At Clockworks in one-on-one therapy, Melanie sits and plays with her hair. Lenny tells her to be honest and admit that she misses Oliver, and Melanie finally says that she does. The therapist says that's why Melanie came up with the idea of the frozen man who doesn't age or change. Melanie says that she's okay with change, and Lenny points out that Melanie hasn't changed anything in 20 years and keeps the fantasy alive that Oliver isn't dead. The older woman insists that Oliver is coming back, and Lenny tells her that she's the one who is frozen.
Later, Ptonomy meets with Lenny and describes how his mother died when he was 5, unloading the dishwasher. Lenny points out that he spends a lot of time in that memory, in the past. Ptonomy admits that all he can do is watch.
Cary and Kerry sit next to each other and Lenny points out how unhealthy their closeness is. They explain that they're the same person but they don't share the same body and they're not crazy.
Lenny tells The Eye--Walter--that she's sensing a lot of hostility from him. She points out that he was the last boy in his class to mature, and Walter says that what matters is where someone ends up. He insists that he's a man now, and Lenny says that Walter is isolating himself from the world.
Syd talks to Lenny and says that she knows that she's just trying to help, but it doesn't feel real. She insists that there's something wrong, and it feels like a boring dream. Lenny says that's enough for the day and tells Syd to get her meds. As Syd goes to the common room, she sees a bedroom door . As she listens at it, a nurse calls her to the nurse's station and gives the first warning.
In the common room, Melanie tends flowers while Cary and Kerry play ping pong. Amy--a nurse--comes over to conduct a spot check on Syd. Syd warns that she can't stand to be touched, but has no choice. After groping her entire body, Amy slaps Syd on the butt and walks off. Meanwhile, David and Ptonomy watch one of the patients drool, and David wonders who any of them were before they came to Clockworks. Ptonomy doesn't care and suggests that there was no before.
Syd comes over to say hi to David, and he tells her that there's pie for lunch. She asks if they noticed the bedroom door, and they haven't. Lenny comes over to tell David that it's time for his session. In her office, David says that he's found himself at Clockworks. He's gotten closer to Syd and the world is starting to make sense. Lenny asks him about his earlier feelings of separation, and David says that he has a relationship now and he's in control there. She wonders if David worries that he'll lose it, and David admits that he used to believe that he would lose the mirage. He warns that it's the invulnerable side of mania that is dangerous and he still wants to mess things up even though he has balance.
In the common room, Melanie is feeding an imaginary Oliver while David gets two plates of pie. He gives one to Syd but Amy comes over and takes the pie away from David. Syd starts to give him hers, but Amy forbids it. Once Amy leaves, Syd refuses to eat if David can't have any, but he tells her to go ahead and she takes a bite... and discovers that the pie is covered in bugs. Gagging, Syd shoves it away and when she looks at the pie on the floor, the bugs are gone.
In her office, Lenny performs a striptease dance number through David's memories. She then goes to Syd's cell and makes sure the woman is sleeping, and blows her a kiss. As she sleeps, Syd dreams of a bullet, the Devil, and being with David in the White Room. David comes in and startles her awake, and gets into bed with her using a rolled-up blanket to separate them. Syd says that she has a feeling of deja vu about what they're doing, She asks David if he's happy at Clockworks, and David admits that he's no good at "out there" because it's too much. He jokingly hopes that they'll give them their own room and they can live day by day. Syd asks if he really wants to get old in a mental hospital with the other freaks, and David points out that Lenny says that not everyone is cut out for real life. She tells David that she can't stay there, and David wonders if she can do it for him.
The next day, Syd walks down the hall and notices that the bedroom door is gone. In the common room, Cary and Kerry are playing checkers while Melanie looks out the window and admires the sky. Syd joins Cary and Kerry and says that she didn't sleep well, and describes her dream where it feels like they're already dead. Cary says that he dreamed of a large ice cube, and Melanie says that she dreams about love. Syd asks them if they saw the bedroom door, and Cary suggests that she was confused. She doesn't believe it.
Kerry and Cary walk down the hallway, and Cary performs a magic trick for his sister. He goes into the bathroom, and Walter watches Kerry. When she toward him, he disappears. Cary comes out and Kerry instinctively twists his hand for a moment. He escorts her to her room and assures her that he'll be right next door. Cary goes to his room and exercises briefly before bed, and Kerry lies back on her bed. As he lies down, Kerry knocks on the separating wall. Cary knocks back and turns off the light, and a giant ice cube hovers above him. He reaches up to touch it and finds himself in a forest, and the Diving Suit Man standing nearby. Cary tries to get a response from him without success, and asks the Man to take him to the ice cube. After a moment, the Man walks off and Cary follows him.
David is painting while Syd reads a book about dream states. She says that she heard banging from the door like someone wanted to get out, and how she feels that everything seems like a dream. Syd suggests that Clockworks is a version of reality, and David worries that they'll up her meds if they learn what she's thinking. She describes her condition about not wanting to be touched, and David tells her that she's at Clockworks because she's delusional. Syd says that it's David, and David tells her that he's manic-depressive. She wonders why he thinks that she's the crazy one, and David describes how when she first arrived she was strapped down. He assures her that he doesn't think that she's psychotic, and tells her to take deep breaths. Syd quickly leaves over David's protests.
In the hallway, Syd sees a pulsing spot in the walls. She touches it and it starts to bleed, and Syd remembers Lenny being entombed partway into a wall... and then remembers what happened in Clockworks when she and David touched, and everything that happened since including her taking a bullet meant for David. Lenny comes up and tells Syd that it's after hours, and tells her to put on a set of headphones as part of the music therapy that she's trying. Syd puts the headphones on and hears the sound of crickets, and says that it's beautiful. She closes her eyes to listen, and floats through the hallways to her bed.
Ptonomy lies in his bed and dreams of his mother dying.
Kerry jerks awake and knocks on the wall, but gets no response from Cary. She goes into her brother's room and discovers that he's gone. Walter walks in and closes the door behind him, He zips up Kerry's jacket and says that she's burning up. Kerry goes past him and runs down the hallway, calling to Cary, while Walter steps out and tells her that she can run but there's nowhere to go.
The next day, David walks down the hallway and sees the bedroom door. As he goes to it, Amy appears and says that no one wants him there and his "friends" only pretend to like him. She calls him a freak and says that they adopted him because they had to. Amy starts vomiting, and David starts to for a moment and ten walks off.
Outside, Melanie tends to the flows on Oliver's miniature grave. She then goes to her room and prays, and the Diving Suit Man appears in the wall. He gestures to her and walks away, and Melanie tells him that she's on her way. She then passes through the wall into a corridor and follows the Man. It leads to a refrigerated room. When Melanie goes inside, she finds herself in David's house with everyone frozen at the moment when the bullets were approaching Syd. The Man gestures to Syd and points at the bullets slowly moving, and then disappears. Melanie can't touch the bullets or push Syd out of the way, and a pair of eyes look at her from the wall.
Later, David comes to see Lenny in her office and asks if she's seen Syd. She claims that she hasn't, and says that she doesn't think Syd is the right girl for him. David insists that they're in love, and Lenny tells him that love is electrons in the brain sending signals. She describes a fungus that infects ants, taking over their central system and growing out of the top of their heads, killing them. Lenny wonders what the point of love and life is, and explains that God and power is all that matters. She tells David that Walter understands.
Whistling, Walter continues pursuing Kerry through the hallways.
Lenny says that she knew David's real father, the one who gave David away to hide her from him. She turns into the Devil and asks what David thinks his father will say when he finds out. She reverts back to Lenny and says that she's trying to help David, and tells him that he has potential. Together the two of them could give God a run for his money. But with David in Love, she might have to go it alone... and then David dies. David asks her what she did to Syd, and Lenny says that letting David have his own life is too much work when all she needs is his body.
David finds his mind trapped in a black box drifting in a void with voice screaming at him.
Syd is in David's childhood bedroom sleeping. She wakes up when the Man removes the headphones from her and opens his helmet to reveal that he's Cary.
Written by Gadfly on Mar 16, 2017