[ELEVATOR RUMBLING, THEN BELL DINGS]
[SNIFFS]
[SOFT JAZZ MUSIC PLAYING OVER SPEAKERS]
I don't know if you can hear me.
I got to admit, you freaked me out before.
I didn't understand you...
...but I get it now.
Come on, man, talk to me.
I know everything about you.
I'm a fan.
Your name is James Patrick March.
You were born October 30th, 1895.
You're a Scorpio...
...which explains a lot.
You're the greatest serial killer who's ever lived.
How do you know all this?
I Googled you.
That sounds obscene.
You were right, man.
Killing is awesome.
[MAN GRUNTS]
High five!
Good. You've found your calling.
Then you can appreciate what I've built here.
Secret rooms, hinged walls, acid pits, asphyxiation chambers.
Are you familiar with my black closet?
[WHIMPERING]
[MAN SCREAMING]
Yes.
There are places in my murder palace that have sat in cold neglect for far too long.
You can put them to good use, old boy. I'm listening.
Good.
Now-- CLAUDIA: My God, look at this.
The whole floor needs to be torn out. This space is perfect for my atelier.
It's gonna be sensational.
And wait until you see this room.
What are you doing here?
Visiting a friend.
I was told that nobody lives on this floor.
You're a squatter.
Tristan, you clean up pretty well.
I barely recognized you.
Thank you, Claudia.
What happened to your cut?
Get your paws off.
I'm not here to be a deposit in your spank bank.
Heh, heh. Owned, Dad.
Get out. I'll call the cops if I see you in my hotel again.
Models.
Tear this floor out?
Where will I launder the linens?
He can't be allowed to touch a single room.
Don't worry, dude.
I got this.
ALEX: It's hard to believe now...
...but raising kids was never a part of my hopes and dreams.
My friends with babies only made me more resistant.
Their lives seemed kind of dreary, to be honest.
I wanted to save kids...
...other people's kids.
If I'm honest...
...being the best paediatrician possible was my only real dream.
Okay.
We're gonna get you to the hospital...
...put you on a big fat IV of antibiotics.
Okay?
We just need his slippers and his coat.
Wait, wait, wait. Hospital?
This kind of pneumonia, the one we associate with the measles...
...is something we like to treat...
...aggressively.
I don't understand why you didn't call me the second his fever went over 103.
I guess I just felt ashamed.
[KNOCKING ON DOOR]
After our last conversation, you made me feel pretty terrible.
Please just tell me he's gonna be all right.
I hope so. Upstairs.
ALEX: By the way, I'm not unaware of the obvious cliché here.
I wanted to save kids because I felt I needed saving.
But in my case the cliché is dead-on.
Suffice it to say, mine was not a happy childhood.
[BEEPING]
[LIQUID POURING]
Then Holden showed up.
It was a tectonic shift...
...where everything I thought I knew about myself got rearranged.
It was like I finally fell in love for real.
All the cracks and missing pieces came together.
I felt whole.
I'd found my soul mate.
I couldn't stop smelling his head.
It made me feel drowsy and giddy.
Like we were in the middle of a lavender field in the south of France.
The smell was real.
He truly smelled like fresh lavender.
It was and always will be my drug of choice.
I even wondered if I truly loved John...
...because my feelings for him were never as powerful as my feelings for Holden.
And I've always felt guilty.
Because I never quite bonded like that with Scarlett when she was a baby.
It was a special kind of love.
Maybe a once-in-a-lifetime thing.
And then he disappeared.
JOHN: Holden!
Holden.
Holden!
At first, every time you hear the phone, you think they've found him.
[PHONE VIBRATING]
Your heart pounds.
Hello?
Then after a month or so...
...the phone is just the phone.
[PHONE VIBRATING]
You do whatever you need to do to soldier on.
Because you tell yourself...
...time is on your side.
And then a year has gone by and you understand...
...that the next year will not be much different.
This feeling will never go away.
Because there is no getting over it.
There is no getting to the other side.
I do carry on.
Mostly for Scarlett.
But there are many days when I don't really know why.
Some days are bearable.
Today is very hard.
Alex?
Are you with us?
We haven't heard a lot from you, Alex.
I don't know what to say.
I'm afraid the truth about how I'm feeling wouldn't be very helpful.
KOHAN: This is the right place for you to speak your truth.
And the right time.
Honestly, I'm angry.
I mean, I don't understand, Scarlett.
It's like...
...you're trying to hurt me.
Us.
KOHAN: I don't have the sense that Scarlett holds any ill will.
Her stories strike me as being more about wanting to alleviate your pain.
Wanting the family whole again.
You're both wrong. It's not about my mother or the family.
It's what happened.
Scarlett.
Tell us the story exactly how you remember it.
Tell us everything.
Well, there's a room where they all play Nintendo...
...and there are these big glass things full of jelly beans.
That sounds like a fun place.
And he sleeps in the bottom...
...of a glass coffin.
In the bottom of an empty swimming pool.
That's when I first saw him.
He was just waking up.
And when you first saw him...
...what did he say exactly?
Does he talk about us?
No, he was different.
He didn't have normal feelings.
And he smelt like...
...lavender.
You know, like those candles we have at home.
[DOOR OPENS]
CLAUDIA: Yes, dear.
Yes, the change of scenery was good for Will.
He was getting too stale in New York.
Yes, Jess.
I'm losing you.
Can you hear me?
JESS [DISTORTED AUDIO]: Claudia, Claudia-- Jess.
We need to get Mario Testino out here to do a shoot.
Did you hear that? Jess?
Oh, darn.
[WATER DRIPPING]
[GASPS]
[SIGHS]
No! No!
[GRUNTING AND SCREAMING]
Help me! No!
[CLAUDIA SCREAMING]
[SCREAMING]
HAHN: I got the guys checking on Islamic terrorist groups active in the area.
You know...
...this could be another Charlie Hebdo thing.
This is a gossip site.
He stopped their tongues from wagging.
[SCREAMING]
Thou shalt not bear false witness.
These people trafficked in lies.
They broke the commandment.
JOHN: Have Ballistics run a check on the casings at the scene...
...with casings from previous murders. WOMAN [OVER PHONE]: All?
Yeah, all of them. WOMAN: Gotcha.
There may be a commandment murder we missed.
WOMAN: We'll cross-reference. I'm not sure, but--
[GROANING]
Help me.
[GASPS]
Boo!
[WILL GASPS AND TRISTAN LAUGHS]
How the hell did you get in here?
TRISTAN: I picked the lock.
When I was first starting out modeling, I made extra scratch as a thief.
I'm not the waiting-tables type.
I did six months for breaking-and-entering. Did you know that?
Look, I'm sorry about the show.
I'm clean now, I swear.
You and I used to get along great when I was clean.
You thought I was hilarious.
WILL: Every beautiful young thing is hilarious.
And then you get old and you don't understand why everyone isn't still laughing at your jokes.
How did they fix that scar?
I'll show you mine if you show me yours.
[TRISTAN CHUCKLES]
What are those?
They're the original plans for the hotel.
They're the ones that are registered with the city, but not the plans for this hotel.
How do you know?
[SIGHS]
Well, for one thing, there's that hallway on three with no doors that goes nowhere.
And according to these plans, there's rooms off of them and access to the stairwell.
So I think somebody submitted these plans...
...to get through inspection then just built how they wanted to.
Man, you smell good.
You know, that's actually the worst part about being in jail.
It's not the food...
...or being locked up like a dog.
It's the smell.
Everyone smells like shit.
Doesn't stop you from doing stuff, though, you know?
A man has needs, right?
What is this? What is happening?
What are you doing?
Stay.
Another time.
What?
Son of a--
Looking at an OD here?
You'd think, but everything's telling me withdrawal.
I don't think he's had a needle in him in a few days, at least.
The blood? Not his.
[GASPING]
Let's get him sedated.
No! Please! I'm sorry, I didn't mean it!
Wait. Wait.
Please. I'm sorry. Why are you sorry?
DOCTOR: Detective. I didn't mean to kill her.
Wait. Who did you kill? I thought it was the other one.
The junkie whore. JOHN: Sally? Sally?
She did this to me.
She lied to me. She said that I'd be free.
[EKG BEEPING]
DOCTOR: Okay, gotta go. Gotta go!
We're losing him.
[BEEPING]
[EKG FLAT-LINING]
[DING]
I hear she checked out.
Who did? That shit-don't-stink fashion editor.
Guess this place wasn't up to her standards.
Not everyone can appreciate it here.
All this lovely darkness.
You know what I mean.
No. I really don't.
Why don't you tell me about your friend. Which one?
The one at St. Vincent's. Junkie, covered in blood, not his.
Oh, well, junkies...
...you can't believe a word they say.
Who was he?
[CHUCKLES]
How the hell should I know?
Why are you wasting your time on junkies?
We only hurt ourselves.
It's not like breaking one of the Ten Commandments.
What did you say?
What?
Didn't you go to Sunday school?
How about thou shalt not kill? Hm.
Well, that commandment is always translated wrong.
It should be, thou shalt not commit murder.
Killing can be a righteous act.
[GASPS]
You've been in my room.
No.
But if that's an invitation...
How about this for an invitation?
You're under arrest.
Goody.
[ELEVATOR DINGS]
I know you sent me that text. I don't know how deeply you're involved...
...or if you're working with someone, or maybe you're just starved for attention.
I am starving.
You're starving too.
I can taste it on you.
[PANTS UNZIPS]
[GRUNTING]
Come on, detective...
...show me right from wrong.
I wanna help you.
I wish you could.
[ELECTRICITY CRACKLING]
You'll see.
You and I...
...we're meant to be.
[ELEVATOR DINGS]
[GASPING]
Hey, Done.
I've been waiting for you.
Look, you need any help packing?
I printed out some craigslist ads for apartments for us.
Some nice two-bedrooms.
And this one.
This is-- Get this. This is the building in Santa Monica...
...where they captured Whitey Bulger.
Look at it. It's glamorous, right?
I will live with the addicts in shitter's alley.
In a box in MacArthur Park...
...covered in the piss and shit of this horror of a city...
...before I even consider living under the same roof as you again.
You're a drama queen.
Baby, this is our chance.
This is what we've been waiting for.
Listen-- Don't touch me.
She never loved you.
She was just using you.
I knew that cold snake would get bored. Not because of you.
You know, because that's just how snakes are.
You really have no idea how much I hate you, do you?
And I get that you never wanted to take any authentic interest in me or my needs.
I have worked so hard over the past few years to get you to notice how much I despise you.
Now, you hold on a minute.
I gave my life to you.
You have no clue how hard it was for me to raise you and the sacrifices that I made.
Name one.
One that didn't serve your perverted view of yourself.
Your father.
You think it was an easy choice, kicking him out?
Becoming a single mother at that time?
Nobody did that.
But I did, because he was nowhere near man enough to raise you.
My father was the best thing in my life.
I once hid in the trunk of his Buick and he made it to Bakersfield...
...before he noticed and took me back home.
[LAUGHS]
Imagine that.
He didn't even know his own son was in the trunk of his car.
The guy was an ass-hole. He was a moron.
Do you know, when you kicked him out...
...he sat me down and asked me to promise that when I was old enough, I would run away?
I had a plan. Oh, she had a plan.
I went to an AA meeting once.
After I stood up and shared about you, people came up to me.
Hardcore addicts, and they were like:
"Wow, man. No wonder you use."
Every choice you made was a disaster.
Dad.
That insane vegetarian cult.
The Breatharians were cutting-edge. They were using food as medicine.
I had so much fiber in my diet, I shit my pants at school.
Fine.
You make a list...
...of all the ways I have failed you.
And you know what I say to your list? Shit on it.
Because my list beats yours.
Item one...
...I gave you life.
Item two, I saved your life. I wanted to die!
Coke, crack, heroin, none of them could do it.
So I decided death was my only way away from you. I chose it.
You hated me like that?
And you let me stay here looking after you?
A real mother would have let her son die in peace.
She would have buried me.
And grieved.
What mother wouldn't have wanted her son to live?
Wouldn't have done everything possible to save him?
You didn't bring me back for me.
You brought me back for you.
I'm leaving here.
Tonight.
But...
...what am I supposed to do?
I don't know who I am if I'm not your mother.
[SOBBING]
Honestly...
...if that is really true...
...you should kill yourself.
You should do it even if it isn't.
Oh...
Listen to the girl
As she takes on half the world
Moving up and so alive
In her honey dripping
Beehive
It's good, so good, it's so good, so good
Are you having some car trouble?
Picked a pretty shitty place for it.
These streets can be dangerous.
Hey-
[SCREAMING AND GRUNTING]
I didn't mean to just show up like this. I tried calling...
...l kept getting your voice-mail. Yeah.
The service in here is pretty much shit.
Scotch.
Soda POP-
Am I interrupting something? You're fidgety.
No. I'm just a little preoccupied with the case.
You look terrible. When's the last time you slept?
I'm fine, Alex.
You should get a real drink. It's obvious you need one.
Why would you say that to me?
You're not in AA. You don't have a problem.
You need to give up this obsession with control.
I need to stay sharp.
Well, you might need one in a minute.
Why?
What is this?
I don't expect you to sign them right away.
I know you're gonna wanna look them over.
No.
Alex, not now. John, we have to.
For each other, for our daughter.
I think this is why Scarlett is telling these wild stories, because we haven't moved on.
No, I don't want a divorce.
I don't want a divorce, I never did. I love you.
I love you too.
But it's not enough, not anymore.
It's been rough with me out of the house-- It hasn't been rough.
It hasn't been rough at all. It's been great.
I didn't think that I could do it, but I can.
I don't think you should come back.
It will just make things harder for everyone, in the end, this is what we need to do.
Please.
Please, please, don't tear this family apart.
I'm not the one tearing our family apart. Someone else did that when they stole our son.
[JOHN CRYING]
John.
Stay. Stay)'-
Something's wrong with me.
I think I'm going crazy.
I feel like I've been seeing things.
Let's get you back to your room, okay?
COUNTESS: I'm so sorry.
That's clumsy of me.
You never need to apologize for pouring a glass of Château Margaux.
I was afraid you'd think this was too much.
Oh, you mean the dress? The night out on the town?
This nightcap?
You know I'm gay. I'm not stupid.
We're destined for something much more...
...intimate.
What if I told you...
...Will Drake had to die?
Then you know the truth.
The well is dry.
Just yesterday, I drew a pair of Bermudas in cannabis print.
So much for the West Coast influence.
I happen to think you're a genius.
But you've been comfortable for far too long.
You need to burn...
...so you can rise from the ashes.
Kill Will.
You're giving me dangerous thoughts.
All great ideas are deadly.
I feel the same way with you right now as I did...
...when I kissed my first man.
How many times have you been with a woman?
A few. But they all ended...
...unfulfilled.
No danger in that tonight.
TRISTAN: What is this shit?
Where did you get the balls to eat out of my dish, man?
I'll call you later.
By the way...
...you're hard.
[GASPING]
[DOOR CLOSES]
TRISTAN: So that's it?
It's just over between us?
Don't be such a child. What am I supposed to think?
I don't even get it. All he has is money.
Then you do get it.
What? You're rich.
I used to be.
And then I met Bernie.
Madoff was very good at separating people from their money...
...because he'd make you beg to give it to him.
All my rich friends got richer, 20 percent return every year.
But he wouldn't take mine, not until he could get it all.
The stocks, the bonds, the hotel.
Bernie went to prison...
...and I lost everything.
So that's why you didn't want me to kill Drake?
Will Drake can't die until after...
...l marry him...
...and take every god-damn penny.
[CHUCKLES]
ALEX: Jesus Christ.
It's no wonder you're in such a state, sleeping five feet away from all this.
I don't do much sleeping anymore.
Which is why you're gonna take these. Drink them down.
You don't have a fever.
You just need some rest.
A few hour's sleep, and everything will be clearer.
Okay?
I'm so sorry, Alex.
I'm sorry I couldn't keep our family together.
I'm sorry...
...that I couldn't bring your boy back home to you.
I know.
It's not your fault.
I know how much you loved him.
More than me.
More than Scarlett.
John. It's okay.
I never minded.
That's how I love you.
Let's have another baby.
Oh, Jesus.
What am I doing?
We still love each other.
The divorce papers are here.
If you have any questions, just call the lawyer.
[DOOR OPEN THEN CLOSES]
Is this hell?
No. If this were hell, I'd be the one in that awful Zara knockoff that you're wearing.
[CLICKING TONGUE]
[BOY GIGGLING]
Holden?
Hi, Mommy.
Oh, God. Get the lead out, will you?
I'm terrified of needles. I just want this over with.
First, you need to tell me why I should be doing you this kindness...
...when I could just push you right out that window.
Even things up. Oh, come on.
You're not gonna torment me now.
I think it would be good for you to talk about why you wanna die.
Entertain me with your self-loathing.
It's not about why die.
It's about...
...why continue to live.
I can't think of a single reason.
I guess I'm just not lovable.
Now, what's to say?
My own son hates me.
He always has.
You know, I see people laughing and smiling.
And I cannot for the life of me...
...understand why.
I just don't get the joke anymore.
I am the joke.
[SIGHS]
Hang on.
We are going total bye-bye, right?
You swear you don't have any unfinished business here?
Because I am stuck in this place, thanks to you.
So I wanna be 100 percent sure that when I do this, I am done...
...with your miserable old ass.
In other words...
...don't haunt my hallways, bitch.
I want nothing more...
...than the dark silence of death itself.
You've come to the right girl.
RAMONA: How many junkies did you feed on, Donovan? Heh, heh.
You're no good to anyone in this condition.
So I'm gonna clean you up, get that poison out of your blood.
And then we'll see if you can be of any use to me.
Who the hell are you?
Now, that's the wrong question.
What you should be asking is...
...who was I?
Somebody order room service?
RAMONA: I was the queen of them all.
No. We ordered hookers.
MAN: Get on your knees.
[CHUCKLES]
I don't get on my knees for no man. DIRECTOR: Cut.
Check the gate. Ooh.
That looked good. Ha-ha-ha.
I had come to Hollywood with barely a high school education and no prospects.
It wasn't long before I was a star.
My pictures grossed 10, 15 times what they cost to produce.
Somebody was making money.
It just wasn't me.
They call what we did B movies.
I wanted more.
A chance, Mr. Samuels.
That's all I'm asking.
Before you cast Jane Fonda, just let me read.
The role of Sally Hyde is gonna require-- A white woman.
A serious actress.
I'm very serious.
SAMUEL". I'll tell you what.
I've taken a room at the hotel. Why don't you come up for a drink...
...and we can talk more about it.
Ramona Royale.
What an honor.
I've seen all your pictures.
You should go.
Now.
What did you just do?
Saved you from making a humiliating mistake.
RAMONA: All she'd done was look at that producer and he'd turn tail and run.
Now she was looking at me.
But I didn't feel like running.
She was this rarified, timeless creature.
She knew everything about art, literature, fashion.
This was the world I wanted to live in.
And she promised I could, forever.
It was glorious.
She taught me I could be a lady and bad-ass.
There was nothing I couldn't be...
...except hers forever.
[ELEVATOR DINGS]
Prophet Moses was in the vanguard of those early, heady days.
Back when Tupac and Biggie were making some noise.
But he hadn't broken through yet...
...which is why the record company put him up at the Cortez and not the Four Seasons.
Mo was a poet.
And he was, without exception...
...the most beautiful man I had ever seen.
I always thought she was the great love of my life.
I was wrong.
It was Mo.
[MELLOW MUSIC PLAYING OVER SPEAKERS]
And I aimed to be with him forever.
[RAMONA LAUGHING]
You ready, baby?
I'm ready.
[MOANING]
[GASPS]
It's sad.
He could have had a future.
MOSES: Who the hell are you? Mo, Mo. Don't. Don't.
She must have really loved you.
[RAMONA SCREAMS]
[RAMONA SOBBING]
RAMONA: What she couldn't have was one of her creations creating something else.
There can only be one queen.
She took away from me the only thing that I ever really cared about.
And I plan to do the same thing to her.
You think by killing me, you'll get your revenge?
Not you, fool.
Those babies she made.
But I need access.
Someone on the inside.
And that someone...
...is gonna be you.
She dumped me last Tuesday.
You can go.
I thought you'd left us for good.
It's a pretty humbling feeling when you realize you have nowhere to go.
And what's out there for me? I've got no money.
No friends I can crash with.
Pretty hard to explain away a 20-year gap in my resume.
And I've got a floppy appendage between my legs...
...which keeps me from wearing pencil skirts.
We all have our flaws, kitten.
I thought you were an actor.
You don't have to have a resume to be beautiful or talent to be an actor.
Just ask Laurence Harvey. I'm not an actor.
Four years of auditioning, and I booked one...
...under five on The Colbys. Aw.
You need moonshine.
I did get to work with Charlton Heston, though. Not everyone can say that.
I don't even have a room at this hotel. I have got nothing.
No one.
For eternity. No pity party in my bar.
Especially when the guest of honor...
...can't see that he's the luckiest man who ever checked into the Hotel Cortez.
You think you've tasted humility out there on the streets...
...you ain't tasted shit, young man.
I know...
...because I have.
You should be ashamed of yourself for abusing your mother.
I abused her? I do not deny that that woman is horrible.
Horrible. But in the next hundred years of living...
...you may find someone who treats you better, who screws you better...
...who makes you laugh more than cry.
You'll never find anyone who loves you as much as she does.
I'm not dead.
Jesus.
You're unbelievable. I gave you enough to kill an entire marching band.
Plan B.
Jesus, Iris.
Shouldn't be long now.
[GASPING]
DONOVAN: Hey, Ma?
[KNOCKING ON DOOR]
Ma.
Shit.
Ma, it's Dono.
Ma!
She's resting.
Come back later. I need to talk with her.
You leave her alone.
She's finally at peace. No.
Ma, no, no. What did you do?
I didn't do anything. Nothing she didn't ask me to do.
No, no.
No.
She can't be dead.
She's all I've got.
Oh, come on, man.
You told her you wanted her dead.
You bitch.
What are you doing?
No, don't do that. Unh!
Come back, Ma.
Come back to me, Mommy.
Come back to me.
There you go.
Yeah. Yeah.
Now, there's some twisted poetic justice.