Season 2, Episode 1 - "Los Moscos "
9 January, 2005
"Run you coward, run as your father did."The words of Brother Justin's homily ring out over California's airwaves as a furious Ben strangles Lodz. "As God tested Job, so too have we been tested, brothers and sisters," Justin says to his radio listeners. And, at the moment Ben squeezes the life out of Lodz, Ruthie springs awake from her comatose state. Staring in disbelief at his own hands, Ben accuses Management of engineering Ruthie's attack and killing Lodz. "Lodz was a traitor," the voice behind the curtain says. "He meant nothing to me." Ben is shaken, and turns to leave the terrible scene in the trailer when a decrepit hand shoots out from behind the curtain and grabs him. Immediately, he has entered a vision: He stands alone in a vast, silent desert. A warning horn sounds, followed by a flash and a tremendous nuclear explosion. Devastation spreads as far as the eye can see. And there, braced against the waves of dust and debris he sees another figure crouching: Brother Justin.Back in the trailer Management explains the vision. "A weapon," he says. "A false sun wrought by the hands of men." To stop it, Ben must destroy the preacher he sees in his dreams, find Scudder and bring him to Management. "What is he to you?" Ben asks. "He is to me what the preacher is to you," the voice replies. Management then explains that his own name is Lucius Belyakov, and that he is the Russian soldier Ben has seen mauled in his foxhole dream. The information is too much for Ben and he takes off. "You can't run from this--millions will die!" Belyakov calls out, in futility. "Run you coward, run as your father did!"Across the yard, the rest of the troupe is fiercely fighting the fire in Apollonia's bus, but the blaze is out of control. Jonesy barrels out of the inferno with Sophie, who screams for her mother. "She's gone, Sofie..." Samson says, but the girl knows better. "No, she's not, she's screaming," she says of the voice in her head. "Mother stop it...just die!" And suddenly, her expression changes. The silence, and its significance, overwhelms her, and she collapses.Management enlists Samson to dispose of Lodz's body, and forces him to call the sheriff and let him know that the fugitive Ben Hawkins died in the bus fire. Apollonia's remains are produced as proof. He also demands that Samson again serve as a liaison to Ben. "The boy mustn't set foot in this trailer again," Management says. "He...tempts me."At home after his sermon, Brother Justin falls asleep in a chair and dreams of a twisted and barren tree on a hill. He is met by a man with an elaborate tree tattoo-"the Usher"-who bleeds a strange color when cut. Awakening, he shares a long look with a half-dressed Iris before heading out into the dark, and an assignation in Chinatown.Soon after, Justin is called to the bedside of Reverend Balthus, who has had a stroke on his way to district office of the church. Pulling Justin aside, Bishop McNaughton shows him a letter, in which Balthus accuses Justin of demonic possession. Later, alone with his paralyzed, onetime father figure, Justin murmurs smoothly that, "It should never have come to this." Driving home from the hospital, Justin sees the tree from his dream and tells Iris to pull over. He climbs to the tree and gazes over an empty valley. "Here I will build my temple," he says.Justin's congregation is humming along smoothly. Donations are rolling in, his schedule includes lunches with Congressman, and a new radio deal with William Randolph Hearst is pending. But radioman Tommy Dolan pulls Justin aside to warn him that people are looking into the deadly fire at his orphanage. A car like Justin's was seen leaving the scene, he says, and though he knows there was no malfeasance, "People hold their prophets to high standards--even in California." Justin tells him to conduct a full investigation, no matter what it leads to. Iris, noticing the private conversation, is perturbed. At the Carnivale, relations are frosty between the devastated Sofie and Jonesy, who has been checking in on her recuperation. When Sofie tries to apologize for her antics the night of the fire, he cuts her off. "I'm sorry, you're sorry, the whole goddamn world is sorry," he says, sounding truly regretful. "It don't mean a goddamned thing." Ben now understands what he needs to do, and returns to the Templar Hall where he and Samson had been stonewalled. He breaks in, but as he searches files, is surprised by Mooney, who tries to brain him with a pool cue. Ben gets the better of him, and demands to know where Scudder is. Mooney denies knowing anything, but as Ben becomes more vicious, he relents. Scudder had been there 12 years ago, Mooney says; he gave "the sign" and was welcomed by the hall. Scudder became friendly with the chaplain, Kerrigan, but ended up fleeing after stealing "gospels" from the library. "If you find Scudder, for God's sakes don't tell him you talked to me," Mooney begs. "He ain't human." Walking out, Ben notices a painting of a bestial looking man with a tree tattoo; the picture is signed by the old chaplain. "What happened to Kerrigan?" he asks the gasping Mooney, who tells him that the man is institutionalized in Alamogordo. Brother Justin is about to deliver another of his sermons when he is confronted by a nervous little man who says he is looking for "the Usher." Reaching out his hand in introduction, the man slashes Justin's palm, but seems shocked at the result. Justin becomes enraged and grabs him, and suddenly the two stand inside Justin's vision, beside his tree. "You bleed like a man," the terrified man tells a black-eyed Brother Justin. "It means he's still alive." According to the Book of Matthias, the man says, Justin must kill Henry Scudder. "Then you'll be the prophet. The usher," the man says. As Justin's sermon goes out on the airwaves, the radio engineer mentions that the signal seems to be transmitting far beyond the equipment's capacity. Many miles away, as a prison guard listens to the program, Varlyn Stroud, an inmate, listens as well. But as Justin preaches, Stroud hears a raspy command. "Varlyn Stroud," the voice says. "Follow me..." Returning home to his room, Justin seems to be debating something, and eventually tries Iris's door. She has locked herself in.He retires, undressing and combing his hair. But his comb sticks, and, yanking, he pulls a piece of flesh from his scalp. Inspecting his head, another piece comes off. And another, and another, until his face is coming off in chunks in his hand. Finally shredding the mask of his skin from his head, he sees another head beneath. "Who are you," he shrieks at the ghoulish sight.Smiling back at him from the mirror is a bloody face. The face of Ben Hawkins.
