Original subtitles

BP is 100 over 45 and falling.

Pulse is fixed and dilated.

Let's get a drip and then stack.

I'm alive.

Hello? Is anybody there?

No reaction. Let's try upping the dosage.

His brain is so damaged, it's hard to tell.

Node number two, hit him. Try stimulating the nodal structure deeper

cortex.

Node number two, I'm locked.

I don't get it.

Look at those spikes.

There should be some sort of physical manifestation.

Elevated heart rate, a little rapid eye movement. That doesn't make sense.

Maybe it's just bouncing, nothing more.

Something's got to be going on inside his head. Has to be.

I just wish to God I knew what it was.

We can deluge you with a thousand channels or expand one single image to

crystal clarity.

And beyond, we can shape your vision to anything our imagination can

conceive.

For the next hour, we will control all that you see and hear.

You are about to experience the awe and mystery which reaches from the deepest

inner mind to the outer limits.

Please stand by for all our medical advances.

The human brain remains vast and largely uncharted.

What revelations lie ahead for those who would explore this undiscovered

country? And what unknown dangers will they encounter on their journey?

Keep going back to the animal trials.

The results were so definitive.

All of their brains, no matter how damaged, are tempted to reboot

function around a damaged area.

You're going to have to be patient, Neil. Human brains are vastly more

complicated. Human brains more complicated? You know, I've got to write

down, Vince. You're a genius. You know what I mean.

I still say go heavier on the stimulus. You could up the dosage by a third, keep

it bio -safe. Of course we're going to up the dosage, but that's not the

problem.

Maybe we're stimulating the wrong area.

Yeah, that's it.

What?

I keep putting up telling you, but I've decided to take that assistant teaching

post at Hopkins.

Now? When we're this close?

Close.

Look, I'm going to be 30 in two years. I've got to start marking some territory

for myself or I'm going nowhere.

Meaning here? Is that where you think we are? Nowhere?

That's what I'm saying, Neil. Don't take it personally.

The lab rat abandoning ship. You know, this might just be a job to you, but

my whole life's work. I take it very personally.

You know, maybe that's the problem.

This game.

And you owe me 50 bucks.

Like hell we're playing again.

No, Neil. I'm so tired of beating you. 50 bucks double or nothing.

Look, I've got work to do. You've got work to do.

That the sound of forfeiture I hear?

Huh?

Forfeit my butt.

What's this really about?

Are we having a bad day or is it something worse? What's bad about it?

is shining.

The birds are singing.

And my assistant just bailed on me.

I'll give you that point if you want it.

And to top it off, I haven't won a game off you in two years.

About the latter, I can do nothing.

You suck.

As to the former, actually, I'm the one that told Vince to apply for that job.

You what?

Do you know what you've done to me?

What I've done to you?

Let me see.

I've remained your friend while everyone else ran screaming from the room.

I've kept funding your research while my own board threatened to fire me for

throwing away money. I mean, besides that.

I'll find you a new assistant.

I'm working on it.

But we're going to need results.

Or is that part of the problem?

Of course I'm getting results. I just need more data, Marty. I told you that

from the get -go. And I told you it wouldn't be easy.

Brain -damaged people don't grow on trees.

You just get them from me. I promise I'll deliver the results.

Okay.

I'll try.

You try harder.

Hey, where are you going?

I want my money back. Come on.

Oh, you're so shoddy.

All right, let's go.

Jen.

Neil.

What are you doing out of your lab?

Get time off for good behavior?

What are you doing here? I thought you moved across town.

I moved back.

So when's the next book coming?

Have you been checking up on me? Ever since I've known you, you've been

about that. I just took a guess.

Well, unless something really strange happens. It should be out in a few

I hate to admit it, but there's quite a bit of you in the design of the

research.

I'll send you the abstracts if you like. Don't bother. I already read them.

Okay, okay. So I've been checking up on you.

They were great, by the way. No one can touch what you've done with cognitive

therapies.

My esteemed colleagues here at last have incontrovertible proof.

Absence makes the heart grow fonder.

Fond? Let's not go crazy here.

The truth is you are the best research partner I ever had.

That's what I miss most about you.

Your romantic side.

As I recall, you were the one who suggested we spend our first anniversary

sectioning rat brains.

You didn't find that romantic?

Worked for me.

So, what now?

Well, I'm weighing a few offers, but, I don't know, nothing that I'm in love

with. Seeing that you're not busy at the moment.

What?

I could really use your help.

With your permission, we'd like to hook your daughter up.

I'm sorry, but I still don't understand how your machine is going to help our

daughter.

There is an extensive body of evidence that the brain, when injured, seeks to

rewire itself around whatever part that is damaged.

For instance, if a person suffers a head injury and becomes blind, they often

gain improved hearing and other senses.

So while the brain can't restore the lost function, there's a kind of

compensation.

And in your daughter's case, the aneurysm she suffered destroyed a

her brain tissue near the thalamus.

I think it is possible to forge synaptic pathways around this damaged area.

Our machine, the Neural Intercortex Stimulation Array, we call it NISA, is

designed to stimulate the brain so it will build these new neural pathways.

So maybe it could somehow wake her up?

I wish I could tell you that it would.

To be honest...

You probably won't notice any change in your daughter.

We're just trying to determine whether we can stimulate this rewiring within

Lisa's brain.

And of course, the more people like your daughter that we can bring into the

program, the faster we can find answers.

So really, you're just poking and prodding.

We're going to have to think about it.

You have to understand something.

To us, Lisa's still alive.

She's not just a pincushion.

Mr.

and Mrs. Dobkins, can I share something with you?

When I was eight years old, my mother was involved in an accident.

For the next five years of her life until she died, she lay in a hospital

just like your daughter.

Medical science had given up on her.

I used to read her the funny papers. She was...

real big on Blondie and Dagwood.

But I couldn't help thinking, every time I sat by her and looked into her eyes,

that she was inside somewhere, trying to get out.

We just didn't know how to do it.

And the fact is, we still don't.

But if we don't try to find them, if we don't do anything except sit here and

watch, they'll just stay there, inside their own heads, forever.

I've got to say, Neil, I'm impressed.

You actually developed some people skills.

I think of it more as desperation, but hey, whatever works.

I'm upping the current 30 % from previous levels.

Why not go 50?

It's up to you.

No, 50's good.

Let's move the locus up just a little higher.

Starting stimulation.

There it is again. That's spiking. It's just like Adam's.

I want to try something.

Keep an eye on the monitors.

Just tell me what you see.

Neo? Yeah?

Their levels practically match.

Practically? They match exactly.

Hello?

Is anybody there?

Who are you?

I'm Lisa.

How did you get here?

I don't know.

I don't even know where here is.

Neither do I.

Careful. Deep right there.

Do you have a name?

Adam.

Where does that door lead?

I don't know. It's locked.

Are you sure?

Yeah, I'm positive.

Oh, my God.

Do you want us on the other side?

I think I do.

Lisa?

Adam? Nathan, please!

Don't go, Lisa!

This is absolutely amazing.

Did you see his readings? They were practically identical.

What did he say?

I think he said Lisa.

So this patient, he said the girl's name.

He didn't say anything. The fact that his lips were moving is amazing.

It could have been a random autonomic response.

He suffered massive head trauma in a car accident. It's amazing he ever lived.

Did he look at her? He hasn't moved. His pupils are totally dilated. For all

intents and purposes, he's still 100 % vegetative.

And she just came on to the ward. So how does he know her name?

Well, that's the million -dollar question.

Do you suppose he could have heard it? It would be a pretty neat trick.

I guess it's in a guy who is essentially brain dead.

Here's a record of it. Look.

So all this activity here.

That's Adam.

Now compare Lisa's output to Adam's.

Oh, what does it mean? I think somehow we stumbled upon something. I don't know

what it is, but I've never seen anything like it. Most likely it's just a

similar pattern of stimulus and response.

Yeah, but that doesn't answer the question of how Adam knew Lisa's name.

He said it.

I heard him.

Listen to me.

There's something bigger going on here, okay? I mean, their brainwave activity

synced up like they were communicating.

Maybe that's how he knew her name.

Somehow she told him.

Two comatose patients communicating.

Is my skepticism showing?

The whole event is so anomalous.

It'd be a mistake to go jumping to any conclusions.

You see, that's the other thing. This whole particular type of brainwave

activity is highly unusual.

Bottom line is, Marty, we need to see if it's repeatable, which means we need

more subjects. More subjects equals more data equals better results.

What do you want me to do? Put an ad in the paper?

Boy genius seeks brain damaged individuals for experiments and fun

Sure. If it'll work, do it.

How do you explain that, huh?

He's disconnected from Nisa, yet his brainwave activity still continues. His

brain is building new pathways. It's working. Let's hook him up again. I know

more than anyone what this means to you, Neil.

Well, then humor me.

You want to push yourself? That's one thing. Don't push them. It's not fair.

Don't push them? What are you talking about?

The way you're going about this research, it's more vendetta than

I'm not looking for my mother, if that's what you mean.

She's gone. I accept that.

Then what are you looking for, Neil?

Why are you doing this?

Look, take a break. Let's grab you some dinner. I'm not hungry.

You may not think they're communicating, but I do.

I want to watch them talk again.

You haven't eaten all day. You really think the quality of your work improves

the more you abuse yourself?

God, I hope so.

Okay, okay. Ten minutes, and I'm yours.

I'm in here.

Isn't it wonderful?

That's the dance studio my father built for me in our house.

It's exactly the way I remember it.

He built it for me when I was five.

And this is the dance space at the Metropolitan Ballet.

I joined the company when I was 13.

How did you know before that everything was going to be here?

I don't know.

You know what I think?

I think you knew it would be here because you wanted it to be here.

You created it.

You weren't afraid of this place like I was at first.

Are you still afraid?

No.

Actually, I'm kind of starting to like it.

This?

This I've never seen before.

It's my garden. Right down to the crack in the glass above the gladiolus.

Bird hit it.

You want to go in?

Yeah.

Good thing you weren't hungry.

Is it as hard as it looks, being right all the time? Harder, especially where

you're concerned.

Do you get some kind of bizarre pleasure out of driving me crazy?

I don't think of it as bizarre.

If you have any doubts about where the NISA research is going, I'll understand

if you want to... Walk away?

What is this pathological need of yours to send me packing?

Send me packing?

What are you talking about?

Why do you think I left before? Why do you think our relationship ended?

Because I assume you are unhappy.

Interesting. So you do live in a vacuum.

How's the weather in there?

I didn't want you to go. And you didn't want me to stay either.

Or is my memory a little faulty?

I don't know why we're talking about this. Listen, I'm happy to be working

together again, but you have to... But what? Don't contradict you. Don't tell

you when I think that you're wrong.

Look, you've got two books under your belt, okay?

You get teaching offers from places that won't even return my phone calls. And

though Marty is my friend, he is so result -oriented, it's driving me crazy,

okay? So I apologize if my career angst is cranked up to 11.

Are you going to help your career?

And stop chasing conclusions that your results don't support.

And stop alienating people that are trying to help you.

You're beautiful when you're infuriating, you know that?

They gotta be in there. They gotta be in there somewhere.

I remember thinking I was going to die.

The ambulance ride, the emergency room, the faith.

I could hear the paramedics working on me, trying to get my heart started.

They were saying they're not going to make it.

And then everything kind of goes fuzzy from there.

I remember being scared, feeling helpless, and the sound of dripping.

All I remember is the headache.

It started in the morning, and by the time I got to rehearsal, I almost

see straight.

One of the first things you learn as a dancer is how to work through pain.

What were you rehearsing?

Giselle.

I'm sorry, I don't know much about ballet.

It's about a beautiful girl who dies, comes back as a ghost.

Good casting so far. I bet you were great.

It would have been my debut.

After all those years in the Coral du Ballet, there I was, three days before

opening. The rehearsal was going well.

I had just done a grand show de chasse.

I was heading off stage, and then, nothing.

So, you never got to do it?

Well, you can dance it for me right now.

I'd really love it if you did.

Yeah?

Hi, Jen.

It's me. I'm sorry to call so late.

Can I ask you a hypothetical?

Ask me a what? What time is it?

How much fentanyl would be toxic?

Fentanyl? Not a whole lot. Five cc's could launch you for a pretty good loop.

Why are you asking me this?

How much would slow a person's brain function down to a minimal level?

Have you lost your mind?

You could say I'm trying to find it.

So ten cc's would do the trick, right?

Neil, you could end up killing yourself.

Neil, no.

Love yous.

Bye.

Me? What did I do?

Janice, I saw them.

Adam and Lisa, I saw them together.

Take it easy. I'm calling EMS.

No, I'm fine.

I'm fine. You just took your body to the edge of Never Never Land. Fine is the

last thing you want. I'm telling you, I saw them together.

They were in a garden and they were kissing.

Hi, can you get me the emergency room, please?

Just look at these three readouts before you... Tell me what you see.

There's Lisa.

There's Adam.

They match exactly.

All it means is that your brain experienced the same stimulus response

theirs. Jen, I am telling you the truth. These two people are cognizant.

They're alive somewhere in some other dimension. I don't know where this place

is, but it exists, and somehow it's Lisa that's doing it.

Wow, that's interesting.

And then yesterday, we discovered that Adam and Lisa maintain the exact same

level, the exact same wave patterns, even when disconnected from Lisa.

Wherever that place is, they're there, and they're staying there.

I gotta tell you people, I'm not real comfortable with where this is going.

I'll be honest, Marty, I'm a little uncertain myself.

Empirically, I see brain function where it didn't used to be. Now, I'm not

saying it couldn't be some form of higher consciousness. I'm talking about

behavior. I know I took a big risk, but I promise you the result will be worth

it. You're missing the point.

The results are worth nothing if we all lose our jobs while you get them. Do you

hear me?

Yeah, I hear you.

I've kept my part of the bargain.

I've found you more subjects.

Now I expect you to keep up your end.

Marty, listen to me. No, no.

You listen to me.

The wolf is at the door.

Now I think I can massage this little irregularity and keep the board from

turning nasty.

But they're going to want satisfaction ASAP.

Or I'm going to have to cut bait.

Am I clear?

I'm sorry, Jane. I can't go backwards.

He doesn't want you to go backwards, Neil. He wants you to give him results.

Start up computer protocol.

Starting protocol.

Start at 45%. Starting at 45%. Shading stimulation.

Give me your wallet.

Not where you were.

That's anyhow.

The brain waves are in sync.

Do you have any idea how you got here?

I'll say this much.

It's a damn thing.

I haven't walked in 20 years. I don't see how it's possible.

Warner, in this place, anything is possible.

Come on, I'll show you my greenhouse.

I can see it just fine from here.

What do you love most about life?

Working in my restaurant, I guess.

What's that got to do with anything?

Haven't you ever wished you could move around it a little easier?

There you go.

Oh, my God.

What about him?

Doesn't he want to join the party?

Let's up the amperage just a little bit more.

Can you believe it? They're even better than new.

What the hell is that?

Looks like we got more company.

Just because you perceive these people doesn't mean that they were actually

there.

Are dreams real?

Your perceptions could have been completely drug -induced.

Okay, how do you explain the brainwave activity?

How do you explain the fact that the three of us were thinking up like that?

Well, where is this taking place? How can three people share a common

psychological state?

There's a Swedish study. It cited two, three, four people at a time sharing

telepathic communication with virtually the identical EEG readings.

Readings that look a hell of a lot like the ones we're getting. Maybe Nisa is

stimulating the same part of the brain.

Look, you've already shown that more of the brain survived than we thought, and

that's worth knowing.

Why not stop there? Whip these results into publishable shape and move on.

Because our real findings are way bigger.

What Nisa has revealed about these people is that they are alive.

They are alive.

Nothing in the hard data suggests anything like that. Neil, who these

are, their personalities, that's all gone.

If you met them, you wouldn't say that.

Met them?

Neil, will you listen to yourself?

Neil, what are you thinking?

I've been back and forth between here and there.

I existed there physically.

They saw me. I can be their guide.

I'm not going to let you do this.

Lisa's parents asked if I could bring her back.

Forget it.

Jan, it's imperative that I try.

What have I got to lose?

Nothing.

Except for maybe your life.

Roger, what's your problem, man? My problem?

What's your problem? You.

I mean, your negativity. It's killing my plan.

Look what it did to my souffle.

This was going to be lunch.

Your cooking stinks.

Roger, keep serious.

We have to talk about it. Get out of my way. What are you going to do, tough

guy? Are you going to knock her out?

You all act like you want to be here.

Well, not me.

I have a life. A good life.

And I'd much rather be there than in this ridiculous place.

Hell, what am I talking to you for?

You're all figments of my imagination.

Why can't you just accept what's happened to you?

Roger, answer.

You want a piece of me, punk?

I'm down with it.

I can get you to a comatose state with five CCs. Eight worked last time.

And there's still enough fentanyl in your system from then if you consider

residual effect of the last two doses.

I gotta be sure I get there.

All right.

In seven minutes, I want you to amp up 10%. I'm giving you five CCs, and that's

the end of it.

Argue with me, and I'll give you 50.

You want? Fine, I'll give.

But I want a little quid pro quo here.

If this doesn't work and you wake up, you've got to promise me to walk away.

That's asking a lot.

There's no point in bringing them back if you lose yourself.

Promise.

Come back.

It's him again.

I wonder who he is.

You all right?

I'm fine.

I'm Neil. I'm the one that got you here.

Got us where?

I mean, where exactly is this place?

I'm not sure exactly.

Physically, you're in a hospital.

In a research ward. You all have varying degrees of severe brain injury.

Great. Another lunatic.

You're all part of an experiment I'm conducting. I know it sounds absurd, but

I've come to help move you across the divide that separates our world from

one.

I've come to take you all home.

Home, Edson?

Home? We could see our parents again?

I could see my wife.

Will I still be able to walk?

I don't know.

What about the feelings we had here? I mean, will we be able to take them with

us? I wish I could tell you for sure.

Physically, I don't know what's going to happen to you.

Some of you have been comatose for quite a while, but... But the fact that

you're here, the fact that you... The fact that we all created this place

our brains accomplished something truly miraculous.

Miraculous will be waking up from this place.

Well, that's what I'm going to try to help make happen.

We have to go back through the tunnel.

I don't know if I want to leave.

It'll be okay, Adam.

We'll help each other.

Just think how much better our lives will be back there.

For having experienced this place.

And everything and everyone in it.

Now, I'm not going to lie to you, this could be dangerous, but the tunnel is

you got in here, norally and physically, and I'm willing to bet if I could get

you through the door at the end of that hallway, one at a time, I could get you

back to a state of waking consciousness.

I'll take my chances.

Ten seconds there beats another minute here, hands down.

All right, Roger, you first.

Roger. He made it.

I've got a code blue in ward three.

Two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, four, ten, one, two, three, four,

fifteen.

Marty, I brought the man out of a vegetative state. Are you telling me

counts for nothing?

You killed him in the process.

Read the damn autopsy report. He had a congenital heart defect.

A defect exacerbated by the physical stress of whatever the hell it is you

to him. Bottom line is I got him here.

I got him back.

The only bottom line that matters to me is that Roger's family is holding you

responsible for what happened.

And me.

And my research program.

And this whole frickin' hospital.

Roger's family signed the paper. They understood there might be risks.

You are the last person I want to hear from. You were supposed to keep him in

line. I wasn't there to babysit him. I was there to assist him. There's a

difference, Marty. Whoa, whoa, whoa. Keep him in line? What the hell is going

here? You wanted an assistant.

I got you one.

You don't think it was a coincidence that you bumped into each other? Tell me

he's making this up, Jan.

You know, it's not what you think.

I was asked to talk to you, and if I felt there was any way I could genuinely

help you... And conveniently there was.

Any other dirty little secrets?

Only one.

Your privileges at this institution have been permanently suspended.

Marty, are you crazy? I've got to go back in.

The rest of those people are trying to get out, and I've got to help them.

You go near those people, and I will see that your license is revoked.

If you just listen to me, Neil, I'll explain everything. Why don't you start

with the part where you were spying on me for that son of a bitch? If I'd been

spying on you, do you think any of this would have happened? Marty would have

shot you down weeks ago. Well, then I guess you're not much of a spy then,

When Marty first called, I turned him down flat.

I thought it was a reprehensible idea.

But then I started to think about it, and the more I thought about it, the

I wanted to work with you again in spite of everything.

Work hell!

I wanted to be with you again.

Because something in me really hates the fact that I gave up on us.

That I let you goad me into walking away.

That's real sweet.

Too bad the feelings aren't mutual.

What would you know about feelings?

Maybe that's what you should go looking for.

I've got to go back inside and get them.

You go in again.

I can't guarantee you'll ever come back. That's why you said those things, isn't

it?

I'm sorry. When I come back, you could yell at me.

You're damn right I'm going to yell at you.

Did you really think you'd get away that easily?

I love you.

I always have if you want to know the truth.

I love you too, you son of a bitch.

It's been 12 hours and he's still comatose.

He's not going to make it.

He should have been here to see this.

He did it.

He brought us back just like he said he would.

I don't understand. If they all made it back, why didn't Neil?

He went too far.

Maybe he'll find another way out.

Well, whatever else he's looking for.

This place is so cool.

It's just filled with possibilities.

I'll bet there's another way at it.

Our greatest achievements do more than heal the sick and give strength to the

weak. They also lead us from the darkness to a place of hope and light.