[slow piano music]
- [Brandon] I need to know why.
- There are so many things no one has the answers for.
- What does that mean?
- Why we lose the people we love.
Death.
Pain.
Change.
Sadly, it's all a part of life.
You're trying to figure out
if there's something you could've done to stop this.
We'll never know why people elect
to take away the blessing of life.
There's nothing you could have done.
We all have our time.
Unfortunately, she decided to make that decision on her own.
- She left me.
- [Priest] Try to remember her as she was:
a loving mother,
a human being.
I will pray for her soul, young man.
[soft piano music]
- [Lassiter] I'll take it from here, Fiona.
- [Katarina] Something sad?
- It's the saddest.
- I am so sorry, honey.
- No.
It's beautiful.
I think I may have found somebody.
[uneasy orchestral music]
- Is this the cheapest one?
- I'm sorry, but this is the least expensive casket
that we have.
- I think we're gonna have to go to
the cremation services down the mountain.
A casket and burial is out of our price range.
- [Katarina] So, you mother grew up around here, right?
[pail clattering]
[sighing]
[light playful orchestral music]
Excuse me.
Why don't I speak with my associate and see what we can do.
- That's him, isn't it?
- That's the one whose mother...?
- Yes.
- Then that's him.
- He's cute.
I'll see what I can do
about having him come over for dinner.
That is, if you're sure.
Excuse me.
Why don't we go with this one?
- I'm sorry.
What?
- Providing for a loved one's death can be very hard,
especially when it comes up so suddenly
and you're all alone,
so why don't we just write off the whole thing
to a small local discount.
- Thank you, but that's too much.
- Nonsense.
- You imagine that you lived around here.
I mean, well, you're just practically family.
- I couldn't.
- You can.
- What I meant to say
was that I couldn't accept such a generous offer
without giving you something in return.
- Dinner then.
Why don't you come and have dinner
with myself and my family.
- Thank you, but--
- Oh, no-no-no, no buts.
You shouldn't be alone.
- Thank you.
- You're very welcome.
His mother dying and practically dropping on our doorstep
is just too perfect.
- It's a tragedy.
- Of course.
But even tragedy has its happy coincidences.
- Yeah, I guess so.
- What are you doing?
- Trying to help.
You know your mother would've looked pretty
in a burlap sack.
I found some jewelry your mother borrowed from me
before you were born.
- Aunt Jenny, please.
- I didn't come here to take it, Brandon.
- Why did you come here?
- Because we're family.
That's what family does.
Your mother chose to push us away.
That doesn't mean you have to.
- You're the only one who came to the funeral.
The only one who cared to.
Who would choose a family like that?
- Did anyone ever tell you you look just like your father?
- No.
- [Jenny] Well, you do.
The rest is pure Eleanor.
[soft orchestral music]
- You're looking fair.
- Did you ever love Lassiter?
- Maybe.
Sometimes I think we loved the song or the gift
more than we ever did each other.
- I never noticed.
Or I guess I chose not to.
- Not like you and John.
- And still John threw the song away.
- He has, but not you.
- [Fiona] Didn't he?
- True love, even with time on our side,
is always an uphill battle.
Some of us are born to love, and some of us maybe not.
- Why did you do it, Kat?
Sing the song with Lassiter?
- For you.
- I never would've asked--
- No, I'm happiest watching you in love,
first with John and now.
Really, I'm happiest being a spectator.
Hey.
I was never meant to be with a man.
They're way too fragile.
[laughing]
Fiona, really, I'm happy being here for you.
[old time Vaudeville music]
[humming]
[doorbell ringing]
Oh, Fiona!
Hold on, let me look at you.
Oh.
Something, something, we need something.
Oh.
This will work.
[giggling]
Okay, last touch.
[exhaling deeply]
- Hi, I'm Fiona.
- Brandon.
- [laughing] It's nice to meet you, Brandon.
And you brought wine, how sweet.
- Yeah, you know, I just figured
I should bring something to the table.
- Oh, thank you, but you've already brought plenty.
And I should let you in my house.
Where are my manners?
I'm [laughing] so sorry.
Please, come in.
- It's fine. [laughing]
It's totally fine.
- [Fiona] Katarina's my sister.
She's the one who sold you the coffin.
- I don't know if sold is the right word.
- You [laughing] you know what I mean.
She showed it to you.
- I know, that was a joke.
- Oh. [laughing]
We just, we try to help out when we can.
The funeral business is kinda more of a family tradition
than a trade, if that makes any sense.
- My mom and I used to go out every Tuesday with the church
to hand out sandwiches to the homeless.
You could call that family tradition of sorts.
- Oh, so you go to church?
- No, no, not me, but my mom did.
Weird thing about tradition.
- Yeah.
We should probably get going.
- Yeah, lead the way.
[sighing]
Holy shit, okay.
Lead the way.
[Kat laughing]
- How about some more?
- Oh no, I had better not. [laughing]
Should probably get something in my stomach
before I go embarrassing myself.
- [laughing] Oh, a man of moderation, how quaint.
- A man of caution at best.
- Then we better get the main course out here posthaste.
Lassiter! [bell ringing]
- The groundsman?
- And my husband.
Not known for the spring in his step.
Ah, not a moment too soon, dear.
- Don't let the state of the grounds fool you,
Lassiter is actually a very good cook.
- If looks are anything to go by,
I'm sure you're right about that.
- Oh, you've outdone yourself, dear.
Thank you.
[clearing throat]
- Thank you.
- Of course.
- Good?
- Delicious, thank you.
- We usually like to say grace before we eat.
- Stop it, Lassiter!
Brandon is our guest.
- No, it's my fault.
I shoulda waited.
Sorry.
- No, it's okay.
Honestly, I never wait either.
- I love furniture like this.
Hand-carved.
Cared for.
Meant to stand on its own
against the fine china it's holding.
Furniture today is so painfully pragmatic
and built to sell, to get by.
But furniture like this, it's meant for something more.
It's timeless.
- How profound.
- Oh, no. [laughing]
Simple observation.
[laughing]
- Are you an artist?
- A musician.
My mother made me play when I was a boy
and she never stopped making me.
- Aw, that is so sweet.
Did you get your artistry from her?
- No.
[laughing]
- I'm sorry?
- Well, you didn't get it from your mother.
Well, what I mean is
when I was working on her for the funeral,
I just didn't get the impression that she was artistic.
There were no paint traces underneath her fingernails
or no calluses on her palms and no scars or wounds
to indicate any past or present labor.
I just didn't get the feeling
that her hands were altogether very artistic.
- She sang.
Never in public, but always to me
and when she thought she was alone.
She had a beautiful voice.
♪ Time, she flows
♪ A maiden of mean
♪ Her breath, the lives of men
♪ Forever she'll be the end of he ♪
♪ Faith, hope and love abide
♪ But her breath doesn't stop
♪ Until she solves the riddle of ♪
♪ His mother, his lover, and he ♪
♪ Her breath she'll breathe
♪ Never to hold
♪ Always the cold
- [Kat] That is absolutely lovely, Fiona.
- That was some dinner.
[laughing]
- Yeah, I wouldn't mind Lassiter.
See enough dead bodies
and you're bound to loosen a bolt or two.
Are you gonna be at work tomorrow?
- No, no work tomorrow.
I...
have to go by my mother's house
and sign some papers for the bank
before they can start the estate sale.
Turn over the keys and whatnot.
- That's awful.
You must have so many memories there.
- Yeah, all of 'em, actually.
Been there since I left the hospital, day one.
- Have you had any help through all this?
- A little.
I have some extended family I've never really known
and they sent an aunt of mine out to play diplomat.
She tried.
But...
I'd really rather handle it on my own.
- Could you take something?
Something to remember her by?
- Yeah, I'm still in the house for a few more days,
but I've never really been the sentimental type.
Taking a piece outta the house
would be like taking a piece of her without the whole thing.
- You'd be surprised how much you can forget over time.
A memento might not be a bad idea,
but I'm sure you'll find your own way to remember her by.
- You're very kind, Fiona.
Your whole family.
Even if Lassiter hates me and my agnostic ways.
[laughing]
- Well, I guess he'll just have to get over those, won't he?
- [Brandon] I hope I'm not around enough to find out.
- Oh.
- I mean, I just meant this being a funeral home and all.
- Right.
Of course.
- Good night, Fiona.
- Good night.
[unsettling music]
[panting]
- Fuck.
[slow plodding piano music]
[exhaling deeply]
Whoa.
[laughing]
[sobbing]
[grandfather clock ringing]
- [Lassiter] Fiona.
- Hello, Lassiter.
- How are you feeling?
- I'm fine, thank you.
- No, no, I meant how are you feeling about the--
- I know.
I'm fine.
Actually, I think I'm gonna go for a walk.
- Would you like some company?
- No.
Thank you, though.
- Fiona, I wanted to speak with you.
I have some things on my mind I'd like to talk about.
- I think I know exactly what's on your mind.
And just like the last time you had those thoughts,
I don't wish to entertain them.
So, if you'd please?
♪ Well, hand me a glass
♪ And I'll fill it up
♪ I'll tuck in my tail
♪ Like a scolded dog
♪ I'll line up my pins
♪ For you to knock down
♪ And I won't make a fuss
♪ While you tear up the town
♪ Give me time
♪ Give me peace
♪ Give me patience
♪ Won't you please let me sleep ♪
♪ I must seem
♪ I must seem low
♪ So down low
That was beautiful.
- Jesus!
- Oh my god, I'm sorry.
I didn't mean to frighten you.
- No, it's okay.
I just thought I was alone.
- I like taking walks through here sometimes
to clear my head.
And I thought I heard you,
so I thought it'd be polite to say hi.
That's really beautiful, Brandon.
- Thanks.
It was her favorite.
So, can't get enough dead people back at the mortuary?
[laughing]
- Well, while they are a good reminder
of how fragile we are,
a walk out here beats doing yoga in the mortuary any day.
- There's a joke about rigor mortis I'm missing out on here.
- [Fiona] Yeah, I'm gonna pretend that it landed. [laughing]
- Thanks.
- Oh, I didn't take you as a smoker.
- I didn't take my mom for one either.
- That was hers?
- Yeah, I had no idea.
Found it in a drawer
next to a Bible
and a... special box.
- Was there anything else in the box?
- Yeah.
There was a personal... device.
The kind that requires batteries.
- Oh!
- Oh, [laughing] my god, wow.
- [Brandon] Yeah.
- No way.
- Hand to God.
- [Fiona] Oh, that must've been really weird. [laughing]
- It was a little strange.
It's just so surreal.
So much I didn't know about her.
- Hey, everyone has secrets.
They just become truth
when there's no one left to keep them.
- That's some deep shit.
- Well, my sister tells me that I have an old soul.
- She's not wrong.
And your advice about the memento, I took it.
- I'm glad.
Hey, how've you been since everything happened?
- Honestly?
Not great.
Turned in the keys to the house this morning,
and so I'm sleeping in a hotel, which is fine.
I just never not had my mom.
And now that she's gone,
I can't seem to let anybody else in.
Pushed my aunt out as soon as I possibly could and...
I've been having these dreams.
I just don't feel like myself anymore, you know?
- Dreams?
- They just started.
And...
I'm hanging myself
in the same place that she did every time.
And I get up there
and I look down
and I can't help but think, "How could she have done it?
"I could never."
She left me alone.
She didn't even leave a note.
She left without saying goodbye.
And that's what kills me.
[sniffling]
- Brandon, hey.
She would've wanted you to know how much she loved you.
- I should get going.
- Oh, are you sure?
I can always stay if you need me to.
- Oh, no, it's fine, Fiona, thank you.
See you around.
[foreboding music]
- What's the matter?
- [Fiona] I think I've made a mistake.
- Oh, my sister?
My sister, that doesn't sound like her.
- The dreams are preventing him from healing.
He's not ready for this life.
- Does it change the way you feel about him?
- No.
- [laughing] Because it's a little late to turn back now.
Hey.
No one ever said that this was gonna be easy.
He's alone.
He needs a soft touch to consider what to do next,
not someone with doubts.
And at this point,
you need him far more than he needs you.
So, stay the path.
- Kat.
Is it really worth it?
You and Lassiter are so unhappy.
- We have an arrangement.
But you...
Oh, you have a chance at so much more.
And every day being with you is worth it.
Every single day.
- No, you're right.
You're right.
- [Kat] I know, I know.
I love you.
- I'm sorry, Kat.
I love you too. - That's okay.
[slow synthesizer music]
- Hi.
[soft piano music]
- What are you doing here?
- Well, funerals can be difficult,
so I at least like to check up on the families
and make sure they're doing okay.
You know, go the extra mile.
- Well, you've gone many more miles
than necessary, Fiona, so
thank you.
- So, how does one get in the 21st century train business?
- That's a good question.
Well, I am my father's son, if you can believe it.
He died when I was little in the very same job I do now.
- So, you liked trains when you were little too then?
- No, no, I hated them actually.
It scared me shitless.
[Fiona laughing]
I'm telling you.
Thomas the Train is one thing,
but you're a toddler
and your dad takes you to the front of that thing,
the engine, it's a totally different experience.
It's loud, and I hated loud.
- Do you remember him well?
- Not much more than that.
He smelled like engine grease.
How do you do that?
- What?
- Get people talking.
I mean, I haven't felt much about my dad
one way or the other in years,
and here we are trading secrets.
- Ooh, I don't know
if I'd exactly call this trading, Brandon.
- You're right.
Your turn.
- Well, you know how I feel about secrets.
- I suppose I do.
Listen, I just got on my lunch break
and there's a pretty scenic overlook
I like to eat my sandwiches,
if you'd care to join me.
- Okay.
I didn't grow up here.
- No?
I thought the funeral business was a family tradition.
- Oh, it is.
Just came a long way off to inherit it.
- Uh-huh.
- It's true.
- So, where's a long way off?
- All over.
I moved around a lot as a kid.
- World traveler?
- Exactly.
Never really got to know my father.
Katarina says it's for the best.
And my mom,
she passed away recently.
But it was her time.
- I'm sorry.
What about the funeral home?
- It was an uncle's.
We took over for him when he passed on too.
- That's so weird.
I don't remember you or your uncle ever owning that place.
- Well, you know what they say,
best not to get too cozy with a funeral director. [laughing]
- You're not wrong about that.
- It actually used to be a butcher shop, [laughing]
about a hundred years ago.
- No.
- Yeah! [laughing]
- That's terrible.
- Yeah. [laughing]
Oh god, please don't tell anybody about that
or we probably would be out of business pretty quickly.
- I don't know about that.
You must have another way of putting food on the table
if you're just handing out funerals on a whim.
- Yeah, we figure it out.
God, I still can't get over it.
They never change, but they always take my breath away.
- The mountains?
- Sometimes I like to think that we've already died
and this is it.
- Heaven.
- Sure.
Wherever.
- That's some thought.
- You don't think it could be true?
- Where do we go after we leave here then?
- Maybe we just get to start over
from the beginning with everyone that we've ever loved.
- Maybe.
- I like to think that the first people I get to see
would be my mother and father.
It'd be like Heaven to me.
[soft piano music]
- No.
No.
[sobbing] No, no, no, no, no.
No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. [sobbing]
No. [sobbing]
No, no, no, no. [sobbing]
[uneasy music]
- What are you doing here?
[sighing] Lassiter, no.
- Take it.
Take it!
- This has to stop.
- Katarina hates me.
- You made your choice.
- You don't know what it is to be hated or to be used.
You only know love and loss.
I have love for you
and I will make it so that you never lose it again.
- You're a psychopath.
- Love is--
- No.
You're pathetic,
not love.
You.
You spend so much time watching me,
but do you know what you are to Katarina?
A glorified lawn gnome.
Your life is the sorry price of keeping her alive.
And you're too much of a coward to do anything else.
You always could have left.
- Love doesn't work that way.
- I don't love you.
[light acoustic guitar music]
♪ Time, she flows
♪ Maiden of mean
♪ But breath allows a man
[humming]
[knocking]
[slow music]
- Bite me.
- What?
- Bite me.
- [Brandon] Sorry.
- I wanted it.
[foreboding music]
[sobbing]
[breathing heavily]
[slow uneasy music]
- What do you want?
Can't this wait until tomorrow?
- Why won't she love me?
- Because she's better than you, that's why.
Get your hands off of me.
You wouldn't dare.
You're a rat with a gift, nothing more.
[uneasy music]
- Brandon.
Hey, hey, Brandon, hey.
Brandon, hey.
Hey. - Hey.
How you doin'?
- I need to talk to you about something.
- Okay.
- I had a lot on my mind.
I know if I don't tell you now, I...
Whatever you decide, I will respect your decision.
- What is this?
Are you clean, hmm?
[sighing]
[laughing] Geez, you're not dying or anything.
- Not exactly.
That song that I sang at dinner, do you remember it?
There's a bit more to it.
I'll spare you the serenade,
but it boils down to the secret of eternal life.
- I don't...
What?
- Okay, you know, the sooner that you realize
that I'm not kidding, the easier this is gonna be.
I am... 314 years old.
And Katarina and Lassiter are even older.
- [laughing] Fuck you.
- Shut up
and listen to me.
- Okay.
- [sighing] The song presents it as a riddle.
My sister and I and our husbands figured it out.
You need to eat to live.
You have to eat your mother, your lover,
and part of yourself, and then you live forever.
After that, anyone will do.
But you have to have the flesh of man,
the breath of time herself, and then you never age, ever.
- Wait.
Wait.
Back it up.
You were married?
- That's what you got from all this?
- [laughing] I'm sorry, it's just,
it's the only thing you said that made any sense.
- I was.
And he died.
- I'm starting to see some holes in your story.
- Anyone can break the song.
When he killed himself, I started aging again.
- And why would he do that, hmm?
- I don't know.
But the song requires a lover.
Time lives alone.
So, to beat her, you can't.
Without another,
I can't go on living.
- So, you and...
- John.
- John, right,
and Katarina and Lassiter then,
you all got together and ate your mothers and each other
and [laughing] now you're just kicking it
around the countryside ever since?
[laughing]
Okay, where do I come in?
- I started aging.
I need another.
And...
I love you.
- So, you thought...
Fiona.
This is insane.
I don't know what you're trying to pull here.
This is crazy.
[laughing]
I mean, last night was great.
And the biting thing, that was a little weird,
but I went with it,
but now you're just talking nonsense.
- Those dreams, they're getting worse aren't they?
And that song that's stuck in your head.
Brandon, it's already started.
- You're fuckin' insane.
- No, no, no, no, no.
- Fiona, I didn't eat anyone.
- I'm sorry, Brandon.
- For what?
- The dinner.
You...
- I what?
What do I do, Fiona?
What did I do?
- You ate her.
And me.
Brandon, please, it's okay.
Brandon! [sobbing]
- Stay the fuck away from me.
- No, Brandon, no! [sobbing]
Brandon!
[sobbing]
Brandon!
Brandon, wait!
Wait.
- Get the fuck off me.
[screaming]
How do I stop it?
How do I stop it, Fiona?
- You won't have an appetite for anything else.
But if you eat, it'll stop.
I'm sorry.
I don't why I felt so drawn to you.
- You barely fucking know me!
- Didn't you feel something?
- You fed me.
- I love you.
I love you.
- You're a psychopath.
I don't want this.
- Yeah, you do.
It's not from me.
It's from your mother.
She's how I found you.
She really loved you, Brandon.
[uneasy synthesizer music]
- [Woman] My dearest Brandon,
I love you so completely.
You are my only pride.
I no longer want to be a burden.
My beloved song.
So many of my mistakes aren't yours.
I have kept you to myself for too long.
I owe all of the happiness of my life to you.
Don't be alone.
Marry someone you love.
[booming noise]
[uneasy music]
- Well hello, Brandon.
Ah-ah-ah-ah.
Careful now, or I may slip.
Life is so precious a thing.
Fickle and tenuous.
A little bit this way, a little bit that,
and you may just end one.
I'd say that death is what I'm most afraid of,
but really it's the not knowing that gets me.
Even so, there are worse things than taking a life,
and that's ruining one.
And you ruined mine.
She loves you and not me,
and you don't even want her back.
Don't worry, it's nothing essential.
[gasping]
- No! [sobbing]
- No, no! [sobbing]
Kat!
Kat! [sobbing]
No! [sobbing]
- So, I know what you're thinking.
Why not end it all if my never-ending life is ruined?
And to that, I say, stick with the devil you know.
[screaming]
Now, my life is ruined and you're on my table.
And I had to think, what would be worse for you:
the dark uncertainty of death or my curse,
a never-ending life of pain
with a woman you don't love and a stupid fucking song?
Should I kill you or just shove
a piece of your own kidney down your throat
and into Fiona's dinner?
I have to be honest, I flip-flop on the matter a bit
until I came up with something better.
I'll make you choose.
- I love you, Brandon.
[groaning]
- Get away from him.
Get away from him!
Oh my god, Brandon.
[sobbing]
Brandon.
Brandon, I can still fix this.
I know I put you here, but please.
Please, Brandon, I love you.
I can fix it. [sobbing]
I know I did this to you, I'm so sorry.
Please, please, I can fix this,
I can fix this.
I just need to know if you love me.
Brandon.
Brandon, do you love me? [sobbing]
Brandon, if you love me, I can fix this.
Do you love me?
- I love you, Brandon.
- I love you.
- What?
- I love you.
I love you.
- Brandon.
[sobbing]
[acoustic guitar music]
♪ Time, she flows
♪ A maiden of mean
♪ Her breath loves a man
♪ Forever she will be the end of me ♪
♪ Her breath she'll breathe
♪ Never to hold
♪ Always the cold
Do you love me?
[slow piano music]
[moving into driving slow rock music]