The Madness (2024) s01e02 Episode Script

1
[unsettling music playing]
[breathing shakily]
[music intensifying]
- [music halts abruptly]
- [car horn honks]
[lock chimes]
- [pensive music playing]
- [door shuts]
Did you see this? About Laura Jennings?
[Muncie] Yeah.
What the hell is going on?
[Muncie exhales]
[Demetrius] Pop.
What is that?
Found it in the car.
It belonged to him.
They must've put it there.
You need to get rid of that right now.
[Demetrius] No, that's how they get you.
Cops digging through dumpsters,
they find that,
or some security camera catches you,
and I mean
It's better than
you getting caught with it.
- [Demetrius] I don't know.
- [Elena] I'm telling you, it is.
Or hand it over to the FBI.
But you can't be walking around with that.
I want you to go to your sister's.
And?
I'll talk to Kwesi.
Figure out what's best.
[pensive music continues]
[music fades]
Hey.
I need you to be strong. Be good.
- Do what's right.
- Fo' sho.
Got you.
[Elena sniffles]
What are the chances Laura Jennings
actually had a heart attack?
Probably not a lot.
I'll let you know what Kwesi says.
I'm glad we're not divorced.
Yet.
- [phone chimes]
- I feel very lucky
Uber's here.
[unsettling music playing]
[door shuts]
[phone vibrating]
- You get my message?
- [Kwesi] Yeah, I got it.
And I also got a call from Poconos police
asking why you rented
that particular cabin.
- Get out of here.
- I'm headed to brief the senior partners.
Meet me there in 30.
'Cause you're right, this shit
ain't swinging in your direction.
All right, see you soon.
[unsettling music continues]
- [indistinct chatter]
- [phone ringing]
Can I get you some coffee?
Nah. Could tell me what the holdup is?
Kwesi told me to be here by nine.
Let me know if you need anything.
[phone rings in the distance]
[Muncie sighs]
Muncie.
[Muncie] Hey, Ted.
- Hey, man. Good to see you.
- [Muncie] Hey.
- You as well, man.
- You know Samesh?
- Hi.
- Hey.
Have a seat.
Uh, is, uh, Kwesi
[Ted] He got stuck on a call.
Okay.
- Uh, so
- [Ted exhales]
- You know what's going on?
- Yeah.
Yeah, pretty disturbing stuff.
So what are we gonna do about it?
I'm gonna be blunt with you, Muncie.
The firm isn't taking on murder cases.
- What are you talking about?
- We just don't have that specialty.
And even if we did,
for us to engage on this,
given your position
as a controversial pundit
I'm a part-time contributor.
Who is on the verge
of getting his own show.
How's that controversial?
- You're missing the macro.
- The what?
This is a culturally fraught situation.
[Muncie] Yeah, it is.
We have too many clients
and too many sectors of society
to be wading into
a political and media minefield.
As much as we love representing you.
[somber music playing]
And then there's your father's past.
How's that relevant?
- It's a matter of optics, Muncie.
- That's never been a secret.
I understand that you're upset.
Yeah, you're bringing up shit
that has nothing to do with this.
Meanwhile, I'm getting framed.
They
They planted that in my car, Ted.
I was in the wrong place
at the wrong time,
and now they want to put this on me.
I'm Black. I'm on TV.
I was there.
I'm sorry, but we can't take this on.
You should find another firm.
Excuse me?
[unsettling music playing]
What the fuck is going on?
[indistinct chatter]
Excuse me.
Can you let me the fuck off first?
Fuck.
[man] You're welcome.
[indistinct chatter continues]
[unsettling music continues]
- [sirens wailing]
- [horns honking]
[siren wails]
- You put honey in that fucker?
- I don't like honey.
Yeah, honey don't like you either.
Bro, believe me when I tell you,
they just pulled some shit on me just now.
What the fuck happened?
- So, I called Ted last night, right?
- Right.
He seemed pretty cool, right? [inhales]
I get into work this morning,
suddenly they are treating you like R.
- motherfucking-Kelly.
Yeah.
Told me if I continue
providing you with counsel,
I'll be in breach of my contract
and subject to fucking termination.
[sighs]
It's like they're getting a call
from above or something, you know?
Like from the ether.
This whole fucking town
is like one big connective tissue.
When they want somebody unplugged,
they blow the whole fucking grid.
They don't even mess around.
I would tell you to go look
for another firm somewhere, but
[Muncie clears throat]
I gotta be honest with you.
I mean, the way this shit is going down,
there'll probably be trickle down
in every white-shoe firm in this town.
[Muncie sighs]
They put this in my car.
- Put that away, man.
- Do you see what they're doing to me?
What are you even
carrying that around for?
It's evidence in a crime.
I'm not gonna destroy evidence.
Fine. Take it to the cops.
- I ain't gonna walk in there alone.
- I ain't walking in there with you either.
- [Muncie sighs]
- Look, I am sorry. I am.
But I won't be able to do shit
if I lose my job.
So you go find
one of these workaday lawyers or
Or what?
- Or move your ass out of the country.
- Where the fuck am I gonna go?
Grab Elena and D and move your ass
to Djibouti until we figure this shit out.
- The fuck you talking about? Djibouti?
- Anywhere without extradition.
Fuck.
But you can't stay here.
Fuck.
[siren wails]
- [indistinct chatter]
- [horns honk]
[man] Hey, yeah!
I'm moving on. I gotta, huh.
[horn honks]
[phone vibrating]
[phone chimes]
Hey, you okay?
I just got a bunch of nasty texts.
Demetrius too.
From who?
Some asshole got our numbers.
You should probably also speak to Kallie.
If we're getting harassed,
she might be too.
- No one knows she and I
- People find out all kinds of things now.
Best you give her a heads-up.
Okay.
What'd the lawyer say?
They dropped me.
For real?
Yeah. It's bullshit.
- Well, I'll I'll find you someone else.
- No. I need a high-end attorney. I can't
Oh really? So you're just gonna go back
to cutting off conversations
'cause you think you know it all?
Demetrius and I are involved now too.
- So this isn't just
- Let me call you back.
I'm sorry.
I'll call you later.
[horn honks]
[tense music playing]
[music swells]
[music halts]
[opening theme music playing]
If you wanna run, then run away ♪
If you wanna stay, then stay the same ♪
If you wanna run, then run away ♪
If you wanna stay, then stay the same ♪
Oh yeah ♪
[music halts abruptly]
[indistinct chatter]
[car lock chimes]
- [Muncie] How y'all doing?
- Good. How you doing?
Good. Kallie in?
Kitchen.
[Muncie] Excuse me.
[dog barks]
[laughing]
[laughing continues]
Hey.
Hey.
Y'all, this is my dad.
How y'all doing?
- What up?
- Hey.
I know I should've called first.
You can stop by whenever.
- [bird tweeting]
- [dog barking]
Great place.
Thanks.
[exhales]
I was hoping I can get a word?
[Kallie] Sure.
How's your mom?
She all right. What's up?
[sighs]
I got caught up in some stuff,
and I wanted to let you know.
What kind of stuff?
[chuckles softly]
I think I'm getting framed for murder.
- Which I know sounds
- By who?
I don't know. Whoever did it.
And who got murdered?
A white supremacist thought leader
named Brother14.
- The fuck?
- Yeah.
So, what, they trying to put this on you
'cause people know you?
I guess.
Maybe start a race war.
"Black pundit loses his shit."
I don't think they planned it,
but I was there, so [exhales]
The point is,
Demetrius and Elena's phones
got doxxed by a bunch of
- Psychotic white people?
- Yeah.
And I was worried
yours might get the same.
Your name's not even
on my birth certificate.
[dog continues barking]
I know.
But still.
[sighs]
Paid the cost to be the boss.
Celebrity's a bitch.
[sighs]
Sorry, we haven't spoken in what, uh?
People get busy.
Yeah.
Uh
All right, um
I'm gonna I'm gonna go. Uh
I'll walk you out.
[Muncie] No, don't worry about it.
I I'll
Really.
Be safe.
[pensive music playing]
[vent hissing]
[pensive music continues]
[keys jingle]
[phone chimes]
[sighs]
[music fades]
[door closes]
I got your text.
Let's talk in the garage.
Nosy neighbors.
[dog barking]
[button clicks]
I don't want people looking in.
[gun cocks]
What the fuck is going on?
Whoa.
What do you mean?
You show up talking about my husband.
Then I find out you went to his store,
and you lied about who you are.
Meantime, I get a call saying
there's a body at the morgue.
So I go there, and it's not Mark.
And I And I still can't reach him.
And all I know is you're the one
that started this whole thing.
So what the fuck's up? [inhales shakily]
That's what I'm trying to find out.
- Did you do something to him?
- No.
You're lying.
I swear.
Can you
Can you tell me whose body it was
that you saw?
I have no fucking idea.
Some guy who got stabbed in the neck.
[Muncie] Okay.
I didn't do anything to your husband.
I wouldn't have come here if I did.
I wanna know what the fuck's going on
as much as you do
because they're trying to blame me for it,
whoever they are.
Can you please
lower the gun?
I got kids too, Lucie.
- You didn't tell me he was Brother14.
- I'm not part of that world anymore.
Okay. Okay.
Can you
Can you put that down?
Your kids are right inside.
Fuck off about my kids.
- Fine.
- [Lucie breathes shakily]
Lucie,
I just wanna know exactly
who may have wanted to harm him.
Death threats, people that he pissed off,
people that he knew. [breathes shakily]
If someone killed him,
I think that we need to
Why are you saying killed?
Why the fuck did you say that?
Because
[Lucie breathing shakily]
I saw people.
Working on his body.
What the fuck does that mean?
They wanted to dispose of it.
[unsettling music playing]
What?
I'm sorry.
[Lucie breathes shakily]
[whimpers]
I'm so sorry.
[Lucie continues breathing hshakily]
[Lucie] Fuck.
[safe clanks]
[continues breathing shakily]
[pensive music playing]
[music intensifies]
[garage opening]
[tense music playing]
[phone chimes]
[siren wailing in the distance]
[indistinct chatter]
[Quiñones] What's good, boss?
Agent Osman from my task force.
You had him at the motel.
I was curious
if our interests intersected.
Did he see who broke into my car?
Because people are setting me up.
They set up that body in the swamp?
He chased me there.
And then someone else killed him?
There were two of 'em.
I got one of 'em with a pen.
And killed him.
In self-defense.
You gonna stick with that?
'Cause I got the ME pics,
and it doesn't look like self-defense.
[Muncie] Nah.
Nah, nah, nah, nah, nah, nah, nah, nah.
- [Quiñones] See what I mean?
- Nah, I got him one time.
One time?
Not 21 times?
Listen, Agent Quiñones
Call me Franco.
Franco.
- [Quiñones] Actually, go back to "agent."
- Okay.
The guy was five feet away from me
with a gun.
I didn't have a choice.
I got him one time with a pen.
Now they're trying to make it look like
- They framing you for him or Mark Simon?
- What the fuck does it look like?
It looks like I'm waiting for you
to tell me what you know.
- They put this in my car.
- Watch ain't doing it for me.
Just need to know
if you can ID the killer.
The dead guy was named Ant.
- Ant?
- Yeah, Ant.
That all you got?
Should've told me
the whole story yesterday.
I spoke to Laura Jennings last night.
The online journalist.
She drove down from New York.
She said she knew what happened,
and she knew I didn't do it.
Did she say how she knew that?
We were supposed to find a time to meet.
Why are you withholding on me, Muncie?
Why are you?
Can I see that photo again?
Keep it.
I got copies.
If you're telling the truth,
I can protect you.
But I'm gonna need more from you, Muncie.
[pensive music playing]
[fire crackling]
[pensive music continues]
[Ant yells]
[camera shutter clicks]
- [siren wailing in the distance]
- [horns honk]
[woman] Here's what I found.
[Muncie] That's it.
You met through Elena, yes?
[Muncie] Yeah.
I thought you two were on the rocks.
Uh, yeah, we're separated,
but you never know.
[woman] Humans shouldn't get married.
Show me someone
celebrating 50 years of marriage,
I'll show you someone
who never accomplished a damn thing.
[Muncie] Right.
Elena is an excellent professor.
Yeah.
It was a smart pivot
off the corporate path.
Helps that she's full-time,
unlike some of those
one-class-a-semester celebrity professors.
Here we go.
From their Reading, Pennsylvania compound,
Profane Discord rejects tech tyranny
by 3D printing their own weapons,
and then spreading that know-how
to their gender-expansive allies.
They've actually shown up at voting sites
to prevent neo-Nazi intimidation.
They're basically Antifa
on meth with Uzis.
My guess is that they're not big fans
of The Forge. The hate group?
I know who The Forge is,
and I should say not.
[Muncie] Would they assassinate someone?
[woman] I wouldn't be surprised.
They're full-on fucking psychopaths.
- [bell tolling in the distance]
- [indistinct chatter]
[Muncie] Excuse me.
Sorry, I need to get into my car.
Mmm.
Just trying to live your life?
What?
Like Brother14?
- Just living his life?
- [exhales shakily]
I need you to step away from my car.
Make me.
[unsettling swell]
- [woman gasps]
- Move! Move!
You just put your hands on me. [gasps]
[exhales]
Do it again.
- What?
- I dare you.
There are cameras everywhere.
Do it again.
Who do you think they're gonna believe?
- Just try it.
- Okay, I see what this is.
- [clicking]
- [dramatic swell]
Oh, concealed carry is legal here.
You're aware of that, right?
- [breathing shakily]
- [phone chimes]
- You're gonna shoot me, go ahead.
- What are you doing?
- [Muncie] Shoot the gun. Go ahead.
- What are you
Yeah, get the fuck on.
Yeah.
[dramatic music playing]
Get the fuck on!
[phone chimes]
[dramatic music continues]
[bus brakes hiss]
[indistinct chatter]
[Muncie] Hey.
So, look. I just got another call
from those Poconos cops,
- and they want to meet with you today
- [scoffs]
in person.
Say they got a body in a morgue up there
with multiple stab wounds.
Look, I'm telling you, man.
It was a setup, okay?
The dead guy belonged to
an anarchist group out there in Reading.
All right? We get the other guy's name,
this shit goes away.
Why would anarchists frame a Black guy?
'Cause they're fucking anarchists.
[sighs] Fuck's going on, man?
Three days ago, I was good. Now, I'm
I feel like I can't fucking breathe.
Do you think it was a setup all along
'cause they knew about your pops?
No, they were trying to kill me, Kwes.
It wasn't until they knew who I was
that they set up the frame.
My dad was just gravy.
Sins of a father, boy.
It was 30 years ago.
I know.
My dad had a messiah complex.
[Kwesi] Okay.
Yeah, and then one day,
he just fucking snapped.
It ain't gonna be me.
Yeah, but he also was an activist.
He fought a good fight.
Just like you.
Do I look like I go around
killing white dudes?
Well just the guy in the swamp.
- [Muncie sucks teeth]
- Look
I just don't want you to get to the point
where you also
Where you you snap too.
Now look, before you start looking
for anarchists and all that,
I'm thinking we talk to Mark Simon's wife.
Maybe she can help.
No.
- No, no, no, no, she be knowing some shit.
- I'm not going back there.
Look, like, maybe about Laura Jennings,
and maybe about them guys up in Reading.
Like you said before, the police
are looking for a story they believe.
And despite your MO, my nigga,
you you not gonna be able
to talk your way out of this.
Just don't go in the garage this time.
[glass clanking]
[pensive music playing]
- I need to talk to her.
- About what?
About a group
that might have wanted to hurt Mark.
I'll be at that park down the way.
[children laughing]
Thank you for coming.
Seems people think
I'm now part of it too, so
That's why they fuck with your house?
You think it was The Forge?
Probably.
Maybe they saw you by the garage.
[sighs] Didn't like you
talking to a "darkie"?
They already didn't like me.
- Why?
- [Lucie inhales]
'Cause I left my husband.
Woke up one morning and realized
he was a Derek Chauvin fanboy,
and was like, "Oh dear, I had no idea"?
[exhales]
This where you tell me to live a day
in your shoes? I don't wanna.
And I definitely don't want
whatever you have back there.
Lucky they can remove that shit.
I did it myself.
X-ACTO knife.
[chuckles] No.
Fit all 14 words back there?
When we met, he never told me about that.
That he was Brother14?
- But you were cool with him being Forge?
- No.
He was just a guy willing to take care of
a deeply fucked-up person.
- That's grooming.
- I don't need to do this.
- Yeah, you do.
- Not if you want my help, asshole.
- Am I pissing you the fuck off?
- Yeah.
Good.
Good.
Just tell me what you want.
Did your husband ever get into it with
an anarchist group called Profane Discord?
No.
The morgue body had their tattoo.
- So call the cops.
- Haven't had much luck with them.
You know who Laura Jennings is?
Yeah? Does she know Mark?
I have no idea.
I need you to find out.
She tried to talk to me,
and now she's in the hospital.
So anything you can find out
about that or anything else
would help both of us.
'Cause I'm guessing one day,
you'll want to be able to tell your boys
what happened to their dad.
I don't give a shit what happened to him.
I just want my kids to be safe.
Well
they aren't.
[unsettling music playing]
[phone vibrates, chimes]
Hello?
It's Kallie. Where you at?
- Headed to Max's.
- You still doing that?
Picking up something for Demetrius.
Huh. Try 6th and West Cambria.
Ock on the corner does it way better.
- I'll meet you there.
- Okay.
- All right.
- [line ends]
[chuckles]
[grill sizzling]
[R&B music playing faintly]
I already ordered.
For Demetrius too.
- [Muncie] Thank you.
- Mm-hmm.
[grill sizzling]
So this your spot?
Just say "gimme a jawn with everything,"
and you won't be the same.
Hmm. You trying to make me fat?
You know, 'cause I'm trying
to keep it all together. [chuckles]
Nigga, don't you got a Peloton?
Come on now. Who you think I am?
- I don't see you enough to know.
- [exhales]
Touché.
[exhales]
So I read some of what they're posting.
Alt-right batshit.
What, they got me eating babies on pizzas?
- Basically.
- Yeah.
You going to the cops?
They gave me the
[Kallie] Mmm.
[siren wailing in the distance]
[sighs]
I'm thinking for this, I'm on my own.
Okay, John Wick.
[chuckles] Not even.
'Cause you don't really fit that.
I got a plan.
And I'd make sure
you got some work on you.
Work? What?
Heat.
Just let me know.
[exhales] You You telling me
you got guns?
I'm a Black girl living in North Philly.
The people that are after me,
that that's just all talk.
Until they're not.
Wasn't there some Staten Island guy
who killed a Mafia don
'cause he read the dude was a pedophile?
Yeah.
Guy literally lived with his mother.
Almost started a mob war.
I'm just saying, they're out there,
and if you can't talk to them rationally
Hey, yo. Yo, yo, yo,
did you put mayo in that?
Uh, yeah, sorry.
Uh, it's cool. It's cool.
- Demetrius hates mayo.
- Hmm.
Well, the boy's probably got the munchies,
so it don't matter what he eats.
[both chuckle]
- [cook] Three steaks, full jawn.
- Thanks, Bo.
- Thank you.
- [register chimes]
[dog barking]
[Kallie] I might have been rude earlier
about the whole cost to be a boss thing.
It's fair game.
A'ight.
Go be a good dad.
- A'ight.
- [chuckles softly]
- You need a ride?
- No, I'm good. My
My car's right there.
- Look at you. All right.
- Look at me.
- Look at you. All right.
- [chuckles]
All right, now.
[Kallie inhales]
[reporter] I interviewed Laura Jennings
when she first started
showing up on YouTube,
and though at times she seemed unhinged,
she clearly had her finger on the pulse
of what a lot of Americans
seem to want to hear.
So the fact that
she's hospitalized right now
[indistinct chatter]
- [man] Let's try.
- [woman] Okay.
Laura Jennings was often called
a conspiracy theorist,
but if she was,
she was certainly a popular one,
and will be remembered
as a controversial one as well.
[man] And cut.
She died?
[man] Yeah, man.
Like, it literally just happened.
[pensive music playing]
[indistinct chatter continues]
Laura Jennings was often called
a conspiracy theorist, but if she was
[dramatic music playing]
[siren wailing in the distance]
[music intensifies]
[dramatic music continues]
[lights buzzing]
[door shuts]
- [music fades]
- [electronic chiming]
[door shuts]
Good evening.
We're open until nine.
I used to close at eight.
Never know when you're gonna get
a post-dinner rush?
[man chuckles] That is right.
Couple of glasses of pinot grigio
with the wife,
and, uh, all hell can, uh,
maybe break loose.
[Muncie] Huh.
What are you looking for?
I'll just do a pistol.
Have you shot before?
Air guns.
I will start you off with simple.
Canik make a 9mm.
TP9 Elite Combat.
Super-duper bang for your buck.
- Now
- [gun cocks]
stop lever on both sides,
which makes ambidextrous,
just in case that is how you roll,
or if you have a lefty friend
or a friend on the left.
[chuckles] That is my little jokey.
Ideally, first you should go to a range.
Huh. It's just for show.
You never know. That's the point.
But it's also not science.
You pop in the mag, release the safety,
and Bob's your special uncle.
Can I buy it right now?
Background check take, uh, five minute.
It is a little too easy, no?
- Yeah.
- [man chuckles]
Especially if you're not sure when
the right time it is that you wanna,
you know, use it.
Well, my friend,
you will use it
when the world takes a shit on your head.
Second thoughts?
I understand.
[inhales sharply] First time is hard.
Yeah.
I'm not sure it's my thing.
[pensive music playing]
[car alarm chimes]
[doorbell rings]
- [Demetrius] Yo.
- [Muncie] Yo.
[Demetrius] Max's?
- [Muncie] Nah. Some place on 6th.
- [door shuts]
Kallie turned me on to it.
[Muncie sighs]
Hey, uh
Sorry about your phone.
It's fine.
I blocked them.
People saying some crazy stuff, man.
I thought your moms told you
to stay off those dark websites.
The stuff she texted me about
was on TikTok.
Yeah, like I said, dark web.
Didn't you used to read books?
Of course. I still read books.
[footsteps approaching]
[Muncie sighs]
- You okay?
- [Muncie] Yeah.
[woman] Hey, Muncie.
- How you doing, Nadia?
- [exhales] I'm so sorry this is happening.
[sighs] You know
you're welcome to stay too.
Thank you.
I just might. [exhales]
For one night.
Well, you stay as long as you need.
[Muncie] Thank you.
I looked into the lawyer thing.
Got a couple of names.
I'm not just gonna sit here
and do nothing.
- [horn honking]
- Hey, Dad, check this out.
- [rap music playing]
- [indistinct chatter]
[horn continues honking]
Jesus.
Where are you going?
There's a beauty to the madness
Because it made a beast ♪
And we playin' for keeps
Snatchin' them victories ♪
Yo! Yo!
Y'all need to get the fuck up out of here.
Uh, we're just listening to music, sir.
Yeah, just vibing, man.
I need you to turn that shit off
and get the fuck off my block.
[man 1] It ain't your block, homie.
It's your sister-in-law's, right?
[rap music continues]
You got your whole family in there,
hiding out?
Watch your mouth, man.
Whoa, whoa, whoa.
Get in the car,
and get the fuck off the block!
You got some rage, dude.
Is that what happened out in those woods?
Did you lose your temper?
Get in the fucking car and go!
What, it's four against one.
You want to go apeshit?
'Cause I like those odds.
[rap music continues]
It's grade A
You would think that I made honor roll ♪
It's simple math, ain't nothin' ♪
- [man 3] What, he hurt your feelings?
- [men chuckle]
[man 2] Nah, he just thinks
everyone's out to get him.
[man 1] You're not gonna
get away with it, dude.
Systemic racism isn't a defense.
- [man 2] Look at this scared motherfucker.
- [dramatic swell]
[gun fires]
[man 2] Jesus! Fuck!
- [man 1] This fucker's crazy!
- [man 3] Roll!
- [tires screech]
- [engine accelerates]
[dog barking in the distance]
[uneasy music playing]
[heart beating]
[sighs]
[heart beat fades]
[closing theme music playing]
[music fades]