Bloody Mary

**Bloody Mary** is the first episode of the first season of Mary Kills People.

## Synopsis

Mary and her assistant perform a routine assisted suicide, but things go awry. An event close to home threatens to reveal her "moonlighting" practice. Mary's lapse of judgment with a potential client increases her risk of being discovered.

## Appearances

Being the first episode, all appearances are the character's first.

* Mary Harris
* Des
* Joel
* Troy Dixon
* Carly Dixon
* Naomi
* Kevin
* Louise
* Annie
* Grady
* Dr. Dennis Taylor
* Larissa

## Detailed Plot

### Troy's Euthanasia

The episode opens on Mary and Des in Troy Dixon's bedroom. Troy confirms that he wishes to die on film as Des records him. Mary mixes his cocktail, phenobarbital and champagne, before handing it to him. He hesitates, and Mary has a short talk with him, urging him to not do it if he isn't ready, and have a brief discussion regarding death. Troy reaffirms that he is prepared, and drinks.

Shortly after, Des takes his pulse and confirms that he has died. They hear Troy's wife, Carly, open the front door. She's home early, and the two rush to pack their belongings. As they exit through the porch, they realize that they left their pay behind. Mary re-enters to collect it, when she finds that Troy hasn't actually died and is gasping for breath.

Mary is shocked. She takes the only option and grabs a pillow off of Troy's bed, smothering him to death with it before escaping with Des.

### Lunch With the Kids

After leaving Troy's home, Mary and Des drive-thru Diego's, a local Mexican restaurant. They argue over whether or not to start injecting the phenobarbital into their patients instead of offering a drink. Mary states that they must offer a choice to the patient; Des counters by pointing out that if injected, Troy would have died much more easily.

Mary returns home to find her daughters, Jess and , in a closed bathroom with the lights off, chanting "Bloody Mary". Mary confronts them and chastises Jess for trying to scare her sister. At the mention that there is take-out available, they head to the living room.

Mary's ex-husband, Kevin, enters the home. The kids are excited to see their father, who instructs them to go back their bags. Mary and Kevin have a discussion regarding the fact that Mary has been taking too many shifts at work, and that their 50-50 custody agreement has "become more like 80-20". Mary asks if he is asking for more alimony and suggests that Kevin get a job; he refuses more money and states that he simply is worried that the kids don't see their mother enough.

With the kids gone, Mary heads into her backyard shed, uncovering her secret stash under a floorboard. She places her phone inside and checks her stash of phenobarbital, finding that the seal on the drug has been tampered with.

Mary calls Des and confronts him. Des is shocked to hear it was tampered with. Mary demands that he get a new supply immediately and replaces the stash.

### Matt's Stabbing

Mary is at work in the ER. A patient, Matt, is being wheeled in with multiple stab wounds, one of which has punctured his heart.

They are able to successfully stabilize him, and Dr. Dennis Taylor informs his wife that he's fine. Mary points out that he isn't safe yet, only stable, but Dennis tells her he's fine. As Dennis rounds up the nurses for a round of Starbucks, Mary leaves the room for a walk. Annie follows along.

Annie hands Mary two folders once they are outside and they begin talking. These are cases that she has identified as potential euthanasia patients. The first is Nora, an 80 year old widow with acute renal failure who is declining to pursue dialysis treatments who's only wish is to not suffer; Annie points out that "of course, she will". Second is Joel, who has an inoperable brain tumor and has already been through chemo and radiation therapy with no results, leaving him with only four to five weeks to live. Mary hands some form of payment in a manila envelope to Annie.

They briefly discuss Troy's passing; Mary lies and tells Annie that it was "peaceful". Mary reassures herself and Annie that they are "doing the right thing".

### Joel Calls

Joel is seen in his apartment, reciting "I am going to die" into his mirror. He then flips over a pamphlet to reveal Mary's phone number written on it, and places the call. He leaves Mary a message stating that he would like to consult with her.

Joel then meets up with Frank at a strip club. They briefly discuss if there is more to life than just dying, but neither is truly sure.

### Confronting the Dealer

Des arrives at Grady's home. He confronts Grady on whether or not the phenobarbital has been watered down; Grady confirms that it was because he wanted to test whether or not Des was selling it to other people, or using it himself.

Grady hands him a new box of pure phenobarbital, free of charge.

As Des leaves, Grady comments that he "hates liars", meaning he knows Des isn't telling the whole truth.

### Discovering the Stash

Jess and her girlfriend Naomi head into the shed that Mary uses to store her stash. They complain about school as Naomi reveals a marijuana joint and lights it, passing it between them. Mary has left the phone on in the stash, and as they begin to make out, they hear it vibrate when a call starts incoming.

They find the stash, and Naomi is immediately interested by the box of phenobarbital. Jess asks her to please put it back; Naomi complies but pockets one of the bottles without Jess noticing.

### Meeting Joel

Mary and Des arrive at Joel's apartment to discuss his treatment. Knocking on his door, he opens and lets them in.

Joel offers each of them a beer, but they decline. Joel says he only drinks because there's really no reason not to, since he will die in a few weeks anyway.

Mary apologizes about Joel's prognosis, and Des digs into his relationship status, revealing that he is single. They discuss what brings them there; Joel says he is dying but wants to die faster and that Annie mentioned they might be able to help.

Mary and Des point out that Switzerland allows self-euthanasia, but that they aren't Switzerland so that isn't possible, and that they are only speaking "hypothetically".

Des talks about "death tourism" where you fly to Switzerland, stay for a few days, and then go forward with the end-of-life treatment. Joel says he doesn't want to do that. Des says that's fine, because it ends up costing upwards of $20,000, and there's no point in doing that when you can "do it here for $10,000."

Joel catches on to the subtle statements, stating that he is "good for it." He asks Mary how it works; Mary explains it. Joel asks why it isn't injected, Mary explains that it is because with a drink, the patient makes the decision. Joel likens it to "pulling the trigger".

Driving away, Mary and Des discuss Mary's sex life, talking about how she's had no sex since her divorce. Des suggests that Mary have sex with Joel in order to make him feel better. She declines. They discuss Des' recovery from addiction; he says that it is going well, but he hates how boring his life is without drugs.

### The Ballet

Mary and Kevin arrive at a ballet hall to watch their daughter's performance. Naomi's mother, Louise, is there as well. She introduces herself to Mary. Kevin reveals that Louise is also his new girlfriend, which Mary is surprised to hear. When they finish a sentence the other started, Mary makes a remark about how they must be dating longer than two months.

As the show starts, Mary hands Kevin an envelope with a cash alimony payment, stating that she "ran out of checks". Through the show, Mary makes snide remarks regarding Kevin and Louise.

A few minutes into the show, Naomi suddenly collapses on stage. Jess calls for her mother, who rushes on stage to help, shouting for someone to call an ambulance.

In the hospital, Naomi suddenly wakes up. Mary confronts Naomi and asks what drugs she took, saying that she might as well fess up because they are testing her blood for drugs anyway. Naomi sobs and says she "thought it was alcohol", and reveals she had tried to drink whatever was in Mary's shed in order to quell her nerves and prevent stage fright.

Mary says that she has to tell her mother what happened; Mary counters by saying that she is on birth control, and doctors don't need to tell her mother about that. She also states that while she isn't a lawyer, her mother *is,* and that if Mary were to tell her what happened then she will investigate *both* of them.

Mary understands and brings Naomi out to meet her mother. She covers for her, stating that Naomi simply fainted and that she is underweight. Mary confirms that she is okay to go home, and they all leave. Naomi mouths "thank you" behind her mother's back as she walks away.

Dr. Dennis Taylor spots Mary in the waiting room and updates her on her case from that morning. He says that Matt's condition is worse and there is a punctured lung requiring more surgery. He asks Mary to inform Matt's wife of the situation, and she agrees to do so.

### The Next Step

As she exits the hospital, she gets a phone call from Joel informing her that he is ready for the "next step". On the way to Joel's apartment, she passes Frank.

Joel and Mary discuss terminating Joel's life. Mary says that she thinks people dying is their own choice; Joel counters by saying helping people die is a crime. Mary asks if he actually believes that, he says yes.

Mary then moves in for a kiss, Joel rejects her and pushes her to the floor. He apologizes and picks her up, and they begin to kiss and have sex. Mid-sex, Mary comments that Joel doesn't "seem sick". He's offended and steps back, disengaging Mary and demands that she give him the drink now. She says that she can't, because she doesn't have it with her; he says that he's "ready" and begs her. She says no and leaves.

Joel follows her out of the complex and asks her to come back inside, but she refuses and gets in her car to leave.

As she leaves, a car parked across the street flashes its headlights at Joel. He jogs across the street, opens the sliding door, and steps in, revealing Frank inside and all the surveillance equipment recording his interactions, revealing to the viewer that Frank and Joel are undercover officers who are trying to catch Mary.

Frank tells Joel that he's "done" because of having sex with the target; Joel begs Frank to get rid of the tape. Because Joel helped Frank with a situation a few months ago, he agrees and lets Joel take the footage from that night, and they agree that tomorrow they will get Mary to deliver the drugs and take her down.

### Back at Home

Mary goes home for the night. She finds Jess in the shed, looking at the hidden stash where Mary was keeping the phenobarbital. Jess confesses that she knows it was there, and thinks that Naomi might have drank it. She says that she looked up what it was, and learned that it was used for euthanasia.

Mary explains that she's sorry to have hidden it from them, but the family cat is sick, and that she acquired the drug to put their cat to sleep while they could comfort it.

Mary collects the cat and it's supplies and drives to Des' home, meeting Des' girlfriend, Larissa. She covers for Des, claiming that they help "sick kids", which absolutely delights Larissa as she leaves.

Mary asks Des to cat-sit, then reveals that she had sex with Joel. She admits that she feels bad, like she took advantage of him, but Des says that it's fine because she made a sick man "very happy". They discuss the fact that Joel's behavior was off, and that he was begging for the drink. They agree together that tomorrow they will bring Joel's medicine to him.

Mary states that she should "quit". Des asks if she means stop killing people. Mary balks at this, saying that no, she meant quit *smoking* and that she'll never quit helping people die.

The episode ends with Carly, crying and cuddling Troy's jacket in bed. She reaches into a pocket, finding the pamphlet for Mary's services within and looking confused at the phone number scrawled on the back.

## Notes & Trivia

### Goofs

* Mary leaves her phone on in the stash where it rings several times. Earlier in the episode, when Joel calls, it goes straight to voice mail, meaning it must be off when Mary isn't using it. These cannot both be the case.
* Joel's cover story is that he has advanced stage cancer, and has already completed radiation and chemotherapy, yet still has a full head of hair and a goatee.