The Sympathizer
Season 1 – Episode 6
Episode title: The Oriental Mode of Destruction
Original air date : May 19, 2024
Plot: Convinced that the General’s plan is doomed to fail, the Captain makes it his mission to trace the General’s funding and ingratiates himself with the Congressman. His desperation grows as he searches for ways to expose the military operation and to achieve his ultimate goal: to save Bon.
* * *
(film projector rolling)
(footsteps)
(ambient nature sounds)
(indistinct chatter)
Hey!
(General and army greeting each other)
(all cheering)
(soldier speaking Vietnamese)
(mysterious music playing)
♪
♪
(indistinct chatter)
(music stops)
(Bon shouts)
Captain: “Ma chère tante,
“These men want their country back.
“But what they need is to be recognized, to be remembered, to be the men they once were.”
And you, old friend, what is it that you need now?
I need… We need to save our friend, Bon, from us, from the guns and swords of our side.
♪ Let’s go disco ♪
♪ Let’s go disco ♪
♪ Let’s go disco ♪
♪ Let’s go disco ♪
♪
(“Let’s Go Disco” by MFSB continues)
(yelps)
(laughter)
♪ Let’s go disco ♪
♪ Let’s go, disco ♪
(gunshots)
(all shouting)
To the Republic,
we will be always true!
(army shouting)
♪
Stirring speech, sir.
I’ve been further considering our predicament with this troublesome newsman.
Well, that much is clear, sir.
Perhaps you ought to brief the men.
Provide them with a cover story.
If that subversive comes fishing for his leftist propaganda rag, then our men need only tell him the truth.
And which truth is that, sir?
That this is a charitable organization.
Ah.
And a legally registered nonprofit, no less.
“The Benevolent Fraternity of Former Soldiers of the Army of the Republic of Vietnam.”
W-We are?
Mm-hmm.
And what is our charitable cause?
Humanitarian aid for all the poor Vietnamese still oppressed by the commies.
(gunfire)
It’s all legitimate, on the books.
This is how we receive tax-deductible donations from certain generous friends.
Captain: Huh. Whoever these friends are, they must be very generous indeed.
(curious music playing)
(ambient street noise)
♪
♪
(office phone ringing)
♪
Uh, Chinese laundry’s next door.
No, I’m…
Oh, I’ll be damned.
Huh… I thought you got blown up.
(Captain chuckles)
You know, of course, I don’t partake myself, but… I just like to have somethin’ on hand for my constituents.
(chuckles)
What can this humble representative do for ya?
I was rather wondering what I could do for you, Congressman.
I was so taken by your speech at the party, I…
Oh, meant every word, kid.
You know, I’m makin’ a long-term investment in your community.
Sure, you’re not voters yet, but your children, their children.
So, you see, I’ve located great value in you people.
And I value that you value us.
So, whatever I might do to be of value, offer it to the campaign…
That’s a great idea.
I’d be delighted to have an ethnic on the trail.
Uh, do you have skills other than being Vietnamese?
Uh… I know when to talk and I know when to shut up.
Do you know when to play deaf?
That motherfucker just won’t fucking listen.
A touch higher! Fucking white trash.
Shoot… That is totally not like me.
I didn’t catch what you said, madam.
Ned sent you?
Yes, yes, he did.
Now you must let me guess.
Vietnamese?
Only my better half.
(both chuckle)
No, no. If there is one thing I learned,
it’s that here in America, race is all or nothing.
(“Free to Be… You and Me” by The New Seekers playing inside house)
Maria… tell the kids
to turn off that hippie shit.
Sí, señora.
I won’t allow it in my house.
It’s a slippery slope to socialism.
Teenager: (groans) This music is my life!
Tom Collins? Of course, I don’t usually partake myself.
Captain: Uh, please.
Help yourself if you don’t mind.
I’ve got some things to take care of here.
(sighs) Donors, donors.
I do my best to memorize them, but I just can’t.
I could whisper their names for you,
when you’re greeting them.
That’s how I did it for the General back in Saigon.
I can be very discreet.
Mm, no can do.
Ned says I’m not to show this to anyone.
Of course. (clears throat)
I simply can’t wrap my head around what politicians can and cannot do with their money in this country.
What in Cuba we called electioneering, here you call election fraud.
Well, at least our restrictive campaign laws can’t prevent civically-minded individuals like yourselves from donating to a worthy cause.
Oh, you’re speaking of your General’s Benevolent Fraternity?
So you know.
Ned said it’s all in the books.
What, what kinda books?
You know what kind.
Huh.
(both chuckle)
Ah, fuck it. (chuckles) Just a tipple.
I’m with company, after all.
So, what were we talking about?
(bottle pops)
What’s gotten into you, coming here wasted when the sun’s still up, hm?
Ah, it’s almost down. And who says I’m wasted?
Right there.
You can see his pad from here.
Huh.
You fantasized about killing Nicos, didn’t you?
Admit it.
Mm.
What about now?
Hey, we all fantasize about killing people.
Just as a passing thought.
Like… “Oh, what if I…
ran over that asshole with my car?”
(playing guitar)
Or at least we fantasize
what it’d be like if someone were dead.
Sure, like some motherfucker who’d write me off as a bastard
and steal my girlfriend.
Sounds like you got someone specific in mind.
(chuckles) Come on, you bought that?
It sounds pretty specific.
(siren wailing)
♪
(Commandant speaking Vietnamese)
(sighs)
(inhales)
(siren wailing)
(door bell rings)
(indistinct chatter)
So, when do they give you the Pulitzer?
Did the General send you to shake me down?
Why don’t we go outside and talk?
Sorry, can’t. I just placed an order.
Well, have it to-go. We can talk in the car.
Chaps sitting at the table next to me
were just remarking that you need to have pho in situ,
at the restaurant, to truly appreciate it.
Oh, apparently, it’s not the same out on the training grounds.
(sighs) Actually, I just wanted to offer you
some constructive criticism…
Oh.
…as an invested reader.
You never could keep your literary opinions to yourself.
Well, spit it out. No one here speaks English.
(indistinct chatter)
If I were you, I’d trace the money.
(ambient restaurant noise)
Why are we surprised?
This is the Vietnamese joint, after all.
Sonny: Mm-hmm.
Your soup should be here any minute.
Sonny: Time doesn’t matter to her.
Not when it comes to cigarettes.
Sofia Mori: Mm.
Let’s go outside.
Uh, wait, wh… What is this?
(sighs) If you don’t return
by the time I’m down to the butt,
I am coming to rescue you, darling.
No, no, it’s just… It’s men’s business.
Be right back.
Uh-huh-huh.
Is it safe here?
What if one of the General’s men sees us?
Officially, I’m questioning who your informant is.
Oh, that’s a good, that’s a good cover.
You could be a spy.
Why’d you tip me off?
You’re the General’s man.
‘Cause we’ve got something in common.
(ambient street noise)
What’s Sofia got to do with this?
No, leave her the fuck outta this.
I’m trying to say that we don’t want
any more of our people to die for nothing.
You said to follow the money.
Is there a paper trail?
I can try to get you one.
Get one, by any means necessary.
I’ve got a friend at the LA Times.
I can make sure everyone in America reads this story.
(light, tense music playing)
(ambient street noise)
♪
teenager: Is he looking?
Oh shit, he’s right behind us.
(muffled shouting)
(dog barking)
(shouting)
General: Don’t forget we need enough time
to shape them into soldiers again!
Claude: Oh, thank you for getting me up to speed!
You forget yourself, General.
Here’s how this relationship works.
For future reference, I say, “Eat shit,”
you grab a goddamn fork and knife.
This fuckin’ reporter’s changed everything.
Our investors are freaking out.
Get a grip on yourself. Fucking jagoff.
(General yelling)
(Claude whistling)
Bon: Don’t come back here. I remember.
I remember your stupid faces.
teenager: Easy, man. Easy.
Bon: Motherfucker!
(teenagers yelp)
(engine starts)
(tires screeching)
(dog barking)
General: What’s goin’ on in here?
You put him on recon detail, huh?!
This fucking idiot?!
(Captain panting)
Get the car.
(wind blowing)
Where are we going, sir?
Drive. Don’t talk.
(eerie music playing)
(cocks gun)
(gunshots)
(unsettling music playing)
♪
(music fades out)
You think Sonny’s a threat?
Potentially.
He makes our investors nervous.
I’ll leave it in your hands.
Strip.
Sir?
I said strip.
(ambient nature sounds)
It’s good for arthritis, skin infections,
(exhales) sore muscles.
(Captain coughing)
Not to mention blood circulation.
Ugh, it smells.
Oh, the sulfur.
Mm.
Tend to smell like rotten eggs.
(inhales) Breathe it in.
It’s good for you.
You’re wondering how I lost them.
No, sir.
I never told you the story of how I made it through
nine months in the communist prison camp, did I?
No, sir?
Well, no need for graphic details.
Suffice to say, it was not all at once.
The pinky toe, it was infected.
I had bad boots.
And the next one
were electrocuted under torture
until all the nerves were dead.
And the rats snapped ’em off.
(Captain gags)
Just for somethin’ to chew.
(gagging)
Oh, is it my toes?
Mm.
The smell?
Mm-mm. (gagging)
It’s a sin to waste food… Swallow it.
(swallowing)
(coughs)
(groans)
Well done, Captain.
(exhales) Thank you, sir.
The cold, the vermin, that was nothing.
I knew that whatever I lost in there,
I had to get out of that camp with my mind intact.
For her… My little girl.
I lost everything to this country.
America, they eat your heart,
then complain about indigestion.
And now they have Lana too.
But I’ll get her back.
I’ll get everything back.
Put me on the mission too.
No.
No, out of the question.
You’d be more useful here
working with me
on the planning and logistics.
I need you, my boy.
You are the only one I can trust.
Please, sir. Bon’s lost so much already.
He made his choice.
A choice only granted to someone who has lost so much already.
Don’t stand in his path.
(light, tense music playing)
Captain: “Bon volunteered to join the mission.
“I beg your leave to end my mission here
and return to Vietnam.”
Man: So, you think you can save Bon?
And what makes you think that?
There must be some consideration.
Some clemency?
In the event that we’re captured, can’t I defend him?
Can you? Why?
Because I’m a hero of the revolution.
♪
I infiltrated the enemy.
I worked in their ranks for three years,
enduring risks untold.
The danger of being exposed? That was nothing.
No, the real danger was the contamination
of one’s mind with capitalism,
with Western culture.
The rank and file of the foot soldiers?
They never had to worry about that.
All they had to do was stoke their hatred of the enemy.
They never feared they might become them.
Brother…
No! We win the war, what do I get in return?
Banishment to America.
But I did what you asked of me.
I was tasked to serve under a pathetic clown.
I even killed for him. No, for our cause.
Or was it the General’s cause? Or Claude’s? Or yours?
I don’t even know anymore.
You think you’d be better off if you come here?
Think carefully, my friend.
What happens to a mole that has lived too long in darkness
when it is suddenly thrust into the sun?
It is blinded.
♪
No. You are better suited to the underworld
that goes by the name America.
You belong there. You’re American.
Admit it.
♪
(camera clicking)
Yeah, did ya get that?
Alright, we got that. Good one.
Thank you, brothers. Thank you for your support.
Of course.
…part of the problem is simply discursive.
We let those unwashed hippies
and the Negroes steal the meaning of the word freedom.
Sure, yeah, yeah…
(indistinct chatter)
What’s a fuckin’ gook doin’ here?
…basic freedoms.
You know, what I’m sayin’ is,
ignorance is not a sin.
They can’t sympathize with the communists
all that much. (chuckles)
I hear they killed quite a few of them in Vietnam.
Oh, Rita, what’s the occasion?
Havin’ a little, uh, drinky-poo this afternoon?
(chuckling)
Oh, my. I thought it was seltzer.
My fault. I’ll get the seltzer.
(chuckling)
Ooh… There we go.
Captain: Alright.
(laughter)
My God, she is just a gem of a woman.
(laughter)
(indistinct chatter)
Professor?
Ah, the quiet Eurasian.
What brings you into my lair?
Well, I might ask you the same question.
Well, as you can see,
I’ve alighted to greener pastures.
Huh.
Our beloved Oriental Studies
has at long last been slaughtered
upon the altar of identity politics.
I’ve been lending the Congressman my expertise.
Who knew I’d have a knack for speechwriting?
But I do.
At least there are still those in public service
who value my insights into the Oriental Mode of Destruction.
The Oriental Mode of Destruction?
(chuckles) Still don’t understand why
you’re such a fan of that book.
A fan?
Yeah.
I admit,
I’ve been accused of intellectual narcissism,
but I don’t think I’m quite that extreme.
Huh?
(scoffs)
(softly) One can’t write
everything one wants
within the inelasticity of formal scholarship.
Wh… So then you…
Oh, and you never surmised as much
with that marvelous brain of yours?
R.H. Robert Hammer. Richard Hedd.
(chuckles)
Dick Hedd. Pleasure to meet you.
“If the Orient has one inexhaustible resource, it is people”?
“Life in the Orient is plentiful and cheap”?
That Dr. Hedd?
How could you?
Oh, dear…
I had such hopes for you.
But there it is,
bubbling under the surface, that primeval fury,
that irrepressible Oriental urge to destroy.
My duality is difficult to parse.
Not unlike your Hammer and Hedd.
If one side wins, then the other side must die.
Congressman Ned Godwin (over microphone): Alright, settle down.
This is comin’ right off the cuff.
That’s right, brother…
You have such hate for me.
But what was it that Hesse wrote in “Demian”?
Ah, yes. “If you hate a person,
you hate something in him that’s part of yourself.”
Does that resonate?
(tense music playing)
Ned Godwin: You know, I admit, I prepared some remarks,
but we’re all military men here, so, right?
(all cheering)
How ’bout I just mix it up
and speak from the damn heart instead, huh?
(cheering, applause)
(camera clicking)
I don’t need to make big speeches
about what happened in Nam.
You know, brother, you know, sister, we lost.
It was a failure, a failure of will.
A war of obliterations, right? That’s the only kinda war
the Oriental understands and respects.
Yeah. Nota bene. Hiroshima. Nagasaki.
But, well, see, we Americans who respect the sanctity of human life.
We pause before we annihilate our enemies.
And our Oriental enemies,
they read this reluctance as weakness.
Yeah. See, if the communists in Vietnam
have one inexhaustible resource, it is people.
Life is plentiful in Vietnam.
Life is cheap to the communists.
The generals who fought the Japanese in World War II,
you know all too well the Oriental perspective,
their mode of destruction.
But their voices were muted in this war.
Just look at Cuba, China, Russia, and, of course, Vietnam.
The flower that disguises itself as idealism
is being exposed for what it really is:
a corrupt, carnivorous plant of crowny thorns.
Ah!
(cheering)
In the battle of ideologies,
communism will always lose.
We must fight for the rights
that our founders fought for all those centuries ago.
Come on!
Dignity, justice.
Dignity, justice.
Freedom for all.
Freedom for all!
Both: We must not rest until these rights
are possessed by all peoples of all nations.
All nations!
(cheering, applause)
Yeah!
(camera clicks)
♪
(footsteps approach)
I thought you went to bed.
W-Would ya like me to take you to the Congressman?
Please.
He just needs me there
so I can speak Spanish
to the fucking valet.
You also here for a drink?
Congressman told me to put these in here.
(groans)
(cheering outside)
Ned thinks I don’t know his game…
throwing these beautiful young things at me.
(nervous chuckle)
Like that counterbalances him bedding every blonde with a pulse.
Uh, uh, well, I… Then I guess the Congressman
doesn’t know his wife very well.
I’m sorry?
Well, such a blatant tactic would never work.
Not on someone as, uh… astute as you.
Oh.
(both chuckle)
Yes.
Right.
Quite.
Okay.
(exhales, clears throat)
(ringback tone)
Sonny (over phone): Hello?
Captain: I’ve got the money trail.
Tomorrow. Noon. Where?
Sonny: My place.
(ambient street noise)
No Sofia?
Sonny: No Sofia.
Sofia (over phone): Hey.
Sonny: Hey.
(unsettling music playing)
(indistinct chatter)
(Sonny laughs)
♪
♪
(ambient street noise)
(music fades out)
(birds chirping)
(news playing on radio)
The money.
Napalm Ned and the CIA.
Holy shit.
Holy shit.
Send them to your contact at the LA Times.
Yeah, right.
And if I were you, I wouldn’t disclose your informant.
You’ll get the CIA on your case,
and then it’s only a matter of time
before it reaches the General’s ears.
Sure, uh, the-the scale of this, well, it’s-it’s-it’s bigger…
a lot bigger.
Uh, a-and, and I-I do try not
to actively invite assassination.
(typing)
Listen, uh, we never did have the talk
we should’ve had about Sofia.
I apologize for that.
(sighs)
Honestly, Sonny, I don’t care about Sofia.
Sonny: I’m being a bad host.
Haven’t even offered you a drink.
How ’bout it?
Yeah, sure.
(news on radio continues)
Hey, can I turn that up?
Sonny: Sure.
Newsreader (on radio): …Draconian measures to reshape Cambodian society
in accordance with his vision.
Despite public diplomatic exchanges of solidarity,
friction simmers beneath the surface…
Hear that?
Newsreader: …between Cambodia and its neighbor…
After all the Cambodian attacks on our border towns,
we’re now raiding Cambodia.
You think we had enough of war that we wouldn’t want another one.
I’m sick and tired of talkin’ about politics, Sonny.
You were the one that turned it up.
(changes station)
(“The Jungle Is a Skyscraper” by Ornette Coleman playing)
That’s it. I swear not to talk any more politics today.
You know, I-I-I confess, I don’t really know
what to talk about besides politics.
Most people can’t stand it, but Sofia can.
That’s love.
So you’re in love with her?
You weren’t in love with her, were you?
It… You know, it… (sighs) I understand.
Losing her, it-it-it-it-it hurts.
It-It’s v… It’s very painful.
Even if you didn’t love her, that’s human nature, right?
But… try to see it from my point of view.
It’s-It’s just that when we started talking at that poor major’s
mother’s longevity party, we couldn’t stop.
That’s love.
Let me ask you something.
If it’s not about Sofia,
why do you hate me so damn much?
Who says I hate you?
Then what? You envy me?
I don’t know, Sonny.
Perhaps it’s because you seem…
unburdened.
Because you simply picked a side
and then you lived with the consequences.
♪
I have something to confess to you.
So, you do love her.
Just get it out.
No, I already told you I’m not here for Sofia.
I asked you before if you were a communist…
and you said you wouldn’t tell me if you were.
But what if I told you that I…
was a communist?
What’s the point of playing such a game?
It’s not a game. I am a communist.
I’ve been an agent for years, for the revolution.
I infiltrated the Secret Police
and sent intelligence back to Hanoi.
Even now, I report on reactionary activities
and do everything I can to undermine them.
In fact, me handing you these documents now
is part and parcel of my anti-anti-revolutionary strategy.
♪
You want me to say I’m a communist too.
I’m being honest for once.
Did-Did-Did the General put you up to this?
You two are setting me up
to report on some concocted CIA conspiracy,
so you can discredit me and my criticism?
That’s what you Secret Police do, isn’t it?
How stupid do you think I am?
What, did you think you’d suddenly be
attractive to Sofia again
if you said you were a communist?
I told you, I’m sick and tired
of talking about Sofia.
When? You said that about politics.
Captain: You know, for a long time, I’ve worn a mask.
I just needed a chance to safely take it off
at least once,
even if it’s just for a moment.
(deep breath)
And since I’ve taken that one off, here’s another one.
♪
I killed him.
Major Oanh.
With that toy?
(music volume increases)
(jazz music playing loudly)
(glass shatters)
(body thuds)
♪
(Sonny struggling)
(gunshot)
(heavy breathing)
♪
(light clinks, buzzes)
♪
(song concludes)
(anxious music playing)
(door opens)
♪
(grunting)
(siren wailing)
(ambient street noise)
♪
(outside chatter)
(flies buzzing)
(fire roaring)
(light, tense music playing)
(Bon panting)
(car honking)
♪
(footsteps echoing)
♪
(sniffles)
♪
Captain: That’s it? That’s it?!
That’s all you have to say to me?!
Request denied.
And our brother?! You’d just let him die?!
Should I tell him that?
Tell him that “all for one”
was a bunch of bullshit?!
Request denied.
(tense music playing)
(phone ringing)
(birds chirping)
Thank God you picked up.
I am so sorry. Why…
Who could’ve done such a horrible thing like…
We’ll be in touch.
Sofia: Thank you.
Officers, thank you so much.
(Sofia sniffles)
(sighs) I, uh… (sniffles)
I said you were here the day before yesterday
for an afternoon delight.
That should cover you for a while…
even if it makes me a two-timing slut.
These cops are not meatheads.
(Captain chuckles)
What do you mean?
It won’t be too long until they identify you as a suspect.
A jilted lover blinded by jealousy?
Is that what you think, too?
Well, then why’d you come up with an alibi for me?
You don’t love me that much.
And even if you did, you wouldn’t kill over it.
Because you’re not impulsive.
Uh-huh.
Indeed.
(scoffs slightly) Indeed.
Everyone knows
the General is livid at Sonny.
And everyone knows you’re the General’s man.
A man who’d commit a murder at the General’s order?
Is that your theory, too?
Then again, why the alibi?
I know.
What?
Sonny told me that the source who informed him about the General’s mission was you.
You’re a spy.
♪
I’m not.
And he told me that you were planning on meeting him again… at his place… the day before yesterday.
Are you…
♪
…thinking of killing me too?
N-No, Sofia.
No.
♪
How did you become this?
Go… Far away.
Sofia.
Ms. Mori.
Is it raining?
I ran here.
From where?
Sawtelle. (chuckles)
(chuckles) Are you crazy?
What’s goin’ on?
(crickets chirping)
Good night. (sighs) Take care.
I would like to join the mission.
I feel guilty sitting behind the safety of a desk.
When an American has an ulterior motive… he looks you straight in the eye.
I guess you have become fully American.
(ambient street noise)
(tense music playing)
Pilot (over speakers): Flight attendants, prepare for departure.
(indistinct chatter)
♪
(Bon breathing heavily)
(panting)
♪
(breathing slows)
Both: Mind if we come along?
♪
(music softens)
♪
(music intensifies)
(music fades out)
