Original subtitles

["Dialing In" playing]

♪ Telephone ♪

♪ Calling me ♪

♪ Who put all that shit in your head? ♪

♪ Saying things ♪

♪ Telling things ♪

♪ Till you break ♪

♪ Filthy water ♪

♪ Bubbles up ♪

♪ Who put all that shit in your head? ♪

[chattering on radio]

So, you're okay.

[Gudsen sniffs, chuckles]

That the, uh... official diagnosis?

"Okay"?

Doctor said you've got a sprained ligament in your knee

and a mild concussion,

but no broken bones, no internal damage.

Well, that's a relief.

[grunts]

So why don't you seem happy?

[chuckles]

Come here. Come closer.

You know I could've been killed.

I could've died.

What the fuck, Ash?

[clicks teeth]

I doubt most people, when they're in it,

know the difference between an okay marriage and a bad one.

'Cause you tell yourself,

"Everyone has conflicts.

No one can be everything for someone.

Compare and despair."

But then the person you've told yourself you love?

They wound you.

And they wound your son.

And not for any acceptable reason.

"Wound"?

[Ashley] So when you get a call that they've been in an accident,

you pretend your first reaction wasn't...

"So, he's dead, right?"

Ash.

[sighs] I didn't want to get divorced again.

I didn't want to fail.

[Gudsen] Hey.

You didn't fail.

[chuckles]

[Ashley] I know I didn't.

You did.

Fuck off.

And there it is.

[breathes deeply]

[door closes]

[grunts]

[sighs]

[breathes shakily]

[doorknob turns]

Dr. Samuel said we need to keep you for a few days, Dave.

[rock music playing]

Ma'am, I've got an arsonist to catch.

[music stops]

Mr. Gundersen?

Doctor says you can go home.

When?

Now. We need the room.

Please sign here for the weapon.

Why does a fireman need a gun?

I'm an arson investigator.

Uh-huh.

[Harvey] So your partner's in the hospital.

What now?

He was T-boned late yesterday. Just outside of Leighton.

Oh, shit.

[sighs] Is he okay?

He's alive. Waiting to hear more.

- [sighs] - Did you talk to the Crawford PD?

- About what? - Dave didn't call you?

No.

Someone used six milk jugs yesterday to torch a house in Crawford.

[sighs]

Damn.

- Six? - Mmm.

[Calderone] Our guy's never used more than one before.

He's never gone so far afield.

Fire killed a husband and wife.

Wife was a doctor in the middle of some nasty malpractice suit.

They think the arsonist was the complainant.

Okay. So not our guy.

Well, sounds like a copycat.

Lucky you.

[firefighters chattering]

[Gudsen] How's the wife, Dawson?

Uh... Rachel, right?

Mean as a rottweiler.

[Gudsen chuckles]

Yours?

Sweet as a lamb.

So who does Crawford PD like for this?

Malcolm Allen Brewster.

Did time for armed robbery and assault.

The wife was the doctor?

Yep.

Husband?

[Dawson] He ran HR for a fast-food chain.

[Gudsen] Which chain?

Chicken spot.

Not Church's, the other one.

- Coop's? - [Dawson] That's the one.

Got great wings.

All right. Well,

looks like you guys got this sewn up, so...

All sewn up.

[Gudsen] I'ma leave ya to it.

[grunts]

Thanks.

[Dev] Records say he hasn't missed a day in 11 years.

Is he dead?

[Lee] I have no idea.

Well, can you call him?

- Why don't you? - He doesn't pick up.

Maybe he will for you.

Yes, sir.

Thank you.

What an idiot.

[sniffs]

[line ringing]

[spits]

- [Freddy] Hello. - The fuck are you, man?

Here.

[Lee] Home?

Here.

Wherever the fuck that is, you need to come to work.

You sick?

I don't like that place anymore.

[scoffs]

Why don't you come meet me?

No. I can't just walk off the job, man.

They have no honor.

I don't even know what that fuck that means, Freddy.

I'm going to Paragon Park.

Why? Shit's closed for the season, man.

I like it there.

You're off at 3:00?

[scoffs]

Fuck it.

Grab me a six pack of Royal Brew talls and I'll meet you there

after I do some shit for my mom.

You can tell me all about going rogue.

Royal Brew.

Talls, Freddy. Fucking talls. I'll meet you at the Ferris wheel at four.

I'll be by the merry-go-round.

Sure.

[Harvey] I want you to leave the building.

- [Ezra] Listen. - [Harvey] I'm not going to listen to you.

- [Ezra] Why not? - [Harvey] Leave the building.

Listen to me. I'm just trying to be nice to you, cocksucker.

- But you're making it impossible. - Yeah,

y-you're breaking six different legally binding agreements right now.

- Okay? - So what?

I've got your arsonist! [stutters] You couldn't get him.

She couldn't get him. I motherfucking got him!

- Is that right? - Yeah.

I'm-I'm gonna call the police. In fact you are the police.

Get him the fuck out of my office, please.

[stutters] Harvey, he's been doing it under your nose for years

while people died

- and tens of millions of dollars... - Is that right?

...worth of property was turned into ash,

while you were out drinking and whoring with Gudsen.

- I don't whore with anybody. - Yeah, and playing fucking pickle ball...

- I don't whore with anybody. - ...while people were dying

and people were burning and malfeasance abounded.

But did you give a fucking...

fuck did you care, man? Did you care?

Did you? Answer me! Did you care?

How much shit are you on right now?

Um...

A couple of Red Bulls, 32 of Mountain Dew, uh,

some bennies, a couple of microdoses of ketamine.

- [Harvey] Sure. - What the fuck, Harvey?

I got your proof right here.

[Harvey] Are you buying this?

You gonna let the man finish?

[scoffs]

Oh, my God. She's a knight. She's a knight. She's a knight.

She'd rather sleep on a couch teeming with bedbugs

than let a man drown in his own sick.

Wait, wait. Got... You fucking got bedbugs?

You didn't tell me that.

- I'm gonna make a phone call. - You didn't ask.

I'll tell you what,

I'm gonna give you a five-minute head start, Ezra.

No, no, Harvey. Harvey, no, no.

Were you aware of all the fires in and around Leighton and all along Route 7?

And where the fuck was Gudsen when his car got into an accident, huh?

- That's your proof? - [Ezra] Yes!

Fire after fire after fire all along Gudsen's route home.

And then they-- they dried up right when his car got tattooed.

- Come on. - [Harvey] Ez, honestly.

Why don't you go back to whatever construction site porta-potty

you crawled out of and just let the adults...

- Oh, shit. Why you gotta do me like that? - ...get back on with their lives?

Gudsen is the D and C arsonist, Harvey.

He set the Old Sully's fire.

- [Ezra chuckles] - What?

Come on, man. You-You've had to have had an inkling over the years.

I mean, all this shit that hasn't been adding up.

[sniffs]

[stutters] You've thought this since when?

I've known this for the past 48 hours.

[Ezra] Look.

These are all the attendees at the last three arson investigator conferences

where there was, surprise, a rash of arsons.

And guess who's on every fucking list? Guess.

- I bet there's 20 other-- - [Ezra] No, no. Just three.

Three total, including Dave.

And of those three,

Dave's the only Chief Arson Investigator

of this fucking flame-a-palooza you got up in here.

He's also writing a book.

And every D and C fire is in this goddamn book.

Well, slap the cuffs on him. I didn't know he was writing a book.

Huh?

You can never tell him.

You can never tell him.

- I wouldn't. - Harvey, you fucking tell him,

I will drop your goddamn career in a blender and press puree.

Ain't she the shit? Ain't she the shit though, bro?

Come on, just admit it.

You with us, huh?

Or are you gonna be a problem?

Yeah, Harvey. Yeah.

You know, you've always had the moral compass of a priest

with a flask in his pocket and a hard-on at choir practice.

But if we're gonna take Gudsen down, and I promise you that we fucking are,

you're either with us or we're gonna stomp on your balls

like they're little Pinot Grigio grapes.

- Euphemistically speaking, yes. - Oh, no. Not so much.

No, I meant it.

Burke been read in?

Oh, yeah.

I think you're both out of your fucking minds.

Him especially.

I'll be a team player.

- I expect that to be remembered. - [Calderone] Mm-hmm.

I know a place we can use off-site. All right?

- Oh, yeah. You're the best. - Don't touch me.

[Ezra] Okay, I'm sorry. My bad. Okay.

[rock music playing]

I keep telling you, investigator, that you're out of your jurisdiction.

[grunts]

Murder doesn't have a jurisdiction. It's just murder.

Now, you're gonna give me what I need, you fucking gerbil,

or I'm gonna kick your ass into another jurisdiction.

[music stops]

Will 50 do it?

Mm-mmm.

Hey. One more minute and the price doubles.

Nah.

I got it.

[on speaker] As the woman trembled in his arms,

Ken Maddox knew that if it was his last act on this earth,

he would get this evil bastard.

Give me a fucking break.

"You're okay," Ken Maddox assured her.

- Cavalry's here. - "You're safe now."

Chapter six. The Ashes of Dawn.

Who the fuck are you?

Oh, excuse me.

I am the big swinging dick of the entire op.

And this is Special Agent Dawn Hudson, ATF.

Well, well, well.

Ma chérie. [chuckles]

Okay, then. All right. So, why do we need you exactly?

Well, can you investigate crimes no matter where they occur?

You? Luckily, I can. I also have a support staff of hundreds.

And I...

- ...Maddox marched through the crime scene. - Would you turn that off?

Really? It's good. I was kind of digging it.

Mmm. I listened to three chapters in the car.

The prose is hackneyed and turgid.

Oh, heavens. Not "the prose."

What're you? An English major?

- Well, I was. - [Harvey] Mmm.

Parents threatened to stop paying for Yale unless I took something "practical."

[phone buzzes]

Uh...

Answer it.

How?

How you normally answer a phone.

[clears throat]

Investigator Gudsen!

[chuckles] Comandante.

How goes it?

Well, I'm not the one who got T-boned by a drunk driver.

I'm okay. I think.

You know, doctor wanted to keep me in for observation, but I'm feeling fine.

Just gonna head home.

[Harvey] Okay. That's good.

[phone ringing]

- [Dawn] Uh... - [grunts]

Oh. [grunts]

Everything okay?

Hey! Hey, partner. I just walked in. Uh...

Uh, you're alive, I take it. [chuckles]

I am. Yep.

A little banged up but otherwise okay.

[Calderone chuckles] Nice.

Coming in today?

Uh... You know, I think I'm gonna take a recovery day.

Doctor's orders. [chuckles]

[Calderone] Smart.

Well...

Yeah, um, rest up.

[Gudsen] Yeah.

Yeah, I will.

See you guys tomorrow.

- [Harvey] Yeah. - [Calderone] Yeah. See ya.

- [Calderone clears throat] - [Harvey] Nice.

[Dawn] Do we have eyes on our suspect?

- Fuck. - [Harvey] You heard him.

He just said he's on his way home.

Can we confirm that?

[stutters] Not at the moment.

Might want to figure that out.

[Steven] I'll handle it.

Hey, it's me...

Can you do anything about a ticket?

I'm with the fire department.

That's a no?

Right there. Stop.

Hmm.

All right now, the rental company says

that Dave is driving a 2022 dark gray Chrysler 300.

How'd you know which rental company?

I called the one closest to the hospital.

Hmm.

Yo, here's another one. This Valley Farms is Meadow Farms.

That's seven. Seven fires in this book that happened in real life.

He worked those fires, Esposito. He's writing what he saw.

No, he's writing what he set.

I mean, he's right. I can't take the case to the DA without more evidence.

Well, Detective Calderone, uh, found a device in a field

where Gudsen tried to start a fire and then couldn't.

But the field never ignited, right?

No.

So, you have a cigarette you found in a field, not at a crime scene.

Okay. But I bet it has his DNA on it.

Well, won't hold up in court.

It'll at least confirm our suspicions, right?

- I guess. - We'll send it in.

Any other evidence? Inadmissible or otherwise?

Yeah. Gudsen set a series of fires yesterday all along Route 7.

I, um... I don't know,

I motion that maybe you and I take a little scenic tour

of the burn sites and collect the relevant surveillance footage and whatnot.

You and I?

Yeah.

You know, as one possible pairing, yeah.

If it happened yesterday then Leighton PD already obtained the footage.

Oh, yeah, sure. There's... There's that route, yeah.

Of course. Yeah.

Let's call over there.

- Sure. - Nah, I got it. I got it. It's my boys.

I got it.

[line ringing]

[whistles]

Yo, yo, Jimmy T! What's up, my brother?

You still alive and kicking?

[chuckles] It's, um...

It's Ezra. Ez-Ezra Esposito.

Well... Well, I'm sorry you feel that way, Jimmy, but, uh...

Of course, I got morals.

My dick doesn't.

Hence the dualism that's at the heart of mankind.

Am I right? [chuckles]

Hello?

The fucker hung up.

[line ringing]

This is Commander Harvey Englehart, Umberland FD. Please identify yourself.

Officer Tanner,

your department recently obtained security footage

pertinent to an ongoing investigation of ours.

Of-- Yeah, it's five fires up near Route 7.

Let me get you specifics.

Oh, no argument from me.

Huge asshole. Not aging well either.

[chuckles]

[sighs]

That is Freddy Fasano.

He works the grills and fryers at the Coop's on Main and Palomino.

- In Trolley Town. - Yeah.

Freddy Fasano...

Mr. Tillman have a beef with him?

I'm sorry. Uh... Mr. Tillman died in a fire last night.

Did Tillman have a beef with him?

No.

He...

What?

Mr. Fasano applied for a management position.

It was ridiculous.

Why was that ridiculous?

Would you want that to be the face of your company?

[chuckles]

Is that why they keep you in here?

[assistant manager gasps]

There. There, you see that right there?

I see Dave driving down the one road that takes him home.

Harvey, it's the fifth one!

Come on, it's the fucking fifth one!

We've got his car driving by every single fire.

Wait, wait, wait, wait. Do you actually believe

that the arsonist was driving right behind Gudsen the whole fucking way home?

I think a jury could see reasonable doubt.

You don't have a shred of evidence that would hold up in court.

I'm well aware.

I've built cases on a lot less.

And that's what makes you the man you are today.

Fuck you very much.

Well, that's the lab. They put a rush on the DNA,

and they'll reach out to Captain Burke when they have it.

The DNA on the inadmissible incendiary device?

Yeah, great. This case just gets stronger and stronger. Doesn't it?

Patrol unit has eyes on Dave in Trolley Town.

Well, go get him.

Hmm. He is under the impression that she thinks he's at home recovering.

Why would she join him on the street?

Correct.

[Dawn] Play the book.

[Gudsen] "He's playing with us, Chief," Ken Maddox said,

"but I'm not taking this bait.

You hear me?

Bait's for fish.

And I'm not a fish."

Yo.

Where the beer at?

That's Freefall Mountain.

Built in 1972.

At that time, it was the biggest in the Western Hemisphere.

[Lee] No shit?

[Freddy] And the Twister?

Over there?

First ride in this country to ever use

electrically induced magnetic fields.

You know a lot about this place.

I, uh...

I was happy here.

I'm not coming back.

To Coop's.

I figured.

They don't care.

That's what I've been saying, man.

Fucking Dev?

He's a year younger than me.

Talks to me like he's my middle school principal, dawg.

Gonna send me to detention I don't hop to.

That's the kinda culture that they...

they fucking engender there.

You should kill him.

Right?

Push him into the hot grease?

Run him over? Drop a...

Just go to his house.

- Sure. - Burn it while he sleeps.

[laughs] Hardcore!

2424 Rainer Falls Lane.

What's that, man?

Where he lives.

Dev.

With his mother and sister.

Um...

HR manager burned to death in his house last night.

Let me show you the Red Rocket.

Built the same year Neil Armstrong stepped on the moon.

[Gudsen] You ever hang out with him?

[Dev scoffs]

[stutters] H-He's not really the type anyone would...

hang out with.

Why?

Is he volatile?

I don't know what that means.

Flies off the handle.

Gets pissed off quick.

No, he's just, uh...

Nothing.

Nothing.

[Gudsen] Ken Maddox was a born leader,

but if there was one thing he followed,

it was his own intuition.

He surveyed the scene, hunting for evidence...

Oh, oh, oh, oh. Look who's here? The man of the hour.

Was it a match?

No.

The sample was insufficient. So the result's inconclusive.

I'm sorry.

Turning his back on the smoldering wreckage,

Maddox gripped his pistol and stepped into the woods...

- Listen, Harvey. Inconclusive doesn't-- - [Harvey] No, no, no.

[stutters] All I've done is listen, and you know what I hear?

Nothing.

You've got nothing that proves Dave Gudsen is an arsonist.

But you're-you're just so desperate to pin this on somebody, that you'll just...

blow up a man's life.

Fuck you.

For real. All of you.

- Harvey. - Goddamn it.

I know he's your friend, man, and it's hard to believe he could do it.

- I know this is difficult for you to-- - Stop! Stop!

...the boy and Mrs. Sanderson would never walk back out ali--

Anthony, play that last bit back.

[Anthony] Yes, sir.

...Sandersons didn't know when they took their grandson

into a hardware store after buying him a stipachio ice cream,

that the boy and Mrs. Sanderson would never walk back out alive.

[clicks tongue] The kid who died...

the Old Sully fire,

pronounced pistachio "stipachio."

His grandfather told me that.

One-on-one interview.

And I didn't put it anywhere. No report. Nothing.

There's only one way Dave would've known about stipachio.

He was there.

He was there.

[Lee sniffs]

Lotta good times, huh?

You spent all your free time back here in the day, I bet.

I was only here once.

When I was little.

It was for the whole day, though.

[sighs]

I'm gonna take off, Freddy.

Ever find a mouse on one of those sticky things?

At work?

Sometimes they're still making sounds?

Well, yeah.

In the morning?

You first come in, there's one stuck.

What do you do?

- Depends. - [shouts] On what?

Whether it's alive or dead.

And what do you do if it's alive?

Squeaking?

Whining?

Flip the trap over. Stomp on it.

[breathes shakily]

[Freddy] And why do that?

To end its pain, Freddy. [sniffs]

Hand me your phone.

[sniffles, breathes shakily]

[Lee] No, fuck! No, no, no!

[sniffles] Fuck...

[Lee shudders]

Your car keys.

[panting]

[sniffles]

Down past the log ride?

There's a fence.

Move six, seven steps left,

there's a cut.

Go through.

Walk left on Berm...

and then right on Fairway...

for two miles?

Bus stop.

We're friends, Freddy.

Bus quits running at 6:00.

[breathing shakily]

[breathes shakily]

[grunts, panting]

I pulled the file for you, investigator.

But by law, I'm not allowed to discuss any of Mr. Fasano's foster parents,

or the specifics of his juvenile record.

Mmm. Of course.

But you have a full picture of his youth in that file?

There is no full picture to anyone who's grown up in the foster care system.

But there is a narrative thread to this gentleman's life.

And what's the thread?

Rejection.

[clicks tongue]

He was in 27 foster homes between birth and his entry into society.

Uh, it may have ended happy, though.

His last foster home,

he was with a woman who kept Mr. Fasano

from 16 and a half until his 19th birthday.

At which point?

Well, he had to leave.

The state doesn't pay for him anymore.

She didn't want to keep him?

If the state wasn't paying for one of her foster kids, she sure couldn't.

Oh, probably best he got out of her house in the end.

It burned to the ground six months later.

Everyone inside died.

How many?

Um...

two adults, two teenagers, two... Shit...

Two kids under six.

Can you share with me the date of the fire?

August 8th, 2000.

[grunts]

Mr. Fasano dodged a bullet.

[Gudsen chuckles]

Mr. Fasano was the bullet.

[pedestrians chattering]

[gun cocks]

[sniffs]

[grunts]

Fuck!

[pants]

[doorbell rings]

[groans] Son of a...

[grunts]

[Gudsen] Nothing on the fucking walls.

Uh-oh.

[chuckles]

Dave Gudsen.

The selfsame.

How many fires?

256.

Most on my watch.

It's not your fault, Dad.

[scoffs] Sure it is. [inhales sharply]

[sighs]

That Old Sully's fire...

the dead kid's mom insisted upon seeing her son.

[stammers] We couldn't stop it.

When she saw him...

[stutters] Little three-year-old body just...

shrunken...

charred.

She...

She screamed.

Hey.

I can still hear it.

[sniffles]

[sighs]

You know what made her stop screaming?

Dave.

[breathes shakily]

He hugged her.

And I remember thinking, "What a good man."

[sighs]

"What a good man." [sips]

[scoffs]

- [item clatters] - [bottles clinking]

[dog barks in the distance]

[grunts]

[line rings]

[Darlene] Tress for Success, can you hold?

Sure.

Hey!

[chuckles]

What's up?

[both laughing]

[laughing] What?

She's coming home.

It's official.

When?

Monday.

[inhales sharply]

Ooh.

[groans]

[breathing heavily]

[Benji] I genuinely thought,

you know, once it was real you'd realize she's our mother.

She gave birth to us.

She raised us.

Sacrificed for us.

We're family, Michelle.

- She made a mistake, okay. - [sobs]

But you don't turn your back on blood just 'cause they fucked up.

We love each other.

- And I know that you love her. - [screaming]

[door slams]

[sighs]

[carpet squelches]

Freddy.

Is that gasoline, Freddy?

[Freddy] I went to the movies.

Today?

Once.

Everyone was laughin'...

and it wasn't funny.

But everyone laughed.

Why would they do that?

People are strange, Freddy.

Hard to understand sometimes.

[Freddy] Well, I never ask for much.

A bed.

I'll share it.

Pair of pants, a shirt.

I'll do yard work.

I'll do what I'm told.

Some food.

Who you talkin' to, Freddy?

To you, Mrs. Yolanda.

When I left your house...

[sniffs] ...they gave me a check.

$200

and sent me out.

I been out here like,

25 years,

and it still feel like that first day.

I don't get it.

[sniffles]

[cries]

I don't wanna die, Freddy.

[cries]

[crying]

[sniffles]

How else we gonna reach heaven?

- [sniffles] - [sobs]

[Gudsen pants]

[laughing]

[grunts]

["Porno" playing]

[laughing]

Hey.

You're okay.

You're safe now.

[music continues]