(bells toll)
(thunder rolls) (chimes jingle)
(thunder rolls)
(wind whistling, rain patters heavily)
(mournful music)
♪♪♪
(gurney rattling)
(thunder rolls)
♪♪♪
Woman: I almost died. My life imploded.
Until I found surmount.
For people who have faced death and survived.
And now, I'm ceo of a tech start-up.
The surmount instructors picked me up
And put me back together.
They pushed me to evolve.
Evolve! Evolve!
(echoing voices) evolve! Evolve! Evolve!
(all chanting "evolve" repeatedly)
(chanting) evolve! Evolve!
(overlapping voices) evolve!
Evolve! Evolve!
- Evolve!
♪♪♪
(gurneys rattling)
♪♪♪
Jenny: So, our autopsies found nothing
To refute the findings of suicide.
This is our last body.
It's our last chance. (sighs)
We need evidence to prove this is murder.
♪♪♪
(footsteps crunch)
(birds chirping)
(readying inhale and exhale)
(door clunks open)
(ethereal music)
(door creaks shut)
(exhales excitedly)
(light, slow footsteps)
(feet tap in place, bag rattles)
- (deep inhale and exhale)
Ljnd: Cassidy james.
Are you ready to evolve?
♪♪♪
(low hum of chatter)
Alphonse: Here are the files of the surmount members.
- It looks like each one of them died of an accident
Or an injury that they had previously survived.
Can you pull them up for me? (mouse clicks)
- Angelo was bitten by a deadly banana spider in 2005.
- Yeah. - He survived but was killed
By banana spider venom
In... 15 years later...?
(mouse clicks)
Vishaya was in a brutal ski accident in the alps at 16
And she died in a ski accident at 29.
- Mm-hmm, right, and the case...
The case that I worked up north,
The decedent's bullies carved an "l" in his leg
And nicked his artery. Almost killed him.
But a year later,
He carved letters into the exact same leg,
Only this time, he died.
Rameen shirazi shot himself in the exact same spot
He was shot years prior.
And blake zelek was pushed off the same bridge
A serial killer tired to push him off years before.
- What is going on, jc?
- I don't know.
I don't know, but that's what I have to figure out.
(door creaks open) hey, malik,
Have you heard from donovan yet?
Malik: No, but I'm not panicking yet.
I went down the rabbit hole of surmount's website archives
To read up more on the group's founder... Ljnd.
- Ljnd?
- Yeah, his real name is tim whitman.
- What do we know about this tim?
- Well, surmount started as tim's personal blog
About five years ago,
After he almost died cliff diving in jamaica.
He was freaked out over his disfigurement.
Tim was posting inspirational blog entries
About recovering from his catastrophic fall.
Well, then he started hiding behind this mask get up.
His message board has all these people posting
About their traumas and their own brushes with death.
Well, and three years later,
It got flashier,
And he started making money off of it,
And he's certainly... He's certainly come a long way.
'cause now, you can book one-on-one sessions with him.
- (deep inhale and exhale)
- Take self-improvement courses,
Sign up for member-led exercise classes.
They-they even have merch.
(moonstone jingles)
Cassidy: Oh. (chuckles)
Jenny: Does this uh, tim, have a record?
Malik: No! (huffs) on paper...
The guy looks like a saint.
(jenny grunts, coffin cracks) - okay.
Well, let's see what fred wozniak can tell us.
- Yeah, well I ran all the names
Of the deceased surmount members you exhumed,
And fred wozniak was basically a con artist
And petty criminal.
Busted for fraud, mostly.
- His body can't lie, so... (crowbar clatters)
...Let's see what it can tell us.
(jenny grunts, lid cracks loudly)
(worms slithering)
♪♪♪
(incense crackles)
Ljnd: I have heard good things from our instructors
About your progress.
- I have turned my life around since joining surmount.
- But there's a block.
- I'm sober, work's good.
I have a relationship with my family.
- Hmm...
No. Something deeper.
From the time you almost died.
Your trauma.
What is it?
What's blocking you?
(inhales) you won't evolve unless you admit the truth.
♪♪♪
Is it shame?
Guilt?
Blame?
Hmm.
What is it?
What has you blocked?
♪♪♪
(rapping knock at door) ljnd: What is it?
(door creaks open)
(birds chirps, footsteps thud)
♪♪♪
(light rumbles)
River: Fred wozniak drove his car off a cliff
Three years ago.
Coroner ruled it a suicide.
- Okay, previous accidents? Near-death experience?
- Not according to his medical records.
- But he is another dead surmount member so...
There's gotta be a link back to tim, aka ljnd.
What are you doing here?
- Y-you said you weren't coming here, and then...
You just send me a message?
- I worked really hard for this! Of course I came!
I had to slip away.
I remember being married to you.
- What, you don't think you can talk to me?
- I never got to make my own mistakes.
You were all like, "wear a bike helmet,
'cause I just came from an accident
Where I was picking brains up off the road."
- Well, that's actually pretty good advice. (laughs)
Cass...
I need this as much as you do.
- (sighs) - I wanna do this with you.
I feel like you're the only one who gets me anymore.
- Really? - Yeah.
I uh, completed the course
And qualified to be here with you this weekend.
- Ha, impossible.
Ljnd: Nothing here is impossible, cassidy.
No, donovan's test results came in.
Very impressive.
- You did a whole course just to be here with me?
- (chuckles lightly)
♪♪♪
(leg squishes and crinkles)
Jenny: Well, that's weird. River: What?
- You said that he had no prior accidents,
But his body's telling me a different story.
I swear I can feel calcium build up right...
Feel?
(leg squishing) dennis: Yeah.
- Okay.
All right, I'm gonna need a better look.
(door creaks open)
Donovan: Hi, uh...
Mira. Hi.
Just getting settled.
Hmm. (phone claps in hand)
(suspenseful music)
Thank you.
(door creaks shut)
(bag thuds)
♪♪♪
(pensive exhale)
♪♪♪
(water bubbling)
Dennis: Ugh! There goes chicken soup.
Jenny: This is the best way to remove decomposing skin.
Dennis: Wait a minute.
Something strange at the bottom of the pot.
River: Hold on, I can grab it.
(tongs clang)
(water bubbling)
Dennis: What is it?
Jenny: It's another moonstone.
River: So, that's the fourth surmount member
To have a moonstone on them, when they died.
- Hmm. And now that we found one in blake,
And in fred, I'm starting to think this isn't merch.
This is a signature.
We're dealing with a serial killer.
♪♪♪
Jenny: Okay. You see this?
It's a complete fracture.
It's healed.
Fred died three years ago, but these had to have happened
At least two years prior to his death.
- And this? - That's a fractured humerus.
Proximal and mid-shaft.
- There are at least two dozen older bone fractures
That have healed.
- These are significant injuries.
And you said they're nowhere in his medical file.
- Only immunization shots, flu, bronchitis.
- I mean, his body is telling me that he had
A catastrophic fall sometime before he died.
- Catastrophic fall?
Tim's blog.
♪♪♪
- (stressed exhale) (phone rings)
Yeah. - Hey, malik,
Remind me again when tim had his fall?
- Uh... Five years ago. Why?
- I'm gonna need tim's medical records.
♪♪♪
(footsteps crunch in the foliage)
♪ ah... ♪
Ljnd: I'm sure you're wondering
Who is this crazy guy,
In the middle of this crazy place?
Yes, I have travelled, the world.
I have lived amongst many cultures and peoples,
But I'm just like you.
Someone who faced death and won.
Group: Faced death and won!
- I was 21. (chuckles)
(with jamaican accent) and partying in reach falls,
Jamaica, mon!
(group chuckles lightly)
- And I took a leap of faith...
Off of a 33-foot cliff.
(fire crackling)
♪♪♪
(feet thud to ground)
And I hit rock bottom.
The doctors said that I was lucky to survive.
Group: Lucky to survive!
- Guess what happened next? - What?!
♪♪♪
(giggling)
♪♪♪
Ljnd: My friends abandoned me.
Work fired me.
I had nobody to love me.
No love left to give.
I was... Alone.
♪♪♪
Disfigured.
Rejected.
♪♪♪
But I reached out online...
And I found you.
My fall taught me...
That I could use my power
To transcend anything in my path!
But... I kept asking myself,
What is my true purpose?
♪♪♪
- Donovan! Come on!
♪♪♪
(footsteps crunch in the foliage)
- Okay, so according to tim whitman's medical records,
He... Fractured his humerus,
Proximal and mid-shaft.
Dennis: So did fred wozniak.
- Tim fractured his left femur, clean through.
- Same as fred.
- Resulted in 10 pins and a rod?
Dennis: These scars suggest a long rod
Fastened with 10 pins inserted into wozniak's femur.
- I'm guessing we're gonna find the exact same thing
On this skeleton. River: You got it.
(branches crack)
Ljnd: They said my left leg would be deformed.
With 10 pins and a long rod.
They said I'd never walk again.
I'd say that walking
Is just the beginning of what I can do.
♪♪♪
- Ten ribs exactly.
- Okay, so every old fracture on fred's skeleton
Exactly matches the injuries in tim's file.
- Who here has ever broken a rib?
Or two? Hmm?
How about 10?
♪♪♪
I was healed...
On power of the moonstone.
(ljnd howls, group echoes howling)
(howling)
- Yeah, jenny, what do you have?
- The skeleton we're examining, it's tim whitman,
The founder of surmount. - Are you sure?
- It has to be.
- Well then, who the hell is running surmount?
- Here, donovan. (moonstone jingles)
You'll need this.
(footsteps crunch in the foliage)
(chain jingling)
♪♪♪
Ljnd: We are water, moon,
Earth, and stars.
When global warming scorches the earth,
Everyone will die.
But you, my ljndaries,
Will harvest the power of the moonstone,
And we... Will... Rebuild...
The... World!
Can I get an "evolve"?
Group: Evolve! Evolve!
Evolve! Evolve! Evolve!
Ljnd: Join me in achieving the unachievable.
Reclaim,
Control your near-death experience.
(rhythmic clapping)
There is someone with us today
Who knows all about that.
Today, she has been chosen.
Cassidy!
(footsteps crunch in the foliage)
You've been invited to evolve
To ljndary status.
♪♪♪
- I wanted this for so long.
I'm so glad you're here for this.
(flames crackle)
Ljnd: Tell them.
(readying exhale)
- I was drinking, taking pills,
Anything to make the pain stop.
I lost the love of my life.
♪♪♪
The night I signed my divorce papers, I uh...
(clicks teeth) I was so tripped up.
I was...
I drew a bath...
Slid under water, and took a deep breath.
♪♪♪
I didn't think I would be in a place
Of happiness and peace again.
But then I found surmount.
I found surmount.
♪♪♪
Ljnd: Evolve! Group: (claps)
Evolve! (claps) evolve!
(claps) evolve! (claps) evolve!
Donavan: Evolve!
(claps) evolve! (claps) evolve!
(fighting grunts) - (claps) evolve!
(claps) evolve! (claps) evolve!
Evolve!
(claps) evolve!
(claps) - power!
Ascend... Up!
- (claps) evolve! (claps) evolve!
(claps) evolve!
♪♪♪
(indistinct laughter)
♪♪♪
(donovan sighs heavily)
(birds chirp)
(door clunks closed)
- (cassidy chuckles)
What? It's a lot, right?
The ritual.
I kinda love it.
- You look like you did on our honeymoon.
Remember?
You wore that white hotel robe for three days.
Actually was only white the first day.
You spilled wine on it.
Spilled food on it.
- (laughs) - you just kept wearing it.
- It was so cozy. I should've stolen it.
That's the downside of having a cop husband.
- (chuckles)
- You okay? - Yeah.
- Are you?
- You ready?
- Mm-hmm. I'm so excited! - (laughs)
- Hmm.
♪♪♪
(cell phone buzzes repeatedly)
(ominous music)
♪♪♪
(door shuts)
♪♪♪
(engine roars, tires screech) donovan: What the...?
Jenny: Donovan, where are you going?
- I'm gonna go get her outta there.
- No, no, no, no, you're not doing it alone, man.
- I don't need anyone's help!
- I'm sorry, but I'm not taking no for an answer.
♪♪♪
(foil crinkles)
♪♪♪
Malik: So, they're brainwashed to commit suicide.
And how does that even work?
Okay, and what would a cult gain
By having their members kill themselves?
Jenny: There is this thing called
A transfer of trust in cults. It's used as collateral.
It's like a show of faith.
Donovan: Malik, put cameras on the cabins.
And there's a large building with lots of windows.
Malik: So, can we trace the money, then?
Donovan: There's nothing illegal
About transferring money to someone.
- Yes, unless you caused the death and you keep it all.
- We need to catch him in the act.
(thudding blows, pained grunts)
Malik: I'll get working on a warrant,
And an extraction team.
Come on, mac.
He sees us. Gotcha.
♪♪♪
(footsteps thud softly)
Ljnd: Welcome, friends.
Today is a sacred day.
Today we will have one of our own ascend.
This is your time of reclamation.
A chance to overcome the very thing that almost...
Overtook you.
Conquering your chi.
We are here to take you...
To the highest of highs.
(cassidy sighs excitedly)
- (deep exhale) ascension.
- I-I'm sorry, ascension?
♪♪♪
Ljnd: A muscle tears before it can rebuild.
This is the pillar of surmount.
The willingness...
To reopen a wound.
To heal.
And then, to soar to the next level.
- Next level? Ljnd: Cassidy...
You must recreate your near-death experience
In order to close that circle of trauma.
♪♪♪
- This is so weird.
♪♪♪
- Hey, you sure about this?
♪♪♪
Ljnd: If you really love this woman,
You'll let her leave the past behind.
- (scoffs) yeah, yeah.
I'm-I'm down with this. This is great.
♪♪♪
(door thuds open, gurney rattling)
Jenny: All right, so...
The theory is that fred wozniak is a con man
Who stole tim whitman's identity.
And then used surmount wellness group
As a murder-for-money cult.
Dennis: But the bodies show how hands-off he is.
He gets into their heads,
Convinces them to recreate their near-death experiences,
Without leaving a trace on their bodies.
The perfect crime.
River: A coroner's worst nightmare.
But how do you autopsy their minds?
Jenny: I don't know.
With blake, it was different.
With blake, it escalated.
He used his own hands to strangle him.
Okay. All right, so we're saying...
We're saying that the moonstone is a signature,
And a signature is like a calling card,
It's something you leave after you kill someone.
We're now thinking that ljnd... Or fred wozniak,
Shoved the moonstone down blake's throat
Before strangling him.
What if the moonstone was placed after he died?
River: And if blake ceased producing saliva at death...
Jenny: Then we may...
Still be able to get a print.
His teeth...
Are the perfect surface for prints.
Dennis: They're smooth. Hard and non-porous.
(plastic crinkling)
♪♪♪
Gotcha!
(water rippling gently)
♪♪♪
Ljnd: Sleep. Slip away.
(echoey whooshing, water rippling)
(ominous music)
Ljnd: Stay.
Don't struggle.
(water bubbling)
That's it.
(water splashes violently)
(donovan grunts and pants)
Donovan: Move! (panting heavily)
I got you. I got you.
Okay. Come on, breathe.
(cassidy chokes) - there you go.
(coughs forcefully)
(group murmurs)
- What did you do?
Did you drug her? - I did it. (panting)
I did it. I ascended.
Ljnd: Rise up!
Breathe! (group inhales deeply)
(cassidy exhales) - I got you.
I got you.
Group: (deep breaths)
(deep breaths)
Ljnd: How does it feel to finally show up for her?
You weren't there for cassidy's first near-death experience,
But now you are.
For the reclamation of her past.
How does it feel?
Group: (deep breaths) donovan: (shaky exhales)
- I love you.
I was put on this earth to love you.
Group: (breathes rhythmically)
Ljnd: Donovan...
What are you afraid of?
Cassidy: Answer him. Donovan: Let's go.
- Answer him.
(footsteps thud) he can save you, too!
- Come on, mac. Come on, come on, come on!
Gimme a signal. Come on.
Ljnd: What weighs you down with dread, donovan?
What plunges your heart into fear?
(footsteps thud)
- Monsters.
Group: Monsters. He's afraid of monsters.
- What are you really afraid of?
(ominous music)
- My health.
I'm afraid of losing my health.
Group: Losing his health. Cassidy: Losing his health.
Ljnd: What else?
Cassidy: Donovan, don't look at him, look at me.
- I'm afraid of...
Losing my job. Group: Losing his job.
- Go deeper.
What's behind that fear?
- Losing myself. Group: Losing yourself.
- Exorcise those demons, donovan.
Are you brave enough to admit what you're afraid of,
Or are you going to run again?
- I'm-I'm afraid of my cancer coming back.
Ljnd: Cancer coming back!
- Of-of the false promise of remission.
Ljnd: Remission!
- The thought of being attacked.
Ljnd: Being attacked! - The hole in my spine.
Ljnd: Yes, tell it, brother!
- That I won't be able to protect you.
Every time I close my eyes...
I see the guns... And scars...
The wounds.
- Then, don't close your eyes. Stay with me.
- I'm afraid every time you look at me, you see...
You see me stuck in our past.
I'm-I'm afraid I'll die.
I'm afraid I won't die.
I'm afraid I'll live and I'll always... Be alone.
Every time I find a bit of happiness,
It, the ground just gets ripped out from underneath me.
(exasperated exhale)
I'm afraid my fears will never end.
(sobs)
(emotional exhales)
Ljnd: The ground doesn't move, donovan, you do.
Our sense of self...
Has to die,
In order for us to realize
That it was never there in the first place.
(enlightening music)
Now, donovan, you are ready to ascend.
♪♪♪
, malik, we're running the partial
That we found on blake's tooth, now.
- Come on, donovan's still not giving me any signal,
And cassidy got outta that damn bathtub
Like she won the lottery. - What?
- Just tell me you got something. Please, jenny!
- How much longer, alphonse? - Uh, still searching.
- Okay. One second.
(computer whizzing)
(glasses clatter)
(suspenseful music)
♪♪♪
(robe ruffles)
(moonstone jingles)
(ominous music)
♪♪♪
(sheet ruffles)
♪♪♪
- Guys, I can't wait anymore! Something freaky's goin' on
Down in there and we got nothin' on this guy. Come on!
- Malik, I know. I-- alphonse: Bingo!
The fingerprint belongs to... Jenny: Malik, we got him.
It's ljnd. Fred wozniak killed blake.
Malik, go, get donovan now.
(chair rattles)
(footsteps thud quietly)
(ominous music)
♪♪♪
(squishy sound)
♪♪♪
Ljnd: With this blade,
You will find the death of your fears.
It is only in death...
That we might find new life.
Cassidy...
If you truly love this man,
You will help him ascend,
As he did for you.
♪♪♪
(exhales, knife clatters)
Ljnd: Woman up, cassidy! - No.
You, ljnd.
Group: (chants) ljnd! Ljnd!
Ljnd! Ljnd!
Cassidy: No! No!
Group: (chants) ljnd! Ljnd!
Cassidy: (screams) nooooo!
No! Let me go! Group: Ljnd! Ljnd!
Cassidy: No! Donovan, no!
Group: Ljnd! Ljnd! Ljnd! Ljnd!
(screaming violently) group: Ljnd! Ljnd!
- Nooooo! - Ljnd! Ljnd!
(screaming) group: Ljnd! Ljnd!
♪♪♪
(thudding blows, grunting)
Ljnd: Ah!
(ljnd crashes to ground, pants)
(mask swooshes, ljnd groans)
(group gasps)
Ljnd: Ah! (panting)
(donovan grunts)
♪♪♪
(donovan breathing heavily)
Nk slams)
Donovan: Hey. Got you a coat. Cassidy: Thanks. (sighs)
(cassidy exhales)
I handed blake over to ljnd.
He was gonna expose surmount on the podcast.
I saw the consequences when ljnd killed him.
He was my friend.
When I saw your phone, I knew you were a cop,
And that you would help us.
I wish I could've done the same for blake.
I wish I could've saved him.
- You were brainwashed.
(police radio chatter)
(exhales) - yeah.
(camera clicks)
(shaky exhales) I mean...
- So sorry, cass.
- I feel so stupid!
Uh...
I just, I thought it was, I thought it was good!
But... It's bad.
- Look, it-it was a cult.
- But it saved me.
- No, you saved you!
- No, it helped me so much.
It... It really did so much good for me.
- Okay, now, that's how they work.
But it was false.
Us? You? Me?
That's real.
- Real?
You were working undercover this whole time.
- No. - Was anything today real?
- Today, I mean there-there were moments that--
- Oh, okay. - No, no, moments-- - oh, please, I can't
Right now, donovan, I just can't.
- Okay, okay, okay. Okay, okay. I know. I know.
I know. Okay. Okay. Okay. I get it. I get it.
- (sniffles, exhales)) - I get it. Look at me.
- You don't get it.
- I need to debrief you, all right?
I'm gonna be there for you.
(sighs)
(door opens) take care of her.
(car engine starts, door closes)
(tricky: "the only way")
♪ every time she goes away ♪
♪ I feel the pain ♪
♪ I feel the same ♪
♪ it's like the rain ♪
♪ every time I hear her name ♪
♪ I fall apart ♪
♪ is this the end ♪
♪ why did we start ♪
♪ is this the only way ♪
♪ if we go away ♪ (go away)
♪ be my friend ♪ (be my friend)
♪ come back again ♪ (come back again)
♪ is this the only way ♪
♪ be my friend ♪
♪ come back again ♪
♪♪♪
♪ be my friend ♪
♪ come back again ♪
♪ the only way ♪
- Malik, I... - I know, I know, mac.
(hands clap) I know.
(malik sighs)
- Thank you.
I wasn't ready to die. (chuckles)
Here, or at the pharmacy.
Today was risky but...
Took a leap of faith of our own, right.
- You know uh...
You know, I always trusted you, man.
I was just afraid I was losing my hero.
- You did good.
- Yeah, I did.
- (laughs) yeah, don't let it get it to your head.
- (laughs) I did.
You wanna finally grab that beer?
- Oh, hell yeah! - Yeah.
- Hey. - Jenny. Hey.
♪♪♪
Jenny, I... - I know.
I know. - But I need to--
- I just, I want... No. You go.
- No, you, please. - No.
(exhales deeply)
(clicks teeth) you know...
You know I have a six-pack in my car.
If you guys wanna... - (laughs)
- Wanna go and...
- You two been talkin' to each other? (laughs)
- My god, you scared me.
(footsteps crunch in the foliage)
♪♪♪