The Listener Episode 1.05 Lisa Says

It's a full moon, and the city streets are teeming with strange brew. In the driver's seat, Oz is busy writing rap lyrics. Having just saved the life of rap star Young Thunda, Oz has big plans to slip him a demo and become a rap star himself. Toby receives a psychic distress beacon, flashing on a bunch of street kids beating up a smaller kid in a fountain. Thinking the kid is near drowning, Toby urges Oz to pull over so he can break up the fight.

Sarcastic and full of raging hormones, teen Daniel isn't grateful for Toby's help, refusing to go to the hospital. When he falls over and passes out, he has no choice. At the hospital, Daniel is edgy and paying too much attention to a cart full of drugs. He lost his parents' phone number, has unusual bruises on his arms, and the kids beating him up were friends, just fooling around. Toby makes a little headway, recounting a story from his own youth spent in foster homes, but when he turns for an instant, Daniel is gone.

Outside, Toby runs into Charlie, and asks her if she's seen Daniel. When he can't come up with much of a description, Charlie snorts sarcastically and moves on. The next day, Oz's plans to make a splash with his rap demo continue on the job. He's enlisted his kid brother to make the recording, and pleads with Toby to accompany him to Young Thunda's party. Toby is deep in thought, obsessing over Daniel's whereabouts. Oz thinks Daniel wants to be left alone, but Toby insists: Daniel may not want his help, but he needs it.

When Toby spies a group of street kids standing outside the Baldwin Street Mission, he asks Oz to pull over. The kids disperse as he approaches the door. Mission matron Ellen explains that kids don't trust uniforms, and her thoughts reflect that she doesn't either. Asking if she's seen Daniel, Toby explains what happened last night, then hands over Charlie's card, in case Daniel wants to file a police report. Ellen advises Toby to lose the uniform, and check out the area around College and Bathurst.

Dressed in street clothes, Toby has no luck, until he flashes on a kid with band buttons all over his jacket, whom he remembers from the fight. Toby follows Baggy into an alley where Daniel is waiting. Threatening Daniel that if he screws up again, Ramone will be mad; Baggy leads Daniel to their shared squat, littered with empty prescription bottles. Toby follows them inside, asking to talk to Daniel. When Baggy gets aggressive, Toby points out assault on a minor will send him to jail, then pulls Daniel into the alley to talk.

Daniel refuses Toby's offer of medical care or a link into the foster care system. He can take care of himself. When Toby asks how, he flashes: Ramone threatens Daniel to do it, or he's dead. Toby asks what Daniel's running from and has another flash. Daniel punches a blond girl to the ground, ransacks her purse and burns her ID. So, who's Lisa Grayson? Daniel runs out, smack into Baggy, who threatens that it's high time they paid Ramone a visit.

Toby runs into Charlie at the hospital, and informs him that he found Daniel, who seems to be in trouble, boosting for a guy named Ramone. Charlie wonders if it's Ramone Vasquez, who has a long rap sheet. Last year the cops were watching him big time, but lately things have quieted down. Toby thinks Daniel may be involved in drugstore robberies, in over his head. Charlie offers to talk to him, but Toby insists he talk to Daniel first.

Toby returns to the squat, but Baggy covers for Daniel. At the mission, Ellen admits she checked Toby out; Charlie said he's a freak, but a freak that can be trusted. Toby asks about Lisa Grayson. Ellen had a soft spot for Lisa, and did something she ordinarily wouldn't, buying her a ticket home, which is hopefully where she is now. Lisa wasn't built for the streets. Toby picks up a panicked thought from a girl in the lounge, Cuz. When he turns to look at her, Cuz runs for it.

Charlie pays Ramone a visit at his new hangout, a restaurant with a deck overlooking the street. Does he know anything about the recent plague of drugstore robberies? Word on the street is that Ramone has a bunch of kids hitting pharmacies on his behalf. Charlie claims she doesn't mind if Ramone has nothing to say; she's keeping an eye on him anyway. After she leaves, Ramone snaps his fingers for Baggy. Where's Daniel? Ramone is going to handle him personally when the time is right.

Back on the street, Toby spies Cuz walking with a couple of kids. When she sees Toby, she takes off running and hides in an alley. Toby calls out -- he just wants to make sure Lisa is alright. Even though she's hiding, Toby can read Cuz's thoughts. It's too late for Lisa -- Daniel has killed her.

On duty, Toby tags along as Oz shops for a new hip-hop wardrobe. Toby's been up all night thinking about Daniel, refusing to believe he's a killer. Oz advises Toby to find out if Lisa actually went home. If she's not there, Toby promises Oz he'll tell Charlie everything. After multiple phone calls, Toby finally succeeds in reaching Margaret Grayson, Lisa's mother. It's clear that Lisa is still missing. When Toby admits he doesn't even know Lisa, Margaret hangs up. Toby flashes back to his own childhood. A woman commands him to repeat his new name -- Toby -- as a house trailer incinerates in the background.

Back at work, Oz is thrilled to receive a package containing his demo CDs. When Toby gets an angry call from Charlie, he rushes off. Down at the station, Becker teases Charlie -- has her little shadow returned? Charlie defends herself: Toby is actually involved in her case, and if he has intel, she's going to use it. Nevertheless when Toby arrives, Charlie lays into him. Margaret Grayson reported his prank call, and has travelled a long way to meet him. In fact, she's sitting in the conference room right now.

Charlie demands to know if Toby knows anything about Lisa. Toby admits he thinks Daniel may have killed Lisa, but he doesn't have any solid evidence. Charlie admonishes Toby not to tell Margaret that, then hauls him into the conference room. Toby tells Margaret that someone bought Lisa a ticket home, but she obviously never arrived. He thinks Lisa may be... Charlie finishes Toby's thought. Lisa may be in trouble. Did she ever mention a kid named Daniel? The answer is no, but Margaret still wants to meet Daniel.

Outside the squat, Ramone gives Baggy a knife, just as Charlie drives up with Toby and Margaret. Upon entering the squat, Margaret immediately recognizes Daniel as her daughter Lisa. Only why did Lisa cut her pretty blond hair? Daniel asserts that he's Daniel now, and there's no going back. Convinced her daughter is making a terrible mistake, Margaret wants to take her home and get her back on anti-depressants. Lisa isn't depressed anymore, she's just Daniel. If Margaret can't face the fact that she lost her daughter, she's going to lose him, too.

Daniel runs out of the squat, into the arms of Baggy and Ramone. Noting all the empty prescription bottles, Charlie leaves with Margaret. Alone, Toby ransacks the apartment to find a cigar box filled with vials and syringes. Back on the job, Oz can't imagine wanting a sex change. As a male, he doesn't have to smell good or pluck anything. Noting that's why Oz has no girlfriend, Toby confesses that he can relate to not being accepted for who he really is. Daniel's got a brand-new life, and Toby blew it for him. Oz promises they'll find Daniel.

Toby checks in with Charlie, who refuses to help find Daniel; it's a social services matter now. Toby knows if Ramone were involved, Charlie would be all over it, and Daniel can't stay away from him because he needs more drugs. Showing Charlie the cigar box, Toby explains that transgenders need hormones, and Daniel has been shooting steroids because they're all he can get his hands on. That's why Daniel is hitting drugstores. Can't Charlie just shake down Ramone? Charlie scoffs -- does Toby really think Ramone is going to tell her about his next target?

Toby tells Ellen Daniel's story. He must have "killed" Lisa so he could come back as Daniel, while earning street cred for his tale of murder. Wishing Lisa could have told her everything before, Ellen is sorry she can't help. On the way out, Toby spies Cuz, and asks if she can help him find Baggy. If she doesn't, this time Daniel might wind up dead. With Cuz's tip, Toby finds Baggy selling dope. Toby flashes: a job is set for that night, when Ramone and Baggy intend to kill Daniel.

Toby and Oz sit in Oz's car, casing an Irish bar, which Toby remembers from his flash. When Oz leaves to get more snacks, a security company van pulls up for a meeting with Ramone. Realizing that Ramone is paying off the security company for alarm codes, Toby shifts into the driver's seat to follow Ramone to the job. In an alley, Baggy removes a vent and hoists Daniel inside. In the pharmacy below, Daniel scrambles to find his steroids, then proceeds to fill his bag with drugs. Hiding at the mouth of the alley, Toby calls Charlie.

Berating Daniel for taking too long, Ramone asks if he's cherry picking for himself, then discovers Daniel's steroids. Ramone hands his knife to Baggy and tells him to get busy, just as Toby runs up with the cops. Daniel gets cut in the mAlee, but luckily, his sarcasm bone isn't broken. Toby reassures him; life is complicated, but for a young man, Daniel seems like he has a good handle on who he is.

Back at the mission, Daniel apologizes to Ellen for not telling her the whole story before. Margaret has called the therapist and bought plane tickets back home, offering to work it out together. Toby gets a flash: Margaret knows she can't do it, but she'll try. When she calls Daniel "Lisa," Daniel knows he can't go home again, and opts to stay at the mission for now.

Later that night, Toby and Oz, dressed in his new hip-hop wardrobe and waving his demo CD, stand on a rope line at a hot nightclub. The doorman insists that Oz isn't on the list. A Hummer pulls up, and Young Thunda hops out with his posse. Toby shakes Young Thunda's hand, but the rap star bypasses Oz in favor of hot chicks. Dejected, Oz turns to go. Luckily, Toby saves the night, having snuck a copy of the demo into Young Thunda's pocket.