Genre: Erotic/Thriller/Drama
Director: Sam Levinson
Writer: Roy Horne
Based on characters from the 1992 film, Poison Ivy
Cast: Sydney Sweeney, Adam Scott, Haley Bennett, Sophie Lowe, Emile Hirsch, Stephen Tobolowsky, Lauren Velez
Plot: Ivy (Sydney Sweeney) jumps over a railing and slowly falls down a cliff side. Most people would die from such a fall - but not Ivy. Badly bruised and bloodied from the fall, Ivy limps along the side of the Pacific Coast Highway. Ambulances and police cars eventually arrive and once they discover who she is and what she has done, they take her away in the back of a police car. In an interrogation room, she is grilled repeatedly about what she remembers, but she manages to convince them that she truly does not remember her previous actions. Rather than jail, Ivy is then taken up the coast to the St. Veronica Psychiatric Hospital for treatment. The administrator of St. Veronica, Dr. Winston Oates (Stephen Tobolowsky) observes Ivy in her room through a camera feed as he takes notes and reads through her police file. He takes the file to Dr. David Falk (Adam Scott), who he assigns as Ivy's psychiatrist. Oates tells David that Ivy was quite the wily one before she fell off a cliff and took a blow to the head.
David is looking over Ivy's file before she is brought in to meet with him for their first session. He asks her a series of standard, boiler-plate questions from a list. Ivy isn't interested in answering any of them though. She notices David's wedding ring and asks him what his wife looks like. He makes a deal with her: he will answer one question of hers for every question she answers of his. Quid pro quo. She begins giving mundane answers to the questions he asks, while she begins to ask probing questions about David's family. He tells her that he is married and that his wife is pregnant with their first child at the moment. David then looks over at the clock and notices that they are about out of time. David then puts his standard question list away and asks Ivy one more question before the orderlies take her away: why did she terrorize the Cooper family? Ivy tries not to show any response, instead claiming she doesn't know what David is talking about. David, however, notices a twinkle of recognition in her eyes.
In the cafeteria of the hospital, Ivy sits down at the same table as Katrina (Sophie Lowe), whose arms are covered in various cutting-related scars. Ivy smiles at Katrina and asks her if she's unhappy with herself of something. Katrina asks what gave it away. Katrina then introduces herself and says she is at St. Veronica's for her habit of self-harm and asks why Ivy is there. Ivy says that the police think she tried to murder a family. Katrina is taken aback by how bluntly Ivy gave the answer. Katrina then asks if it is true. Ivy says that the answer to that question, much like life itself, is a little more complicated than yes or no. Katrina asks Ivy if she would like to be friends. Ivy runs her fingers over the scars on Katrina's arm and agrees.
That night, David is watching Ivy on the cameras as she lays in her bed. As if she knows he is watching, Ivy undresses and begins masturbating - with her eyes never once looking away from the camera. David is beginning to feel aroused when Oates walks into the room and sees what Ivy is doing. Oates winks at David and congratulates him on the exciting new patient. David turns off the monitor and leaves the hospital for the night. When he arrives at home, he finds his very pregnant wife Angela (Haley Bennett) soaking in the tub. She gets out and asks David if they can have sex. David jokes about the lack of romance in the request. Angela tells him that she read that it can help induce labor. David lays on the bed and Angela straddles him. While Angela rides him, David closes his eyes and his mind goes back to the image of Ivy masturbating. Angela has an orgasm and rolls off of David. Angela, sweating, says that the baby needs to hurry up and pop out already.
During their next session, Ivy asks David if he watches the camera feed from her room ever. David says he has watched briefly, but not much as he prefers to base as much of his treatment on these session and less on outside observation. Ivy asks David if he likes what he's seen so far. David says he doesn't understand her question. Ivy then suddenly reaches her foot under the desk and begins rubbing it against David's crotch. After a few moments, David scoots his chair back out of reach of Ivy's foot. David tells Ivy that they need to end their session now before Ivy does something that could complicate her case. Ivy says she wouldn't want anything to happen that would make things even more complicated.
While Ivy and Katrina are eating lunch, Katrina confesses that she's been institutionalized for the better part of the last decade because she just can't help herself - when she sees something sharp and metallic she always feels the urge to cut herself. Ivy asks Katrina if she's ever had sex before. Katrina, embarrassed, shakes her head no. Ivy says that they'll just have to see what they can do about that.
David is driving home from work, but he cannot focus as he keeps glancing over at Ivy's file on the passenger seat. He finds a place to pull over. He then begins masturbating to Ivy's picture. When David gets home, he immediately goes to take a shower. When David is done drying off, he finds Angela looking at Ivy's file. David tells Angela that she shouldn't be going through his work papers and takes the file away from her. Angela comments that the girl looks normal enough and asks what's wrong with her. David reminds Angela that he cannot talk about a specific patient's diagnosis, but assures her that the world is a marginally safer place with Ivy locked away.
Ivy sneaks into Katrina's room and joins her in bed. Ivy takes off Katrina's clothes and begins kissing her neck and chest. Dr. Oates happens to be walking by and hears noises coming from Katrina's room. When he enters, Katrina freezes. Unsure of what to do, Oates just stands there. Ivy climbs out of the bed and invites Oates to take her place with Katrina. Oates takes his pants off and climbs on top of Katrina. Ivy sneaks Oates' keys from his pocket. She heads to his office and watches Oates and Katrina have sex on the camera feed. Once the act is done, Ivy downloads a copy of the video onto a USB drive she finds in Oates' desk. As she is leaving the office, she notices a letter opener on top of a stack of mail. She pockets the letter opener and leaves the office, locking it back up behind her. Ivy then sneaks back into Katrina's room and puts Oates' keys back where she got them. Oates gets up to leave, putting his clothes back on without so much as a word to either girl. Ivy gives Katrina a kiss and places the letter opener on the floor before leaving for the night.
In the morning, Katrina wakes up and sees the letter opener. She grabs it and slashes her throat and both of her wrists with it. Ivy is in line for breakfast when she sees several doctors and orderlies rush toward Katrina's room. Katrina is taken to the hospital in an ambulance in critical condition. Oates enters the room and sees all the blood - including his bloody letter opener. Oates gets a very worried look on his face. He tries to pocket it, but there are too many people around. Oates calls Ivy into his office and asks what she did. Ivy says that she didn't do anything other than help a friend. She just hopes that when the time comes, he will be able to help her.
David is called to testify before Judge Carlotta Beltran (Lauren Velez) regarding Ivy. The judge asks David to make a preliminary diagnosis for Ivy so that the courts may decide if she should remain institutionalized further. David diagnoses Ivy with histrionic personality disorder, with some additional behaviors that could be categorized as narcissistic or even psychopathy. When Judge Beltran asks him if he thinks Ivy is a danger to herself or others and should remain institutionalized, David says he believes she is and should be. When he returns to the hospital, David finds out that Ivy is being released despite his testimony after Dr. Oates went to the judge himself and poked holes in David's diagnosis. David goes to confront Oates, who insists that he simply disagrees with David's diagnosis. Oates claims that Ivy should not be held liable for any crimes she has no memory of and he has seen her be nothing but friendly and "normal" around him and on the cameras - certainly not the sort that belongs in police or psychiatric custody. Ivy walks past David as she is being released. Ivy thanks David for his help as she found their sessions enlightening.
Ivy hitchhikes back to Los Angeles, having no trouble attracting a ride. Once she is in the city, she is spotted by pop singer Wyatt Holmes (Emile Hirsch), who is riding in the back of a limousine. He orders to driver to stop and pull up next to her. Wyatt invites her into the limo. He pours her a glass of champagne and tells her that he hasn't had sex as good as it was with her since they last met. Ivy smiles and gulps down the drink. Wyatt asks her what she wants to do. Ivy looks at the drab clothing she is wearing from St. Veronica's and asks Wyatt to take her shopping. They go to a high end store where Ivy begins grabbing all kinds of clothing items off the racks. She then pulls Wyatt into the dressing room. She begins trying on clothes for him. Wyatt decides to help her undress for the next outfit and pulls off a red dress she is trying on. Ivy then climbs into Wyatt's lap and they have sex on the dressing room bench. When they leave the dressing room, Wyatt leaves a wad of cash on the counter, saying that ought to cover their purchases. Ivy begins walking down the street away from Wyatt. He calls out for her to call him. She says she doesn't have a phone, so he gives her his.
While David and Angela are in their kitchen preparing dinner, Angela's water breaks. David nearly slips on the fluid before helping Angela out to the car. Angela rapidly goes into labor on the drive, blaming all the spicy food she had for lunch. After the baby is born at the hospital, the nurse suggests that Angela and the baby get some sleep. David tells Angela that he is going to go back to the house for a little bit to clean up the food they left out and make sure they didn't burn down the house. He gives Angela and the newborn a kiss on their foreheads before leaving.
When David gets back home, he finds dinner cooked and waiting on the table. He then looks over at the TV and sees the video of Ivy, Katrina and Oates. Ivy then enters with some candles that she places in the middle of the table. She apologizes for not having dinner ready before he got home, but the kitchen floor was a mess when she got in there. David is perplexed by Ivy's presence and asks her how she got into his house. Ivy says that David left the door unlocked. She then asks how Angela and the baby are doing. David demands that Ivy leave his house. Ivy holds out a kitchen knife and says that she isn't going anywhere until she gets what she wants. She then uses the knife to cut some chicken. David asks what she wants. Ivy says that no one has ever turned down her sexual advances before. David says that he loves his wife. Ivy looks at a picture of David and Angela and comments that she and Angela don't look entirely dissimilar. Ivy then holds out the knife again and tells David to sit at the table. He does as she says. She tells him that if he has sex with her she will leave him alone. She hands him a glass of wine for a toast. He quickly gulps the wine down and bends Ivy over the table. As they have sex on the table, they knock over the candles, catching the table cloth on fire. They roll off of the table and onto the floor. While David puts out the fire, Ivy slides her red dress back on and takes David's keys. She then drives off in his car. When David realizes what happened, he tries to call the police but only gets a busy signal.
David finally arrives via taxi cab back at the hospital. He checks on Angela, who says she has been unable to sleep because she is nervous about the baby and asks David if he can go down to the nursery to check for her. David agrees and wanders the complicated hospital hallways until he finds the nursery. When he looks through the window, he sees the 'Falk' crib empty. He asks a nurse where his baby is, and she says that his wife came and got the baby. David argues that isn't true since she is still in bed. The nurse then points over to a woman near the elevator, stating she has the baby. David looks over and sees Ivy with the baby. She gets in the elevator. David runs over, but the elevator doors close before he can get there. Seeing that the elevator is going down, David runs down the stairwell to the first floor. He runs out to the front of the hospital where he sees Ivy crossing the street. He runs after her, only to be hit by an ambulance as he runs across the street. David's body flies over the top of the ambulance, tumbling over and hitting the street with a thud. Ivy sees David's still and bloody body on the ground and looks disappointed. She uses the commotion gathering around the crash to calmly walk back into the hospital and return the baby to the nursery.
Angela asks a nurse if they have seen her husband. The nurse apologizes and says that things are a little crazy right now due to the accident so she can't help her find her husband. Angela asks about the accident and the nurse tells her that a man was crossing the street when he was hit by an ambulance. Angela gets up out of bed and walks down to the nursery herself. She sees little baby Falk laying in the crib. Angela smiles at the sight of her healthy baby. Meanwhile, Ivy ditches David's car for one of Wyatt Holmes' convertibles. She drives along the coastline with the top down, blowing the wind through her hair.
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