01x06 - Manhood

[bunniefuu]

["Dialing In" playing]

♪ Telephone ♪

♪ Calling me ♪

♪ Who put all that sh*t in your head? ♪

♪ Saying things ♪

♪ Telling things ♪

♪ Till you break ♪

♪ Filthy water ♪

♪ Bubbles up ♪

♪ Who put all that sh*t in your head? ♪

[chattering on radio]

So, you're okay.

[Gudsen sniffs, chuckles]

That the, uh... official diagnosis?

"Okay"?

Doctor said you've got
a sprained ligament in your knee

and a mild concussion,

but no broken bones, no internal damage.

Well, that's a relief.

[grunts]

So why don't you seem happy?

[chuckles]

Come here. Come closer.

You know I could've been k*lled.

I could've died.

What the f*ck, Ash?

[clicks teeth]

I doubt most people, when they're in it,

know the difference between
an okay marriage and a bad one.

'Cause you tell yourself,

"Everyone has conflicts.

No one can be everything for someone.

Compare and despair."

But then the person
you've told yourself you love?

They wound you.

And they wound your son.

And not for any acceptable reason.

"Wound"?

[Ashley] So when you get a call that
they've been in an accident,

you pretend your first reaction wasn't...

"So, he's dead, right?"

Ash.

[sighs] I didn't want to get
divorced again.

I didn't want to fail.

[Gudsen] Hey.

You didn't fail.

[chuckles]

[Ashley] I know I didn't.

You did.

f*ck off.

And there it is.

[breathes deeply]

[door closes]

[grunts]

[sighs]

[breathes shakily]

[doorknob turns]

Dr. Samuel said we need to keep you
for a few days, Dave.

[rock music playing]

Ma'am, I've got an arsonist to catch.

[music stops]

Mr. Gundersen?

Doctor says you can go home.

When?

Now. We need the room.

Please sign here for the weapon.

Why does a fireman need a g*n?

I'm an arson investigator.

Uh-huh.

[Harvey] So your partner's
in the hospital.

What now?

He was T-boned late yesterday.
Just outside of Leighton.

Oh, sh*t.

[sighs] Is he okay?

He's alive. Waiting to hear more.

- [sighs]
- Did you talk to the Crawford PD?

- About what?
- Dave didn't call you?

No.

Someone used six milk jugs yesterday
to torch a house in Crawford.

[sighs]

Damn.

- Six?
- Mmm.

[Calderone] Our guy's never used
more than one before.

He's never gone so far afield.

Fire k*lled a husband and wife.

Wife was a doctor in the middle
of some nasty malpractice suit.

They think the arsonist
was the complainant.

Okay. So not our guy.

Well, sounds like a copycat.

Lucky you.

[firefighters chattering]

[Gudsen] How's the wife, Dawson?

Uh... Rachel, right?

Mean as a rottweiler.

[Gudsen chuckles]

Yours?

Sweet as a lamb.

So who does Crawford PD like for this?

Malcolm Allen Brewster.

Did time for armed robbery and as*ault.

The wife was the doctor?

Yep.

Husband?

[Dawson] He ran HR for a fast-food chain.

[Gudsen] Which chain?

Chicken spot.

Not Church's, the other one.

- Coop's?
- [Dawson] That's the one.

Got great wings.

All right. Well,

looks like you guys
got this sewn up, so...

All sewn up.

[Gudsen] I'ma leave ya to it.

[grunts]

Thanks.

[Dev] Records say he hasn't missed
a day in 11 years.

Is he dead?

[Lee] I have no idea.

Well, can you call him?

- Why don't you?
- He doesn't pick up.

Maybe he will for you.

Yes, sir.

Thank you.

What an idiot.

[sniffs]

[line ringing]

[spits]

- [Freddy] Hello.
- The f*ck are you, man?

Here.

[Lee] Home?

Here.

Wherever the f*ck that is,
you need to come to work.

You sick?

I don't like that place anymore.

[scoffs]

Why don't you come meet me?

No. I can't just walk off the job, man.

They have no honor.

I don't even know
what that f*ck that means, Freddy.

I'm going to Paragon Park.

Why? sh*t's closed for the season, man.

I like it there.

You're off at 3:00?

[scoffs]

f*ck it.

Grab me a six pack of
Royal Brew talls and I'll meet you there

after I do some sh*t for my mom.

You can tell me all about going rogue.

Royal Brew.

Talls, Freddy. f*cking talls. I'll
meet you at the Ferris wheel at four.

I'll be by the merry-go-round.

Sure.

[Harvey] I want you
to leave the building.

- [Ezra] Listen.
- [Harvey] I'm not going to listen to you.

- [Ezra] Why not?
- [Harvey] Leave the building.

Listen to me. I'm just trying
to be nice to you, c*cksucker.

- But you're making it impossible.
- Yeah,

y-you're breaking six different
legally binding agreements right now.

- Okay?
- So what?

I've got your arsonist!
[stutters] You couldn't get him.

She couldn't get him.
I m*therf*cking got him!

- Is that right?
- Yeah.

I'm-I'm gonna call the police.
In fact you are the police.

Get him the f*ck out
of my office, please.

[stutters] Harvey, he's been doing it
under your nose for years

while people died

- and tens of millions of dollars...
- Is that right?

...worth of property was turned into ash,

while you were out drinking
and whoring with Gudsen.

- I don't wh*re with anybody.
- Yeah, and playing f*cking pickle ball...

- I don't wh*re with anybody.
- ...while people were dying

and people were burning
and malfeasance abounded.

But did you give a f*cking...

f*ck did you care, man? Did you care?

Did you? Answer me! Did you care?

How much sh*t are you on right now?

Um...

A couple of Red Bulls,


some bennies,
a couple of microdoses of ketamine.

- [Harvey] Sure.
- What the f*ck, Harvey?

I got your proof right here.

[Harvey] Are you buying this?

You gonna let the man finish?

[scoffs]

Oh, my God. She's a knight.
She's a knight. She's a knight.

She'd rather sleep on a couch
teeming with bedbugs

than let a man drown in his own sick.

Wait, wait. Got... You
f*cking got bedbugs?

You didn't tell me that.

- I'm gonna make a phone call.
- You didn't ask.

I'll tell you what,

I'm gonna give you
a five-minute head start, Ezra.

No, no, Harvey. Harvey, no, no.

Were you aware of all the fires in and
around Leighton and all along Route 7?

And where the f*ck was Gudsen
when his car got into an accident, huh?

- That's your proof?
- [Ezra] Yes!

Fire after fire after fire
all along Gudsen's route home.

And then they... they dried up
right when his car got tattooed.

- Come on.
- [Harvey] Ez, honestly.

Why don't you go back to whatever
construction site porta-potty

you crawled out of
and just let the adults...

- Oh, sh*t. Why you gotta do me like that?
- ...get back on with their lives?

Gudsen is the D and C arsonist, Harvey.

He set the Old Sully's fire.

- [Ezra chuckles]
- What?

Come on, man. You-You've had to have had
an inkling over the years.

I mean, all this sh*t
that hasn't been adding up.

[sniffs]

[stutters] You've
thought this since when?

I've known this for the past 48 hours.

[Ezra] Look.

These are all the attendees at the last
three arson investigator conferences

where there was,
surprise, a rash of arsons.

And guess who's
on every f*cking list? Guess.

- I bet there's 20 other...
- [Ezra] No, no. Just three.

Three total, including Dave.

And of those three,

Dave's the only Chief Arson Investigator

of this f*cking flame-a-palooza
you got up in here.

He's also writing a book.

And every D and C fire is
in this g*dd*mn book.

Well, slap the cuffs on him.
I didn't know he was writing a book.

Huh?

You can never tell him.

You can never tell him.

- I wouldn't.
- Harvey, you f*cking tell him,

I will drop your g*dd*mn career
in a blender and press puree.

Ain't she the sh*t?
Ain't she the sh*t though, bro?

Come on, just admit it.

You with us, huh?

Or are you gonna be a problem?

Yeah, Harvey. Yeah.

You know, you've always had
the moral compass of a priest

with a flask in his pocket
and a hard-on at choir practice.

But if we're gonna take Gudsen down,
and I promise you that we f*cking are,

you're either with us
or we're gonna stomp on your ba*ls

like they're little Pinot Grigio grapes.

- Euphemistically speaking, yes.
- Oh, no. Not so much.

No, I meant it.

Burke been read in?

Oh, yeah.

I think you're both
out of your f*cking minds.

Him especially.

I'll be a team player.

- I expect that to be remembered.
- [Calderone] Mm-hmm.

I know a place we can use off-site.
All right?

- Oh, yeah. You're the best.
- Don't touch me.

[Ezra] Okay, I'm sorry. My bad. Okay.

[rock music playing]

I keep telling you, investigator,
that you're out of your jurisdiction.

[grunts]

m*rder doesn't have a jurisdiction.
It's just m*rder.

Now, you're gonna give me what I need,
you f*cking gerbil,

or I'm gonna kick your a*s
into another jurisdiction.

[music stops]

Will 50 do it?

Mm-mmm.

Hey.
One more minute and the price doubles.

Nah.

I got it.

[on speaker]
As the woman trembled in his arms,

Ken Maddox knew that
if it was his last act on this earth,

he would get this evil b*stard.

Give me a f*cking break.

"You're okay," Ken Maddox assured her.

- Cavalry's here.
- "You're safe now."

Chapter six. The Ashes of Dawn.

Who the f*ck are you?

Oh, excuse me.

I am the big swinging d*ck
of the entire op.

And this is
Special Agent Dawn Hudson, A*F.

Well, well, well.

Ma chérie. [chuckles]

Okay, then. All right.
So, why do we need you exactly?

Well, can you investigate crimes
no matter where they occur?

You? Luckily, I can.
I also have a support staff of hundreds.

And I...

- ...Maddox marched through the crime scene.
- Would you turn that off?

Really? It's good.
I was kind of digging it.

Mmm.
I listened to three chapters in the car.

The prose is hackneyed and turgid.

Oh, heavens. Not "the prose."

What're you? An English major?

- Well, I was.
- [Harvey] Mmm.

Parents threatened to stop paying for
Yale unless I took something "practical."

[phone buzzes]

Uh...

Answer it.

How?

How you normally answer a phone.

[clears throat]

Investigator Gudsen!

[chuckles] Comandante.

How goes it?

Well, I'm not the one
who got T-boned by a drunk driver.

I'm okay. I think.

You know, doctor wanted to keep me in
for observation, but I'm feeling fine.

Just gonna head home.

[Harvey] Okay. That's good.

[phone ringing]

- [Dawn] Uh...
- [grunts]

Oh. [grunts]

Everything okay?

Hey! Hey, partner. I
just walked in. Uh...

Uh, you're alive, I take it. [chuckles]

I am. Yep.

A little banged up but otherwise okay.

[Calderone chuckles] Nice.

Coming in today?

Uh... You know,
I think I'm gonna take a recovery day.

Doctor's orders. [chuckles]

[Calderone] Smart.

Well...

Yeah, um, rest up.

[Gudsen] Yeah.

Yeah, I will.

See you guys tomorrow.

- [Harvey] Yeah.
- [Calderone] Yeah. See ya.

- [Calderone clears throat]
- [Harvey] Nice.

[Dawn] Do we have eyes on our suspect?

- f*ck.
- [Harvey] You heard him.

He just said he's on his way home.

Can we confirm that?

[stutters] Not at the moment.

Might want to figure that out.

[Steven] I'll handle it.

Hey, it's me...

Can you do anything about a ticket?

I'm with the fire department.

That's a no?

Right there. Stop.

Hmm.

All right now, the rental company says

that Dave is driving
a 2022 dark gray Chrysler 300.

How'd you know which rental company?

I called the one closest to the hospital.

Hmm.

Yo, here's another one.
This Valley Farms is Meadow Farms.

That's seven. Seven fires in this book
that happened in real life.

He worked those fires, Esposito.
He's writing what he saw.

No, he's writing what he set.

I mean, he's right. I can't take the case
to the DA without more evidence.

Well, Detective Calderone, uh,
found a device in a field

where Gudsen tried to start a fire
and then couldn't.

But the field never ignited, right?

No.

So, you have a cigarette you found
in a field, not at a crime scene.

Okay. But I bet it has his DNA on it.

Well, won't hold up in court.

It'll at least confirm
our suspicions, right?

- I guess.
- We'll send it in.

Any other evidence?
Inadmissible or otherwise?

Yeah. Gudsen set a series of fires
yesterday all along Route 7.

I, um... I don't know,

I motion that maybe you and I
take a little scenic tour

of the burn sites and collect the
relevant surveillance footage and whatnot.

You and I?

Yeah.

You know, as one possible pairing, yeah.

If it happened yesterday then
Leighton PD already obtained the footage.

Oh, yeah, sure. There's...
There's that route, yeah.

Of course. Yeah.

Let's call over there.

- Sure.
- Nah, I got it. I got it. It's my boys.

I got it.

[line ringing]

[whistles]

Yo, yo, Jimmy T! What's up, my brother?

You still alive and kicking?

[chuckles] It's, um...

It's Ezra. Ez-Ezra Esposito.

Well... Well, I'm sorry you
feel that way, Jimmy, but, uh...

Of course, I got morals.

My d*ck doesn't.

Hence the dualism that's
at the heart of mankind.

Am I right? [chuckles]

Hello?

The f*ck hung up.

[line ringing]

This is Commander Harvey Englehart,
Umberland FD. Please identify yourself.

Officer Tanner,

your department
recently obtained security footage

pertinent to
an ongoing investigation of ours.

Of... Yeah, it's five fires
up near Route 7.

Let me get you specifics.

Oh, no argument from me.

Huge as*h*le. Not aging well either.

[chuckles]

[sighs]

That is Freddy Fasano.

He works the grills and fryers
at the Coop's on Main and Palomino.

- In Trolley Town.
- Yeah.

Freddy Fasano...

Mr. Tillman have a beef with him?

I'm sorry. Uh...
Mr. Tillman died in a fire last night.

Did Tillman have a beef with him?

No.

He...

What?

Mr. Fasano applied for
a management position.

It was ridiculous.

Why was that ridiculous?

Would you want that
to be the face of your company?

[chuckles]

Is that why they keep you in here?

[assistant manager gasps]

There. There, you see that right there?

I see Dave driving down
the one road that takes him home.

Harvey, it's the fifth one!

Come on, it's the f*cking fifth one!

We've got his car driving by
every single fire.

Wait, wait, wait, wait.
Do you actually believe

that the arsonist was driving right
behind Gudsen the whole f*cking way home?

I think a jury could
see reasonable doubt.

You don't have a shred of evidence
that would hold up in court.

I'm well aware.

I've built cases on a lot less.

And that's what makes you
the man you are today.

f*ck you very much.

Well, that's the lab.
They put a rush on the DNA,

and they'll reach out
to Captain Burke when they have it.

The DNA
on the inadmissible incendiary device?

Yeah, great. This case just gets stronger
and stronger. Doesn't it?

Patrol unit has eyes
on Dave in Trolley Town.

Well, go get him.

Hmm. He is under the impression
that she thinks he's at home recovering.

Why would she join him on the street?

Correct.

[Dawn] Play the book.

[Gudsen] "He's playing with us, Chief,"
Ken Maddox said,

"but I'm not taking this bait.

You hear me?

Bait's for fish.

And I'm not a fish."

Yo.

Where the beer at?

That's Freefall Mountain.

Built in 1972.

At that time, it was the biggest
in the Western Hemisphere.

[Lee] No sh*t?

[Freddy] And the Twister?

Over there?

First ride in this country to ever use

electrically induced magnetic fields.

You know a lot about this place.

I, uh...

I was happy here.

I'm not coming back.

To Coop's.

I figured.

They don't care.

That's what I've been saying, man.

f*cking Dev?

He's a year younger than me.

Talks to me like
he's my middle school principal, dawg.

Gonna send me to
detention I don't hop to.

That's the kinda culture that they...

they f*cking engender there.

You should k*ll him.

Right?

Push him into the hot grease?

Run him over? Drop a...

Just go to his house.

- Sure.
- Burn it while he sleeps.

[laughs] Hardcore!



What's that, man?

Where he lives.

Dev.

With his mother and sister.

Um...

HR manager burned to death
in his house last night.

Let me show you the Red Rocket.

Built the same year
Neil Armstrong stepped on the moon.

[Gudsen] You ever hang out with him?

[Dev scoffs]

[stutters] H-He's not really
the type anyone would...

hang out with.

Why?

Is he volatile?

I don't know what that means.

Flies off the handle.

Gets pissed off quick.

No, he's just, uh...

Nothing.

Nothing.

[Gudsen] Ken Maddox was a born leader,

but if there was one thing he followed,

it was his own intuition.

He surveyed the scene,
hunting for evidence...

Oh, oh, oh, oh. Look who's here?
The man of the hour.

Was it a match?

No.

The sample was insufficient.
So the result's inconclusive.

I'm sorry.

Turning his back
on the smoldering wreckage,

Maddox gripped his p*stol
and stepped into the woods...

- Listen, Harvey. Inconclusive doesn't...
- [Harvey] No, no, no.

[stutters] All I've done is listen,
and you know what I hear?

Nothing.

You've got nothing
that proves Dave Gudsen is an arsonist.

But you're-you're just so desperate to
pin this on somebody, that you'll just...

blow up a man's life.

f*ck you.

For real. All of you.

- Harvey.
- g*dd*mn it.

I know he's your friend, man,
and it's hard to believe he could do it.

- I know this is difficult for you to...
- Stop! Stop!

...the boy and Mrs. Sanderson
would never walk back out ali...

Anthony, play that last bit back.

[Anthony] Yes, sir.

...Sandersons didn't know
when they took their grandson

into a hardware store
after buying him a stipachio ice cream,

that the boy and Mrs. Sanderson
would never walk back out alive.

[clicks tongue] The kid who died...

the Old Sully fire,

pronounced pistachio "stipachio."

His grandfather told me that.

One-on-one interview.

And I didn't put it anywhere.
No report. Nothing.

There's only one way
Dave would've known about stipachio.

He was there.

He was there.

[Lee sniffs]

Lotta good times, huh?

You spent all your free time
back here in the day, I bet.

I was only here once.

When I was little.

It was for the whole day, though.

[sighs]

I'm gonna take off, Freddy.

Ever find a mouse
on one of those sticky things?

At work?

Sometimes they're still making sounds?

Well, yeah.

In the morning?

You first come in, there's one stuck.

What do you do?

- Depends.
- [shouts] On what?

Whether it's alive or dead.

And what do you do if it's alive?

Squeaking?

Whining?

Flip the trap over. Stomp on it.

[breathes shakily]

[Freddy] And why do that?

To end its pain, Freddy. [sniffs]

Hand me your phone.

[sniffles, breathes shakily]

[Lee] No, f*ck! No, no, no!

[sniffles] f*ck...

[Lee shudders]

Your car keys.

[panting]

[sniffles]

Down past the log ride?

There's a fence.

Move six, seven steps left,

there's a cut.

Go through.

Walk left on Berm...

and then right on Fairway...

for two miles?

Bus stop.

We're friends, Freddy.

Bus quits running at 6:00.

[breathing shakily]

[breathes shakily]

[grunts, panting]

I pulled the file for you, investigator.

But by law, I'm not allowed to discuss
any of Mr. Fasano's foster parents,

or the specifics of his juvenile record.

Mmm. Of course.

But you have a full picture
of his youth in that file?

There is no full picture to anyone
who's grown up in the foster care system.

But there is a narrative thread
to this gentleman's life.

And what's the thread?

Rejection.

[clicks tongue]

He was in 27 foster homes
between birth and his entry into society.

Uh, it may have ended happy, though.

His last foster home,

he was with a woman who kept Mr. Fasano

from 16 and a half
until his 19th birthday.

At which point?

Well, he had to leave.

The state doesn't pay for him anymore.

She didn't want to keep him?

If the state wasn't paying for one
of her foster kids, she sure couldn't.

Oh, probably best
he got out of her house in the end.

It burned to the ground six months later.

Everyone inside died.

How many?

Um...

two adults, two teenagers, two... sh*t...

Two kids under six.

Can you share with me
the date of the fire?

August 8th, 2000.

[grunts]

Mr. Fasano dodged a b*llet.

[Gudsen chuckles]

Mr. Fasano was the b*llet.

[pedestrians chattering]

[g*n c*ck]

[sniffs]

[grunts]

f*ck!

[pants]

[doorbell rings]

[groans] Son of a...

[grunts]

[Gudsen] Nothing on the f*cking walls.

Uh-oh.

[chuckles]

Dave Gudsen.

The selfsame.

How many fires?



Most on my watch.

It's not your fault, Dad.

[scoffs] Sure it is. [inhales sharply]

[sighs]

That Old Sully's fire...

the dead kid's mom insisted
upon seeing her son.

[stammers] We couldn't stop it.

When she saw him...

[stutters] Little three-year-old body
just...

shrunken...

charred.

She...

She screamed.

Hey.

I can still hear it.

[sniffles]

[sighs]

You know what made her stop screaming?

Dave.

[breathes shakily]

He hugged her.

And I remember thinking,
"What a good man."

[sighs]

"What a good man." [sips]

[scoffs]

- [item clatters]
- [bottles clinking]

[dog barks in the distance]

[grunts]

[line rings]

[Darlene] Tress for
Success, can you hold?

Sure.

Hey!

[chuckles]

What's up?

[both laughing]

[laughing] What?

She's coming home.

It's official.

When?

Monday.

[inhales sharply]

Ooh.

[groans]

[breathing heavily]

[Benji] I genuinely thought,

you know, once it was real
you'd realize she's our mother.

She gave birth to us.

She raised us.

Sacrificed for us.

We're family, Michelle.

- She made a mistake, okay.
- [sobs]

But you don't turn your back
on blood just 'cause they f*cked up.

We love each other.

- And I know that you love her.
- [screaming]

[door slams]

[sighs]

[carpet squelches]

Freddy.

Is that gasoline, Freddy?

[Freddy] I went to the movies.

Today?

Once.

Everyone was laughin'...

and it wasn't funny.

But everyone laughed.

Why would they do that?

People are strange, Freddy.

Hard to understand sometimes.

[Freddy] Well, I never ask for much.

A bed.

I'll share it.

Pair of pants, a shirt.

I'll do yard work.

I'll do what I'm told.

Some food.

Who you talkin' to, Freddy?

To you, Mrs. Yolanda.

When I left your house...

[sniffs] ...they gave me a check.

$200

and sent me out.

I been out here like,



and it still feel like that first day.

I don't get it.

[sniffles]

[cries]

I don't wanna die, Freddy.

[cries]

[crying]

[sniffles]

How else we gonna reach heaven?

- [sniffles]
- [sobs]

[Gudsen pants]

[laughing]

[grunts]

["Porno" playing]

[laughing]

Hey.

You're okay.

You're safe now.

[music continues]