The Premise (2021) s01e02 Episode Script

[MUSIC PLAYING]
This is The Premise.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
Take two marker.
Quiet on the set.
Quiet, guys.
So we don't actually have
this job open at the moment.
I I understand that.
But we have this on file.
I can be an extremely effective,
passionate advocate for this cause.
I believe it's my calling.
We really appreciate that.
I was born to do this job.
And I admire that passion.
- Again.
- I moved here to do this job.
You moved here for this particular job
that you're applying for, in PR.
Yes, ma'am.
Even though you have
no prior PR experience?
Yes, ma'am.
Did you look me up?
Just look up my name.
OK.
I see.
I see, I am so sorry.
Could you excuse me for just one moment.
I will be right back.
- Thank you.
- Thank you.
- Welcome aboard.
- [MUSIC PLAYING]
Hey, new guy. Chase right?
Figured you could use a friend.
Aaron, membership.
You're the new PR guy, right?
Well, it means we're on the same floor,
also self-appointed
tour guide around here.
Come on let me show you around.
Show you who to avoid,
all the good stuff.
- You met all the departments yet?
- Not yet.
Been down to the cafeteria,
get yourself a Yoo-hoo?
Can't say that I have.
Everybody, this is Chase.
He's really great guy.
Look at me.
I'm doing PR for the PR guy, right?
Taking notes, Chase? Hey, Marco. Chase.
I'm sorry I missed the cookout.
I want you to meet these guys.
Accounting say hi to Chase.
Hey, Pamela.
Hey, Matt. Say hi to Chase.
Hey. Show the new guy the basement yet?
- We're headed there now.
- All right. Welcome Chase.
Go ahead.
Hey.
What are you up to this weekend?
New CALL TO ACTION''s out.
I got it last night.
Beat me to it.
Perfect, I'll come by
tomorrow, let's play.
My place isn't set up yet.
What's there to setup?
You got CALL TO ACTION.
Trust me I got a family to get away from
and it'll be like staying
at a five star hotel.
- I don't know.
- Ah, give me a break.
You don't have any friends.
You definitely don't have
anything to do on the weekend.
Me, I'm coming over tomorrow and you,
you're going to play video
games with some guy at work
like a single lonely guy
at a new job is supposed to.
See you there.
Dude, this game's been out like one day.
It's pretty much the
same as the last one.
Yeah, how much you play the last one?
You know, dude your apartment's
kind of like crazy sad.
But that's just because you lost.
Like 10% for the loss.
Let's go.
Boom.
Yeah, I've been here 10 years.
First and only job.
Second place I applied.
What was the first?
Well the Bureau of Alcohol,
Tobacco, and Firearms,
my three favorite things.
Probably shouldn't have said
that at the interview though.
The NGL though, that
was the big deal for me.
Why is that?
You know, grew up in a big gun family?
We're all still really close.
My dad would go on these
three week hunting trips,
there's something primal about that.
Your dad going out into the woods,
coming back with food for the family.
You ever had deer jerky?
No.
Let me tell you
something, it's the worst.
There's a reason why people
domesticated cows instead
but he stocked the pantry up with it.
It sounded cool it
really did and it only
occurred to me as an adult,
wait, that stuff sucked.
If you look up to your parents, you just
get psyched on what they're psyched on
without even questioning.
That type of parent bond
nothing can break that.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
What's it like to lose a child?
You're the first person to ask me that.
No, it's OK.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
You know what? You don't have to answer.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
Think that is my answer.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
You ever bite into a bunny, a chocolate
Easter Bunny, when you were a kid?
[MUSIC PLAYING]
I dream of her.
We're together on Easter and we
bite into that bunny but it's hollow.
I'm not sure that makes
sense but that's wh
That makes the right amount of sense.
I'm really glad you are here.
I would give anything
for you not to be here
but people look at you.
They'll listen to you and you
can have a really big impact.
That's the idea, right?
That's why I'm here.
WOMAN: PR is peripheral
to most companies
but it's central to ours.
You know the old saying, the
pen is mightier than the sword.
The sword has changed quite a bit
- since they came up with that one.
- So has the pen.
So give me your best arguments.
First of all, wouldn't
start with anything
that you've already
seen on a bumper sticker.
Guns don't kill people,
people kill people.
No, I'd meet the other side and I
would do it on their territory.
Let's start with their values.
I'd look them in the
eye and I'd ask them,
"Are you at all concerned with the risk
of an authoritarian
or fascist government?
Or are you really fine
living in a country
where only the police
and only the military
have access to weaponry?"
What about mental health?
Do you believe it's a private matter?
Do you believe that it should
be protected from discrimination
or are you fine and
do you think it's fair
that the government just decide
who is and who is not sane?
And then to give different
rights to different people?
How about police bias?
In the history of this
country have we ever
used drug laws as an unfair excuse
to disproportionately prosecute
and imprison minorities
and do you think now it's wise
that we add similar laws that
would give the courts the
right to just imprison more
people in the exact same way.
How about factory farming?
Do we trust it enough to remove
the right of the individual
to participate directly
in the food chain?
If these things do concern
you, if they bother you,
you can't possibly
argue for more gun laws."
- Yes.
- Then I'd make it personal.
I'd ask them, "What
would you do if there
was a threat against
you, against your family?
If you knew for certain
that someone was on their way
to kill you, to kill
your kids, what would you
want more than anything
else in the world?
Would you want another bill
in your state legislature
or would you want a gun in your hand?
All right. Here's the hard part.
Can you make the case
for the other side?
The more guns you have, the
more gun deaths you have.
Everywhere in the world it's
a one for one correlation.
The closer a gun is to
your loved one the more
their life is in danger, period.
That is a fact.
You'd think if an object
where that directly
tied to the deaths of innocent
people that we wouldn't debate it.
You know something?
You'd be half right, it's not debated.
It's ignored.
And if I argued back about other causes,
the influence of violence
in mass media, mental health.
I'd say those aren't arguments,
those are distractions.
Proven by the fact that in the
aftermath of a mass shooting,
the people that make those arguments
they never actually pursue them.
Look I play violent video
games. Am I a threat?
My daughter was taken from me, so am I
in a sane state of mind?
Great.
Far more people in this country
like ice cream than guns, correct?
But what if people used ice cream
to violently kill over 30,000
innocent Americans each year?
I guarantee we'd shut down
every Dairy Queen in the country,
we'd do it overnight.
You know something?
It would be easy. Why?
There's no National Ice Cream Lobby.
Here we are at the NGL itself, right?
The ground zero of the Second Amendment.
We have a total open carry
policy throughout this building.
We have armed guards at the front door.
There is a gun range in the basement.
If we believe our own hype,
we're in the safest
place on Earth, right?
What's to stop a madman?
Someone determined
in making a statement,
someone with nothing to lose,
to infiltrate this office
and just shoot up the place.
Think about it.
Take out the headquarters and the
entire enterprise goes crumbling.
You're just one determined
person away aren't you?
So, how'd I do?
Do you have any notes?
No, it was great.
Morning.
WOMAN: All right.
Lost?
Just exercises.
She's kind of cute.
Yeah "kind of" is generous.
What about her?
What a ten world, no sevens.
You got any friends
down here I mean besides?
Besides who.
Oh.
No Aaron. Just you.
Yo.
I got something really weird to ask you.
You just tell me shut up if you want.
- OK?
- OK.
Have you ever been on
a hot air balloon ride?
What?
Was that like your line?
Is that what you say at
a bar, have you ever been
on a hot air balloon ride?
I mean, don't get me
wrong, it's kind of working.
So look my birthday's coming up, 35.
My wife said she wanted
me to get a new experience,
so I said, OK, how about threesomes?
She said ""Ha-ha, never
in a million years."
I said "Ha-ha, I'm glad
you knew that was a joke."
So my second choice.
I wanted to go on a
hot air balloon ride.
She said I'm claustrophobic
and afraid of heights,
I'd rather do the threesome, so.
I don't know why I'm so
embarrassed to ask you
I would totally love to fuck
you and your wife and I would
God no.
How about this, man?
Please try to avoid
sudden shifts in weight.
Sorry.
Stop it.
See the river down there?
Hey. Knock it off.
I've got something to live for.
Hey.
Hi.
I have something I want to run by you.
OK.
It's sensitive because it's personal
and it's using your life story.
It's why I'm here, right?
The anniversary is coming
up of your daughter's school.
15th.
There's going to be a
national moment of silence
that morning, as there should be,
and I was wondering if you would
feel comfortable leading it?
We would set up a live feed
of you here at your desk
during the moment of
silence as a statement.
As a statement.
I think it'd be quite a statement.
I do too.
I mean only if you're comfortable.
I'm comfortable.
Great.
AARON: Why are you so ticklish?
Heard you like to shoot?
These weapons have been in
our family for a long time.
You know, Aaron told me
about your background,
about what happened.
And I can't even express
to you how sorry I am.
He's been a good friend.
So what do you usually
like to shoot with?
AR-15.
Oh, that's quite a weapon.
I have a personal connection with it.
And a 60 rounds sure fire mag with that
it is absolutely unbeatable.
60 round.
Is there an issue with that, sir?
It's constitutionally guaranteed.
Oh, sure, you don't
have to tell me that.
It's like aluminum
bats in baseball to me,
I guess, for the sport.
I'm something of a purist.
Oh, uh, had this one since I was
13. My father took me on a trip.
Aaron tells me you're
a monster on the range.
You shoot competitively for sport?
I do not.
You've been doing this
your whole life, huh?
Since last September.
Last September?
That's right.
That's not even a year ago.
Must be training for something.
Usually when someone gets that good
that fast they're training
for something, a tournament.
Excuse me, let me take that.
- Thanks.
- Of course.
Thank you.
You know, after the Vietnam
War, a lot of us who came back
had been through not
necessarily what you
went through but an awful lot.
And when we came back, some of
us were OK, but some of us were
There's help out there.
Sir, do you mind if I ask you
a question about your service?
The soldiers in your unit, were
any of them a five-year-old girl?
This guy's trying to tell
me dinosaurs don't exist.
Who is this?
Really?
This guy beat us?
[INAUDIBLE]
- What's up?
- Can want to talk to you about your buddy.
OK.
AARON: Why do you always
bring your guns to work?
CHASE: Because I can.
Right.
But you also could just
leave them in your locker.
Like I said, because I can.
It's kind of what this
place is all about, right?
Does it make you feel
uncomfortable, Aaron?
Oh no, no.
- No?
- I asked, you answered.
CALL TO ACTION this weekend?
Sunday.
Monday? Still good?
How are you feeling about it?
It's all I'm thinking about.
Do you have a sec?
Sure.
Come on.
We've been playing a while,
you want to take a break?
No. Come on.
Hey.
Moment of silence.
You ever think about how
fucked up this country is?
Loud as it gotten it was fucking noise.
The most extreme response
that we can come up
with to the most extreme
shit is to be silent,
but hey not for so long, right?
Just for a moment.
Moment of silence.
I don't think you should
come into work tomorrow.
I know that was Trish's plan but
with all due respect, fuck Trish.
It's not Trish's plan, it's my plan.
I don't know if you're prepared
All I've been doing is
preparing for this, OK?
OK.
I don't think you should
come to work tomorrow.
Why not?
Look, both of us think
the other shouldn't
come into work tomorrow, right?
That's a sign.
Let's both take it off, right?
Come on, I'll plan a day out for us.
It'll be great.
We head up to the mountains,
get some air and some beer
and some perspective.
I'll pick you up, OK?
No, I got to go to work.
I got to be there for
the moment of silence.
Is there anything you
want to talk about?
Because you can.
I'm your friend, aren't I?
Yeah.
Yeah?
It's OK.
You're my friend.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Maybe you're right.
Maybe we just go to the mountains.
Just get out of here.
Yeah.
I could pick you up, all right.
Maybe 9 o'clock?
Sure.
I drive, you pack up.
Beer, lots of beer.
OK.
OK.
Don't be late.
Hey.
I thought we were going to
go head up to the mountains?
Right.
I must have totally forgot.
I guess I packed my
bag and then I forgot.
Right.
I get it.
What'd you pack?
You should still go.
Hey.
Listen, you know I'm not going anywhere.
OK.
OK.
Can I get you anything from the kitchen?
No, I'm good.
OK.
Hey, Matt.
[NO AUDIBLE DIALOGUE]
[NO AUDIBLE DIALOGUE]
TRISH: OK, everyone.
We're about to go live.
Remember all eyes are on us.
Silence means silence.
No.
Get down.
OK.