Can we take a break?
Sweet, sweet freedom.
Do you think he followed us?
I don't think anyone saw us get in the dumbwaiter,
much less come out of the mansion.
I think I might not be agoraphobic.
Is it weird that I'm disappointed?
Guys, we left our backpacks.
What are we gonna do about this?
I know someone we can talk to.
Oh, boy.
What is it this time?
It's an old flight recorder,
but we need your help to figure out what's on it.
Please. It's urgent.
All right.
Come on.
How did you get this?
We're very entrepreneurial.
Uh-huh. You're not gonna tell me, are you?
Look, we think someone might be trying to cover up a plane crash.
Can you help us... unofficially?
Please?
Fine. My dad has a friend at NTSB.
But keep this on the DL for now.
And if it turns out that there is anything crazy on this,
you gotta tell me where you found it, okay?
Dad. Dad. Dad, you're never going to believe...
Oh, just dial it down a little bit, all right.
- Pop-Pop's trying to sleep. - Okay.
Well, you know, I went back to Woodruff Mansion.
You know, the place with the creepy marked door?
Here, come sit down. I wanna show you something.
Yeah, sit.
- All right, check this out. - Mm-hmm.
All right, you see these guys?
These are all Pop-Pop's friends from back in the day.
Yeah, you know, I tried to track some of them down
and see if maybe they would come visit Pop-Pop.
- You know, maybe cheer him up. - Mm-hmm.
Yeah, but they've all gone. All of 'em.
Yeah, everyone except Junior.
Gone?
Yeah. They all died, honey.
Now, I think you were right about Pop-Pop. I do.
These men, they were all sick way too young.
All right, I don't think that's a coincidence.
You know, I can't help thinking that something happened, you know.
Something in this town affected 'em. Maybe even hurt some of 'em.
Yeah. There's a story here. Yeah, I think you should dig into it.
Maybe it'll help Pop-Pop.
I will.
I can fix this.
I know I can.
Oh, wait. Wait, wait, wait.
What were you trying to say when you came in?
Yeah. So Donny and Spoon and I went back to the mansion,
took a dumbwaiter into the basement.
Then there was an airplane there, so we took the black box,
but somebody almost caught us and then I lost my backpack.
Wait, what?
*CREDITS*
I still can't believe you're here.
I mean, is it really you?
Quick, tell me something only the real Ethan would know.
I once showed you a cat video
that made you laugh so hard you couldn't breathe,
so then you started crying for 20 minutes straight.
Super embarrassing for you.
Well, is it weird to be back?
A little. It's mostly awesome though.
I mean, things aren't great with my mom and dad.
Yeah. I'm sorry.
It's okay. I'm just happy to be sitting here with you.
All right.
Well, just let me know if they recover anything from the recorder.
Yeah.
And thanks, Dad.
I appreciate it.
You know, for a cop, you really suck at tailing people.
I'm sorry.
And I'm sorry for losing my temper.
You jumped to the worst possible conclusion so quickly, Frank.
I would never cheat on you.
Yeah, but you'd leave Erie Harbor without talking to me about it.
I would've talked to you about it.
What would you have said?
For the right job? Yes.
Cool.
Look, if you have something to say...
- Frank, just tell me how you feel. - How I feel?
I feel like I wish I hadn't been carrying a ring around this entire time
waiting for the right time to propose to you.
What?
Frank.
Wait, don't...
Are you gonna drive off? Are you seriously gonna just...
How's your report going?
Can we give you access to anything else you may need?
Well, I'm nearly done with it, actually.
But I'm afraid you might not like some of the conclusions
that I'm gonna draw in it.
I do think we're making progress here.
I mean, it's slow going, but things move a little slower in small towns.
I think you did the right thing, firing those deputies.
Well, it seemed important to send a message.
Yeah, there is no place for racist behavior like that.
- Not even in small towns, as you say. - Mm-hmm.
But... the fact that it happened at all
speaks to a lack of respect for your leadership,
which is perhaps bigger than you. Bigger than all this.
- Well, racism, it's pretty big. - Don't take this the wrong way,
but maybe this town isn't ready for you.
Is something funny?
I'm sorry. I just... I thought we were gonna keep talking in coded language.
You're good at what you do. I was just trying to help.
What? Help me quit?
See, you haven't been here long enough...
to know I don't do that.
Mm-hmm.
There has to be a connection between these men.
Something that made them sick.
Did they all touch the photograph?
I'm just saying, maybe we should sanitize it just to be safe.
Each of us should pick three names.
Try to do a deep dive into their lives.
Try to figure out what the missing link is.
Did someone steal all your clothes or something?
What?
Sometimes I'm just not in the mood, okay?
- Hey, what's up? - Hey, I just started reading this,
like, yesterday and I'm already halfway done with it. It's so good.
Yay. You know, when you finish that
we should read Pride and Prejudice
together and do awful British accents.
"You must allow me to tell you how ardently I admire and love you."
What?
You know, Mr. Darcy.
Oh, is he, like, one of the new history teachers?
Okay. Bye.
Wait. Are you busy later?
I was wondering if maybe we could watch a movie or something.
It's all right.
'Kay.
Just trying to find out more about Pop-Pop and his friends,
but I feel like I'm just going in circles.
Dad, did you get anything new?
Uh-uh. Nope, nothing.
No, but I am still waiting to hear back from some people.
I feel like he's shaking more.
Me too.
I meant Walter.
Hey, girls. Can you tell Principal Collins that I got her message,
and I'm gonna run a quick errand? I'll come back and talk to her.
My God, Mom. It's called a text message.
Why don't you just text her yourself
so we don't have to walk all the way across Earth
and, like, talk to Principal Collins and walk all the way back across Earth?
I'm sorry if I enjoy real human connection.
Are you okay, Iz?
You're doing that thing you do when you're nervous.
What thing? Yeah, I'm fine.
Yeah, I swear I'm not nervous.
I feel like I'm gonna throw up.
Like, I thought Emma and I were, like, friends now,
but I feel like she's been acting weird lately.
I don't know. Do you think maybe she likes you?
I don't think so.
Okay, so you're not, like, getting a vibe off her or anything?
Well, how would I know if there was a vibe?
Okay, what did she say that made you think she was mad at you?
Nothing. She's just so hot and cold.
You know, like, one minute we're talking
and the next minute she ghosts me.
- So she is talking to you? - God, no.
You're focusing on all the wrong things here, Ethan.
It's not what she's saying, it's how she's saying it.
- Okay. - Don't patronize me.
I'm not. I'm just wondering if maybe...
If it's possible that you might just be imagining it?
Like, the worst-case scenario?
Because sometimes you do that.
- Hi. - Hey.
- See? - Sort of.
Come on, dude, look at this kid.
You're telling me this isn't the funniest thing you've seen this year?
Like, these earmuffs too, yo?
Nothing else I can say, bro. Get out.
Let's go.
- Girls' section. - Like his earrings.
You okay?
Never better.
If this were an interview, I'd say the source appeared to be lying.
Not everything is about The Magic Hour Chronicle
- or journalism or whatever. - Spoon, wait.
You know you can talk to me, right? Off the record.
Afternoon, comrades.
- I'll catch up with you guys later. - Dude, what?
Is it because I said comrades?
I think one of the older kids was being mean to Spoon.
I want a name and an address.
I'm gonna send a strongly-worded letter.
Found nothing on Bob or Theo, and only a few articles on Kenny.
It's like none of these guys were ever on the Internet.
Okay, so let's start small.
I've realized I barely know anything about my own Pop-Pop.
People are vast, Hilde. They contain multitudes.
Or at least that's what the documentary said.
Anyway...
Exactly. So let's start with him.
Sylvester Lisko. We need to search
through everything we can find on him.
And then maybe I'll find the missing piece in a place I wasn't expecting.
_
Read this. I think it might be a lead.
_
My Pop-Pop worked for Strata?
I wanted to find out what Pop-Pop
and his fishing buddies had in common
that could've made them sick, but I found a lot more.
- Yeah. - Yeah, we can see that.
Did you know Pop-Pop was a volunteer firefighter?
No. No, I did not. No, he never talked about that.
Did you know that he also managed the Erie Harbor softball team
for six straight seasons?
He played first base.
This is amazing, Matt.
Yeah. Yeah, wow. I know.
So much about him that I didn't...
I... You know... He didn't let anyone in on him.
So I was thinking we could bring him in here, show him all this,
and maybe see if he remembers anything
from when he worked at Strata.
I think that's the missing piece.
Yeah, Hilde, I...
Honey, this is wonderful.
It's a beautiful thing.
But you...
You know how Pop-Pop can sometimes seem frustrated and upset
when he can't remember things, right?
- Right. - Yeah.
Right, I mean, this is a beautiful tribute to his life, Scout.
Wow.
You know, I just think, you know, hitting him with it all at once,
that might not go the way you want it to.
But we have to try.
I'm trying to help him, and we're running out of time.
Okay, yeah, well, maybe we could show it to him
like it's a nice memory, right?
Yeah, yeah, but just not pressure him.
Yeah. Yeah, right.
You know, the thing is, we don't wanna give him a false sense of hope.
You know, in case it turns out that we can't help him.
Why are you guys getting in the way?
Why won't you help me?
- Honey. - Hilde, that's not what we're saying.
Hey.
You okay?
I just... I know I can solve this.
I know I can help him, but they just won't let me.
Hey.
You know, this, like, giant nerd once told me
that if I'm ever feeling scared, you know,
if she feels like she can't do anything...
do you know what she does?
I put my head down and work?
Yeah.
You love being a journalist because no one gave it to you.
So no one can take it away. Not even Mom and Dad.
You got this.
Hey, Hilde?
Hilde, can you come down here?
What are you doing here?
My dad's friend at the NTSB came through.
She took a look at the black box you sent me.
Now, the original magnetic tape in the flight recorder was damaged,
but their lab was able to recover a decent audio track from it.
That's great.
Isn't that great?
Yeah, Hilde, what you found...
that was Sam's dad's plane.
I listened to the recording. It's mostly static.
Nothing too scary. Some stuff I didn't understand.
But there's something on it that you all need to hear.
Look, we just wanna make sure that you're ready for this.
Okay, first of all, we don't know what's on there.
And second of all, you know, it could get pretty intense.
Sam's my friend.
And if there's something on there that can help him, then I wanna hear it.
Yeah, okay.
Hey, it's great that you wanna look out for your friend,
but it's our job to look out for you.
Right, right. It gets too much, that's it.
I'm pulling you outta there, right? No negotiating. That is the plan, okay?
'Kay.
And remember, right, the hardest stories to cover
are the ones you care most about.
All right?
All right, you got it. Come on.
Okay.
Everyone ready?
Descend to flight level 2500.
- Who's that? - Air traffic control.
Looking good, Hank.
Roger, tower. Descending 2-5.
Tower to Mohawk eight-niner, go again.
Confirm descend to flight level 2500, over.
Yeah, confirmed. Heading 090... Wait. Stand by.
There it is. There it is. That's gotta be it.
What is he talking about?
Stand by, tower. I'm turning around. I need to get a closer look.
Go again, Mohawk.
Here we go.
I can't believe it.
Richie was right.
Wait, what did he say?
- Did he just say Richie? - What...
- Yeah. - Wait, sorry...
Hank Gillis knew Richie? What?
I mean, a little. We were all friends with Sam,
but I have no idea why Hank would mention Richie like that.
Is it because he loved planes?
I mean, we all loved planes. We were kids.
Stand by, tower.
I'm getting my camera ready. I need to get photos of this.
Mohawk, pull up. You are too low.
Just hold on. I have to get this photo.
What was that?
Something's wrong. The engine's stalling.
- Matt, we should stop this. - Mom, I'm okay.
It's not going, Art.
The engine's starving for fuel. There's no way.
Mohawk, repeat.
Tell my kids... I love them.
Hey.
Hey, how you doing? You okay?
Yeah.
What do you think Sam's dad was looking for when his plane crashed?
Yeah, I mean, can we get location information from the black box?
Well, I mean, I can't.
Maybe someone more experienced could listen to the audio
along with a flight map and do a lot of math.
Yeah, but pilots need to file a flight plan...
Here we go.
And that could still be in the records at the airport.
There it is. There it is. That's gotta be it.
I'm getting my camera ready. I need to get photos of this.
He saw something. He wanted pictures.
"Richie was right"?
Richie must've told Sam's dad to look for something.
So what was he right about?
And why was Sam's dad even talking to him?
I mean, you guys were his best friends,
and you didn't know he was hanging out with some adult?
That's weird.
But you hang out with adults.
I have sources. It's different.
Source? I thought we were friends.
I don't know.
Yeah, well, there was a lot to take in back then.
You know, you didn't always notice that stuff when you were a kid.
Yeah, and he could be quiet.
You know, introverted sometimes.
Spoon gets like that sometimes.
But don't people just...
get like that sometimes?
I mean, maybe it was. Maybe it was a sign that something was up.
I don't know, like, Richie was always like that, right?
He was always like that even before everything happened.
Yeah, that was just Richie. Wasn't it?
If your friend hides something like that from you...
does that mean that they don't wanna be your friend?
No. No, no, no. Of course not. No.
But sometimes, you know, that just means...
- Sometimes it means... - It means they're scared.
And they don't wanna tell you something,
'cause they're afraid of what you'll say.
Right. Right, yeah. And it means you gotta help 'em.
You know, you gotta be there for 'em even more.
I'm gonna try to find that flight plan.
Yeah, I believe you will.
Hey.
Can I sit?
Sure. I mean, they don't take reservations here,
so it's first come, first served.
Are we good? You just seem kinda mad at me.
I'm not mad.
Okay.
I don't know, do you maybe not like Ethan or something?
'Cause you've just been acting weird around me and, like, not talking to me.
Like right now? Come on, as we're talking?
Well, no, but, like, I just...
I mean, like, I can't really tell if we're friends or not.
Dude, it's okay. All right, we're fine. We're friends.
Your boyfriend's looking for you.
You guys have to stop doing that.
You can talk to us. We're your friends.
You haven't been being yourself these days.
I just... I think it'd be better if I tone it down a bit.
Lately, I've been feeling that maybe if I just stay below the radar...
- But clothes are your thing. - It's fine.
I'm fine. Don't worry about it.
Can I borrow your phone for a sec?
Thanks.
Hello, Miss Witherspoon.
Could we swing by later, when Spoon's not there?
- I should've told you about the job. - No.
- No. I should've told you about the job. - No. No, let me...
No, I shouldn't have said that thing about the ring.
I am sorry. I didn't know how to tell you. It wasn't even real.
And then it just didn't seem worth fighting about.
Yeah, but then I made it a fight, so...
I got scared.
I don't want you to leave.
I don't think I'm going to.
It was too far. I didn't love the district.
- Really? - Mm-hmm.
Did you really buy a ring?
Okay.
You been carrying it around this whole time?
I thought that was just, like, a figure of speech or something.
You know I'm not good at hiding stuff. You would've found it in, like, a second.
Here, it's...
Oh, Frank. That's beautiful.
- Yeah. - Yeah.
Well, does it fit on even...
Do you still wanna marry me?
'Cause I really wanna marry you.
Frank Briggs, would you do me the honor...
No, no. Whoa, whoa, whoa. No, no.
No. Hey. Give me that.
It's my line.
Kim.
Kimberly.
- Will you... - Yes. Yes.
- Yes. - Did you just say yes?
All right, all right. Congratulations.
Oh, great, great, the whole peanut gallery.
It's my worst nightmare. Will you get back to work?
Aw, Frank.
You did it.
Why you guys dressed like that?
We missed you.
Well, unfortunately, everything you're wearing is tragically outdated.
But you're pulling it off.
Okay, guys. This is the place.
We've gotta find information about Sam's dad's plane.
Hi.
We're doing a school project about aerodynamics and, like, math.
Oh, that's not related to the project. That's just how we dress.
Could we take a look at your archives?
Be my guest.
- Hey, Frank. - Hey.
Yeah, what's going on? What's the exciting update?
Are we ready to take her out?
She is up and running again.
- Really? - Come on.
Damn. Wow, you're a genius.
Yeah.
Totally am. Your words.
What's going on?
Well, you just... you seem happy. You're never this happy.
Well, actually, I...
I asked Kim to marry me.
- What? - I don't know why, but she said yes.
Come on, man. That's huge.
Yeah, really. Congratulations, Frank. Really. Congrats.
- Wow, that's... - Yeah.
- We should make a toast, right? - Yeah.
Yeah, let's get some booze. I bet we got some back here.
Oh, you know what? The cabinet, our old stash.
Half of these aren't flight plans.
Gas receipts, maps.
Digitization, people. Get with the times.
At least they're organized by decade. Sort of.
- This is gonna take us all night. - Wait.
This one says October... 1987.
This one too.
Guys, this is it. This is Sam's dad's plane.
It's the wrong date.
The day of the crash was October 24th. This says September 28th.
It's gotta be in here somewhere.
That's weird.
- He made the same flight three times. - What do you mean?
It shows all his intended flight path in all of these.
My grandpa said you have to file it
so air traffic control knows who's in the sky at any given time.
On September 28th, October 5th and October 12th,
Hank Gillis made the same flight path up the Saratoga Mountains.
That must be where he crashed.
On the black box, he said he was taking pictures.
So he knew what he was looking for
because he'd already been there.
So what was he looking at?
The flight plan from the crash is missing.
There'll be another copy on the plane.
We've gotta get back in that basement.
We? I've got a stain on my clothes from the dumbwaiter...
And it's too dangerous with that strange guy walking around.
- And that hurts me, Hilde, deeply. - We still don't know who he is.
- Are you out of your mind? - Trip, just wait till you see it.
They're hiding a whole plane crash down in the basement.
Now what were you doing in the basement?
Wait, it's a party, all right?
There's no law that says a journalist can't investigate a public event.
Come on, Trip. Will you help us out?
Don't mind me. I'm just observing.
I do love the first name basis,
small town community thing going on here.
Look, we have reason to believe that
that is Hank Gillis's plane. Yeah.
Yeah, and if it is, well...
well, you know how serious that is.
Yes, that sounds like a great use of the sheriff's time.
I'm sure it's not a wild-goose chase. We should check it out.
Hilde, are you sure that's what you saw?
I'm sure.
Dad, it was right here. I...
This can't be the same room.
Dad, it's him. It's the guy.
I hear there's an emergency in our archive storage
that requires immediate police attention.
And you are...
Karl Kurz. I'm head of security for this property.
What did you do with the plane? It was right here.
We even got the black...
Sheriff, with all due respect,
I don't know what this young lady is talking about.
Is there anything you need to see? Anything I could show you?
No, sir, Mr. Kurz. I'm sorry to bother you.
When you're done, let's have a word outside.
Trip, wait. I...
No.
Enough. I'm done here.
Everybody says to stay away from you all, that you're trouble.
I'm the one dumb enough not to listen.
Yeah, let me talk to her, all right. I'll figure it out.
I know you have it.
- Have what? - My backpack.
Oh, hey.
Hey, what's going on?
You guys okay?
I'm gonna go check on Pop-Pop.
Right, good idea. Thanks, Scout.
What happened?
Yeah... No. No, no. Of course.
Ethan is welcome to stay here for the night if you need him to.
My mom and dad are hashing out custody.
Or they're getting back together again. I don't know.
All I know is that it's always, always a fight with them
and being in the same house with them right now is just...
Especially when you're trying to get caught up on schoolwork.
- Yeah, it's impossible. - I'm glad you came.
Hey.
So I told your mom you could stay here tonight.
In a separate room, of course.
Right.
Great. Yeah, yeah, you know, marriage, it's...
Well, it's really hard.
I'm sure your parents are doing the best they can.
Well, the best they can seems to
require a lot of yelling at each other, so...
Well, thank you for having me.
- Really. - Yeah.
Yeah, of course. Of course.
You know, just one night.
- Right. - Yeah, and you sleep down here.
Right.
Yeah, and those stairs, they're, you know, pretty creaky,
- so... - Dad.
You know what I'm saying, right?
- Right. Yeah. - Yeah. Right, you get it.
Yeah. Well, thank you, Mr. Lisko.
Are we going on vacation?
No, Pop-Pop.
Sam's dad flew his plane and I don't know where.
What did he go back to look at and take pictures of?
What did he see before the crash?
Hey, Scout.
I just... Yeah, I just wanted to see if you wanted to talk.
About what?
Well, you know, about what happened with Trip
and... what she said to you.
That.
Yeah. Yeah, that.
No, that was tough, huh?
No, I just wanna make sure you're okay.
I'm fine, I...
She's just a source.
I gotta focus on this now anyway.
Okay. I just, you know, I just wanted to see if you're...
The coordinates.
These are waypoints.
They're written in longitude and latitude,
and they show where the plane went on its flight. Here. Watch.
He took off from here. And then, what's the first coordinate?
48 degrees, 11 minutes
and 27.1 seconds north.
Okay. And what's the other one?
- 122 degrees... - All right.
37 minutes and 36.5 seconds west.
- Uh-huh. He took off from here... - Mm-hmm.
And he was traveling in this direction.
Okay.
- Mm-hmm. - Mm-hmm.
- Uh-huh. - And that's...
But...
That must've been the last place he went before turning back.
That must've been where he saw something.
The plane must be here.
But there's nothing there, Pop-Pop.
Wait. What's that?
Looks like an island.
That must've been where he was going.
Yeah, but what did he see?
I mean, what could possibly be out there?
That's what we gotta find out.
*CREDITS*