| Episode 12 - It's a Helluva Life - Joe Renkmeyer |
| The episode starts right off with Stone shooting at a car in a parking garage. Stone is able to incapacitate the car, and Joe Renkmeyer runs. He gets to the edge and vaults off. Stone gets to the edge, and looks at the ground several stories below. Joe Renkmeyer is running off, but Stone catches sight of a woman closing a car trunk. "Roz?" The Devil shows up, reminding him that he is dead, she is now his widow. He suggests that Stone can not reunite until after all the damned souls are rounded up. Stone insists that was not part of the bargain, The Devil wonders what a reunion would be like after he has been dead and buried for a decade and a half. "All I did is make one damn mistake," Stone says. The Devil does not believe his ears. He insists Stone was hell bound before he killed Jax. Stone says he lived a good life, he did well. The Devil manipulates Stone's perception of reality to show him a flashback. Stone looks around for a moment, trying to figure out what happened. A young Zeke walks along the sidewalk with his father. Zeke is taking a drink from his Coke, and another boy, Arlo, bumps into him and knocks the bottle out of his hands. (Glass bottle, not a cheap plastic one.) Arlo is a scrawny little kid, and he stops, but doesn't say anything. Mr. Stone suggests that there should be an apology, and that Arlo should pay for the drink. Zeke, after explaining that Arlo is ‘a little weird', gives into his father and makes the demands to Arlo. Arlo still does not apologize, and says he doesn't have any money. Zeke looks to his father, and his father nods. Zeke looks back to Arlo, and pushes him to the sidewalk. Zeke and his father continue, and Mr. Stone says "You can not let them push you around." The Devil comments to Stone that the little wretch had it coming, and Stone says his father was a son of a bitch. The Devil continues to lavish praise on Stone for the act, and tells him it is the beginning of the story. He motions for Stone to follow him around the house. <opening credits> |
| Stone and the Devil peer in through a window. Roz and Stone are in bed together, discussing baby names. They kiss, and then Zeke looks at his watch and says he has to go, they are interviewing Keeny and he has to be there. He starts getting dressed. "Is that what you've been thinking about just now?" she asks. She wraps herself around him. "Zeke, this is your day off. I'm ovulating, for God's sake." "I know, that's why I'm here." Roz looks hurt. There is a moment of silence, and then she asks quietly, "Then why are you leaving?" Stone says he has been on the case for six months, and Mel needs him. "If I don't go in there, I'm going to feel... I'm going to feel worse than you're making me feel right now." Stone leaves without another word. The Devil tells Stone he can go in, if he likes. Stone kneels in front of his wife, who is flipping through a book of baby names. Although she cannot see him, he looks at her. He reaches out to touch her hair... From behind him he hears a whiny voice, "C'mon man, you gotta let me go to the can." Stone looks back, he is now watching himself in the police interrogation room. The evil is standing next to him, smiling, and Stone stands and looks around. Stone watches himself lean on the table in front of Nick Keeny. "Hey, I got ears, you got something to say to me?" Keeny is still demanding to use the bathroom, and then tells him he can't hold it anymore. "Really?" Stone asks, and then we hear a splashing sound. Stone laughs, and another officer comes in, wanting to know what is going on. Stone tells him ‘our friendly neighborhood drug pusher' doesn't want to talk. The other officer asks why he is there on his day off, and Stone tells him it is a labor of love. The officer tells him that they have to let him go, the warrant wasn't filled out properly. Keeny laughs wildly as he is taken out of the room, taunting Stone by telling him he is zero for three now. In the empty room, Stone flips the desk against the wall, and rages. The Devil tells him he was perfectly justified in his actions, and wonders how Stone finally managed to catch him. Stone, obviously lying, says he does not remember. The Devil kindly refreshes his memory. The Devil and Stone watch as Keeny walks down an alley. Flashback Stone pushes him against a wall and pats him down, planting drugs in his pocket as he does it. Then he and his partner tell him to turn his pockets out. Keeny does so, and finds the planted evidence. Keeny is dragged away, yelling his rights are being violated, and ‘you can't do this!'. Detective Stone, a man who has sworn to uphold the law, replies, "Just did." The Devil and Stone watch them walk away. They are standing in Stones apartment. Stone says Keeny was getting kids on drugs. The Devil asks what if he'd been innocent, but Stone says the jury only took 15 minutes to find him guilty. The Devil berates him for stomping on Keeny and his rights, and shows Stone what happened to Keeny in jail. Through the bars, The Devil watch as Keeny is selling drugs and gets stabbed in the back and robbed. The Devil points out that Stone's planting evidence is what led Nick Keeny to his early death. Stone says whatever he got, he deserved. Stone finds himself alone in his room. He spends time thinking, before finally collapsing on the bed. He is awakened by a bright light. The Angel (John Glover dressed in white) explains that once a mortal sees one of them, they all look alike. He explains that his brother is misleading him, he is not necessarily damned. Stone does not believe he is seeing an Angel. The Angel and Stone are sitting at a lunch counter. Stone feels he is being jerked around by the Devil, and says he quits. The Angel, who Stone still thinks is the Devil, points to a mirror across from them. It now shows a smiling family, the Forresters. The Angel tells him that is he hadn't arrested Keeny when he did, he would have crashed his car into the Forresters' van, killing them all. The Forresters wave and say thank you. The Angel tries to get Stone to wave back, but he won't. The Angel takes a bite of his sundae and is gone. "Vanilla!" The Devil says, appearing on the other side of Stone. Stone wants to know what kind of joke he is playing. When the Devil doesn't know what he is talking about, Stone wonders if he has been speaking with an Angel. The Devil laughs, tells him he could never live up to His standards. Stone insists he led a good life, the Devil tries to explain why he failed to live a moral life. Stone doesn't want to hear it and walks out. On the street, the Angel catches up to him. Stone notices Roz on the street. The Angel and Stone watch another flashback. Roz is at a record stand with Stone. He is flipping through the stack when he finds something special. Roz asks what it is. "This is Lightning Hopkins. This has, like, an incredibly rare version of ‘Trouble Stay Away From My Door' on it." "Who is Lightning Hopkins?" Stone is still in awe of his find. "I saw him play with BB King and John Lee Hooker in 1969," he says, his voice quick with enthusiasm. "All of which means nothing to you," he laughs. "That's not true," she says smiling, "When I hear you talk about this, I want it to mean something, so it does." "If you heard this, it would mean something to you." "So why don't you buy it." "It's fifty bucks." "So what, it's fifty bucks, just buy it." "No," Stone says, "Can't afford it." He puts it back, and pats the stack. Roz tries again to convince him, but Stone walks away from the stand. "Nope, nope, no can do." He grabs three oranges from a fruit stand and juggles them, "But I can do this." Roz laughs, tells him to put them back. Around the corner, Stone stops to buy a paper. Roz realizes she lost her scarf, and tells him to stay right there. Stone is reading the paper ("President Reagan Supports Falkland Island Decision") when Roz comes back. He asks if she found her scarf, and she says no. "But I did find this," she says, pulling the record out from behind her back. "It's for you, take it." Stone stands there in shock. Roz laughs, "You are so gullible. When have you ever once seen me wear a scarf." "Yeah, I guess that's true," Stone replies, looking at the record. "Did you know that his full name is Sam Lightning Hopkins," she says, Stone smiling at her in amazement. Roz is looking up, concentrating and trying to remember, "and he was the founding father of blues guitar." "One of them," he smiles, " where did you hear that?" "From Bob." "Bob?" "Yeah, he is my new best friend now from the used record stall." Stone looks back and forth from Roz to the record. "Why did you do this?" "Think about it," she says, and lean forward to kiss him. "You'll figure it out." She brushes against him as she starts to walk again, a beautiful smile on her face. She looks back at Stone. "Kind of make you teeth hurt, doesn't it, Mr. Stone?" The Devil asks him. Stone watches he walk away. "That was why I loved her." The Devil laughs, "So you say." Flashback to Stone playing pool in a bar. He and a lady at the jukebox are exchanging glances. Stone finishes his game, and then walks over by her, then out the side door. After a moment, she follows him. They kiss, and The Devil and Stone watch. After a moment, Flashback Stone pulls away from her, and goes back into the bar. Stone says he didn't commit adultery, it was just a kiss, and besides, he never called her. The Devil asks if he lost the number. The Devil shows Stone a news broadcast reporting on the armed robbery Joe Renkmeyer committed that afternoon. Stone still wants to know why he was damned to hell. The Devil tells him life is cumulative, all the little things add up. Flashback to Stone as a cop. He approaches Cazzie, who is sitting on a park bench. Cazzie tells him she won't snitch any more. She tries to get up and leave, but Stone won't let her. Stone tells her that he knows about how she seduced a 16 year old, and then robbed his parents penthouse. He threatens to turn her in unless she gives him the address of a cop killer, Ned Raines. She does, and tells him her new boyfriend ‘G' was there with her. The Devil turns to Stone. Stone looks back, "So?" The Devil points out he got promoted, so he actually let Cazzie and her boyfriend ‘G' off the hook for his own personal gain. Stone tells him that they returned the stuff, and the boy was fine, and a piece of scum went to jail. The Devil laughs, as if he knows something Stone hasn't realized yet. "The boyfriend she called ‘G', the one who helped her loot the apartment, ‘G'. ‘G' is for Gilbert, Gilbert Jax. And you let him go. Two months later he rapes your wife." Stone is visibly upset. "No," he says, "that's not true. Why should that be true?" The Devil just smiles, and Stone pacing around, continues, "I don't believe you. You're the prince of lies." "But you do believe me. You don't think I went through all this trouble to make it up, do you? You're not worth it." Stone gets in his face. "You son of a bitch. You really push a man to the brink." The Devil chuckles as he says, "I am the brink." "Yeah... I am the man," Stone mutters, pulling his gun. The Devil has a second to register this before Stone shoots, and he is sucked back to hell. Stone is at home, watching TV. The Angel shows up, complimenting him. There is a pounding on the door, and The Devil bursts in, and catches him with The Angel. "Well, what have we here, your new best friend?" The Devil asks. Looking at Stone, he says, "I feel so hurt, so tossed aside." This could also be meant for The Angel or for God. "Don't worry, Ezekiel," The Angel says, "he's not going to fire you. He knows there is no one else down there that can be trusted with the job you're doing." "Wait a minute!" The Devil shouts, interrupting. There is silence for a moment until he has Ezekiel's full attention. "I'd like to talk about your outburst on the street, Mr. Stone. Imagine my surprise at being shot. I was dumbstruck with terror - the gun, the bullets, the flames. Ooh-ooh, scary, scary stuff. Nothing like that will happen again, will it, Mr. Stone?" "Maybe not." The Devil looks up at the Angel, then back to Stone, who still has his jaw set defiantly. "You're not up for grabs, you know. You're mine You were mine long before you ever came to Hell." "Don't listen to him, Ezekiel," The Angel says, "He has lies to tell, and he thinks you are vulnerable. Your future hasn't even been written yet, Ezekiel. And when it is, you, and you alone will be it's author." "C'mon, Detective, this is boring," The Devil says. "He wants you to think human beings aren't redeemable. That once you've sinned, you're through." The Devil laughs. The Angel jumps across Ezekiel, and they find themselves sitting at a fountain in a park. He continues, "Well, it just doesn't work that way." He points out a family, the mother would have been Gilbert Jax's next victim. The park is full of ladies that would have been Jax's victims. "Wait a minute," Stone asks, "Are you justifying me killing Jax?" "Oh... no. But even universal law has what they call mitigating circumstances." "Just about everything I did had mitigating circumstances and I still went straight to Hell." The Angel takes him back to the 1980 Policeman's Ball. He spots Roz across the room. Flashback Stone sees his buddy Marv eyeing a pretty girl. When he sees Marv won't ask her to dance, he asks her instead. Stone dances Marjie over to Marv and bumps into him. "You said you wanted to cut in?" So Marv does, and they dance away. Roz was watching this, and approaches Stone to tell him what a nice thing it was. They introduce themselves, and he asks her to dance. "What, you've got more shy friends?" As Zeke and Rosalyn dance, The Angel and Stone watch. Their dance changes into a dance at their wedding. We can see them smiling and talking, but cannot hear what they say. The Angel asks Ezekiel if he wants to hear what they are saying. "No, that's all right. I remember... every word." The Angel wonders if that is why he hasn't tried to find her. What if she fell in love again, got married, had kids? Could he face that? "Who could?" wonders Zeke. He watches them dance. Now they are standing back outside. It is the graveyard where Ezekiel is buried. Stone reads his tombstone. (August 9th, 1945 - November 3d, 1983 "Ezekiel Stone, beloved husband, detective NYPD. Died defending the citizens of New York. The city, she weepeth sore in the night, and her tears are on her cheeks. "Okay, I know I'm dead." The Angel steps to the side. "She wanted to be buried next to you.." We see Rosalyn Stone's tombstone. (In Loving Memory September 8, 1953 - February 4, 1999) The Angel tells him that Roz died in a bank robbery, killed by a stray bullet that was fired by Joe Renkmeyer. Stone asks when it happened, the Angel tells him 45 minutes from now. Stone demands to get back to LA, but the Angel tells him this is as far as he can go. The Angel tells him to have faith, and disappears. <commercial> The Devil shows up. He makes Stone grovel, but still will not help him. Stone offers to return the damned souls for free, if he gets back in time. The Devil refuses, and wishes out loud that he could stop time and make these last eight minutes last forever. "But you can't, can you?" Stone realizes. "You can't alter time. In fact... you can't mess with reality at all." The Devil watches Stone with a smug smile on his face. "You can only mess with my perception of reality. None of this is real, is it? I'm not even in a cemetery." Stone smiles, knowing he has figured it out. "Know anything about faith?" As Stone turns and begins to run, The Devil replies, "Faith? I was present at its creation." "Yeah, look at you now," Stone mutters. "Do you really think faith is going to set you free, Mr. Stone?" The Devil yells after him. Stone runs out of the cemetery and finds himself in a stairwell. He runs through the streets, looking for the Monument Bank on Addison St. In the bank, Joe Renkmeyer comes in and fires his shotgun. He tells everyone to get down, but Roz is standing at that little table thing where you fill out the deposit slips. (If this has a proper name, E-mail me and let me know) Renkmeyer comes over to her, "What are you looking at, dollface?" Stone arrived outside just as Renkmeyer got there, and now sneaks into the bank by a side door. The security guard pops up, and he and Renkmeyer point their weapons at each other. Stone runs in and shouts "Roz!" as he tackles her from behind. She lands face down, and Stone covers her as Renkmeyer and the guard exchange gunfire. When Renkmeyer's shotgun appears to jam, Stone jumps up and knocks him into a back room. Renkmeyer pins him, and is about to shoot him, but Stone takes him out with two of those pens on chains. As the body is sucked back to Hell, the security guard gets everyone out of the building. Roz doesn't want to go, but the guard insists. Annie Lennox's 'Why' fades in., (Lyrics are in this text color) we hear voices slowly singing "Why.. why... why.." She sings, "How many times, do I have to try to tell you, that I'm sorry for the things I've done?" as Stone watches Roz in front of the bank from a block away. The Angel is there. "I think you're right, Ezekiel. You should keep your distance. For now." "Look at her," Stone says, his voice thick with emotion. "She's so spooked." "She'll be all right. This will all just be a blur to her." "So beautiful..." "And you're happy to see her, aren't you? You're not troubled at all, are you?" "Yeah. I guess so." "So then don't underestimate yourself again. The world is full of Rosalyn, and they need you to succeed. Never mind what my brother says. Yours is a divine purpose, Ezekiel" Ezekiel chuckles. The laugh seems to help him pull himself together. "He would freak if he heard that." "Good, let him freak." They laugh for a moment, and Stone's eyes return to Roz. The music continues, "Why... why.. why..." He sighs. "Thanks," he tells the Angel. It is an all encompassing thanks, for the laugh, for showing him the world with new eyes, for helping prevent his wife's death. The Angel understands, and tells him he is welcome. "Oh, there is one more thing you should know. Your fate was never determined until you killed Gilbert Jax. All in all, you lived a good life, Ezekiel. Have faith. Your work is appreciated." Stone watches her for another moment. The music is still playing, "Why can't you see.. This boat is sinking... this boat is sinking... this boat is sinking." Roz is wiping tears from her eyes. "Lets go down to the waters edge, and we can cast away those doubts." Finally he turn and walks away. "Some things are better left unsaid," Roz finally looks down the block and sees him. "But they still turn me inside out," She starts to go after him, but after a few steps, realizes it can't possibly be her dead husband, and she turns back. "Turn me inside out... turn me inside out... tell me... why..." |