The Trash Man

The Trash Man is an episode of Deadly Games. It aired in the United States on the United Paramount Network (UPN) on January 2, 1996. The episode is directed by Neema Barnette and written by Craig Tepper.

Recap
The opening scene begins outside of Gus' home. A front loader garbage truck with a dumpster still on the truck's fork stops at the curbside. Meanwhile, Gus is asleep in his bed. The garbage man gets out of his truck and walks over to a garbage can on the curb. He flings off the can's lid and empties the can's contents into the dumpster. When he finishes emptying the can he sees Jackal. Jackal complains about the singing birds and green lawns. He says that the garbage man's truck is the only thing that keeps the morning from being a complete disaster. The garbage man retorts by asking which lunatic asylum Jackal escaped from. Jackal responds by stating the garbage man is being ill-mannered to someone superior to him in every way. In addition, Jackal informs the garbage man that his remark caused one of Jackal's dear friends to be unhappy.

A big mysterious man in a uniform steps into the scene behind the garbage man. The mystery man grabs the garbage man's attention and points a gun at him. The garbage man starts to back away saying he doesn't want any trouble and the confrontation with Jackal was just about garbage. The mystery man appears insulted that the garbage man underestimated the value of his "precious cargo." The garbage man starts to run away but trips and falls on the ground. The mystery man shoots his gun and a gigantic garbage bag engulfs the fallen garbage man. Afterwards, Jackal addresses the mystery man and says "Mr. Hopkins, I believe you've got a pick up."

Mr. Hopkins gets two garbage can lids and starts clanging them together repeatedly. The noise wakes up Gus. He picks up his analog clock and sees that the time is about 6:05 in the morning. He reluctantly gets out of bed. Dressed only in a white undershirt and blue boxer shorts Gus walks over to a window. He blearily peers through the slats of the window blinds to locate the source of the noise. While Gus is in the process of going outside, Hopkins tosses a garbage can in front of Gus' home. Now with pajama bottoms Gus walks outside to find out what is happening. He is greeted by Jackal and Hopkins. Gus realizes a new level of the game is in play. He runs back inside and nearly dodges a garbage can lid thrown by Hopkins.

Inside his home Gus is frantically looking for cleaning supplies. He opens the cabinet underneath a sink to find only an empty bottle of dishwashing liquid. While running through the house searching for cleaning products, Gus dodges another garbage can lid that flies through a window. Gus' search eventually leads him to the bathroom. Gus runs back outside holding a tray of decorative seashell-shaped soaps. However, he is too late. Hopkins is already driving away in the garbage man's truck. Jackal approaches Gus and starts making wisecracks about the damage to the house and maybe featuring it on the cover of "Jackal Land Homes and Gardens". As Jackal is talking, he starts eating the soaps on the tray one by one. After eating two soaps, Jackal grabs all the other soaps in the tray and turns Gus' attention to the eviction notice on the door as he walks away to his Chrysler.

The opening credits run.

The next scene begins in the lab. While Peter is sitting in a chair having an interesting phone conversation, Gus walks in holding his eviction notice. After Gus' entrance, Peter ends his phone conversation complaining of a strong odor in the room. Peter gets out of his chair and away from Gus. Peter voices his concern about Gus' smell. Gus informs Peter that the Trash Man level has started. Still seeing Peter being bothered by the odor, Gus tells him that he spent the morning picking up trash and he showered afterwards. However, there was no soap because Jackal ate it.

Peter calls Lauren about the game being in play, which ruins Lauren's day of pampering herself. During the phone conversation, Gus receives an incoming call and puts Lauren on hold. The call is from Mr. Porcaro, Gus' loan officer, who wants to talk with Gus about the past eviction notices. Gus makes an appointment to meet with Mr. Porcaro at 11:50 AM. Meanwhile, Hopkins and Jackal are at a nuclear waste facility. Hopkins is filling up his garbage truck with toxic sludge. Back at the lab, Peter and Gus have a conversation about Gus not opening his mail and missing the eviction notices. Gus says that the game has been taking up his time and has been costing him a lot of money. Suddenly, Gus remembers he put Lauren on hold. While Gus tries to check if Lauren is still on the phone Lauren appears onscreen behind Gus. Lauren is irritated and Gus is very apologetic. Peter tries to calm the situation by stating that the call was about Gus possibly losing his home. Lauren expresses concern but cannot loan Gus the amount of money he needs.

In the next scene, Gus, Lauren, and Peter review Hopkins' objectives, origin, and weakness. They view a recorded playing session of The Trash Man level. In the game, Hopkins uses toxic sludge to "trash" memories of Gus' and Lauren's relationship, specifically the milestones. Hopkins was programmed as a bad guy because his "real life" counterpart prevented Gus from retrieving Lauren's discarded wedding ring. Gus lost hope of saving his marriage when Lauren's wedding ring was gone forever. Gus states Hopkins' weakness is any cleaning product. The three drive off to Hopkins' first target, the art gallery where Gus and Lauren had their first kiss on their first date.

The three arrive at the art museum before Hopkins. Gus and Lauren enter the museum while Peter remain outside. Inside the museum, Gus and Lauren talk about their first date at the museum. It is revealed Gus studied some of the artwork in preparation for that date. Lauren appears touched that the date meant a lot to Gus. While waiting for Hopkins, Gus asks Lauren for some of her cosmetic products and goes into one of the staff rooms. Outside, Hopkins is shown arriving and entering the museum equipped with an industrial sprayer. Once Hopkins is inside, Peter fruitlessly tries to disable Hopkins' truck. Back inside the museum, Gus desperate for money is trying to convince the museum curator to buy the artwork he just created with Lauren's beauty supplies. However, Jackal walks into the conversation and expresses disdain on the artistic merits of the piece.