HA I'm finally back online my Internet crashed and I've been web less for the last few days I made Peter a present, read a book, and acquired somethign for Games...I know I have a WB episode somewhere....
I thought long and hard about whether I should put this one up or not and well I decided to because some of the things won’t make sense later if I don’t but I don’t know I hope this doesn’t go over like a lead balloon since well it kinda treads on somethings…but then again homicide isn’t exactly…segratory or pretty…Plus this is where Gab makes his first appearance….plus Sara shows so respect that I admire
Witchblade The Original Series, TNT
Episode 3: Diplopia
Original air date: June 26, 2001
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Teleplay by: David Michaelson
Story by: Ralph Hemecker & Richard C. Okie
Directed by: Vern Gillum
Transcript Credit: SciFi_Angel
Main Characters:
Sara Pezzini Yancy Butler
Jake McCartey David Chokachi
Kenneth Irons Anthony Cistaro
Danny Woo Will Yun Lee
Ian Nottingham Eric Etebari
The episode opens with a "Previously on Witchblade segment" then the opening credits. I'll skip that.
Note: Braces { } indicate missing or uncertain dialog or transcriber's inserted ramblings.
Act I
Open in a dance bar. Disco lights, loud music. The place is packed with dancers, many same-sex pairs.
Focus on one man, early thirties, wearing a suit and tie, sitting on a couch. He has fashionable short hair and wears glasses.
Another man in a suit, seen only from the chest down, walks up to where he's sitting.
The man with the glasses looks up. {OK, we'll learn this later, but the sitting man's name is Robert. You'll have to wait a bit for the other guy.}
Shift to a close up of Standing Man's mouth. He gives a smug kind of little smile.
Shift to Robert.
Robert: Have we met?
Close up to Robert removing his glasses.
Robert: Silly question. I would definitely remember.
Close up of Standing Man's mouth.
Standing Man: Everyone has a fantasy.
Close up of Robert's face.
Robert: Excuse me?
Close up of Standing Man's mouth.
Standing Man: Something so dark and private they've never shared it with another living soul.
Close up of Robert's eyes.
Robert: My! The direct approach.
Close up of Standing Man's mouth.
Standing Man: I offer you a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. Tonight, you tell me your dream, and I will make it come true.
Shift to Robert. He thinks for maybe a second. As Standing Man backs away, he gets up to follow.
Intercut various night scenes of New York.
Cut to a table displaying tribal masks and what look like mummified heads. The camera pans across the display.
Standing Man's voice (off camera): Nice collection of heads.
Robert's voice (off camera): Really? Most people find it strange.
The camera pans to a canvas being set up on a wooden easel. A man's shadow shows through the canvas.
Next we see red paint being squeezed onto a palette.
Standing Man's voice: That might give me an idea.
Other paint tubes are being pulled out.
Close up to Robert's face, wearing glasses.
Robert: I hope you're not one of those deconstructionists. I want people to recognize me when you're done.
Close up to one black-irised eye. This must be Standing Man - Robert has brown eyes.
Shift to Standing Man, seen only chest down, carrying a black and white scarf to Robert, who's wearing a tan robe and sitting in a chair.
Standing Man: Oh, believe me. The painting will reflect your inner self.
Standing Man loosely wraps the scarf around Robert's out held wrists.
There is the sound of a door being opened. Robert jerks his head around. The camera pans to reveal a man in a dark shirt and suit coat entering.
Man who entered: Oh, my God.
Close up of Robert's face.
Robert: Relax, Jamie. He's just going to paint me. Maybe he can paint us.
Close up of Standing Man's black eye.
Cut to Jamie walking across the room.
Jamie: He likes it tight.
Jamie walks over to Robert. He seems turned on. Cut to Standing Man opening a small kit with small scissors, tweezers, dental probe kinds of things.
Cut to Jamie tightening the scarf around his lover's hands.
Cut to Standing Man fondling a serrated blade.
Robert (off camera): Careful, baby. You're cutting off my circulation.
Cut to Standing Man reaching for some kind of electrical device like a drill. Jamie turns from tightening the scarf and sees what Standing Man has.
Jamie: What the ...
Standing Man brings the device around and hits Jamie hard across the face with it. Jamie drops and is out cold. Standing Man inserts the blade in the device {guess it's an electric knife} and turns it on.
Robert: No ...
Close up to Robert's glasses. The reflection in them shows Standing Man coming with the knife.
Robert: No ...
Brief cut to Robert's hands struggling against the tied scarf.
Cut to the knife blade.
Cut to the canvas. We hear screaming as blood hits the canvas in streaks.
Fast forward view of New York, night turning to day. A naked foot. More New York at dawn. Hands tied together with the scarf, blood over the fingers.
Someone takes a photo of the body. Shift to an overhead view of the forensics team around the body.
Shift to Jamie's face. There's a nasty cut on his forehead above his left eye.
Jamie: Robert picked him up at Badlands.
Shift to see Jake and Sara standing in front of the sitting Jamie. Jake has a small notebook out taking notes.
Jamie: He was stunning, but in a frightening way. Does that make any sense?
Sara nods.
Jamie: He was perfect, except for his eyes. They were gorgeous, too, but ...
Sara: But what?
Jamie: They didn't match. One of them was blue, ice blue, and the other was dark, dark brown, almost black. Like a hole with nothing in it.
Sara is about to say something when the door behind her opens.
Sara turns to see a man in his early twenties enter.
Young man (without looking): Hey, Foster, I've got your head.
Sara: Who are you?
He looks up to see Sara and the other people in the room.
Young man: Gabriel Bowman. I'm just dropping off an item, delivering goods. Ah ... it's another one for his collection.
Sara looks inside the box he's carrying. It's another mummified head.
Gabriel: Foster ordered it months ago. He still owes me eight thousand bucks.
Sara looks to Jamie and he nods in confirmation. Sara turns back to Gabriel.
Sara: Well, good luck collecting.
Sara nods towards the body across the room behind Gabriel. He turns and notes his client on the floor.
Gabriel: Damn ... huh.
Gabriel (turning back to Sara): Who's gonna pay for this?
Sara gives him an "Excuse me?" kind of look.
Gabriel: Uh ... I gotta go. Can I go?
Cut to Gabriel exiting the building, still with the box under his arm. As he turns to walks down the sidewalk, the camera shifts to Ian behind him, watching. Ian is in a black hooded coat with gloves. A thick silver ring is on his right index finger on the outside of the glove.
Cut back to Jamie and Robert's place.
Sara (to Jake): Let's go check out Badlands.
Jake (grimacing): The ... bar?
Sara: Yeah. That a problem?
Jake: No, no. But shouldn't one of us take the ... um ...
Sara (turning to Jake): The lover?
Jake: Right. Shouldn't one of us take him downtown?
Sara: Sure.
Jake: Good.
Sara: I'll transport the lover. You check out the gay bar.
Jake shifts his feet, looks down.
Sara: Know what? On second thought, Jake, I'll check out Badlands. Wouldn't want to run into someone you know and give them the wrong idea.
Jake nods vigorously with a brilliant smile.
Jake: Right.
Sara gives Jake a look to say "I'm so disappointed in you" and walks away.
Jake straightens his jacket, gives a little shrug and loses the smile.
Jake (softly): Right
Cut to Badlands. Sara walks past a couple large surrealistic paintings.
Manager: We don't open till 5:00.
Sara: I'm ... I'm looking for a customer. It should be easy. One blue eye, one brown eye?
Manager: Very easy. Isaac Sullivan. Not sure you're his type, though.
Sara: I wasn't looking for a date.
Manager: You buy?
Sara (momentarily confused): Ah ... It depends - what's he selling?
Manager (nodding to the wall behind Sara): His art. You were looking at it.
Sara turns to look at the paintings again.
Cut to a close up of a blue eye then panning across the face to a black eye.
Cut to Jamie on the other side of darkened glass. He backs away fearfully.
Jamie: He can see me.
Jake: Mr. Pollock, relax. He can't see you.
Jamie: Yes, he can.
Jamie (to Sara): That's the man that killed Robert. And now he wants to kill me.
Sara: That's a rock-solid I.D. in my book. Jake, take Mr. Pollock and go get him anything he wants - coffee, cigarettes ...
Jake: Got it.
Sara: Thank you.
The two men leave. Sara turns back to the darkened glass. Close up on Isaac's mismatched eyes.
Isaac in voiceover: Everyone has a fantasy.
Sara glances at the Witchblade and sees a dull glow there that vanishes.
Cut to Sara walking Isaac, in cuffs, through the department.
Isaac: You're making a big mistake, Detective.
Sara: Yeah? It wouldn't be my first.
Isaac: Well, how refreshing. Most police persons try to at least appear infallible. (He lets out a big sigh.)
Sara: I don't suppose you could prove your innocence?
Isaac (glancing at another cop nearby): Do you read The Voice? Page 6.
Sara goes to borrow the paper from the other cop.
Sara: Can I get this? Thanks.
Sara flips pages. Isaac stands with a smug expression.
Sara finds a picture of Isaac in the paper Next to his picture is a picture of Bill Clinton. Evidently there's a write-up on one of his art exhibits.
Isaac: Me and Bill.
Sara: From when to when?
Isaac: Eight till two.
Jake walks up.
Jake: OK. Our witness is comfortable.
Sara: That's great. Now we have to go get him, bring him back up here, and book him.
Sara folds the paper open to the page with Isaac's picture and shows it to Jake.
Sara: Look at this.
Sara turns to Isaac.
Sara: You're free to go.
Cut to Sara on her motorcycle.
Dominique Boucher in voiceover: I'm gonna spill all my secrets for you, out of the goodness of my heart.
Cut to Sara sitting at a table with a laptop.
Boucher voiceover: You're forgetting an important fact, Miss Pezzini ...
Cut to memory of Boucher in her cell finishing the scene.
Boucher (memory): ... I don't want you to succeed with the Witchblade. Try the internet. Maybe under "charms" ... "talismans" ... "fairy tales" ...
Back to Sara's laptop. She has found a site, Talismaniac. On the site is a picture of a painting entitled "Joan of Arc. The battle of Orleans (1429)". She clicks on the picture to enlarge it. Joan looks amazingly like Sara. This painting is hanging in Kenneth Irons' den.
Cut to Sara on her motorcycle on wet pavement.
Cut to Sara knocking at a metal door. There's a small sign that says, "Talismaniac.com - Idols, Icons, Talismans." When she gets no answer to her knock, Sara opens the door and goes in. Inside, it looks like a cross between a small warehouse and someone's cluttered garage. There's a drum set on the floor and open shelves with various objects on them. Sara walks slowly along one shelf. She's looking at the drum set when a male voice makes her look up in surprise.
Male voice: You got a warrant?
Camera pans to Gabriel Bowman on the other side of the drums.
Sara: What are you doing here?
They kind of stare at each other.
Gabriel: What are you doing here?
Sara: I came to talk to your boss.
Gabriel: About the murder?
Sara: No, about business.
Gabriel: In that case, I'm the boss. (Gives her a grin.)
Sara gives him a look.
Gabriel (small laugh): Oh, hey. It's a dotcom world, baby. You ... uh ... drop out, start up, and get rich.
Gabriel gestures at the drum set.
Gabriel: You like 'em?
Sara shakes off the surprise of seeing Gabriel here.
Sara: Uh ... nice kit.
Gabriel: Oh, so you play?
Sara (slight shrug): I bang.
Gabriel: Oh. Well, they're yours - fifty thousand.
Sara: Dollars?!
Gabriel: Hey - that's the last set Keith Moon played before he died. And then they were bought in an auction by John Bonham right before he died.
Sara: So they're what ... cursed?
Gabriel shrugs.
Sara: I was wondering how they fit in here. What is this place?
Gabriel: What the sign says. Idols, icons, talismans. You know, if you ... uh ... like the drums, you can put 'em on layaway. You can leave me a deposit, like say your ... uh ... bracelet.
Sara: How about a straight up swap?
Gabriel (immediately): Deal.
Sara nods at his reaction.
Gabriel: Damn! (Knows he's been caught.)
Sara: I came here to learn more about this thing. Looks like I'm off to a pretty good start, huh?
Gabriel raises one eyebrow and looks away.
Sara: OK. Try this. You tell me everything you know about this Witchblade and everything you can learn. If I do decide to sell it, you get right of first refusal.
Gabriel: Oh, that's a mighty big "if."
Sara: At ten grand, not fifty, "baby."
Gabriel looks thoughtful.
Sara (with a one-shoulder shrug): Think about it.
Sara leaves.
Cut to Sara on her motorcycle.
Isaac voiceover: Everyone has a fantasy.
Jamie voiceover: That's the man that killed Robert and now he wants to kill me.
Sara parks her bike in an alley, gets off the bike, and knocks on a nondescript red door.
Cut to interior of an artist's studio.
Isaac: Please, please come in.
Sara: You look like you were expecting me.
Isaac: Well, I was. Actually, if you hadn't come, I probably would have found some pretext to call.
Sara: You need a pretext?
Isaac: I found you intriguing today.
Sara (a little snort): I get that from all my murder suspects.
Sara looks around at the paintings on easels in Isaac's studio.
Sara (looking at one): This your latest?
Isaac: Ah, well. That's more like a work in progress, really. Entitled The Huntsmen of Annuvin. Name ring a bell?
Sara: Were they riders? British?
Isaac: Welsh, actually. It's from an ancient folktale. Nine brothers rode the woods, slaughtering everything in their path. And when one of the brothers was killed, the other eight absorbed his power. So that if a foe vanquished, say ... eight of the nine ... the one remaining was as strong alone as the group ever was.
Sara: Creepy story.
Isaac: Well, that's art. It transmutes human suffering into beauty. It's about as close to God as you're ever going to get.
Sara: Do you have any brothers, Mr. Sullivan?
Sara starts to walk past. Isaac stops her with a hand on her shoulder.
Isaac: Isaac.
Sara continues with a troubled expression on her face. Isaac turns to face her.
Isaac: And I love the way you did that.
Sara: Excuse me?
Isaac: Oh, come on, Detective. You've done your research. You know.
Sara: You're right. Your D.O.B. is 5-11-71. Father, John Sullivan. Mother, Mary Louise Sullivan, died during her first and only ...
Isaac mouths "and only" along with her.
Sara: ... childbirth. Attending physician Dr. Peter DeAngelo. ...
Isaac: OK, OK. Enough, Sara. Ask me the one question that you can't answer.
Sara: How could you be at two places at once?
Isaac: Good question. The answer ... Detective ... is that I couldn't.
Sara stares into his eyes, which is when a phone rings. Isaac turns to answer it.
Isaac: Yeah.
Close up to a mouth speaking into a phone. There is loud music in the background.
Male voice: There's a full moon. Wanna come out and howl at it?
Cut back to Isaac.
Isaac: No, not now. OK?
Cut back to the mouth.
Male voice: Oh, well. More fun for me. She must be pretty special.
Cut back to Isaac. He turns to look at Sara.
Cut back to the mouth.
Male voice: Have fun.
Cut to Isaac hanging up.
Cut back to the scene with the loud music. There is a woman with a compact out.
Male voice: Everyone has a fantasy.
The woman turns toward the camera.
Close up to the same mouth.
Male voice: Something so dark and private you've never shared it with another living soul.
The camera pans across a black iris and then a blue one, just like Isaac has.
Shift to the woman's face. She seems intrigued.
Fade.
End Act I.
Act II
Inside Jake and Sara's department in the precinct house.
Jake (into the phone): Yeah. (He then hangs up loudly.)
Sara: That bad?
Jake: Jerk judge said Pollock had a clean record, wasn't a flight risk.
Sara (hanging up her helmet): He made bail?
Jake: Sh ...Why do we even bother trying to make a case? His attorney's gonna play this as a consensual sex game gone wrong. Pollock'll get community service. Probably have teenage boys intern at his gallery.
Sara: Whoa, Jake. We're not gonna have any case if you let that show on the stand.
Jake: Let what show?
Sara: You're a raging homophobe.
Jake: What are you talking about?
Jake walks away from Sara. Sara follows. They're walking down the hall.
Sara: You wouldn't even go to Badlands.
Jake: Give me a break.
Sara: You can't even say the word "lover."
Jake continues walking, throwing up his hands. Sara doggedly follows.
Sara: Hey, Jake!
Sara's starting to get pissed. {She does have a bit of a temper, eh?}
Shift to Jake walking through a door marked "MEN." Sara follows right behind, still steamed.
Sara: Admit it.
Jake: Hey! Hey! You can't come in here.
Sara: Don't worry, Jake, I'm a (makes quotes marks with fingers) "chick." Nobody's gonna think you're gay.
Jake: Give it a rest, Pez.
Sara: Not till you admit it bugs you. You've had Pollock guilty since we met him.
Jake: You're the one who told me to book him.
Sara: For murder, not for being gay!
Sara turns to another officer heading for the door.
Sara: Hey, pal! Wash your hands!
Jake takes the opportunity of Sara's distraction to head for the door himself. Sara follows after him.
Sara: And another thing ...
Cut to the interior of Boucher's cell. She looks even older than the last time we saw her. Sara walks in and is stunned when she sees Boucher.
Boucher: How do you like staring into your own future, Sara?
Sara: I came to see how you were doing.
Boucher (mocking): "Maybe I'll engage her in light conversation and she'll inadvertently drop me another crumb."
Boucher gives a little chuckle.
Boucher: Really, Sara!
Sara: Kenneth Irons sends his regards.
Flash to a memory of Kenneth Irons speaking to Sara.
Irons (memory): The Witchblade took hold of her, shook her around, and discarded her like a damaged doll.
Back to Boucher's cell.
Boucher: He's one to talk.
Sara: He's made me some ... uh ... very compelling offers.
Sara gives a big smile.
Sara: Unless I can learn more about the Witchblade on my own, I may have to give him what he wants.
Sara stares at Boucher, but she says nothing.
Sara (shouts): Guard!
Boucher: I'm not surprised. He always had an eye for a fine brood mare.
Sara turns back from the doorway.
Sara: What did you say?
Boucher lies down on her cot.
Boucher: Ask me when I've rested. Conversation is exhausting ... at my age.
Sara leaves the cell.
Cut to a rooftop.
Jake lifts yellow police tape for Sara and then follows.
Sara, with Jake in tow, approaches two male detectives.
Sara: What have you got, Turnbow?
Turnbow: It ain't pretty.
Turnbow gestures and they all walk to a body covered with a white sheet. Sara lifts one end of the sheet. Under it is the woman from last night. Jake starts walking around the site.
Danny Woo shows up over near one wall. Sara notices him and looks around. When she looks back, he's gone. She frowns, looking around. She then walks over to where he had been standing. Other cops in the background are searching the scene for evidence. Sara gets to where Danny had been and finds something. She takes some forceps out of her pocket, squats down and comes up with the remains of a Polaroid picture.
Sara (to Jake): Took a picture. Like a little souvenir for himself.
Jake (to another detective): Give me an evidence bag, man.
Jake gets a large plastic bag from the detective and pops it open. Sara places the photo remains inside the bag. She then reaches down with the forceps again and picks up a match box that has "Badlands" on it. Sara shows it to Jake.
Jake: Badlands?
Sara: Pollock was in lock up when this happened.
Jake: I wonder if Isaac Sullivan has another alibi for last night?
Sara: You're looking at her.
Jake: You're kidding.
Sara: Yeah, I questioned him last night. We're going to Badlands.
Jake: Pez ...
Sara: It's a link between two murders that we know of, maybe more we don't.
Jake: Pez ...
Sara: McCartey, get over it.
Jake: It ... It's just a waste of time. Who's ever gonna believe that I'm gay?
Sara: You think that everyone that goes there is gay?
Jake (nod): Yeah.
Sara: Just like you "can always tell"?
Jake (nod): Yeah.
Sara: Sure couldn't tell about me.
Jake just looks at Sara.
Sara: Jake, good lookin' guy like you ... ever wonder why I haven't made a move?
Jake's expression says, "I know you're pulling my leg."
Jake: Huh ... Get out!
Sara's face doesn't change a bit.
Jake (shock): Get ... out.
Sara: Seriously, we're going ... undercover.
Jake grimaces, shakes his head.
Sara: All right. You know what? Screw it! I'll go on my own. Thanks.
Sara turns and walks off, leaving Jake to think.
Cut to the interior of Gabriel's place. Gabriel is messing with the head that Robert Foster had ordered. Ian Nottingham walks in from the right, passes behind Gabriel and stands to the right of Gabriel (camera left). He's looking ahead and down, not at Gabriel. Gabriel is very surprised. He looks from Ian to where he came from and back.
Gabriel: Oh, what the ... Hey!
Ian: I'd like to purchase your head.
Gabriel is still looking from Ian to (presumably) the door.
Gabriel: How'd you ... get in here? I ... I ... uh ... I didn't ... uh ... buzz you in. {Nor Sara, Gabriel}
Ian: My employer knows the original buyer was unable to complete his transaction.
Gabriel backs up a couple steps.
Gabriel: Oh ... ah ... uh ... I don't deal with strangers. {What an odd way to run a business.}
Ian: The original price was ten thousand U.S.
Side view of Ian handing over a fabric zippered pouch. He's still not looking at Gabriel.
Ian: I am authorized to pay you thirty thousand Swiss francs.
Gabriel (glancing at the pouch): That's almost eighteen grand. (Looks at Ian.)
Ian: And you keep the original buyer's deposit.
Gabriel: Oh ... what's the catch?
Ian: The catch? No further conversations with Sara Pezzini regarding the Witchblade.
Gabriel tosses the pouch to the table in front of them.
Gabriel: Whoa, whoa. Wait, wait. What's that got to do with anything? Look, man, she's a cop. She can make my life very difficult.
Ian turns to Gabriel, stepping close. Ian stares Gabriel in the eyes.
Ian: Difficult? I can make you pray for difficult.
Gabriel gives a little shrug, then starts nodding his head. Ian drops his gaze again, steps around Gabriel, pulls the hood of his coat over his head, and goes out the door. Gabriel turns back to the table and notices Ian's "purchase" still there.
Gabriel: Uh ... hey, mister! You forgot ... (sees Ian disappearing) ... your head.
Cut to Badlands. People dancing and conversing. In walks Sara, dressed as a man. She has on tinted glasses, a fake mustache, sideburns and goatee. Her hair is hidden by a wig. Several heads turn to follow her/him. She leans back against a bar and is immediately accosted.
Jake: Come here often?
Sara looks over at Jake and lets out a soft laugh.
Sara: Oh, geez! What changed your mind?
Jake: I knew you'd forget one thing.
Jake holds up a roll of quarters. {I think}
Sara: Jake! (grabs the quarters)
Jake: Actually, I decided I couldn't let my partner walk into this den of iniquity on her own.
Sara (nod): Glad you're here.
Jake nods and takes a drink of wine.
Cut to Isaac Sullivan walking through the crowd.
Cut back to Jake and Sara.
Sara: You're a farm boy, right, Jake?
Jake: No.
Sara: Well, maybe you can help me anyway. A brood mare ... that's like a breeding horse, right?
Jake (smile): Like a female stud.
Sara gives Jake a confused look. Jake's smile drops mighty quick and he gets a thoughtful look.
Jake: Are you? I mean ... really? (Jake frowns)
Sara: Am I actually what, Jake?
Jake: You know ... do you ... like girls?
Sara: Huh ... Jake ...
Sara sees Isaac walking across the floor in their direction.
Sara: Kiss me.
Jake: What?
Sara: You wanna know? Kiss me.
Jake: Pez, you're a guy.
Sara grabs his head and initiates some serious smoochies. She breaks it off and turns around and leaves. Jake has a dazed look on his face.
Isaac walks up behind Jake and stares after the disappearing "guy" Jake was kissing.
Isaac: Detective McCartey. Well, this is a surprise.
Isaac turns to Jake.
Isaac: So ... uh ... who's your handsome friend?
Jake (nods and then shakes his head): No one.
Jake finishes his wine.
Cut to Jamie Pollock. He's packing the masks at his place.
Robert Foster in voiceover: Relax, Jamie. He's just going to paint me. Maybe he can paint us.
Shift so that Pollock is in the background. In the foreground is the shadow being cast on a wall of someone with a cell phone.
Pollock's phone rings and he answers it.
Pollock: Hello?
Camera starts moving toward him.
Male voice: Have you looked in the mirror lately?
Pollock: What? This isn't funny!
Pollock turns toward the camera. We see fire and then hear screams.
Cut back to Badlands. Sara is walking past one of Isaac's paintings. The Witchblade starts glowing. Sara sees the painting's image shift and hears voices screaming.
Cut to the bar. Isaac puts his hand over Jake's. Jake jerks his away.
Jake: You have the wrong idea, Mr. Sullivan.
Isaac: Isaac.
Jake: Mr. Sullivan ... I'm here on the job, OK?
Cut back to Sara at the painting. It keeps shifting and she still hears voices. Until her cell phone rings.
Sara: Yeah?
Male voice (over phone): Hey, Pez. Looks like the boyfriend's been killed. Same place.
Sara: I'm on my way.
Sara hangs up then dials another number.
Cut to Jake and Isaac.
Isaac: Oh, c'mon, Detective. All work and no play makes Jake a very dull boy.
Jake's phone rings.
Jake (holding up his phone): Mind?
Jake turns his back on Isaac.
Jake: What?
Sara (over the phone): Jake - Pez. We got another one.
Jake: Meet you out front.
Isaac: Leaving so soon?
Jake puts money on the bar, stares at Isaac a moment, and then leaves.
Isaac (to Jake's back): Well, if you get off early ... um ... why don't you come back and see me? I'll be here all night.
Cut to Pollock's place. Jake and Sara are walking through.
Male voiceover: Everyone has a fantasy. You're going to be a work of art.
Robert in voiceover: Relax, Jamie. He's just going to paint me.
Male voiceover: I offer you a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.
Robert in voiceover: Maybe he'll paint us.
Sara flinches. Close up of the Witchblade glowing. Sara puts her hands over her ears, closes her eyes and grimaces.
Jake: What is it, Pez?
Fade.
End Act II
Act III
Exterior of the police station. Sara is on her motorcycle, removing her helmet. She gets off her bike and turns around. Gabriel walks up.
Gabriel: Hey! Uh … uh … we gotta talk. I got a death threat from someone who doesn't want me talking to you about that (gestures at the Witchblade).
Sara: Let me guess … Tall, black hair, black overcoat, drops the temp in a room about 10 degrees?
Gabriel (nods): So you know him?
Sara: We’ve met.
Sara (surprised look): And you came and told me? Ballsy move. Why'd you risk it?
Gabriel: 'Cause I pick my own friends.
Sara: And …
Gabriel: And … uh … if that bracelet's half of what they say it is, then it needs to be on the right wrist.
Sara: Talk to me.
Gabriel: Deal still stands, right?
Sara stares at Gabriel. Flash to the Witchblade's eye opening. Back to Sara. She gives a little nod.
Gabriel: Well, you already know one of its names.
Sara: Yeah. The Witchblade.
Gabriel: Yeah. Digitabulum Magae. In Latin? The … the stories go way back. Uh … oral tradition, myth … . It … uh …
Flash of the Indian painting in Boucher's office.
Gabriel: … pops up in different cultures … Babylonian friezes …
Flash of a painting of a medieval scene.
Gabriel: … Celtic runes …
Flash of someone in armor. Flash to a painting of a Japanese wielder. Flash to someone in dark robes and a mask with a torch. Flash back to the blade in the Japanese painting. Flash to a figure in a mail coif and armor walking away from the camera. Shift to the front of the figure, who looks like Sara, struggling now against a man in black robes. Torch held up close to a full metal mask. A close up of Kenneth Irons. Back to Sara.
Sara: Keep going.
Gabriel: It's a weapon only chicks can wear. Uh … some famous, some not. Uh … they … uh … they say it gives you all sorts of powers. Uh … strength and agility … clairvoyance. Want to confirm or deny?
Flash to scenes of men in dark robes thrusting torches at someone. Flash to the painting of the medieval scene. Flash to a woman in armor walking in a dark area. Flash to the Indian painting. Back to Sara.
Sara: I've .. I've only had it a few weeks.
Gabriel: Oh … OK, fine. But you should also know that supposedly the blade punishes … pretenders who aren't supposed to wear it.
Sara: Punishes … How?
Gabriel: I don't know yet. It's all tangled up. Look, you … uh … want I should look into it?
Sara: Yeah … yeah, I want. (nods)
Gabriel: OK.
Gabriel walks off.
Sara watches him for a moment then enters the police station.
Cut to Boucher lying in her cell.
Sara's voice (off camera): Your time is running out, Dominique. I know what you want. I can give it to you.
Boucher turns to see Sara inside her cell.
Sara: Revenge - on Kenneth Irons.
Boucher: You're out of your league, little girl.
Sara: Not with this (gestures to the Witchblade) …
Close up of the Witchblade.
Sara: … if you help me.
Boucher turns to face Sara. She's even older looking than the last time we saw her.
Sara: C'mon, Dominique. Maybe it's too late for you, but at least don't let Irons have it.
Cut to a close up of the linked circles scar on the back of Irons' hand. We see Irons standing at his window, then pull back for a long view of him.
Back to Sara and Boucher.
Boucher: It's right in front of you. Always right in front of you.
Sara: What does that mean?
Boucher: No coincidences.
Flash to one of Foster's mummified heads. Flash to Foster lying on his floor dead.
Boucher: You were right. The Witchblade is orchestrating your life now …
Flash to Gabriel entering Foster's place. Flash to Isaac on the phone as he turns to Sara.
Boucher: … so nothing happens by chance or accident.
Flash to the rooftop where Sara pulls back the sheet and finds the Badlands matchbox.
Back to Sara and Boucher.
Sara: That doesn't help me.
Boucher: Oh, but it does. Everything in your life connected now. Your body, your heart, your dreams, your work. What case are you investigating now?
Sara: A serial murder, art community. Nothing to do with Irons.
Boucher: Everything to do with you. The blade weaves a web. Unbreakable.
Flash to painting of Joan of Arc that looks like Sara (in Irons' den). Flash to a close up of Irons' face. Flash to Ian as he was standing outside Foster's. Flash to Danny as he was standing on the rooftop. Back to Sara and Boucher.
Boucher: It draws to itself, to you, everything you need. Only what you need to teach you. To achieve its end. (She starts having trouble breathing.)
Close up of Isaac's mismatched eyes. Flash to the painting in Badlands that changed for Sara. Flash to Isaac on the phone. Flash to the blood on canvas. Back to Boucher.
Boucher: Think!
Sara: OK … OK … um … I … I have a serial killer who may be a doppelganger, but … but he's an only child.
Boucher: Brood mare.
Sara: You called me that once. Why?
Boucher: Evolution. Reproduction. This is Irons' obsession.
Sara: Genetic research. He's already told me, Dominique.
Boucher: Look for the web. Your case connects to Irons …
Flash to the picture of Boucher and Irons in French Guiana.
Boucher: … connects to me …
Close up of the Witchblade on Boucher in the picture.
Boucher: … connects to you.
Close up of the Witchblade on Sara's wrist.
Dominique is having trouble breathing.
Sara: Dominique …
Boucher: All of it. (Has trouble breathing.)
Sara: Dominique, don't do this. I need you.
Boucher: You are his brood mare.
Boucher has trouble breathing, starts coughing and choking.
Sara (shouts): Guard! Guard! Get a doctor!
Cut to Sara asleep in bed. She starts tossing. The Witchblade is glowing.
" Witchblade vision" dream sequence: Ian, in armor. Sara in a mail coif. Dominique Boucher, older in her jail cell. We hear Boucher say, "The blade weaves a web. Nothing happens by chance," as the rest of the vision flashes by. Gabriel talking to Sara. The same mummified head at Foster's. The picture of Irons and Boucher from French Guiana. Ian in armor, sword drawn and up; there's another blade pointed toward him. Sara in coif. The blade that was pointed at Ian goes through him, striking glass. Glass shards flying, blade going through them. Behind the flying glass is Isaac Sullivan. Kenneth Irons standing at his window in sunlight. Isaac, with a mirror behind him and to the sides.
Sara wakes sweating and looks down in time to see the light go out of the Witchblade. She sits up, thoughtful expression on her face.
Cut to Sara in a robe getting eggs out of her refrigerator. She takes them to the stove, cracks one open and drops the contents into a hot skillet. She looks down to see her frying egg has a double yolk. She cracks a second egg into the skillet.
Sara: "Right in front of you."
The second egg also had a double yolk.
Cut to Sara and Jake's office. Sara enters walking briskly.
Jake: Whoa. What's up?
Sara: Dr. Peter DeAngelo.
Jake: The baby doctor who delivered Isaac Sullivan.
Sara starts typing on her laptop.
Sara: There was a fertility expert a few years back. Impregnated a bunch of his female patients with his own sperm, remember?
Jake (dredging his memory): Yeah, right, um … "Angel of …" … "Life?" … "Birth?"
Sara (finding the police file): Peter DeAngelo, Angel of Birth. Doing twenty years in prison.
Sara (to Jake): Dig hard. Find out who funded his research.
She starts walking toward the door as he picks up his phone to start calling.
Sara: Ten to one, it was Vorschlag.
Jake: Where you gonna be?
Sara: Rahway.
Cut to exterior of Rahway State Prison.
Cut to an interview room. Sara is sitting on one side of a square table, DeAngelo on the other.
DeAngelo: They were hard pressed to find a statute to charge me with. See, I didn't take life, I gave life, where no life would have been possible.
Side view close up of Peter DeAngelo. He's sixty-ish, gray goatee and mustache, and wears tinted glasses.
Sara: Not everyone saw it that way, Doctor.
DeAngelo smiles.
DeAngelo: "Doctor." It's nice to hear that again. I was excommunicated by my medical brethren.
Sara: Imagine that. You used you own sperm to impregnate women who came to you to get pregnant by their husbands.
DeAngelo: Inadequate breeding material. Teachers, bricklayers … cops.
Sara: They should've been happy to have your genes, right? Your IQ must be … what … uh … 170? 180?
DeAngelo: High enough to avoid all your traps.
Sara: What traps? You're already here for keeps. I'm just curious. So, the way I see it, most women wouldn't measure up, either. It's always hard to find a good brood mare.
DeAngelo: It's a pity you weren't around. (Gives a wicked little smile.)
Sara: If you'd just sown your seed all over the country, you'd have ended up with a scattered bunch of halfbreeds. But you were years ahead of your time, weren't you, Doctor? Thanks to the research funded by Kenneth Irons. I'm betting you wanted sons, sons as perfect as you. And that would require one single egg, one you could harvest, and split or clone.
DeAngelo: It's the closest man can come to being God.
DeAngelo takes off his glasses. He has one blue eye and one black.
DeAngelo: Have my boys been causing you trouble? Their design is flawed, you know.
Fade.
End Act III
Act IV
Sara is walking with her gun drawn in Isaac's studio.
Sara: Mr. Sullivan?
Sara looks around as she continues walking.
Sara: Come out, come out, wherever you are.
Sara continues walking. One painting starts shifting its image as she walks by. Sara passes through the kitchen area.
Isaac's voice (off camera): Now, Sara … see, I thought we were on a first name basis.
Isaac walks in front of a set of mirrors, sees her gun and raises his hands halfway.
Sara: You're under arrest, Isaac, for the murders of Robert Frost, Jamison Pollock, and the girl on the roof. And I'm guessing that list will grow.
Isaac: We both know that's impossible, so …
Sara: Dad says, "Hi."
Isaac (drops his hands): Ah … Well, how is Dad, anyway?
A duplicate of Isaac, down to the clothing, steps out behind the Isaac Sara had been talking to. He cocks and points a pistol at Sara.
Second Isaac: Yeah … How is the old geezer, anyway?
Sara raises her gun to point at him.
Sara: Wow. You two ever date the same girl?
Jake enters, gun pointed at the second Isaac.
Jake: Or guy?
The second Isaac takes a deep breath.
Second Isaac (softly): OK.
He lowers his gun to the floor and stands back up, hands raised.
A third Isaac steps up behind Jake, pistol aimed at his head.
Third Isaac: No.
The second Isaac drops his hands. The third Isaac gestures for Jake's gun and takes it from him.
Third Isaac (to Sara): Lose the gun.
Sara lowers her weapon to the floor, drops her holster from her hip and gives the gun a little shove with her foot. Isaac 3 pushes Jake to fall at Sara's feet.
All 3 Isaacs together: But there's always a first time.
Both Sara and Jake stare at them.
Cut to tubes of paint. Small tool kit that Isaac had at Foster's. Serrated blade. Saws, drills, sanders. All the tools needed for their "art."
Cut to Jake and Sara sitting side by side in rolling chairs. Jake has had his feet taped to the chair legs above the rollers. Both have their wrists secured to the arms of the chairs. All 3 Isaacs are standing in front of them with power tools in their hands.
Close up of Jake shows his hands were taped to the arms of his chair.
One of the Isaacs comes up to Jake and grabs his jacket.
Isaac: Everyone's got a fantasy, Jake. So, I was watching you at Badlands and I got to thinking … What's yours?
Jake: Um … your head … in a vise.
Isaac: Oh (little laugh) … no. See, that would be making ugliness out of beauty, and we make beauty out of ugliness.
Isaac holds the drill alongside Jake's face.
Isaac: Time to get ugly. (Turns on the drill.)
Jake's chair is pushed away from Sara, to a clear portion of the floor. The 3 Isaacs start shoving his chair between them. Sara looks to the Witchblade, but it remains dark. She has handcuffs, not tape, binding her hands to the chair.
One Isaac (who knows which): Take it like a man, Jakey.
This Isaac makes like he's going to kiss Jake's cheek. Jake pulls his head back.
The Isaacs continue shoving Jake's chair around.
Back to Sara. She's staring at the Witchblade. Now it glows and turns into the gauntlet, snapping the cuff on her right wrist. Sara takes the gauntlet and bangs it against the cuff holding her left wrist, breaking the cuff.
Cut to Isaacs and Jake. One of them has the drill again.
Sara: Play nice, boys.
Sara gets out of the chair, strides towards the group.
Sara shoves one Isaac down and takes possession of Jake's chair from the back. She uses the chair back to propel her kick into the face of a second doppelganger, the one with the drill, and slings Jake's chair over out of the way, facing away from the action. Sara heads back toward the duplicates.
Jake (trying to see over his shoulder): Sara!
One of the Isaacs has the electric knife going. He slashes at Sara and they dance across the floor in front of the long line of mirrors. Sounds of metal striking metal. He tries an overhead slash and she blocks with the Witchblade. The knife stops moving.
The Isaac Sara initially knocked over gets to his feet and disappears behind the mirrors.
Sara (to the Isaac with the knife): Everybody has a fantasy, Isaac.
They grapple some more. Isaac drops the knife and screams. Sara whirls and punches him several feet through the air, through one of the large standing mirrors lining the studio. He lies still in the glass fragments on the other side.
Jake (over his shoulder): Sara!
Sara whirls and deflects several gunshots fired at her by another of the "brothers."
Sara, facing the gunman, takes a few steps, leaps, does a somersault in the air and lands behind this new Isaac. She shoves him in the back with the Witchblade. He whirls around and she punches toward his chest. We hear liquid sounds. {Nope, don't get to see it.} He screams and falls.
Jake is trying to catch any glimpse of this in the mirrors that he can but doesn't see much.
The next Isaac kicks Sara's right arm as his twin falls. He pounds her across the back with his left forearm.
Cut to Jake still struggling to get free.
Back to the fight.
Sara kicks Isaac. He backs across the floor. She cartwheels after him. He throws a punch at her and she grabs the arm to pull him closer and bashes him with the Witchblade. Isaac is stunned and she grabs him by the throat and throws him to the floor. He scrambles away and trips her. He gets behind her and brings his forearm across her throat, trying to choke her. Sara extends her right arm, the blade grows from the Witchblade, she whirls and drives it into his upper abdomen. She jerks the blade free and he crumples. Sara drops to her knees, hand at her throat. We can hear the blade withdrawing.
Cut to Jake looking all around.
Jake: Sara?
Foreground shows one Isaac on his back, eyes staring. Background shows another Isaac face down unmoving near the line of mirrors. Sara is shown in the mirrors, hand at throat, breathing heavily.
Sara: I got a problem. I'm short a guy.
Sara gets up and looks about.
Isaac's voice (off camera): I tried to warn you, Sara.
Sara: Yeah, I know. The Huntsmen.
Sounds of footsteps can be heard.
Isaac (off camera): That's correct. And now I'm getting stronger.
Isaac appears in the mirrors behind Sara.
Isaac (cocking a gun): But, take solace. You'll live forever as a work of art.
Isaac has a pistol in each hand aimed at Sara's back. Isaac laughs and begins to squeeze the triggers.
Sara spins, extends the Witchblade, drives it into Isaac, and rips the blade free in an instant. Isaac drops both guns and then falls.
Cut to Jake.
Jake (over his shoulder): Sara?
Sound of the blade withdrawing and the gauntlet changing back to a bracelet.
Jake (more concerned): Sara!
Sara: Yeah. Here, partner.
Jake: Are you OK? What the hell happened?
Sara walks over the body of her latest kill and looks at the others. She heads to where she pushed Jake out of the way. She kneels by Jake's left hand and starts to work at his bindings.
Sara: OK.
Sara is disturbed and has trouble looking at Jake.
Jake (puzzled expression): How did you … ?
Sara doesn't answer, just continues unwrapping his wrists. She frowns, obviously unhappy.
Fade.
Cut to Sara arriving at Boucher's cell. The guard lets her in. Boucher is on her bunk, blanket pulled way up.
Sara: I don't know how to thank you.
Shift to see that the blanket is actually over Boucher's head.
Sara (off camera): You saved my life. And you quieted the voices … for now, anyway.
Sara: Let's talk about Kenneth Irons.
Danny walks past outside Boucher's cell, looks in at Sara and Boucher.
Sara bends over and touches Boucher.
Sara: Dominique?
She pulls back the blanket and turns Boucher over. Boucher is as young now as when Sara first met her, but is unmoving. Danny walks away.
Cut to Sara arriving home. Her door is slightly ajar. She draws her weapon and goes cautiously up the stairs. We see Gabriel setting up the drum kit.
Sara: Freeze!
Gabriel rises slowly, arms raised.
Gabriel: Oh … easy, chief. I'm … uh … with the band.
Sara lowers her gun
Sara: How the hell did you get in here?
Gabriel: I … uh … told your super I was delivering a gift. (Looks at the drums.)
Sara: No thanks.
Gabriel: Oh … well, they're not a gift. They're … uh … me securing my investment.
Gabriel offers her the drumsticks.
Sara gives a large exhalation, takes the sticks, taps them on her palms, and approaches the kit.
Sara: Hell, what's one more curse, right?
Sara gives a couple taps to the drum. Gabriel taps a cymbal.
Cut to a wall of graffiti art. A man in a hooded black jacket sprays the final touches on a large painting of a cartoon Witchblade wielder in skimpy metal armor. He turns and we see his face. It's another Isaac doppelganger.
Fade.
End Act IV
I thought long and hard about whether I should put this one up or not and well I decided to because some of the things won’t make sense later if I don’t but I don’t know I hope this doesn’t go over like a lead balloon since well it kinda treads on somethings…but then again homicide isn’t exactly…segratory or pretty…Plus this is where Gab makes his first appearance….plus Sara shows so respect that I admire
Witchblade The Original Series, TNT
Episode 3: Diplopia
Original air date: June 26, 2001
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Teleplay by: David Michaelson
Story by: Ralph Hemecker & Richard C. Okie
Directed by: Vern Gillum
Transcript Credit: SciFi_Angel
Main Characters:
Sara Pezzini Yancy Butler
Jake McCartey David Chokachi
Kenneth Irons Anthony Cistaro
Danny Woo Will Yun Lee
Ian Nottingham Eric Etebari
The episode opens with a "Previously on Witchblade segment" then the opening credits. I'll skip that.
Note: Braces { } indicate missing or uncertain dialog or transcriber's inserted ramblings.
Act I
Open in a dance bar. Disco lights, loud music. The place is packed with dancers, many same-sex pairs.
Focus on one man, early thirties, wearing a suit and tie, sitting on a couch. He has fashionable short hair and wears glasses.
Another man in a suit, seen only from the chest down, walks up to where he's sitting.
The man with the glasses looks up. {OK, we'll learn this later, but the sitting man's name is Robert. You'll have to wait a bit for the other guy.}
Shift to a close up of Standing Man's mouth. He gives a smug kind of little smile.
Shift to Robert.
Robert: Have we met?
Close up to Robert removing his glasses.
Robert: Silly question. I would definitely remember.
Close up of Standing Man's mouth.
Standing Man: Everyone has a fantasy.
Close up of Robert's face.
Robert: Excuse me?
Close up of Standing Man's mouth.
Standing Man: Something so dark and private they've never shared it with another living soul.
Close up of Robert's eyes.
Robert: My! The direct approach.
Close up of Standing Man's mouth.
Standing Man: I offer you a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. Tonight, you tell me your dream, and I will make it come true.
Shift to Robert. He thinks for maybe a second. As Standing Man backs away, he gets up to follow.
Intercut various night scenes of New York.
Cut to a table displaying tribal masks and what look like mummified heads. The camera pans across the display.
Standing Man's voice (off camera): Nice collection of heads.
Robert's voice (off camera): Really? Most people find it strange.
The camera pans to a canvas being set up on a wooden easel. A man's shadow shows through the canvas.
Next we see red paint being squeezed onto a palette.
Standing Man's voice: That might give me an idea.
Other paint tubes are being pulled out.
Close up to Robert's face, wearing glasses.
Robert: I hope you're not one of those deconstructionists. I want people to recognize me when you're done.
Close up to one black-irised eye. This must be Standing Man - Robert has brown eyes.
Shift to Standing Man, seen only chest down, carrying a black and white scarf to Robert, who's wearing a tan robe and sitting in a chair.
Standing Man: Oh, believe me. The painting will reflect your inner self.
Standing Man loosely wraps the scarf around Robert's out held wrists.
There is the sound of a door being opened. Robert jerks his head around. The camera pans to reveal a man in a dark shirt and suit coat entering.
Man who entered: Oh, my God.
Close up of Robert's face.
Robert: Relax, Jamie. He's just going to paint me. Maybe he can paint us.
Close up of Standing Man's black eye.
Cut to Jamie walking across the room.
Jamie: He likes it tight.
Jamie walks over to Robert. He seems turned on. Cut to Standing Man opening a small kit with small scissors, tweezers, dental probe kinds of things.
Cut to Jamie tightening the scarf around his lover's hands.
Cut to Standing Man fondling a serrated blade.
Robert (off camera): Careful, baby. You're cutting off my circulation.
Cut to Standing Man reaching for some kind of electrical device like a drill. Jamie turns from tightening the scarf and sees what Standing Man has.
Jamie: What the ...
Standing Man brings the device around and hits Jamie hard across the face with it. Jamie drops and is out cold. Standing Man inserts the blade in the device {guess it's an electric knife} and turns it on.
Robert: No ...
Close up to Robert's glasses. The reflection in them shows Standing Man coming with the knife.
Robert: No ...
Brief cut to Robert's hands struggling against the tied scarf.
Cut to the knife blade.
Cut to the canvas. We hear screaming as blood hits the canvas in streaks.
Fast forward view of New York, night turning to day. A naked foot. More New York at dawn. Hands tied together with the scarf, blood over the fingers.
Someone takes a photo of the body. Shift to an overhead view of the forensics team around the body.
Shift to Jamie's face. There's a nasty cut on his forehead above his left eye.
Jamie: Robert picked him up at Badlands.
Shift to see Jake and Sara standing in front of the sitting Jamie. Jake has a small notebook out taking notes.
Jamie: He was stunning, but in a frightening way. Does that make any sense?
Sara nods.
Jamie: He was perfect, except for his eyes. They were gorgeous, too, but ...
Sara: But what?
Jamie: They didn't match. One of them was blue, ice blue, and the other was dark, dark brown, almost black. Like a hole with nothing in it.
Sara is about to say something when the door behind her opens.
Sara turns to see a man in his early twenties enter.
Young man (without looking): Hey, Foster, I've got your head.
Sara: Who are you?
He looks up to see Sara and the other people in the room.
Young man: Gabriel Bowman. I'm just dropping off an item, delivering goods. Ah ... it's another one for his collection.
Sara looks inside the box he's carrying. It's another mummified head.
Gabriel: Foster ordered it months ago. He still owes me eight thousand bucks.
Sara looks to Jamie and he nods in confirmation. Sara turns back to Gabriel.
Sara: Well, good luck collecting.
Sara nods towards the body across the room behind Gabriel. He turns and notes his client on the floor.
Gabriel: Damn ... huh.
Gabriel (turning back to Sara): Who's gonna pay for this?
Sara gives him an "Excuse me?" kind of look.
Gabriel: Uh ... I gotta go. Can I go?
Cut to Gabriel exiting the building, still with the box under his arm. As he turns to walks down the sidewalk, the camera shifts to Ian behind him, watching. Ian is in a black hooded coat with gloves. A thick silver ring is on his right index finger on the outside of the glove.
Cut back to Jamie and Robert's place.
Sara (to Jake): Let's go check out Badlands.
Jake (grimacing): The ... bar?
Sara: Yeah. That a problem?
Jake: No, no. But shouldn't one of us take the ... um ...
Sara (turning to Jake): The lover?
Jake: Right. Shouldn't one of us take him downtown?
Sara: Sure.
Jake: Good.
Sara: I'll transport the lover. You check out the gay bar.
Jake shifts his feet, looks down.
Sara: Know what? On second thought, Jake, I'll check out Badlands. Wouldn't want to run into someone you know and give them the wrong idea.
Jake nods vigorously with a brilliant smile.
Jake: Right.
Sara gives Jake a look to say "I'm so disappointed in you" and walks away.
Jake straightens his jacket, gives a little shrug and loses the smile.
Jake (softly): Right
Cut to Badlands. Sara walks past a couple large surrealistic paintings.
Manager: We don't open till 5:00.
Sara: I'm ... I'm looking for a customer. It should be easy. One blue eye, one brown eye?
Manager: Very easy. Isaac Sullivan. Not sure you're his type, though.
Sara: I wasn't looking for a date.
Manager: You buy?
Sara (momentarily confused): Ah ... It depends - what's he selling?
Manager (nodding to the wall behind Sara): His art. You were looking at it.
Sara turns to look at the paintings again.
Cut to a close up of a blue eye then panning across the face to a black eye.
Cut to Jamie on the other side of darkened glass. He backs away fearfully.
Jamie: He can see me.
Jake: Mr. Pollock, relax. He can't see you.
Jamie: Yes, he can.
Jamie (to Sara): That's the man that killed Robert. And now he wants to kill me.
Sara: That's a rock-solid I.D. in my book. Jake, take Mr. Pollock and go get him anything he wants - coffee, cigarettes ...
Jake: Got it.
Sara: Thank you.
The two men leave. Sara turns back to the darkened glass. Close up on Isaac's mismatched eyes.
Isaac in voiceover: Everyone has a fantasy.
Sara glances at the Witchblade and sees a dull glow there that vanishes.
Cut to Sara walking Isaac, in cuffs, through the department.
Isaac: You're making a big mistake, Detective.
Sara: Yeah? It wouldn't be my first.
Isaac: Well, how refreshing. Most police persons try to at least appear infallible. (He lets out a big sigh.)
Sara: I don't suppose you could prove your innocence?
Isaac (glancing at another cop nearby): Do you read The Voice? Page 6.
Sara goes to borrow the paper from the other cop.
Sara: Can I get this? Thanks.
Sara flips pages. Isaac stands with a smug expression.
Sara finds a picture of Isaac in the paper Next to his picture is a picture of Bill Clinton. Evidently there's a write-up on one of his art exhibits.
Isaac: Me and Bill.
Sara: From when to when?
Isaac: Eight till two.
Jake walks up.
Jake: OK. Our witness is comfortable.
Sara: That's great. Now we have to go get him, bring him back up here, and book him.
Sara folds the paper open to the page with Isaac's picture and shows it to Jake.
Sara: Look at this.
Sara turns to Isaac.
Sara: You're free to go.
Cut to Sara on her motorcycle.
Dominique Boucher in voiceover: I'm gonna spill all my secrets for you, out of the goodness of my heart.
Cut to Sara sitting at a table with a laptop.
Boucher voiceover: You're forgetting an important fact, Miss Pezzini ...
Cut to memory of Boucher in her cell finishing the scene.
Boucher (memory): ... I don't want you to succeed with the Witchblade. Try the internet. Maybe under "charms" ... "talismans" ... "fairy tales" ...
Back to Sara's laptop. She has found a site, Talismaniac. On the site is a picture of a painting entitled "Joan of Arc. The battle of Orleans (1429)". She clicks on the picture to enlarge it. Joan looks amazingly like Sara. This painting is hanging in Kenneth Irons' den.
Cut to Sara on her motorcycle on wet pavement.
Cut to Sara knocking at a metal door. There's a small sign that says, "Talismaniac.com - Idols, Icons, Talismans." When she gets no answer to her knock, Sara opens the door and goes in. Inside, it looks like a cross between a small warehouse and someone's cluttered garage. There's a drum set on the floor and open shelves with various objects on them. Sara walks slowly along one shelf. She's looking at the drum set when a male voice makes her look up in surprise.
Male voice: You got a warrant?
Camera pans to Gabriel Bowman on the other side of the drums.
Sara: What are you doing here?
They kind of stare at each other.
Gabriel: What are you doing here?
Sara: I came to talk to your boss.
Gabriel: About the murder?
Sara: No, about business.
Gabriel: In that case, I'm the boss. (Gives her a grin.)
Sara gives him a look.
Gabriel (small laugh): Oh, hey. It's a dotcom world, baby. You ... uh ... drop out, start up, and get rich.
Gabriel gestures at the drum set.
Gabriel: You like 'em?
Sara shakes off the surprise of seeing Gabriel here.
Sara: Uh ... nice kit.
Gabriel: Oh, so you play?
Sara (slight shrug): I bang.
Gabriel: Oh. Well, they're yours - fifty thousand.
Sara: Dollars?!
Gabriel: Hey - that's the last set Keith Moon played before he died. And then they were bought in an auction by John Bonham right before he died.
Sara: So they're what ... cursed?
Gabriel shrugs.
Sara: I was wondering how they fit in here. What is this place?
Gabriel: What the sign says. Idols, icons, talismans. You know, if you ... uh ... like the drums, you can put 'em on layaway. You can leave me a deposit, like say your ... uh ... bracelet.
Sara: How about a straight up swap?
Gabriel (immediately): Deal.
Sara nods at his reaction.
Gabriel: Damn! (Knows he's been caught.)
Sara: I came here to learn more about this thing. Looks like I'm off to a pretty good start, huh?
Gabriel raises one eyebrow and looks away.
Sara: OK. Try this. You tell me everything you know about this Witchblade and everything you can learn. If I do decide to sell it, you get right of first refusal.
Gabriel: Oh, that's a mighty big "if."
Sara: At ten grand, not fifty, "baby."
Gabriel looks thoughtful.
Sara (with a one-shoulder shrug): Think about it.
Sara leaves.
Cut to Sara on her motorcycle.
Isaac voiceover: Everyone has a fantasy.
Jamie voiceover: That's the man that killed Robert and now he wants to kill me.
Sara parks her bike in an alley, gets off the bike, and knocks on a nondescript red door.
Cut to interior of an artist's studio.
Isaac: Please, please come in.
Sara: You look like you were expecting me.
Isaac: Well, I was. Actually, if you hadn't come, I probably would have found some pretext to call.
Sara: You need a pretext?
Isaac: I found you intriguing today.
Sara (a little snort): I get that from all my murder suspects.
Sara looks around at the paintings on easels in Isaac's studio.
Sara (looking at one): This your latest?
Isaac: Ah, well. That's more like a work in progress, really. Entitled The Huntsmen of Annuvin. Name ring a bell?
Sara: Were they riders? British?
Isaac: Welsh, actually. It's from an ancient folktale. Nine brothers rode the woods, slaughtering everything in their path. And when one of the brothers was killed, the other eight absorbed his power. So that if a foe vanquished, say ... eight of the nine ... the one remaining was as strong alone as the group ever was.
Sara: Creepy story.
Isaac: Well, that's art. It transmutes human suffering into beauty. It's about as close to God as you're ever going to get.
Sara: Do you have any brothers, Mr. Sullivan?
Sara starts to walk past. Isaac stops her with a hand on her shoulder.
Isaac: Isaac.
Sara continues with a troubled expression on her face. Isaac turns to face her.
Isaac: And I love the way you did that.
Sara: Excuse me?
Isaac: Oh, come on, Detective. You've done your research. You know.
Sara: You're right. Your D.O.B. is 5-11-71. Father, John Sullivan. Mother, Mary Louise Sullivan, died during her first and only ...
Isaac mouths "and only" along with her.
Sara: ... childbirth. Attending physician Dr. Peter DeAngelo. ...
Isaac: OK, OK. Enough, Sara. Ask me the one question that you can't answer.
Sara: How could you be at two places at once?
Isaac: Good question. The answer ... Detective ... is that I couldn't.
Sara stares into his eyes, which is when a phone rings. Isaac turns to answer it.
Isaac: Yeah.
Close up to a mouth speaking into a phone. There is loud music in the background.
Male voice: There's a full moon. Wanna come out and howl at it?
Cut back to Isaac.
Isaac: No, not now. OK?
Cut back to the mouth.
Male voice: Oh, well. More fun for me. She must be pretty special.
Cut back to Isaac. He turns to look at Sara.
Cut back to the mouth.
Male voice: Have fun.
Cut to Isaac hanging up.
Cut back to the scene with the loud music. There is a woman with a compact out.
Male voice: Everyone has a fantasy.
The woman turns toward the camera.
Close up to the same mouth.
Male voice: Something so dark and private you've never shared it with another living soul.
The camera pans across a black iris and then a blue one, just like Isaac has.
Shift to the woman's face. She seems intrigued.
Fade.
End Act I.
Act II
Inside Jake and Sara's department in the precinct house.
Jake (into the phone): Yeah. (He then hangs up loudly.)
Sara: That bad?
Jake: Jerk judge said Pollock had a clean record, wasn't a flight risk.
Sara (hanging up her helmet): He made bail?
Jake: Sh ...Why do we even bother trying to make a case? His attorney's gonna play this as a consensual sex game gone wrong. Pollock'll get community service. Probably have teenage boys intern at his gallery.
Sara: Whoa, Jake. We're not gonna have any case if you let that show on the stand.
Jake: Let what show?
Sara: You're a raging homophobe.
Jake: What are you talking about?
Jake walks away from Sara. Sara follows. They're walking down the hall.
Sara: You wouldn't even go to Badlands.
Jake: Give me a break.
Sara: You can't even say the word "lover."
Jake continues walking, throwing up his hands. Sara doggedly follows.
Sara: Hey, Jake!
Sara's starting to get pissed. {She does have a bit of a temper, eh?}
Shift to Jake walking through a door marked "MEN." Sara follows right behind, still steamed.
Sara: Admit it.
Jake: Hey! Hey! You can't come in here.
Sara: Don't worry, Jake, I'm a (makes quotes marks with fingers) "chick." Nobody's gonna think you're gay.
Jake: Give it a rest, Pez.
Sara: Not till you admit it bugs you. You've had Pollock guilty since we met him.
Jake: You're the one who told me to book him.
Sara: For murder, not for being gay!
Sara turns to another officer heading for the door.
Sara: Hey, pal! Wash your hands!
Jake takes the opportunity of Sara's distraction to head for the door himself. Sara follows after him.
Sara: And another thing ...
Cut to the interior of Boucher's cell. She looks even older than the last time we saw her. Sara walks in and is stunned when she sees Boucher.
Boucher: How do you like staring into your own future, Sara?
Sara: I came to see how you were doing.
Boucher (mocking): "Maybe I'll engage her in light conversation and she'll inadvertently drop me another crumb."
Boucher gives a little chuckle.
Boucher: Really, Sara!
Sara: Kenneth Irons sends his regards.
Flash to a memory of Kenneth Irons speaking to Sara.
Irons (memory): The Witchblade took hold of her, shook her around, and discarded her like a damaged doll.
Back to Boucher's cell.
Boucher: He's one to talk.
Sara: He's made me some ... uh ... very compelling offers.
Sara gives a big smile.
Sara: Unless I can learn more about the Witchblade on my own, I may have to give him what he wants.
Sara stares at Boucher, but she says nothing.
Sara (shouts): Guard!
Boucher: I'm not surprised. He always had an eye for a fine brood mare.
Sara turns back from the doorway.
Sara: What did you say?
Boucher lies down on her cot.
Boucher: Ask me when I've rested. Conversation is exhausting ... at my age.
Sara leaves the cell.
Cut to a rooftop.
Jake lifts yellow police tape for Sara and then follows.
Sara, with Jake in tow, approaches two male detectives.
Sara: What have you got, Turnbow?
Turnbow: It ain't pretty.
Turnbow gestures and they all walk to a body covered with a white sheet. Sara lifts one end of the sheet. Under it is the woman from last night. Jake starts walking around the site.
Danny Woo shows up over near one wall. Sara notices him and looks around. When she looks back, he's gone. She frowns, looking around. She then walks over to where he had been standing. Other cops in the background are searching the scene for evidence. Sara gets to where Danny had been and finds something. She takes some forceps out of her pocket, squats down and comes up with the remains of a Polaroid picture.
Sara (to Jake): Took a picture. Like a little souvenir for himself.
Jake (to another detective): Give me an evidence bag, man.
Jake gets a large plastic bag from the detective and pops it open. Sara places the photo remains inside the bag. She then reaches down with the forceps again and picks up a match box that has "Badlands" on it. Sara shows it to Jake.
Jake: Badlands?
Sara: Pollock was in lock up when this happened.
Jake: I wonder if Isaac Sullivan has another alibi for last night?
Sara: You're looking at her.
Jake: You're kidding.
Sara: Yeah, I questioned him last night. We're going to Badlands.
Jake: Pez ...
Sara: It's a link between two murders that we know of, maybe more we don't.
Jake: Pez ...
Sara: McCartey, get over it.
Jake: It ... It's just a waste of time. Who's ever gonna believe that I'm gay?
Sara: You think that everyone that goes there is gay?
Jake (nod): Yeah.
Sara: Just like you "can always tell"?
Jake (nod): Yeah.
Sara: Sure couldn't tell about me.
Jake just looks at Sara.
Sara: Jake, good lookin' guy like you ... ever wonder why I haven't made a move?
Jake's expression says, "I know you're pulling my leg."
Jake: Huh ... Get out!
Sara's face doesn't change a bit.
Jake (shock): Get ... out.
Sara: Seriously, we're going ... undercover.
Jake grimaces, shakes his head.
Sara: All right. You know what? Screw it! I'll go on my own. Thanks.
Sara turns and walks off, leaving Jake to think.
Cut to the interior of Gabriel's place. Gabriel is messing with the head that Robert Foster had ordered. Ian Nottingham walks in from the right, passes behind Gabriel and stands to the right of Gabriel (camera left). He's looking ahead and down, not at Gabriel. Gabriel is very surprised. He looks from Ian to where he came from and back.
Gabriel: Oh, what the ... Hey!
Ian: I'd like to purchase your head.
Gabriel is still looking from Ian to (presumably) the door.
Gabriel: How'd you ... get in here? I ... I ... uh ... I didn't ... uh ... buzz you in. {Nor Sara, Gabriel}
Ian: My employer knows the original buyer was unable to complete his transaction.
Gabriel backs up a couple steps.
Gabriel: Oh ... ah ... uh ... I don't deal with strangers. {What an odd way to run a business.}
Ian: The original price was ten thousand U.S.
Side view of Ian handing over a fabric zippered pouch. He's still not looking at Gabriel.
Ian: I am authorized to pay you thirty thousand Swiss francs.
Gabriel (glancing at the pouch): That's almost eighteen grand. (Looks at Ian.)
Ian: And you keep the original buyer's deposit.
Gabriel: Oh ... what's the catch?
Ian: The catch? No further conversations with Sara Pezzini regarding the Witchblade.
Gabriel tosses the pouch to the table in front of them.
Gabriel: Whoa, whoa. Wait, wait. What's that got to do with anything? Look, man, she's a cop. She can make my life very difficult.
Ian turns to Gabriel, stepping close. Ian stares Gabriel in the eyes.
Ian: Difficult? I can make you pray for difficult.
Gabriel gives a little shrug, then starts nodding his head. Ian drops his gaze again, steps around Gabriel, pulls the hood of his coat over his head, and goes out the door. Gabriel turns back to the table and notices Ian's "purchase" still there.
Gabriel: Uh ... hey, mister! You forgot ... (sees Ian disappearing) ... your head.
Cut to Badlands. People dancing and conversing. In walks Sara, dressed as a man. She has on tinted glasses, a fake mustache, sideburns and goatee. Her hair is hidden by a wig. Several heads turn to follow her/him. She leans back against a bar and is immediately accosted.
Jake: Come here often?
Sara looks over at Jake and lets out a soft laugh.
Sara: Oh, geez! What changed your mind?
Jake: I knew you'd forget one thing.
Jake holds up a roll of quarters. {I think}
Sara: Jake! (grabs the quarters)
Jake: Actually, I decided I couldn't let my partner walk into this den of iniquity on her own.
Sara (nod): Glad you're here.
Jake nods and takes a drink of wine.
Cut to Isaac Sullivan walking through the crowd.
Cut back to Jake and Sara.
Sara: You're a farm boy, right, Jake?
Jake: No.
Sara: Well, maybe you can help me anyway. A brood mare ... that's like a breeding horse, right?
Jake (smile): Like a female stud.
Sara gives Jake a confused look. Jake's smile drops mighty quick and he gets a thoughtful look.
Jake: Are you? I mean ... really? (Jake frowns)
Sara: Am I actually what, Jake?
Jake: You know ... do you ... like girls?
Sara: Huh ... Jake ...
Sara sees Isaac walking across the floor in their direction.
Sara: Kiss me.
Jake: What?
Sara: You wanna know? Kiss me.
Jake: Pez, you're a guy.
Sara grabs his head and initiates some serious smoochies. She breaks it off and turns around and leaves. Jake has a dazed look on his face.
Isaac walks up behind Jake and stares after the disappearing "guy" Jake was kissing.
Isaac: Detective McCartey. Well, this is a surprise.
Isaac turns to Jake.
Isaac: So ... uh ... who's your handsome friend?
Jake (nods and then shakes his head): No one.
Jake finishes his wine.
Cut to Jamie Pollock. He's packing the masks at his place.
Robert Foster in voiceover: Relax, Jamie. He's just going to paint me. Maybe he can paint us.
Shift so that Pollock is in the background. In the foreground is the shadow being cast on a wall of someone with a cell phone.
Pollock's phone rings and he answers it.
Pollock: Hello?
Camera starts moving toward him.
Male voice: Have you looked in the mirror lately?
Pollock: What? This isn't funny!
Pollock turns toward the camera. We see fire and then hear screams.
Cut back to Badlands. Sara is walking past one of Isaac's paintings. The Witchblade starts glowing. Sara sees the painting's image shift and hears voices screaming.
Cut to the bar. Isaac puts his hand over Jake's. Jake jerks his away.
Jake: You have the wrong idea, Mr. Sullivan.
Isaac: Isaac.
Jake: Mr. Sullivan ... I'm here on the job, OK?
Cut back to Sara at the painting. It keeps shifting and she still hears voices. Until her cell phone rings.
Sara: Yeah?
Male voice (over phone): Hey, Pez. Looks like the boyfriend's been killed. Same place.
Sara: I'm on my way.
Sara hangs up then dials another number.
Cut to Jake and Isaac.
Isaac: Oh, c'mon, Detective. All work and no play makes Jake a very dull boy.
Jake's phone rings.
Jake (holding up his phone): Mind?
Jake turns his back on Isaac.
Jake: What?
Sara (over the phone): Jake - Pez. We got another one.
Jake: Meet you out front.
Isaac: Leaving so soon?
Jake puts money on the bar, stares at Isaac a moment, and then leaves.
Isaac (to Jake's back): Well, if you get off early ... um ... why don't you come back and see me? I'll be here all night.
Cut to Pollock's place. Jake and Sara are walking through.
Male voiceover: Everyone has a fantasy. You're going to be a work of art.
Robert in voiceover: Relax, Jamie. He's just going to paint me.
Male voiceover: I offer you a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.
Robert in voiceover: Maybe he'll paint us.
Sara flinches. Close up of the Witchblade glowing. Sara puts her hands over her ears, closes her eyes and grimaces.
Jake: What is it, Pez?
Fade.
End Act II
Act III
Exterior of the police station. Sara is on her motorcycle, removing her helmet. She gets off her bike and turns around. Gabriel walks up.
Gabriel: Hey! Uh … uh … we gotta talk. I got a death threat from someone who doesn't want me talking to you about that (gestures at the Witchblade).
Sara: Let me guess … Tall, black hair, black overcoat, drops the temp in a room about 10 degrees?
Gabriel (nods): So you know him?
Sara: We’ve met.
Sara (surprised look): And you came and told me? Ballsy move. Why'd you risk it?
Gabriel: 'Cause I pick my own friends.
Sara: And …
Gabriel: And … uh … if that bracelet's half of what they say it is, then it needs to be on the right wrist.
Sara: Talk to me.
Gabriel: Deal still stands, right?
Sara stares at Gabriel. Flash to the Witchblade's eye opening. Back to Sara. She gives a little nod.
Gabriel: Well, you already know one of its names.
Sara: Yeah. The Witchblade.
Gabriel: Yeah. Digitabulum Magae. In Latin? The … the stories go way back. Uh … oral tradition, myth … . It … uh …
Flash of the Indian painting in Boucher's office.
Gabriel: … pops up in different cultures … Babylonian friezes …
Flash of a painting of a medieval scene.
Gabriel: … Celtic runes …
Flash of someone in armor. Flash to a painting of a Japanese wielder. Flash to someone in dark robes and a mask with a torch. Flash back to the blade in the Japanese painting. Flash to a figure in a mail coif and armor walking away from the camera. Shift to the front of the figure, who looks like Sara, struggling now against a man in black robes. Torch held up close to a full metal mask. A close up of Kenneth Irons. Back to Sara.
Sara: Keep going.
Gabriel: It's a weapon only chicks can wear. Uh … some famous, some not. Uh … they … uh … they say it gives you all sorts of powers. Uh … strength and agility … clairvoyance. Want to confirm or deny?
Flash to scenes of men in dark robes thrusting torches at someone. Flash to the painting of the medieval scene. Flash to a woman in armor walking in a dark area. Flash to the Indian painting. Back to Sara.
Sara: I've .. I've only had it a few weeks.
Gabriel: Oh … OK, fine. But you should also know that supposedly the blade punishes … pretenders who aren't supposed to wear it.
Sara: Punishes … How?
Gabriel: I don't know yet. It's all tangled up. Look, you … uh … want I should look into it?
Sara: Yeah … yeah, I want. (nods)
Gabriel: OK.
Gabriel walks off.
Sara watches him for a moment then enters the police station.
Cut to Boucher lying in her cell.
Sara's voice (off camera): Your time is running out, Dominique. I know what you want. I can give it to you.
Boucher turns to see Sara inside her cell.
Sara: Revenge - on Kenneth Irons.
Boucher: You're out of your league, little girl.
Sara: Not with this (gestures to the Witchblade) …
Close up of the Witchblade.
Sara: … if you help me.
Boucher turns to face Sara. She's even older looking than the last time we saw her.
Sara: C'mon, Dominique. Maybe it's too late for you, but at least don't let Irons have it.
Cut to a close up of the linked circles scar on the back of Irons' hand. We see Irons standing at his window, then pull back for a long view of him.
Back to Sara and Boucher.
Boucher: It's right in front of you. Always right in front of you.
Sara: What does that mean?
Boucher: No coincidences.
Flash to one of Foster's mummified heads. Flash to Foster lying on his floor dead.
Boucher: You were right. The Witchblade is orchestrating your life now …
Flash to Gabriel entering Foster's place. Flash to Isaac on the phone as he turns to Sara.
Boucher: … so nothing happens by chance or accident.
Flash to the rooftop where Sara pulls back the sheet and finds the Badlands matchbox.
Back to Sara and Boucher.
Sara: That doesn't help me.
Boucher: Oh, but it does. Everything in your life connected now. Your body, your heart, your dreams, your work. What case are you investigating now?
Sara: A serial murder, art community. Nothing to do with Irons.
Boucher: Everything to do with you. The blade weaves a web. Unbreakable.
Flash to painting of Joan of Arc that looks like Sara (in Irons' den). Flash to a close up of Irons' face. Flash to Ian as he was standing outside Foster's. Flash to Danny as he was standing on the rooftop. Back to Sara and Boucher.
Boucher: It draws to itself, to you, everything you need. Only what you need to teach you. To achieve its end. (She starts having trouble breathing.)
Close up of Isaac's mismatched eyes. Flash to the painting in Badlands that changed for Sara. Flash to Isaac on the phone. Flash to the blood on canvas. Back to Boucher.
Boucher: Think!
Sara: OK … OK … um … I … I have a serial killer who may be a doppelganger, but … but he's an only child.
Boucher: Brood mare.
Sara: You called me that once. Why?
Boucher: Evolution. Reproduction. This is Irons' obsession.
Sara: Genetic research. He's already told me, Dominique.
Boucher: Look for the web. Your case connects to Irons …
Flash to the picture of Boucher and Irons in French Guiana.
Boucher: … connects to me …
Close up of the Witchblade on Boucher in the picture.
Boucher: … connects to you.
Close up of the Witchblade on Sara's wrist.
Dominique is having trouble breathing.
Sara: Dominique …
Boucher: All of it. (Has trouble breathing.)
Sara: Dominique, don't do this. I need you.
Boucher: You are his brood mare.
Boucher has trouble breathing, starts coughing and choking.
Sara (shouts): Guard! Guard! Get a doctor!
Cut to Sara asleep in bed. She starts tossing. The Witchblade is glowing.
" Witchblade vision" dream sequence: Ian, in armor. Sara in a mail coif. Dominique Boucher, older in her jail cell. We hear Boucher say, "The blade weaves a web. Nothing happens by chance," as the rest of the vision flashes by. Gabriel talking to Sara. The same mummified head at Foster's. The picture of Irons and Boucher from French Guiana. Ian in armor, sword drawn and up; there's another blade pointed toward him. Sara in coif. The blade that was pointed at Ian goes through him, striking glass. Glass shards flying, blade going through them. Behind the flying glass is Isaac Sullivan. Kenneth Irons standing at his window in sunlight. Isaac, with a mirror behind him and to the sides.
Sara wakes sweating and looks down in time to see the light go out of the Witchblade. She sits up, thoughtful expression on her face.
Cut to Sara in a robe getting eggs out of her refrigerator. She takes them to the stove, cracks one open and drops the contents into a hot skillet. She looks down to see her frying egg has a double yolk. She cracks a second egg into the skillet.
Sara: "Right in front of you."
The second egg also had a double yolk.
Cut to Sara and Jake's office. Sara enters walking briskly.
Jake: Whoa. What's up?
Sara: Dr. Peter DeAngelo.
Jake: The baby doctor who delivered Isaac Sullivan.
Sara starts typing on her laptop.
Sara: There was a fertility expert a few years back. Impregnated a bunch of his female patients with his own sperm, remember?
Jake (dredging his memory): Yeah, right, um … "Angel of …" … "Life?" … "Birth?"
Sara (finding the police file): Peter DeAngelo, Angel of Birth. Doing twenty years in prison.
Sara (to Jake): Dig hard. Find out who funded his research.
She starts walking toward the door as he picks up his phone to start calling.
Sara: Ten to one, it was Vorschlag.
Jake: Where you gonna be?
Sara: Rahway.
Cut to exterior of Rahway State Prison.
Cut to an interview room. Sara is sitting on one side of a square table, DeAngelo on the other.
DeAngelo: They were hard pressed to find a statute to charge me with. See, I didn't take life, I gave life, where no life would have been possible.
Side view close up of Peter DeAngelo. He's sixty-ish, gray goatee and mustache, and wears tinted glasses.
Sara: Not everyone saw it that way, Doctor.
DeAngelo smiles.
DeAngelo: "Doctor." It's nice to hear that again. I was excommunicated by my medical brethren.
Sara: Imagine that. You used you own sperm to impregnate women who came to you to get pregnant by their husbands.
DeAngelo: Inadequate breeding material. Teachers, bricklayers … cops.
Sara: They should've been happy to have your genes, right? Your IQ must be … what … uh … 170? 180?
DeAngelo: High enough to avoid all your traps.
Sara: What traps? You're already here for keeps. I'm just curious. So, the way I see it, most women wouldn't measure up, either. It's always hard to find a good brood mare.
DeAngelo: It's a pity you weren't around. (Gives a wicked little smile.)
Sara: If you'd just sown your seed all over the country, you'd have ended up with a scattered bunch of halfbreeds. But you were years ahead of your time, weren't you, Doctor? Thanks to the research funded by Kenneth Irons. I'm betting you wanted sons, sons as perfect as you. And that would require one single egg, one you could harvest, and split or clone.
DeAngelo: It's the closest man can come to being God.
DeAngelo takes off his glasses. He has one blue eye and one black.
DeAngelo: Have my boys been causing you trouble? Their design is flawed, you know.
Fade.
End Act III
Act IV
Sara is walking with her gun drawn in Isaac's studio.
Sara: Mr. Sullivan?
Sara looks around as she continues walking.
Sara: Come out, come out, wherever you are.
Sara continues walking. One painting starts shifting its image as she walks by. Sara passes through the kitchen area.
Isaac's voice (off camera): Now, Sara … see, I thought we were on a first name basis.
Isaac walks in front of a set of mirrors, sees her gun and raises his hands halfway.
Sara: You're under arrest, Isaac, for the murders of Robert Frost, Jamison Pollock, and the girl on the roof. And I'm guessing that list will grow.
Isaac: We both know that's impossible, so …
Sara: Dad says, "Hi."
Isaac (drops his hands): Ah … Well, how is Dad, anyway?
A duplicate of Isaac, down to the clothing, steps out behind the Isaac Sara had been talking to. He cocks and points a pistol at Sara.
Second Isaac: Yeah … How is the old geezer, anyway?
Sara raises her gun to point at him.
Sara: Wow. You two ever date the same girl?
Jake enters, gun pointed at the second Isaac.
Jake: Or guy?
The second Isaac takes a deep breath.
Second Isaac (softly): OK.
He lowers his gun to the floor and stands back up, hands raised.
A third Isaac steps up behind Jake, pistol aimed at his head.
Third Isaac: No.
The second Isaac drops his hands. The third Isaac gestures for Jake's gun and takes it from him.
Third Isaac (to Sara): Lose the gun.
Sara lowers her weapon to the floor, drops her holster from her hip and gives the gun a little shove with her foot. Isaac 3 pushes Jake to fall at Sara's feet.
All 3 Isaacs together: But there's always a first time.
Both Sara and Jake stare at them.
Cut to tubes of paint. Small tool kit that Isaac had at Foster's. Serrated blade. Saws, drills, sanders. All the tools needed for their "art."
Cut to Jake and Sara sitting side by side in rolling chairs. Jake has had his feet taped to the chair legs above the rollers. Both have their wrists secured to the arms of the chairs. All 3 Isaacs are standing in front of them with power tools in their hands.
Close up of Jake shows his hands were taped to the arms of his chair.
One of the Isaacs comes up to Jake and grabs his jacket.
Isaac: Everyone's got a fantasy, Jake. So, I was watching you at Badlands and I got to thinking … What's yours?
Jake: Um … your head … in a vise.
Isaac: Oh (little laugh) … no. See, that would be making ugliness out of beauty, and we make beauty out of ugliness.
Isaac holds the drill alongside Jake's face.
Isaac: Time to get ugly. (Turns on the drill.)
Jake's chair is pushed away from Sara, to a clear portion of the floor. The 3 Isaacs start shoving his chair between them. Sara looks to the Witchblade, but it remains dark. She has handcuffs, not tape, binding her hands to the chair.
One Isaac (who knows which): Take it like a man, Jakey.
This Isaac makes like he's going to kiss Jake's cheek. Jake pulls his head back.
The Isaacs continue shoving Jake's chair around.
Back to Sara. She's staring at the Witchblade. Now it glows and turns into the gauntlet, snapping the cuff on her right wrist. Sara takes the gauntlet and bangs it against the cuff holding her left wrist, breaking the cuff.
Cut to Isaacs and Jake. One of them has the drill again.
Sara: Play nice, boys.
Sara gets out of the chair, strides towards the group.
Sara shoves one Isaac down and takes possession of Jake's chair from the back. She uses the chair back to propel her kick into the face of a second doppelganger, the one with the drill, and slings Jake's chair over out of the way, facing away from the action. Sara heads back toward the duplicates.
Jake (trying to see over his shoulder): Sara!
One of the Isaacs has the electric knife going. He slashes at Sara and they dance across the floor in front of the long line of mirrors. Sounds of metal striking metal. He tries an overhead slash and she blocks with the Witchblade. The knife stops moving.
The Isaac Sara initially knocked over gets to his feet and disappears behind the mirrors.
Sara (to the Isaac with the knife): Everybody has a fantasy, Isaac.
They grapple some more. Isaac drops the knife and screams. Sara whirls and punches him several feet through the air, through one of the large standing mirrors lining the studio. He lies still in the glass fragments on the other side.
Jake (over his shoulder): Sara!
Sara whirls and deflects several gunshots fired at her by another of the "brothers."
Sara, facing the gunman, takes a few steps, leaps, does a somersault in the air and lands behind this new Isaac. She shoves him in the back with the Witchblade. He whirls around and she punches toward his chest. We hear liquid sounds. {Nope, don't get to see it.} He screams and falls.
Jake is trying to catch any glimpse of this in the mirrors that he can but doesn't see much.
The next Isaac kicks Sara's right arm as his twin falls. He pounds her across the back with his left forearm.
Cut to Jake still struggling to get free.
Back to the fight.
Sara kicks Isaac. He backs across the floor. She cartwheels after him. He throws a punch at her and she grabs the arm to pull him closer and bashes him with the Witchblade. Isaac is stunned and she grabs him by the throat and throws him to the floor. He scrambles away and trips her. He gets behind her and brings his forearm across her throat, trying to choke her. Sara extends her right arm, the blade grows from the Witchblade, she whirls and drives it into his upper abdomen. She jerks the blade free and he crumples. Sara drops to her knees, hand at her throat. We can hear the blade withdrawing.
Cut to Jake looking all around.
Jake: Sara?
Foreground shows one Isaac on his back, eyes staring. Background shows another Isaac face down unmoving near the line of mirrors. Sara is shown in the mirrors, hand at throat, breathing heavily.
Sara: I got a problem. I'm short a guy.
Sara gets up and looks about.
Isaac's voice (off camera): I tried to warn you, Sara.
Sara: Yeah, I know. The Huntsmen.
Sounds of footsteps can be heard.
Isaac (off camera): That's correct. And now I'm getting stronger.
Isaac appears in the mirrors behind Sara.
Isaac (cocking a gun): But, take solace. You'll live forever as a work of art.
Isaac has a pistol in each hand aimed at Sara's back. Isaac laughs and begins to squeeze the triggers.
Sara spins, extends the Witchblade, drives it into Isaac, and rips the blade free in an instant. Isaac drops both guns and then falls.
Cut to Jake.
Jake (over his shoulder): Sara?
Sound of the blade withdrawing and the gauntlet changing back to a bracelet.
Jake (more concerned): Sara!
Sara: Yeah. Here, partner.
Jake: Are you OK? What the hell happened?
Sara walks over the body of her latest kill and looks at the others. She heads to where she pushed Jake out of the way. She kneels by Jake's left hand and starts to work at his bindings.
Sara: OK.
Sara is disturbed and has trouble looking at Jake.
Jake (puzzled expression): How did you … ?
Sara doesn't answer, just continues unwrapping his wrists. She frowns, obviously unhappy.
Fade.
Cut to Sara arriving at Boucher's cell. The guard lets her in. Boucher is on her bunk, blanket pulled way up.
Sara: I don't know how to thank you.
Shift to see that the blanket is actually over Boucher's head.
Sara (off camera): You saved my life. And you quieted the voices … for now, anyway.
Sara: Let's talk about Kenneth Irons.
Danny walks past outside Boucher's cell, looks in at Sara and Boucher.
Sara bends over and touches Boucher.
Sara: Dominique?
She pulls back the blanket and turns Boucher over. Boucher is as young now as when Sara first met her, but is unmoving. Danny walks away.
Cut to Sara arriving home. Her door is slightly ajar. She draws her weapon and goes cautiously up the stairs. We see Gabriel setting up the drum kit.
Sara: Freeze!
Gabriel rises slowly, arms raised.
Gabriel: Oh … easy, chief. I'm … uh … with the band.
Sara lowers her gun
Sara: How the hell did you get in here?
Gabriel: I … uh … told your super I was delivering a gift. (Looks at the drums.)
Sara: No thanks.
Gabriel: Oh … well, they're not a gift. They're … uh … me securing my investment.
Gabriel offers her the drumsticks.
Sara gives a large exhalation, takes the sticks, taps them on her palms, and approaches the kit.
Sara: Hell, what's one more curse, right?
Sara gives a couple taps to the drum. Gabriel taps a cymbal.
Cut to a wall of graffiti art. A man in a hooded black jacket sprays the final touches on a large painting of a cartoon Witchblade wielder in skimpy metal armor. He turns and we see his face. It's another Isaac doppelganger.
Fade.
End Act IV
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