[there's a knock on the door]
Joe[internally] I knew you'd bite. [sets his phone to record audio]
[Joe opens the door for Rhys, who walks in]
All right, spill. What does Lockwood claim he knows?
Joe
What do you think he knows?
Joe
[internally] Watch me.
Is it about the book? Who hasn't taken liberties with their own story? It's called writing.
Joe
That's what you're most afraid of people finding out?
Joe
What?
[sniffs louder] You smell that? Smells like a fucking rat.
Joe
[internally] Shit.
[Rhys grabs Joe's phone from his pocket]
You think I'm a FUCKING idiot? Hmm?
[Rhys stops the recording and discards the phone]
When are you gonna understand? I'm smarter than you.
[Rhys shows Joe Marienne's passport]
Look familiar? Yes, Joe. I found your old lover. She's a feisty one.
Joe
[voice shaking] How?
Repeat after me. I'm smarter than you.
Joe
Is she dead?
How would that be smart? No one even knows she's gone. I texted her babysitter friend from her phone. "Oops, I tripped and fell on a heroin needle, please look after my daughter." Whatever her fuckin name is.
[Joe pushes Rhys]
Joe
Her name is Juliette and she needs her mother!
Ooh, easy. I'd stay right there mate. Driver's outside, campaign staff know my whereabouts. Let's, let's keep it civil, shall we?
Joe
Where is she?
She's tucked away. Kill Lockwood, and I'll release her immediately, however, if Lockwood isn't dead in 24 hours, I'll send you Marienne Bellamy's teeth in a fuckin fruit basket.
[Joe is torturing Rhys to make him reveal Marienne's whereabouts. Rhys claims ignorance]
Joe
Stop gaslighting me! You know who I am. You know what you've had me do for YOU! I'd let her go. I'd stepped away! I WAS STARTING OVER! [starts choking Rhys] Where is she? TELL ME WHERE SHE IS! TELL ME OR I'LL KILL YOU! YOU FUCKING PSYCHOPATH! TELL ME!!!
[Rhys' body goes limp]
Joe
[internally] What did I do? It was an accident. I... I lost it. Marienne, I'm so sorry. I will find a way. I will find you.
[another Rhys walks up to Joe from behind]
Well, isn't this a pickle. [inspects the body of dead Rhys]
Joe
Uhh... uhh.. okay. I'm hallucinating. I...
Killed me? Yes. But not before a shocking amount of military-grade ball torture. He wasn't lying, Joe. He didn't know you. But then, I wasn't lying either. We really do have Marienne in a cage.
You are full-fat, extra-sugar, deep-friend fucking insane, Joe Goldberg.
Joe
Fuck you!
Whoa! I'm not the enemy here! I'm just the part that broke away to do the dirty work! You're brilliant. Really. Well, you poured all that darkness you hated into this vessel you admired because you knew that the endgame was facing yourself, didn't you? Well, there you go. All the worst bits in a little package you don't mind having a pint with. I hope it makes it easier.
Joe
Nothing makes this easier.
Pity me, all the time I had to spend trying to get you to admit that I was doing exactly what you wanted!
Joe
Okay, I might be having some kind of break, but you don't get to tell me who I am. I am not some cold-blooded psycho.
Oh, no, no, no! Of course not! It's obviously much more complex than that, but I had to compensate for your redemption fetish; it went into overdrive. See, you were trying to tell yourself that you were saving them, right? A reformed man who's protecting all these inbred meat-suits from some shadow killer. You. But deep down... The idea of any of them being worth saving was bullshit.
TTom
I didn't make the world, Joe. Neither did you. You gonna kill me now? Why? Because I'm a survivor? Because I had what it takes to not get eaten alive? Kathryn gets to say "Daddy's bad" because I bubble-wrapped her entire world!
Joe
Do you think that worked?
TTom
Well, what are you doing for her right now, Joe? The same goddamn thing.
Don't you let him get in your head.
TTom
You don't even see it, do you? You do this for her, you become the problem! You and I are the same, Joe. We do what has to be done, because that's what being a man is.
You wage war with your own nature. That's just what you do. You have this notion that you're an especially bad person -- join the bloody club! What do you think everyone else sees in the mirror?
Joe
I think I've killed a lot more people.
You are a stellar example of the human condition. Traumatized brain, constantly trying to shame us! That's what you need to fight -- the same.
Joe
I should be ashamed.
No! That's why I'm fucking standing here, trying un-twist you before you kill us both!
[Joe's phone begins to ring.]
Well, go on! Answer! She probably heard about Tom; she needs you!
Joe
[internally] Goodbye, Kate.
[He throws his phone into the water below.]
I don't understand you. You and Kate have a future.
Joe
No we don't.
Of course you do. Why not?
Joe
BECAUSE I WILL... kill her.
Joe
Every time I try... I made it perfect. It's never enough. There's no amount of loving or supporting or killing the assholes holding them back. I want this time to be different, but now I know, it's not gonna be different with Kate either.
No, no, no. Stop, stop. I just helped you. I can help you with this.
Joe
Very sweet of you to offer, Rhys, but I think we both know you're full of shit.
It's not about Kate, is it? It's us. Despite all I've ever done for you... You... despise me. All I ever wanted was to make you happy!
Joe
And it ends with a corpse in the trunk of my car over and over. I can't do that again. We did what we did for Kate... I'm done.
No. We can figure this out, you and me. You and I, we can do anything together. I'm alive for you. I just-- Why can't you see that? Why can't you see me the way I see you? I love you!
Joe
[internally] Lockwood was right about one thing. We didn't make the world, but it fucked us up deeply. The one thing we can do is decide whether we continue the cycle or break it.
KKate
Do you know what I've come to realize?
Joe
What?
KKate
Henry had good dads. And taking him from them is one of the worst things I've ever helped you do. Those men loved him!
Joe
I love him! He's mine!
KKate
No! No, no, no! No, you don't! You think you do, but you never have! You don't even see him! To you, he is just an extension of yourself. Same thing my father did to us.
Joe
I am nothing like your father.
KKate
Do you know, if you actually cared, you would be begging me to take him from you. You already abandoned him once -- to chase a women that you thought you loved across the ocean, to run from all the people that you killed. And now you've fallen for a new woman, you've killed more people, are you actually trying to tell me that you won't find a reason to abandon him again?!
Joe
He always was precocious. Y'know, he was... His mother said this would happen. Her dying words. "He'll know what you are." I love him so much. Maybe-- Maybe he deserves--! Better than me! WHY?! HOW?! HOW DID I BECOME THIS PERSON! I try-- I try to love! Every time, it falls apart! It's my son...! It's me. I'm unlovable. Is this what I deserve?
I don't know. I don't know what you deserve, Joe. Maybe it's not for me to decide. But this... This is deluded! You're not the fucking victim! I'm-- I'm, I'm calling the cops now. This is over. This has to be over.
Joe
What makes you think this time will be any different? I killed your friend on camera and here I am!
Here you are, Joe! Running. Scared! You know how I know it'll be different? Because I've turned on you, Joe. And if I can wake up, so can the world.
Joe
[internally] I have been delusional...
Joe
[internally] Putting so much faith in love. In the universe. In... her. Fucking. Brontë.
It was always gonna end this way, wasn't it?
Joe
NO! No, it didn't have to! But you're ungrateful! You're spiteful! I made you special, Brontë, and you're too selfish to know how good you've had it!
There it is. There it is, Joe. That's the real you. You pathetic misogynyst!
[Joe tackles her, pinning her to the ground.]
Joe
You wanna know how I killed Beck?! I'll show you.
Joe
[internally] So... in the end, my punishment is even worse than I imagined. The loneliness. Oh. My. God. The loneliness. No hope of being held. Knowing this is forever. It's unfair. Putting all of this on me. Aren't we all just products of our environment? Hurt people hurt people. I never stood a chance.
OOfficer
Goldberg. [slides a letter to Joe]
Joe
[internally] Ah, yes. Another fan. Why am I in a cage when these crazies write me all the depraved things they want me to do to them? Maybe we have a problem as a society. Maybe we should fix what's broken in us. Maybe the problem isn't me. Maybe... it's you.
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