My name is Ed Bigelow.
And what you are watching
is the end of my life as I knew it.
For as long as I can remember,
the underground paper I published,
The Cacophony Gazette,
was the most important thing in my life.
Actually, scratch that.
It was the second.
The first was the world
I'd made for myself.
You've seen a bit of it.
The vintage suits, for example.
They're bloody now. Not so crisp.
They say all the world's a stage.
And sucker that I was, I bought the line.
I made myself the star.
I built the stage.
I cast the actors.
I did everything right.
Trust me. You'll see.
And you'll see how it all went to the devil.
And you'll wonder how
it all came to this point.
And how in the hell I got to this place.
What the fuck, Ed?
Don't bring this shit here.
Hey. Hey.
Look, take your ass out into the street
and lie down, all right?
I'll call, okay? Look...
I'll tell 'em there's a guy in the street.
I'll tell 'em Broadway.
Make sure it's Broadway.
It's the best I can do, man.
Ed, you can't be in here like this.
Chong. I need Chong.
Ed?
What are you doing, Chinese Mickey?
- I'm tossin' him out.
- Nice.
It's okay. It's okay.
Why are you here, Ed?
Annie, I need to see Chong.
He wants to see Doc Chong?
Take him to Dr. Chong.
Nobody's supposed to know Chong's here.
Okay? Come on.
Move. Move!
Did you handle it?
Read all about it.
First things first.
Sit on the table, Scoop.
Mabel, sponge him down real good.
Finding places to thicken your blood.
Bang.
At least slow it down.
Just let the suckers do the rest.
Bang.
Leave us.
Wanna tell me what went down?
I'd rather just lie here.
Let your needles and
your guys do their work.
It's all in the Gazette.
We can hash this out later,
when you're feeling up to it.
We will.
We definitely will.
Happy Halloween, Ed.
Happy Halloween.
Baby, why do we even
bother coming to this thing every year?
What is wrong with you?
This one looks promising.
So what do you think?
I think I'm gonna give her a spin.
I'll take heads.
- Nice job. Here's your ticket.
- Thank you.
Ooh, it's a voucher for one
of those concession skags.
You want anything?
You think it's real?
Cute.
I dig their sound.
You gonna write them up?
Unless something horrific
ties this circus together.
I mean probably, maybe.
- Do you want to go upstairs?
- Just following you, baby.
Ed!
- Hi.
- Hey.
This is my girlfriend Maggie.
We met at church.
Rexina.
- Hi.
- Hi.
Come to my show.
I wouldn't miss it.
Good to see you.
How do you forget a name like Rexina?
All the dog-collared girls,
they start to run together.
- How'd you know?
- You introduced me first.
You're sharp.
Mud wrestling, that's new.
I like that one. She's got spunk.
Church?
Return to Neverland.
Nobody ever gets tired
of Michael Jackson jokes.
Whoo-hoo! Yeah!
You know what I do not love?
- Is the boredom of this place.
- True.
But you do love that everybody here
will do anything
to make sure you're not bored.
Now it just seems like people
are trying harder and harder
to make it seem like
they're having a good time,
when in reality everyone here is just...
All right.
- A magic show?
- Yeah, it's worth a shot.
The address is right by.
Wow.
And wow.
Looks like you got your next issue.
What's up with that homeless guy?
That's not the guy who met us out front.
Oh, shh, shh.
That's the one that gave us the card.
He's just a stringer.
He's got to be the opening act.
Oh, my God.
Oh, my God, no.
No, no. It's a rat.
It's a rat. It's a live rat.
Where do you think you're going?
Yes, you.
The slut in the back.
Sit down, bitch.
You die tonight.
- That's Cayenne.
- Who?
So commands...
Montag the Magnificent.
Oh, I love you people.
You people feel nothing.
You have no empathy.
Well, tonight you are
going to feel something.
And right now, I am going to attempt
to feel something,
anything other than...
disgust and contempt
for you people,
you people who make my day.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Honey, it's just a trick.
Is it?
When a person goes through
a glass windshield of a car
and, months later,
their skin begins to open
to let the glass through in any way it can,
is that a trick, too?
Perhaps this...
bringing to the surface
of things,
of sharp things, is a trick.
It may be that the biggest illusion,
the only illusion,
is that of...
escape.
We haven't forgotten about you, bitch.
It's time for you to become
an escape artist.
Just look at you.
Just look at her, folks.
In her armor,
her shell,
Just look at yourselves.
Ridiculous.
To hide is useless, my little crabs.
It is an exercise
in futility.
What you all are...
is pulp,
when the rind
is split wide open.
Strip off your dress.
A lot of people pay money
to see you take off your clothes.
Oh, my God.
I can't believe he's doing that.
But this...
this is just
more rind.
So, one of them eats bugs,
and the other one does shadow plays.
Way to set the world on fire, guys.
This is great stuff.
When we escape,
we escape fully.
Leaving nothing behind.
Not even...
a shadow.
- Oh, my God!
- Holy shit!
Did you feel something?
Anything?
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.
They ate it up.
They did indeed.
God, my feet are killing me.
You want a drink?
Uh, need a drink's more like it.
- You ate it up.
- Because it was brilliant, Maggie.
It was brilliant.
Everything about it was misdirection.
Even his patter about
escape was an illusion.
Control, that was the illusion.
And then the way
that he turned it back on itself
and made it seem like
everything was out of control.
Did you see his face
when he got caught in the act?
Literally, caught in the act.
Brilliant.
That's a real fancy rationalization
for some obvious misogyny
you got for yourself there.
And that woman...
oh, excuse me, the slut...
that he dragged onstage.
How'd you know who she was?
Cayenne strips
at Jumbo's Clown Room.
So you're on
a first-name basis with strippers?
Sometimes I feel like
I don't even know who you are.
Everyone knows Cayenne.
Mm. Everyone.
Yes, everyone does,
and that was actually
Montag's one mistake.
When he pulled her up on stage
and ripped her dress,
he said people pay
good money to see this.
He never would have known that
had he not met Cayenne before.
That was his only mistake.
Everything else...
Everything else was perfect.
It was choreographed like a dance.
Like a striptease?
You're just floored because you like to see
naked chicks, Ed, face it.
That's my girl, Cayenne.
Jumbo's.
Frank, it's Edmund Bigelow.
I know, it says so on the caller ID, stupid.
Look, is Cayenne in yet?
No.
Well, I need to see her
as soon as possible.
Look, you want a private arrangement
with Cayenne,
you don't call here, remember?
Because I don't know
what you're talking about.
Wait. You don't know
what I'm talking about?
You want Cayenne?
Look, make like a bunny
and bounce, you hear me, Ed?
Montag the Magnificent
greets everyone at the door
with hands so greasy
it's a wonder his fingerprints can hang on.
The most disgusting part of the show.
Greetings, salutations.
Greetings and salutations.
Greetings and salutations.
Greetings and salutations.
- Greetings!
- Mister...
Mr. Montag, my name is Ed Bigelow.
Salutations.
I would love to speak
with you after the show
- if that's at all possible...
- Salutations.
...about a story that I'm working on.
It seems that we are speaking,
and that the story has already begun.
Greetings and salutations.
Greetings.
No repeat customers.
Who'd think someone besides you,
besides us, would, uh,
return for a second helping?
There's Cecelia.
Let me guess.
Everybody knows Cecelia.
No comment.
Every night, the geek
sets up the act like bowling pins
so the magician can throw a strike.
It's the same song and dance
two nights in,
right down to the shocked girl
with the look of disgust
plastered across her face.
She's got no idea what she signed up for.
Or does she?
Two nights, two girls, same day job,
stripping at Jumbo's Clown Room.
Does the audience realize this,
or are they too busy
getting played like a fiddle?
What are you afraid of?
Exposure.
We swim
in a shark-infested cesspool,
terrified that at any moment
things will nip at us.
Oh. Ha ha.
They will nip at us,
and they are hungry.
They are those closest to us,
our best friends.
Our girlfriends.
They are us.
I'm not going back.
That whole thing was disgusting.
Did you hear that?
Our girlfriends.
Not our boyfriends and girlfriends,
not our lovers, our girlfriends.
And he was looking at you
the entire time.
That was just because we were there
two nights in a row
and because I tried to talk
to him before the show.
Fine, write your little article.
Give the fucker more publicity.
Oh, that is awfully
open-minded of you, artist girl.
What the fuck's
that supposed to mean?
So it's freedom of expression
as long as Maggie agrees with it, right?
You know what?
You're just like everybody else,
used to objectifying people like, uh,
Cayenne and Cecelia.
- Oh, Jesus.
- Don't "Oh, Jesus" me.
You've gone and seen them
on stage before.
And then they get up there
and do their little
meat puppet routine with Montag.
It's nothing new for you.
He fondles them, paws all over 'em.
Shit, I bet you wish
you could do the same thing.
What's with the, uh...
It relaxes me.
Because you make me fucking tense.
Asshole.
God.
Yeah.
Ed, turn on the TV. Channel 4.
It's not the best time right now.
Just do it.
Earlier today,
authorities are cautioning everyone
to stay out of the water.
Local Santa Monica residents
were stunned this morning
when the remains of this woman...
It's your friend Cayenne
from that show last night.
The Coast Guard is out in force
searching for the great
white shark believed...
It wasn't a fucking shark attack.
Look, Maggie, I need to go.
- I'll get back to you, okay?
- Ed, wait. Ed...
- Yo.
- Jinky.
Uh, yeah, Eddie.
It's not really a good time right now.
Listen, a girl got attacked
by a shark last night, right?
Yeah, no shit.
Between her and the one
that came in yesterday...
you know, that girl who got split open...
my internship here
has been, like, you know,
on-the-job experience, let me tell you.
I can't be on the phone right now.
That girl got split open?
She was, like, cracked
open like a lobster.
Yeah, so whatever. What do you want?
Listen, Jinky, I think
there may be a connection
- between those two.
- What do you mean?
Then I want you to double-check
with that shark girl.
Are you sure it was a shark?
What? No, no, no. Not on the phone.
Listen,
lunch break's in 45.
Fountain in MacArthur Park.
They got interns working cases now.
It's homework.
Not that you would know
anything about that.
Some of us have to struggle
to get where we want to be.
Okay, let me finish this.
I'm working a crime scene,
but I'm working it wrong.
Say that again?
We pick a spot, collect evidence of a crime,
build a case against
a theoretical suspect,
point being the suspect is innocent,
and all this shit is circumstantial.
Like, say... for example,
you knowing shit you shouldn't.
Shark girl is all over the news
as a shark attack.
But you... you ask me
to make sure it was a shark that killed her.
Guess what. It wasn't.
Sharks usually leave behind teeth
in the deceased's muscle,
but if they don't,
they definitely have
something that says,
"Congratulations,
you've just been bit by a giant..."
I get it, Jinky.
You're a busy man.
Gotta get back to, uh, cashing checks
from that trust fund,
playing with your newspaper.
Look, any time you want
to call an armistice
on this class war we got going on,
I'm willing to talk.
Let's talk, then.
Tell me what you know
about tetrodotoxin.
- Tetro...
- Dotoxin?
Comes from a pufferfish.
Small doses, it can be
used as a hallucinogen.
In larger ones, it makes zombies.
- Excuse me?
- Like in Haiti.
Some old Serpent and the Rainbow shit.
Tox reports came back
on your two girls.
Showed massive doses
in the both of them.
Yeah.
Yes. Sorry. Um...
Yeah, I'll be there. Bye.
Look, you got to meet me
tonight, okay, Jinky?
There's something I got to show you.
All right.
I don't know what it is you're huffing,
but if you want the good shit,
you come to your man Jinky.
Smile.
Retard.
Go away. We're closed.
You're always closed.
Just... Just lock up tight behind you.
You know, with free
advertising like this,
you really ought to keep the doors
open for business more often.
Lordy.
Stand back and let
the guys do their work.
What kind of work are they doing?
Mind ya.
Mind ya?
Mind ya fucking business
if you know what's good for ya.
Look, you got five minutes
of time for me?
What do you know about tetrodotoxin?
Shit.
Tapped out.
It's a drug that comes
from the pufferfish.
I know what it is, motherfucker.
When I was in the Southeast,
when we were doing
our little PSYOPS,
there was a lot of talk about it.
It's a mind control drug,
a gorilla of one.
Did a little R&D and figured out
it made subjects
completely open to suggestion,
could get them to do
whatever we wanted.
This time I heard about,
I wasn't there, you understand?
One of our guys was gonna
talk to some writer
working on a Kennedy book.
Before he could,
some tetro found its way
into the dude's food.
A few choice words later
by the right people,
this poor fuck thinks
the inside of his mouth
is growing hair.
Next morning,
he takes a razor blade to his tongue.
End of story.
Now, the thing about tetro
and the reason we had
a hard-on for it
is it could kill your memory.
Like, say, you were on it right now.
I could make you forget
what I wanted you to
and remember what I told you to.
Jesus. What the hell
were you guys doing over there?
Didn't I tell you that the writer
was working on a Kennedy book?
Your five minutes is so up.
Now, say a person wanted
to get some hands on the tetro.
Where would they go about doing that?
We got it from holy men
in the mountains.
Magician types.
You don't know any magicians,
now do you?
Jinky thinks he's seen it all,
but he hasn't seen anything yet.
He's going to see a girl
die on stage tonight.
But he's not going to see her die
afterwards in a dream.
Not like I will, at least.
"Sit down, bitch.
You die tonight."
What you are,
what you all are,
is meat.
Cattle...
that will never escape from the herd.
My dear,
if you please.
Back to the cocoon.
You may awake...
now.
Where am I?
- The Greeks used this...
- Let me out of here.
...the brazen bull, for torture, yes,
but also for transformation.
- You...
- Help me!
...have returned
to the cocoon, my dear,
to metamorphosize.
Surely, you cannot remain
the pathetic piece of meat
that you have always been.
No!
I will not let you out until you are done!
Ha ha ha ha!
Do you understand me?
Until you are done!
Ah.
Good.
- Oh, God, it's really...
- What the fuck?
You're nowhere near done.
Thank you.
She was up and around.
Okay, see, this is the thing with
tetrodotoxin.
I don't think it just takes you
on a magical mystery ride.
I mean, the way that I heard it is...
is it makes you see things
that people want you to see.
Like a girl getting cooked alive.
Seeing wasn't the half of it.
It's the smelling.
You know, you open up
a body bag from a three-alarm
and the stink rushes
out at you, like...
And you know, burnt flesh...
yeah, you expect that
and burning hair, maybe,
if you got a vivid imagination,
but, you know, boiled blood,
you don't know the smell of that
until you've personally
gotten a nose full.
What is up with you, Ed, huh?
Yeah, yeah.
Listen, can you get back
in the Coroner's Office?
Spend some time in the lab,
see if you can get
the chemical makeup of tetrodotoxin.
I don't think we're on drugs.
The nose knows.
And even if you're right,
we still got a problem.
Yeah.
Yeah, real dead bodies.
I'm on it.
Just don't be too on it.
Yeah.
Hey. Hey, wait up.
Well, hello there, sugar.
It was my father's.
Hold this?
There.
Better.
Need a drink?
Better.
That's your poison.
Right.
So, was tonight
the first time you met Montag,
or was the whole thing scripted?
First time I met who?
You met Montag, the magician.
Magician?
Like, "bunny in a hat" magician?
You went to a magic show tonight.
No, I didn't.
Yes, you did.
A magic show.
And you're naked.
Comes with the territory.
You're drinking that bourbon
like it's water.
I have to, don't I...
when dealing with a freak like you...
Ed?
How do you know my name?
How do you know my name?
Look, stop fucking around.
Quit fucking around.
Better tell me what's going on.
- Now!
- Tell me what you know n...
Hey!
- Hey!
- Give it back.
Give it back.
- Huh?
- Ah!
You don't remember the trick, huh?
Huh? You don't remember the show?
You remember now?
Ed, why didn't you call me last night?
I'm sorry.
Just things have been a little bit weird.
Can we not fight anymore? I just...
I just feel
like neither of us is feeling right.
We have to feel safe with each other.
Yeah. That sounds good to me.
I thought we quit.
Me, too.
Jenkins.
Get away from me.
No, no, no. Please, man.
I need your help.
That girl that got
burned up in the show,
I saw her not 10 minutes
ago on a slab.
Something tells me
you saw her before that,
so get the fuck
away from me, Ed, please.
Look, I did see her last night.
I followed her home.
There was a fire.
Look, I may have started it, okay?
So, uh, I don't know
what's gotten into me.
What was in the forensics report?
Not much. There was no scene.
She was dumped downtown.
There's no evidence
of the fire you said you started.
All right, uh, let me handle this.
Can we come in?
I'm with the Coroner's Office.
You can. Your buddy can't.
All right, uh...
Here.
Thank you.
Hey.
Nothing.
No scorch marks, no signs of struggle,
not a damn thing.
But the cops are in there
just to get her address book,
check her phone caller I.D.,
swipe her hard drive,
shit like that.
Isn't all that circumstantial?
I got to work with what I got.
Waiting for the magic show to start
feels like the dream.
It's what happens later
that feels like it's real.
I've been shopping for it all day.
And it can't
get dosed with that d-d-detrox...
Who told you about that stuff?
Tetrodotoxin?
I did.
Hey, Jinky.
"Hey, Jinky"?
Jinky tracked me down earlier.
Montag's got some horrible hands, huh?
The meet-and-greet's
the nastiest part of the show
as far as I'm concerned.
Now cue the offended patron.
Oh, man.
It's in his hands, Eddie.
It's in...
It's in Montag's hands.
Some people talk too much.
Talking.
It can really ruin...
...the magic.
Let me demonstrate for you
how talking absolutely
kills the mood
among other things.
Who is he talking to?
You.
Dear sir.
Join me onstage.
Do something.
Strip.
Ladies and gentlemen,
when you come to my house,
you are stripped.
This show is about what's on the inside,
what is inside you.
Sit.
Is it beautiful?
Uhh!
Or is it...
ugly?
Where were you?
I was just about to ask
you the same thing.
Are you all right?
I'm fine. You are not.
Where's Maggie?
Interesting you bring her up.
I mean, you guys
left together and then...
Left where together?
The show.
- The magic show?
- Yes.
Wasn't no show.
I went down there, and it was locked up.
You weren't there, either.
Hence where were you?
No, no, no, no, no, Jinky.
There was a show tonight.
You were there with Maggie.
We were all there.
You died tonight.
He did the trick on you.
He pulled you up on stage,
and he gave you a speech
about how you talk too much.
Look, come here, come here,
come here, come here.
You figured it out.
You figured out
how he transfers the tetro to people.
His hands.
He had to shut you up.
Good theory. Not mine.
What is that?
Security footage from an outfit
name of March Hare Escort.
Ever hear of it?
No.
Don't lie to me, Eddie.
I'm not lying to you.
I'm going to have to walk
you through this, huh?
You're gonna have
to walk me through what?
Tell me about Maggie.
She's my girlfriend.
And you met her how?
Are you afraid to tell me?
No.
Embarrassed?
No, I'm not embarrassed.
It's just...
I just...
I just don't remember right now.
Maybe you should have,
uh, written it down.
Maybe you should fuck off.
I'm only going to tell you this once,
so keep your pencil ready.
March Hare
is a super-exclusive escort service
specializing in bondage.
But the girls in its stable aren't doms.
They're submissives.
Guys pay to hurt them.
Each one of Montag's volunteers
was a March Hare employee.
He uses the place
like it's Central Casting.
Actresses needed.
Must love to be humiliated.
Nudity required.
And you know this how?
Burned girl's apartment, it turns out,
was a gold mine of information.
Looks like she was going
to write her memoirs.
Unfortunately,
there was nothing in them
about who owns
or runs March Hare or where it's at.
She ripped a bunch of these, though,
from the place's security cams.
As we speak,
LAPD is going through them
and identifying clients...
Why are you bringing this to me?
I mean it's got nothing to do with me.
Maggie worked for March Hare.
No, she didn't.
Yes. Just one of the many things
you're in denial about.
I am not in denial about anything.
Maybe... Maybe the fucking tetro...
You knew those girls were plants.
You knew Cayenne...
I know Cayenne from
Jumbo's Clown Room.
You're telling me stuff I already know.
A picture is worth
a thousand words, Eddie.
Watch this and tell me I'm wrong.
You know I can't play that
in this house.
Do yourself a favor.
Chip off enough of that trust fund,
you know, and enter the 21st Century.
Get yourself something to play it on.
After you do, don't call me.
You'll see why.
Just tell me what is on the video.
Just tell me what's on the video.
Maggie for one thing, you for another.
Stop being so vague.
That's the last thing
you want me to do
because I'm this far
from dropping a dime on you,
- best friend or not...
- Don't keep secrets from me.
I think you could do it.
I think you might be
a bad man, Ed Bigelow.
A very, very bad man.
So it turns out I do know a magician.
Rat fuck of a magician, I bet.
And in case you have any doubts,
yes, you got a dose, a big one.
You stink of it.
I can hear it in every move you make.
We killed the tetro program
when they figured out
the body could only take so much.
Bad for the bones.
Can't have a hit man
that sounds like a cheap wind-up toy.
And wiped-out memory or no,
you can't have one that's
dying in some prison
curled up in a fetal position
because his ribs collapse
and crush his heart.
It's too many questions.
Why didn't you tell me
any of this before?
Because I got a bad dose myself.
The last time you saw me,
I wasn't thinking clearly.
I had gaps in my memory.
But I was cleansing.
The leeches bled it...
Settle down.
I'm out of leeches,
and I am not going through that again.
You want to get rid of it,
you got to bleed it out.
So you're not going to help me at all.
Did I say that? Did I say that?
You seem to have forgotten
or were made to forget
that I have a lot of business dealings,
have my fingers in a lot of nasty pies.
You want something,
you know where to look,
you can find it.
Our magician friend came to me,
asking me for tetro.
I don't ask questions
when I'm moving quantity.
He meets my price.
I'm feeling generous,
so I offer him one of my girls,
and you should have seen
his eyes light up
and said he needed girls.
Some show he was planning.
I have... had... a stable of girls
I offer him for the week.
We shake on it,
and the next thing I know,
my dumb ass is dosed.
And the next thing I know,
my girls are gone.
And the next thing I know,
they start showing up dead.
Now here is where you come in.
I had a girl...
one that left me
a week before,
a real thoroughbred of a girl,
had it in for one of my best clients.
This guy put so much money on her
it was like he had her
on layaway already
so I cut her loose with my blessing.
And her name is Maggie, right?
Merry Christmas, Scoop.
From here on, find your own way.
Where have you been?
I snuck out.
Geek character followed me,
but I got to my car first.
And it took you this long to get home?
He kept following me in his car.
I mean, you wouldn't think
someone like that could drive,
let alone someone gives
that creepy bugger a license.
So there was a show.
Obviously.
After I lost him,
I had to go and download
the video from the show
and burn a DVD so we could watch it.
These things take time.
Is Jinky here?
Lt'll be up in a second. We can watch it.
Why would Jinky be here?
I just figured he'd be here.
Just chill out, okay?
Maggie, do you think I'm a bad man?
I think...
A slightly weird man, yeah.
And a sweaty man, definitely.
A bad man, uh...
No, I don't think you're a bad man.
Let me ask you this.
Do you think you're a whore?
What?
Do you think you're a whore?
A prostitute?
A slut, Maggie?
Because I don't know who you are.
And I don't know
what you do for a living.
And I don't even know
how we met, Maggie.
We met, uh...
We met, uh...
We met at church.
Yeah.
That was a joke that I made up
on the spot, remember?
It's like our lives started that night.
And before that, you were just a whore,
and I was a bad man.
And our lives now are just an illusion.
You shouldn't say that.
You sound like him.
We have to go back and stop him.
It's on now.
It's about what's inside.
What is inside you.
Sit.
I am using this
to push the towel
down young sir's throat.
You can hear me... grunt
as I push it... deeper...
deeper...
Is it beautiful?
Young sir is feeling
as though he is suffocating.
Or is it ugly?
This changes everything.
It's not the trick. It's the rhythm
of his voice is different.
And it's not what he's saying.
It's just... It's written all over his face.
While he's trying to tell us what to see,
it's like he's struggling
to remember what to say.
Greetings.
Just remember that
whatever happens up there
is not real, okay?
And then, after the show,
we got to stick together.
We got to watch each other's back.
I can't go through with it.
What's in that thing?
We can go through with this.
Oh, my God!
It's going to have to be another way.
Um, I'd like to say
I'm sorry, but I'm not.
Sit.
Sit down, bitch.
You die tonight.
I'd like to say I'm sorry, too,
but it's better this way.
Eyes front.
You cannot move.
You cannot even know
if you are really here.
If you will.
- Ooh!
- Whoa!
One of magic's many beauties
is that the illusion can begin
long before the audience even knows
it is going to be tricked.
Trick.
A word with so many meanings.
You fake your own...
reality.
You...
the things that you believe
about yourself.
Delusions.
The things that you tell yourself.
Lies.
Are you ready...
for...
the truth?
Jinky's body has disappeared,
and in magic,
vanishing is just the old bait and switch.
Dell's body burned in an apartment
without any fire damage.
She was dumped downtown.
What I'm doing I can't be doing
where I think I'm doing it.
"You got a dose. A big one."
It's just like the show.
Montag tells the audience what to see,
but he's not doing anything.
"I'm forcing the towel
down young sir's throat."
If there's no magic,
what's the purpose of the magician?
If there's no crime scene,
where are the crimes taking place?
Maggie, where will you die tonight?
Why will you die tonight?
One of magic's many beauties
is that the illusion can begin
long before the audience even knows
it is going to be tricked.
Trick, a word with so many meanings.
Are you ready...
for the truth?
You're my baby girl.
It's all right, right?
Ed. Ed.
Careful.
What the hell?
I remember.
Maggie, I remember everything.
Do you?
Look... come here.
Don't hurt me.
What is that?
All right. It's Montag's crest
and other stupid things...
But what is it a picture of?
It's a bunny.
No, it's not a bunny. What is it?
What is it?
It's a bunny rabbit... a rabbit.
No. It's a hare.
Hare?
It's a hare. March Hare Escort.
What does that mean to you?
March Hare Escorts.
You're rambling. You're hurting me.
You never hurt me before.
I just thought we were going to be
able to do this together,
but I guess I was wrong.
Please.
What's in that thing?
You already asked me
fucking once at the show,
and I told you it's none of your business.
We didn't go.
We were trying to figure out what to do,
and then you started working on this
and zoned out.
It was hours ago.
I remember.
Maggie, I remember.
I'm a bad man.
You're psycho, that's what you are.
You haven't gone anywhere tonight
except for in this thing.
Maggie, give me back my bag.
No, I...
There's something wrong with you.
It's like you've got holes in your brain.
And they clear up when I hit that bag,
so give it fucking back to me.
Nothing clears up.
You don't know where you've been
or where you haven't
- or what you've seen or what...
- Give it to me!
Give me back my bag.
Holy shit. God.
Please. No.
Come here.
Get away from me!
Ohh!
Chong cut Maggie loose
from March Hare Escorts,
and I cut her loose from life.
The old doc says I have
to find my own way, and I will.
I'll sit here outside Jumbo's
all day long if I have to.
Frank can easily arrange things,
playing middle man from the good doctor
from his spot behind the bar.
He knows where
March Hare Escorts is,
and he'll tell me,
even if he doesn't want to.
I have nothing left except questions.
Who is the magician
if Montag doesn't perform magic?
What is the trick?
Where have the bodies gone?
When did I become the murderer?
Why does Dr. Chong seem
to have all the answers
except the ones I need?
The magician will try to distract me,
to trap me unless I find him first.
But I'll be powerless
If I get him before he can
tell me what to believe.
To trap me... until I find him first.
This I know to be true.
I'm a bad man who tricked himself
into believing I wasn't.
I've always had the murderer inside me.
It all comes back to March Hare Escorts.
It all started there,
and that's where it will end.
Come back in an hour. We're closed.
Ed?
Man, you look terrible.
You want, like, a glass
of water or something?
Make like a bunny and bounce.
Hey, don't be talking that smack in here,
especially lately, people are fucking...
Get your fucking sweaty hands off me!
Shut up. Shut up.
Now, most people, they go their whole lives
with the destiny that's on the horizon
that they just never touch.
And mine's at a place
called March Hare Escorts.
Yeah.
Just give me the fucking address.
Okay.
Hello.
Hello.
The Bunny Trail Motel.
I've been here before.
I've been here many times before.
When we escape, we escape fully.
And they are...
ugly.
"They are those that
are closest to us us...
"They're our best friends.
They're our...
"The third trap is in the air now,
"and it will not hold firm when it lands.
"You see it bite
into the little darling's leg.
"Take it off.
"Hit the floor.
Hit the floor.
Until you are donel
What is inside you?
"Ling Chi:
Death by a thousand cuts.
Death by a thousand cuts.
You want to get rid of it?
You've got to bleed it out.
Hoorah!
Ling Chi:
Death by a thousand cuts.
I will cut you piece by piece.
I will open you up,
then you can see I am not the magician.
I am the trick.
Like you, I am a prop
to be used for this final trick.
I will let out what
the magician added to you,
and once you are truly opened up,
you can put the pieces together.
In this world, there are
two kinds of people:
Fools and visionaries.
The fool sees the solution
the magician intends him to see.
Which one are you?
The fool...
or the visionary?
The visionary.
Escaped visionary.
Go ahead.
Cut me more,
because the more you cut,
the more I bleed,
and the more I bleed,
the more you lose your hold on me.
That... That was just a means to an end.
But you and what you have accomplished...
That you have always had within you.
The only reason that you haven't seen it
is because magic is all
about misdirection...
But you...
don't have direction.
I think now I do.
Hey, there he is!
Don't just stand there. Come here.
Give me a hand with this shit.
God...
You can't put the whammy on me.
The poison's bled out.
Hey, Ed, I'm the magician,
and the poison ain't the trick.
You are.
At least you will be now that you've
taken care of Montag for me.
Don't bet on it.
Just get your ass over here
and help me with this shit.
It's all yours now.
Oh, hey!
What do you think, huh,
about the redecorating of the Bunny Trail?
I figured a cat like you,
with your eye for detail,
would dig that.
Bloody wing tips in one room,
filthy DNA-smeared sheets in another.
Complete sets of fingerprints
in all of 'em.
And, oh, yeah.
The bodies.
But I can make it all
just disappear.
Pfoo.
And I will provide you with everything
that you could ever, ever, ever need.
Yeah, like filling me up with enough tetro
so I can dose audiences?
Till I can barely move?
Until my skull gets cracked open
by the next replacement?
Let's just stop fucking around here.
You got a taste for only
two things right now:
Tetrodotoxin and hurting people!
And only one of them is new!
Now, that's funny
because I was thinking
of the exact same thing.
- Aah!
- Why don't I take
the tainted blood on this knife
and mainline a nice dose of tetro into you
and I find the replacement
magician next time, huh?
Don't worry. You're not going to die.
You won't exactly live, either.
You can ice three strangers to frame a man,
but when you get that man
to murder his own,
you better know what you're doing
because by forcing him to cut
everything from his world,
the stage he built for himself,
the suit he wore,
the actors he cast in his own little story,
you might just find that man reborn.
Very interesting.
Do you want to get my clothes?
So what did you think of the story?
It needs a little editing,
especially the parts that mention my name
and things I may
or may not do or have done
that fall beyond acceptable norms.
You got the top copy.
That's the special edition.
That's just for Chong.
You might want to check out
some of the others.
They're a little less... explicit.
You see, Chong,
I didn't exactly have enough...
ink...
if you get what I'm saying.
Now sit down.
And shut up.
And take that special edition.
And eat it.
But tear it into little pieces first
so you don't choke.
You could have taken the tetro out of me
whenever you wanted to, but you didn't.
You used me, Chong,
because you didn't want
to get your hands dirty.
Better that I deal
with the rat fuck magician
who's stealing your stable.
I left the body there.
A magician by the name of Montag.
You're a pretty smart guy, Chong.
Why don't you pin the murders on him?
If you're lucky,
you'll get off with a pandering charge.
And, Chong, I'm also going to need a line
on your tetro supplier.
But we'll hash that out later,
when you're feeling up to it.
Which brings us to that end
I was talking about:
The final curtain for that life
and that Ed Bigelow.
I took that coward who was afraid
to size himself up for what he really was
and put him out of his misery.
Now I live backstage.
From my spot here, I can make people
dance to whatever tune I want them to.
When they come to my house,
I hold their lives in my hands.
They don't have to see me,
and I don't have to parade
myself in front of them.
I know what's inside me,
and whenever I want,
I can see everything that's inside of them,
if you catch my drift.
You wonder how in the hell
I got to this place.
You should be asking
what took me so long.