Lights Out

Josh does not speak, not wanting her to identify his voice later. He knows that the gun is loaded with blanks, but he is aroused by her pointing it at him. He explains via text that he is taking the back route with directions on so that she knows he is taking her home. He grabs a bag of snacks from the back seat, eating an apple slice to convince Aly they are safe. He feels a pull between them and wonders if she feels it, too. She keeps the gun pointed at him but grabs some apple slices. She tells him to eat some trail mix to prove it is safe, but he thinks she just wants a peek under his mask. When he does not let her see his face, she is disappointed. At a stoplight, two men in a truck catcall Aly, and Josh leans out the window with the knife, scaring them with his mask.

When he leaned out the window, Aly saw the outline of his penis through his pants, and she asks to see it. Josh wonders if he is hallucinating. She uses the knife to threaten him and then she takes out his penis to perform oral sex. Excited, Josh pulls over, but Aly presses the knife into him and tells him to drive. He continues driving, but he realizes that Aly accidentally stabbed his hand before climaxing. Aly puts Josh’s penis away, and then she blames him for his injury and says he might need stitches.

Aly stitches Josh’s wound, noting that she is not legally allowed to do so. He does not reveal any pain, and they banter, with Aly talking and Josh typing one-handed on his phone. Fred rests in Josh’s lap, and Aly marvels at how Fred likes Josh. Josh insists that Aly go to bed and thanks her for repairing the injury she caused. Aly thinks that Josh will never see her again, but he says that he enjoyed himself and would do it again, even if it means sustaining another injury. He presses against her, and she is aroused. Josh steps back and shakes his head, indicating again that Aly needs sleep. She reluctantly agrees, and she relishes the fact that Josh stops at the door before leaving.

Aly wakes up later and debates whether her budding relationship with the Faceless Man is appropriate. She decides that she wants the fantasy, and she worries that his kindness indicates an unwillingness to be rough with her. Aly decides to take time off from work, but she has to convince herself that the hospital does not need her. She notes that her urge to help others is tied to feelings of guilt over her mother’s death. She finds pancakes in her fridge from her favorite bakery, and she checks her security log only to find a gap just before she woke up. She steps outside and sees the neighborhood covered in snow, but her driveway, sidewalk, and car are clear. Her neighbors, Wendy and Clarence, tell her that a handsome man did all the shoveling, and Aly resists the urge to ask them what he looked like. Aly messages the Faceless Man, who says that he likes taking care of her. She asks about his arm, and he tricks her into thinking it is infected. Tyler calls to ask if she wants to meet Josh in 30 minutes. She agrees and gets Josh’s number from Tyler.

Tyler makes sure that Josh is ready for Aly to come over before leaving for a date of his own. He promises Josh that Aly hates true crime, hinting that he screens all his own partners before bringing them over. Josh appreciates it and jokes about hooking up with Aly. Tyler gives him approval, which excites Josh.

With Tyler gone, Josh checks through the apartment to make sure that nothing can give away his identity. When Aly arrives, she tightly shakes his injured hand, but Josh holds back the pain. Josh gets coffee for Aly, reminding her that they met once before. She remembers, and they get to work trying to track down the Faceless Man. Josh has a program set up to look like a lot of code is happening, but it does not do anything. They chat, but are both unwilling to talk about their parents, though they both admit that their parents are how they chose their careers. Aly messages the Faceless Man to see if Josh’s phone lights up, but Josh set up an automatic reply on a separate phone. They flirt and talk, but Josh tells her that he will not track down the Faceless Man before she has to leave.

Eight hours later, Josh talks to his mother on the phone. She is worried about the shooting, and Josh implies that he is dating Aly, a trauma nurse helping with the fallout from the event. His mother is happy to hear that he is seeing someone, and Josh recalls how he was arrested on suspicion of killing his high school girlfriend when she went on a spontaneous road trip. Josh watches Aly at work, noting that he and his father differ in that Josh gagged when he saw bloody patients arriving the night before. Josh falls asleep and wakes up in the morning, frustrated that he could not get to Aly’s house before she got home.

Aly is confident that Josh is the Faceless Man, even though he held back the pain in his hand and cautioned her about stalking. She cannot explain how she knows, and she hopes she is right. She can envision a happy relationship with Josh. When she gets home, she promptly searches the house for the Faceless Man, hoping that he is waiting for her covered in fake blood. She notes that people who make thirst traps probably do not realize the obsessions of their fans.

To get revenge for the Faceless Man’s absence, Aly plugs in the camera he left in her room and then she undresses and gets ready to masturbate. She shuts off her phone when he asks what she is doing, but a loud bang interrupts her before she can masturbate. She hears a modulated voice tell Fred that he cannot play, and the Faceless Man comes into the bedroom. He chokes Aly and instructs her to continue masturbating. She jokes with him, enjoying his laughter, and he tells her that they will not use safe words. They perform a series of sex acts, but Josh is unwilling to have intercourse, saying that Aly is not a “good girl.” Aly is frustrated because Josh keeps bringing her to the brink of orgasm without letting her climax. Eventually, she has an orgasm and faints for a moment, waking up to the Faceless Man cleaning her.

Later, Josh cooks food for Aly. He worries that their sexual activity was too strenuous, and he watches Aly get out of the shower using the camera he replaced in the bedroom. Fred begs for bacon, and Josh gives him small pieces. Josh wants to have sex with Aly, but he restrains himself because he knows that Aly cannot truly consent to the relationship without knowing who he is. For now, he assumes that they are both content to live out their mask fetish fantasy. On the camera, Josh sees Aly put a tracking device in his backpack.

Josh brings Aly breakfast and checks that she is alright. She says that she is debating how she felt about “edging.” Josh consistently refers to Fred as their son, which Aly calls “presumptuous.” Josh says that he needs to leave so that Aly can get some sleep, and he also cannot wait to take off the mask. She is disappointed but checks his hand wound before he leaves. Josh leaves, drives in a pattern to write out “LOL” in the tracking software, and then drops the tracking device out the window. Aly is angry, and she calls him “Josh,” claiming that she knows it is him and plans to DNA test hairs from his sweatshirt. Josh laughs since the sweatshirt belongs to Tyler.

Aly gives the blood from Josh’s injury and the hair from his sweatshirt to Veronica, a lab technician at the hospital, but feels bad skipping the line of patients and victims in need of identification. Veronica assures Aly that it is okay to be selfish sometimes. Aly thinks about her feelings for Josh, realizing that she has been watching him longer than he has been stalking her. Josh texts Aly to apologize if he went too far in the bedroom earlier, but Aly assures him that she enjoyed herself. She explains that she is worried he is only using her for their shared fetish and wants a few days to regroup, and he says that he would never hurt her. He tells her that there is a new video up, and he threatens to come get her if she does not reach out fast enough. The video recreates their sexual activity, and the comments congratulate Aly on winning the Faceless Man’s heart.

A couple of days pass, and Aly is at work. Josh’s last video implied that they were fighting, prompting comments to debate their relationship. Aly spots an untreated patient and asks the other nurses about him. Tanya reveals that he is the rapist whom they had to treat a few nights ago and that they are waiting for a male nurse to help him. Aly says that she will help the man despite Tanya’s protests, and someone calls the nurse’s station. She assumes it is Josh, and she feels comfortable knowing that Josh is probably watching her. 

The rapist, Bradley “Brad” Bluhm, tries to flirt with Aly. She doesn’t engage but lashes out at him when he tries to grab her. He screams that Aly is threatening him, leading to a meeting with Human Resources in which Aly receives a warning for threatening a patient. The last patient is a woman who reminds Aly of her mother, who died in a car accident. This patient will live, but the sight of her injuries makes Aly regress to her 16-year-old self, forcing her to remember holding her mother as she died.

Josh watches Aly gather her things to leave work. He saw her interaction with Brad and tried to call the nurse’s station, but he could not tell what Brad said. Josh researched Brad while Aly talked to Hannah from Human Resources, and he missed whatever disturbed Aly afterward. He messages her to offer to drive her home, but she calls for a separate ride. Josh goes to her house, arriving minutes after her, and he wears a balaclava instead of his mask. 

Inside, Josh pets Fred and makes tea and a glass of wine. Startling Aly in the bathroom, she throws her brush at him and knocks tea onto his hand. Aly helps him wash the burn, and she explains that memories of her mother disturbed her, not Brad. When Aly’s mother was teaching her to drive, Aly made a mistake that led to the accident that killed her mother. Ever since, Aly has pushed herself to the brink of exhaustion helping others. Josh convinces Aly that she should not blame herself for her mother’s death and urges her to cut back on her work schedule.

Josh explains Brad’s string of crimes, all covered up by the wealthy Bluhm family, and Aly wishes that she could watch Josh murder Brad. She undresses and tells Josh that she wants to get “darker” regarding their sexual relationship. He gives in to his lust, carries Aly to her bedroom, and throws her on the bed. He stabs a knife into the corner of the mattress and tells Aly to perform sex acts on the knife’s handle.