02x05 - The Black Box

[bunniefuu]

Can we take a break?

Sweet, sweet freedom.

Do you think he followed us?

I don't think anyone saw
us get in the dumbwaiter,

much less come out of the mansion.

I think I might not be agoraphobic.

Is it weird that I'm disappointed?

Guys, we left our backpacks.

What are we gonna do about this?

I know someone we can talk to.

Oh, boy.

What is it this time?

It's an old flight recorder,

but we need your help to
figure out what's on it.

Please. It's urgent.

All right.

Come on.

How did you get this?

We're very entrepreneurial.

Uh-huh. You're not gonna tell me, are you?

Look, we think someone might be
trying to cover up a plane crash.

Can you help us... unofficially?

Please?

Fine. My dad has a friend at NTSB.

But keep this on the DL for now.

And if it turns out that there
is anything crazy on this,

you gotta tell me where you found it, okay?

Dad. Dad.
Dad, you're never going to believe...

Oh, just dial it down a little bit,
all right.

- Pop-Pop's trying to sleep.
- Okay.

Well, you know,
I went back to Woodruff Mansion.

You know,
the place with the creepy marked door?

Here, come sit down.
I wanna show you something.

Yeah, sit.

- All right, check this out.
- Mm-hmm.

All right, you see these guys?

These are all Pop-Pop's
friends from back in the day.

Yeah, you know,
I tried to track some of them down

and see if maybe they
would come visit Pop-Pop.

- You know, maybe cheer him up.
- Mm-hmm.

Yeah, but they've all gone. All of 'em.

Yeah, everyone except Junior.

Gone?

Yeah. They all d*ed, honey.

Now, I think you were right about Pop-Pop.
I do.

These men, they were
all sick way too young.

All right,
I don't think that's a coincidence.

You know, I can't help thinking
that something happened, you know.

Something in this town affected 'em.
Maybe even hurt some of 'em.

Yeah. There's a story here.
Yeah, I think you should dig into it.

Maybe it'll help Pop-Pop.

I will.

I can fix this.

I know I can.

Oh, wait. Wait, wait, wait.

What were you trying to
say when you came in?

Yeah. So Donny and Spoon and
I went back to the mansion,

took a dumbwaiter into the basement.

Then there was an airplane there,
so we took the black box,

but somebody almost caught us
and then I lost my backpack.

Wait, what?

I still can't believe you're here.

I mean, is it really you?

Quick, tell me something only
the real Ethan would know.

I once showed you a cat video

that made you laugh so
hard you couldn't breathe,

so then you started crying
for minutes straight.

Super embarrassing for you.

Well, is it weird to be back?

A little. It's mostly awesome though.

I mean,
things aren't great with my mom and dad.

Yeah. I'm sorry.

It's okay.
I'm just happy to be sitting here with you.

All right.

Well, just let me know if they
recover anything from the recorder.

Yeah.

And thanks, Dad.

I appreciate it.

You know, for a cop,
you really suck at tailing people.

I'm sorry.

And I'm sorry for losing my temper.

You jumped to the worst possible
conclusion so quickly, Frank.

I would never cheat on you.

Yeah, but you'd leave Erie Harbor
without talking to me about it.

I would've talked to you about it.

What would you have said?

For the right job? Yes.

Cool.

Look, if you have something to say...

- Frank, just tell me how you feel.
- How I feel?

I feel like I wish I hadn't been
carrying a ring around this entire time

waiting for the right
time to propose to you.

What?

Frank.

Wait, don't...

Are you gonna drive off?
Are you seriously gonna just...

How's your report going?

Can we give you access to
anything else you may need?

Well, I'm nearly done with it, actually.

But I'm afraid you might not
like some of the conclusions

that I'm gonna draw in it.

I do think we're making progress here.

I mean, it's slow going, but things
move a little slower in small towns.

I think you did the right thing,
f*ring those deputies.

Well, it seemed important
to send a message.

Yeah, there is no place for
r*cist behavior like that.

- Not even in small towns, as you say.
- Mm-hmm.

But... the fact that it happened at all

speaks to a lack of respect
for your leadership,

which is perhaps bigger than you.
Bigger than all this.

- Well, racism, it's pretty big.
- Don't take this the wrong way,

but maybe this town isn't ready for you.

Is something funny?

I'm sorry. I just... I thought we were
gonna keep talking in coded language.

You're good at what you do.
I was just trying to help.

What? Help me quit?

See, you haven't been here long enough...

to know I don't do that.

Mm-hmm.

There has to be a connection between
these men. Something that made them sick.

Did they all touch the photograph?

I'm just saying, maybe we
should sanitize it just to be safe.

Each of us should pick three names.
Try to do a deep dive into their lives.

Try to figure out what the missing link is.

Did someone steal all
your clothes or something?

What?

Sometimes I'm just not in the mood, okay?

- Hey, what's up?
- Hey, I just started reading this,

like, yesterday and I'm already
halfway done with it. It's so good.

Yay. You know, when you finish that

we should read Pride and Prejudice
together and do awful British accents.

"You must allow me to tell you how
ardently I admire and love you."

What?

You know, Mr. Darcy.

Oh, is he, like,
one of the new history teachers?

Okay. Bye.

Wait. Are you busy later?

I was wondering if maybe we
could watch a movie or something.

It's all right.

'Kay.

Just trying to find out more
about Pop-Pop and his friends,

but I feel like I'm just going in circles.

Dad, did you get anything new?

Uh-uh. Nope, nothing.

No, but I am still waiting to
hear back from some people.

I feel like he's shaking more.

Me too.

I meant Walter.

Hey, girls. Can you tell Principal
Collins that I got her message,

and I'm gonna run a quick errand?
I'll come back and talk to her.

My God, Mom. It's called a text message.
Why don't you just text her yourself

so we don't have to walk
all the way across Earth

and, like, talk to Principal Collins
and walk all the way back across Earth?

I'm sorry if I enjoy real human connection.

Are you okay, Iz?

You're doing that thing
you do when you're nervous.

What thing? Yeah, I'm fine.

Yeah, I swear I'm not nervous.

I feel like I'm gonna throw up.

Like, I thought Emma and I were,
like, friends now,

but I feel like she's
been acting weird lately.

I don't know.
Do you think maybe she likes you?

I don't think so.

Okay, so you're not, like,
getting a vibe off her or anything?

Well, how would I know if there was a vibe?

Okay, what did she say that made
you think she was mad at you?

Nothing. She's just so hot and cold.

You know, like, one minute we're talking
and the next minute she ghosts me.

- So she is talking to you?
- God, no.

You're focusing on all the
wrong things here, Ethan.

It's not what she's saying,
it's how she's saying it.

- Okay.
- Don't patronize me.

I'm not. I'm just wondering if maybe...

If it's possible that you
might just be imagining it?

Like, the worst-case scenario?
Because sometimes you do that.

- Hi.
- Hey.

- See?
- Sort of.

Come on, dude, look at this kid.

You're telling me this isn't the
funniest thing you've seen this year?

Like, these earmuffs too, yo?

Nothing else I can say, bro. Get out.

Let's go.

- Girls' section.
- Like his earrings.

You okay?

Never better.

If this were an interview,
I'd say the source appeared to be lying.

Not everything is about
The Magic Hour Chronicle

- or journalism or whatever.
- Spoon, wait.

You know you can talk to me, right?
Off the record.

Afternoon, comrades.

- I'll catch up with you guys later.
- Dude, what?

Is it because I said comrades?

I think one of the older
kids was being mean to Spoon.

I want a name and an address.
I'm gonna send a strongly-worded letter.

Found nothing on Bob or Theo,
and only a few articles on Kenny.

It's like none of these guys
were ever on the Internet.

Okay, so let's start small.

I've realized I barely know
anything about my own Pop-Pop.

People are vast, Hilde.
They contain multitudes.

Or at least that's what
the documentary said.

Anyway...

Exactly. So let's start with him.

Sylvester Lisko. We need to search
through everything we can find on him.

And then maybe I'll find the missing
piece in a place I wasn't expecting.

Read this. I think it might be a lead.

My Pop-Pop worked for Strata?

I wanted to find out what Pop-Pop
and his fishing buddies had in common

that could've made them sick,
but I found a lot more.

- Yeah.
- Yeah, we can see that.

Did you know Pop-Pop was
a volunteer firefighter?

No. No, I did not.
No, he never talked about that.

Did you know that he also managed
the Erie Harbor softball team

for six straight seasons?

He played first base.

This is amazing, Matt.

Yeah. Yeah, wow. I know.

So much about him that I didn't...

I... You know...
He didn't let anyone in on him.

So I was thinking we could
bring him in here, show him all this,

and maybe see if he remembers anything
from when he worked at Strata.

I think that's the missing piece.

Yeah, Hilde, I...

Honey, this is wonderful.

It's a beautiful thing.

But you...

You know how Pop-Pop can sometimes
seem frustrated and upset

when he can't remember things, right?

- Right.
- Yeah.

Right, I mean, this is a beautiful
tribute to his life, Scout.

Wow.

You know, I just think, you know,
hitting him with it all at once,

that might not go the way you want it to.

But we have to try.

I'm trying to help him,
and we're running out of time.

Okay, yeah, well,
maybe we could show it to him

- like it's a nice memory, right?
- Yeah, yeah, but just not pressure him.

Yeah. Yeah, right.

You know, the thing is, we don't
wanna give him a false sense of hope.

You know, in case it turns
out that we can't help him.

Why are you guys getting in the way?

Why won't you help me?

- Honey.
- Hilde, that's not what we're saying.

Hey.

You okay?

I just... I know I can solve this.

I know I can help him,
but they just won't let me.

Hey.

You know, this, like,
giant nerd once told me

that if I'm ever feeling scared, you know,

if she feels like she can't do anything...

do you know what she does?

I put my head down and work?

Yeah.

You love being a journalist
because no one gave it to you.

So no one can take it away.
Not even Mom and Dad.

You got this.

Hey, Hilde?

Hilde, can you come down here?

What are you doing here?

My dad's friend at the NTSB came through.

She took a look at the
black box you sent me.

Now, the original magnetic tape in
the flight recorder was damaged,

but their lab was able to recover
a decent audio track from it.

That's great.

Isn't that great?

Yeah, Hilde, what you found...

that was Sam's dad's plane.

I listened to the recording.
It's mostly static.

Nothing too scary.
Some stuff I didn't understand.

But there's something on it
that you all need to hear.

Look, we just wanna make sure
that you're ready for this.

Okay, first of all,
we don't know what's on there.

And second of all, you know,
it could get pretty intense.

Sam's my friend.

And if there's something on there that
can help him, then I wanna hear it.

Yeah, okay.

Hey, it's great that you wanna
look out for your friend,

but it's our job to look out for you.

Right, right. It gets too much, that's it.

I'm pulling you outta there, right?
No negotiating. That is the plan, okay?

'Kay.

And remember, right,
the hardest stories to cover

are the ones you care most about.

All right?

All right, you got it. Come on.

Okay.

Everyone ready?

Descend to flight level .

- Who's that?
- Air traffic control.

Looking good, Hank.

Roger, tower. Descending - .

Tower to Mohawk eight-niner, go again.

Confirm descend to flight level , over.

Yeah, confirmed.
Heading ... Wait. Stand by.

There it is. There it is.
That's gotta be it.

What is he talking about?

Stand by, tower. I'm turning around.
I need to get a closer look.

Go again, Mohawk.

Here we go.

I can't believe it.

Richie was right.

Wait, what did he say?

- Did he just say Richie?
- What...

- Yeah.
- Wait, sorry...

Hank Gillis knew Richie? What?

I mean, a little.
We were all friends with Sam,

but I have no idea why Hank
would mention Richie like that.

Is it because he loved planes?

I mean, we all loved planes. We were kids.

Stand by, tower.

I'm getting my camera ready.
I need to get photos of this.

Mohawk, pull up. You are too low.

Just hold on. I have to get this photo.

What was that?

Something's wrong. The engine's stalling.

- Matt, we should stop this.
- Mom, I'm okay.

It's not going, Art.

The engine's starving for fuel.
There's no way.

Mohawk, repeat.

Tell my kids... I love them.

Hey.

Hey, how you doing? You okay?

Yeah.

What do you think Sam's dad was
looking for when his plane crashed?

Yeah, I mean, can we get location
information from the black box?

Well, I mean, I can't.

Maybe someone more experienced
could listen to the audio

along with a flight map
and do a lot of math.

Yeah,
but pilots need to file a flight plan...

Here we go.

And that could still be in
the records at the airport.

There it is. There it is.
That's gotta be it.

I'm getting my camera ready.
I need to get photos of this.

He saw something. He wanted pictures.

"Richie was right"?

Richie must've told Sam's
dad to look for something.

So what was he right about?

And why was Sam's dad even talking to him?

I mean, you guys were his best friends,

and you didn't know he was
hanging out with some adult?

That's weird.

But you hang out with adults.

I have sources. It's different.

Source? I thought we were friends.

I don't know.

Yeah, well,
there was a lot to take in back then.

You know, you didn't always notice
that stuff when you were a kid.

Yeah, and he could be quiet.

You know, introverted sometimes.

Spoon gets like that sometimes.

But don't people just...

get like that sometimes?

I mean, maybe it was.
Maybe it was a sign that something was up.

I don't know, like,
Richie was always like that, right?

He was always like that even
before everything happened.

Yeah, that was just Richie. Wasn't it?

If your friend hides something
like that from you...

does that mean that they
don't wanna be your friend?

No. No, no, no. Of course not. No.

But sometimes, you know, that just means...

- Sometimes it means...
- It means they're scared.

And they don't wanna tell you something,
'cause they're afraid of what you'll say.

Right. Right, yeah.
And it means you gotta help 'em.

You know,
you gotta be there for 'em even more.

I'm gonna try to find that flight plan.

Yeah, I believe you will.

Hey.

Can I sit?

Sure.
I mean, they don't take reservations here,

so it's first come, first served.

Are we good? You just seem kinda mad at me.

I'm not mad.

Okay.

I don't know,
do you maybe not like Ethan or something?

'Cause you've just been acting weird
around me and, like, not talking to me.

Like right now? Come on, as we're talking?

Well, no, but, like, I just...

I mean, like, I can't really
tell if we're friends or not.

Dude, it's okay.
All right, we're fine. We're friends.

Your boyfriend's looking for you.

You guys have to stop doing that.

You can talk to us. We're your friends.

You haven't been being yourself these days.

I just... I think it'd be
better if I tone it down a bit.

Lately, I've been feeling that maybe
if I just stay below the radar...

- But clothes are your thing.
- It's fine.

I'm fine. Don't worry about it.

Can I borrow your phone for a sec?

Thanks.

Hello, Miss Witherspoon.

Could we swing by later,
when Spoon's not there?

- I should've told you about the job.
- No.

- No. I should've told you about the job.
- No. No, let me...

No, I shouldn't have said
that thing about the ring.

I am sorry. I didn't know how to tell you.
It wasn't even real.

And then it just didn't
seem worth fighting about.

Yeah, but then I made it a fight, so...

I got scared.

I don't want you to leave.

I don't think I'm going to.

It was too far. I didn't love the district.

- Really?
- Mm-hmm.

Did you really buy a ring?

Okay.

You been carrying it
around this whole time?

I thought that was just, like,
a figure of speech or something.

You know I'm not good at hiding stuff.
You would've found it in, like, a second.

Here, it's...

Oh, Frank. That's beautiful.

- Yeah.
- Yeah.

Well, does it fit on even...

Do you still wanna marry me?

'Cause I really wanna marry you.

- Frank Briggs, would you do me the honor...
- No, no. Whoa, whoa, whoa. No, no.

No. Hey. Give me that.

It's my line.

Kim.

Kimberly.

- Will you...
- Yes. Yes.

- Yes.
- Did you just say yes?

All right, all right. Congratulations.

Oh, great, great, the whole peanut gallery.

It's my worst nightmare.
Will you get back to work?

Aw, Frank.

You did it.

Why you guys dressed like that?

We missed you.

Well, unfortunately, everything
you're wearing is tragically outdated.

But you're pulling it off.

Okay, guys. This is the place.

We've gotta find information
about Sam's dad's plane.

Hi.

We're doing a school project about
aerodynamics and, like, math.

Oh, that's not related to the project.
That's just how we dress.

Could we take a look at your archives?

Be my guest.

- Hey, Frank.
- Hey.

Yeah, what's going on?
What's the exciting update?

Are we ready to take her out?

She is up and running again.

- Really?
- Come on.

Damn. Wow, you're a genius.

Yeah.

Totally am. Your words.

What's going on?

Well, you just... you seem happy.
You're never this happy.

Well, actually, I...

I asked Kim to marry me.

- What?
- I don't know why, but she said yes.

Come on, man. That's huge.

Yeah, really. Congratulations, Frank.
Really. Congrats.

- Wow, that's...
- Yeah.

- We should make a toast, right?
- Yeah.

Yeah, let's get some booze.
I bet we got some back here.

Oh, you know what?
The cabinet, our old stash.

Half of these aren't flight plans.

Gas receipts, maps.

Digitization, people. Get with the times.

At least they're organized by decade.
Sort of.

- This is gonna take us all night.
- Wait.

This one says October... .

This one too.

Guys, this is it. This
is Sam's dad's plane.

It's the wrong date.

The day of the crash was October th.
This says September th.

It's gotta be in here somewhere.

That's weird.

- He made the same flight three times.
- What do you mean?

It shows all his intended
flight path in all of these.

My grandpa said you have to file it

so air traffic control knows who's
in the sky at any given time.

On September th,
October th and October th,

Hank Gillis made the same flight
path up the Saratoga Mountains.

That must be where he crashed.

On the black box,
he said he was taking pictures.

So he knew what he was looking for
because he'd already been there.

So what was he looking at?

The flight plan from the crash is missing.

There'll be another copy on the plane.

We've gotta get back in that basement.

We? I've got a stain on my
clothes from the dumbwaiter...

And it's too dangerous with
that strange guy walking around.

- And that hurts me, Hilde, deeply.
- We still don't know who he is.

- Are you out of your mind?
- Trip, just wait till you see it.

They're hiding a whole plane
crash down in the basement.

Now what were you doing in the basement?

Wait, it's a party, all right?

There's no law that says a journalist
can't investigate a public event.

Come on, Trip. Will you help us out?

Don't mind me. I'm just observing.

I do love the first name basis,
small town community thing going on here.

Look, we have reason to believe that
that is Hank Gillis's plane. Yeah.

Yeah, and if it is, well...

well, you know how serious that is.

Yes, that sounds like a great
use of the sheriff's time.

I'm sure it's not a wild-goose chase.
We should check it out.

Hilde, are you sure that's what you saw?

I'm sure.

Dad, it was right here. I...

This can't be the same room.

Dad, it's him. It's the guy.

I hear there's an emergency
in our archive storage

that requires immediate police attention.

And you are...

Karl Kurz.
I'm head of security for this property.

What did you do with the plane?
It was right here.

We even got the black...

Sheriff, with all due respect,

I don't know what this
young lady is talking about.

Is there anything you need to see?
Anything I could show you?

No, sir, Mr. Kurz. I'm sorry to bother you.

When you're done,
let's have a word outside.

Trip, wait. I...

No.

Enough. I'm done here.

Everybody says to stay away from you all,
that you're trouble.

I'm the one dumb enough not to listen.

Yeah, let me talk to her, all right.
I'll figure it out.

I know you have it.

- Have what?
- My backpack.

Oh, hey.

Hey, what's going on?

You guys okay?

I'm gonna go check on Pop-Pop.

Right, good idea. Thanks, Scout.

What happened?

Yeah... No. No, no. Of course.

Ethan is welcome to stay here
for the night if you need him to.

My mom and dad are hashing out custody.

Or they're getting back together again.
I don't know.

All I know is that it's always,
always a fight with them

and being in the same house
with them right now is just...

Especially when you're trying
to get caught up on schoolwork.

- Yeah, it's impossible.
- I'm glad you came.

Hey.

So I told your mom you
could stay here tonight.

In a separate room, of course.

Right.

Great. Yeah, yeah,
you know, marriage, it's...

Well, it's really hard.

I'm sure your parents are
doing the best they can.

Well, the best they can seems to

require a lot of yelling at each other,
so...

Well, thank you for having me.

- Really.
- Yeah.

Yeah, of course. Of course.

You know, just one night.

- Right.
- Yeah, and you sleep down here.

Right.

Yeah, and those stairs, they're,
you know, pretty creaky,

- so...
- Dad.

You know what I'm saying, right?

- Right. Yeah.
- Yeah. Right, you get it.

Yeah. Well, thank you, Mr. Lisko.

Are we going on vacation?

No, Pop-Pop.

Sam's dad flew his plane
and I don't know where.

What did he go back to look
at and take pictures of?

What did he see before the crash?

Hey, Scout.

I just... Yeah,
I just wanted to see if you wanted to talk.

About what?

Well, you know,
about what happened with Trip

and... what she said to you.

That.

Yeah. Yeah, that.

No, that was tough, huh?

No, I just wanna make sure you're okay.

I'm fine, I...

She's just a source.

I gotta focus on this now anyway.

Okay. I just, you know,
I just wanted to see if you're...

The coordinates.

These are waypoints.

They're written in longitude and latitude,

and they show where the plane
went on its flight. Here. Watch.

He took off from here.
And then, what's the first coordinate?

degrees, minutes

and . seconds north.

Okay. And what's the other one?

- degrees...
- All right.

minutes and . seconds west.

- Uh-huh. He took off from here...
- Mm-hmm.

And he was traveling in this direction.

Okay.

- Mm-hmm.
- Mm-hmm.

- Uh-huh.
- And that's...

But...

That must've been the last place
he went before turning back.

- That must've been where he saw something.
- The plane must be here.

But there's nothing there, Pop-Pop.

Wait. What's that?

Looks like an island.

That must've been where he was going.

Yeah, but what did he see?

I mean, what could possibly be out there?

That's what we gotta find out.