Medusa Deluxe (2022) Movie Script

What the fuck is going on?
And why the fuck
are we holed up in here?
- They wanna talk to us.
- Who?
- The police?
- Yeah.
I am in the middle
of a Georgian Fontange.
You can't just walk away
from that shit.
He weren't even in
the fucking competition.
- He was.
- I mean 'in it to win it'.
It was me, you and Kendra,
you know that.
I see you there
doing that cheeky chignon.
How do they even know it's murder?
You see my fontange.
There is some serious history
in this hairstyle. Do you know that?
A story.
What's your chignon saying?
You agree, Angie?
Evil will triumph.
What?
It's what my dad used to say
and he was fucking right.
They follow me, dead people.
All I wanna do is cut hair
and they keep dropping.
- You know my last assistant?
- Genevieve?
No, before that. A bloke. Polo.
He's driving to the salon,
he's got a foot well full of peroxide,
bottles of the stuff...
...no-one knows what happens next...
...but in all likelihood,
he sparks up, drops the fucker.
Blammo. Fucking fireball.
Shit, was he alright?
Alright?
No. He was dead.
Trainee hairdressers
don't survive exploding cars.
All I'm saying is
this can be a dangerous business.
- Do you think he was murdered?
- No.
Everyone knows peroxide is flammable.
He was just fucking stupid.
Divine, do you smoke
in your store cupboard?
Poor guy.
- Was he like, proper burnt?
- Unidentifiable.
- Chargrilled.
- Oh, that's terrible. And the family...
- When are they gonna speak to us?
- Who?
- The police!
- Dunno, why?
Cos I fucking hate them, that's why!
Racist pricks!
They're gonna be like, "oh, we heard
you and Mosca had some fight once,
tell us about that."
- You did?
- Yeah.
Because he broke
little Claudia's heart.
You know Claudia? In the salon.
- Big nose, bob. Always changing colour.
- He did?
Yeah, they was going together about,
I dunno, six months, maybe more.
And then one day,
beautiful summer's day,
they're at the beach,
she's sunbathing.
She's got loads of sun cream
on that schnozz. Stop it burning.
And I think she felt
a little bit self-conscious.
- And what?
- She smelt it.
Smelt what?
Cum.
All over his fucking breath.
- What?
- Yeah.
He's got some pretty boy
in the toilet sucking him off.
He's sucking them off,
there's a whole heap of fucking sucking.
And then he expects a kiss.
Grim.
- Do you wanna take five, Angie?
- I'm okay.
- So?
- Well, it's that nose init?
Like a drug-sniffing hound.
Smelt that shit,
knew what had been going down.
Probably suspected for some time.
Ended it right there.
How you come into this?
Claudia is my girl.
You cannot be messing
with the staff of a rival salon.
So what'd you do?
I walked straight over
to his bullshit salon,
pushed straight up in there,
he's doing some woman's quiff,
some OAP, 65-year-old bitch
he's trying to make feel young,
I'm like: "You old, bitch. Get over it."
- And I wonked him.
- You what?
I wonked him
right in the back of his head.
- With your fist?
- No, with a bottle of conditioner.
That shit that he flogs
in the glass bottles.
Like conditioner's any better
in a glass bottle.
It broke.
I didn't know it was gonna break.
There's glass everywhere.
In his skull, on that old OAP bitch.
He's looking at me, all bleary-eyed.
Conditioner dripping down his forehead,
mixing with the blood.
He sees the blood, and bam!
Faints.
How did I not know this?
You crazy. Like volatile, hysteria shit.
- You think I'm volatile?
- Well, I didn't.
You don't think that fucker
deserved some recompense?
Yeah, but grievous bodily harm?
I don't like your tone.
What would you've done?
I dunno.
It wouldn't have involved assault.
- Assault?
- Yeah. You could've killed him.
Look, just cos you some whining arse,
moaning bitch...
...don't mean we all
need to spend our day swivelling.
- What the fuck?
- You heard.
Your bloke leaves you
and what do you do?
Shut up shop and do house calls?
No-one there to pay the rent,
so you give up? I mean, fuck bitch.
Get some fucking paper.
You should've battered him.
You're fucking whacko, you know?
You need a muzzle and shit.
I am a powerful, confident female.
You wanna try it.
I might take that break now.
I bet you're sitting there, all shaking,
thinking about talking to the police.
What's it to you?
Yeah, I'm uncomfortable.
Colleague's just been murdered.
There could be a serial killer
on the loose.
- At a hairdressing competition?
- It could be you.
What, some bloke wanting to vent
a bad hair day all over our jugulars?
- Why's it a he?
- Cleave, I want my break.
Go on then.
What? You think I'm about to
shove this hair dye down your throat?
I don't know.
You think this is
what a murderer looks like?
I'm telling you, whatever it looks like,
it don't look like this.
It looks like some
goblin motherfucker
sitting in a cave
and wanking over cartoon characters.
- So what you gonna say to the police?
- Exactly that. It weren't me.
Absolute mad-ting, bro.
I can't even...
- Have you spoken with Timba?
- She's in there with Kendra.
- What'd she say?
- She's right there, you can ask her.
One minute he's shaping my fro,
the next he's dead.
And you felt nothing?
I was thinking, 'this is where I should
scream, but nothing's coming out'.
Angie wants in.
Tell her how you found him.
It's terrible, Ange.
All bloody, bleeding in the carpet.
- I'm so sorry, Timba.
- And?
Someone scalped him, Angie.
- Scalped?
- Like an Indian.
Like by an Indian.
- How do you even scalp someone?
- Cut and pull.
- Cut and pull?
- Yeah, you cut and pull.
So you found him there, dead?
- Missing his hair.
- His scalp.
His hair and his scalp.
It was a bloody mess, Angie.
He's there bleeding and I'm like,
"What the fuck?"
I'd been in that chair five hours,
him shuffling around me,
sweating, stinking, then...
I'm out for five minutes
and he gets scalped.
I can't get over it.
Who scalps a hairdresser?
Are we doing this again?
What, you wanna move
the conversation on here?
You think it's time
to switch channels?
- Did I say that?
- So you just walked in on this?
Picture it, Ange.
Yesterday I come in, you're all there.
He gets first pick of the draft
and goes to me.
Sensible choice.
Then, he sits me down
this morning and he's like,
- "Inverted pear."
- Inverted pear?
Yeah, inverted pear.
- You're not an inverted pear.
- I know.
He's like, "Look at you, I love this face.
Any style, any look, you can wear it."
I'm like, "Hold up. 'Inverted pear'?
I think you mean
a 'heart shaped diamond'."
- I can feel my body tensing.
- I'm telling you, he lost it in '09.
But I'm like, "Higher power calm, Timba,
you came here to win."
I wanna hit social media
with that trophy.
I mean, I can see where he was going
with all of this, but like...
I'm telling you,
me and Etsy, we had it.
- Can she finish?
- I've heard her.
Angie hasn't.
This is where you get scared.
So, he says, "Timba."
I'm like, "Yeah?"
- "Have you heard of Akwyelebi?"
- Akweyley-what?
- Exactly.
- Keep going.
He tells me it's a traditional
Ghanaian hairstyle
that translates to
'come together as one'.
I don't push him on it, I just say
"I'm from Catford, South London."
But he ain't listening, he goes on.
I came in here for a haircut
and I'm getting a history lesson.
But he's so passionate about it...
...I don't have the heart to say to him
my family's Senegalese.
So I let him go on.
I'm texting Latoya whilst
he's banging on about Bolga Braids...
...my man's from Istanbul.
Three hours later I'm still there.
Three hours ain't nothing,
Latoya had seven last year.
So you wanna pee?
Pee?
I'm hungry, Angie. Like famished.
Like nick a kid's 'happy meal' hungry.
So I say to him,
"Mosca, get me some food." Nothing.
I say again, "Mosca." This time more firm,
trying to catch his eye in the mirror.
For a second I'm thinking,
"He don't look too good."
But then my belly rumbles
so I'm back on his case, "Mosca!"
He snaps, "Stay there!"
Could've killed him right there.
The man just died, Etsy.
- You didn't like him neither.
- I didn't know him.
So, I'm like, "I'm not letting no fat
little Turkish man kick off with me."
Now I'm up,
all over his personal space,
he's backing down, white with fear.
Then...
I leave. Go to the canteen,
buy myself some carrots and dip,
have a fag, come back. Bam!
Mosca's lying there dead.
Angl is gonna be heartbroken.
- Who's Angl?
- His long-term lover. Keep up.
I've just been hearing he had some fling
with a girl from Cleave's salon.
- Claudia?
- Yeah.
- That was time ago.
- She don't work there anymore.
- What's this, safety in numbers?
- Where else we gonna wait?
- What're they even doing upstairs?
- Photos, forensics. You never saw CSI?
- Any of you got a tampon?
- My stuff's upstairs.
- Mine too.
- Kendra's bag's here. Kendra?
- Yeah?
- You got a Tampax in your bag?
- Inside pocket, darling.
- Thanks.
Did Cleave calm down?
Still moaning about me
closing the salon and doing house calls.
- You closed the salon?
- She wants you back.
- Cleave's still styling you?
- She wants the photos for socials.
- And you call me insensitive?
- What else are we supposed to do?
- Everyone grieves different.
- Yeah, I'm not sure she's grieving.
I'm telling you,
keep your eyes on Kendra.
You hear her?
One of her competitors gets scalped
and she ain't curious?
Always changing the subject.
I could listen to you
talk all morning, Timba.
'What was he wearing?'
'Did he have a limp?' But Kendra...
-... she's all over it from first we hear.
- Look, this for real?
- I'm telling you.
- We don't even know it's murder.
So, what, you think he scalped himself,
yeah? He's like, "Oh, I've got a giggle."
- Did I say that?
- What's your point, Etsy?
I'm telling you,
she's fixing this shit.
The competition?
Last year she basically said it to me.
Do you remember
that Queen Nefertiti look?
The one we won with.
Well, when it's all done, I'm like,
"Do you think we'll win?"
And she just smiles, you know, like,
'that is all in hand' kind of smile.
You're getting all that from a smile?
One smile and she's some kind of gangster?
Fixing the show, murdering her rivals?
- I'm just saying.
- Yeah, you keep saying.
I need some air.
Can you just not stay in your room?
Bathroom off limits?
Ren, Ren.
You good, Inez?
As good as you can be.
You wanna take the style out some time?
Yeah, might as well. Come on.
You good with taking off your makeup?
I got some of that remover
in my bag there.
- That gonna take this face paint off?
- We'll find out.
You think we would have won?
Nah. But... who knows.
Have you got any baby wipes?
Oh yeah. Just there, Inez.
Thanks. Appreciate it.
You know Etsy thinks Kendra's in on this.
Thinks she's fixing the show.
Gossip Express is moving.
My money is on Cleave.
- Cleave?
- Yes.
Been in fucking beast mode
since she found out.
You know Mosca had
a restraining order on her.
- What?
- No joke.
It's all coming out now.
There's me thinking we're just
a bunch of hairdressers.
You know Mosca had Timba in there for,
like, seven hours this morning.
He is long.
So glad I didn't get lumped with him.
Well, that's probs
why Latoya's not back this year.
No, she got pregnant,
just given birth.
Seven hours, though?
I had my spleen out quicker.
- What, you got no spleen?
- No.
So you wear that
pouch around your belly?
What?
No, your spleen's part of your immune
system. Filters the blood and stuff.
- Is it?
- Yeah.
You just take antibiotics afterwards,
does the same thing.
And then I gotta wear
this snaky bracelet.
Just so if I have a crash or whatever
the paramedics know.
Have you got any more wipes?
Yeah, just take the pack.
I've got a load upstairs.
You not helping?
You got any tape?
Smoke alarm.
- Do you want a baby wipe?
- Nah.
Water vapour even set them off.
Do you want some?
- Aniseed?
- Yeah.
Rome's aphrodisiac of choice.
They built an empire
off a single flavour.
So what's your name?
Gac.
That's a weird name.
It's like 'Yak'.
Cow with horns.
Snow cows?
How do you tell someone
their lover's been scalped?
And the weirdest thing is...
...you see him there, staring up at you...
...and it's like this...
...this moment of total clarity.
I always thought
it were dead person that,
you know,
saw everything in fast forward.
But there I am and he's not...
...seeing everything.
You ever lost someone you love?
I've gotta give these back.
I didn't use them all.
Oh, yeah, just chuck 'em down there.
- These mixed?
- No, he's just giving something back.
- You seen Ren?
- No.
You hiding from me?
I just needed some space, alright?
Do you wanna talk?
I loved him, Kendra.
Well, you kept that quiet.
He's been fucking butchered.
Pull yourself together, Ren,
your head's gone.
Oh, do you even care?
Ren, look at me.
Look at me.
Look at me!
You were bankrolling his salon.
Right? He was your mate.
This is your competition.
Target's only pointing one way, mate.
- He paid me back.
- What?
- The salon.
- It doesn't matter.
Ren! Ren!
Ren, Ren, Ren, Ren...
Ren.
Ren.
Right, listen to me.
When you talk,
you give short answers, alright?
- How long do you know him?
- Years.
Do you want to
put a number on that?
Where'd you meet?
Cutting hair.
Just me and him in the salon.
With his mum on reception,
with a perm.
Okay, short answers, Ren.
They don't care about perms.
- Perfect beach wave.
- So, okay,
you started a salon when you met him...
...and then you left to run these.
Alright? End of.
I have got no interest
in you going down, Ren.
Listen, alright,
sip on this and cool off.
They're gonna ask
if you were lovers.
Not since Angl.
And that is the direction
that you wanna be pointing in.
Alright? Disgruntled boyfriend,
sensitive type. Hmm?
Have you told him yet?
- Okay, so he doesn't know.
- Look, he's coming here now.
- I'll tell him, just not on the phone.
- Alright, well just sip on that,
take a breath
and keep your fucking head.
You point him in their direction,
they're gonna find what they're after.
You alright, Kendra?
- What weave you using, Divine?
- Indian.
You gotta go Russian.
They've got the finest.
Do you know how they get
that stuff off the Indians?
You're really telling me about weaves?
Do you know, Inez?
Right, Chinese workers
picking it up out of the gutter
- after they chop it off for their Gods.
- Vishnu?
Do you want a sacrifice
on your head?
Fucks with your dreams, Inez.
Have you thinking you're some poor Indian
child they've blinded to go begging.
Imagine you've been scalped.
Is there nothing else
we can think about?
He's still upstairs, Kendra.
- Can you even die from being scalped?
- No.
Some scars, yeah, but not dead.
It's ceremonial.
It's fucking gruesome.
Well, it's real. That's your connection
to the Lord right there.
- Inez, you say Latoya's pregnant?
- No, she's had it.
Right, you tell her,
before she takes it for a haircut
make sure she plaits one braid,
right at the top of its head.
That is the centre of the soul.
Have whoever's cutting
cut that braid, tuck it in a Bible.
Where'd you get that from?
You don't believe
in the Almighty?
I don't believe in
whatever you're saying.
- Their hair's straight. The kid's hair.
- Doesn't matter.
Do one column, hold it, cut it, keep it.
Oh, come on.
- I bet no one did that for Mosca.
- As if it would've helped.
That's your opinion.
- Just so happens to be the right one.
- Well, whatever you think,
me and Jesus have been getting close
these last few months.
- You joined a cult?
- Working part-time for a mortician.
What for?
I'm a single mum, Kendra,
I take what I can get.
So you found God, yeah?
He never left.
I just reaffirmed my connection.
That how you relax?
It gives you space to think.
It's quiet, just me and the embalmer.
Doesn't say much, the sound
of his wheelchair rolling around.
- What's wrong with his legs?
- His back.
I dunno, but he just says,
"I've seen it all but death
and I ain't afraid of nothing
but the Lord."
And that's the Almighty you think
would've saved Mosca?
What were you talking to Ren about?
- What?
- Upstairs in the corridor.
Nothing, just...
How he's dealing with all this.
- What do you mean?
- I mean this is his business, Inez,
so do you think
anyone's gonna turn up next year?
Why not?
Because Mosca just got murdered
on his watch.
- Well, that's not Ren's fault.
- Do you think that matters?
This stuff sticks and he's got Angl
turning up here any minute.
That all?
Yes, that's all.
What the fuck is this? Twenty questions?
Etsy thinks you've been
fixing the show with Ren.
- And how would I do that?
- I don't know, you tell me.
I'm not sure
I need to tell you anything, Inez.
Do you know what I'm gonna do, Inez?
Right...
...I'm just gonna say that we all got
a little bit over excited there.
And I'm gonna leave it at that.
Because you have beautiful hair
and I would like to style you one day.
And maybe we could
win something together.
And it'd be a real shame to ruin that.
Wouldn't it?
- Fuck, that was like some Columbo shit.
- Etsy's right.
Let her get all comfortable and then bam!
Hit her with the questions.
Give me a sec.
Where you at, girl? Wake up,
you're gonna wanna call me back. Trust me.
Angl, listen.
I'll be there in 20 seconds,
you'll see me, okay?
You'll see me. Okay.
Ren!
What is going on, Ren?
You leave me with some cryptic message
and I'm seeing all of this?
I'm frightened, Ren.
Listen, Angl.
There's been an accident.
What happened?
- You brought Pablo?
- What happened, Ren?
Mosca's been scalped and he's not...
By accident?
He's gone, Angl.
And his scalp?
It's all gone.
- I don't understand.
- He's gone.
- Have you seen him?
- Yes.
- You found him?
- No, no, Timba did.
- Who is Timba?
- His model.
- Who was it?
- Inverted pear.
I'm so, so, so, so sorry. I just...
- I thought you'd wanna hear it from me.
- I don't understand, Ren, what happened?
We just don't know.
And it was his this year.
Oh, you should've seen it.
Gold kenkolon weave,
his old Ghanaian style...
Do you think I care?
He told me himself, he said,
"This is my year, Ren."
He said it himself.
I'm so sorry. I...
- I thought you'd wanna hear it from me.
- Oh, hear this from you.
You really think I want to
hear this from you?
You don't know what it was like, Ren.
To watch him pitch up at these things
and lose over and over and over.
This has nothing
to do with me.
This has everything
to do with you, Ren!
You said to me you would help him.
It's just you and me now.
We're the only two who loved him.
And Pablo.
- He was beautiful, Ren.
- I know.
I don't think you can know love,
until you have a beauty like him,
you can't know love.
- I loved him.
- I know.
You know, I let him be. No?
- I waited for him, I let him live.
- I know, I know.
Did he?
That didn't mean anything, Angl.
What am I going to do, Ren?
You're not alone, believe me.
What we need to do now,
is come inside and talk to the police.
- No, I can't, Ren.
- You have to.
What was it like?
You don't wanna know. I can't...
- I can't explain it to you.
- But how?
We just don't know.
Where is Patricio?
I don't know, Angl.
You've gotta come inside.
- They're gonna wanna speak to you.
- I want to see Patricio.
- Why?
- I need to speak with him, Ren.
Oh, listen...
I'm gonna go back inside.
Have you got anything to swaddle him in?
- His BabyBjrn.
- Where is it?
- In the back.
- Alright.
Let's get it over with.
Yeah.
Listen, will you just calm down?
I'll be there in five minutes, alright?
Fucking hell!
We don't swear around Pablo. We...
- I can't, Ren.
- Come here, come here, look at me.
Look at me.
You've got this, alright?
And I'm here, I'm here for you.
Alright? Come on.
- I'll take that.
- You have to put it on like a jacket.
It's a bit complicated, this.
Has to clip in. I'll go get him.
That's it.
Hey, little man.
You've got big, ain't you?
Come here, let's...
Ooh, that's it.
- Little legs.
- Good boy, good boy.
Haven't seen you
for a long time, have I?
Come on, then.
Everything look alright?
We're going up to see all your aunties.
That's it.
- All these clips secure? I can't get it.
- Go on, I've got him.
- Come on, then.
- Okay.
Come here.
Okay, okay.
Look at the police car.
Angl, I know.
This way.
You going on a little ride?
Look at him, hey.
- Hey, baby.
- Now, listen.
Listen,
what we're gonna do now, right.
You know Kendra?
She's good with kids.
She's good, isn't she?
She's upstairs,
she's with the models.
- We'll leave him there, he'll be fine.
- Okay.
And then you and me,
we're gonna go upstairs
and talk to the police, aren't we?
Right? You got that?
- I'm here for you.
- Thank you.
- You've got it.
- Thank you.
Hey.
Look at how beautiful he is.
He's a lovely man.
Okay, come on now.
You've got this.
- You'll be out of here in no time.
- Okay.
This won't take long.
In here, love.
You go.
Can I join?
Floor two, Angl.
Angl,
I'm sorry for your loss, mate.
Ren?
Ren!
- When are they gonna see us?
- Cleave, he's just lost Mosca.
We're gonna pop the kid in at Kendra's
and then I'll come and find you, okay?
I won't be long.
Where you been?
Needed a chill.
I thought you quit.
So you cooled down then?
Where the fuck is Angie?
You scared her off
with your crazed psycho bitch act.
I planned that style, Divine.
Six months.
Oh, I've had Claudia in the chair
every fucking Saturday practising.
Even with her nose
it was fucking extra.
We all practised, Cleave.
You don't get it. I had this.
- You really think that?
- I know it.
Look, I'm not being funny, Divine,
but what you do is average.
You're an okay hairdresser,
better than some,
but there's another level.
Did you see the pastel highlights
in my fontange?
You don't think Kendra
would've had some edge?
No, I do not.
- Well, what if she did?
- What?
Win.
Then I'd wait.
Two months.
And in the dead of night
I'd stick a flaming rag in her gas tank.
Is that a joke?
I don't know, is it?
You're lucky I'm even here.
I just came out of
the goodness of my heart
- to give you some grapevine chatter.
- What?
Kendra's paying Ren off.
Serious.
What do you mean?
Exactly what I'm saying.
Kendra is paying off Ren.
I fucking knew it.
That fucking snake!
And Ren.
Ren!
Who comes in here every year,
looking in my face,
telling me,
"I think it's your year this year, Cleve."
Cleave, he says
the same thing to everyone.
That fucking Pantene Pro-V cunt!
- What the fuck, Ren?
- Cleave?
You know! You fucking know.
Go on! Show me those accounts.
Them offshore ones.
- What am I gonna see, Ren?
- Calm it down, Cleave.
- What am I gonna see?
- Do you think I'm in Panama Papers?
I'm an ex-hairdresser running
a regional hairdressing competition.
I don't give a fucking fuck!
I wanna know if that bitch
is your piggy bank!
Oh, there she is!
Your personal fucking ATM.
- What?
- Your fucking piggy bank!
- Cleave, what the fuck?
- You fucking bitch!
You duplicitous cunt!
You cheating fucker!
What the fuck?
You fucking cheating bitch!
She maced me!
It's fucking TRESemm
you crazy bitch!
Cleave, what the fuck
is wrong with you?
What the fuck
is fucking wrong with me?
You told me that she's fixing shit
and now it's all shock horror
when I bring the consequences.
You think you're on our side?
We've got a fucking
dead body up there, Cleave.
How's this supposed to help?
Higher power calm, Cleve.
Cleave, will you please go downstairs
and get the band
to play something chill.
All we need to be doing here
is hold tight, say a piece.
And then we can get out of here.
Angie.
Can I finish that fontange?
- Well, that's a good idea.
- Is it?
Angie, look, why don't you and Cleave
go downstairs and finish that pouf?
It's a fontange.
- Looks like a pouf to me.
- Just...
I ain't fucking finished with you yet.
Angie.
Fucking hell!
Ren, I'm not spending all fucking night.
When are we getting out of here?
- Kendra, are you okay?
- No, Ren, I'm not.
That move with the hairspray.
Can you see these marks?
Are they gonna bruise?
Looks alright.
They look like some
fetish shit got crazy.
I look like some nut-job
strangled me.
Where's Angl?
Anyone seen Patricio?
- Who?
- Security guard.
What, the one with Mosca last night?
Probably. Tall, tanned.
Nah, short and Asian.
- Gac?
- What?
- Buzz cut, intense eyes.
- Yeah, that's him.
- Him and Mosca?
- Yeah, all fucking loved up.
Last night when we were leaving.
I don't know
what you're talking about, man.
Oh, he got some baby wipes
off us earlier.
- What for?
- Dunno, it's not the kinda thing you ask.
I'll see you in five.
Ren!
What, he's just gonna leave us
with the kid, yeah?
What you all looking at?
Fine, I'll take him, okay?
Won't I, Pablo? Come here.
Do you guys want anything
from the canteen?
You going up there alone?
- You need a bodyguard.
- I've got Pablo.
I'll come with.
You girls good
with vending machine lattes?
- Get me a water.
- Yeah.
Look at his eyes.
Observant little man, aren't you?
Me and Etsy are the only ones without.
Now Latoya's had hers.
Well, good for you girl.
Fucks with your hair.
You don't see me
working with no mums.
They get no sleep, they come in with sick
in their weave, I got no time for it.
My mum has menopause late, so...
- Thinking I've got time.
- Freeze your eggs, girl.
Get a surrogate.
Honestly, how do you think
they had Pablo?
I didn't.
- Well, Angl didn't pop him out, did he?
- Well, who did?
One of you.
Oh yeah...
Mosca's model from '09, right.
He gives her this fleeted bob
with a quilted undercut and cowlick curl.
Four years later, she's carrying Pablo.
How'd you get all this?
I keep on top of my gossip, don't I?
Will you get my purse?
Right, will you take him?
Come on.
Thanks, darling.
So why'd you cheat?
Why don't you grab a seat
and I'll bring these over?
You ever been dragged
by your hair, Inez?
- What?
- You know, at school.
Like some girl in the playground...
...she just, you know,
grabs a fistful of your hair
- and just drags you by it?
- No.
Happened to me all the time.
Grab and drag.
One boy just ripped out
a whole load once.
Wouldn't happen to you
because of your hair.
It's Asian hair, it's like nylon,
it's fucking strong.
Everyone thinks
you've got extra follicles,
actually you got less.
Just thicker strands.
- Why're you telling me this?
- Because it's your birthright.
Each strand has got this chunky diameter
and it grows straight up.
I'd love to style you.
Give you something
sharp and angular,
make it look like
there's a weapon on there.
What's this got to do
with you cheating?
I'm ambitious.
You don't think
I'm allowed to be ambitious.
What, that an excuse?
It's a regional hairdressing
competition, who cares?
Mosca did.
- Is that my problem?
- Depends if you scalped him.
Inez.
You don't know anything about me.
You see me winning
and you think you know,
but what do you actually know?
That I've got salons?
That I've got brands,
that I've got product ranges?
That I've got money?
Great, good for me.
I am here because I care.
No one cheats if they don't care.
Do you think this is a woman
that's gonna start cheating?
That's exactly what I think.
Then you're a fool, mate, and there
ain't nothing I can do about that.
Is this latte yours?
Yeah.
That's a cute kid.
Do you have any paracetamol?
No, sorry.
Do you have any painkillers?
It's him.
Who?
She said you have painkillers.
I've got some Feminax.
- Yeah?
- They're for cramps.
Thanks.
- That's him.
- Who?
Creepy security guard?
What you doing?
- Following him.
- Why?
Look at him.
That's a fucking scalper.
Well, you're not taking Pablo.
Pablo.
This is Divine.
She's gonna hold you tight,
keep you warm.
- Be nice to her, alright?
- Hello.
Come on.
- Timba, you not hanging back?
- No.
What are they doing?
How you doing, Pablo?
What are they doing? Huh?
Silly girls, aren't they?
Are they silly girls?
Yes, they are.
Who's that?
Who's that? Look at you.
Yeah, who's that? Huh?
You know, Pablo,
it's gonna sound so stupid, but you...
You spend so much time
looking at other people in the mirror,
you sometimes forget
to look at yourself.
Oh, God. I'm only 35.
Look at the marks my glasses leave.
You wanna see yourself?
You wanna see yourself.
Look, is that you?
Look at you.
You're cute now, aren't you?
Your soft skin, you're smiling.
I wish you stayed like that.
15 years, it'll be, "do this, do that."
Cut fucking dead people's hair
so I can get some VR headset.
Who's that?
You know, my family's
from Benin, Pablo?
What the actual fuck?
- Are you doing that Jesus shit?
- No.
No, I'm seeing
what shape his face is.
- He's a baby.
- Well, you can still tell.
You can't tell shit.
- You were gonna cut his hair.
- So what if I was?
It's not yours to cut.
Is it? Come here.
Angl has just had his lover scalped.
Do you want him coming back
to a bald kid and all?
I was praying for him.
Do you cut a kid's hair
every time you pray?
No, Kendra, it's not like that.
- Why you telling him you're from Benin?
- It's a story.
- That you're from Benin?
- Yes, the start of one.
Oh, let's get out of here,
come on, Pablo.
Kendra!
I was cutting his hair,
there's nothing weird about it.
- That is weird enough.
- I thought it might help him cope.
He's a baby.
He doesn't know what's going on.
Yeah, that is some mad thinking.
- You getting cabin fever?
- Yeah, I guess.
I thought you was a normal one.
I really did.
I knew Cleave was a mad bitch
and Mosca had his shit going on
but I didn't know you was peculiar.
I'm religious,
it don't make me peculiar.
- Did you kill him?
- What?
What do you think, Pablo, eh?
This little man's the most
rational person in here, aren't you?
Come on.
- What was Mosca into?
- Hmm?
Oh, him and Angl had something
with hair loss prescriptions.
You know, Propecia and shit?
That's why they're sniffing round
all the security guards.
What you doing?
I'm giving him a timeout,
what do you think?
Don't lay him on there, look at it.
He's gonna need a tetanus.
Okay, where do you want me
to put him, back in the chair?
You just wanna give him
some holy bald spot.
No, gimme a sec, I've got
a big jumper upstairs. Merino wool.
We'll wrap him up in it.
Will you turn down
the air con for me then, eh?
How?
Controller's up there, top left.
It's a sauna in here,
that's why you're not happy.
- 25, okay?
- 24.
- Right.
- Come on, darling.
You two look nice together.
Right, back in five.
That's what they're all saying,
just you and me, Pablo.
What you doing?
I...
I just wanted to say thank you.
What for?
Everything.
Whatever you've done,
repentance will heal, yeah?
You just have to ask.
The Lord, he forgives.
The prodigal daughter returns.
It's finished.
Say what you want.
What is it?
The Orient. 1791.
Dunno much about history, do you?
What? Nothing to say?
Look, I don't care
what Kendra is paying.
It's beautiful, Cleave.
Cleave, I want you
to know you're loved.
- What?
- That's all there is.
- Are you having a breakdown?
- No, I'm just passing through.
But I want you to know
that whatever we disagree on...
...you're one of the best stylists
I've ever known.
Is this for real?
Or is it some sort of
passive aggressive bullshit?
No.
No, I think you have a gift.
- You don't think I know that?
- And it's something you should cherish.
Are you high?
No, I'm just realising life is short.
Alright...
I can take that.
Can I take a photo of the both of you?
Artists and muse.
I suppose.
Yeah, go on,
put your arm around her.
You got the flash off, right?
I don't wanna be all ill-looking.
You gonna smile?
Do you think I'm gonna smile?
Take a few.
Do you wanna look?
I can go?
Ange, you are so fucking beautiful,
you know that?
You want me to help you
get her changed?
Give me five.
I'm going to go have a smoke
and I might as well show the girls.
Actually, can you just get
one more of us sitting?
You watch yourself
on them door frames.
It'll be alright.
Can you hear me?
You alright?
Alright, okay, okay.
Alright, you're gonna be fine.
Don't worry. It's okay.
I'm gonna pick you up, alright?
Try not to move too much.
Have you got me?
Are you ready? Here we go.
Alright.
There you go.
- Help! She needs help!
- Is there a fire?
- Nah, she's got burns.
- Get her on here.
That's it. On to here.
Hi, love. My name's Jay,
I'm a paramedic.
You're gonna be fine.
I need you to hold this mask for me.
Take a nice deep breath.
That's it.
- What happened?
- I don't know. She was on fire.
Just her head?
Her hair.
- Do you know her?
- Nah.
Okay, love, you're doing fine.
What's your name?
Patricio.
I'm gonna wait outside.
Everybody move to the designated
assembly point, please.
Patricio.
- Patricio!
- Ren, what's going on?
- What, am I this poor kid's nanny now?
- I'm still looking.
You walking away from me?
Ren.
Timba, have you seen Angl?
- Have I seen Angl?
- Yes.
How about telling me
when I can go home, Ren.
Ren?
We saw your man, the scalper.
He came in all dopey
asking for painkillers.
- Etsy and Inez are following him now.
- Stop.
- He's a fucking creep, Ren.
- I don't care.
I only wanna know
if you've seen Angl right now.
- Who's in the ambulance?
- Fuck knows.
Angl, what is going on?
Are you gonna tell me where you are?
- I'm inside, Ren.
- Where?
I saw him.
- Who?
- Patricio.
Some girl, she was on fire
and the ship just fell.
- What?
- Like from heaven.
- Get it together, Angl. Where are you?
- Inside.
- Right, I'm walking in.
- I just wanted to talk to him.
You're not making any sense, why?
Why do you wanna talk to Patricio?
You don't know.
We were broke, Ren.
Bankrupt, I had to do something.
- What?
- I dabbled, okay? Just to support him.
Me and Pablo drive out to Turkey
every other month to pick up.
- Oh, pick up what?
- Propecia, hair loss stuff, pills.
What Donald Trump uses.
And then we come back here and we sell.
And we were making it, Ren.
Our own little business, Angl and Pablo.
We were bringing happiness.
You don't know
what it's like, Ren, okay?
Losing your hair,
you might as well be dead.
And then it snowballed.
Patricio came in,
Mosca says he can get us help.
You know, getting us in with
security guards and bouncers and stuff.
Like a network of doormen
just selling for us,
but it wasn't like that.
Okay, he starts to take over the
supply line, selling whatever he wants.
Viagra, Tina, whatever.
I could be running some chem-sex ring
and not even know about it.
And then this happens.
- What's Gac in all this?
- Who?
Security guard, works with Patricio.
The models saw
Mosca and him together last night.
I don't know who that is.
Are these mixed?
Ren?
Ren!
We got your man!
- He's in here!
- Gac.
- Oh, this is it.
- Gac!
Gac, it's alright,
we just wanna ask you a few questions.
Oh, this guy's high.
Look at them bug eyes.
It's in my locker.
- What is?
- His hair.
- His hair or his scalp?
- All of it.
- Why?
- I don't, I don't know.
- What's it doing in your locker, Gac?
- I don't know.
- You don't know what?
- I don't know.
- Sober up!
- Fuck's sake, Etsy!
I want some answers!
- Will you stop hitting him?
- Give him a chance!
- Oh, Jesus.
- This guy deserves a chance?
- You must know something!
- I told you everything I know.
What?
- You haven't told us anything.
- I am telling you.
Christ, just start slowly.
From the beginning. Tell us slowly.
I don't know where the beginning is.
Well, start from when we spoke.
In the locker room.
What were you doing there?
Cleaning.
There was blood.
Everywhere, seeping through my bag.
Is that what you wanted
the baby wipes for?
I opened my locker and there it was.
What?
I want to know what you did.
I...
I cleaned.
I took tablets and I felt ill.
I don't know which order.
- We can tell you that.
- What's wrong with you, Gac?
This guy is high,
what do you think's wrong with him?
Gac?
Gac?
What were you doing
with Mosca last night?
We spent the night together.
He'd been looking at me.
You were all too busy to even notice.
He was different.
I don't get much attention.
I'm lonely.
Every night this week I sat home
and watched people fall in love.
Films, TV.
Just the sick people.
Looking at each other
the way he looked at me.
11:03 last night he called me.
Coming in to get my overtime.
Locking up my car and there he was.
Waiting.
- Come on, man.
- Give him a sec.
We kissed.
In stairwell B by the fire hose.
He held my face and looked at me.
Told me to meet him there in an hour
and gave me some Herbal Essence.
I don't know what happened.
I don't know, I just... I just...
I just remember the feeling.
And then...
I'm in a Little Chef off the A1206
with a nosebleed.
I don't know what's real
until I open my locker and there it is.
Was it you?
How do you know?
Because I wouldn't.
- But you don't know.
- Is this for real?
You're gonna have to try
a lot harder than this.
I believe you.
- I didn't do it.
- I know.
You believe this guy?
Gac.
What'd you take?
- Whatever he gave us.
- Who?
Mosca?
- No. His man.
- Who?
Patricio.
Patricio sold to Mosca?
He gave it to us.
Patricio? Tall, tanned?
- I know who Patricio is.
- Do you even know who you are?
- What did he give you?
- Come on, let's get him... get him up.
- Angl. Angl, listen.
- No!
- I want to go home, Ren.
- I'll come with you.
No, I mean home, home.
My home. Back to Colombia.
I'm going to take Pablo.
Introduce him to my family. Okay?
I'll tell them his mother died.
That she was a hairdresser,
the best you ever saw.
I'll call her Juanita or something.
Angl, I...
- Where is Pablo, Ren?
- He's with Kendra outside, he's fine.
- I'll come with you.
- I don't want you to.
There's a lift at the end.
Well, you took your time.
You.
I saw you.
- You saw me where?
- With the girl.
Will she be okay?
She won't be modelling again.
Here, you gonna give me a hand?
It's all yours as much as mine.
Why did you sell to him?
Is this for real?
He asked. That's how it works.
- You knew.
- Knew what? The diabetes?
- He couldn't feel his feet!
- Do I look like a doctor?
He asked, I gave,
the world keeps turning.
He's dead, Patricio!
I'm sorry.
I'm sorry he's dead.
Really, I am.
- I loved him.
- Then why didn't you fight for him?
Sorry.
Look at you.
This is some fantasy to you, isn't it?
You and your fucking baby,
smuggling back pills
for the good of bald mankind.
You're too soft for this world.
Why are you even here?
You think it was me?
You're the fucking
jilted lover, was it you?
- No!
- Sorry.
Sorry.
Just finding it hard.
That fucking girl, man.
Her face.
At least he went out
when we was happy.
It's pretty rare someone goes
doing what they love.
It's pretty rare
that someone gets scalped.
- It wasn't me, Angl.
- I never said it was.
This isn't a fucking cartel.
I'm a freelance security guard,
we're not posting body parts.
Angl, look at me.
People are gonna ask questions, right?
And when they do,
I need us to be strangers.
I can't go back
for selling hair loss pills.
You think they don't know?
Your friend's up there right now.
- Fuck!
- What, you thought he wouldn't talk?
It's over, Patricio,
you know that, right?
Hey, hey, do you know what I know?
They're gonna hear
some guy got him high.
Then they're gonna go down
in a little communal kitchen,
make some Tesco Finest,
call me in and then it's done.
This isn't some
great fucking mystery.
You know as well as I do,
there's only one crazy bitch in here
with a record of assault
and in my experience,
it's the crazy motherfuckers
who kill people.
Where are you going?
Where are you going?
What...?
Are you just leaving this?
Patricio!
What... No...
Why?
No. Why?
Well, look who it is!
Oh, I'm so happy you could make it.
Look at you. You look fantastic!
- Thank you, so do you!
- Yeah, I know.
Now, listen, I'll keep it
short and painless, right?
But hey, see you later.
See you later.
Etsy!
Hi.
Where is Cleave?
She's in my old room.
Yeah?
- Hi.
- Hey.
`- That's a nice surprise.
- I know, Ren got me here.
I left Pablo with his mother.
Remember Mosca's model from '09?
Oh, yeah.
Are you gonna speak?
I think so, maybe later.
You know, a little memorial thing.
That'd be nice.
- Did you get a chance to see...
- I saw Divine.
And her fucking choir.
Sorry. Divine and her choir.
That's all she talks about these days,
that new Jesus step. It's embarrassing.
We're hairdressers, not preachers.
If I'd have known you could book
your blooming' local gospel choir,
I'd have hired a marching band.
You have any plans?
No, maybe it's her year.
I think he would've said
the same thing.
You alright?
You know...
Coping.
I've...
...started seeing someone.
You know,
about the anger like you said.
It's weird,
he says things like Divine.
"Higher power calm."
Obsession breeds jealousy apparently.
And that's what drove it.
The hate.
Really hated him. So...
We've gone back through
all of his styles one by one.
Gradient fall era.
That double bun basket weave.
What?
You know...
What?
I just...
...I never understood
why it mattered so much.
- Hair?
- Yes.
I don't know.
Do you know, sometimes,
I think that it doesn't.
And then I think: "No,
this is the crown
that you never take off."
And it gives a girl like me a chance.
I mean, I ain't got no A levels or nothing
but I can cut hair.
Starts to take over.
It's all you can think about.
It's your little way to change the world.
And you know what's funny?
It's dead.
The minute it leaves the follicle.
I don't know.
His touch was like, charged.
Electric. Every kiss.
This isn't what we need to know.
You need to understand.
The shock, I blocked it all.
He spent all night talking about it.
Her hair.
The most beautiful you'd ever seen.
Soft like velvet.
Vicious like Medusa.
He said it again and again.
He said it was the best
and I believed him.
So I stayed close.
Waiting...
...to be the first to see.
He's there hours, they said,
but it felt like minutes.
When she came out...
...you could see.
Then I went in.
He saw me.
His eyes.
No one ever looked at me like that.
He comes over,
I think we might fuck there and then.
But his eyes, they...
...they rolled back.
In a second he just fell
into the chair. On the floor.
And there was like a whistle of air
through his teeth and...
I don't know, I just lay there.
Next to him.
I didn't want him to be alone.
I thought if I was still
it would be like...
...be easier.
I was there for him.
And you didn't think to call for help?
I don't know. I told you, I...
I just did what I thought
he'd have wanted.
And that was?
You know.
I'm gonna need you to tell us again.
He wasn't breathing
and I just felt his hair.
It was so beautiful.
I just thought...
And I saw the scissors.
I can't, I can't explain, I just...
...cut below his hairline.
I cut and pull.
Cut and pull?
Cut and pull.