I wanted to see

how the progress was on the park.

The park?

Mm-hmm. The park memorial.

I was told that the city was planning

to turn the old Oxford Apartments on 25th

into a park after it was demolished.

So I wrote your office a letter

saying y'all ought to make the park

a memorial to Dahmer's victims.

And you wrote me back a real nice letter.

Signed your name and everything,

saying that you would look into it.

Yes, right. Um

So anyway, I'm here on behalf of some

of the victims' families to get an update.

And I walked past there the other day,

and it's still a vacant lot.

I mean, I

It's been nearly two years.

So I'm checking our system,

and it seems we're still waiting

on some permit approvals.

How long do those take?

Well, it's hard to say until Public Works

finishes its safety inspection,

which they can't start until City Planning

Department starts their inspection.

Ms. Yang,

all we are asking for is a damn park.

That shouldn't be that hard.

We're not asking you to build a Taj Mahal.

Ms. Cleveland, building anything

in the city involves a lot of red tape.

I realize it's frustrating.

But can I be honest?

There are a lot of people here

who don't want

to build anything on that lot.

They'd just as soon forget what happened.

Not everybody can forget.

Y'all demolished the building,

but that doesn't erase what happened.

It only erases the victims.

And all we are asking

is that y'all put something on that site

that honors their memory.

It's the right thing to do.

It's the decent thing to do.

So will you please

discuss this with your supervisor

or whomever can do something?

Absolutely.

And I will do everything in my power

to help expedite that process.

But from my experience,

these things take time,

and I'm afraid that you and the families

probably have to wait a little longer.

Well, that's all right, Ms. Yang.

'Cause I'm used to waitin'.

I am determined to see this through.

For the victims.

For the families.

I ain't gonna let Jeff Dahmer and his evil

be the only thing folks remember.

As long as I have breath,

I'll keep waiting.