.
- Previously on "The Hunting Party"...
- Truthfully, I took the job
to be closer to family.
- Dr. Dulles, you have a visitor.
- Hi, Dad.
- This is written by a Dr. Dulles.
Does that name mean anything to you?
- Uh, not really.
I mean, I'm pretty sure he was gone before my time.
- Just got those satellite images back from my friend.
These are the rescue efforts at the Pit.
This is where Silo 12 is located.
Why doctor this and not the Pit?
- What's more top-secret than the Pit?
- What is out there?
- Some secrets are better left buried.
[Len's "Steal My Sunshine"]
* *
[engine rumbling]
* *
- * I was lying on the grass *
* Of Sunday morning of last week *
* Indulging in my self-defeat *
[tire bursts]
- * My mind was thugged, all laced and bugged *
* All twisted, wrong, and beat *
[tires squeal]
* A comfortable three feet deep *
* *
* Now the fuzzy stare from not being there *
[music stops]
[soft ominous music]
* *
[crow cawing]
[phone beeps]
* *
[dog barking in distance]
* *
[TV playing indistinctly]
[insects buzzing]
[ominous music]
[door clicks]
- Hey.
Hey, everything cool?
- Uh, I'm sorry to bother you.
- No, no, no, no.
It's no bother.
How can I help you?
- I, uh--actually, I hit something on the road,
and I blew a couple tires.
- Oh, no.
- Yeah.
Just up over there.
- Yeah.
Did you, um, call a tow?
- I tried.
I just can't get any service.
- [laughs] Yeah.
Yeah, the cell service is, uh, pretty spotty around here.
Yeah.
But you know, you're welcome to--to use my phone.
- Oh, uh, I don't want to intrude.
Um-- - No.
- Would you maybe just--
could you call for me?
Would that be okay?
- Oh, sure, dude.
No problem.
[vacuum whirring]
Hey, Chuck, it's Arlo.
- Or you can get two tins for $39.99.
- Yeah. Hey, um,
I got a dude over here that needs a tow.
[TV continues indistinctly]
- Yeah.
Yeah, that's right, 225 Rieber Road.
You got it.
Oh, okay.
Hey, buddy. - Hmm?
- He wants to talk to you.
- Oh, uh--
[insects buzzing]
[vacuum whirring]
Thanks.
* *
Hello?
* *
- The commercial said it could cut through anything.
Let's find out.
[dramatic music]
* *
[engine rumbling]
[pensive music]
* *
- Good morning, Morales.
- Good morning.
- Morning.
- What cup are you on?
- Three.
It's still early.
Milk, one sugar? - No, I'm good.
I got five hours of broken sleep
on a lumpy motel mattress, so good to go.
- You never did need much to recharge.
I always envied that.
- I am sure it's taking years off my life,
but it's got its upsides.
Can we talk?
- Of course, yeah.
Is everything okay?
- Yeah, yeah.
- Should I be nervous?
- [laughs] Uh, it depends.
I know about Silo 12.
* *
- Bex, I told you there are certain things that I can't--
- No, what you told me was the blast at the Pit
was no accident.
How was Silo 12 involved?
- Who's asking, you or Hassani?
- You want me to trust you, yet you keep stonewalling me.
That's not how trust works.
- This isn't about trust.
- The hell it's not.
There is so much that you're not telling me,
yet you want my loyalty in return.
It's not a good look, Oliver.
I can't help here if I don't know what I'm dealing with.
- I'm trying to protect you.
When it comes to the Pit, information is dangerous.
- Yeah.
So is being kept in the dark.
- There you are.
We got a hit.
[phone ringing]
- Dad.
All I'm seeing is his chin.
There he is.
Hey, Dad.
- That's not my son.
- Come on, Dad, just let the nurse--
- I don't take orders from you.
[notification whooshes]
- I'm sorry, Shane.
I thought seeing you might calm him down, but--
- No, it's--it's fine.
Um, listen, I got to get to work,
but if you could just, uh, give me a call if anything comes up.
And thanks for trying.
- Will do.
Oh!
- Let go of me!
This place is a prison.
[somber music]
* *
- Ready when you are, sir.
- A man named Lucas Niles was found washed up
on a riverbank in Missouri.
He's currently in a coma at the local hospital.
DNA taken from under his fingernails matches
a Pit inmate named Arlo Brandt.
A compulsive consumer, Brandt suffered
from a psychological condition in which his sense of self was
based solely on his material possessions.
He was a unique case of conspicuous consumption,
as defined by Thurston Veblen.
- Thorstein Veblen.
Uh, he was a 19th-century sociologist who studied people
who were fixated on material possessions
as a way of elevating their social status.
- Only in Brandt's case, he was a home shopper.
He packed his farmhouse with every item
he could buy over the phone.
- Screams shopaholic more than serial killer, doesn't it?
- Well, initially murder was just
a way to fund his addiction.
He'd booby trap the road to lure
stranded travelers looking for help.
He would kill them, and then he would strip their cars
and sell them for parts on eBay.
But over time, the killing itself became
his ultimate form of consumption.
- What's more valuable than a life?
- It took four U-Hauls to clear out
his possessions, and a dozen coroners
to cart off the corpses.
In the Pit, Brandt underwent something called MDT,
or Material Detachment Therapy, a treatment through which
he was denied all possessions of any kind.
- Literally nothing?
- [sighs] I guess the idea was if he could control
his urge to possess, then the same could be done
for his urge to kill.
- If he was denied all possessions
while incarcerated-- well, all stimuli, really--
then the outside world is going to overwhelm him.
He's gonna need to self-soothe. - Mm.
Something tells me that means more than a warm blanket
and a pint of Ben and Jerry's.
- All right, let's roll.
[tense music]
Thank you.
* *
[wind chimes tinkling]
- [breathes deeply]
- Greetings, friend.
I haven't seen you here before.
Are you new to meditation?
- No.
I've been refining my practice for many years now.
- I commend your strength, brother.
I know that's not easy.
[ominous music]
* *
- Unclutter your life,
unclutter your mind.
- Mm.
Renunciation, the key to inner peace.
It's so rare to find someone who really gets it.
- Yes.
Yes, it is.
- [chuckles]
[dramatic music]
* *
.
[Talking Heads' "Once in a Lifetime"]
- * And you may find yourself *
* Living in a shotgun shack *
* And you may find yourself *
* In another part of the world *
* And you may find yourself *
[metal clangs]
* Behind the wheel of a large automobile *
[phone ringing]
* And you may find yourself in a beautiful house *
* With a beautiful wife *
* And you may ask yourself *
* Well, how did I get here? *
* Letting the days go by *
- Unclutter your life, unclutter your mind.
- Let me out of here!
[metal clangs]
- * Once in a lifetime *
* Water flowing underground *
[phone ringing] * And you may ask yourself *
* How do I work this? *
* And you may ask yourself *
* Where is that large automobile? *
* And you may tell yourself *
- Peace lies in simplicity.
- I'm starving!
- Feed me and I'll feed you.
- * Letting the days go by *
* Let the water hold me down *
* Letting the days go by *
* Water flowing underground *
* Into the blue again *
* After the money's gone *
* Once in a lifetime *
* Water flowing underground *
[clangs]
* Same as it ever was *
- All growth comes through sacrifice.
The material world is an illusion.
Unclutter your life, unclutter your mind.
- * Letting the days go by *
* Water flowing underground *
* Into the blue again *
both: Unclutter your life,
unclutter your mind.
- * Water flowing underground *
* Same as it ever was *
[tense music]
* *
- This is so messed up.
- It's Skinner's box.
- Odell called it material detachment therapy.
- He can call it whatever he wants.
They turned his cell into an operant conditioning box,
like the kind you use for rats.
It creates a reward loop.
- And apparently it gets you ripped.
* *
- Are those hair clippers?
- All right, I'm out.
[beeps]
- Did you see how calmly he took those clippers?
- Yeah, because he was conditioned to.
- You know, in the Pit,
this guy was considered a success story.
Yeah, doctors bragged about him like they'd cured cancer.
- Well, they can teach him to stay calm in a 9-by-12,
but he's not in a box anymore.
He's in Missouri.
[plane roaring]
- [grunts]
[phone buzzing]
Hey, what's up?
Nope, I got a case of the 2020 Cab.
It was on sale!
I cannot say no to a good deal.
Mm-hmm. Okay.
Okay.
Ciao.
[ominous music]
- Pardon me, ma'am, I think you dropped this hand blender.
- No, I don't think so.
- Well, it fell from your cart.
- Sorry, I didn't buy that.
- Oh, well, lucky you.
I guess that means it's free.
- Okay.
[laughs nervously]
If you insist.
[thuds] [glass shatters]
* *
- He's lucky to be alive.
He could wake up any minute, or not at all.
- Thanks, Doc.
- Thank you.
- Lucas Niles. He's a realtor.
Last seen two days ago showing a five-bedroom McMansion
about 50 miles from where they found him.
- Shins are lashed.
Cuts and bruises on the feet.
- I'd say he ran through a few miles of brush
before reaching the river.
- And his wrists were bound, too.
- Yeah. He was held captive?
- Yeah, at least one or two days.
[phone rings]
Hey, Oliver.
I was actually just gonna call you.
We need a list of anyone who was recently
reported missing in the area.
- Already on it.
A woman named Tracy Miller was just reported missing
by her husband after she failed to come home from shopping.
Cops won't engage 'cause it hasn't been 24 hours.
- Okay, what makes you think she was abducted?
- The husband found her cell phone smashed
in a Super Big Buy parking lot.
- Well, that's never a good sign.
- Mm-mm. We tried to hack the CCTV,
but it's not online.
- We're on our way.
[phone buzzes]
- [sighs] God.
- Answer that if you have to.
- No, it's all good.
[phone beeps]
* *
- Smells like wine.
The husband found her phone here.
I'm guessing Arlo knocked her out,
and then took her in her own vehicle.
- Hey.
Manager says the security cameras
haven't worked in months.
- Of course not.
- Before, he just chose his victims at random, right?
He killed whoever had the bad luck of driving down that road
and hit those spike strips.
Maybe he's doing the same thing.
- No. Random was trained out of him.
By curing him of his obsessive materialism,
the Pit armed him with restraint and discipline.
Before, he was content just murdering any driver
who fell into his trap.
But now he is operating with intent.
He is choosing these people.
[breathes deeply]
Real estate agent and a soccer mom who was shopping.
They both have money?
[phone beeping]
Hey, you said the last place Lucas was seen
before he was abducted was showing a home.
Who was he showing that home to?
- You think it was Tracy Miller?
- Why would he target Tracy Miller?
- Because Arlo doesn't do random anymore.
He found a connection between Lucas Niles and Tracy Miller.
The question is, what is that connection?
- The name of the client was Gus Morgan,
but I found messages between Lucas Niles and Tracy Miller
from the previous day.
Tracy looked at the house before Gus.
- Nicely done.
- You think that's who Arlo is gonna target next?
- We need to know where Gus is right now.
- Already on it.
He owns a hardware store in town.
You are 20 minutes away.
[Johnny Nash's "I Can See Clearly Now"
* *
- * I can see clearly now *
* The rain is gone *
* *
* I can see all obstacles in my way *
* *
* Gone are the dark clouds that had me blind *
* It's gonna be a bright *
* Bright sunshiny day *
[tense music]
* It's gonna be a bright, bright, sunshiny day *
* *
- Ain't she a beaut?
18-gauge lithium ion battery.
Can't keep those puppies on the shelf, let me tell you.
- It must be a slow day.
- Oh, just means you get my full attention.
It feels really good in the hand, right?
What's your project?
- My project?
- I mean, what you working on?
[clicks]
- Purpose.
- Okay.
Right.
Well, it's good for decks and such.
Uh--
you know, you're not supposed to be
doing that until you buy it.
- I have an important question to ask you, Big Gus.
- Yeah?
* *
- You ever stop to ponder
how the things that we own end up owning us?
[door clicks]
- Hey, Dad.
Mom's on her way over, so I'm going to the mall.
- Oh, thanks.
You know, why don't you--
- Is this your son?
- Easy.
- I can see how much he means to you.
- We'll do whatever you want.
Just please, don't hurt us.
- Don't worry.
I promise the pain will be worth it.
[tense music]
* *
.
[dramatic music]
[tires screech]
- That's Tracy Miller's car.
* *
Go. Go. [doorbell chimes]
- Clear.
Yeah.
- Clear.
* *
Signs of a struggle.
- No Big Gus.
- Arlo must have taken him.
[doorbell chimes]
- Freeze!
- Oh.
Who are you all?
Well, what's happened?
Where's my husband?
- Sorry, ma'am, we're with the police.
When's the last time you spoke to your husband?
- 30 minutes ago.
Uh, no.
No, wait.
I--I called my son because he was working here today
with his father.
Um, will somebody please tell me what's going on?
- Of course.
You guys wait for me outside.
I'll be right there.
Come with me. I'll explain everything.
- You think Tracy was with Arlo when he came here?
- No. He would have taken her,
hidden her, and then come here alone.
- Those tires might tell us something
about where he's keeping the victims,
assuming they're still alive.
- Okay, let's not go there yet.
[ominous music]
* *
Hey, just found this underneath the driver's seat.
- It could be Tracy's.
- Time stamp is four hours ago.
Zen Garden Meditation Center.
Can you get Hassani?
- He seemed like a super grounded guy.
Like, really in touch with himself, you know?
- How so?
- Most people come here looking for answers.
Arlo already had them.
He felt like a kindred spirit.
- Yeah, that's not the flex you think it is, buddy.
- I just mean he wasn't all wrapped up in money and things.
- Well, that's weird 'cause it looks like he used
money to buy things from you.
- He just wanted to support the center.
- So what did he buy, exactly?
- We sell robes and slippers to help fund our mission.
Like the one I'm wearing now.
- People actually buy those?
- Yes.
He was gonna donate them to the center where he practices.
- How many did he buy?
- Twelve.
[tense music]
I'm sure it's more than he needed.
He just wanted to support the cause.
[line ringing]
- Bex, what have you got?
- Okay, I think Arlo's keeping his victims alive.
He bought 12 robes.
The question is why.
- Let's hope you're right.
We just dug up some more therapy footage.
There's some stuff from a couple of weeks ago
you should take a look at. - Okay.
Send it over. - Morales just did.
- Thank you for your help.
- What's the latest?
- Odell just sent a video of Arlo at the Pit.
[phone beeps]
[soft eerie music]
* *
- Good morning, Arlo.
- Good morning, Doctor.
- I'm curious why you chose not to sit in the chair.
- The chair feels... superfluous.
- What, you don't think you'd be more comfortable?
- Your question implies that I should find value in comfort.
- Well, don't you?
I think most people do.
- In my experience, comfort serves primarily
as an obstacle to growth.
- And growth is something you do value?
- It is the only thing I value.
What else is there?
- [chuckles] Excellent point.
You know, it pleases all of us
to see how well you're responding to your treatment.
- Why?
- Well, because we want to help you, Arlo.
Your well-being is important to us.
- Then this must be very rewarding for you.
- It can be.
More importantly, how do you feel
you're responding to your progress?
- Progress?
* *
The truth is, we have no choice but to progress.
That's how life works.
It progresses.
I like to think that I have.
Grown, that is.
I can see, certainly now,
how very sick I was.
Whether it was my environment that made me this way
or just bad wiring,
I certainly had
an unhealthy attachment to things.
[dramatic music]
* *
- [muffled] I'll give you anything you want.
Just let my son go!
Please!
[muffled crash]
[discordant music]
* *
[muffled speech]
- I can blame it on television,
good advertising, magazines.
But it doesn't matter whether you blame
the drug or the addict.
You still have to treat the disease.
[metal creaks, bangs]
Right?
* *
And I certainly was...
sick.
My identity was tied up in things--
owning, possessing, consuming.
I reduced my value to things that could be bought,
purchased, things that could be held.
I thought these were the paths to happiness, but now I see
I was merely seeking to fill a void
that never really needed to be filled.
The void was imaginary because I was already enough.
We all are.
Each and every one of us has the capacity for happiness
locked deep inside.
The question is whether we have
the will to access it.
Or, like me...
be fortunate enough to find someone willing
to create a place where they can find peace and happiness.
- He's recreating the Pit.
[dramatic music]
.
[tense music]
- Dad!
- Felix!
[whimpers]
Everything's gonna be all right.
I promise.
[grunting]
- Change is hard.
But that's how you know it's working.
And you are all here
so I can help you with that change,
so I can give all of you
the gift that was given to me--
- [weeping]
- In a place just like this.
* *
Unclutter your life,
unclutter your mind.
- [weeping]
- Say it.
- [whimpers] Unclutter your life,
unclutter your mind.
- Louder.
- Unclutter your life, unclutter your mind.
[sobs]
- Unclutter your life. - Unclutter your life.
- Unclutter your mind.
all: Unclutter your life, unclutter your mind.
Unclutter your life, unclutter your mind.
- Good. all: Unclutter your life--
- [chuckling] Good.
all: Unclutter your mind.
Unclutter your life, unclutter your mind.
[thunder crackles]
- Why would someone who escaped a prison want to rebuild it?
- Because he's not kidnapping people to kill them.
He's treating them.
- By trying to help them with the type of therapy
he thinks helped him. - Yeah, exactly.
Material detachment therapy worked so well
that Arlo thinks it's the only way
to achieve real peace.
He wants to share his clarity with people who link
their identity to possessions.
- Isn't that pretty much everyone?
- He's out to teach the world a lesson.
[phone beeps] Hey.
We think that Arlo's abducting people to treat them.
And in order to give them his twisted version of therapy,
he's gonna need someplace secluded.
- And close enough to the riverbank
where Lucas Niles was found, assuming he escaped on foot.
- On it.
There's an abandoned farmhouse 8 miles east.
- That's got potential.
- No, the Pit was a cold place.
- He's gonna want something more stark.
- Nothing warm or homey.
- Somewhere impersonal.
- Like a warehouse or a factory.
- Something industrial.
- Okay.
Well, based on the distance, there's a number of options
our escapee could have managed on foot.
- A condemned shipping warehouse.
That's not bad. - Yeah, that's a possibility.
- There's also an abandoned sawmill
and a defunct water treatment plant.
- Okay. All stark, industrial.
- I don't know. There'd be a lot of sawdust
around a mill, even an old one.
I would have seen some in their tires.
- Right, and this has only been closed for a few months.
Okay. How about the other two?
- Uh, six years for the warehouse,
two for the water treatment plant.
- Maybe start with the one that's been vacant the longest.
- Or the most remote.
- Wait.
The water treatment plant's not just closed.
It's for sale.
- Uh, let me guess.
The realtor also sells high-end mansions?
- That he does.
- Lucas Niles.
Nice work.
- Sending you the coordinates now.
- Hey, Morales, can you also get a schematic on the plant?
Entrances, exits, anything like that?
- On it.
- Let's move.
[suspenseful music]
- Please!
- To begin our journey, we must let go of the stories
we tell ourselves.
- What the hell does that even mean?
[tense music]
* *
[hair clippers buzzing]
[glass shatters]
[clippers buzz, turn off]
* *
- What was that?
- He rigged the road.
- It's an improvised alarm system.
He knows we're coming.
- So much for the element of surprise.
- Shh.
[tense music]
* *
Don't be afraid of the dark.
Fear is only temporary.
[lights clanging]
.
[ominous music]
* *
- This place is huge.
- [breathing heavily]
He kept them in there.
- [groans] They're all locked.
We're gonna have to bust one open.
- He didn't go in.
He went down.
- Just like the Pit.
- Looks like we're going underground.
- Keep your head on a swivel.
- Always do.
[door creaks]
[suspenseful music]
* *
[knob rattles]
* *
[tense music]
* *
[footsteps approaching]
- Shh.
* *
[chains rattling]
[clangs]
[creaking, banging]
* *
[panicked breathing]
- Tracy, it's time for me to set you free.
[loud bang]
[dramatic music]
* *
- [screams]
[thuds]
Help us, please!
- You're safe now.
Go through there. It's okay.
Don't worry. We'll get him.
Cover me. - Got you.
- Everyone out! Out!
Out the back.
Through the door, up those stairs.
Hey, you're okay. I got you.
Come on.
- My son!
Please find my son.
- The man who took you, where'd he go?
- Up those stairs.
- Get him and the others to safety.
We'll get Arlo.
- Morales, he's heading east.
- There's another exit.
Far east side of the facility.
- Stay close.
[suspenseful music]
* *
- [breathing heavily]
Which way, Morales?
- I don't know.
He could have gone either way.
You're gonna need to split up.
- Okay.
Watch yourself.
[distant bang]
[water dripping]
* *
[gunshot bangs]
- [panting]
It's over, Arlo.
Let him go. - No!
No!
He needs this!
I can help him.
I can help all of them.
- They don't want your help.
They want to go.
Don't you?
Come on, ask him yourself.
- Please, let me go.
- Keep him talking, Bex.
- Get there, Hassani.
* *
- You really want to help him-- you got to let him choose.
- You're right.
He can choose.
He can choose life--
- [grunting]
- Or death.
.
- Arlo, you do not want to kill him.
- You don't know me.
You don't know me!
- [exhales]
I do.
I know the growth you've made, the work you've done.
You're a changed man, Arlo.
- You're just saying that!
- No. No, I'm not.
[breathing heavily]
Look, I know how hard it is to really change.
I'm not perfect.
I make mistakes all the time.
[tense music]
* *
- Like what?
- Hassani, where the hell are you?
- I'm almost there.
- I trust people I shouldn't.
I want to believe in people,
even when I know I shouldn't.
- You're right.
Change is hard.
And I don't think you can do it.
- [grunts]
- [grunting]
- [grunts]
[screaming]
- Up against the wall, now!
- [coughs]
[clangs]
[somber music]
* *
- Just got word Lucas Niles woke up from his coma.
If he hadn't run off for help,
we would have never gotten to Arlo.
- Well, he saved a lot of lives.
- I wish we could tell him that.
- This is a win, Bex, a big one.
But we got bigger things to worry about.
Where are you with Odell?
- We'll see.
He said he wants to talk.
- Good.
[pensive music]
* *
- Oh. Hey, Doc.
Sorry, I was at work.
I couldn't take your call.
Um, how bad a fall was it?
- It's not easy to hear,
but your father's condition is progressing.
He needs to be moved somewhere that can
offer a higher level of care.
There's a nursing home with an excellent Alzheimer's ward
in Colorado, and-- - Mm-mm.
He needs to be close.
Not Colorado.
- I know it's hard, but accepting
what's happening to your father--
- It's not about accepting.
- Okay.
Then what's it about?
- [breathes deeply]
Answers.
Thank you.
[somber music]
- Shane. - Hey, Betty.
* *
- Excuse me.
Um, who was that speaking with Dr. Dulles just now?
- That was his son.
And you are?
- I'm Sarah Dulles.
I'm Dr. Dulles's daughter.
He doesn't have a son.
[ominous music]
* *
[upbeat country music]
* *
- What's going on in Silo 12?
- I wasn't allowed to ask questions,
especially about 12.
- I know you, Oliver, and the man I know
would never hide his head in the sand.
- Who says I did?
[tense music]
It was clear that certain inmates were being treated
with experimental therapies.
I got that.
And sometimes an inmate would be taken.
for more extensive research outside the Pit.
- Yeah. Where were they taken?
- The Pit's located in the middle of a nuclear array--
28 silos, 6 of which have been decommissioned.
This one is the Pit,
and this one...
is Silo 12.
- The tunnels are all connected.
- Only one is the Pit, but they're all part
of the same facility.
- So what's so special about Silo 12?
- It's where this all started.
- Oliver, where what started?
- The prison break.
Just before the blast, I received a phone call.
- Do you want to live in the lie?
Or do you want to know the truth?
- There was a breach at Silo 12.
- A breach, okay. By who?
- Thank you.
An armed security force.
A dozen men, maybe more.
- The AG, she knows about this?
- Why do you think she was sent to sell
a cover-up about a gas leak?
- And the armed security force, you think that they are
the ones that blew up the Pit?
- I think it's a hell of a coincidence.
* *
- We need to see Silo 12.
.
[dramatic music]
* *