After a botched heist, hearing-impaired safecracker Glynn Fennel is unable to prove his worth and pay off a debt owed to crime boss Malcolm Lawson. Believing that he is still useful, Malcom's exotic wife Kate convinces him to spare Glynn's life. Departing for a business trip, Malcolm vows to kill Glynn if the debt is still unpaid when he returns. Before leaving, Glynn's partner Henry flaunts his eyes to Kate, thanking her for the "gift".
Five days later, Kate surprises Glynn with feline eyes and mannerisms courtesy of a surgical operation. She hatches a plan for Glynn to crack open Malcom's safe, share the money with her, and pay off the debt. To do so, she arranges for her surgeon to cure Glynn's hearing impediment. Henry mysteriously vanishes. Unbeknownst to Glynn, Malcolm — carrying a shovel in his mansion's front yard — spies on the two as they flirt and have sex.
The surgeon explains that he transplants animal tissues and organs into human beings, thereby improving their health. However, he notes that the procedures have some "bugs". Glynn, upon learning that he will receive an owl's auditory system, faints; the surgeon takes advantage of this to perform the operation. When Glynn comes to, he discovers that his hearing is greatly enhanced.
With his newfound abilities, Glynn cracks Malcolm's safe with ease. However, he refuses to settle for less, shoots Kate, and makes off with all the money. He is confronted by Malcolm, while Kate — having inherited the nine lives of a cat — rises from the dead. The side effects of Glynn's operation go into effect; he begins displaying mannerisms of an owl, culminating in his jaw cracking open and revealing a beak.
Glynn is restrained to a billiards table. The Lawsons reveal that they desire animal traits to improve their work. However, to avoid the side effects of the transplants, they have used Glynn and Henry as hosts to develop the organs, with the surgeon later harvesting them for the crime family; Henry was killed so that Kate could receive her cat eyes. Kate bids Glynn farewell before leaving with Malcolm. Donning a visor, the surgeon laughs maniacally as he kills Glynn with a plaster saw.
Tropes:
- Animal Eyes: Kate's eyes are that of a feline, given to her by means of surgical operation. They're actually Henry's—he was used as a host to develop the eyes, before the surgeon harvested them for Kate to acquire.
- Body Horror: Glynn's jaw cracking open to expose an owl's beak. Perhaps one of the more graphic examples in the show.
- Bookends: In the beginning of the episode, Glynn is strapped to a billiards table while Malcolm contemplates sparing his life or killing him. The final scene has Glynn in a similar predicament, except that he's about to be harvested of the animal traits he's acquired.
- Call-Back: Surprisingly enough, this isn't the first time someone on this show has gotten nine lives after a surgery involving a cat.
- Cats Have Nine Lives: Kate's ability to rise from the dead after Glynn shoots her, given that the surgeon gave her feline abilities through operation. Maybe he found Dr. Manfred's old notes...
- Evil Laugh: The surgeon does one as he kills Glynn.
- The Gambler: Glynn. His greed and insistence to obtain "the big score" lead him to his demise.
- Gory Discretion Shot: As Glynn gets a plaster saw to the head, the camera cuts to the surgeon's cackling face as blood splatters on his visor.
- Killed Offscreen: Henry. He wound up being the host for Kate's Animal Eyes, and once they were fully developed, he "lost his head" so that she could receive them.
- Mad Doctor: The surgeon uses people as hosts to develop animal traits, then harvests them for the Lawsons to use.
- Off with His Head!: Henry's off-screen demise at the hands of the surgeon, according to Kate in the ending. It's also implied to be Glynn's fate as well.
- Strapped to an Operating Table: In the ending, a billiards table is used as a makeshift operating-table for Glynn to be harvested of his animal organs.
