The Listener Episode 1.09 Inside The Man

On the road again, Oz claims that Toby's whole mind-reading shtick is beginning to rub off -- it's Oz-mosis! The other day, he was in a convenience store, and he knew the hot chick behind the counter was about to say, "Twelve items or less." Toby thinks that's more like predicting the future, and jokes that if they team up, they might be able to do some serious damage. That's when the call comes in: multiple victims are down at a crime scene.

Toby and Oz pull up to the Lassiter home to find Charlie's already on the scene. Wade and Wendy Lassiter are lying on the floor in pools of blood, both dead. Charlie asks the uniformed cops if the house is clear, but Toby has a flash: someone is still inside. Charlie sends Toby a mental message. He's simply to point and leave the rest to her. Still receiving flashes from the crime, Toby points to the fireplace screen. Charlie topples the screen to find 16-year-old Andy, who slumps to the floor. Toby races to his side, getting a flash of a guy dressed in clown make-up offering a candy. Stunned, Toby sits back as Oz plies oxygen. The kid's going to make it.

While tending to Andy in the back of the ambulance, Toby hears a jumble of thoughts, some belonging to a tough guy, some to a little kid, and some to a mother. Olivia is thrilled to see Toby and Oz at the hospital. Her obnoxious sister Jennifer is coming to visit, and she needs the guys to run interference. Thrilled, Oz runs off to brush his teeth. Olivia informs Toby that Andy has spent a silent hour with the staff psychologist. Charlie interrupts, asking to speak with Toby.

Toby is reluctant to get involved with Andy; he's not a telepathic vacuum cleaner. Besides, Andy is messed up, and any read Toby might get will be unreliable. In Charlie's world, the state of high emotion is when the truth comes out. Toby admits he saw a guy in clown make-up and two other guys in ski masks. There was stabbing with a knife, but he can't tell by who. Reluctantly, Toby agrees to speak with Andy, who's just beginning to talk, but still in shock. In the jumble of images from his flash, Toby does make out the faces of the two masked guys, who look to be in their late teens.

According to Charlie, there's been a rash of burglaries in the Lassiters' neighborhood with a similar M.O. She brings Toby to look through mug shots with no success. Luckily, Charlie obtained Andy's yearbook, and Toby quickly identifies Scott Knox and Jordan Shanks. Toby and Charlie proceed to the hospital to show a collection of photos to Andy, but he claims he's never seen any of the people before. Toby gets a reading to the contrary, as Andy quickly matches the photos to the masked guys in his house.

Charlie does some research. Last year Knox's parents reported their car stolen, but withdrew their complaint when he called from a 50 Cent concert. And Shanks spent $40,000 on credit card he "found" on the subway, but his parents paid up and the charges were dropped. To further complicate matters, the lab has reported that Andy's self-defense wounds might be self-inflicted. She knows that Toby doesn't want to believe that Andy would murder his parents anymore than she would, but asks him to stick with her.

Olivia's sister Jennifer breezes into the hospital and quickly sets to sucking up all the oxygen in the building. Jennifer wants to meet Olivia for dinner, but she begs off. When Jennifer tries to make alternate plans, Oz steps in, claiming they're all having dinner tomorrow at Toby's loft. Toby excuses himself to visit Andy, who's completely altered in a creepy way. He thanks Toby for saving his life, and claims that he did recognize two faces among the pictures Charlie showed him. If she'll return, he'll point them out.

With a uniformed escort, Charlie crashes a wild party at Shanks' home. She finds Knox passed out with the word "wasted" magic markered on his forehead. Shanks is upstairs in his bedroom, which is filled with hot merchandise. After a girl skitters out of his bed, Shanks claims that he paid for all the stuff, but Charlie isn't buying it, especially when she finds a bag full of Wendy Lassiter's jewelry. Charlie advises Shanks to call a lawyer and orders his arrest.

While Toby watches behind one-way glass, Charlie takes turns interrogating Shanks and Knox, who are accompanied by high-priced lawyers. Shanks will only admit to being a fence, which explains all the stolen merchandise in his bedroom; Toby finds his mind full of lust for Charlie. Despite Charlie's efforts to trap Knox, he insists that "no one killed nobody." Toby's confused. He knows the guys were in the house and trashed Wade's den. Something's missing. Charlie agrees -- trashing the room doesn't fit their M.O. -- and promises to revisit the house with Toby the next day.

Olivia worries about Oz during dinner at Toby's. If Jennifer takes an interest, Oz's life could change forever. Toby tells Olivia not to worry, as Oz holds his own with good humor during Jennifer's interrogation. When Oz turns the tables, Jennifer explains that she works for the #1 pharmaceutical company in the world, and she's just bought a new condo. And by the way, she'll be staying with Olivia while the condo is renovated, just for a month or two.

At the Lassiter home, Toby wanders through Andy's room, noticing a battered stuffed bear on the bed, and a prominently placed poster of martial arts champ, Sonny Yang. Charlie pulls him into Wade's den, presumably destroyed by Knox and Shanks. Toby spies the shards of a broken candy dish that looks like the clown from Andy's vision and pieces it back together. Why is this clown dominating Andy's thoughts?

Toby finds Andy happily enjoying cartoons in his hospital bed, and informs him that Knox and Shanks have been arrested, but only for fencing stolen goods. Andy thinks this must be a lie, giving Toby a flash. At a party, Andy passes his house key to Shanks, telling him to take whatever he wants. Toby accuses Andy of being in on it from the beginning, and pulls out the clown candy dish. Andy transforms, becoming enraged. When Toby asks if Wade beat him, Andy smashes the candy dish to the floor. His father got what he deserved.

Toby continues to receive fractured flashes off Andy, so he asks Andy what he did with the knife. Andy pretends to know nothing, but his mind betrays that he hid the knife in the garage. Charlie finds the knife in the garage, and forensics identifies it as belonging to Wade, and covered with Andy's prints. Andy could have arranged for Knox and Wade to break in, with plans to pin his parents' murder on them. Toby protests -- what about Andy's self-defense wounds? Charlie maintains these wounds could have been self-inflicted and begins arrest proceedings.

When Knox and Shanks are released on bail, Toby calls Ray, hoping he can help sort out Andy, whom he fears may get blamed for the murder of his parents. Ray thinks that Wade may have psychologically traumatized Andy with punishment or abuse, then offered candy, creating the kind of hypocrisy that drives kids crazy. Despite his skepticism, Ray agrees to interview Andy while Charlie and Toby stand behind a one-way mirror.

Initially, Andy tells Ray that he doesn't remember what happened, but then his furious personality emerges to take credit for the murder. When Andy looks to the glass, Toby gets a flash: Andy sees himself in the mirror as Sonny Yang, martial arts hero. Andy denies hiding the knife in the garage, but then a softer personality emerges to take credit for that. When Andy looks in the mirror again, Toby sees an image of Wendy, Andy's mother. Ray pretends to leave, and Andy relents, telling him what happened. Toby sees the murders from Andy's perspective -- hiding behind the fireplace screen.

According to Ray, actual cases of dissociative identity disorder are rare, and some therapists don't believe it's a genuine condition. Toby explains that Andy was seeing different people in the mirror when looking at himself. Ray theorizes that if Andy was abused by Wade, he may have broken down his personality into three alters for self-protection: there's Tough Guy Andy, Andy the Boy, and Mother Andy. Andy the Boy gets hurt, Tough Guy Andy gets revenge, and Mother Andy hides the evidence. Nevertheless, Toby is convinced that Andy couldn't have murdered his parents.

Jennifer accosts Olivia at the hospital, prattling on with no consideration for the fact that Olivia is actually working. Fed up, Olivia confesses that she has had it with Jennifer, even if they are sisters. It's time for Jennifer to go. Jennifer counters: if Olivia lost her job and her condo, Jennifer would take her in, despite what a little princess she is. She didn't mention her situation because she figured this was their chance to be sisters. Olivia relents, giving Jennifer two weeks, and offers to help her find a job.

Toby visits Andy to try one more time to get to the bottom of the murders. Andy floats between personalities, taking credit for killing his father. Between flashes, Toby realizes that Tough Guy Andy taped the entire proceedings, and Mother Andy hid the tape in the bedraggled bear on Andy's bed. Charlie brings the tape back to the hospital to watch with Toby and Andy. Just like Toby said, Andy watched from behind the fire screen, as his father returned home, interrupting the robbery. When Wade pulled off Shanks mask, Shanks shanked him. Andy can't believe he didn't do it, but then seems to realize his parents are dead.

After the ordeal, Andy returns to a semi-catatonic state. On the way out, Toby tells Ray that he's not sure if he can keep doing this kind of thing. Ray doesn't understand how Toby has done it for as long as he has.

Toby returns to the loft for dinner with Olivia, who relates the fight with her sister. Toby assumes that Jennifer has completely ignored Olivia and carried on as always. Olivia admits that Jennifer has picked out new wallpaper for her apartment, which was looking a little shabby. Why does family have to be so complicated? Orphan that he is, Toby can't relate, since he remembers so little of his past. Olivia gives Toby a deep kiss, then tells him it never happened. On Toby's list of things that never happened, this is at the top.