Side Quest (2025) s01e03 Episode Script
Fugue
1
[applause]
[attendee coughs]
Our world is so full of sound
that we don't always hear it,
but we can feel its absence
when it's gone.
Music, in particular,
breathes life into our everyday.
It is our heart's companion through
our joys, our sorrows, and our triumphs.
Tonight, I will be your guide
as we journey together
through the expansive world
of Mythic Quest: Hero's Passage. Enjoy.
[orchestral music playing]
[applauding]
[instruments tuning]
[musicians murmuring]
Number 237? They're ready for you.
[conductor] Enough.
You are dismissed. Thank you.
Next, please!
[breathing shakily]
You can begin when you're ready.
[instruments tuning]
Sylvie, right?
- Simon. Welcome. How are you?
- Hi.
Food.
Uh, sorry, that was "fine"
and "good" together for some reason.
[chuckles] I-I don't know. I'm nervous.
You'll settle in, all right?
I remember my Excuse me.
- Don't do it, Kevin.
- It's casting a shadow on my music.
If you touch my stand, I swear to God
Ow.
[instrument tuning continues]
[door opens, closes]
[gasps]
[conductor] Good morning, everyone.
"High Seas" from the top.
[orchestra playing "High Seas"]
[chuckles]
["High Seas" concludes]
[chuckles] Come out,
come out wherever you are.
Peekaboo. I see you. [chuckles]
- Guess again, sucker. Fridge! [laughs]
- [friend exclaims] What? V!
- [Sylvie] Come on, cardio! Cardio!
- Oh, I'm gonna get you.
- [Sylvie] Cardio! Cardio! Gone!
- Shit.
- Stop, V!
- Yeah, man! Yes! [laughs]
[friend sighs]
- Turd! [laughs]
- [laughs]
- [breathes heavily]
- Go again? Hmm?
I could play as a washing machine
this time, even it out for you?
- Sorry, I gotta go meet that guy.
- Ugh.
- Come with me?
- On your date? [scoffs] No, thanks.
[scoffs] Whenever you go on a date
with someone that you meet from Tinder,
it's not a date. It's a parole hearing.
- Please. Please, please, please.
- No, no. I have to practice.
But you already got the job.
I know, just I want to be the best.
[sighs] You are the best, V,
since, like, birth.
But all you've done for months
is practice, and it paid off.
Dream-job mode unlocked.
But now you can relax a little.
Next time. Next time. I promise.
[groans] Fine.
Enjoy your evening with Derek.
- Who?
- Derek. It's what I call your cello.
- [scoffs]
- He's the perfect boyfriend.
You know, tall, dark, handsome.
[chuckles] Always between your legs.
- Ew, no.
- [laughs]
[Sylvie] Girl, go.
- Bye.
- [friend] Bye.
[playing classical composition]
[orchestra playing composition]
[audience cheering, applauding]
[laughs]
That was amazing!
Putting away a cello
isn't exactly a high art form.
[chuckles]
Oh, you meant the concert.
- Yeah, I mean, the lighting was good.
- [laughs]
You could barely see the audience.
When we play in Naples,
you could practically see
the tonsils of all the honors. [chuckles]
I'm gonna see Naples and
ah, and Sydney and Paris.
Yeah.
You'll definitely see the concert halls,
if nothing else. [chuckles]
[musicians chattering]
[sighs]
Are you going on tour
for six months or sitting shiva?
Well, we only wear black on stage.
You know that.
[friend] Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.
But what about the post-stage shenanigans?
Like, I can't live vicariously through you
if you're not living
a vicarious-worthy life.
[gasps] Ooh. What's this?
That is a Halloween costume from when
I went as zombie Jessica Rabbit.
Jessica Rabbit was right.
This is a sexy dress. Take it.
- No. No, I don't have space. No.
- Take, take, take, take. Take it.
- Take it, take it, take it. Yes!
- [chuckles] Fine!
If it'll get you to shut up
and get me 16 more pairs of black socks.
- Sixtee No!
- Yes.
[Kevin exhales deeply]
[whispering] Kevin, if you breathe on me
one more time, I swear to God.
Back up. Jesus Christ.
[Kevin whispering] Uh, it's your breath.
- You're smelling your own breath, Simon.
- How can you not even notice?
- You stink.
- I'm minty.
[orchestral music playing]
[composition concludes]
[audience applauding]
[baton tapping]
You were flat.
[applause continues]
[phone chimes]
- [phone chimes]
- [sighs]
[sighs]
[playing classical composition]
[yawns]
[whispers] Jesus Christ!
What have you been eating?
That's personal, and I won't answer.
Oh, my God. Probably
because you ate something nasty.
[musicians chattering]
- [Kevin] You think about me way too much.
- Shut up.
[orchestral music playing]
[composition intermittently off-key]
[composition concludes]
[audience applauding]
[playing classical composition]
[phone chimes]
[Kevin] Come on. You're holding us back.
[whispers] Go.
Oh, sor [sighs]
[orchestral music playing]
[composition intermittently off-key]
[composition concludes]
[audience applauding, whistling]
[conductor] 300.
300 cellists auditioned for your chair.
Maestro, I'm so sorry. I
- I-I don't know what happened tonight.
- It isn't just tonight.
I'm having trouble
connecting with the music.
I can't see it the way I used to.
It isn't your job to see it.
It's your job to play it.
For them. Perfectly.
If you cannot, you will be replaced.
No!
No. [stammers]
I can do the job.
[breathing shakily]
[orchestral music playing]
[breathes heavily]
[composition concludes]
[audience applauding]
[orchestral music playing]
[composition intermittently off-key]
[orchestral music playing]
[mouthing] Come on!
[cello bow scraping]
[discordant music playing]
[Sylvie breathes heavily]
[scraping continues]
[cello rattling]
[Sylvie breathes deeply]
[orchestral music playing]
[composition concludes]
[friend, muffled] Sylvie? Sylvie.
What the hell? Can you hear me?
[normal] I've been texting you for weeks.
Hell, I even called you,
so you know I was worried.
Hey.
[shivers]
Come on, V.
Eat.
Come on, V.
Don't make me airplane spoon you again.
That was humiliating for the both of us.
What am I supposed to do now?
You can start with a shower.
Sorry, sorry, sorry. You know I say
shitty things when I'm uncomfortable,
and this situation
makes me very uncomfortable.
[Sylvie groans]
[sighs]
[clicks tongue] Listen,
the good thing is, you can do anything.
Maybe this is an opportunity to,
maybe, I don't know, do something else.
Playing music is all I know how to do.
It's It's all I want to do.
Clearly not.
What's that supposed to mean?
V, you had a panic attack on stage.
You bolted mid-performance,
and then you abandoned the tour.
I mean, that just doesn't scream
happy camper to me.
[breathes shakily] I don't know
what I am without music.
Free?
Listen, now you can actually have a life.
One that's different than,
you know, maybe imagined,
but that's not a bad thing.
Like Like me.
Like, I didn't think I was going to
fall in love with a bro from a hookup app,
but I did, and I'm happy.
But you don't you don't understand.
This is my dream,
and I-I fucked it all up.
Whoa. Whoa. Okay.
Calm down, babe, you're frothing.
You don't get it.
I'm sorry I'm not content to just shack up
with the first guy who swiped right
so I can shit out some kids
and die unfulfilled in Burbank.
Wow. [scoffs]
Okay.
Um, you're going through
a thing right now,
so I'm just gonna choose
to let that slide and
Why?
Because it's true?
Doubling down.
Okay.
Well, if we're telling truths,
I'm glad you lost your fucking job.
Maybe now you can start acting
like a normal fucking person
and not a music robot.
When you've reached the bottom of this
downward spiral you're on, call me.
My regards to Derek.
[door slams]
[crying]
[sniffles, breathing shakily]
[typing]
[patrons chattering]
[Sylvie breathes heavily]
Maestro, what I did was unforgivable,
and I know I don't deserve it,
but I've come here
to ask you for my place back.
You have no place.
Your seat was filled
the moment you left it.
You have proven you cannot do this job.
I've had a bow in my hand
every day since I was eight years old.
Music is everything to me.
And that is why you cannot do this job.
[inhales sharply]
Please. [breathes shakily]
Please, please don't take this
away from me.
[sighs]
I believe I already have.
I want you to read something for me.
Aloud, please.
"Maestro, Ian Grimm here
with some midnight noodling.
Had a thought about the back half
of the 'Plains of Elysium' piece.
The horns should sweep in stronger.
Right now, it's more of a swoop.
I'm thinking 'da da dum da dum,'
but it could be more like
'dadadum da dum.'"
You can stop. [sighs]
It continues for three more pages.
Music is my love.
My heart beats with it,
but it's not my job.
My job is to report to a board.
To fill the seats in the theater.
To 1,000 emails a day from idiots.
It's eating alone at a restaurant
in a city I won't get to see.
I have learned to separate
my music to do my job.
I do not believe you can say the same.
I just want it to come back.
It will.
When you're ready to hear it again.
[patrons chattering]
Thanks for meeting me.
Thanks for inviting me.
Excuse me. Can I get a vodka tonic?
[bartender] You got it.
I'm so sorry, Kourt.
I was hurting so much,
and you were just trying to help,
and I-I-I ju I couldn't, I
I was I was so out of line,
and I-I didn't mean any of it.
Not even the shitting out kids part?
Oh, God. [sighs]
[Kourt sighs]
How are things? You good?
Yeah. I'm okay.
- I've been seeing a therapist.
- Mmm.
It's helping.
I'm glad.
I'm working at a dentist's office.
A receptionist.
That's great, V.
You know, it turns out
classically trained former cellist
isn't a high-demand skill
in the job market.
It's-It's not bad, though.
[bartender] Here you go.
[clicks tongue] Well, do your scrubs
have cartoons on them?
[chuckles] Yeah.
Looney Tunes?
- Hello Kitty. Mm-hmm. [chuckles]
- Mmm. Good girl. [chuckles]
How's Mark?
Mark's good.
But his mom got me lingerie
at our engagement party.
What?
Mm-hmm. And I'm not talking, like,
you know, classy silk and lace.
We're talking assless mesh and garters.
Assless?
Assless.
- No! No!
- [laughs] And then Wait. Wait. No, no.
And then she goes she goes,
"Mark's gonna love it." Like, bitch, what?
- That's your son! Yes, exactly!
- This is your son. Exactly. It's crazy.
I'm also confused.
How do you make it without an ass?
- How does it even stay up?
- [laughs]
- [dings]
- [both chattering, laughing]
[glasses clinking, chiming]
[muted dialogue]
[clinking]
- [keys clacking]
- [drum beats]
[bell dings]
[chattering]
- [Kourt laughs]
- Hi.
- Oh, hi.
- [bottles hiss]
[clattering, chiming]
- [clinking]
- [friends] Cheers.
- [horns blaring]
- [trombone blows]
[whooshing, thudding]
[electricity buzzing]
[violin playing]
[traffic light chiming]
[vehicles passing]
[muffled string instruments playing]
[music increases in volume]
[music fades]
- [music stops]
- [breathes shakily]
[string instruments playing]
[applause]
[attendee coughs]
Our world is so full of sound
that we don't always hear it,
but we can feel its absence
when it's gone.
Music, in particular,
breathes life into our everyday.
It is our heart's companion through
our joys, our sorrows, and our triumphs.
Tonight, I will be your guide
as we journey together
through the expansive world
of Mythic Quest: Hero's Passage. Enjoy.
[orchestral music playing]
[applauding]
[instruments tuning]
[musicians murmuring]
Number 237? They're ready for you.
[conductor] Enough.
You are dismissed. Thank you.
Next, please!
[breathing shakily]
You can begin when you're ready.
[instruments tuning]
Sylvie, right?
- Simon. Welcome. How are you?
- Hi.
Food.
Uh, sorry, that was "fine"
and "good" together for some reason.
[chuckles] I-I don't know. I'm nervous.
You'll settle in, all right?
I remember my Excuse me.
- Don't do it, Kevin.
- It's casting a shadow on my music.
If you touch my stand, I swear to God
Ow.
[instrument tuning continues]
[door opens, closes]
[gasps]
[conductor] Good morning, everyone.
"High Seas" from the top.
[orchestra playing "High Seas"]
[chuckles]
["High Seas" concludes]
[chuckles] Come out,
come out wherever you are.
Peekaboo. I see you. [chuckles]
- Guess again, sucker. Fridge! [laughs]
- [friend exclaims] What? V!
- [Sylvie] Come on, cardio! Cardio!
- Oh, I'm gonna get you.
- [Sylvie] Cardio! Cardio! Gone!
- Shit.
- Stop, V!
- Yeah, man! Yes! [laughs]
[friend sighs]
- Turd! [laughs]
- [laughs]
- [breathes heavily]
- Go again? Hmm?
I could play as a washing machine
this time, even it out for you?
- Sorry, I gotta go meet that guy.
- Ugh.
- Come with me?
- On your date? [scoffs] No, thanks.
[scoffs] Whenever you go on a date
with someone that you meet from Tinder,
it's not a date. It's a parole hearing.
- Please. Please, please, please.
- No, no. I have to practice.
But you already got the job.
I know, just I want to be the best.
[sighs] You are the best, V,
since, like, birth.
But all you've done for months
is practice, and it paid off.
Dream-job mode unlocked.
But now you can relax a little.
Next time. Next time. I promise.
[groans] Fine.
Enjoy your evening with Derek.
- Who?
- Derek. It's what I call your cello.
- [scoffs]
- He's the perfect boyfriend.
You know, tall, dark, handsome.
[chuckles] Always between your legs.
- Ew, no.
- [laughs]
[Sylvie] Girl, go.
- Bye.
- [friend] Bye.
[playing classical composition]
[orchestra playing composition]
[audience cheering, applauding]
[laughs]
That was amazing!
Putting away a cello
isn't exactly a high art form.
[chuckles]
Oh, you meant the concert.
- Yeah, I mean, the lighting was good.
- [laughs]
You could barely see the audience.
When we play in Naples,
you could practically see
the tonsils of all the honors. [chuckles]
I'm gonna see Naples and
ah, and Sydney and Paris.
Yeah.
You'll definitely see the concert halls,
if nothing else. [chuckles]
[musicians chattering]
[sighs]
Are you going on tour
for six months or sitting shiva?
Well, we only wear black on stage.
You know that.
[friend] Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.
But what about the post-stage shenanigans?
Like, I can't live vicariously through you
if you're not living
a vicarious-worthy life.
[gasps] Ooh. What's this?
That is a Halloween costume from when
I went as zombie Jessica Rabbit.
Jessica Rabbit was right.
This is a sexy dress. Take it.
- No. No, I don't have space. No.
- Take, take, take, take. Take it.
- Take it, take it, take it. Yes!
- [chuckles] Fine!
If it'll get you to shut up
and get me 16 more pairs of black socks.
- Sixtee No!
- Yes.
[Kevin exhales deeply]
[whispering] Kevin, if you breathe on me
one more time, I swear to God.
Back up. Jesus Christ.
[Kevin whispering] Uh, it's your breath.
- You're smelling your own breath, Simon.
- How can you not even notice?
- You stink.
- I'm minty.
[orchestral music playing]
[composition concludes]
[audience applauding]
[baton tapping]
You were flat.
[applause continues]
[phone chimes]
- [phone chimes]
- [sighs]
[sighs]
[playing classical composition]
[yawns]
[whispers] Jesus Christ!
What have you been eating?
That's personal, and I won't answer.
Oh, my God. Probably
because you ate something nasty.
[musicians chattering]
- [Kevin] You think about me way too much.
- Shut up.
[orchestral music playing]
[composition intermittently off-key]
[composition concludes]
[audience applauding]
[playing classical composition]
[phone chimes]
[Kevin] Come on. You're holding us back.
[whispers] Go.
Oh, sor [sighs]
[orchestral music playing]
[composition intermittently off-key]
[composition concludes]
[audience applauding, whistling]
[conductor] 300.
300 cellists auditioned for your chair.
Maestro, I'm so sorry. I
- I-I don't know what happened tonight.
- It isn't just tonight.
I'm having trouble
connecting with the music.
I can't see it the way I used to.
It isn't your job to see it.
It's your job to play it.
For them. Perfectly.
If you cannot, you will be replaced.
No!
No. [stammers]
I can do the job.
[breathing shakily]
[orchestral music playing]
[breathes heavily]
[composition concludes]
[audience applauding]
[orchestral music playing]
[composition intermittently off-key]
[orchestral music playing]
[mouthing] Come on!
[cello bow scraping]
[discordant music playing]
[Sylvie breathes heavily]
[scraping continues]
[cello rattling]
[Sylvie breathes deeply]
[orchestral music playing]
[composition concludes]
[friend, muffled] Sylvie? Sylvie.
What the hell? Can you hear me?
[normal] I've been texting you for weeks.
Hell, I even called you,
so you know I was worried.
Hey.
[shivers]
Come on, V.
Eat.
Come on, V.
Don't make me airplane spoon you again.
That was humiliating for the both of us.
What am I supposed to do now?
You can start with a shower.
Sorry, sorry, sorry. You know I say
shitty things when I'm uncomfortable,
and this situation
makes me very uncomfortable.
[Sylvie groans]
[sighs]
[clicks tongue] Listen,
the good thing is, you can do anything.
Maybe this is an opportunity to,
maybe, I don't know, do something else.
Playing music is all I know how to do.
It's It's all I want to do.
Clearly not.
What's that supposed to mean?
V, you had a panic attack on stage.
You bolted mid-performance,
and then you abandoned the tour.
I mean, that just doesn't scream
happy camper to me.
[breathes shakily] I don't know
what I am without music.
Free?
Listen, now you can actually have a life.
One that's different than,
you know, maybe imagined,
but that's not a bad thing.
Like Like me.
Like, I didn't think I was going to
fall in love with a bro from a hookup app,
but I did, and I'm happy.
But you don't you don't understand.
This is my dream,
and I-I fucked it all up.
Whoa. Whoa. Okay.
Calm down, babe, you're frothing.
You don't get it.
I'm sorry I'm not content to just shack up
with the first guy who swiped right
so I can shit out some kids
and die unfulfilled in Burbank.
Wow. [scoffs]
Okay.
Um, you're going through
a thing right now,
so I'm just gonna choose
to let that slide and
Why?
Because it's true?
Doubling down.
Okay.
Well, if we're telling truths,
I'm glad you lost your fucking job.
Maybe now you can start acting
like a normal fucking person
and not a music robot.
When you've reached the bottom of this
downward spiral you're on, call me.
My regards to Derek.
[door slams]
[crying]
[sniffles, breathing shakily]
[typing]
[patrons chattering]
[Sylvie breathes heavily]
Maestro, what I did was unforgivable,
and I know I don't deserve it,
but I've come here
to ask you for my place back.
You have no place.
Your seat was filled
the moment you left it.
You have proven you cannot do this job.
I've had a bow in my hand
every day since I was eight years old.
Music is everything to me.
And that is why you cannot do this job.
[inhales sharply]
Please. [breathes shakily]
Please, please don't take this
away from me.
[sighs]
I believe I already have.
I want you to read something for me.
Aloud, please.
"Maestro, Ian Grimm here
with some midnight noodling.
Had a thought about the back half
of the 'Plains of Elysium' piece.
The horns should sweep in stronger.
Right now, it's more of a swoop.
I'm thinking 'da da dum da dum,'
but it could be more like
'dadadum da dum.'"
You can stop. [sighs]
It continues for three more pages.
Music is my love.
My heart beats with it,
but it's not my job.
My job is to report to a board.
To fill the seats in the theater.
To 1,000 emails a day from idiots.
It's eating alone at a restaurant
in a city I won't get to see.
I have learned to separate
my music to do my job.
I do not believe you can say the same.
I just want it to come back.
It will.
When you're ready to hear it again.
[patrons chattering]
Thanks for meeting me.
Thanks for inviting me.
Excuse me. Can I get a vodka tonic?
[bartender] You got it.
I'm so sorry, Kourt.
I was hurting so much,
and you were just trying to help,
and I-I-I ju I couldn't, I
I was I was so out of line,
and I-I didn't mean any of it.
Not even the shitting out kids part?
Oh, God. [sighs]
[Kourt sighs]
How are things? You good?
Yeah. I'm okay.
- I've been seeing a therapist.
- Mmm.
It's helping.
I'm glad.
I'm working at a dentist's office.
A receptionist.
That's great, V.
You know, it turns out
classically trained former cellist
isn't a high-demand skill
in the job market.
It's-It's not bad, though.
[bartender] Here you go.
[clicks tongue] Well, do your scrubs
have cartoons on them?
[chuckles] Yeah.
Looney Tunes?
- Hello Kitty. Mm-hmm. [chuckles]
- Mmm. Good girl. [chuckles]
How's Mark?
Mark's good.
But his mom got me lingerie
at our engagement party.
What?
Mm-hmm. And I'm not talking, like,
you know, classy silk and lace.
We're talking assless mesh and garters.
Assless?
Assless.
- No! No!
- [laughs] And then Wait. Wait. No, no.
And then she goes she goes,
"Mark's gonna love it." Like, bitch, what?
- That's your son! Yes, exactly!
- This is your son. Exactly. It's crazy.
I'm also confused.
How do you make it without an ass?
- How does it even stay up?
- [laughs]
- [dings]
- [both chattering, laughing]
[glasses clinking, chiming]
[muted dialogue]
[clinking]
- [keys clacking]
- [drum beats]
[bell dings]
[chattering]
- [Kourt laughs]
- Hi.
- Oh, hi.
- [bottles hiss]
[clattering, chiming]
- [clinking]
- [friends] Cheers.
- [horns blaring]
- [trombone blows]
[whooshing, thudding]
[electricity buzzing]
[violin playing]
[traffic light chiming]
[vehicles passing]
[muffled string instruments playing]
[music increases in volume]
[music fades]
- [music stops]
- [breathes shakily]
[string instruments playing]