01x06 - Episode 6

[bunniefuu]

- MR. GONE NARRATES:
Most of us inhabit at least

two worlds...the real world,
where we're at the mercy of

circumstance, and the world
within, the unconscious,

a safe place where we can
escape.

The Maxx shifts between these
worlds...against his will.

Here, homeless, he lives
in a box in an alley.

The only one who really cares
for him is Julie Winters,

a freelance social worker.

But in Pangaea, the other world,
he rules the Outback

and is the protector of Julie,
his Jungle Queen.

- There, he cares for her.

But he always ends up
back in the real world.

And me, old Mr. Gone...

Only I can see that
the secret which unites them

could destroy them.

I could be helpful.

Ah, screw it!

I think I'll have some fun
with them, first.

- SARA NARRATES: I tried
to see the whole dance episode

and losing Jimmy as a good
experience for a writer to have.

I could sorta see his side of
things, and I guess I was happy

that I didn't off him,
even though, in that moment,

it was kinda cool to feel
things my Dad must have felt.

But Dad isn't here.

He's gone.

And even though Mom is here,
she isn't really, not for me,

anyway.

I guess in every food chain,
someone has to be at the bottom.

I guess in everybody's life,
there's a point where you're

stuck and can't turn back,
a time when you have to make

that big decision.

So, I decided...

to go see a movie.

The movie was pretty weak.

It was about this woman who
sleeps with this old, wrinkled

guy for money and then she feels
bad about.

But not half as bad as her
husband feels.

It was pretty silly.

- Excuse me?

- It was sexist.

- Geez, Maxx, it was just
a movie.

Can't you ever relax?

We go to a movie and your knee
is jerking so much, I can't

even hear.

- Not only did it semi-endorse
prostitution, but did you catch

the bit about the ditzy
secretary reading Faludi's

book "Backlash"?

- SARA NARRATES: It was Julie
and the old bum from

the underpass, which meant
this was all getting too weird.

- Oh, hi, Sara.

What are you doing?

- Nothin'.

Well, see you guys later.

SARA NARRATES: I was hoping
to escape before Julie

remembered she was on a mission
from God to save me.

- Say, kid...

- SARA NARRATES: Crap,
it was too late.

- ...you wanna go to
the aquarium?

- They've got squid.

- SARA NARRATES: Well, it would
drive my Mom nuts if I ran off

for hours with Julie and her
hobo boyfriend...

Okay, sure.

SARA NARRATES: ...which is
why I did it, I guess.

- Okay, kids, next stop,
the aquarium.

- JULIE: Huh?

- SARA NARRATES:
It's the carjackers Jimmy

told me about.

Only this time, they're in
spotted underwear.

- Freeze!

Suckers.

- Julie, wait.

Something's wrong.

- SARA NARRATES: Uh-oh.

I know that look in his eyes.

He's seeing things again.

Maybe he thinks those guys are
little blue men or something.

Maybe he'll do something
stupid...

- MAXX:

- SARA NARRATES: Like grab
their g*n or pull them into

the car or something.

- This is a lot different than
the story Jimmy told me about

him fighting the carjackers.

That was cool.

This is ugly...people getting
their hands crushed right before

my eyes, ripped from knees
to sternum, their heads popping

like grapefruits.

It makes me feel sick, even if
it does sort of make an exciting

cl*max to the story.

- Oh!

- SARA NARRATES: And then,
when he died, he didn't even

look human at all.

Stop!

- Sara?

- Put the g*n down, Sara.

- No, nothing makes sense,
and if it does make sense,

then it's all gotta stop.

See?

I'm just like you, Daddy.

There's nobody in charge.

Adults run everything
and nothing works.

I have no control.

And unlike you, Julie,
I am sick of running from

myself.

I'm gonna do it.

SARA NARRATES: Okay.

Here's the point in the story
where I throw the g*n away

and I have this cathartic
revelation that suicide's wrong,

that life's worth living,
and everything's okay...you know,

all that crap.

And that's why this story
doesn't work, 'cause I just

don't buy it.

- Nobody buys it.

That's not why you should
go on.

- SARA: Why, then?

- MAXX: Because things will
change, you'll change.

- SARA: But what about
right now?

- Right now, you wait.

- SARA NARRATES: So...

that's my story.

I still go down to the underpass
sometimes to talk to Maxx.

I thought once I decided not
to k*ll myself, things would

be better.

But I still feel just as empty
as ever.

- Pain lasts, kid.

It's how you know you're alive.

Sometimes, I think this whole
growing up business is just

pain management.

You get that one out of
a fortune cookie or something?

- Very funny.

Pain...Julie runs from hers.

Mine follows me through
nightmares and you're wading

through yours.

- Waiting?

- No, wading.

- Oh.

- Nobody said it was easy, kid.

- I don't know if the Maxx
ever really knew my Dad or not,

but he knew me enough to say
that he did.

Maybe that counts for something.

God, that sounds awkward.

I'll never be a writer.

- My Dad says he's a monster,
a psycho.

- Well, my Mom says he's
a working class hero,

an avenger for the maximum
justice.

That's why they call him
"The Maxx."

I think he's a space alien.

His whole planet was k*lled off
by space pirates and while

he was fighting them, he crashed
on Earth.

- Nah, I bet he's an artificial
being created in a secret

government experiment with
plastic muscles and steel bones.

- Well, maybe.

But maybe he's just a normal Joe
who got caught up in things,

who's in out of his depth.

- But then how come he's so big
then and so tough?

- I suppose he was just a guy
with a crappy job and no future

and one day he found a mask
and when he slid it on,

it hit his brain like lightning.

- He woke up in a place that
was sort of like Australia,

and sort of like the beginning
of time, and he was a hero

there...with a costume
and the strength of 20 men.

But when he came back to
this world, he was trapped

in the mask and his whole life
was gone.

- Well, I guess that coulda
happened.

- But then how did he get his
claws then if he wasn't a secret

government experiment?

He got them in that savage
dreamland.

- He thrust his hands into
boiling lava and when they came

out, they were changed, made
invulnerable, stained, tempered

by the sulfurous rock.

- Hm, I like the alien story
better.

I bet he lived in a vast secret
headquarters with a g*ng of

wild young assistants
and a funny Chinese cook

and a deadly training room
and a scientific...

- You know that's not real
enough.

All real heroes are tormented
loners who live in the sewers

and eat stolen linguini.

And every night he arises from
his own grave to fight crime

with his maxi-wig and maxi-cycle
and maxi-belt.

- Sounds good, but I think he's
just another homeless bum living

in dumpsters and drifting from
shelter to shelter.

He can't hold down a job
and he's got no real friends.

He can't even tell sometimes
how much of the life he lives

is real and how much
is the dreamland.

He tries to do good, but mostly
he breaks things and screws up.

- Nah, that's too much of
a downer, Mister.

I think he's got an overseer
and he lives in a fortress

of shadows that...

Oh, geez, lookit, Ken.

It's Gerry, the crackhead.

- Oh, hiya, kids.

Got anything for old Ger?

- Uh, no, we don't have any
money today, Gerry, honest.

- No, we're not gonna give in
to you any more.

The Maxx wouldn't.

- I've got fists and I'm
gonna kick your butt.

- What are you gonna do, kid,
talk me to death?

- One...

- Maybe I've got a knife.

Maybe I know where you sleep
at night.

- Two...

- I can k*ll you.

I can like k*ll your folks.

- Three...

- I can...

I...

- We did it!

- We scared him off. Woo!

- MOM: Kids, supper.

Get in here and wash your hands,
you two, and stop hanging around

that old bum.

- Aw, Mom, we were just
talking.

What's cookin'?

- Sloppy Joes and peanut butter
shakes.

How's that sound?

- Excellent.

- Good.

And then I want you guys to do
your homework.

- Aw, Mom, do we have to?

- Yes, you don't want to end up
old and alone on the curb

somewhere, now do you?

- MAN: Safe home, dear friends,
and come again, to behold the

mysteries of MTV's "Oddities."