Original subtitles

( music playing )

( cell phone ringing )

- ( ringing ) - Ohh.

Hey. ( laughs )

No. My flight was canceled.

Now I'm gonna have to stay overnight.

Well, just tell Roderick not to worry, OK?

I sent the specimen via charter,

they should be getting there tomorrow.

Yeah, no, I think the investors are gonna be really thrilled.

We got some great additions for the new wing.

Well, he should be happy.

Yes, he should think it's worth it, because I don't--

( sighs ) Yeah. That's fine.

I'm just exhausted.

Finally had a shower, though, and that was heaven. ( laughs )

No, I'm just tired of the same old thing.

The investors will be pleased,

I just wanted to find something special...

Yeah, I'll take some time off and we can finally...

( continues, indistinct )

( continues talking, indistinct )

Just hold them off until I get there,

and no, I don't trust you. OK? Bye.

( lightly snoring )

Mmm.

Hmm.

OK. Huh--

( whimpers )

What--

( panting )

( panting )

- ( thud ) - Ow.

Ow.

( grunts )

( sniffs )

Hmm.

Holy shit.

( laughing )

Oh, my God.

( laughing )

( phone ringing )

( ringing )

( ringing )

( ringing )

Hello?

Oh. Right.

Wake-up call.

Um, actually,

I-I'm not gonna be checking out today.

Ah... Well, I'm not sure.

How-- How long can you give me?

The what? The Ren Faire?

People actually come for that?

Uh-huh.

Yeah, no, I understand.

Yeah. OK.

Yeah. One week. Got it.

( gasps )

What are you?

( camera clicks )

( line out ringing )

Man: Hey. You almost here?

Uh, actually, I'm gonna be a bit longer.

- What? Why? - I think I found something.

On your layover?

Or it found me, but yeah. Kinda.

What am I supposed to tell Roderick and the investors?

Everyone came in on the weekend.

Well, tell them this is more important than the wing.

- What do you mean? - I'm not entirely sure yet,

but I think maybe...

( laughs ) Honestly, I have no idea what it is.

Hey, have my specimen arrived yet?

Yes, and we desperately need your help

in deciphering your shitty handwriting.

OK. Do me a favor. Look at the crates that they came in.

We're looking for pollen grains, red-orange in color.

I'm gonna send you a picture now.

Found some remnants on my clothing.

I don't know how I missed this,

but I seem to have brought some back with me.

It's the only thing I can think of that would explain--

( breathing heavily )

Male Vocalist: ♪ Who do you suppose ♪

♪ I really love? ♪

♪ Who do you suppose ♪

♪ I'm thinking of? ♪

- ♪ Who do you suppose ♪ - ( cell phone ringing )

♪ I dream of ♪

♪ Both day and night? ♪

- ( ringing ) - ♪ And whose loving arms ♪

♪ I need ♪

- ♪ To hold me tight? ♪ - ( camera clicks )

♪ Everybody knows ♪

♪ I'm hypnotized ♪

♪ Every time I look ♪

♪ Right into your eyes ♪

♪ Who do you suppose ♪

♪ I'll always miss ♪

♪ Whose lips I love to kiss ♪

♪ Who do you suppose? ♪

♪ Dear, it's you ♪

- ( sniffs ) - Ohh.

( zips bag )

Mm.

- ( knocking on door ) - Woman: Housekeeping.

No. No, no, no, no. Hold on, hold on. No.

- Do not disturb. - What in God's name?

Is everything OK in there?

Thank you. I'm fine.

( housekeeping cart rumbles away )

( sighs )

( sighs )

( shower faucet squeaks )

Come on.

( gasps )

( camera clicking )

( splashing )

( phone beeps )

Oh-- Shit.

( breathing heavily )

Text Joe.

Joe. Joe, check this out. I can't ID--

I've never seen anything like it before.

There's an entire ecosystem growing before my eyes.

( beeps )

- Hey. - ( text alert )

( chuckles )

( knocking on door )

( knocking )

Oh, fuck, not again.

( rattling )

- Coming! - What's going on in there?!

Sir. Sir. Sir, sir.

My name is Dr. Merian Wallace.

No, I'm-- I'm a scientist, OK?

What we have in this room is a phenomenon,

- a major scientific discovery. - Open the door.

No, sir, I cannot do that. I can't let you in here.

- I need to continue my field research. - ( grunts )

What on God's earth did you do to this room?!

Nothing. I've done nothing.

I may have trailed in a bit of pollen,

but it's what the room did.

If you don't open this door, I'm gonna call the police.

- No. The police are not gonna know what this is. - ( cell phone ringing )

OK, look, I want you and your-- your plants out of my motel now.

You said that I had a week.

Well, the maid said something fishy was going on in here.

We don't tolerate vandalism, and you're gonna have to pay for all that damage.

Look, listen to me.

If this is about money,

I have investors who will pay to preserve this.

- ( cell phone ringing ) - This is my colleague, Joe.

I'm gonna put him on, and he's gonna confirm that. Joe?

Merian, I have been trying to get ahold of you.

Do you have any idea what we have on our hands?

- Tell me. - The images and recordings you're sending me, Merian,

I've checked over and over again, and across the board,

I'm finding consistent proof, spanning all of the species you are presenting.

Proof of what?

Everything in that room exhibits characteristics

that mimic archaic species.

- ( panting ) - Manager: What's he saying?

- Who is that? - Don't worry.

Are-Are you saying that--

I believe the ecosystem you are experiencing

is supporting the reintroduction of long-extinct life.

I-- Say that again?

Somehow this habitat has brought species back to life.

- Did you hear me? - Yeah, I hear you.

Look, I've tested similar pollen that we found on the crates, as you asked,

with no results, but there is something about the components of that room

that is allowing this system to flourish.

Merian, you could be at the center

of the biggest scientific discovery of our time.

- We have to tell Roderick. - No.

Joe, I gotta call you back.

Sir, listen, I work for a very heavily backed natural history museum and trust.

You give me some more time in here, I promise that you will be compensated heavily.

- How much? - Well--

I need somethin'.

Um...

Uh, listen, I have, um...

Here. Take--

What, four bucks? And some weird foreign money I can't do anything with?

All right. Here. Try running this.

What--

Take it all, then.

I'm sorry, but please, you have to help me.

No, listen to me! This is very important!

You have to help me, OK? You have to help me.

I'll get you whatever you want. I'll get you whatever you want.

OK? Please. ( crying ) You just--

My keys. Take my keys. It's a really nice car.

I'll get it up to you somehow, OK?

OK! OK. You can have till the rest of the week.

Thank you. Wait. Sir.

I have to ask one more thing.

We keep this between us.

Why? What--

We have to keep it safe.

( crickets chirping )

Tiny geniuses.

( cell phone ringing )

- ( thud ) - Ow. Jeez.

- Hey. - Joe: Merian, you OK?

( laughs ) Yeah. I'm great.

The best.

God, Joe, I wish you were here to see this.

I know. You get the fun part of the job, seein' things alive.

Speakin' of which, I'm gonna need another specimen.

Why, what happened to the one I sent?

- It was DOA. - What?!

Joe, do you know what I had to go through to get that to you?

Just send another.

No. Joe, I don't have any of my equipment here

to do proper research, OK? And I can't leave.

I even had to give the maid my expedition windbreaker

just to go to FedEx for me.

But Roderick's gonna need proof!

Joe, I don't know what to tell you, OK?

I've sent photos.

The pollen didn't react for you,

- my specimen didn't survive. - Merian--

I'm not taking any more chances, OK?

These species, they don't exist anywhere else. This is it.

This is the only place, and now I'm even doubting

if they're gonna survive if I take them out of this room.

Until I know for sure, I'm--

I don't want to take them out of here.

Then what's your plan?

( stammers ) To study. To learn.

But I mean, like, what, are you just gonna stay there forever?

You haven't even left the room.

- ( scoffs ) - Merian, I'm worried about you.

I can't help you if I don't know what we're dealing with.

Will you please, for the love of God, call your husband?

He's freaking the fuck out.

( sighs )

Morning, Magna fugatura.

Oh, good morning, Fem asinuscaudu Merianema.

Morning, Vinea Franklyn.

( cell phone ringing )

- Hey, Joe. - I'm so sorry.

- About what? - You were starting to scare me yesterday

talking like you might not come home, and I had to--

It's the INH Museum Code of Ethics--

we don't really know what we're dealing with.

Wait, what are you talking about?

And you haven't even called Andy.

What if you've been infected with something?

This is insane.

Not to mention the rate of growth

- and patterns that-- - Joe, what did you do?

I had to tell Roderick, and he gave them everything,

not just the pollen, but everything.

And they quarantined our lab--

Joe, who is coming?

- ( banging on door ) - Man: NIASDI, open up!

Joe: You have to believe me, I did this for you.

Man: The National Invasive & Alien Species Department of the Interior!

We have reason to believe you are harboring invasive species

foreign to the US and possibly threatening!

Joe: Just do what they say, Merian.

What?! No! They'll take everything!

Merian, it's the government.

- Joe, they'll destroy it. - I know.

- ( banging on door ) - Man: Mrs. Wallace, open up!

This is a matter of national security!

Fuck you! And it's Dr. Wallace!

- Joe: Merian, no. Merian-- - Fuck you too, Joe. You don't care.

Man: Dr. Wallace, we do not want to hurt you,

but if you don't cooperate,

we will be forced to treat you as a terrorist.

- A terrorist?! - An ecological terrorist.

What a load of fuckhead shit!

A terrorist. You want me to be a terrorist?

I can be a terrorist!

You come in here, and these pollen grains

are gonna get out there and kill all of you!

Man 2: OK, folks, we're gonna need a quarantine.

( panting )

Fuck. Oh, fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck.

Fuck.

( indistinct radio communication )

Ahh.

( siren wails in distance )

( sighs )

( sighs )

No. No, no, no.

Fuck. Come on.

Come on, you piece of shit.

Fuck you!

Fuck.

Fuck!

( sobbing )

( knocking on door )

( knocking )

Who is it?

Man: Dr. Eugene Hill.

I'm a mediator.

Your mediator.

( scoffs )

What do I need a mediator for?

To help make sure they don't destroy this.

I want to save this as much as you do.

I've seen your observations.

I agree, Merian.

This is important.

You don't need a hazmat suit?

You seem to be fine without one.

You got a cell phone?

Yeah.

I'm gonna take that for now.

What else?

Um, I thought you might be thirsty.

I'm surviving on bark just fine.

Huh.

How do I know it's not poisonous?

You don't.

Forget it, I was just--

I'll take it.

Take off your clothes.

- Say what? - I said take off your clothes.

I need to make sure you're not carrying any weapons or explosives.

( clears throat )

Wow.

So, Dr. Hill, what's your spiel?

- Call me Eugene. - OK, Eugene.

- Dr. Eugene. - Dr. Merian.

( laughs )

I can understand why you're fighting for this.

This is truly astounding.

I want to help this survive.

But we have to work with them.

"Them" will destroy it.

We don't know that.

If we can prove to them

the enormity of what this is,

and that this will not be a threat,

I think we can save this.

Do you even know what "this" is?

Do you?

What I know is that this environment

is recycling itself,

that these leaves are fortifying the fungi, providing nutrients,

and the fungi are thereby fueling an entire species of ancient ants

who then spread the fungi underneath the bed where there is no sunlight.

I know that the larvae of an unknown beetle-like colony

is adapting into its own subspecies in the closet region.

The walking-fish is pooping out the only nutrients

that is keeping a long-extinct form of lily

flourishing in the toilet.

Growth is all around us.

Adaptation and codependence.

This environment is self-sufficient--

and efficient.

I've even seen entire species killed off in one day

because of its own natural selection.

Well, then maybe not all of this is meant to survive.

But who are we to decide that?

Look, before we came here, forests covered most of this earth,

just like this!

- The primordial jungle. - Exactly.

But this is but a snippet of that abundance,

a window into our past, and a giant landscape

of possibility for our future.

Look, I don't think that all hope is lost here.

I just think we need an opportunity to understand this.

And can you really say that you know what this is, and that this is safe?

No, I can't tell you that.

Yes.

So why not let us study it and protect it?

( sighs )

So what now?

You let 'em in.

Let me fight with you.

Let's prove to them that this is not a threat,

and then maybe we can create a space

where these ancient species can survive,

and allow for this to be larger than just this room.

( sighs ) Just don't touch anything.

( dialing phone )

( line out ringing )

( ringing )

( clears throat )

Man: Hey, it's Andy. Please leave a message.

- ( beep ) - Hey.

It's me. Um...

I'm sorry I haven't called until now. I, uh...

You know how I get.

But I think you would understand if you saw this place.

I-I just finally found something special.

It's like I've been looking for it my whole life,

and I don't know what to do.

( voice breaking ) I'm sorry.

Fuck, I'm sorry.

( sighs )

I miss you.

And, um...

I don't know when I'm gonna be home,

but I-I think it's gonna be...

sooner rather than later. Um...

I'm getting some-- some help in here.

So, uh...

I love you.

Mm. ( sniffles )

Don't touch them.

I was just gonna hand you some water.

I'm fine.

It's safe.

OK, look, I'll do it.

All right? They're not gonna hurt me.

See?

Oh.

( both laughing )

Ohh.

I believe you.

I want to help.

Thank you.

Thank you.

For protecting this.

This is really beau--

( gagging )

What--

( indistinct radio communications )

Vitals good. Let's get them out.

( medieval music playing )

( music continues )