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Debris – S01E11 – Asalah [Transcript]

When a woman who has been affected by the Debris is found with knowledge of Bryan's past, he is forced to confront his trauma.
Debris - S01E11 - Asalah

Original air date: May 10, 2021

A group of agents are searching the woods for a piece of debris when one of them comes across a women sitting alone in a field with a shimmer near her. The only words she will say is “Bryan Beneventi.” Meanwhile, Bryan and Finola are driving down the road when Finola decides to call Garcia to check on her father. It turns out her father has decided to go on a road trip to Virginia to get some equipment he needs. Then Finola gets off the phone with him and takes another phone call from an agent who tells her about the woman in the woods. The team takes the woman to one of their labs in Maryland where the woman begins to recite snippets of conversations that Bryan recognizes. She grabs Bryan’s arm, and he is transported, seemingly, to the past where he is a soldier in Afghanistan. However, it turns out that Bryan’s body is still in the lab in some kind of catatonic state while his mind is reliving the past. While Bryan relives his past in Afghanistan, the team are trying to help Bryan get out of his fugue state which links him to the woman. In this state, Bryan appears to be having heart trouble and they are seriously worried he could die. The woman appears calm and is still reciting snippets of conversations from Bryan’s past in Afghanistan.

* * *

[FERRIS] (on speaker) Don’t underestimate Bryan.

He must be valuable.

But he’s had his own troubles.

Maddox pulled him out of an M.P. prison in Afghanistan.

When I was in Surobi, I destroyed families.

BRYAN: Garcia.

GARCIA: You’re still taking the injections.

BRYAN: When they send them to me.

GEORGE: I need to build a device to track a very dangerous piece of Debris.

I need Zarkari’s files.

FINOLA: I know what grief can do to a person how it makes you feel alone.

BRYAN: I know from experience.

Everyone’s got a past, Bryan.

I can’t help but wonder who was in the picture you were looking at.

FINOLA: Hey!

BRYAN: Another time.

(device scanning)

Are you reading this?

Close to maxed.

It’s not just me.

Never seen a signal like this.

It’s peaking.

No one get closer.

We can go in with Vector Twos.

We don’t know that will be safe, either.

Just bring me one.

You’d prefer a civilian find this piece? We don’t have a choice.

If I’m not back in ten minutes, quarantine the area.

(device scanning)

MAN: This is Hazmat Team Four.

We’re onsite and seeing Laghari readings in excess of 700.

(device scanning intensifies)

(device scanning)

What are you doing here?

(device scanning intensifies)

Bryan Beneventi.

Bryan Beneventi.

♪ (theme)

FINOLA: Oh, my God! It’s everywhere! Everywhere!

I spy with my little eye somebody who’s, like, very…

Very grumpy.

Yeah.

I just don’t understand. Just help me understand why you’re even balancing it on a dashboard.

It’s a pothole. Potholes are unforeseeable.

It’s why they call them potholes.

I foresee them. I foresee them.

Now here I am. I’m gonna smell like mint chip.

Macchiato. Sorry.

Macchiato? What? I… I’m sorry, okay? Please accept my apology.

I’m trying.

You looking for another coffee shop?

Yeah.

If you are,

I’d like a caramel Frappuccino.

I’m calling Garcia to find out about my dad, and you really need to quit with the sugar.

Pump three, please.

(phone ringing)

And, uh, would you happen to sell aluminium foil?

Aluminum foil?

Yes.

No, we don’t. Sorry.

(ringing continues)

I think that’s you.

Oh! Oh!

Oh! Thank you.

Yeah.

GEORGE: Yes.

Dad?

Hello, sweetheart. How are you?

Yeah, fine. We’re headed back to you.

Why are you answering Garcia’s phone?

Garcia lent me his van and his phone.

I’m at a petrol station…

Why are you at a petrol station?

I’m on my way to the… The antennas.

Antennas?

Yes. The antenna fields in Virginia.

So you’re telling me that you were driving all the way from Oregon to Virginia alone?

I’ll be fine. I need a way to… To boost the scanner signal once I’m done.

You’re asking a lot of questions.

And I can’t concentrate.

I’ve got a lot on my plate.

Please don’t worry. I’m perfectly capable.

Okay.

Finola, you have to get the Laghari files to me as soon as possible.

Yep. I’m working on that.

And I’m gonna speak to Ferris, okay?

Well, I’ll contact you once I’m there.

Okay.

(phone vibrates)

FINOLA: Oh, my God.

Yeah.

It’s Tom.

You need to come to Cedarville, Maryland, right away.

Okay. Why?

We found a woman out here affected by Debris, and she asked for you.

What do you mean?

She’s asking for you by name.

She just keeps saying your name.

Didn’t see an order come through for this.

I could have it ready for you.

Come on, you know how these things go.

It was a last-minute thing. I just gotta run some tests.

It could help me with a new piece we just found.

Thanks, Kelso.

Check these readings.

Uh-huh.

Tom.

Around nine A.M., satellite scan picked up disturbances in the atmosphere…

When the Situation Team arrived, they found her here waiting for them.

You ever see her before?

No.

Who is she?

Mariel Caldwell, a local high school teacher.

Wildlife preserve camera picked her up on a hiking trail just south of here.

But check this out.

We don’t know where that shimmer came from, but it disappeared when it reached her.

BRYAN: Seems like it’s following her.

We have a team searching the area for Debris.

She didn’t say anything else?

No.

She just keeps repeating your name.

Where is she now?

Where we found her.

BRYAN: Hi.

Your name is Mariel? You’re asking for Bryan…

Bryan Beneventi.

I’m Bryan Beneventi.

How do you know my name?

You said my name. How do you know me?

(stammering)

Surobi.

The A01 Highway.

Surobi?

Are you talking about Surobi, Afghanistan?

It’s in my brown paper folder.

It’s moon dust everywhere.

Birds are coming in.

What does that mean? What is she talking about?

Afghanistan.

Movie night after Dee-Fack. I hate movie night.

Dust… Dust… Dust… Dustoff… Inbound.

FINOLA: What’s going on?

Do you understand what she’s talking about?

MARIEL: Watch your flank, Frenchie.

Yes.

MARIEL: I got your six.

Somehow, this woman knows things about my life.

She’s reading at zero now. Whatever happened is over.

(sighs)

(sighs)

Mariel, how do you know me?

Where did you hear my name?

(whispering, indistinct)

Let’s do a sweep two kilometers to the west.

It never ends around this place.

How do you know parts of my life?

Jensen. Jensen!

How are you doing that?

I’m gonna miss you when you’re gone…

Bryan.

What does that mean?

I’m gonna miss you when you’re gone.

Bryan.

That’s the last thing that my mother said to me

before I deployed to Afghanistan.

This woman is repeating conversations from my life.

Please verify there is no ACM in that area, Frenchie.

Beneventi, stand back.

They’re firing even closer to us right now.

If you do that, then we’ll get along very well.

Very, very, very well.

FINOLA: Hey!

(wind blowing)

(Mariel whispering, indistinct)

Everything okay?

(wind intensifies)

Yeah.

Yeah, all good.

FINOLA: Bryan!

We need help in here!

Hey. Bryan. Bryan, can you see me?

WOMAN: He’s not responding! Get him to the scan room!

What did you do to him?

(muttering)

What did you do?

Guess you got a new goal to aspire to.

Bryan! Listen to me!

Can you hear me? Can you see me? Look at me!

Y’all done with this water bottle?

On Valentine’s Day, that’s tough, Frenchie.

LEBLANC: Yeah, tell me about it.

BRYAN: We loaded, fellas?

Yep.

Yeah, good to go, Benny.

Hey, hey, hey, Frenchie, wait.

(laughter)

Yo! Who in the hell?

Bro, that is definitely my bad.

That was nasty, Jensen.

I am definitely gonna being paying your mother a visit for this when I get home.

She’s lonely, she’s not that lonely.

Benny, Colonel Kellogg is en route for a visit.

Advance plan op board has just been posted.

Command finally approves an op, huh?

Thank you, Sergeant.

So Colonel’s coming in to brief us up personally.

Look at that. We made the big leagues, boys.

(chuckles)

Thank God.

It’s a little late here to make a difference.

Fun times.

Yeah.

Oxygen 50, pressure 210 over 100.

Pulse 120.

Nystagmus.

Agonal breathing, diaphoretic.

What is happening?

He’s having an idiopathic neurological event.

We’re doing all we can.

(phone vibrating)

Yeah. We’re still searching.

FINOLA: The Debris has to be somewhere out there. It has to be.

The shimmer came from somewhere.

There’s some sort of connection between them.

We have to disable the Debris in order to break its hold on Mariel and her link to Bryan.

I understand that, but we’re not getting anything here.

No signatures. And there’s about a thousand acres to cover.

Okay. I’ve got some more agents on the way to you now.

Keep me posted.

What have you got?

Her heart rate is matching Bryan’s.

Blood pressure, oxygen levels, all match.

So these are the MGRS coordinates.

Four. Two. Sierra.

MGRS…

That’s the Military Grid Reference System.

Yeah.

Eight-five.

MARIEL: That’s not very far from here.

FINOLA: It’s Surobi again.

Same old recon until the colonel gets here.

It’s your chance to show command that you’re leadership material.

Don’t forget us when you’re at the top.

Set up for me to fail.

“Heightened threat of Taliban attacks from the mountains.”

It’s always the case in this country.

Exactly. So why even bother sending that?

Semper Gumby.

BRYAN: That boy over there? I’ve never seen him before. Who is he? Why is he here?

I’ve seen him around. His dad runs a new shop by the entrance.

You didn’t read the flyer?

He can’t read.

What, you think he’s a bomber?

LEBLANC: He’s just a kid, man.

I’ve learned the hard way.

Nelson, go check it out, please.

All right.

Benny, we found that girl that was injured on the last op.

I’m taking her to get her hand checked out.

BRYAN: Thanks.

JENSEN: Heightened threat, my ass.

Taliban haven’t come through here in weeks.

That doesn’t mean anything.

If command thinks there’s an increased Taliban presence, I trust it.

You’re too trusting, Nelson. They get it wrong, too. Far too often.

Yeah, well, I’d rather not be the one who winds up dead.

Just do your job. They want more recon, we’ll give them more recon.

(Asalah shouts in native language)

(rifles cock)

(Asalah continues in native language)

Stay alert.

Copy that.

WOMAN (on speaker): Bravo Company, you are cleared in Sector Nine.

You speak English?

Yes.

You’re the one who saved me.

What’s your name?

Asalah.

My name is Bryan.

It’s too dangerous for you to be out here alone.

Bryan, my Baba my grandfather…

I don’t want him to be killed.

I know you’re looking for a bad man in the village, but he is not a bad man.

He’s a good man.

Where are your parents?

I’ve been separated from them.

And my brother.

My Baba said they’re not able to travel back, so he’s all I have left.

Your grandfather is a good man.

Right? Okay.

He has nothing to worry about.

We’re not here to hurt anybody.

Does that make sense?

Sometimes we stop outside the base.

I like the music they play there.

Music is ghazairoo.

Ghazairoo?

I don’t know what that means.

Food for soul.

Your grandfather’s gonna be safe, Asalah.

MAN (on radio): This is Bravo Company over in Sector Nine.

Possible insurgents sighted. Could use an extra patrol over here.

Hey, Miller wants to know if we want to meet his unit in Sector Nine.

What’s he looking to hit a home run today?

Yeah, he really wants to hit all the bases.

Sometimes you just gotta home run for it.

It’s really messed up, Jensen.

Well, I’m not gonna let Miller get all that glory, Beneventi.

Let’s roll.

Where are we at?

His condition’s nowhere near stable.

His heart rate’s dropping. We tried everything to stop it.

We have no idea what she’s doing to him.

How does she know these things about him?

Where does she get this information?

We’re still not sure.

It’s been relatively quiet in the region.

What did the shimmer look like?

Nothing. It was the usual prismatic appearance, nothing different than normal shine attributes.

The first thing she mentioned was a village in Afghanistan.

Surobi. Bryan knew what she meant.

It’s as if she’s recounting, um an experience he had there.

Why do you think that?

She’s using military terminology, listing coordinates.

It just sounds like she’s reciting conversations he’s had.

Bryan, welcome to Operation Desert Falcon.

FINOLA: Desert Falcon?

Have you heard of that before?

MARIEL: Intel that a high-value target has arrived in the region… Al-Malik.

Yeah. I recognize what she’s saying.

MARIEL: One of the Taliban’s top commanders in Nangarhar.

We cannot allow him to expand his hold in Surobi.

This was your real mission.

This was a very important mission to Bryan, for many reasons.

This is a jackpot target.

Al-Malik’s fighters are hiding among the locals.

Your orders are to identify any Taliban laying low here and to capture Al-Malik should you come across him.

This won’t be an easy task.

But I know I am surrounded by the most capable men in all of Afghanistan.

Yeah. So they tell me.

We’ll get it done, boys.

Right?

(all affirm)

“Won’t be an easy task?” Understatement of the century.

These guys are armed to the teeth by the Iranians.

Beneventi, a word.

Relax, gentlemen.

Congratulations on making commanding officer.

That’s badass.

Thanks, Benny.

Both come a long way since that last tour.

Yes, sir.

So… what do you think about this op?

No joke. We’re gonna pull it off.

Great.

I need there to be a positive result out of this.

Yeah. No fail missions.

You’re looking a lot better than the last time I saw you.

You’re in good hands here.

Keep me up to date?

This is him.

Asalah, what are you doing here?

They’re taking my stitches out soon.

Sit down.

How did you learn English?

My grandfather, he was a doctor in Kabul.

He could speak five languages.

I want to go to America one day, so I have to be better before then.

Well, you speak it very well already.

I want to be able to play piano there, but my brother says I’ll never be good enough.

(chuckles)

Have you ever heard of Elton John?

No.

No?

Elton John is a very famous musician.

Plays the piano.

♪ (“Benny and the Jets” by Elton John plays)

Here.

♪ She’s got electric boots, a mohair suit ♪

♪ You know I read it in a magazine, ohh-oh ♪

♪ B-B-B Benny and the Jets ♪

Wears weird sunglasses, even when he’s indoors.

So we might have to get you a pair of those.

♪ Hey kids, plug into the faithless ♪

♪ Maybe they’re blinded ♪

♪ But Bennie makes them ageless ♪

♪ We shall survive ♪

It’s beautiful.

♪ Let us take ourselves along ♪

I want to learn how to play it.

Yeah, me too.

♪ Where we fight our parents out in the streets ♪

♪ To find who’s right and who’s wrong ♪

The only piano I know of here is 40 kilometers away.

I’m not allowed to go over there because of the conflicts.

Hopefully, I will be able to when the conflict is over.

Yeah.

Once the conflict is over.

You don’t think it’ll be over?

It’s complex.

I think what we’re doing here is for all the right reasons, but sometimes good intentions go wrong.

Solais possible always.

Solais peace, right?

Bryan, can I make you a deal?

You want to make me a deal?

Yeah. Go ahead. Make me a deal. Shoot.

I will help you find the Taliban in the village, show you where they are.

No, it’s not the sort of help that we need.

Promise me… Please promise me nothing will happen to my Baba.

Oh, we’re going to look after him, but you don’t need to do anything.

I want to help.

It’s too dangerous.

That’s why we’re here.

I need my Baba to be safe.

I understand that.

Promise?

(exhales)

I promise you, but stay out of this.

Thank you.

Still at it?

Reports are coming in that Al-Malik is only in Surobi temporarily to resupply.

That’s great for us.

No.

That means there’ll be out of reach of our operation.

Beneventi?

Yeah.

Keep a better eye on your stuff.

Where did you get this?

The Afghan girl you were speaking to earlier in the medical tent?

Yeah.

Said she found it on the ground.

(Bryan whistles)

LEBLANC: What?

Hot damn. That’s Al-Malik.

FINOLA: They’ve tried everything.

They still don’t know what’s happening.

Nothing’s working.

Why Bryan? Why him?

Why was this woman asking for him specifically?

You remember there was a piece of Debris that cloned him back in Pennsylvania.

You think this is related to that?

I mean, I am not positive, but in order to clone him, the Debris had to have access to his memories, and maybe… Maybe at that moment, his memories just shutter around every piece of Debris.

And if I am right his information was part of the Debris that Mariel Caldwell came into contact with.

Wait a minute, you’re saying that, what, that the Debris pieces could be communicating with each other?

I mean, Laghari himself speculated that the Debris uses the spectrum to communicate, so is this this really that far-fetched?

Okay, so you’re basically saying that Brian’s memory was backed up into some sort of a network that the Debris is all connected to?

Right.

Everything in our world is connected.

Why wouldn’t theirs be too?

But why this mission specifically?

I don’t know.

The Debris read you too, back in Kansas.

I suppose it did.

Well, if I’m right, the Debris holds pieces of me in it’s network too.

(phone vibrating, beeps)

Go ahead.

Yeah, we found the Debris just off one of the trails.

I’m sending you the images right now.

FINOLA: Well, shut it down.

See that’s the thing. It is shut down.

When we found it, it was barely registering at .006.

It’s dead.

Has anything changed there?

No. But we saw the shimmer following her.

And then it disappeared.

It must be part of her now.

Okay, let me call you back.

I think we should try what you suggested.

What did you suggest?

We could try to reset his brain.

Reboot him.

Electroconvulsive therapy.

Maybe we can disrupt the connection she has over him that way.

All right. Tell me what you need.

Okay.

When was the last time he had his injection?

Is that what you think drew it to him?

I’m not so sure. We just sent him one.

I’ve been monitoring his blood work for any markers.

They might be losing their effectiveness.

If he gets out of this, I want you to up the dosage.

BRYAN: Asalah!

Believe me now?

It’s one of the bravest things I have ever seen, but it is too dangerous.

You can’t do that.

You want my country to be free?

Yes.

So do I.

We’re all the same… America, Afghanistan.

Different countries. But good men are good men, and bad men are bad men.

I agree with that.

Most people around here…

Don’t see it that way.

I cannot lose my grandfather.

He’s all that I have to hold on to.

ASALAH: You’ve no idea how important that is.

And I tried to be brave, but it is hard to keep hope.

I don’t know how much longer I can do it without him.

And you have no idea how much I understand that.

I will not fail you.

I will not fail you.

I promise you, Asalah.

ORBITAL TECH: The doctor’s ready.

FINOLA: Thank you.

Still no response.

It’s the only thing we can do.

Okay.

(electricity surging)

BRYAN: He’s in Surobi. Those were taken just a few hours ago.

I don’t wanna know how you got these.

From what we understand, they are mostly centralized in these homes right here, just off the village square.

(scream)

(electricity crackles)

(gasps)

If we enter…

From the…

(Mariel gasps)

Come on.

That’ll leave you exposed along the mountainside.

But when at night, use darkness for cover.

Come on.

(electricity crackles)

Maddox.

Now, how do you know my name?

(power charging)

(electricity crackling)

But that will leave you…

Exposed along the mountainside.

But when at night, use darkness as cover.

Good work. We go in tonight.

Yeah, your plan is smart.

Plus we finally have some usable photos we can I.D. these guys with.

I’ve been watching you for a while, Bryan, I’ve been really impressed with your accomplishments.

Good luck tonight.

Thank you, sir.

Man, this war is wearing me down.

Just so easy to forget anything we’re doing here matters at all.

Everything we’re doing here matters.

When I joined I thought we could change the world.

That’s what I thought.

We can.

We’ll see how you feel out there a couple of more tours.

Look, every war has its challenges, bro.

Is this about that villager on the road?

She asked me to protect her family.

I want to do that.

I want to prove to her that we can make sense of this world.

We’re out here to protect a lot more than one family.

(sighs) Oh, man.

(sniffs)

She has so much hope. I wanna protect that.

Oh, man, I need to protect that.

Been a long time since I thought things could be good.

Asalah, hey, Asalah.

You need to go home and take your grandfather to safety up to the mountains and not look back.

Will you find us out there?

Hide by the road that leads to Jegdalay, where we spoke.

I’ll come check on you after.

The important part is that you disappear.

That is the best way that I can ensure your safety, and your grandfather’s.

Thank you.

I’ve been wondering about what you said to me earlier, you told me you know what it’s like to keep hope, to have something to hold onto.

I was wondering what that is for you.

Get your Baba to safety.

(electricity crackles)

From what I understand, they’re mainly centralized in these homes off the village square.

Please, Bryan. Please, just wake up.

MARIEL: We’re trapping Al-Malik from the north and south.

(electricity crackles)

Move it.

(speaking Pashto)

(speaking Pashto)

NELSON (on speaker): All stations, troops in contact!

We are under fire. Repeat…

Contact.

(gunfire in distance)

Reloading.

Lay down some hate, Frenchie!

Decided to show up?

Get Frenchie in!

Frenchie!

Frag out!

(groans)

Hey. Don’t move.

Cease-fire! Cease-fire!

I know what’s gonna happen here.

I know what’s gonna happen.

What are you talking about?

Get down.

I have to stop it.

(wind blowing)

(whispers) I have to stop it.

Why?

Why did you make me go through this again?

Why me?

(electricity crackles)

(gasping)

Bryan! Bryan!

You’re okay. You’re okay.

Hey.

Mariel…

I need to see her.

I need to see her.

Okay. Yeah.

GOLDMAN: She’s dead.

Hey, I know about Asalah.

You’re okay.

You’re okay.

He told me that Asalah heard that we were gonna be ambushed, and, and she was so worried that I would think that she had betrayed me that she came back to the village to warn me.

So the next night, we went up into the mountains with my unit on a follow-on op to see if we could find any of the Taliban that might have escaped.

Sure enough, we found some of them hiding in a cave.

So I took revenge.

I didn’t know at the time that that was a different group of insurgents, protected group team not to be touched, because of some ongoing CIA operation.

And is that why you were in prison?

And I probably still would be if Maddox hadn’t have pulled me out.

They were going to charge me with a war crime.

Here.

Thank you.

I don’t carry this so that I can remember her.

I carry it so I don’t forget what it’s like to invest in something that I can lose.

Can you remember anything else about your experience?

Why it happened?

I don’t think it was over when you pulled me out.

I asked her why I had to relive that… that memory.

It showed you for a reason.

It felt like that.

I think all of the Debris may be connected.

What?

I think the Debris is experiencing us the same way that we’re experiencing it.

I agree.

(phone vibrates)

(sighs)

Ferris just sent me the Laghari files.

Hey, are you going to be okay?

Yeah.

Okay.

Okay, I’m gonna go and call my dad.

Thank you.

(machine whirring)

I decided to start with doubling your dose, all right?

What happened to me had nothing to do with the injections not working.

We have to cover all of our bases and make sure.

I wish you hadn’t have stopped it.

I could have learned more.

Hey, you might not have survived.

It was too much for her system.

You happened to be a little stronger, that’s all.

But you were almost there.

So I don’t know why this happened to you.

I just know that I don’t want it to happen again.

As far as I know, you’re the only person Debris has ever sought out.

DAHKEYA: It all began when the Black Water Grandfather threw his energy to the four directions.

To the east, he laid black metal in the earth.

To the south, blue metal.

To the west, yellow metal.

And to the north, white metal.

In the next phase, Black Water Grandfather threw black wind towards the earth.

MAN: We have found Agent Beneventi. Over.

(beep)

Repeat. We’ve found Agent Beneventi.

(beep)

WOMAN: He’s in a state of confusion.

There’s a laceration on his chin and a wound on his upper chest.

(beep)

MAN: What the hell happened to these men?

(beep)

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