Law & Order: Special Victims Unit (TV Series)

We Dream of Machine Elves (2019)

Adam Arkin: Dr. Julius Adler

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Quotes 

• Dr. Julius Adler : So, where, uh did you go, Amanda?

  Amanda Rollins : Excuse me?

  Dr. Julius Adler : Well, I saw the light come on in your eyes, your soul leave its cage. You were on your journey. So I'm curious, where did you go?

  Dominick Carisi Jr. : [watching with Benson]  What the hell is he doing?

  Olivia Benson : She's just letting him establish rapport.

  Dominick Carisi Jr. : Uh-huh. Who else did we pick up?

• Dr. Julius Adler : [led into an interrogation room]  Oh. So by, uh, altering my external reality, you think I'll alter my responses. Is that it?

  Amanda Rollins : I want to ask you about your wife.

  Dr. Julius Adler : My wife? She's gone.

  Amanda Rollins : Gone, but not dead.

  Dr. Julius Adler : I'd ask you to, uh, leave my wife alone.

  Amanda Rollins : Like you have?

  Dr. Julius Adler : Okay, time... in this world, in this plane, has stopped for her. She's well taken care of, but the, uh, the kind of break that she suffered, there's... there's no return.

• Dr. Julius Adler : Kathleen battled demons her whole life. Her parents treated their dogs better than they treated her.

  Amanda Rollins : How? 'Cause she was a-a well-regarded doctor...

  Dr. Julius Adler : No, no. Not my fault. Her father raped her when she was a child. She completely dissociated from herself to survive. By the time she came to see me, she had already seen, and been failed by, a dozen therapists.

  Amanda Rollins : So you were her doctor.

  Dr. Julius Adler : Initially, yes, for a psych evaluation. After a suicide attempt.

  Amanda Rollins : And you slept with her?

  Dr. Julius Adler : Later. Yes, after I'd begun treating her.

  Amanda Rollins : With the hallucinogens?

  Dr. Julius Adler : And love. And positive sexual energy. She was so depersonalized, so de-realized, the only way to heal her wounds was to go back to their cause and reprogram her response.

  Amanda Rollins : Re-enacting?

  Dr. Julius Adler : Yes. And I can tell you, it did work for a time. We were happy. We conceived a child. But as Anais grew, Kathleen flooded with memories. The abuse had started earlier than she'd let herself remember. I did everything I could.

  Amanda Rollins : But you lost her.

  Dr. Julius Adler : Yes. And since then, I have... dedicated my life to saving other victims.

  Amanda Rollins : That's... that's what I want to hear about.

  Dr. Julius Adler : Oh, so many of them. It's more common than you realize. Freud knew it early on in his work. He-he... he saw how pervasive child sex assault was, but academia wouldn't even discuss incest. So he categorized their memories as childhood fantasy.

  Amanda Rollins : The Oedipus complex.

  Dr. Julius Adler : Yes. The original sin of psychotherapy.

• Amanda Rollins : Dr. Adler, come back. Stay with me.

  Dr. Julius Adler : No, no, no, no. That... that is the last thing I will do. I will not sit there with you and eat green eggs and ham. I will not give a false confession. I will not be complicit in our society's bloodlust for scapegoats!

• Amanda Rollins : I'm a big admirer of yours.

  Dr. Julius Adler : Oh.

  Amanda Rollins : Amanda. I actually took a lecture class of yours years ago.

  Dr. Julius Adler : Yeah, yes, in, uh... Atlanta, right?

  Amanda Rollins : That's right.

  Dr. Julius Adler : Yeah. Well, aren't you a fish out of water.

  Amanda Rollins : I-I am. Guess you could say I was searching for a bigger pond.

  Dr. Julius Adler : Hmm.

  Amanda Rollins : Um, I'm finishing up my master's in liberation psychiatry, and all roads still lead to you.

  Dr. Julius Adler : Oh, call me Rome.

• Odafin Tutuola : Are you Julius Adler?

  Dr. Julius Adler : Yes, I am. Uh, is this about the cello?

  Katriona Tamin : Actually, it's about the kidnapping of three young women.

  Dr. Julius Adler : Oh, that's horrible.

  Odafin Tutuola : We think they may have been brought here.

  Katriona Tamin : You recognize any of these women?

  Dr. Julius Adler : [looking at pictures]  Uh, no. No, no. But w-we have so many, uh, students and teachers, patients coming in and out. They could've audited a class or an open house.

  Katriona Tamin : Actually, I don't think that's it. They said that they were raped and drugged here.

  Dr. Julius Adler : Really? Tell me about that. W-What... what exactly did they say?

  Odafin Tutuola : That's confidential.

  Dr. Julius Adler : Oh. Well, I'm a good therapist, but even I can't explain behavior you won't describe.

  Katriona Tamin : Well, I can tell you that they were terrified.

  Dr. Julius Adler : The work that we do here, uh, pushes boundaries. Is it possible that while they were in process, uh, feelings of helplessness emerged or traumatic memories resurfaced?

  Odafin Tutuola : Maybe. Why don't we come inside and you could show us where these memories surfaced?

  Dr. Julius Adler : Whoa, whoa, whoa. I'm assuming you don't have a warrant? Uh, like you, I have to respect confidentiality. I hope that this was productive.

• Dr. Julius Adler : These kids come from, uh, abusive homes, repressive schools. They arrive, uh, totally disconnected, unable to feel.

  Amanda Rollins : I get all that, but how do you go from there to gang rape?

  Dr. Julius Adler : Rape? This is... no, no. This is about cutting through their armor, freeing their libido. Look, I-I-I'm not angry at you, Amanda, for pretending to be interested in my work. That ruse was... that was your job. But did you actually read anything I wrote?

  Amanda Rollins : Yeah, I read every single one of your books.

  Dr. Julius Adler : Then why are you asking the wrong questions? What fear is blocking you from feeling what I know is inside you?

  Amanda Rollins : Don't do that, Doctor, 'cause I am the only friend you have in here.

  Dr. Julius Adler : Friend? I am offering you the chance to journey to dimensions you can't imagine, and your reaction is to play the "good cop" card? I am so disappointed.

  Amanda Rollins : Hmm.

  Dr. Julius Adler : Really. I would like to leave unless I'm being charged with a crime.

  Amanda Rollins : Yes, actually. Possession, for now.

  Dr. Julius Adler : Well, that won't stand. I have a government-approved grant for research into DMT. My institute is a de facto extension of the university. But if the great purge must proceed, then proceed it must.

• Amanda Rollins : So, these students aren't drugging and assaulting these women, it's... therapy.

  Dr. Julius Adler : These young people are drawn to us. They-they have deep wounds. Now, by... by altering their perception of reality, while re-enacting their abuse, I am able to re-connect them with their true selves.

  Amanda Rollins : True selves? Did that help the woman in-in Bellevue? Because she may never come back.

  Dr. Julius Adler : Not my...

  Amanda Rollins : Just like your wife, who may never...

  Dr. Julius Adler : No, no! Not my fault! Not my fault! They are... they are broken. I-I try to save them. You know this, Kathleen.

  Amanda Rollins : [taken aback]  I...

  Dr. Julius Adler : Okay, all right, they have sent you to silence me.

  Amanda Rollins : That's not what's going on here, Doctor. You... you were brilliant. And look what's happened to your mind.

  Dr. Julius Adler : My mind has evolved. That is why people are threatened by me.

  [pointing to the one-way mirror] 

  Dr. Julius Adler : Who is out there? The AMA? American Psychiatric? How many forces conspire against me? Big Pharma? You said yourself. They're only interested in drugs in order to numb the soul. Who is out there?

  Amanda Rollins : No one's behind that glass but my captain.

  Dr. Julius Adler : "Oh, captain, my captain. Our fearful trip is done. The ship has weather'd every rack, the prize we sought is won."