01x05 - The Good Brother

[bunniefuu]

[PHONE CHIMING]

Prof, this is amazing, and it's
only the tip of the iceberg.

There's plenty more just waiting for us.

[DASHMIEL] What did you do?

Look, whatever it is,
I need you to stop.

[JIM] Listen, listen, listen. There...

There's a story in here about
a father and his two sons.

I'm pretty sure it's the prequel
to The Coaster's Daughter

he talked about one time on NPR.

It's fantastic. When...
When people read this...

Where did you get it?

She gave it to me. Easy as pie.

Told you I was good
at persuading people.

You didn't do anything to her, did you?

What?

You didn't hurt her?

- No, I never laid a finger on her.
- Good.

Good, that's good.
Look, I need you to stop.

I changed my mind. Just leave her alone.

Well, I can't do that, prof.
This is too important.

- The world is waiting.
- Jim, I need you to...

[SQUEAKS]

[LISEY] Hey.

I loved you.

[LISEY] Talk to me.

Where are you?

Talk to me, okay?

Do you wanna come home?

Squeeze my hand.

[LISEY] Help me. [SIGHS]

Help me! Help me!

[SQUEAKS]

[SQUEAKS]

[SQUEAKS]

Oh, Scott.

You buried your brother by yourself.

You buried him alone.

[LISEY] I need to know one more thing.

I need to know about your brother.

And then... And then we're never
gonna talk about this ever again.

You think that Daddy m*rder*d Paul?

You know, you think
that's how the, uh, story

of the good brother ends.

Well, they would've called it m*rder

if he'd ever been tried for it.

You know, in the end,
after all the... beatings

and the cutting and the crazy,
my daddy showed him love.

Mercy.

Because that's what it was. Not m*rder.

Release.

Paul was in the bad.

I don't know if it's from
when the long boy hurt him

or just from our f*cked
up Landon heritage,

but he was in the bad too much.

Too much for Daddy to
cut and let it out.

And when it happened, it happened fast.

[ENGINE STOPS]

[MAN ON TV SPEAKING INDISTINCTLY]

Boys.

[SPITS]

Landons.

Get your asses down here.

[MAN ON TV] The devil delights
in the sins of the flesh...

- Help me with this sh*t.
- ... the way pig delights in the wallow!

- Quit f*ckin' around.
- Can I get a hallelujah?

- Can I get an amen?
- [MAN] What are you doing?

- [TV CONGREGATION] Amen!
- Thank you.

- [MAN] What's so important?
- Now, heaven is within your grasp,

but hell is waiting to swoop you under.

I like it kind of...

Heaven awaits...

[SCREAMS]

[SCOTT SCREAMING] Daddy, help!

[SCREAMING, SHRIEKING]

[YOUNG SCOTT] Daddy! Daddy, help! Daddy!

- [PAUL SHRIEKING]
- Paul's got the bad! Daddy, please!

- Hey! What the hell is going on?
- [YOUNG SCOTT] Daddy!

Paul's got the bad! Daddy! Daddy, help!

- Let me go!
- [YOUNG SCOTT] Daddy, Daddy!

[BODY THUDDING ON FLOOR]

[MAN ON TV SPEAKING INDISTINCTLY]

Infected.

There at the bite.

[MAN SIGHS]

That's the bad in you now.

It's running through your blood
and all along through your anatomy

and...

you're f*cked.

[MAN ON TV CONTINUES INDISTINCT]

[MAN SIGHS]

[MAN ON TV] May I remind you...

[MAN] Here we go.

- [YOUNG SCOTT GRUNTS]
- Pick his leg up.

[GRUNTS]

[THUNDER RUMBLING]

[SIGHS]

Well, he's out right now, but, um...

[SNIFFS] Well, not out for long.
[SIGHS] g*dd*mn.

[LISEY] And you didn't call anybody?

You didn't call a doctor

- or an ambulance...
- Are you kidding?

Like, doctors, police, social services,

all part of his international Jewish,

fascist, Christian,
communist conspiracy.

Daddy said that even the
people he worked with

in the factory were in on it.

We were alone.

Alone was all we knew.

[LISEY] What did you do?

We trussed him up.

[SCOTT] Like a hog in a pen.

"I know what I'm doing."

"I know what I'm doing."

He didn't.

He was only guessing.

But I understood the truth of it.

What was the truth?

He loved him.

He loved us both.

You know, and he was just
doing his duty as a father.

It was ugly love, but it was strong.

True.

[CLANKING]

[SQUEAKING]

[PANTING, SCREAMING]

[SCREAMING CONTINUES]

[MAN] You are as dumb as
you are ugly. I swear to God,

if you didn't have that f*cking
birthmark on your ass,

I would say you were
the exterminator's kid.

Your mother always liked him.

Your mother was a whore,
but I loved her anyway.

She was my whore.

[SIGHS] Don't sh**t him.

Get with the g*dd*mn program, soldier.

That ain't your brother anymore.

Does it look like him?
Look at his g*dd*mn eyes.

Eyes are blazing like
a g*dd*mn wild boar.

You know what he's got
living inside of him?

You know what's going
through his g*dd*mn veins?

You know what it looks
like? Looks like this.

Mud. He's got mud and blackness
running through his veins.

He...

[SIGHS]

He don't feel anything.

He don't feel anything.

He got the bad in him.
He don't feel a g*dd*mn thing.

Would you try to teach...
teach him something.

I don't want him gone.

You don't listen, you don't...

Scooter, get over here.

No, don't do that.

Scoot. Scoot, don't do that.

Open your eyes! Open them!

Don't you... Don't do it.

Don't you start crying
now. Don't you dare.

Listen, I... I'm gonna
start crying. Just stop.

Listen to me.

Listen... You know the bad?
You know the bad?

The bad and the other place?
And the gone and all of that?

It's a curse, okay?
It's the Landon curse.

It's a curse, but it's also a blessing.

So those... those who
focus just on the curse,

they get bad and then they're
gone and they never come back.

But those who see the blessing,
they go on and on and on and on.

They live on even after they're gone.

And then when you're gone,
you're... you're not gone.

- You're... You're remembered.
- [PAUL SHRIEKS]

Which one are you gonna be, huh?

[PAUL SCREAMS]

[g*n COCKS]

[SHRIEKING]

[PANTING]

[SHRIEKING]

[SHRIEKS]

[SHRIEKING]

It was enough.

For three weeks, it was enough.

And that's where my brother
spent his last fall.

The last weeks of his life.

In that stinking barn.

You can't imagine those three weeks.

Especially when Daddy was at work
and it was just me and Paul.

He went to work?

We had to eat.

You know, and pay for the electric.

And we couldn't afford for people

to get suspicious about Daddy, be...

People didn't like him.

I'm not surprised.

I told him to cut him.

Let out the bad, like he always did.

But he said it wouldn't do any good

because the bad had gone into his brain.

And then one day,

when Daddy was gone...

[PAUL] Scotty.

Hey, Scotty.

- Let me loose.
- [CHAIN RATTLING]

Please.

I'll make you a bool hunt.

A good bool.

The best bool.

Sixty clues, Scotty. Sixty!

It'll be the best,
longest bool hunt ever.

A candy bar and an RC.

Come on.

[SOBS]

Just let me loose.

He's crazy. You know he is.

It's all in his head.

I'm fine.

I'm good.

Just let me out. Come on!

Please.

[SOBS]

What would she think of you?

What would Mom think of you

if she knew what you're
doing to me right now?

What would she say?

[PAUL SOBS]

Come on, Scott.

I'm not your brother?

Just an animal.

[WHIMPERING]

[SPITS] What did I tell you he'll do

if he started talking to you? Huh?

Unzip my guts.

Unzip your guts, that's
right. That's right.

You know that snake's trying
to hypnotize you right now,

you little stupid bird!

What else did I say? Hmm?

I said, "Put your fingers
in your ears." Now do it.

[PAUL] Come on, Scotty, let me
out. Get over here right now.

And you say, "You gone-bad f*ck,

- I can't hear you. I can't hear... "
- I can't hear you.

- Do it again.
- I can't hear you.

[MAN] You understand what I'm saying?

I didn't mean it. I love you, Scotty.

You know I do. You know I love you.

I guess, uh, guess it's feeding
time, huh? For the monster.

Pioneer drumstick, can we?

You know the price of meat right now?

What do you think,
I'm just made of money?

No, Daddy.

[BIRDS CHIRPING]

[SHRIEKING]

[SHRIEKING CONTINUES]

[SHRIEKING CONTINUES]

[PAUL GROWLS]

[SCOTT] I knew we
couldn't save him at home.

I said I-I-I have to.

Holding on to Paul.

That's the only way I could
take him to the pool.

Boo'ya Moon.

[LISEY] The way you took me.

Not too much, Daddy.

Oh.

Really gonna sleep with that one.

You know, we got to keep
control of the situation, Scoot.

Yeah.

You cannot lose control.

[GROWLS]

Got your favorite here, Paulie,

pioneer drumstick, just how
Daddy used to make them.

[MAN] You don't need too much.

You know the price of meat right now?

Huh? Everything's going up.

- It's part of the apocalypse, you know.
- [PAUL SHRIEKING]

Rest in peace.

[SHRIEKING CONTINUES]

[SHRIEKING CONTINUES]

Come on now. [SINGSONGY]
You'll sleep like a baby.

[PAUL SHRIEKING]

[SHRIEKING CONTINUES]

[SHRIEKING]

[MAN GRUNTS]

- Give me that.
- [SHRIEKING CONTINUES]

[SHRIEKING CONTINUES]

[PANTING]

[WATER DRIPS]

[DRIPS]

[DRIPS]

[DRIPS]

First you need to turn on the water.

- Why the hell do you have to do...
- It makes it easier.

- I don't wanna know.
- Paul showed me

like you showed me the tea cure.

Even if he'd go, he had
to look at the water.

Doing that made him
think about the pool.

The one in Boo'ya Moon,
where all the broken people...

Listen. I said I don't wanna know.

All that matters is
if he gets too close,

I want you to stick him, like this.

Right into his neck. Okay?

I love you, Daddy.

I love you too, kiddo, eh. I'm sorry.

[SCOTT] And he said if, uh...

If he didn't rip off
my head in the barn,

then he definitely
would on the other side.

That's what he... he called it.

And I said, "Well, what if,

you know, Daddy just made enough

of that horse tranquilizer
to make him woozy."

Oh, my God.

"Playing with fire there,
Scoot," he said.

I said, "I know.

But we have to do something.
Before he breaks his chains."

And so we tried it.

[THUNDER RUMBLING]

[RAIN PATTERING ON ROOF]

[THUNDER RUMBLING]

[THUNDER RUMBLING]

Scoot!

Come on, we're against time.

Come on!

Come on! What are you waiting for?

I can't, Daddy.

It's not working.

[MAN] Come on, Scooter!

[THUNDER RUMBLING]

[SHRIEKING]

[SHRIEKING CONTINUES]

Scooter! f*ck, will you lie
down? I can't see anything!

Will you get your hands
off my g*dd*mn boy!

Don't do it!

[SHRIEKING]

You gone-bad son of...

[SHRIEKING]

[SHRIEKING STOPS]

[GRUNTS]

[GRUNTS]

[YOUNG SCOTT] Daddy, come look.

[MAN] What do you want?

Come look.

Why does he not look like he did before?

'Cause he's dead, Scooter, that's why.

The bad's out of him now.
It left with that g*dd*mn b*llet.

[SIGHS] He's my firstborn.

And g*dd*mn, he looks like your mother.

They're gonna put me away
if they find him like this.

Or in a state prison or nutbarn.

I mean, that's if they
don't lynch me first.

[YOUNG SCOTT] I can take him, Daddy.

How can you take him?

You gonna take him dead but
you couldn't take him alive?

It's different now.

He can't fight against it now.

Can't be an anchor. I know I can.

[MAN MUTTERS]

Back up, Daddy.

What'd you say to me?

Back up.

Scooter, have you lost
your f*cking mind?

Back up!

I dare you to say that one more
time. I triple-dog dare you.

Say that to me again, I swear to God.

Back up, Daddy!

[WATER RUNNING]

I took him over as easy as ever.

When he was dead.

You know, the, uh, the
dirt is, uh, soft around...

sweetheart trees.

So that's where I laid him.

That's where I buried my brother.

[SNIFFLES, SIGHS]

[LISEY] Why would you make
me remember all that?

It's the silver shovel
that you saved him with.

And he said that you would
see it even before you saw it.

Did you?

Yes.

It's Am... It's Amanda.

It's not Dooley, it's Amanda.

It's Am...

So, when we talk about this trip,

we can talk about how beautiful
it was, and the snow...

how we had the place to ourselves.

But the... the other stuff,

the stuff about your brother
and where we went,

that never happened.

Because I... I can't deal with it.

I mean, maybe that's
how your father felt too.

Look, there's something you have
to understand about the pool.

Every poet, artist, storyteller,
they go to the pool.

It's dangerous, but it
also heals and renews.

Like the human imagination.

Great. I'll never have to ask
you where you get your ideas.

Now can we drop it?

- Sure.
- Forever?

But if you ever need to go,
remember, water is best.

Okay.

[MUSIC ON RADIO PLAYS]

[ENGINE STARTS]

[MUSIC FADES OUT]

[LOW GROWL]

[SCOTT] It's very close, honey.

[LISEY] I don't understand you.

You know.

It makes a sound.

[LOW GROWL]

[WATER RUNNING]

Scott.

Scott.

[NO AUDIBLE DIALOGUE]

We're dancing.

Remember?

Squeeze my hand.

Squeeze my hand if you wanna go home.

[LITTLE GIRL WHISPERING]
You have to be quiet, lady.

Or it might come.

You have to help me.

You have to help me.

We need to go back home.

[WHISPERING] Be quiet. You'll bring it.

What happened to you?

Fight.

How do you know?

You need to go back.

I don't think you belong here.

I'm...

thinking.

No, you're not.
You don't need to be here.

I don't think you wanna be here.
That's why you're a double.

That's why you brought Good Ma's afghan.

Otherwise, I wouldn't
have been able to find you

with all these people.

You're a natural.

Just close your eyes and go.

Without you?

Shh.

I don't wanna be quiet.

Shh!

[PEOPLE SCREAMING]

You need to go.

I'm going back.

[RUMBLING]

Taking this with me.

'Cause it's mine.

[RUMBLING]

- [RUMBLING]
- [GROWLING]

[YOUNG SCOTT] What is that?

[PAUL] I don't know.

- [RUMBLING]
- [CREAKING]

[YOUNG SCOTT] I don't wanna be here.

It's okay.

- Paul!
- [PAUL SCREAMS]

[RUMBLING CONTINUES]

- Scott!
- Shh.

- [LISEY] Scott!
- Must be quiet. Let's go.

[b*rned MAN] It's your fault!

Concentrate. Bring us home.

You think you're famous.

But you're not!

It's the afghan. It's an anchor.

[SQUEAKS]

[SQUEAKS]

[SQUEAKS]

[SQUEAKS]

[SQUEAKS]

[LISEY] You may think
that there's a place.

I know that I did because
Scott made me believe in it,

but Boo'ya Moon is not real.

It's a place where Scott and
his brother pretended to go.

[MAN] Go, Paul. Go to Boolie Moon,

or whatever it is the
hell you two call it.

I-I could take him, Daddy.

[MAN] Oh, yeah?

- Yeah.
- [CHUCKLES]

- [SCREAMING]
- [SCREAMING]

[SCREAMING CONTINUES]

[SCREAMING CONTINUES]

I don't wanna be here. Lisey, Lisey.

But if you ever need to go, remember,

water is best.

[GASPS]

[CRICKETS CHIRPING]

[PANTS]

Oh, Lisey. Be careful.