Drug Traffic
Story By: Mattie Do & Christopher Larsen
Written By: Christopher Larsen
On the U.S./Canada Border, officer Beau (Michael Rooker) of the Border Patrol sweeps up his workspace while watching a political advertisement on a nearby television. The advertisement features Congressman and presidential candidate Evan Miller (Reid Scott), who is touting about the fact that the US Government's healthcare system is outrageously flawed, and is not doing enough to establish an easy method for citizens to receive their medications. As Beau watches the ad, Miller's campaign bus pulls up outside the border. Miller exits and begins directing his crew to set up shop as a group of US citizens exit the bus, having been taken into Canada to obtain their medications as part of a publicity stunt. As Miller makes a speech about how the government is "broken" when it comes to the basic human right that is access to healthcare, one of the travelers, a sickly-looking teenager named Mai (Sarah Jon) stares ominously at Jonah, a young boy in the crowd, as her stomach growls. Her mother (Mai Delape) notices this, and gives Mai some of the pills she's carrying to take her mind off it.
Miller, his crew, and the citizens step inside the border building, hoping to be readmitted into the States. After instructing the citizens on how to perform the procedure for re-entry, Beau pulls Miller aside to engage in conversation. Having watched his ad, Beau tells Miller that he's aware that he doesn't really practice what he preaches, and rebukes him for quoting Marx to his face. Miller fires back that Beau must be some kind of backwoods manifesto-writing communist, which Beau happily admits to. He reveals that it was because of his communist beliefs that the Border Patrol reassigned him to the far north, only able to watch as technology steals his job. Upon noticing Mai's mother giving her daughter another dose of her medication, Beau asks her to step out of line and empty her purse. Mai suddenly vomits half-digested pills, further clarifying Beau's claims that she may be suffering from withdrawal. Beau then pulls Mai's mother out of line for an inspection of potential contraband. While rooting through her purse, Beau discovers that the mother has been carrying several boxes of foreign medications that are illegal in the United States, a far higher number than the maximum medication allowed. Miller has his cameraperson film the interrogation, analyzing ways that he can use the developing situation to make himself look good. The citizens are then escorted to a waiting room until any and all remaining matters are sorted out, with Beau escorting Mai's mother away from the room. Mai herself stares at a woman in front of her and nearly takes a huge bite out of her shoulder. Miller notices this and rescues the woman, who happens to be his wife, in the nick of time, offering to calm her by getting her some water. Mai weakly exits the waiting room and desperately searches the building for food. When she is unable to find any, she collapses and undergoes a horrific transformation.
Inside an interrogation room, Mai's mother is detained while her medications are sorted. Beau expresses sympathy for her situation, but he says that making trips to Canada for what he believes to be illegal narcotics is not the solution. He also points out that Miller and his cameraperson are (illegally) filming him, and he needs to avoid being caught not doing his job. As Mai's mother tells him that she needs to leave immediately, Miller enters and accuses Beau of holding the woman against her will. Beau and Miller engage in a lengthy argument about their different ideologies regarding the situation. Beau brings up the fact that Mai's mother is carrying numerous boxes of illegal drugs and is a supposed trafficker, and when it becomes apparent that Miller isn't listening to what he's saying and continues flaunting his ideals, Beau calls him out for not caring about the ramifications of the situation one bit, only wanting to film it to make himself look like a hero that everyone wants to vote for. Mai's mother attempts to interject, shouting at the pair and slamming the window, which ultimately forces Beau to handcuff her to the desk. While this is happening, Jonah, the boy Mai stared at earlier, hears a voice call out to him. When he approaches the lobby, Jonah discovers Mai's headless body on the floor. Mai herself rises from behind Beau's desk, revealing herself to be a levitating penanggalan (identified as a krasue on the episode's cover), proceeding to bare her teeth at Jonah and eat him. After doing so, Mai glides off to the waiting room, where she kills and devours Miller's bodyguard.
When screaming is suddenly heard, Mai's mother proceeds to grab Beau's gun and shoots at him. Gravely realizing what has happened, the mother desperately informs the duo that Mai needed her medication; it wasn't meant to keep her healthy, but to keep her penanggalan instincts and her appetite for human flesh suppressed. Beau and Miller again ignore her and make their way to the waiting room, where they discover the mutilated bodies of the citizens from Miller's bus. They discover Mai hiding behind a chair, and after failing to coax her out, she screeches at them and flees when they try to attack her. Beau returns to the interrogation room, where Mai's mother continues to shoot at him. She angrily reminds Beau everything that's happening is ultimately his (and Miller's) fault, and will only let him inside if he has the keys to his cuffs and Mai's discarded body. Miller finds the body, but rather than giving it to Mai's mother, he and Beau take turns hacking it with a fire ax in an attempt to stop Mai from crossing the border, mortally wounding her in the process. He also does this just as Mai enters the interrogation room, slowly dropping and dying in front of her agonized mother.
As the shock wears off, Beau shares a drink with Miller, who mentions that his campaign staff can possibly squeeze a few ounces of sympathy out of the incident. The two also wax philosophical about the fact that they ended up having to put their political and ideological differences aside to fight a common enemy, then hypocritically mentioning that if Mai simply had access to her medication, the entire ordeal would've never happened. While the duo celebrate their supposed victory, Mai's heartbroken mother notices a large shard of glass hanging from the broken window. She positions herself under the shard and slams the window to let it fall, severing her head from her body. As her mother gives her daughter one last dying smile, Mai proceeds to levitate once again and attaches herself to her mother's headless body. Mai quickly takes control of her mother's body, biting off the restrained hand to free herself. With her new body, Mai stumbles out of the building and heads towards Miller's campaign bus, hoping to drive it into the United States. The Creep eagerly opens the door for her, inviting her aboard.
An animated epilogue shows the Creep driving the bus back into the US, with Mai's penanggalan form clutched in his hand and being stuck out the window.
This episode contain examples of:
- Almighty Janitor: Despite being a member of the United States Border Patrol, Beau was "reassigned" to the distant North for his Communist beliefs and had his regular duties taken over by mechanical passport scanners, which has largely reduced him to maintenance and janitorial work. Despite this, he proves to have an intensive knowledge of Miller's true nature and correctly notes that Mai's mother is carrying several boxes of pills known to be illegal in the US. He also charges into the fray when Mai transforms, and is the one to learn that she can be killed via damaging her discarded body.
- Anti-Hero: Beau, a Border Patrol officer with Communist beliefs and a total disdain for the inherent corruption of the American government, works to stop Mai from crossing the border and eating US citizens.
- Anti-Villain: Evan Miller, a racist congressman running for President who makes empty promises and uses sick citizens to milk sympathy from voters, similarly works with Beau to stop Mai.
- Apologetic Attacker: Beau repeatedly apologizes to Mai as he hacks the girl's discarded body with a fire ax.
- Appetite Equals Health: Mai's appetite for human flesh is suppressed by her pills, which she is given frequently. Whether it's the lack of flesh or the large amount of pills she's been swallowing, she appears deathly ill before she transforms.
- Attack Its Weak Point: A penanggalan's weak point is their headless discarded body. Miller and Beau manage to put a stop to Mai's rampage by hacking her own body with a fire ax, but Mai cheats their attempts by taking control of her own mother's headless corpse.
- Attack of the Political Ad: The episode opens with a campaign ad where Miller advises how the government needs to do more to allow universal access to healthcare. Beau is able to tell that everything Miller says in this ad is a lie as he watches it, no doubt having seen countless other politicians' bullshit ads.
- Attention Whore: Miller uses every new development the situation throws at him make himself look like a hero.
- Beau spends a brief time as one himself, detaining Mai's mother mainly to shove his own political agenda down her throat.
- The Bad Guy Wins: Mai, who starts devouring people when she is denied her "special" medication and her instincts resurface, takes control of her mother's body and manages to reach Miller's bus, where the Creep invites her aboard. As seen in an animated epilogue, they succeed in crossing the border, and if she continues feeding in the USA, Miller's little incident at the border may very well pop up, spelling uncertain fates for him and Beau, especially since his cameraperson's camera was still rolling during the massacre.
- Bittersweet Ending: Mai's mother commits suicide and Miller is left unpunished for his racism and constant lying. In doing so, the devastated mother allows her daughter to have a second chance at life, which she uses to reach Miller's bus and escape to the USA.
- Bookends: Miller's bus arrives at the border in the beginning to be readmitted into the States. Mai and the Creep take the bus back into America at the end of the episode.
- Call-Back: While transformed, Mai makes the same sounds that the reanimated Bloom made from Mums.
- The Cameo: The Creep appears at the end, opening the door to Miller's bus for Mai. As seen in a brief animated epilogue, they cross the border together.
- Caught on Tape: Miller cracks a racist remark to Mai's mother during her interrogation, and his cameraperson films it illegally. Beau promptly tells the cameraperson to sell the tape to the highest bidder in an effort to tank the congressman's reputation.
- Child Eater: Mai's first victim is Jonah, a little boy who was on the same bus as her and her mother.
- Chummy Commies: Beau proudly admits that he's a "born and bred Red", mentioning that his crapping on the US government had him reassigned to the far north by his superiors in the Border Patrol. In being reassigned, he was replaced with automated passport scanners and was largely demoted to janitorial work. Despite this, he's actually a pretty decent guy, especially during his interrogation of Mai's mother, where he shares his legitimate grievances about how America's flawed healthcare system has failed her and her daughter as women and minorities.
- Compelling Voice: Mai gains one when she transforms, and she uses it to lure Jonah to the entrance so she can feed on him.
- Corrupt Politician: Evan Miller, who uses a large number of ailing citizens that he brings to Canada as props to milk sympathy from eager voters, has his cameraperson illegally film the behind-the-scenes actions at a border crossing, and doesn't actually want to change his racist mindset, or even make any real changes at all. The end has him basically admitting to Beau that he only wants to be President of the United States so he could avoid "working like a peasant".
- "Could Have Avoided This!" Plot: As Beau and Miller discuss, Mai's massacre could've been avoided entirely if she was allowed to take her medication. It's rather hypocritical considering they were the ones who kept Mai's mother from bringing her daughter said medication.
- The Cynic: Miller is revealed to be one at the end of the episode, merely doing what his political team tells him to, admitting that he doesn't want to fight battles neither political party wants to win, and only wanting to be President to avoid doing a regular job.
- Dirty Coward: When Mai goes on her killing spree, the first thing Miller does is make a break for it.
- Early-Bird Cameo: Mai and her mother are glimpsed in Miller's campaign ad, played a couple of minutes before they are formally introduced.
- Enemy Mine: After spending the episode feuding with one another over their political and ideological differences, Beau and Miller end up working together to stop Mai from crossing the border. They even lampshade it at the end of the story, while sharing a drink.
- Even Evil Has Standards: Miller becomes just as shocked as Beau once Mai's true nature overrides her humanity. Even before she turns, he saves a woman (later revealed to be his wife) from having a bite taken out of her shoulder, asking if she's okay and offering to get her some water.
- Flying Face: Mai is a penanggalan, which is primarily portrayed as a floating head with entrails dangling underneath it.
- Foreshadowing: Early in the episode, Mai glares at Jonah, the young boy she devours, during Miller's speech.
- Genre Savvy: Beau can apparently decipher Miller's true motives just by watching his campaign ad. Whenever he's not doing his job, he's arguing with Miller about how he knows full well that he's a sham.
- Give Him a Normal Life: Mai's mother only wants her daughter to have a normal life like any other kid her age, despite the fact that she transforms into a flesh-eating monster when she's denied food or her pills.
- Good Parents: A partially twisted version with Mai's mother, who sticks up for her daughter to the bitter end, not caring one bit that she's a flesh-eating monster and willing to murder government workers and even commit suicide just to allow her to live.
- Go Out with a Smile: Mai's mother, who dies while giving a last smile to her wounded daughter.
- Growling Gut: Before she transforms, Mai's stomach is heard fiercely growling, hinting that she is being denied her primary choice of food: human flesh.
- Healthcare Motivation: Mai's mother's reasoning for everything she does during the episode is to let her daughter live her life in spite of her "sickness."
- Heroic Sacrifice: A villainous example seen as justified from the victim's point of view. Mai's mother decapitates herself so her daughter can take over her headless body and use it to reach the United States.
- Honor Before Reason: Beau and Miller, just as the former is about to release Mai's mother, get into a huge argument about their stances on the poor woman's plight, keeping her locked up long enough for Mai to transform and go on a feeding frenzy.
- Horror Hunger: As a penanggalan, Mai feasts primarily on human flesh.
- Ignored Expert: Mai's mother knows exactly what will happen if she doesn't get back to her daughter immediately, but Beau and Miller keep her detained for the sake of their petty argument.
- I'm a Humanitarian: A penanggalan's primary source of food is human flesh, and denying them of such flesh renders them weak and sickly.
- I Need a Freaking Drink: After supposedly stopping Mai from reaching the States, Beau offers Miller a beer to help him lower his adrenaline.
- Interchangeable Asian Cultures: Miller asks Mai's mother to read one of the boxes of her medication, only for the mother to mention that the box is written in Chinese, which she can't read. This prompts the racist Miller, who apparently thought all Asians can speak the same languages, to ask her "What the hell kind of Asian are you?"
- It's All About Me: Miller is an absolute attention whore who uses any curve balls thrown at him by the developing situation to make himself look like a man people want to vote for.
- Jerkass: Miller, the crooked politician who uses Mai's rampage as a means to make himself look like a hero.
- Just Doing My Job: In spite of his genuine concern for Mai's mother and her "sick" daughter, Beau still has to detain and cuff her because he has a job to do, especially since Miller is (illegally) filming him.
- Karma Houdini: Mai gets off scott free for murdering and eating multiple people, including a child, ending the episode by escaping into the US.
- As well as Mai escaping, Miller also isn't punished for anything he does in the episode, especially for his lifetime of false promises and his actions inadvertently causing Mai to transform in the first place.
- Laborious Laziness: At the end of the episode, Miller basically admits to Beau that he wants to be President only to avoid doing a regular job.
- Life-or-Limb Decision: When she gains control of her mother's body, Mai bites off her cuffed hand to free herself.
- Mama Bear: Mai's mother turns violent when she learns her daughter has transformed, swiping Beau's gun and firing at him while rebuking him and Miller for denying Mai her medicine.
- The Men in Black: One of them serves as Miller's personal bodyguard. He becomes Mai's second victim.
- My Instincts Are Showing: Mai's medication isn't meant to stop her from getting sick. It's to keep her penanggalan instincts suppressed. Without it, she transforms and goes on a bloody rampage, devouring the flesh of everyone she can find.
- Mythology Gag:
- Beau's work station contains a mini-fridge stocked full of cans of "Chief Wood'nhead Ale". As a bonus, they are revealed to be manufactured by Lunkhead Breweries.
- The ashtray can be seen behind the counter in the entrance, situated on Beau's desk.
- Never My Fault: Beau and Miller agree that if Mai was simply allowed to take her medication, the entire tragedy could've been avoided, completely ignoring the fact that it was they themselves who prevented her from receiving said medication.
- No Name Given: Mai's mother doesn't have any given name.
- "Not So Different" Remark: After working together to stop Mai, Beau and Miller have a lengthy discussion on the fact that they turned out to have so much more in common with one another than they thought.
- Off with His Head!: As a penanggalan, Mai's head and entrails are capable of detaching themselves from her body and levitating on their own accord. Mai's mother later decapitates herself to give her daughter a second chance at life, allowing Mai to attach herself to the headless body.
- Our Vampires Are Different: As a penanggalan, Mai is depicted as a levitating head with entrails dangling from the neck that feeds on human flesh. It is also revealed that a penanggalan can only be wounded or killed if their discarded body is attacked. If another headless body is in the creature's vicinity, they can attach themselves to it and take control of it to survive.
- Parents in Distress: Mai's poor mother gets put through Hell and back to make sure that her daughter gets access to the US so she can live her life. She ends up making the ultimate sacrifice for Mai in the end.
- Phlebotinum Pills: Mai's pills. It's never revealed what the ingredients are, but as long as Mai keeps swallowing them, they somehow keep her from transforming.
- The Quiet One: Mai has very little dialogue in the episode, only emitting groans and screams during her transformation, and then whispering when she transforms to lure Jonah into her jaws.
- Riddle for the Ages: Why is Mai a penanggalan? Was she always one, or was she transformed into one through some kind of dark magic? The circumstances for why she's a monster are left vague.
- Shout-Out: Evan Miller likely shares the same last name as Dick Miller, who made appearances in several horror movies throughout the 20th century, including Piranha, The Howling, Gremlins, and Night of the Creeps.
- Sinister Silhouettes: Mai's shadow is seen through the windows of the waiting room as she glides over to it.
- Skewed Priorities: Beau and Miller spend nearly all of their shared time on camera bitching at one another for their different approaches to Mai's mother's detainment, preventing her from giving Mai her pills and causing her to transform and go on her rampage. It's alleviated by the fact that neither of them were aware of the potential ramifications.
- Slave to PR: Miller outright admits to being one of these in the ending, since he only wants to be President so he doesn't have to do a regular job.
- Straw Character: Subverted. Congressman Miller claims to be a far-left politician who is relying on healthcare reform to get elected. It's revealed in the end to be a façade he puts on for the cameras, and he's actually a Lazy Bum who doesn't give a shit about anyone and anything (including his own wife, who Mai kills) besides getting himself elected just so he can avoid working a regular job.
- Take That!: To the United States government's faulty healthcare system, the nuances of Border Patrol detainment, and the inherent corruption of candidates for office.
- Too Desperate to Be Picky: When she is deprived of her pills, Mai futilely tries to search the building for food to snack on, only to fail and transform behind Beau's desk.
- Tragic Monster: Mai only transforms and goes on a killing spree when she is denied her appetite-suppressant pills. Before she transforms, she's depicted as a deathly ill teenage girl.
- Transformation Discretion Shot: Mai's transformation is censored thanks to her being behind Beau's desk.
- Villain Protagonist: Miller, the racist and crooked politician who only cares about making himself look good to gain the presidency, which he only wants so he doesn't have to get a real job.
- Vomit Indiscretion Shot: Mai vomits her medication in full view of Beau, giving him the suspicion that the girl is suffering from withdrawal and her mother is a trafficker.
- Well-Intentioned Extremist: Mai's mother starves her daughter of her regular "food source" and shoves unknown, foreign medication down her throat, making her gravely sick. But at the same time, she does this so her daughter's true nature isn't revealed and so she can just live a normal life.
- When Mai transforms, she swipes Beau's pistol and fires at him, rightly blaming him and Miller for depriving her daughter of her medicine and only easing up on the offense if her daughter's body is brought to her.
- Would Hurt a Child: The first victim Mai devours is Jonah, a young boy she meets early in the episode.
