The House of the Scorpion

Matt is strapped to a hospital bed surrounded by machinery and guards. He struggles with his straps until a doctor comes in to run some tests. When he is freed to use the bathroom, he tries to run before the guards stop him. The doctors are baffled by the fact that Matt’s liver function is off and he is anemic, but they decide to go ahead with the transplant.

The bodyguards take Matt to El Patrón’s room, which is elaborately decorated. El Patrón invites Matt to sit down and have some cookies, calling him mi vida. When Matt refuses to speak, El Patrón shares that his clones always forget the years of good treatment at the end of their lives. El Patrón chose to give Matt the childhood he never had. In the distance, Matt believes he hears a dove calling, “no hope.” El Patrón then deviates from the usual story, arguing that he is owed the lifetimes of each of his siblings. Celia retorts that he already took thousands of lives in the form of the buried eejits. El Viejo was the only good man in the family because he accepted what God gave him and didn’t argue when it was his time to go.