03x02 - Sick as Your Secrets

[bunniefuu]

[wind howling]

[engine puttering]

[gear grinding]

[engine stops]

[deep rumble]

[intense orchestral music playing]

[banging on window]

[Mrs. Gein] Eddie!
What in tarnation you after, Eddie?

-[banging continues]
-Shh!

They know.

[Mrs. Gein] What are you yammering about?

The know about me.

They know what I've been doing.

They found me.

-[music intensifies]
-[Ed screams]

They know what I've been doing.

They're gonna do what I've been doing.
They're gonna do it to me.

[screams]

[Mrs. Gein] Are you out of your mind?

-[music stops]
-[banging stops]

There's nobody there.

[wind whistling]

[man 1] Gein was schizophrenic,
was he not?

[man 2] Yes. They are often triggered
in early adulthood.

And for Eddie,

it really seemed like the trigger was
these photographs of n*zi atrocities.

And had he not seen them…

[soft piano music playing]

Might have stayed a small-town simpleton.

Such is the power
of the photographed image.

[man 2] That's right. You cannot hide
from what a photograph shows you.

You cannot pretend a photograph
is anything other than what it is.

-A photograph is truth.
-That's right.

[man 2] And Eddie,
when he saw what the Nazis did,

he couldn't wrap his head around it.

He was completely stunned,

but I really think
that the horror of it never registered.

Hm.

What Eddie saw in those photos
was the truth,

and the truth is,

here's just another thing that people did.

Like riding a bike or drawing a picture.

And so, Eddie wanted to do it too.

Some sort of morbid fascination.

And he really couldn't understand
what was wrong about it.

About digging up dead bodies, do you mean?

Well, uh… among other things.

You'll have to excuse me, Mr. Bloch.

Psycho is a fantastic book,
and I congratulate you on its success.

But Alfred, no one's going
to want to watch this film.

You'll have to excuse me
before I say something I'll regret.

[plates clattering]

Good night, Joyce.

[Hitchcock] She's right, of course.

This is not cinema
that anyone will recognize.

It is entirely new.

But she's dead wrong
to say people won't want to watch it.

Our audience lives in a world
in which God has been banished.

They live in daily fear
of nuclear annihilation.

They have stared, quaking, minds numb,

at the sheer magnitude of the evil
that was the n*zi Holocaust.

Seen for the first time in history
what human beings are capable of

when the moral compass is off.

Lost.

Frankenstein, Phantom of the Opera.

They won't cut it anymore, Mr. Bloch.

Our audience has found a new monster.

That monster is us.

What was his childhood like?

You have to understand,
he was born in 1906.

Dead heart of Wisconsin.

Not long before,
that had been the frontier.

[woman] So some of our soldiers

gave the savages
a taste of their own medicine

and took their sabers and pressed them
to their painted foreheads

and scalped them from the forehead
to behind their ears.

[Hitchcock] This was told to children
in your schools, was it?

-[Bloch] It's a violent country.
-[Hitchcock] Charming.

A cannibal is somebody who eats people.

You see, this fella here k*lled this guy
and then took his boat.

But then he got marooned on an island
and look at this.

Here, trade you.

["Aba Daba Honeymoon" playing]

No, I've got that one already.

[Bloch] He was fascinated
by South Sea tales.

Shrunken heads.

And these were told in comic books.

They were sold coast to coast,
hugely popular.

So by the time he was a teenager,
he was hooked.

Couldn't get enough
of those new true crime magazines.

And these mixed blood with sex.

So suddenly he's not just fascinated,
he's titillated.

He was sexualizing.

What shocks you most about him?

Well, you know, it's all shocking.

But most.

Well... [clears throat]

There is something strange
that I hadn't really thought of before.

Gein would, uh, return the bones
to the graves sometimes

when he was done with them.

-But this means that he was, um…
-What?

[ominous music playing]

He was stripping
the flesh from the bodies.

How did he do it?

Boric acid, probably.

Some sort of vat.

[Ed] Are you there, Mother?

Just rest.

[Bloch] Because the bones
weren't what he wanted, it turns out.

The main thing that he wanted,
was the skin.

-[gasps softly]
-[eerie string music playing]

He flayed them.

How did he learn to do that?

Ilsa taught him.

[Hitchcock] Ah, the b*tch of Buchenwald.

[Bloch] She would pick
a prisoner that she liked.

And she would make things out of them.

[speaking German]

[Bloch] Things like, uh…

The lamp.

Yeah, the lamp.

Couldn't wrap his head around it.
He had to try to normalize it somehow.

And one of the ways
to normalize something…

[Hitchcock] Is to replicate it.

Dagnabbit…

[Mrs. Gein] You're working too fast!

I'm sorry, Mother!

Cheese and crackers.

[Mrs. Gein] Just go slow and steady.

Start again. Take your time, sweet boy.

Take your own sweet time.

Yes, Mother.

[piano music playing]

[wings flapping]

[humming softly]

♪ My dream would come true ♪

[wings flapping on glass]

[Ed humming softly]

Where are you, old gal?

Mother, have you seen my bowl?

What do you mean, "which one"?

My special one.

Oh, there she is.

[humming]

[continues humming]

Eddie, you're a mess.

Yeah, all right.

Look at yourself.
No idea how to make it on your own.

Don't you think I know that, Mother?

That's why I need a woman.

Oh, no. No, you don't. Not in this house.

I can't stay a bachelor forever.

Not that Jezebel. Pandora is what she is.

Pandora with that stinking, filthy box.

Her name's Adeline.
And I like being with her.

It's the only time
I don't feel off my rocker.

You're not bringing a Jezebel
into this house.

[bangs table]

I'll do as I rightly please, Mother.

[gasps]

There's nothing you can do about it.

[steps moving away]

I still love you.

[door closes]

["I’ll Be With You in Apple Blossom Time"
playing]

♪ I'll be with you ♪

[Adeline] You gotta hold hands, Eddie.

[Ed] You don't gotta.

[Adeline] It's a couple's date.
Of course we've got to.

♪ I'll be with you ♪

You ever feel like
getting out of this town?

Out of Wisconsin?

Can't say I ever thought about it.

-[Adeline chuckles]
-Do you?

All the time. I feel hemmed in here.

Well, where the heck
would you even light out for?

Oh, I'd go to New York City.

You ever heard of Weegee?

Like, board game?

No. Weegee.

It's not his real name,
but it's what he goes by.

He's a crime scene photographer.

I'd look him up and ask to follow him.

-See what I could learn.
-What, take photos of the crime scenes?

Yes! It's fascinating.

He goes on patrols with the homicide unit.

Or sometimes
they just call him with a tip,

"Hey, this came on the radio.
Meet us at so-and-so."

"Could be a real doozy."

Oh. Murders, you mean.

Mm-hmm.

And like, sometimes he's taking photos
of murders that just happened.

And you can tell it by the photos too.

The bodies are still warm.

[sighs]

Something about it… is just so intimate.

♪ I'll be with you in apple blossom time ♪

So that's what I'd do if I could.

I'd help out Mr. Weegee
until I could branch out on my own,

after I learned
all the tricks of the trade.

I think I'd be good at that too.

And I wouldn't be scared by it.

I think I could find the beauty in it,
if there was such a thing.

I know, it sounds strange. [giggles]

You know, you're the only person
I could have told that to.

♪ Church bells will chime ♪

♪ You will be mine ♪

♪ In apple blossom time ♪

Oh.

-You know the ashtray?
-Which?

The photo you showed me.
The one with the skull.

The one Ilse made.

[Adeline] Oh. Yeah, what about it?

Well, I took that idea,
and I just kind of ran with it.

Eddie Gein,
what on earth are you japin' about?

I'm not japin'.

Hand to God, I saw that picture,
and I thought,

"Well, I could make something like that."

So I did. I made a bowl out of one.

Mother, where's my bowl?

It's my favorite bowl.

[laughs]

You sure are one, Mr. Gein. [giggles]

They really broke the mold
when they made you. Hmm?

I'm serious.

Yeah, sure.

Well, I can prove it.

You want to see it?

What, at your house?

Sure, I want to show you.

So you're inviting me home? Now?

Why not?

Sure. Yeah.

Let's get out of here.

♪ In apple blossom time ♪

[romantic song playing on the radio]

What?

What?

[truck door slams]

[eerie music playing]

Who were you waving at?

Mother.

Come on.

[both giggle]

-[glass clinks]
-[Ed] Oh!

-Sorry.
-[Adeline] Come on, hey. It's dark.

I can't see anything.

[Ed] It's all right.

Oh!

[Adeline] Eddie, were you joking
about your mother?

[Ed] Why do you always think I'm joking?

[Adeline] Just cause.

Last you told me,
you said she had a stroke.

[Ed] Oh, yeah.

[metal clanks]

Keeps her upstairs most days.

Sometimes I carry her down
into a sitting room back there.

[metal clangs]

Eddie, will you turn on the light, please?

[Ed] Hold your horses.

Just hold your damn horses.

Eddie?

[Adeline gasps]

Shh.

I'm right here.

Oh, Eddie.

[Ed] I know. It's a mess.

It's more than a mess.
You can't live like this, Eddie.

That's what I'm saying.

Ever since Mother got sick.

[sighs]

Oh! Sheesh, at least
let me help you clean up a bit.

You need a woman's touch.

That's mighty kind of you.

-Ugh!
-Trash can's right there.

If you know where the trash is,
then why is all the trash in the sink?

Ugh! What is this?

-[Ed] It's chewing gum.
-Chewing gum?

Just in case.

Just in case what?

In case it has some flavor left.

Let's go steady.

[eerie music playing]

Then I can introduce you to Mother.

You're the one person who understands me.

I know she's gonna see that.

What do you say?

Okay.

[shudders happily]

Eddie, what is this?

Hacksaw.

I was gonna rinse it.

Like you said, I need a woman's touch.

Come on.

Come on.

Mother!

Are you awake?

Eddie, this isn't a prank, is it?

Prank? What do you mean?

Come on, she might actually be sleeping.

Eddie, what's that smell?

It's like sickly sweet.

[Ed] Oh.

That's Mother's perfume.

Eddie, what is this?

What's what?

This chair.

Did you make this?

Oh.

Just repaired it.

What's the…

There's a mark on it.

Yeah, that's why I used it.

I like the way it looked.

[eerie music continues]

What is it?

It's a nipple.

What kind of nipple?

Well, all kinds of beasts got n*pples.

No, but you know what I'm saying.

It's from an udder, right?

You could call it that.

Come on.

Mother!

I have a surprise for you.

Hello, Mrs. Gein.

Eddie said you were poorly,

and I'm sure glad to see
that you're on the mend.

She's a little deaf.
Just talk a little louder.

Mother!

Don't pout now. Be polite.

This is my friend,
and I'd like you to be friends.

I was just saying hello, Mrs. Gein.

She and I are going steady, Mother.

It's not polite to just sit there.

Is she asleep?

[Ed] No, she's just being stubborn.

Mother!

I'm not gonna let you just sit there.

I think I should come back another time.

[Ed] No, she's being rude,
and I don't like it.

Mother!

No, no, I gotta get out of here.

[Ed] No.

No, where are you going? No.

What is going on in this house, Eddie?

-I told you, she's just, she's a little…
-I don't feel right. [panting]

-[Ed] Next time she'll be sweet as pie.
-[Adeline] No, I have to go.

Oh, come on.
This is not how I wanted this to go!

Could you just…
could you give me a kiss before you go?

No.

Maybe sit on my lap for a minute?

Eddie, that didn't feel right.

I'm leaving.

Well, can I drive you?

No.

[Ed] Well, can I take you out
next weekend?

[screaming] Mother!

How dare you treat her like that?

[Mrs. Gein] She's a Jezebel.

I won't speak to streetwalkers,
and no son of mine will ever touch one!

-You understand me?
-No! No!

I'm not gonna take that from you!

[Mrs. Gein] A woman like that
should be put to death!

A woman like that
should be stoned in the street!

I love her!

No! I love her!

No! Mother!

I love her!

[loud crashing]

Things are going to change around here.

When I bring a friend to meet you,
you say hello!

Don't you tell me what to do.

No! I've been good to you.

I've given you
everything you've asked of me.

I've devoted my life to you!

Even I have limits.

[Mrs. Gein] Where are you going?

-I'm going drinking.
-No, you're not!

Oh, yes, I am!

Yes, I am!

I should have guessed,
just like your useless, wastrel father,

sitting around
with a bunch of shiftless drunkards.

Get your r*fle, why don't you?

Let the drunkards out of their misery!

Ezekiel 18:20!

Quit your shouting, woman!

"The soul that sinned shall die!"

"The wages of sin are death!"

[music stops]

[wind howling]

[upbeat song playing on the radio]

[woman] Hello, Eddie.

[Ed] Mary.

What's the g*n for?

Just thought I'd try
for a squirrel if I seen one.

No such luck.

Can I get you a beer?

Schlitz, please.

I haven't seen you around.

Well…

What's botherin' ya?

Oh, just…

girl trouble.

I thought you were seeing
that Adeline girl.

One that lives with her mother.

Oh. Not anymore, I don't think.

Sorry about that.

Just so you know,
if it's a girl you'd like,

I can arrange that.

I still got a lot of lady friends
from my time in Chicago,

just so you know.

Girls who'd love to make a trip up here

and spend some time with a…

handsome man like you.

You don't say.

Just letting you know.

You're from Germany, right?

Yes, Bavaria.

Same as Mother.

Mother's people.

Got the same body as her.

That's no way to talk to a lady.

Didn't mean nothing by it.

But you ain't a lady anyhow,

asking if I need you
to call a girl for me.

You want to finish your drink,
or do you want to go someplace else?

It's up to you.

I need to use the washroom.

Just complimentin' ya is all, Mary.

I love my mother.

[sinister music playing]

[cheerful oompah music playing faintly]

[music continues]

[indistinct chattering]

[speaking German]

[yelling playfully]

[in German]

[man speaking]

[Ilse speaking]

[in English] You gonna let her
talk to you like that?

[in German]

[in English] Yeah. Okay.

[Ilse, in German]

Arrest this man!

Karl, you should answer
to no one but Himmler!

-[song ends]
-[crowd cheering and clapping]

[in English] I didn't mean
to hurt your feelings, Mary.

It's all right.

You're actually nothin' like her.

[accordion playing]

[singing in German]

She's a saint.

And you're a madam, Mary.

[music distorts ominously]

A Jezebel.

[music continues]

[g*nsh*t]

["Changing Partners" playing]

♪ We were waltzin' together ♪

♪ To a dreamy melody ♪

♪ When they called out "change partners" ♪

♪ And you waltzed away from me ♪

♪ Now my arms feel so empty ♪

♪ As I gaze around the floor ♪

♪ And I'll keep on changing partners ♪

♪ Till I hold you once more ♪

♪ Though we danced for one moment ♪

♪ And too soon we had to part ♪

♪ In that wonderful moment ♪

♪ Somethin' happened to my heart ♪

♪ Now my arms feel so empty ♪

♪ As I gaze around the floor ♪

♪ And I'll keep on changing partners ♪

♪ Till I hold you once more ♪

[music stops]

[deep voice] Ta-da!

-Jesus Christ, Tony!
-[Tony laughs]

You nearly gave me a f*cking heart attack.

Sorry, I told you
I was gonna show you something.

[sighs] Yeah, well,
I didn't think you'd be dressed

like my dead f*cking grandma.

Sorry. I said I was sorry.

Well, what's with the… the get-up?

Is this supposed to be
some kind of turn-on?

It's for the… the movie, Tab.

I'm trying to get
into character for Psycho.

This part is
the biggest shot of my career.

Yeah, that's hard to forget when it's
all you ever talk about, darling.

The guy's a cross-dresser,

so I need to understand how to...
how you feel, how you move different.

Yeah, okay, well,
don't let me get in your way.

I am gonna take myself down to the bar,

find some square,

and have a normal conversation.

You're jealous.

It's not fair.
You're jealous I got this role,

and you're trying to sabotage me.

Yeah, and who told you that, Tony? Huh?

Your therapist?

The one you talk to so someday
you can settle down with some nice gal

instead of shacking up
in hotel rooms with me?

Don't be cruel.

Well, she is right about one thing.

You are a head case, Mr. Perkins,

if you want to take
a quick glance in the mirror there.

So, forgive me if I don't relish
the idea of you doing a deep dive

into the mind of
a cross-dressing mass m*rder*r.

When Alfred Hitchcock asks you
to do something, you do it.

Yeah, that's the spirit.

Oh, yeah… well…

You know what?
This is none of my business.

It's your career,
you can do whatever you want with it,

but if you take this part,
you're gonna regret it.

Mark my words.

I... I couldn't sleep last night,
I was so excited. [chuckles]

I hope that's okay to admit.

I'm just thrilled
to meet the great Janet Leigh.

Uh, and goodness,
reading that again, the scene,

k*lling the heroine off


Audiences are gonna go wild.

Yes, I'm afraid I've cancelled
rehearsals with Janet today.

There's something else
I'd like to do first.

There's something I need to show you.

[Anthony] Okay…

Is this, uh…?

This is the set.

This was his home,
exactly how the police found it,

down to the smallest detail.

[door creaks]

[floor creaks]

[muffled wind whistling]

Are those…?

Shrunken heads, yes.

He was enamored of South Sea tales
of headhunters and cannibals.

Is this…

This is a skull.

Oh yes, it is.

He made it into a bowl.

Ate every meal out of it.

Now I'd like to show you something worse.

Open the icebox.

[breathing shakily]

What… What are those?

Those…

are nine preserved vulvas.

[intense music playing]

Mr. Hitchcock?

[Ed talking indistinctly]

No. No.

[music intensifies]

[faint hammering]

[hammering intensifies]

Stop.

Okay, Mother,
I'll be with you in just a minute.

No, stop doing that.

You can't do that.

No one would ever do that.

Mother, you asked me to fix this chair.

So let me do the thing you asked for.

You can't… you can't make people…

You can't make something like this.

Well, it ain't for nobody but you.

You can't make people
look at something like this.

It's not right.

You're the one who can't look away.

[music crescendoing]

[distorted echo] Help!

Mother!

Help!

[Anthony] Stop doing that.

[Ed] Help!

Help.

-[Anthony] Stop…
-[Ed] Help!

[distorted noises, music stop]

[sighs]

-[gasping]
-[tense music playing]

[Hitchcock] Huh.

Mr. Hitchcock, they're never going
to let you make this film.

Thankfully, that is none of your concern,
Mr. Perkins.

Leave the censors to me.

I wish to change cinema
to reflect how we are,

not how we wish we were.

The urges of some individuals
are baser than others,

but polite society burdens us

with the fiction
that these urges do not exist.

This transforms these urges
into secrets we must hide,

and these secrets make us sick.

Gein had a secret.

A sexual dysfunction he could not express,

and his inability to express his version
of the sexual act turned inwards

and transformed into sickness.

Schizophrenia.

Gynephilia.

Necrophilia.

[dramatic string music playing]

Many actors wanted this role, Mr. Perkins.

Montgomery Clift, Roddy McDowell,
Lawrence Harvey.

But I chose you,

because you alone
understand this sickness.

You have a secret, Mr. Perkins, don't you?

Well, like you said, we all do.

Don't you?

Yes.

And this secret is making you sick.

I had to cast you, Anthony.

You're like him.

[Hitchcock chuckles]

[music continues]

[dull thudding]

[music intensifies]

[music sharpens]

[music stops]

[camera whirring]

And cut.

[bell rings]

Well, we don't have that shot.

We'll go again after lunch.

Where is lunch?

[man] We have a table for you
at the commissary, Mr. Hitchcock.

Right this way, I'll take you.

I've got a, uh…

-What time are we back from lunch?
-We're back at 4:45.

Okay.

[Anthony] Well, I'm in love with him.

[clicking]

I know I shouldn't be, but…

I am.

Uh...

The problem is…

is when we, uh…

Fornicate.

Yes. When we fornicate…

Um…

Afterwards, I…

[door slams]

…become ill.

[vomiting]

-Every time.
-[eerie music playing]

You said the, um…

act of sodomy felt…

Monstrous.

[therapist] And are you a monster?

No. No.

You ought to consider
these episodes a warning, Anthony.

You're the star
of an Alfred Hitchcock picture.

This is the opportunity of a lifetime,
is it not?

Yes.

The sodomy threatens this.

So the sodomy has to stop.

How?

Well, there's all manner of treatment.

There's electroconvulsive therapy.

-[electricity crackling]
-[groans]

Of course, the lobotomy
has fallen out of favor,

though it remains terrifically effective.

You see, Anthony,
we have many tools at our disposal,

but what it all
really boils down to is this,

do you wish to get better?

[shakily] I...

I do.

I really want to get better.

Truly, I do.

I asked if she needed me to stay,
help her close up.

Mary told me to go home,
so that's the last time I seen her.

So you left her here by herself?

Yeah, but…

Mary can take care of herself.

She… She told me to go home.

And I seen a truck pull up
as I was leaving, but…

I didn't think nothing of it.

Did you see whose truck it was?

Well, I... I thought it was Eddie Gein's.

["I'll Be Seeing You" playing]

♪ Cathedral bells were tolling ♪

Did somebody sh**t her?

♪ And our hearts sang… ♪

[man] Did somebody sh**t her?

-You saw Eddie's truck back here?
-No, out front.

And it couldn't have been Eddie Gein.
Eddie Gein wouldn't do this.

He wouldn't hurt a fly.

-Did... Did somebody sh**t her?
-All right, well, thank you.

Well, what do I do?

You stay here.
We'll send people back to Mary Hogan's.

♪ Again ♪

[Adeline] I thought I liked him is all.
He's the reason I stopped seeing Randy.

No, you are going back to Randy.

♪ In every lovely summer's day ♪

You tell him,

"Look, I'm sorry, I was running around
with this fella in town."

"I beg your forgiveness."

[Adeline] No, I will not beg
for his forgiveness.

I wasn't going steady with him,
not with Eddie either.

[woman] You say, "I am sorry."

"I was going down
the back stair on you, Randy."

"I will straighten out.
I will act like a lady."

"Please take me back."

-You need to beg him.
-[Adeline] No, I will not!

Say, "I'm sorry. Please take me back."

♪ I'll be looking at the moon ♪

♪ But I'll be seeing ♪

♪ You ♪

[song stops]

[suspenseful string music playing]

[music intensifies]

[camera whirring]

-[Theme from Psycho playing]
-[shrieking]

[gasping]

[screaming]

[music continues]

-[gasps]
-[screams]

[squelching]

-[groaning]
-[retching]

-[screaming]
-[music continues]

[sobbing]

[crowd muttering]

[scattered booing]

[music continues]

[cries]

-[music fades]
-[voices murmuring]

I'm not staying for this, Alfred.

I like the screaming.

I'll be in the car.
I trust you'll join me.

Yes, Mother.

[woman sobbing]

Hmm.

[man] I need water!
My daughter just fainted!

[door opens]

Somebody call an ambulance!
My wife is going into labor!

[vomiting]

[coughs]

Here, you can keep it.

[vomiting]

["What a Diff'rence a Day Makes" playing]

♪ What a diffrence a day made ♪

♪ Twenty-four little hours ♪

♪ Brought the sun and the flowers ♪

♪ Mm, where there used to be rain ♪

♪ My yesterday was blue, dear ♪

♪ Today I'm a part of you, dear ♪

[groans]

♪ My lonely nights are through, dear ♪

♪ Since you said you were mine ♪

♪ Lord, what a diffrence a day makes ♪

♪ There's a rainbow before me ♪

♪ Skies above can't be stormy ♪

♪ Since that moment of bliss ♪

♪ That thrilling kiss ♪

♪ It's heaven when you ♪

♪ Find romance on your menu ♪

♪ What a diff'rence a day made ♪

♪ And the difference is you ♪

[dramatic string music playing]

[music stops]