2.12 Nightshifter (transcript)
2.12 Nightshifter (episode)
Directed by:
Written by:
TEASER
SOON
Scenes from 1.06 "Skin" and 2.07 "The Usual Suspects" establish the shapeshifter phenomenon and Dean's police record; this is abruptly cut off by the title card:
8 - BREAKING NEWS
EXT. BANK - NIGHT
We see the scene — a bank surrounded by police cars, press, and an ambulance —through a handheld news camera. The tags "BANK ROBBERY - Milwaukee, WI" appear in the lower left corner and "RECORDED EARLIER" in the upper right. A female REPORTER speaks off camera.
REPORTER (O.C.)
We're here downtown in front of the City Bank of Milwaukee, and though a short exchange of weapons fire occurred just minutes ago, police and SWAT teams maintain position as we enter the third hour of this intense standoff.
(ON CAMERA)
Authorities estimate as many as ten hostages are being held inside the bank; no word as yet on the identity of the suspects, or, uh,
(commotion behind her)
Something's happening. I think they're opening the door. Roger, are you getting this?
Police and others nearby shout over each other as the camera refocuses to the front door of the bank.
MAN'S VOICE
No, don't shoot, don't shoot!
DEAN'S VOICE
No, no, no, don't even think about it! Get the hell back!
The camera closes in on two men exiting the bank: a terrified security guard, and DEAN, pushing the other man in front of him and holding a rifle.
TITLE CARD:
SUPERNATURAL
END TEASER
ACT ONE
SUBTITLE:
Milwaukee, Wisconsin
ONE DAY AGO
INT. JEWELRY STORE - NIGHT
An attractive young woman (FRANNIE) comes out of the back with some papers in her hand. DEAN turns to face her as she speaks. He is dressed in a dark suit.
FRANNIE
So what's it like, being an FBI guy?
DEAN
Well, it's dangerous. And the secrets we've gotta keep, oh. God, the secrets. But mostly it's, it's lonely.
FRANNIE
I so know what you mean.
DEAN
Yeah.
Elsewhere in the store: SAM, also dressed in a suit with slicked hair, is interrogating the manager, a middle aged man.
MANAGER
Helena was our head buyer. She . . . she was family, you know? She said it herself, every year at the Christmas party. She said we were the only family she had.
SAM
So there were never any signs that she'd do something like this?
MANAGER
No. Still can't believe it, even now. That night, Helena came back to the store after closing. Cleaned out all the display cases, and the safe. Edgar — our night watchman — he caught her in the act. He didn't know what to do, he'd known her for years. He called me at home.
SAM
And that's when she took his gun?
MANAGER
She shot him in the face. I heard him die. Over the phone.
SAM
Any idea what her motive could have been?
MANAGER
What motive? It makes no sense. Why steal all those diamonds, all that jewelry, and then what? Just dump it somewhere, just hide it, and then go home and,
CUT TO: DEAN AND FRANNIE
DEAN
She killed herself?
FRANNIE
Well, the cops said. She dropped the hair dryer in the bath and fried herself. They should know, right?
DEAN
Yeah. Well, thank you, Frannie, I think that's all I need.
FRANNIE
Really? Because I've got more. You know,
(looking around slyly)
if you wanted to interview me sometime. In private?
DEAN
(eyeing SAM guiltily across the room)
Yeah. Yeah, I think that's a good idea. You're a true patriot, you really are. Why don't you write your number down there for me?
CUT TO: SAM AND THE MANAGER
SAM
So you never saw the security camera footage yourself, then?
MANAGER
No. The police, they took all the tapes, first thing.
DEAN
(approaching)
Yeah, of course they did.
(he waves FRANNIE'S number at SAM)
EXT. STREET - NIGHT
Leaving the jewelry store, SAM and DEAN drive down a dark street and pull up in front of a small house.
SAM
Five, this is it.
DEAN
Friggin' cops.
SAM
They're just doing their job, Dean.
DEAN
No, they're doing our job, only they don't know it, so they suck at it. Talk to me about this bank.
They get out of the car and approach the house.
SAM
Uh, Milwaukee National Trust, it was hit about a month ago.
DEAN
Same M.O. as the jewelry store?
SAM
Yep, inside job, longtime employee, the never-in-a-million-years type. Dude robs the bank, then goes home and supposedly commits suicide.
DEAN
The guy Resnick, he was the security guard on duty?
SAM
Yeah. He was actually beaten unconscious by the teller who heisted the place.
DEAN
God.
SAM
Yeah.
(knocking on the screen door)
Mr. Resnick? Ronald Resnick?
A bright floodlight turns on, and they shield their eyes.
DEAN
Son of a b-
A youngish man comes to the door warily.
SAM
FBI, Mr. Resnick.
RONALD
Let me see the badge.
SAM and DEAN pull out badges and slap them against the screen door in unison. RONALD squints at them carefully.
RONALD
I already gave my statement to the police.
DEAN
Yeah, listen Ronald, uh . . . just some things about your statement we wanted to get some clarification on.
RONALD
You read it?
DEAN
Sure did.
RONALD
And you want to listen to what I've got to say?
DEAN
Well, that's why we're here.
RONALD
Well. Come on in.
RONALD opens the door and leads them through a narrow hallway to a cluttered room; the walls are covered with alien photos and Conspiracy Theory paraphernalia.
RONALD
None of the cops ever called me back. Not after I told them what was really going on. Uh, they all thought I was crazy. First off, Juan Morales never robbed the Milwaukee National Trust, okay? That I guarantee. See, we and Juan were friends, he used to come back to the bank on my night shifts and we'd play cards.
SAM
So you let him into the bank that night, after hours.
RONALD
The thing I let into the bank . . . wasn't Juan. I mean, it had his face, but it wasn't his face. Uh, every detail was perfect, but too perfect, like, you know, like if a dollmaker made it, like I was talking to a big Juan-doll.
SAM
A Juan-doll?
RONALD
Look. This wasn't the only time this happened. Okay?
(handing SAM a file folder)
There was this jewelry store, too. And the cops, and you guys, you just won't see it!
(SAM looks in the folder; it looks like a Hunter's profile of the jewelry case)
Both crimes were pulled by the same thing.
SAM
What's that, Mr. Resnick?
RONALD picks up a copy of a magazine called "Fortean Times" and holds it to his chest. The headline at the bottom reads "BIRTH OF THE CYBERMEN".
RONALD
Chinese have been working on 'em for years. And the Russians before that. Part men, part machine. Like the Terminator. But the kind that can change itself, make itself look like other people.
DEAN
(smirking)
Like the one from T2.
RONALD
Exactly! See, so not just a robot, more of a, uh, a Mandroid.
SAM
A Mandroid?
DEAN
And what makes you so sure about this, Ronald?
RONALD holds up a finger, smiling a little wildly.
CUT TO: RONALD inserts a VHS tape labeled "M.N.T. Camera 4 - Juan" into a player.
RONALD
See, I made copies of all the security tapes. I knew once the cops got them they'd be buried. Here.
(he fast-forwards)
Now watch. Watch. Watch him, watch, watch! See, look! There it is!
(he pauses the tape)
You see? He's got the laser eyes.
Close in on the videotape, which shows JUAN, facing the camera, with a light-flare in his eyes (like the shapeshifter from "Skin"). SAM and DEAN share a knowing look.
RONALD
Cops said it was some kind of reflected light. Some kind of "camera flare". Okay? Ain't no damn camera flare. They say I'm a post-trauma case. So what? Bank goes and fires me, it don't matter!
(SAM eyes him cautiously as he continues to rant)
The mandroid is, is still out there. The law won't hunt this thing down, I'll do it myself. You see, this thing, it, it kills the real person, makes it look like a suicide, then it sorta like, morphs into that person. Cases the job for a while until it knows the take is fat, and then it finds its opening. Now, these robberies, they're, they're grouped together.
(gesturing at a map on the wall)
So I figure the mandroid is holed up somewhere in the middle, underground, maybe. I don't know, maybe that's where it recharges its, uh, mandroid batteries.
DEAN nods, apparently impressed. SAM stares intently; they both stand.
SAM
Okay. I want you to listen very carefully. Because I'm about to tell you the God's honest truth about all of this. There's no such thing as Mandroids. There's nothing evil or inhuman going on out there. Just people. Nothing else, you understand?
DEAN is mostly keeping a straight face, but is clearly startled. He starts to say something.
RONALD
(desperate)
The laser eyes.
SAM
Just a camera flare, Mr. Resnick. Look, I know you don't want to believe this. But your friend Juan robbed the bank and that's it.
RONALD
Get out of my house! Now!
SAM
(calmly)
Sure. First thing's first.
DEAN frowns at SAM in further confusion.
INT. MOTEL ROOM - NIGHT
SAM and DEAN return to their motel room, which has the obligatory Tacky Wall Decorations. They're dressed in ordinary clothing again.
DEAN
Man, that has got to be the kicker, straight up. I mean, you tell that poor son of a bitch that, what did you say, remand the tapes that he copied? Classified evidence of an ongoing investigation?
SAM
(sitting down to watch the tape)
What are you, pissed at me or something?
DEAN
No, I just think it's a little creepy how good of a Fed you are. I mean, come on, we could have at least thrown the guy a bone. He did some pretty good legwork here.
SAM
Mandroid?
DEAN
Except for the mandroid part. I liked him. He's not that different from you or me, people think we're crazy.
SAM
Yeah, except he's not a hunter, Dean. He's just a guy who stumbled onto something real. If he were to go up against this thing he'd get torn apart. Better to stay in the dark, and stay alive.
DEAN
Yeah, I guess.
DEAN places tracing paper over the map and starts marking it with a red pen as SAM pauses the tape on the flaring eyes.
SAM
Shapeshifter. Just like back in St. Louis. Same retinal reaction to video.
DEAN
Eyes flare at the camera. I hate those friggin' things.
SAM
You think I don't?
DEAN
Yeah, well, one didn't turn into you and frame you for murder.
SAM
Well, look. If this shifter's anything like the one we killed in Missouri,
DEAN
Then Ronald was right. All right, they like to layer up underground, preferably the sewer. And all the robberies have been connected so far, right?
SAM
Yeah.
DEAN
With the, uh, sewer main layout. There's one more bank lined up on that same sewer main.
EXT. BANK - NIGHT
The sign above the door reads:
CITY BANK OF
MILWAUKEE
FINANCIAL SERVICES & INVESTMENT
INSIDE: Establishing shots of the bank employees; a security guard leads SAM and DEAN, now uniformed as technicians, down the main hall.
GUARD
Well, we haven't had any flags go up on our system yet.
DEAN
No, this is a glitch in the overall grid, we just want to make sure the branch monitors are kosher.
GUARD
Well, better to be safe than sorry, I guess.
DEAN
That's the plan.
INT. GUARDROOM - NIGHT
The GUARD opens the door to an observation room with several tv screens showing security footage.
GUARD
All righty. You guys need anything else?
SAM
Oh, no, no, we'll be, uh, we'll be in and out before you know it, just a routine check.
GUARD
Okie-dokie.
DEAN
I like him. He says "Okie-dokie."
SAM
What if he's the shifter?
DEAN
Well, then we follow him home, put a silver bullet through his chestplate.
They sit down to watch the screens.
DEAN
Okay. Well, you got any popcorn?
LATER - still reviewing the screens; the GUARD is on one, and his eyes are normal.
DEAN
Well, it looks like mister okie-dokie is . . . okie-dokie.
SAM
Maybe we jumped the gun on this, Dean. I mean, we don't even know it's here.
DEAN
(distracted)
Mm-hmm.
SAM
Maybe we should just go back to the sewers and . . and . . .
DEAN is zooming one of the cameras in on the ass of an attractive young woman who is bending over.
SAM
(exasperated)
Dean, we're supposed to be looking for eyes.
DEAN
I'm getting there.
SAM
Oh yeah?
DEAN
Wait a minute.
On another screen, a middle-aged man turns towards the camera; his eyes flare.
DEAN
Hello, freak.
SAM
Got him.
SAM heads for the door, but DEAN lingers behind, looking at another screen.
DEAN
Sam!
SAM
What?
They watch as RONALD scurries up to the outer door with a chain and a padlock, chaining the door shut.
DEAN
Hello Ronald.
INT. MAIN BANK HALL - NIGHT
RONALD runs inside and down the stairs. He has an assault rifle, and he brandishes it and fires once as he gets to the bottom of the stairs.
RONALD
This is not a robbery! Everybody on the floor now!
END ACT ONE
ACT TWO
END ACT TWO
ACT THREE
END ACT THREE
ACT FOUR
END ACT FOUR
ACT FIVE
END
