EMPATH

Empathic psychologist, Dr. Isadora Kencil (Izzy), is tired. Daily, worldwide patients seek her out to relieve their emotional pain. She feels trapped by her empathic ability. When Detective Harper comes knocking, she agrees to interrogate a comatose serial killer, Hugo Wriedt, to find out the identities of all of his victims. Izzy and the Detective must work fast. Hugo was shot while fleeing the police and his prognosis is fatal.

Dr. Izzy has expanded her empathic abilities to the point where just by touching a person, the person's mind is invited to "Meet" Izzy's mind. Izzy's preferred Meet location is an exact replica of her office.

As Izzy meets with Hugo's mind, she finds him to be an imposing and dangerous psyche for Izzy to access. What Izzy finds out is that Hugo has kidnapped a teenage girl and has locked her away in his "special place". Izzy must get Hugo to reveal where he hid her before the girl dies, and before Hugo dies.

Izzy works to gain Hugo's trust, while Hugo psychologically analyzes Izzy. Hugo pounces on Izzy's weaknesses as an empath, and disorients her empathic task. Because she is a hyper-empath, Izzy would normally feel the girl's panic and despair, but Hugo blocks Izzy's ability to see or feel the kidnapped girl.

Through contentious mental sparring, Izzy finally understands that Hugo is also an Empath with extraordinary powers. Hugo exposes Izzy to her suppressed anger - she burns at the intractable fact that she is an Empath who relieves other's pain but not her own.

By the start of the third act, Hugo forces Izzy to realize that the life choice Izzy made to help people, and the alternate choice Hugo made to kill people, stem from the same need - to absorb people's emotions and make them their own.

Hugo reveals where the teenage girl is hidden, but only after he shows Izzy memories of the murder victims he has slain - grizzly close-up memory flashes of his victims' deaths.

Hugo is near death from his bullet wounds, but his plan is almost consummated. Through Hugo's deliberate and morality-bending grilling, Izzy is exposed to, and finally accepts, her fate. She will no longer sacrifice her emotional well-being by absorbing her patients' memories.

Hugo believes he has transformed Izzy into a killer. He must complete Izzy's transformation by insisting she kill him. The result is what Hugo planned all along - Izzy releases her anger and turns to murder. She shoots Hugo in their joined minds, then kills him for real in his hospital bed. She puts a pillow over Hugo's head as he lays in his hospital bed, Hugo believes his plan is completed.

Izzy meets with a recurring patient the next day. The twist bursts into the story when it appears Izzy will slice the patient's throat with a straight razor. Instead, the razor is the core of that patient's emotional malady. As the patient leaves, Izzy returns the blade to her desk. She withstood Hugo.

In the end, Izzy accepts a new patient - the kidnapped girl. Izzy has withstood the evil mind of Hugo and his nefarious, devious mind game.

Script of the Month:

Gold Medal: August 2020

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