A high school teacher, Gennaro Marx, returns to the apartment and
discovers that the window is open. As he turns away, he finds a man made
up as a zombie in his apartment. Gennaro screams in terror and goes for
the door, only for Gerald dressed as a zombie to burst in on him.
Fish wakes up in a prison surrounded by prisoners. A man, Kelly, comes
over and introduces himself, and admits that he doesn't know where they
are. Two thugs eye Fish, and Kelly explains that they're only holding
back out of concern that if one makes a move on Fish then the other will
kill him. Fish walks up to them and tells them that she'll quickly kill
the first man who attacks her, and then take her time with the second
one. She asks them who's first, and after a moment the two thugs walk
away.
After their third date, Jim and Leslie are walking down
the street. He points out that he hasn't seen her apartment and suggests
that her bedroom would be interesting. Leslie tells him that she has a
new job in the morning and asks for a rain check. Jim wonders what her
new job is, and Leslie finally tells him that she's the new medical
examiner for the GCPD. He says that's great, but Leslie wonders if he's
sincere. She then kisses him goodnight and takes a taxi home.
The next day, a neighbor calls in Gennaro's murder and Jim and Harvey
arrive. They confirm that Gennaro is dead the same way that the phobia
support group members were, and wonder what Gerald is doing with the
adrenal glands that he removes.
At his old home, Gerald grinds
up the adrenal glands and then goes out into the hallway and injects
himself. He hallucinates his dead wife Karen coming down a burning set
of stairs and asking him why he didn't help her, and Gerald shakes in
terror.
At the manor, Bruce packs for the annual hike that he
previously took with his father. He assures Alfred that he'd rather go
alone because he and his father always waited until morning and watched
the sun come up... and he wants to do it alone.
Falcone visits
Oswald at Fish's old club and ignores him when he explains that Maroni
plans to kill him. Ignoring his pleas for help, Falcone tells Oswald to
redesign the place. Oswald doesn't take the hint and continues begging
for protection, and Falcone tells him that the club is his now and it's
time that Oswald stop hiding in the shadows. As for Maroni, Falcone says
that he'll take care of him.
In the bullpen, Harvey is reading
Gennaro's yearbook when Leslie comes in. Essen welcomes her and Jim and
Leslie exchange professional greetings. Once the captain leads Leslie
away, Harvey warns his partner that he knows from experience that office
romances always end badly. He then goes back to the yearbook and finds a
photo of Gerald, and Jim recognizes him from the pool. Gerald is the
school biology teacher and the detectives go there to investigate
further.
In the prison, the guards toss in food and Fish starts
to go to it. Kelly holds her back, warning that the boss--Mace--gets
first pick. Mace collects his share of the food first and then walks
away as the other prisoners move in.
In the forest, Bruce comes
across a pile of rocks that he and his father left in the past. He
picks up several of them and continues on.
Jim and Harvey meet
with the school principal, Judith Barthel, and she tells them that
Gerald quit three months ago. He was an excellent teacher if overly
protective of his son Jonathan. Gerald lost his wife six years ago in a
car accident. When the detectives ask if Gerald ever talked about
phobias, Judith shows them a paper that Gerald had asked her to proof.
In it Gerald talks about his theory that he believed fear was an
evolutionary flaw in human beings, and he was trying to develop a cure
for it.
Back at the station, the partners have Edward examine
the paper. He explains that Gerald was going to cure himself of his fear
using condensed adrenal glands. As they talk, Edward comments that they
have a better ME. Jim reads the paper and discovers that Gerald was
preparing inoculation for two people.
At his old home, Gerald
injects himself with his cure and then faces his wife again. He
overcomes his fear just as Jonathan arrives. Gerald tells his son that
the cure is working and soon he will fear Jonathan of his fear as well.
Falcone invites Maroni to his estate and tries to negotiate with him
over Oswald's fate. Maroni says that he's going to kill Oswald no matter
what.
As Oswald continues with the club remodeling, Gabe
brings in the invitations for the grand opening. Oswald gives Gabe a
list of people to deliver the invitations to, but takes one and says
that he's going to deliver it personally.
In the prison, Fish
approaches Mace and flirts with him. When she asks why he's the boss,
Mace shows her a knife and says that he has the only one in the prison.
Fish suggests that they make a deal and assures him that she has many
skills to offer in return for his protection.
When Oswald
enters the police station, he realizes that Jim isn't at his desk. As he
walks toward the door, he notices Edward following him. Oswald stops
and Edward walks up next to him, offering a riddle and saying that he
knows who Oswald is. Uninterested, Oswald tells him to move on and
Edward quickly leaves. Jim and Harvey arrives and Oswald gives Jim the
invitation. Jim tells him that it was a mistake for him to call on him
for help against Flass, but Oswald warns him that Jim will come to him
eventually. He advises Jim to reconsider accepting the invitation and
leaves, and Jim throws it in the garbage.
Gerald prepares
Jonathan for his first inoculation, assuring him that he will keep him
safe. Once he gives Jonathan the injection, Jonathan starts screaming in
terror.
Bruce finally comes to the piles of rock that he and
his father let in the past. He places the rocks from earlier but then
explodes in anger, throwing the rocks into the forest. After breaking
into tears, Bruce walks away... and slips, falling down a slope. When he
hits the bottom, Bruce discovers that he has sprained his ankle.
Jim approaches Leslie in the ME lab and asks how she's doing. She
kisses him and Jim asks her to stop, warning that it isn't professional.
Harvey comes by and sees them, and Leslie walks off. Amused, Harvey
tells an exasperated Jim that he doesn't want to interfere in his love
life.
Falcone offers Maroni cigars and explains that he wants a
smart man like Oswald near him. Maroni refuses to drop his vendetta,
and Falcone takes him to a one-way mirror. He notes that Maroni has had
trouble with Judge Turnbull and then shows Maroni Turnball... in
Falcone's study with a dominatrix and a dead teenager. Falcone assures
Maroni that they'll share the judge, but Turnball is Maroni's in spirit.
The dominatrix forces Turnball to pose with the corpse as she takes a
photo.
At the station, Harvey suggests that they turn to Oswald
for help. Jim refuses and figures that they need to work out why Gerald
wants to immunize himself to fear. They bring up the microfiche records
and discover that Karen died in a house fire, not a car crash. They
realize that Gerald was in the house when Karen died, and was too afraid
to rescue her. The detectives get Gerald's old address and head out.
Gerald finally overcomes his fear of his dead wife, and hears Jonathan
run outside. He goes after his son and catches him on the edge of the
property where a scarecrow is mounted. Jonathan insists that he isn't
afraid like Gerald, and his father insists that he just wants to help
mankind. He asks if Jonathan is with him, and Jonathan hesitantly
agrees.
As the sun sets, Alfred looks out the window.
In the forest, Bruce wraps his ankle with a makeshift splint and starts climbing up the slope.
Mace calls Fish over and tells her that they have a deal. When he pulls
her to him, Fish takes his knife and kills him with it. Standing up,
she wields the knife and tells the prisoners that she's in charge now.
Jim and Harvey knock at the door to the Crane house, and Gerald
realizes that he's out of time. He grabs the vials of fluid and drags
Jonathan outside, and then fills the syringe. Jonathan hesitates and
Gerald says that he loves him... and then injects him with all of the
remaining adrenal fluid. His heart beating out of control, Jonathan
looks up at the scarecrow and hallucinates it coming to demonic life.
Jim and Harvey come running up and Gerald, fearless, advances on them
while firing. The detectives take cover and return fire, and finally
bring Gerald down. Jim runs to Jonathan and tells Harvey to call an
ambulance.
When Bruce reaches the top of the slope, he's
surprised to find Alfred waiting for him. The butler has set up a
campfire and is making himself some tea. Bruce wonders why Alfred didn't
help him up, and the butler notes that he didn't get Bruce down there.
He helps Bruce over to the fire and asks if he wants to watch the sun
come up like he did with his father. Bruce agrees and they settle down
to wait.
At his new club, Oswald discovers that no one has
come... until Maroni and his thugs arrive. Maroni congratulates Oswald
on the opening and tells him that everything is fine between them as
long as Oswald doesn't give any of his secrets to Falcone. Oswald
hastily agrees and as they share a drink, Maroni tells Oswald that he
will only live as long as Falcone does.
Bruce dozes off and Alfred wakes him up when the sun comes up.
Jim visits Leslie in the lab and tells her that the paramedics managed
to stabilize Jonathan. He's going to see the boy. Leslie says that she
has tickets for the circus and invites Jim to come with her, and he
accepts. However, Jim says that they can't be kissing on the job. Leslie
says that he can show his feelings and still appear professional, but
Jim doesn't believe it. She kisses him on the cheek and jokingly assures
Jim that she can be discreet, but he isn't convinced.
Fish has
Kelly assemble the prisoners and she tells them that things are going
to change. As she talks the guards throw a woman back into the prison.
Everyone stares as they realize that the guards have cut out her eyes.
At the hospital, the doctor tells Jim that they've managed to purge
Gerald's drugs out of Jonathan's body. Jonathan's life is in no danger,
but the drug has altered his brain in ways that they can't identify. As
far as the doctors can tell, Jonathan is now in what may be a permanent
state of terror. In his hospital room, Jonathan stares in terror as he
hallucinates a scarecrow attacking him over... and over... and over
again.
Written by Gadfly on Jun 26, 2019