Blood Brothers (The Outer Limits)
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| "Blood Brothers (The Outer Limits)" |
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"Blood Brothers" is an episode of The Outer Limits television show. It was first aired on 7 April 1995 during the first season.
Introduction
Metadyne is a successful pharmaceutical company founded by Cameron Deighton. After his death, his two sons Michael and Spencer are in line to become chief executive officer of the company. Michael deals in the financial side of the company; Spencer is a researcher.
Opening narration
It is said that civilization began when man first became capable of changing his environment. What will happen when man has the ability to change himself, when no human need be cursed by heredity? Will it be the beginning of a glorious new kind of civilization... or the end of civilization as we know it?
Plot
Cameron Deighton's wife had Huntington's Disease, and he spent the last few years of his life looking for a cure. His two sons, Michael (Martin Kemp) and Spencer (Charles Martin Smith), may have inherited the gene responsible for the illness. Spencer chooses not to be tested, but Michael claims to have been tested and pronounced clear.
For the last few years Spencer has been working on a drug Deighton C, designed to provide humane crowd control by temporarily disabling rioting crowds — but is apparently making little progress. The drug kills 80% of the animals on which it is tested. Michael, his brother, pushes for the development of more lucrative drugs.
Spencer begins a romantic relationship with a reporter, Tricia Lange (Kate Vernon). One morning, he realizes that a variant of Deighton C has had a remarkable effect on a monkey test subject — the creature is now completely healthy, and even injecting the animal with Cyanide has no effect. Deighton C appears to be a "broad spectrum cure"... a "wonder drug".
Spencer pushes for the breakthrough to be made public, but Michael insists on it being kept quiet. Spencer decides to tell Tricia and swear her to secrecy. During their conversation he receives a phone call from Carl (Thomas Cavanagh), his lab assistant, telling him that all the computer records of Deighton C have been erased.
Later, during a meeting between Michael, Spencer, Carl and Darrow (George Touliatos) (a senior executive at Metadyne and friend of the family), Michael claims that he locked up the records because Carl continued to work on the drug against explicit instructions. Michael reveals that he has destroyed all samples, and Carl accuses him of trying to bury the discovery.
Later that night, Carl returns to the lab. Michael hasn't destroyed all the samples — he overlooked the Deighton C in the bloodstream of the monkey. Carl extracts a sample from the monkey and injects himself, intending to smuggle the drug out of the lab in his own body. Michael, anticipating his reaction, uses the lab's decontamination system to kill Carl.
Michael intends to control the knowledge and distribution of the drug to become even more wealthy and powerful. He blames the death of Carl on the automatic decontamination system, which must have activated when Carl attempted to remove the drug from the lab.
Michael then visits Tricia Lange and tries to kill her using a Metadyne drug spray. During a subsequent meeting with Darrow, Michael reveals that he lied about his Huntingtons test. He has the disease and has been taking the drug himself.
Spencer goes to Tricia's house and finds her. Michael's attempt to kill her failed and she is recovering. Despite the evidence linking Michael to Carl's death and the attempt on Tricia's life, Spencer still refuses to believe that his brother is capable of such behavior. The two of them decide to go back to the lab to collect more evidence.
At the lab, Spencer finds the monkey injected with Deighton C looking aged and sick. He realizes that the regenerative effects of the drug are not permanent. The drug actually burns off the body's lifetime regenerative ability in just a few days... and after that, the subject becomes old and sick very quickly.
Michael activates the lab decontamination system again, hoping to kill Spencer and Tricia and remove the last obstacles in his way. Spencer, having designed the system himself, is able to override and stop it just in time. They make their way to the lab control room to find Michael, where it becomes clear that the aging effect of Deighton C has begun.
The final scenes show a horribly decrepit and diseased Michael being treated in the lab by Spencer and begging to die.
Closing narration
There is an old proverb that says: 'Be careful what you wish for, for it might come true.' And if your wish is for immortality, it is something you'll have to live with...for a very long time.
