Original subtitles

Before, on Now and Again.

The United States government has, since the conclusion of World War II, spent

billions of dollars in the hopes of one day actually being able to build a man.

An American man.

A man who could do those things mere mortal American men are loathe to do.

Travel in dangerous places, take risks, wage war.

The man with the speed of Michael Jordan. The strength of Superman. And

grace...

Fred is dead.

You just can't build a mine.

You really have to harvest one.

You know what I mean?

We were just about to give up hope, and then you had your unfortunate run -in

with the F train.

And, well, it just seemed like business to us.

I saw your family.

I know how precious they must be to you.

But your government can't let anyone know about the existence of this

technology. You reaching out to anyone from your past absolutely guarantees

immediate death.

and the death of whomever you confided in.

Fear is a contrary companion.

You want to walk?

It starts to run.

You want to stay?

He wants to go.

Try to speak up? He steals your voice.

Say you want to dance, and fear will break your legs.

Fear is your boss hog, your ruler, a man.

A sign he's twinned with your heart in his chest.

His hand wrapped around the old throat.

Please, please, you've got to help her. You've got to help her. She can't, she's

dead at that height. She can't even gaze at life, though.

Please, help her.

Fear will sometimes leave the room, but never the house.

You can always smell him.

48 years old.

Despite all my accomplishments, despite all my successes in life, I look back

and all I see are missed opportunities.

The experiences, the moments, the things that could have been but weren't.

It's ridiculous, right?

I mean, here I am, healthy, wealthy, and reasonably wise.

And instead of Bounding out of bed in the morning, happy to be alive.

I open my eyes and I think, oh, no.

Not another day.

Will I ever feel anything new again?

Maybe I should just chuck it, you know.

Forget about work. Forget about Lori.

Forget about everything. Just run away and start over.

This is really still about that woman, that Lisa, isn't it?

Are you asking me?

Please don't ask me. You're the psychiatrist.

If you've got a professional opinion, just say it.

I mean, I'm a lawyer. Do I go up to my clients and say, gee, do you think what

you did was illegal?

Huh? Come on, God.

All right, I'll just say it.

I think that you're scared, frightened, unhappy.

I think that you're in an unhappy marriage and you're too terrified to do

anything about it. I think that you have met someone who makes you feel

different, but you won't risk everything and go after it because you're afraid

that you will be left with nothing.

I think that you are a cowardly little man with a lot of money and no gumption

who would rather sit here and whine to me rather than do something really

difficult.

like trying to actually save your marriage, or do something really painful

admit that it doesn't work and end it and go after this Lisa.

That's what I think.

And I think it's pathetic.

Boy, we sure covered a lot of ground there, huh?

Say when,

Doc.

Don't say when. Say whatever you want. Just let me put this thing down.

There.

When?

Oh,

give me 35 miles on the treadmill.

think so no no i mean i just bench

pressed a thousand pounds that's 200 more than last week i mean normally i'd

something like that and you're running around here like a giddy little kid

figured out how to get his hamster to run on the wire wheel you have been on

another planet all day and i'm tired of killing myself and not getting any

brownie points for it let's just do something else i don't know let's um

Let's do mental things.

Mental things?

Can you be slightly more specific?

You know, puzzles, mind benders, brain teasers. Figure them out, they make you

smarter. I'm unfamiliar with... Plane crashes on the border between New York

Pennsylvania.

Where do you bury the survivors?

Nowhere. You don't bury survivors.

A man is found stabbed to death in a cabin in the woods in the middle of

No one can find the murder weapon, just a puddle of water beside his body.

Why?

The man was stabbed by a knife made of ice.

Now you do one.

I think not.

Let's just call it a day.

A woman, absolutely terrified of heights, according to her husband,

-foot -high tower in Coney Island.

She sees the rescue team coming to get her and lets go.

And the punchline is?

She dies.

I don't think you understand how these work.

The most disappointing thing is that the impact of the fall was so great,

there's really not enough of her brain left for any meaningful study. That is a

bummer.

As someone who spent years trying to understand how the human mind works, I

this fascinating.

I know I'm freaking riveted.

Fear, Mr. Wiseman, is the healthy and necessary set of inhibitions our brains

create to keep us from doing things that would cause us harm.

In the absence of alcohol or drugs, it would be interesting to find out.

What chemical and electrical changes were going on in the brain that would

this woman to bypass all those natural inhibitions to climb that tower?

How do I look?

Like a lamb to the slaughter.

It's not too late to get out of it, you know. You could call him. Tell him that

you're sick. I could help you come up with a really good sick voice.

Not that I've ever done that before.

What are you talking about?

Why would I want to get out of it? I'm looking forward to it.

Besides, aren't you the one that... Keeps wanting me to get out of the

Yeah, but I meant with normal people.

Not on a blind double date that was fixed up by Uncle Roger.

I mean, you don't have to be Kreskin to know that's going to be a train wreck.

May I point out to you that your Uncle Roger was one of your father's dearest

friends?

And that I strongly suspect we got the insurance money because of your Uncle

Roger. So, if he and Ruth want to take me out to dinner and invite a friend of

theirs along for me to meet, I'm happy to go.

them with me that I'm sick and you can't leave me and then I'll make vomiting

noises in the background while you're on the phone.

You'll thank me later.

And hey, what about that guy with the egg?

The guy you said kissed you?

Well, what made you think of him? Well, I don't know. He seemed like fun. I

mean, running through the streets and jumping on our car.

I don't know. I guess I just thought you liked him.

Well. You know, I did like him, okay, but he's a stranger.

I don't know anything about him. He lives on 63rd and Madison.

He works for the government. He looks like he was made by Mattel. What else do

you need to know?

He's a kid.

Besides, I don't hear the phone ringing off the hook, do you? You could call

him. Don't have his number.

You could just go into New York and ring his doorbell.

Good night, Heather.

Are you afraid?

Don't be afraid.

Don't answer the door.

I'll be home by midnight.

Ruth?

Darling?

I want to caution you. We're going to work Tony's. I got us a fabulous table.

I'm reasonably confident that Richard and Lisa will hit it off. My only

is that you won't be able to resist ordering the escargot again. Let's not

about me and the escargot. Let's worry about you and the VO. You order more

one coffee. and I'm getting up and walking out. Please, I am not ordering

cocktails. It's Ortonian. Maybe a bottle of wine for the table.

That's it.

But do you remember what the escargot did to you the last time you ended up

spending the entire evening in the loo?

I was left all by myself with Amanda and her little friend from college.

No fun for either of us. Oh, I think it was fun for you. I think it was plenty

of fun for you.

Ogling that young girl in her revealing top.

Come on. Our daughter's college roommate?

And I certainly was not ogling. I was trying to be attentive.

That's not what Amanda says.

Amanda says you couldn't stop staring.

And then when she started choking on that chicken bone... Ruth, darling, you

know what?

Let's stop, because I don't want to do this. Your eyes just lit up. I know the

Heimlich, you screamed.

I know the Heimlich. I did not scream.

She said you couldn't push the waiter out of the way fast enough. That's not

true. And you don't clear a blocked airway by applying pressure to the

All right, fine.

You know what? Eat what you want. Do what you want.

I'm dressing in the other room.

We'll be right

back.

Do you know her?

Her? No. You?

No.

I wouldn't be here if I knew her.

Ward Lomax. I'm in pharmaceutical research.

Never been to one of these.

Williams Park.

Recreational and leisure property management.

I've been to a couple.

Yeah.

Helps to come with a friend. Makes it a little easier.

So can I ask you a question?

Why don't you ask her to dance?

Boy, this is your first time, isn't it?

Look at her.

That is doctor's place.

That's lawyer's junk.

Can't talk to her.

Not wearing the right watch.

Where in the right any?

Can I get you some punch? Let me buy you a punch.

Yeah, sure.

172.

Huh? I guess weight is a party trick. It's one of the things my wife, my ex

-wife, liked least about me.

I'm guessing you 172.

176.

Can

I

help you?

Oh, hi. Is your mother home?

Maybe. What do you want?

I'd just like to speak with her if I could.

Who are you?

My name is Gerald Meisenbach. I used to be your mother's lawyer.

Eh? I just... So,

what do you say? Can I speak with her?

Mom! Your old lawyer's here!

Look. She's in the middle of a really big dinner party.

Lots of people are toasting her. I really don't want to interrupt.

Okay, well, just please ask her to call me and tell her that I heard about the

house and the insurance money, and I'm very excited for her.

And you could also tell her that some things have changed in my life, and I'd

really like to talk to her.

No problem.

One second!

Look. I really have to go. They're running out of chips.

Chips. Right, chips. They're for the toast.

Chips.

Oh,

Ruth and Roger just disappeared, huh?

Yeah.

Lisa, I need to tell you something.

In between the time that Roger called me and this evening,

I met somebody.

Oh, that's great.

I'm happy for you.

I probably should have canceled, but I thought I'd feel bad about ruining

everybody's plans.

But now that I've met you, I feel worse about having wasted your time.

Well, it's not a waste of time. I mean, it's very nice meeting new people. It's

nice to go out.

So?

Where'd you meet her? What's she like?

At the university where I teach. Uh -huh.

Well, she's on the young side.

She's a student.

Well, that is young.

I used to be a student.

Of course, that was a long time ago.

So, you two kids getting to know each other?

Look, I'm sorry about Ruth, but she's down for the count, I'm afraid.

She does love those little snails, but they simply destroy her every time.

Am I interrupting something?

No, no.

I was just explaining to Lisa about... Richard Smith, come on.

Oh, well, this is... Awkward.

No, well, not to me.

No. No, it is for me.

She's 22.

Oh, my... I need another.

I don't expect either one of you to understand.

I've been alone for a long time.

I'd meet someone, I'd see someone, and I'd think, hey, maybe.

But then fear would just get the better of me, and I...

I wouldn't do anything, wouldn't say anything.

But Samantha,

she's in a seminar of mine, and I met her, and I just...

And I thought about talking to her for months, you know, asking her out for a

cup of coffee. I know what this sounds like. It's just so ridiculous.

But last week, I'm coming out of one of my classes, and I

don't know what happened.

Something just came over me.

I saw her standing in the hall, alone, looking at a book.

And I thought to myself,

this is the death of my reputation.

This is the death of my self -respect.

I mean, what kind of man wants to be involved with a woman who's 20 years his

junior?

I literally started to quake.

But I did it.

I found the courage somewhere.

And I did it.

And so you two had coffee.

Yeah.

For three days.

Don't brush off.

What are you afraid of?

She's right there.

Right across the room.

You're not afraid of rejection, are you?

Not afraid of the other men?

Then why don't you shut up?

We need to dance.

We need to dance.

You're not afraid of me, are you?

No.

Want to talk about it?

I'm from the generation who loved Titanic, so you know there's nothing I

better than a good train wreck story.

Leonardo never showed. The whole night was nothing but Billy Zane.

I'm sorry.

But all's not lost.

While you were gone, you actually had what my English teacher referred to as a

gentleman caller.

He said he used to be your lawyer.

That he heard that everything worked out with the house and the insurance money.

That he wanted you to know how happy he was for you.

Oh, and something about his life being different now and how he'd love to speak

with you.

Wow, that took a lot of guts coming out here.

See? He did it and you admire him. What's the difference between that and

driving into the city and knocking on what's -his -name's door?

Mr. Newman?

The hottie with the egg, yeah.

Now, why would I do that?

To thank him.

What for?

say if it wasn't for him stopping by that night, you would have accepted the

offer and now the house would be gone, insurance money or no insurance money?

Yeah, but it's not like he bought it or anything.

It's an excuse, Mom, and that's all you need.

Darling, I don't even know the man.

And besides, you have to admit that the contact that we have had with him has

been odd.

Besides, people my age just don't do that.

You don't run around ringing men's doorbells.

Hurry it up, Mom.

Ask me again.

Just say when.

A man.

I'm begging you.

Stands in the middle of a driving race. Just say it.

And when the doctor starts helping him. Thank you. He smiles up to the heavens,

spreading his arms open wide as if asking for more until he's pounded into

coma. Why?

Because his body contained a vaccine designed specifically.

block the mind's natural responses to people in situations that pose a threat.

The same vaccine that was found in that woman who fell to her death in Coney

Island the other day.

The same vaccine that was found in the saliva of 37 people, all of whom were

brought to emergency rooms between the hours of 2 and 4 yesterday morning

because they seemed completely unconcerned with whether they crossed on

green, or in between.

Some of them just crossed in front of moving vehicles.

One woman was found walking naked down 6th Avenue.

And you're saying this is a bad thing?

So the question becomes, how is this vaccine introduced into their systems?

What experience do they all have in common? Get to the point.

There may be more naked people out there and we're missing them.

They went to the same singles dance.

They drank the same...

to different degrees, became fearless.

Look at you.

Think it was Christmas.

A woman died and a man is in a coma.

All you can think about is whatever this stuff is, why didn't I think of it

first?

I know.

It's terrible.

But damn, whoever created this vaccine has discovered the biochemical

of the new world.

Think about it.

Whatever you fear, gone.

Kids afraid of the dark, Thing of the past.

Afraid of the water. Now you're diving like Greg Louganis.

Afraid of public speaking.

Now you're rhyming like Jesse Jackson.

What was that?

Sounds like a doorbell.

But I can't really be sure since I don't think anyone's ever rung it before.

Well, what should we do?

I don't know.

We're not really set up for visitors.

Oh, this isn't really... I probably should have called first, but I couldn't

find it.

If this is a bad time, I could... Go.

Mrs. Wiseman, what an honor.

We didn't invite you in, but the fumigators are here.

Oh, well...

You know, as I said, I probably should have called first, but do you live here

too?

Oh, no.

Absolutely not.

This is Mr.

Newman's place.

You speak now.

Is everything all right?

The last time we ran into each other, you were worried about your house.

Oh, no, no, everything is fine, and that's why I rang your bell.

If you hadn't asked me to wait a day, and then if you didn't show up with that

insurance check, so I have been trying to figure out a way to thank you.

And so I was wondering if I could invite you out to an early supper on me.

Both of you.

That sounds lovely.

Yeah, lovely. That's the word I'd use.

Well, you have no idea how nervous I was.

So tomorrow night, 6 o 'clock at Antoine's. It's up on 78th Street.

Well, that sounds splendid.

Yeah, splendid.

Another word I use all the time.

Excuse me.

Don't take this the wrong way, but you look great.

Well, don't take this the wrong way, but all that sweat kind of works for you.

Oh.

Well, I'll make a point to wear some of it to dinner.

Duty calls.

Oh. Tomorrow, 6 o 'clock.

Six o 'clock tomorrow.

Close the door.

Thank you.

He came too.

What's that?

The driving range maintenance man came out of his coma.

We're going to interview him.

Maybe he can shed some light on who may have contaminated that punch.

Didn't she look great?

Mrs. Wiseman?

She looked nervous.

She looked confused, which is understandable.

She looked great.

And you were great. Saying yes to dinner?

Man, you could have knocked me over with a feather, Doc.

Yeah, well, tonight, tomorrow, I'll call her and tell her we can't make it. I

think it's the nicest way of handling it.

What? Mr. Wiseman, your widow just paid a visit to the residence that the United

States government has spent several million dollars to obtain for you to

keep who you are and what you do a secret.

These are not visits I'd like to encourage.

Now, I've got three choices.

I can kill her.

I can kill you.

Or we can stand her up tomorrow night in the hopes that she gets so angry she no

longer seeks you out.

You pick.

Mr. Fox, we strongly suspect that at one point during the dance you attended

night before last, someone gave you a class of drug that alters brain

That may have made it impossible for you to resist doing things normally you

wouldn't consider doing.

Do you remember ingesting anything that night while you were at the dance?

Punch.

This guy gave me some punch.

Do you remember anything about him?

Nice guy.

Older.

Yeah.

Tried to guess my weight.

Missed it by four pounds.

Said he researched medicines.

Pharmaceutical research.

Since you're spelling everything out, this guy didn't happen to tell you his

name, did he?

Yeah. Sure.

Lomax.

Ward Lomax.

Well, you've been extraordinarily helpful.

So we're going to give you some time to rest.

Listen, you find Mr.

Lomax, he turns out to be the guy that got this drug in me.

Could you ask him if I could have some more?

The business of opening and closing an escrow for the purposes of selling

residential real estate is covered in a fairly thorough way in your textbooks.

But to fully appreciate the finer points, it's always great to have

sat on both sides of the bargaining table.

And so it's with great pleasure that I present our guest for this evening, one

of Manhattan's foremost attorneys, Mr. Gerald Meisenbach.

Thank you very much.

Pleasure to be here with all of you.

And you know, I stopped by your house last week to see if you wanted some

homeschooling.

Hi.

Hi.

You couldn't be half as surprised to see me here as I am to see you.

So you're going after your real estate license. I think that's great.

Well, we'll see.

I haven't passed the test yet. I haven't sold anything yet.

I have been meaning to call you. My daughter told me that you came by the

and I just have been really, really preoccupied. Lisa, you had no intention

calling me, and that's just fine.

I just wanted to apologize for that night, and I wanted you to know how

I am that your insurance situation worked out.

Also, I'd like to give you my new phone number.

I strongly suspect that you're not going to want to use it, but should you ever

change your mind, here you go.

All right.

Oh, hey, by the way, you never know what to look at me, but I'm separated.

There's got to be some kind of mistake.

Well, this is convenient.

After we find our terrace, we can pick up some cough drops.

Can I help you?

I'm looking for Ward Lomax.

Mr. Lomax, there's a man here for you.

I'm Ward Lomax. May I help you?

I'm Dr. Theodore Morris.

I work for the United States government.

I was wondering if I could ask you some questions.

Not the Dr. Theodore Morris, who pioneered the human construction

movement in the late 80s, then dropped completely out of sight?

Are you a doctor, Mr. Lomax?

Do I have a degree?

No. Why do you ask?

I'm asking because it's rare to see anyone that knows anything about science

light up a cigarette these days.

Aren't you afraid of cancer?

I'm not afraid of much.

I'm certainly not afraid of you two, but that's not what you came here to ask

me.

Amazing.

You cook it up right here, don't you?

No multi -million dollar funding, no government oversight.

Just you and your mortar and pestle. I have no idea what you're talking about,

but not everyone does everything to get rich.

Some of us answer to a higher calling.

It's the dosage, isn't it?

You can't figure out the dosage.

So you're doing human trials, right?

You go to a den. You guess someone's weight. Spike the punch.

Give them one glass or two glasses.

Whatever you guesstimate it's going to take.

What happened with the woman in Coney Island?

She just kept coming back for more?

I'm completely baffled by what you're saying.

But? But casualties are an inevitable byproduct of experimentation.

How many lives were lost in the discovery of penicillin, insulin, x

what end?

Don't you need manufacturing plants, salespeople, a distribution system?

only if you want to make money, not if you want to be ubiquitous.

Ubiquitous? Like the iodine in your salt, like the fluoride in your water.

Again, there's no profit motive, just the certainty that everyone will

If you'll excuse me, I have a business to run.

this loon watch round the clock. He so much as takes out the garbage I want to

know about it.

Now, Polish Mom, what's up? The pub coming to town?

I have a dinner date.

Oh, yeah? With who?

I will be supping with that hottie with the egg and that nice man that he works

with.

Better than that. I asked them.

Wow! I'm seriously impressed.

Was it hard?

Was it scary?

Scary? Ha!

I fear nothing.

I am afraid of no one. I will ask anyone out to a meal at any time.

God, I've got so much to live up to.

Call her. No.

Mr. Wiseman.

I'll be your best friend?

I am your best friend.

In fact, what you don't seem to understand is that I am your only

And that is as it should be.

That's why I'm not calling Mrs. Wiseman, we're not going to that restaurant, and

I'm not discussing it any further.

Yes. Your pharmacist friend doesn't happen to have a second job, does he?

Gas delivery, oil delivery, something like that?

What do you ask?

Well, he just pulled up in a tanker truck.

Keep watching him.

We're on our way out the door.

Good evening, madam.

Good evening.

I'm about 20 minutes early.

I have a reservation.

The name is Wiseman. Yes.

And it's for three.

Speak to me.

He's been putting powders into the tank for about 15 minutes, and now it looks

like we're on the move.

I'll be with him until we catch up and take over.

Bye.

I'm sorry, madam. I checked, but no one from your party has called the

restaurant this evening.

Well, thank you.

But please stay.

That's very kind of you, but I'm sure that you need the table.

Oh, madam, the seven o 'clock seating has already come on standing.

Besides, it's beginning to rain.

May I bring you a phone?

Perhaps you have a friend who lives in the area.

Hello, this is the temporary residence of Gerald Meisenbach. You know what to

do?

Well, Gerald Meisenbach, this is Lisa Wiseman.

And you have no idea how close you came to having dinner with me tonight.

She's been sitting there over an hour, Doc.

How much angrier can she get?

Call the restaurant.

Put her out of her pain.

What makes you think she's still there?

I know her.

She'll wait forever for me.

Connect me with Ann Fonz in Manhattan.

Hello.

I was wondering if I can get a message to Lisa Wiseman.

Uh -huh.

Uh -huh.

Thank you.

I'll get it. You didn't leave her a message.

She left 15 minutes ago.

What you have to remember is that she wasn't waiting.

Let's get this man home.