A trauma surgeon performs complex operations under fire aboard a Canadian destroyer during the Korean War and earns a commendation for bravery. The twist: he had zero medical training and had opened a textbook only hours before. This episode traces the life of Ferdinand Waldo Demara Jr., the great imposter.

From a wealthy Massachusetts theater family ruined by the Depression to a string of monasteries, a faked suicide, and fabricated identities, we examine his playbook of the power vacuum, his impersonations as a professor, prison official, monk, and naval surgeon, and how his own extraordinary success repeatedly exposed him. It ends with a surprising final chapter of genuine acceptance.

• How he weaponized institutions' assumption of good faith to avoid scrutiny
• The photographic memory he used to cram surgical techniques a ...