A Man in Full (2024) s01e02 Episode Script

1
[Charlie] What do you mean?
I told you to get somebody criminal.
[Roger] Defense attorneys aren't
available, because we haven't paid them.
In fact, they're
in the "pissed off" bucket,
a trough that seems
to be runneth-ing over of lately.
[Charlie] Not the time
for you to judge me.
[Roger] I'm just pointing out the reality.
The number of people unwilling
to come to your rescue is growing.
- [Charlie] Jesus balls almighty.
- [Roger] I will be at the meeting.
You better be. You're my fucker-backer.
And after, I'll head to the court
and handle Conrad's arraignment.
- I need your focus.
- [Roger] And you'll get it.
[Charlie] Jilly?
We got this, Jilly.
We do. We're gonna post a bond,
darlin'. We're gonna get him out.
Don't you worry about a thing. You'll see.
[tense music playing]
[grunting, panting heavily]
[Harry] He asked for
another meeting Croker.
- And I agreed to it.
- Because?
[Harry] Let him know
that the last one was not a fluke.
He's bringing his lawyer.
What do we know about him?
- [exhales sharply]
- [bones crackle]
Roger White.
He's an excellent attorney.
And he's a good person, actually.
Charlie likes to cloak himself in decency
to throw people off his vulgar scent.
This will be the big squash.
[panting]
People like Croker need to be snuffed out.
We need a list of all his assets.
Antiques, planes,
art, racehorses, all of it!
Already in the works.
[grunts] 'Cause that shit
belongs to us now.
- Exactly.
- Man, this is fun stuff.
[phone ringing]
[Harry huffing]
You think I could take him?
[door squeaking]
I'm sorry?
Croker.
I know he was this big college athlete.
"The 60-Minute Man," they called him.
Do you think I could take him?
Well
Is that important?
Is it important?
[eerie guitar strumming]
Part of being a man,
not the main part but a part,
is being able to kick
another man's ass. [huffs]
The way he shook my hand,
wouldn't let go.
That fuck thinks the whole world sways
to his big swinging dick.
Well, because it kind of has.
Not anymore.
His dick-dom belongs to me.
[eerie guitar strumming fades]
[upbeat jazzy music playing]
Just like we talked about.
Fuck 'em up the ass, on the head,
in the eye, and in the mouth.
That Zale is cut from a certain cloth.
We cannot display even a hint of weakness.
[Wismer]
Charlie, we don't hold the cards here.
I appreciate that.
Ass, head, mouth.
["Explosion" playing]
Ten, nine, eight, seven, six
Five, four, three ♪
Ten, nine, eight, seven, six
Five, four, three ♪
Ten, nine, eight, seven, six
Five, four, three, two ♪
One ♪
Gonna be an explosion, baby ♪
Gonna be an explosion, baby ♪
Gonna be an explosion, baby ♪
Gonna be an, gonna be an, gonna be an
Ahhh ♪
["Explosion" fades]
[Harry] Hmm.
[sighs deeply]
[Wismer grunts softly]
[Harry sighs]
[Harry] I asked for tenable.
This is not tenable.
A hundred and eighteen
million dollars in 60 days
seems pretty damn tenable to me.
Wanna know what I think?
I think you fail to grasp the gravity.
Your debt near exceeds a billion dollars.
Perhaps you'd consider
your own peril, Mr. Zale.
[Harry] My peril?
You've done a DFC.
If you foreclose,
our operating losses become yours.
You'd be left having
to manage Croker Industries
and 17 wholesale food warehouses.
It will call into question,
"Who is the head of Real Estate
Asset Management Development at Planners?"
That would be you.
I'm sorry, your name again?
Roger White,
Chief Legal Counsel of Croker Industries.
Well. Now I'm all aflutter.
[Roger] Should you choose to foreclose,
you'll suddenly have
an $800 million loss on your books
converted from a loan
that's currently posted as an asset.
That's a $1.6 billion swing, Popeye.
[tense music playing]
[Harry] What's this?
No, wait.
Don't tell me.
A tailgate done dropped.
[Roger] It is a legal claim,
Mr. Zale, against Planners
for breach of lender/borrower contract,
economic duress,
fiduciary duty, instrumentality fraud.
Croker Industries relied,
to its detriment,
on the banking expertise
of the loan officers
at PlannersBanc.
Tell you what, Mr. Chief of Legal Counsel.
My name is Roger White.
Mr. White.
- [papers sliding]
- [hand slamming]
[Harry] I'm no lawyer [sighs]
but when borrowers sue banks,
it doesn't usually go well
for the borrowers.
Harry, there's a boneyard full of folks
who died dancing
on what they perceived to be my grave.
Fuck off.
You wanna take your shot?
You better make it your best one.
Oh, Peepy.
I didn't even notice you sitting there.
Imagine.
[Harry] Go at him.
What bullies tend to do.
Harry, you can trust
I'll be coming after you.
Whole lot of huffing and puffing
and bluffing going on.
- You agree, Mr. White?
- I could not agree more, sir.
It's a very sad day
when a duke of bombast
tumbles to the reality that,
at day's end,
he's nothing but an empty sack.
- [tense music cuts off sharply]
- [elevator dings]
[elevator door clangs]
I'm not sure I've ever had the urge
to kill another human being before.
We have two options.
We could sell off assets,
but that takes time.
- The other is a white knight.
- Who's gonna want to invest in us?
People who buy sports teams.
It's not because they make
for a good business transaction.
Sometimes they do, but more often,
it is about boring people
lookin' to buy some dazzle.
You're Charlie fucking Croker.
[dramatic music playing]
- Turpmtine? With Herb Richman?
- If I can get him, I wanna go tonight.
- [Serena] Tonight?
- Time is a bit of the essence.
[sighing] We have the gala tomorrow.
[Charlie] Which we'll be back in time for.
Oh, Charlie.
Herb Richman is my ticket, our ticket.
- [Serena] Honey, this seems beyond rash.
- Let me finish.
It would be best
if you didn't raise your voice with me.
If I can land Herb, my problem goes away.
My chances improve, as they always do,
when I have you at my side.
I'll bring Wally too.
He's suspended from school.
It'd be good to have him.
[Serena] Oh yeah,
it'd be good for Herb Richman
to see you as a family man.
- Serena.
- [Serena] Charlie.
I'm not missing that gala.
We will be back in time for the gala.
[suspenseful music builds]
[indistinct chatter]
- You've never done a criminal case?
- [Roger] It's just the arraignment.
They'll bring him in,
read the charges, set a trial date,
and then we'll bring in somebody
who specializes in criminal.
If you find somebody. I overheard
your conversation with Charlie.
- We'll find somebody.
- [man yelling] You said no fucking jail.
You motherfucking,
cocksucking piece of lying shit.
You said no fucking jail!
- Come on.
- [man] You took my money.
- [lawyer] Get him off!
- [man] Fucking owe me money.
["Good Man" playing]
I'm a good man, food's on the table ♪
[Wes] Thank you so much.
- You better not let them cut the dreads.
- Oh, no.
All right. Thank you.
Thank you for having me.
I will see you all at the polls, right?
See you all at the polls?
Oh, man.
Thank you for coming through, my man.
- Don't let us down.
- Hey, man. Appreciate it.
- Where the fuck is he?
- He didn't say exactly where.
Okay, but?
Evidently, he had
an unforeseen criminal case
it was a bit of an emergency.
Oh, no. That's bullshit because
Roger White is not a criminal attorney.
- [man] Mayor Jordan.
- Oh, hey!
Hey, I'm pulling for you. We don't want
Bagovitch anywhere near that office.
- Thank you so much. You're a true patriot.
- [man] Yeah, you are.
He sends his apologies.
Well, I don't need his apologies.
I need his ass here. Today.
- Mayor Wes.
- Hello. Hey, good to see you.
There's also some issue
with tomorrow's rally.
Evidently,
the choir was told they'd be paid.
What? No. They're supposed to be
pro-fucking-bono for fuck's sake.
- Even so
- No, no, fuck that shit.
See, like, why do I have to jab
a stick up everybody's ass
just to make them do a little good.
This is supposed to be the biggest
election in the history of Georgia,
and the choir
that I'm preaching to wants to get paid?
- Fuck that shit.
- Wes Jordan!
Oh! Now that's what I call fashion
right there. I'll take a hug.
Oh, the hugs are okay, right?
All right. Damn, I look good on you!
[crowd clamoring]
You tell Roger White to get here.
Right the fuck now.
- All right. Hey.
- Hey. What's up, man?
- [clamoring]
- Good to see you.
[woman] Case number 62322.
People of Georgia versus Conrad Hensley.
Assault and battery
against a police officer.
Roger White for the defendant, Your Honor.
We'll waive the reading
and ask that he be released.
[judge] He attacked a police officer.
He defended himself against the officer,
which we'll establish.
For today's purposes of bail,
I would emphasize
that Mr. Hensley has no criminal record,
strong roots within his community,
one where he's been gainfully employed
and a valued member.
- A million dollar bond, 250,000 cash.
- Wait, what?
- [judge] These are serious charges.
- [Roger] My client has no record.
- [judge] You mentioned that.
- A million is excessive.
[judge] Your client attacked
a law enforcement officer,
rendered him unconscious.
It was an aberrant event
This is not the forum
for you to argue the case.
I'm making a case for Conrad Hensley
and why he should be released on bail.
He is a law-abiding citizen
and a fine young man.
- [Judge Taylor] Which makes it worse.
- Sorry?
Oh, this whole thing
over a parking ticket?
A so-called law-abiding citizen
attacks a police officer
over whether or not
his car was parked in a red zone.
What the hell is that?
Bad enough our police have to deal
with dangerous criminals.
Now, they're being attacked
by the good guys too.
[sighs] Well, there comes a time
when we have to draw a line.
Bail is set, 250,000.
One million dollar bond.
[tense music playing]
[woman] Case number 35414.
[whispers] You gotta be joking.
- Turpmtine, tonight?
- [Charlie] We're not dead yet.
Charlie, you need to unload Turpmtine.
- Excuse me?
- It is a non-core asset and a red flag.
Zale probably doesn't make $300,000,
and he knows that you've got
a 29,000-acre quail plantation.
It's an eco-lodge.
Why go all the way there?
Because I can better wow Herb there.
You said yourself
we need a white knight, and he's it.
And he actually agreed to come?
- Prob 'cause he smells blood in the water.
- Another reason this gives me pause.
Wiz, I do not have the fucking luxury
of hitting pause right now.
You can appreciate that.
Part of my duress is due to an emerging
and compounding accounting crisis.
Certainly, you can appreciate that.
["Money, Money, Money" playing]
I work all night, I work all day
To pay the bills I have to pay ♪
Ain't it sad? ♪
And still there never seems to be
A single penny left for me ♪
That's too bad ♪
[female GPS]
You have arrived at your destination.
[Raymond] What the fuck?
If I got me a wealthy man ♪
I wouldn't have to work at all
I'd fool around and have a ball ♪
[indistinct chatter]
[tires squealing, honking]
He practices here?
It's a shithole case, Raymond.
Tends to attract commensurate lawyers
in commensurate venues.
I can't believe this.
I'm gonna tell you something
for the umpteenth time.
Answer the questions exactly.
Do not editorialize.
Do not commentate. Do not exaggerate.
[pop music playing]
This woman has come all the way
from Finland to push the very buttons
she knows full well to be at her disposal.
The more ugliness
she can extract from you on the record,
the bigger her settlement.
Please do not talk
to me like I'm an idiot.
[whispering] Raymond,
that's why we are here.
Because you were an idiot.
You invited her to dinner
out of your interest in Finnish art?
She told me about her Nordic landscapes.
I said I'd be happy to see her slides.
Did you invite her to dinner for any other
reason than to revisit her Nordic terrain?
[female lawyer] I'm gonna object to that.
Besides dinner,
did you two have anything to drink?
[Raymond clearing throat, clicks lips]
We had something called a bamboo cocktail.
And what made you think you might like
to have that particular drink?
- Ms. Tiramaki recommended it.
- Why?
She said it was made
with a fertilized egg yolk in it
instead of a maraschino cherry,
which was supposed to
um enhance sexual energy.
[male lawyer] Did it?
Mr. Peepgrass,
did the bamboo cocktails
enhance your sexual energy?
I don't recall.
- You two had sex this evening.
- We did.
How many other times
did you and my client have relations?
One other time.
- This is a lie.
- Sirja.
I gave many blowjobs.
- We're only here to collect his testimony.
- [Sirja] Many.
[male lawyer] All right, so when you
and my client had relations,
you were not concerned
that you might impregnate my client
with your bamboo-egg-yolk-infused sex?
How can you not be
disgusted with yourself?
You disgust. I give blowjobs.
- [male lawyer] Sirja.
- Also, I let him enter anus.
[Serena] Why didn't you ever tell me
that it was this bad?
I didn't really know.
Uh, debt can be kind of a badge
in business.
Tesla's got a debt of four billion.
Apple, 100 billion.
- [Serena] Hmm.
- You gotta borrow to grow.
You gotta grow to survive.
Nothing bad about debt
until your lender calls it in.
[Serena] Which they've done. Why?
I am not a well-liked person, Serena.
My methodology.
I have hurt a few people.
You get a competitor down,
you gotta finish him,
so they don't come back to bite you later.
I'm a pretty sore loser [sighs]
but I can be a vicious winner.
Yeah, what's that saying?
"Things that go around come around."
Things have come around.
[Charlie groaning painfully]
[Serena] Charlie.
- All right.
- Pull, pull, pull!
- All right, all right.
- [grunting]
- Okay.
- Oh.
It seizes up.
Even my own body is turning against me.
- Have you talked to the doctor about this?
- He says it's just stress.
We should get to the airport. [grunts]
[train horn blaring]
[unsettling music playing]
[indistinct chatter]
[door buzzing]
Yesterday, our lives,
everything was perfect.
And now, 30 days in jail?
I'm collecting footage
to make sure it went down
like the prosecution's maintaining.
The officer was wearing a body cam,
but if it's close to what they're saying,
a Black man attacking
a white police officer in Georgia
[Jill sighs]
[tense music playing]
[Roger sighing]
[car door closes]
So this plea
We'd enter it tomorrow.
- After which he'd begin serving time?
- [Roger] Most likely, yes.
Can I see him before?
Sit with him?
[siren wailing]
[clearing throat]
I plan to go back tonight to prep.
It's after visiting hours, but
technically, you can join as my assistant.
How is this happening?
["Boom Boom" playing]
Take you home with me
Put you in my house ♪
Boom, boom, boom, boom ♪
- Still throbbing?
- [Charlie] It's better.
Can't you just sell some of your things?
This plane, for starters.
I already took out a line of credit on it.
The others, they're borrowed against.
Money was cheap.
Wismer thought it was a good idea.
[Charlie sighs sharply]
[Serena]
All right. So what's the plan exactly?
We have a good dinner tonight, a full day
of nature and so forth tomorrow.
We bond and it bears fruit.
Here we go.
[Charlie chuckling]
I swear you grow another three inches
every time I lay eyes on you. [chuckling]
We are gonna have ourselves
one hell of a time.
[Wally] I'm looking forward.
[inaudible]
Thanks for droppin' him.
And for, you know, lettin' me take him.
- Spend some real time with him, Charlie.
- Oh, you know I will.
- Everything okay?
- Never better.
There's some stuff at work.
- [Martha] How bad?
- [Charlie] Nothin' I can't handle.
Bank's just tryin' to squeeze me.
Same old.
- That's what this trip is about?
- It's about spendin' time with Wally.
- Herb, my good man.
- Charles.
Marsha.
You remember Martha?
- Good to see you. Okay.
- Hop on that plane there.
- I got two seats with your names on them.
- [Herb] Okay.
I love bad talk
When you talk like that ♪
You knock me out ♪
[Charlie] Herb, you ever been on a G5?
[Herb] Uh, many times, yep.
["Boom Boom" fades]
[door buzzing]
[gate opens, closes]
The 30 days is one thing,
but it it's the conviction.
Is there any way to avoid that?
Probably not.
[indistinct chatter]
[siren wailing]
As a kid,
my parents pegged me
as the first ever in my family
to graduate from college.
Instead, I'll be the first
with a criminal record.
[Jill] What about
There's a new study
that says trauma can be passed down
generationally in the DNA.
Grandchildren of Holocaust survivors
that have PTSD.
Conrad's father was beaten up
by a police officer once.
His grandfather too, maybe
maybe there's something in his DNA
that made him biologically afraid,
made defending himself
an involuntary reflex.
It's a legitimate point, but not one
that's gonna carry the day in Georgia.
Look, we can push this,
take our chances,
but like I said, the 30-day offer
might not stay on the table.
We don't wanna risk six months.
This just feels so wrong.
You knocked him out, Conrad. A cop.
Like you said, you're gonna be a dad.
I think the fastest route
to the other side of this is best.
I really do.
I'm so sorry.
[tense music playing]
[Jill] Can we just sit here a minute?
Do we have to go?
[door buzzing]
We can stay a while longer.
[handcuffs clinging]
[Conrad sighs deeply]
[Raymond] Thank you so much
for agreeing to get dinner.
[Sirja] It's not a good idea.
One drink, you want sex.
[indistinct chatter]
- That's not true.
- You already want.
I read your face. You want me to sit on.
[jazz music playing]
Uh
I will agree to five
if we can structure it.
I really am a bit broke, Sirja.
Also, I would like
to get along with you, believe it or not.
You're the mother of my child.
[scoffs] Child you don't want.
I will take full responsibility.
I would also like
the opportunity to love him.
For his sake.
And also for my own.
[clicks lips]
I have nobody to love in my life.
[Sirja] What do you want to be, Raymond?
You have to pick something,
somebody.
It's not that simple.
Yes, it is.
You wake up in the morning,
you brush your teeth,
you look in the mirror,
you ask the question.
Is there an answer?
I suspect on some level,
I wanna be Charlie Croker.
[Sirja] Why?
I have no idea.
You need to forget
this Charlie Croker person
and be Raymond Peepgrass.
I'm sure you were expecting more
from an American banker
than you got in me.
I'm sorry.
Five hundred,
over three years, plus 6% interest.
Over four years, I think I can do.
Okay. Four years.
[sighs deeply]
- Thank you.
- You want to have settlement sex?
Uh [clears throat]
Well
I I I
I can't financially risk more offspring.
We get condom.
I put on.
You never have condom put on the way I do.
Come.
- [country music playing]
- [neighing]
[Charlie]
I'm not a godly person by nature.
But the nature here at Turpmtine,
there's some kind
of higher power doing his best work.
Got my pride and joy
over there in that barn,
First Draw.
A nose shy of winning
the Breeders' Cup just two years ago.
- I thought I was your pride and joy.
- Pull over here, Rufus.
[Rufus] Yes, sir, captain.
[horse neighing]
[stableman] Easy, girl.
What do you got going on here?
- We got us a big old diamondback.
- [Charlie] Serious?
A snake?
[dog barking]
[stableman 1] And he's a monster, captain.
- [snake hissing]
- Oh my God.
[Charlie] Look at him.
- [Serena] Mm-mm.
- All right, hon.
Look at his girth.
[stableman yelling]
- [Serena] Please.
- [Wally] Dad.
[Charlie] Whoa.
- [stableman 3] It's all right.
- [Charlie breathes heavily]
- [Charlie] He's a specimen, is what he is.
- [Wally] Dad.
- Stand back, folks.
- Charlie.
There's nine, maybe ten rounds of rattle.
What's he plan to do?
- I don't know.
- Dad, you need to be normal.
[Charlie chuckling]
[snake rattling]
- Charlie, please.
- Dad, come on.
- Tell him to get back.
- Dad!
[rattling]
- [Herb] What's he doing?
- [Serena] Charlie.
["I'll Be Your Man" playing]
[whispering] Come on.
[all screaming]
[both moaning, grunting]
- [yelling] Charlie, put it down!
- I got him! I got him!
- [both moaning]
- I'll be your ♪
- [Charlie] Whoo!
- [all yelling indistinctly]
[moaning] Oh, yeah!
[Wally] Dad!
Oh, Jesus! Dad!
I'll be your man ♪
I'll be your man ♪
- [Sirja moans loudly]
- [snake hisses intensely]
Did he get bit?
No, but Mom,
even for him, it was beyond nuts.
Are you sure he didn't
stage it to show off?
That's what I thought at first,
but the snake was real,
it could've killed him.
You should talk to him. You're the one
with common sense. That's what he needs.
Okay.
Well, I'll call you when I get home, okay?
- And him.
- [party music in the background]
[phone beeping]
[Martha] My God.
Charlie wrestled a rattlesnake.
What?
[Martha chuckling]
Probably showing off.
Why does he need
to show off to Herb Richman?
- Some stuff going on at work.
- What stuff?
Debt.
Probably to do with The Concourse.
I tried to talk him out
of that monstrosity.
I begged him.
- [pop music playing]
- [chattering]
Don't you still own part of The Concourse?
A small piece, why?
Well, if he borrowed against it,
then his debt could be your debt.
[cell phone ringing]
Hey.
Yeah, I'm still sitting here with Conrad.
Jill's here too.
We'll be here a little while longer.
Sure, put her on.
Night, night, baby.
I'm sorry I didn't get home
in time to tuck you in.
I love you too.
Time's up. Back to your cell.
[Roger] How about I sing it to you
when I get back home?
I'll sing it softly while you sleep.
- [door buzzing]
- [Roger] Okay.
[Roger] As I return from daily strife ♪
To heart and wife ♪
How pleasant is the life I lead ♪
Night night, baby.
[tense music playing]
[scraping]
- Harry?
- Arthur.
[exhales] You're late.
And so are you.
Just locking down this Croker stuff.
How did the workout go?
[exhaling] A little rough, but good.
He's not liquid.
We'll have to foreclose and grab.
A lot of assets to recover.
Just be careful.
Croker is still
pretty much revered in these parts.
We don't want to engender any badwill.
Mm-hmm. I'm mindful of that.
Sorry, thought I was the only one here.
Hmm. Channeling your Red Auerbach?
Two of the greatest leaders
in our lifetime, Red Auerbach
and Curtis LeMay.
The general.
One time,
he appears before a senate committee
and he's asking for 10,000
nuclear warheads for the Air Force.
One of them senators says,
"I thought you told us
that with 6,000 warheads,
you could reduce
the entire Soviet Union to cinders."
"Why should we give you 10,000?"
And LeMay says,
"Senator, I wanna see the cinders dance."
I understand Charlie Croker
is a bit of a public figure.
But all the more reason
if we're gonna squash him,
we've gotta damn well squash him.
It's time his embers did the Watusi.
[atmospheric music playing]
[snakes hissing, rattling]
You think you can kill me?
Nothing can kill me.
[tense music playing]
I'm tougher than all of you put together.
See that?
Still standing right here.
I'm Charlie Croker is who I am.
That's who I am.
That's who I am.
[tense music fades]
Dad?
What are you doing?
Fine snakes.
[crickets chirping]
Yeah,
but why are you telling them your name?
Oh, well, I
talk to snakes, son.
[sniffs] I'm an endangered species, Wally.
Maybe it's a good thing.
Too many like me, shit
But the world needs at least one.
Yeah. Dad, you you
you kinda sound like a madman.
[chuckles softly]
[Charlie] Yeah, maybe so, well
It's a gift, son,
when people try to take you down.
It's like a wake-up call.
[clicks tongue] It's a gift.
[unsettling music playing]
So it's pretty bad?
["God's Gonna Cut You Down" playing]
You can run on for a long time ♪
- [indistinct chatter on video]
- Run on for a long time ♪
Run on for a long time ♪
Sooner or later, God'll cut you down ♪
[officer] Taser, taser, taser!
[taser clicking]
Go tell that long-tongue liar ♪
Go and tell that midnight rider ♪
Tell the rambler
The gambler, the back-biter ♪
Tell 'em God's gonna cut 'em down ♪
Tell 'em God's gonna cut 'em down ♪
Tell 'em that God's gonna cut 'em down ♪
You can run on for a long time ♪
Run on for a long time ♪
Run on for a long time ♪
Sooner or later, God'll cut you down ♪
Sooner or later, God'll cut you down ♪
Well, you may throw your rock
And hide your hand ♪
Workin' in the dark
Against your fellow man ♪
But as sure as God
Made black and white ♪
What's done in the dark
Will be brought to the light ♪
You can run on for a long time ♪
Run on for a long time ♪
You can run on for a long time ♪
Sooner or later, God'll cut you down ♪
Sooner or later, God'll cut you down ♪
Go tell that long-tongue liar ♪
Go and tell that midnight rider ♪
Tell the rambler
The gambler, the back-biter ♪
Tell 'em God's gonna cut 'em down ♪
Tell 'em God's gonna cut 'em down ♪
You can run on for a long time ♪
Run on for a long time ♪
Run on for a long time ♪
Sooner or later, God'll cut you down ♪
Sooner or later, God'll cut you down ♪