TV Channel 50 FoxFamily, Fri, March 10, 2000, "Hope Falls."
Written by John Mandel (Unedited), Directed By Michael Robison.

Welcome to Horizon. I'm Claire Fletcher. We're looking for a mister, um... Scarbrow, or mr. Markasian. Mr. Scarbrow's in new york. Mr. Markasian's in the lodge, just down that path. Thank you. Now, please, be nice for the man. Yeah, we wouldn't want him to think we have a problem.

Hi, welcome to horizon, I'm frank markasian. I'm laura lipenowski. We spoke on the phone. Ah, yes.

Excuse me!

Yes, we did. Um, this is my daughter, daisy. Daisy. Bite me. Dais'! You too. I begged her not to dress this way but it's -- it's her thing.

Excuse me. When will we be admitted? I'll be right with you. Is this gonna take all day? We will have someone with you very shortly. I should hope so.

We'll talk inside later. Why don't you go in and -- and just relax a moment, okay?

Hannah! Hannah! Peter's still in new york, jeff is sick, and I've got four admits, so you're on deck. You've got to help me. You have got two admits -- the first one is isaac wilton, and the other is -- is daisy lipenowski. Louise will do the search and medical and we'll send her around after, okay?

Ah, mr. Wilton. Let me introduce you to hannah bauer. She's one of our counselors. And Isaac's gonna be in her group so she'll be handling the admittance.

Welcome to horizon. Bob wilton. This is my wife, linda. Hi. And this is isaac. Hello, isaac. Okay. Let's see what we've got.

Isaac? So, you've been in therapy with Dr. Miller for the past six months. How's that been going? Okay, you don't feel like talking right now. That's all right. Maybe you're angry about being brought here, a little bit scared? In other words, isaac, you're normal.

Your records discuss a recreational drug use. Now, that is neither a phrase nor an activity we recognize here.


There's no drugs, no sex, no inappropriate touching... No violence. You're safe here, isaac. Your body's safe. Your mind is safe. There's no bull here, isaac. You feel what you feel. Do you understand that? Well, whenever you feel like talking, whatever you say to me or any other counselor stays between us. You understand that? I promise you that. See, everyone's here to help you, isaac. The rules help us help you -- learn them and you'll do fine. Got it? Okay, I'm going to take you over to the cliffhangers' lodge now, get you settled in. You'll have your physical. Who knows, maybe we'll even talk.

[Daisy is de-Gothed] Daisy lipenowski? It's Daisy Graves, thank you.

Hello. You must be shelby. I must be. Where's joey? Oh, uh, he, he couldn't make it. He, he said for me to come. I'm Leo. Leo. Hey, Leo. Uh, joey, joey said that you may, uh, may be interested in a carton of butts. Thank you, Leo. Joey also said that -- that , uh, I should ask for some I.D. You know, 'cause you got to be 21. What else did joey say? Nothing.

Well, Daisy, that just about covers it. I'm going to have one of our cliffhangers, Shelby, get you settled in. Do you have any questions? Nope. Uh, daisy, would you mind putting the tarot cards aside for a second, please? Are you sure? I think there's something you should know. Thanks, but no.

Daisy, you do understand why you're here, right? Certainly -- do you? I mean really? Tell me. I'm a child of alcoholic parents, my mother has lost all maternal instincts and my father, disenchanted with life, is verbally abusive. I'm here because i've become a nuisance to their addiction. Do you know why else you're here? When my father finally threatened physical abuse, i used one of his golf clubs to set him straight -- a seven iron. Perfect balance of weight and speed. Daisy, you do understand that trying to injure your father was the wrong way to deal? I wanted to off him, and the only reason I didn't... was I didn't think I could cry for the police.

What up, freak man? Whoa, new dude in bed six. Augusto Ciceros -- I'll be your counselor. Do everything I say. Left me hangin'. Catch that?

He hasn't said a word in two hours, hannah made me his first-day buddy. I'm gonna let that slide. You know why? Why? 'Cause I'm feeling good. You know why? Why? You ever just feel good for no reason? No. You see, that's your problem. Thanks.

Yo, number six, nice hair. Check his hair out, freak man. Better enjoy it tonight, 'cause it'll all be gone tomorrow.

I love watching a man chop wood. Really? Actually, I mean i love watching you chop wood. You know, you get caught with that and you'll be the next one chopping wood. You smoke, right? I got a hundred ninety-eight more where that came from. Yeah, I heard about that. Don't worry, it's not like he meant anything to me. I wasn't worried, and I quit.

Hey, let me give you a heads-up on something. Everything in life is give and take. I learned that on the streets. You give as little as you can and you take as much as you can. I learned that. That's reality. Not mine. You don't have a reality. You have Juliette. Football captain takes the prom queen. That's fantasy-land. At least she's not a skank. One thing I'd like you to remember, I'm a human being, so speak to me like one.

Oh... Speaking of reality, do you know juliette's crushing on auggie? I saw them kissing. Peaches and cream with salsa on top. Your reality sucks, doesn't it? Just remember who didn't play games with you.

You know, I got this new student in my group today. He totally clammed up on me. Wouldn't say a word. He'll come around. To the old hannah magic. ( Door opening ) Well, look who's here. The pharaoh of finance. The guru of greenbacks. How about a welcome home. Welcome home. Did you get the money? Working on it. Ahhhh, Things didn't go so well with your dad, huh? Well, actually, something happened. I'm not quite sure what, but I think we took a step. I'm glad. So, chloe's well? Yeah.

And how's hannah bauer-barnes doing? Uhhh, Just hannah bauer, now. I hired a lawyer. You gonna ask Jerry for the divorce, huh? You -- you knew that? Yeah. So, chloe's well? I think i already avoided that subject.

Hey, isn't today your birthday, huh? Yeah, yeah, it is. I should have baked a cake. Oh, that will be the day. You baking a cake? You wait and see, birthday girl. Annie, finest bottled water for the house, on me. Kids. Well, meanwhile, how about a birthday dance? What? ( Giggling ) ( music dying ) Jukebox is broken. Uh, you know, I, uh, I should probably get back to the ranch. Yeah. See ya. I'll see ya.

Isaac? Isaac, it's past 11 p.m. You're in violation. Look, I know it's your first day, but one thing you need to understand, we have rules here. That's how we operate. I couldn't sleep. Oh, now you can talk, huh? Well, I'm glad, Isaac, but now's not the time. Now's the time for bed -- that's the rule. Now, why don't you get on back and be glad I don't report this.

We can talk all you want tomorrow.

( Police radios squawking )




I don't know what happened. I don't even know the kid. I'm sorry, guys, but these questions need to be asked. What did you talk about? Anything? Just that -- that I was feeling good. Was he feeling good too? He didn't say nothing. That's it. So I left him alone. Next time I saw him he was dead. Want to talk about that? I've seen dead guys before. Worse than that too. No, I don't want to talk about nothin'

Scott? How are you doing? Don't blame me, I never even talked to him. It's not about blaming anyone, guys. ( Knocking ) They want you next. Urinalysis. Uri what? Your trust in us is truly overwhelming.

As you're all aware, a boy died here last night. He was 16 years old. His name was Isaac Wilton, and except for a few of you, no one had a chance to get to know him. ( Daisy ) how? How what, daisy? How did he do it? Clean or messy? Ew! Barbiturates. He overdosed on barbiturates. The other questions we can ask are why does someone so young take their life? And what can you do if you're having similar feelings? Any thoughts on that? Anybody?

Look, he -- he was just a new kid. I mean you said it -- none of us knew him. Up until a few days ago, Scott, you were the new kid, remember? It could have been an accident too, you know? It depends what type of barbs he was doing. Happens all the time. Some newbie tries to get high and puts the lights out by mistake.

The kid's a butt wipe. Sorry, auggie, what? I said he's a butt wipe. Why's that? Well, if he wanted to kill himself, he should have just done it at home. You know, instead he comes in with this bad attitude and offs himself in our dorm. All right. Now we got to live there. Now I don't know about you guys, but that creeps me out.

And now...Now we're supposed to have all these feelings. It sucks.

How'd he get away with it anyhow? I mean, aren't you guys supposed to deal with this stuff before? Sometimes it doesn't matter how hard you try or how much you care. Sometimes it's just not enough. Sometimes you just lose one.

Frank, you okay? I want those cliffhanger boys suited up and ready to go by sunrise. I'm taking them out. Taking them out? Yes!

( Peter ) I've had better group sessions. How about you? Suppose I have. It's natural, Hannah. They're in denial. The anger, the humor -- it's all par for the course. In a way it's kind of a blessing that isaac wasn't with us longer. Peter. I just mean it would have been harder on the kids, that's all.

Peter, I was there. I heard the same thing you did tonight. You know, the fact is great damage has been done here. We allowed harm to come to one of our kids, Peter and that affects the trust of every kid here. Yes, yes. It'll take time. To think I gave isaac the speech, the "you are safe here" speech. It's true, hannah. He was safe here. Well, you know, the facts seem to contradict that, don't they? Wait, he snuck the drugs in, right? You did the intake by the book, right? You searched everything -- the toothpaste. I was wondering how long it would take someone to ask me that. Come on, hannah. I checked the toothpaste, peter. I felt it. I didn't feel anything. Obviously i missed it. We all know that If a kid really wants to bring -- drugs in, he gets them in -- I know. Tell that to Isaac's parents.

I assume there are going to be lawyers? ( Chuckling ) There'll be lawyers on both sides. Don't worry, I think we're on pretty solid ground here. Well, I'm going to make it a little bit easier on them. How's that? I'm resigning, Peter.

Man, this bites. Every time something happens they take us out for a hike. Yeah, but it's frank. I mean, can't go too far, right? This should be easy. Not for frank. I don't want you guys making it any harder on him, understood, huh?

Hey, Peter. What? Uh, is Hannah really leaving? We're working through it. Come on. Let's get going. Let's move, muchacho. Hey, man, watch it. You watch it. Hey, ah-ah-ah-ah! Over, now. This is what I'm talking about. Get going. Go -- you too, go on.

The boys ready? Yep -- you mind telling me where you're taking them? Hope falls. Hope falls? Yeah, why? You sure you can handle this, frank? I handled it once before, didn't I?

( Daisy ) A popular belief these days is that death is just a portal to the next stage, that somehow this life is just a pit-stop on a longer journey. Well, that's bull. This is it, and death is the end. Blackness, nothingness, no consciousness. This idea that you'll get to see who comes to your funeral is pathetic. You're dead, bud. The joke's on you. You are nothin' but worm food. Dying sucks and you're an idiot if you think it's better than one more sunrise, one more chance to laugh. Just kidding. Fake out.

I still like what you said. Really? Wasn't there someone he could talk to? Someone just to say don't do it? When you're that far down you don't think there's anybody else in the world. You guys have never seen a dead person? You only got to see one person that used to be alive. Now they're, like, totally still. You can't even believe how still. Look, can we just stop talking about it? Stop talking about what? Whatever.

Darn. What? No matches. Let me get this straight. You negotiated an entire carton of cigarettes, and only one pack of matches?

Dark forces are upon us. I don't suppose you'd be interested in a hundred and sevent-four cigarettes? As you can see, I'm not a smoker. Additionally, I begged the girls here not to do it.

Number one, you're all on report. Meet me in my office in two hours. And number two, I want all a hundred and seventy-four of these coffin nails on my desk. Got it, ladies? No number three? You know, actually, number three -- how about you all do your detention in the kitchen with me?

Sorry I'm late. Hannah, thanks for coming. Everyone, this is hannah bauer, our senior counselor here. We've just been going over some of the details of the situation with Isaac. I admitted him. I checked his belongings, including the toothpaste tube, and I, uh, obviously failed to find the drugs. Ms. Bauer, there's going to be plenty of time for deposition. You needn't go into any details. Those are the details.

Ms. Bauer is clearly willing to accept responsibility. Neither Horizon nor Ms. Bauer has any liability here. Well, that's not the way we see it. Well, then, I would direct your attention once again to the standard Horizon contract, which clearly defines the limitations of our liability. A limitation by no means supported by statute law. Ms. Bauer simply had an obligation pursuant to school policy, but not a legal obligation to prevent the use of drugs coming into --

I just want to say this, Ms. Bauer, that when I'm done with you, you won't be allowed near any human being, let alone an innocent child. We brought you a perfectly healthy young boy and you sent him back to us in a box! Hey, that's enough. You're out of line. You have no idea what I'm prepared to do.

Man, he's dying out here. Look at him. What's so all-important? Hey, frank, are we here? Why do you think we brought the raft? What's that for? Missing man. What? The "missing man" formation. Isaac again. Well, That little pile's caused us nothing but trouble. Come on.

All right, we're here today to bake a cake -- a birthday cake. Well, come on. Peter, you know us. You've read our records, our psych-evals, our rap sheets. Where in any of that was there anything that'd possibly make you think that we knew how to bake a cake? Uh, I don't know -- you guys are girls. We're not girls, man. We're profoundly dysfunctional adolescents. Great.

So, whose birthday? Hannah's. You think a cake is gonna make her stay? Frankly, I'm running out of ideas fast, so it couldn't hurt, you know. All right. I'm in for hannah. Mmm, whatever. Mmm Excellent. What do we need? Um, flour. Flour -- very good, Daisy. Flour, what else? Sugar. Sugar. Ah, sugar. Told you, we can do this. We can.

( Ezra ) Check this. How many Isaacs does it take to screw in a light bulb? How many? "Oh, man, I just can't deal with light bulbs. I want to kill myself." I wonder why he didn't leave a note. Yeah, really. I'd leave a note. You'd leave a book. Hey, What would you say? I'd say, "dear mom and dad, "remember me? Too late! "Sincerely, Ezra. That's e-z-r-a, in case you forgot." How about you? Uh, let's see. "Dear world, "take a leap, everyone. "You don't like me, I don't like you. Yours truly, Augusto." Auggie, man, quit slacking. How about you, scott? I wouldn't even leave one. You know, let them all guess.

There's no window. How are we supposed to know what's going on in there? All we can do is wait. (Timer ringing) Ahhhhh! Oh, dear lord. It's hideous. We must kill it. No, no, it's not a monster. It's our cake. It's our baby. All she needs is a little frosting.

Hey. Hey. Busy? Nope. At that meeting today... I'm sorry. Had to be done, peter. Don't worry about it. You can't leave, Han'. Don't, Peter. You don't realize how much you mean to this school. I'm burnt out, Peter, getting sloppy. You know, there are days when I think if i have to deal with another student's problems I'll scream. I struggle just to wake up every day and do it. That's because you just don't know how to take care of yourself. You know, it's funny. Sitting in that room, listening to those lawyers call me ms. Bauer instead of bauer-barnes, I realized just how much i'd gotten used to being Hannah Bauer-Barnes. Takes some getting used to I guess. Yeah.

You know, Peter, sometimes I think all I really want is to just go some place safe, some place risk-free, you know, be the one taken care of instead of always being the care-giver. It's not you, Hannah. How do you know that? I know that you had no way of knowing what was gonna happen. Isaac's records said nothing about suicidal tendencies, and you missed his stash. All right, that happened. It's not that. Well, then, what? I don't know.

What's that sound? It's where we're headed. It's about a half mile up this trail. Man, this is killing me. Don't be a wuss. What? Shut up. What'd you say? Come on. Hey, you go near juliette again and I'll kill you! I didn't touch her! All right, enough! Back off, E'! ( Frank ) stop it! Hey! Stop it! Frank! Frank, you okay? Ah, I'm fine, I'm fine, I'm fine.

Hey, what's your problem, man? You kissed her. Yeah, I kissed her. Now what? Why? Because she did something nice for me, all right? She helped me, so I kissed her. Just because I didn't know what else to say, all right? All right. You touch her again -- Okay. -- and you're dead, all right, your'd dead. And you're dead. ( Auggie ) You can step off, all right? Just step off. All right, it's done. Let's go.

( Waterfall rumbling ) whoa, man. Hope falls. This was his favorite place. Who? Tom... My son, Tom. I didn't know you had a son. Oh, yeah. Where is he? Around here somewhere. He died of a drug overdose 20 years ago. We buried him here. ( Auggie ) Here? where here? Here -- right here. Sorry, Frank, I didn't know. Don't worry about it. You didn't know him. I didn't know him either. I thought I did, but, I mean, he was my boy. I figured whatever it was it would blow over. Well, it didn't, obviously. Well, maybe it was an accident. Yeah, I hung onto that one for a long time -- an accident. I don't know, Ezra. Are drugs ever an accident? That extra life preserver in the raft... The missing man... That was Tom. Sure -- Tom, Isaac, you, me... Take your pick. Can you imagine somehow having no hope left in a world as beautiful as this?

As a dear friend of mine said only recently, sometimes, no matter how hard you try, you just lose one. See... I lost my only one. That's why I started drinking. One night I went for a drive. Woke up two days later in the hospital. That's what happened to your legs, huh? Yes. After that, I sold everything I have in this world and founded Horizon. I didn't ever want to lose another child again.

We better get back. That's it? That's it. Long way for nothin'. You know the hardest part? Not being able to say goodbye. I still can't remember the last thing I said to him. Come on, let's go.

Mejor tu que yo, mano. Mejor tu que yo

You can't let one tragedy make you lose hope, Hannah. You can't give up. I'm not giving up. I'm just facing facts. No, you're not. You're giving up just like isaac did. Now, don't do it. Tough love, huh? Not tough.

Ms. Bauer. I want to apologize for my husband. He's a very proud man, and, well, Isaac was an embarrassment to him. No, I think maybe he loved him too much, expected too much. I'm sure he did. I'm sorry. That's why he did what he did.

The fact is Isaac had a history of trying to kill himself. He tried twice at home, and both times bob refused to call an ambulance. He didn't want the neighbors to see his son that way. Isaac barely made it. But isaac's records didn't... The doctors -- Bob had it fixed. No, he meant well. You have to believe that. The doctor wanted to send Isaac to a psychiatric hospital. Bob wanted him to come here, even if that meant that he had to cover up his suicide attempts. At least Bob was finally willing to do something. Mrs. Wilton, I -- I don't know what to say. I am so sorry that this all fell on you. Because, in the end, it is my fault. I never talked to Isaac. I never knew how, I guess. I always thought there'd be tomorrow.

[flashback] We can talk all you want tomorrow... tomorrow. [end if flashback]

I am so sorry. Thank you.

Hi. Hi. Guess what? Um, what changed your mind? I don't know yet, but I know it's right. I'm glad. I know you are.

There's something I need to do. I don't want to do it, but... What? Come here. Wait right here. All right, now, this is taken from an old family recipe that we just made up and... ( Imitating drum roll ) what do you think? Uh, gee, thanks. The cliffhanger girls and I made it. Yeah? It's the thought that counts. You know, why don't we, um, just cover it back up, and we'll keep it fresh. Sure. Uh, thanks.

Anyway, I guess i should, um, start getting settled back in. Hannah, truth is my father's as poor as a church mouse and my credit's shot. So Chloe offered me a financing package so I can buy the school and I don't see any other way. Well... You better call her then.

Mrs. -- Wilton. Yeah. I just, uh, wanted to tell you -- sorry about Isaac.

Goodbye.

[fade to black]

Home