The Irrational (2023) s01e03 Episode Script
The Barnum Effect
1
People are irrational,
but predictably so.
I'm Alec Mercer.
Welcome to Applied Psychology.
You're the science guy.
That's Bill Nye.
I'm actually the behavioral science guy.
Why use a barely detectable
poison on one of
the only people on Earth
who'd be able to recognize it?
This is where understanding
human nature could be helpful.
It's called the cocktail party effect.
You're in a crowd.
You're talking to one person.
Everything else becomes background noise
until you hear something like "sex."
See, everyone hears the word "sex."
What kind of sorcery is this?
We call it attentional blindness.
I didn't give up hope.
It's the hope that'll kill you.
Science says the opposite.
[PLAYFUL MUSIC]
♪
Damn.
Let me guess,
you get burned at the stake
in the 12th century?
The Tower is the creepiest
card in the deck
misery, distress,
unforeseen catastrophe,
imminent disaster,
or possibly sudden clarity.
Can the card be more specific?
That's part of the art of divination.
Ah, in my world,
we call that the Barnum effect.
No, we don't.
It's named after
the showman himself, PT Barnum.
His fortune tellers would offer
vague, general predictions
that would apply to anybody
and convinced folks that
they could see the future.
You know, you're like
the behavioral scientist
who ruined Christmas.
[CHUCKLES] If you don't
understand the science,
everything looks like magic.
Can't it just be fun?
Come on, let me do yours.
Another time.
I got a meeting with Marisa.
I thought we agreed ex-wives need space.
Technically, we didn't agree.
You insisted.
But I did listen to you,
and then Marisa called me.
Ah, I see romantic disaster ahead.
The meeting's at the FBI,
the least romantic spot in town.
And it's about the logo
on the getaway van
that I remembered from the bombing.
Well, I'm just saying,
proceed with caution, Alec.
You're wading in tricky waters
going back to the well so quickly.
I don't know if you can
wade in well water.
But point taken. Though, for the record,
she didn't have to ask me
to meet her in person.
Read into that what you will.
Well, okay.
[CHUCKLES]
Oh, this one's easy.
You owe me rent.
Bye. Love you.
[CHUCKLES] Love you too.
Rent's still due.
♪
[ELEVATOR DINGS]
Judge expects an approval
on the warrant by 3:00.
- Oh, hey, Alec.
- Jace.
Hey, thanks for guest lecturing.
The students are still talking about it.
Oh, hey, any time.
I got two summer interns
out of it, so win-win.
Then I guess next time,
dinner's on the FBI.
You got it.
Morning, Alec.
Morning to you. New hairstyle.
Oh, not that new,
but thanks for noticing.
Uh, 3:00 p.m. We'll keep you posted.
Thanks. Good news.
We found a company that
matches your logo.
- Really?
- After 19 years,
the FBI is officially
reopening the case.
Come on in.
[EXHALES]
Turns out human beings are
not really rational at all.
I mean, we make terrible
decisions constantly,
like driving drunk.
So dangerous, but people
uh, not me do it every day.
Thing is, we're not only irrational
but also predictable,
highly predictable.
And all this has been
documented by Dr. Alec Mercer,
Chair of Behavioral Sciences
at Wylton University.
You familiar with his work?
No.
Oh.
Well, it's groundbreaking.
I just started as one
of his research assistants.
Driving helps put a dent
in my student loans.
[PHONE CHIMES]
Totally get it.
Apologies.
[PLANE WHOOSHING LOUDLY]
- What the
- [TIRES SCREECH]
[DRAMATIC MUSIC]
♪
Here's the logo on a van
owned by JoJo's Dry Cleaners.
It was located less than three miles
from Methodist Church, here.
After the bombing,
we know the van turned left
on 10th Avenue.
Same direction as the dry cleaners.
Mm-hmm.
[SOFT DRAMATIC MUSIC]
♪
This is it.
That's what I remember seeing.
What's next?
Well, JoJo's went out
of business eight years ago,
and the owner passed.
Any family still around?
His daughter relocated to Iowa.
Now that I have your confirmation,
I can reach out to
an agent in Sioux City.
Thank you.
I know this isn't easy for you.
I imagine the feeling's mutual.
I'll always be here for you, for this.
That means a lot.
There's something that
I wanted to talk to you about.
[PHONES RINGING, INDISTINCT CHATTER]
Marisa, the SAC's calling
for an all hands.
Sorry. I gotta go.
Uh
We'll talk later.
[MUTED SHOUTS]
[HIGH-PITCHED RINGING]
[DRAMATIC MUSIC]
♪
[SIRENS WAILING]
♪
We have to run it by the FBI.
Just wait with us here until then.
[SIRENS WAILING, INDISTINCT SHOUTS]
♪
Commuter Flight 118 crashed
into the Chain Bridge
just miles outside of Washington, DC.
The pilot, copilot
- [PHONE RINGING]
- And at least 17 passengers
are confirmed dead.
Miraculously, however,
22 survivors have been rescued
Are you at the crash site?
Yeah. This was the all hands.
I'm watching on the news.
The FAA called us in
because they believe
the flight was downed deliberately.
Deliberately?
Someone get into the cockpit?
Right now, all eyes on the pilot.
He died in the crash.
- Any motive?
- Well, I was hoping
you could shed some light.
He's highly experienced,
had a perfect flying record,
but weirdly, he didn't follow
any protocol after takeoff.
Did they drug test?
Yeah, he's clean.
We need help figuring out
his state of mind.
Any interest in giving your assessment?
I'll be right there.
The three most basic rules of flying:
aviate, navigate, communicate.
The pilot did none of those.
Alec, this is Owen Kalagian,
Hollette Aviation,
manufacturers of the aircraft.
And this is Dale Newhouse, NTSB.
He's leading the investigation.
This is Emma Liu.
She'll be running point for us.
I've read your books. Glad you're here.
Uh, so were there
any problems with the plane?
Uh, we're still gathering data,
but there were no indications
of any mechanical problems.
- Everything passed inspection.
- Pilot error?
Well, seconds after takeoff,
the guy switched to manual
and changed course to clip the bridge.
Nobody makes that kind of mistake,
sure as hell not a pilot
with 12 years of flight experience.
- Weather?
- Well, there was
some minor wind shear,
but nothing abnormal.
What do we know about the copilot?
Didn't make it either.
Once we locate the black box,
we'll know exactly
what was said in the cockpit.
I understand there were survivors?
Up to 25. It's really quite a miracle.
We haven't ruled out terrorism.
Or suicide.
You said he was a skilled pilot?
Yeah, one of the best.
So if he wanted
to kill himself and others,
why would he crash a plane
in a way that would let
half the passengers survive?
I don't know.
That's why you're here.
How many commercial airlines
do you think have crashed
in the U.S. in the last ten years?
I should know this. More than 20?
[CHUCKLES] Your answer suggests
you have a fear of flying.
Along with roughly 40%
of the population.
- Zero.
- Sorry?
Zero commercial plane crashes
in the last ten years.
Imagine that.
25,000 flights per day,
22 million per year,
not a single crash.
Until today.
Okay, that's one in 220 million.
Do you have a fear of driving?
Not yet.
Six million.
Six million car accidents per year.
The chances of us dying going
to see a plane crash
are 1,000% greater than dying in one.
Hey, Professor.
Rizwan. I hear you had quite a morning.
I know. Yeah.
Sorry I'm late.
The traffic was terrible.
You were near the bridge, right?
You saw the crash?
Heard you're on the investigation.
- I'd like to help.
- You sure?
Maybe you should take it easy today.
I can cover.
No, I'm fine, really.
All right, let's go.
[SOFT DRAMATIC MUSIC]
The NTSB sees a strong
indication of pilot suicide,
despite conflicting evidence.
Why?
Confirmation bias?
- Cognitive closure?
- Both.
The more uncertain the times,
the more we crave certainty.
They're ignoring bad facts.
What are bad facts?
Ones that don't fit
their operating theory
but are true nonetheless.
But what if it is suicide?
It's the number two cause
for plane crashes.
There were eight cases
between 2002 and 2013.
And the airline discovered
the pilot had been
in treatment for depression.
Not depression, a depressive episode.
There's a difference.
Following a prolonged,
difficult divorce?
Maybe he was on edge.
I went through a prolonged,
difficult divorce.
Am I at risk of downing a plane?
But he did down a plane.
The question is why.
If the pilot was suicidal,
there'd be a note maybe,
a pattern of behavior.
There definitely wouldn't be
any survivors
lest he be one of them.
If this was intentional, it was sloppy,
which records indicate
he was anything but.
We need to get
an unbiased view of the pilot.
You're right.
Give me a second.
Alec, we've already been
through the pilot's home.
Yes, but you were looking
for the wrong things.
Well, what are you looking for?
That's the point. I don't know yet.
The key's in the lockbox.
I'll text you the code.
Oh, well, you two seem
to be on good terms.
Uh, that mean he took it well?
Actually, I haven't told him yet.
Oh.
I was going to,
but then we got interrupted
by the plane crash, and it's
been a little hectic since.
No pressure. [CHUCKLES]
It's all new to me too.
So I was reviewing the flight
manifest for possible targets.
Now, every plane out of DC had
prominent figures on it.
- But this one
- 34 members of
the Worldwide Women
in Leadership Association.
- Could be a coincidence.
- Unless it's not.
We should look into it.
[INTRIGUING MUSIC]
We have to approach this
with a completely open mind,
no theories or assumptions.
I feel kind of weird going
into a dead guy's house.
To understand how he died,
we gotta see how he lived.
♪
I love those metal desks
made from airplane wings.
Seems like he would have one of those.
♪
If it's too uncomfortable for you here,
you you don't have to stay.
Look, I'm fine. I wasn't on the plane.
Stop treating me like a victim.
- Rizwan
- I'll check downstairs.
Rizwan okay?
He was pretty freaked out earlier.
He gets defensive every time
I try and talk to him about it.
In my experience, if someone
doesn't ask for help,
you can't force it.
So I should just do nothing?
[CHUCKLES] That's my advice.
[SIGHS] Don't push.
He'll come to you when he needs help.
Hmm.
What?
Fresh produce.
Aha.
Fresh seafood.
What does that mean?
Pescatarian.
And he put it in the refrigerator?
He was planning on coming home tonight.
[SNAPS FINGERS]
I'm going upstairs.
- [SCREAMS]
- Whoa!
- Whoa. Whoa.
- Hey, hey, hey, hey.
Wait, wait, wait, wait!
I'm with the FBI.
The FBI? You got some ID?
[PLAYFUL MUSIC]
♪
It says Wylton University.
I'm a professor.
The FBI brought me
onto your brother's case.
You are Lucas' brother, right?
I can see the resemblance.
This is Phoebe, my research associate.
Hi.
Yeah, I'm Rory. I'm Lucas' brother.
Uh, and this is
my friend, Daisy.
Uh, when you guys are ready,
you mind answering a few questions?
Yeah. Uh, yeah.
Great. Excuse us.
How'd you guys get in?
The FBI has a key.
This is all just so crazy.
Should I check on
Daisy? No, she's fine.
Uh, I I was hanging out
with her in Norfolk
when I got the call about Lucas.
I didn't want to come alone.
You guys have no idea
what today's been like.
Daisy and I got here.
It was the first quiet moment.
And we put our stuff in the guest room,
and hell, you guys walked in and
There's something called
bereavement sex.
♪
Oh, yeah. A flood of adrenaline
mixed with grief can cause
a misdirected craving for intimacy.
It's, uh, bereavement sex.
- That's a thing?
- It's not uncommon.
Professor Mercer is
a behavioral scientist.
He's working with the FBI to
better understand your brother's
state of mind.
It was not suicide, I promise you that.
He was the older one,
the responsible one.
I was the one that almost
didn't finish flight school.
- You're a pilot too?
- Same airline.
Lucas got me into the program,
helped me train.
We heard he was pretty
broken up about his divorce.
Yeah. Being a pilot is hard
on relationships.
You're away all the time.
Caitlin tried to make it work.
But then she left him?
No.
Uh-uh.
She gave him an ultimatum.
It was either the marriage or flying,
and he chose flying.
If he was so distraught
over his marriage breaking up,
he would have chosen her, right?
Look, there is no way
that Lucas would intentionally
crash a plane.
[SOFT DRAMATIC MUSIC]
The truth is everyone has
incentive to blame the pilot.
It's because he's dead
and he can't defend himself.
Alec, we've gotten some new evidence.
Hey, Alec.
We've been going through the
pilot's credit card and bank statements.
Are you familiar with
the Mastery Select?
I've read about them.
They teach classes on
how to be attractive to women.
I've seen better advice
on bathroom stalls.
Two weeks ago, Lucas signed
up for a daylong seminar.
One of the sessions was led by
a subset called the Black Pill Group.
Basically incel for divorcées.
They're targeting prominent women,
people who they see as
destroying the patriarchy.
Flight 118 was carrying 34 members
of a women's global
leadership conference.
You think Lucas crashed the plane
to kill prominent members
of a women's leadership group?
Mm-hmm.
This does not sound like
the guy whose home we visited.
He traveled a lot.
It's easy to live a double life.
Right before takeoff,
he deleted all of his emails.
More to the point,
the group's rallying cry is
"I took the black pill."
The NTSB recovered the flight recorder.
- [ALARM BLARING]
- Pull up. Release the trim.
- Pull up.
- Whoa, what are you doing?
Hey, wait, what are you doing?
- That's not protocol.
- I took the black pill.
- That bitch
- Lucas, no!
- That's not protocol.
- I took the black pill.
- That bitch
- Lucas, no!
I never felt threatened by Lucas.
He wasn't that type of person.
Maybe he changed or maybe
I never really knew him.
He was flying so much.
Our entire marriage could've been a lie.
I flew with Lucas on the leg before 118.
Pretty quiet, kept to himself.
Looking back, I guess
he was angry about the divorce.
I wish I'd been in the cockpit
yesterday.
You know, maybe I could have
stopped him.
This is just insane.
I have known Lucas my whole life.
There's no way that he was a member
of the Black Pill Group
or even, uh, what was it,
the Mastery Select?
I'm sorry.
I'm sure this is hard to hear.
That's probably why Lucas
never shared it with you.
You're wrong.
I'm with Rory.
I'm not convinced
Lucas committed mass murder.
He deleted his emails.
You heard his voice
on the flight recorder.
His therapist, his ex-wife,
his colleagues, his brother,
none of them reported a single
warning sign beforehand.
But looking back,
except for Rory, they all realized
That's retrospective framing.
Let's say you go out to dinner,
and it's amazing,
the best meal of your life.
Then someone tells you
they served cat food.
Now your experience is ruined
even though you thought
it was fantastic at the time.
Not if it was cat food.
I don't know
what their marriage was like,
but just because Lucas chose
his career over her
doesn't mean he didn't still love her.
Some of these Mastery guys,
they're soccer dads.
They get radicalized.
Jace has been tracking them.
Yeah, well, no offense to Jace,
but I got some notes on his techniques.
[CLEARS THROAT]
What is it?
I don't want to make a big thing
of this because it's very new.
You're seeing Jace.
[INTRIGUING MUSIC]
♪
You're wrong about Lucas.
Alec.
Alec.
♪
- Hey, hey.
- Hey.
It took some phishing to hack
into the Mastery Select's database.
But you did?
Oh, you know.
So much for their mastery over women.
According to these
attendance-tracking idiots,
Lucas left after the second session,
before the Black Pill Group even spoke.
- Are those his emails?
- Mm.
I thought he deleted his account.
Nah, he deleted his emails,
but not his account
- Ah.
- Because it was filled
with spam from the Mastery Select
porn sites, sex shops, more porn.
But if you look at when
he first signed up for them,
it was
The day after he attended
the Mastery Select.
Mm-hmm, which led me to this.
Here on the Red Flag Forum he posted,
"These guys are a bunch
of impotent losers."
And they retaliated
by doxing and spamming him?
Which is why he deleted his emails.
I owe you big.
Mm-hmm. Sure do.
But just tell me why you had
me do all of this work
when you have the entire FBI
at your disposal.
They're onto a different theory.
I need to come with answers,
not questions.
Ooh.
You need to stay clear of Marisa.
No.
Did things not go well when you met up?
She started dating someone
Jace.
I'm sorry, Alec.
Guess you were wrong though,
about the FBI building and romance.
I was wrong. You were right. Okay.
I misinterpreted her cues.
See?
I told you.
The cards predicted disaster
plane crash, your love life
Barnum effect.
Sure, yeah.
We see what we wanna see.
We hear what we wanna hear.
[INTRIGUING MUSIC]
We do, don't we?
What?
You just reminded me of an experiment.
I did?
Thank you.
[SCOFFS]
All right, I'm gonna play
a recording of people chanting,
"that is embarrassing" four times.
After the fourth time,
write down what you hear.
[GROUP CHANTING] That is embarrassing.
That is embarrassing.
That is embarrassing.
That is embarrassing.
Interesting.
Almost everyone here heard
"that is embarrassing."
Okay, listen again,
and watch the screen.
And when I cue you,
write down what you hear.
[SAME AUDIO CLIP PLAYING]
[KEYBOARDS CLACKING]
[CHUCKLES] [INDISTINCT CHATTER]
It's freaky, isn't it?
You heard the same thing
every single time.
Our eyes and ears take in
electrical signals
which our brains interpret
based on our expectations.
We don't see reality.
We see our reality.
Let's try this again
with another phrase.
- [ALARM BLARES]
- ATMOS failure.
- [ALARM BLARES]
- ATMOS failure.
Okay, results are loading.
Top two answers on the board.
Our survey says,
"at most sailor,"
"ATMOS failure."
Any idea who or what "ATMOS" is?
Yes.
I've been working on my pilot's license,
and the plane I'm training on has
an automated control system
called ATMOS.
I guess that's why it was in my head.
Gold star, Brittany.
Now, if something went wrong with ATMOS,
what would you do?
I would get on the comm
and tell air traffic control,
"ATMOS failure,"
and then try not to panic.
It's called an auditory illusion.
When Alec didn't give
the students any context,
only about 20% of them heard
the words "black pill."
Almost half the class heard
something like "ATMOS."
You're referring
to the Automated Tracking
and Maneuvering Operational System?
Right. So I primed the group on ATMOS
and common pilot crash landing
terms like "prepare to ditch."
- [ALARM BLARES]
- ATMOS failure.
82% of the students then heard
"ATMOS failure. Prepare to ditch."
But you just proved that
we can't be sure what he said.
Well, it's at least as plausible
as the pilot signing off with
a hate group's catchphrase.
Have there been any issues with ATMOS?
No, we've never had one before.
ATMOS runs in every plane we make.
If there was something wrong with it,
that would mean that
The black box records
every airplane function,
as well as every word.
That's how we know
the ATMOS performed flawlessly.
That is, until the pilot deactivated it.
It does seem unlikely.
If I'm wrong, you covered your bases.
If I'm right, there could be
hundreds of lives at risk.
[TENSE MUSIC]
Okay.
We don't want another 737 Max situation.
Thanks. Let us know what you find?
♪
Emma.
Uh, I'm in a bit of a rush.
Anything I can help with?
Um, I've got to go. Sorry.
♪
So you can deliver it tonight?
Yeah, that'd be great.
Thanks.
- What's up?
- I was thinking,
now that the FBI has the black box,
we could put the pilot's
commands into a flight simulator.
If the plane was operating properly,
then the sim flight should match it.
If not, then maybe it can
tell us what happened.
That's actually a great idea.
Professor thought so too.
So I tracked down a simulator
at Jefferson Flight School,
and they're gonna deliver it tonight.
- Industrious.
- Thank you.
We need a pilot though.
I can ask Rory.
He'll want to help
clear his brother's name.
If he's not too busy with
his bereavement sex and all.
It's a thing.
People are funny, huh?
ATMOS.
It's not impossible, but
look, the NTSB said I can't participate
in the investigation.
I am "biased" was the word they used.
We have the data from the black box.
We've gotten access
to a flight simulator.
We just need a pilot to run
the different scenarios.
The airline already grounded me.
They said it's to give me time
to grieve.
But you know what this is about.
If I lose my job
Flying is all I have left.
You knew your brother best.
[SOFT DRAMATIC MUSIC]
If the situation was reversed
♪
Jace, what are you doing here?
I was gonna ask you the same thing.
Emma asked me to meet her.
She didn't feel comfortable
talking at the crash site.
She gave me this card with her address.
She say anything specific?
No. She seemed worried. Why?
Well, she had good reason.
They broke the window
to unlock the door.
Whoever did this was clearly
looking for something specific.
They didn't take any
of the obvious valuables.
Well, where's Emma?
Her cell phone's off.
No one's seen her
since she left the crash site.
So either she had some information
somebody wanted
and went into hiding or
Or they got to her first.
[TENSE MUSIC]
♪
[TIRES SQUEALING]
Owen.
Agent Clark, Agent Richards.
Sorry, I'm running a bit late.
If this is about 118, the NTSB
has all our most recent data.
Emma's missing.
Her place was ransacked. Her cell's off.
We'd like to ask you a few questions.
Yeah, of course. Anything you need.
After we left the crash site,
we went back to the office.
She left before I did.
And what time was that?
I don't
Look, I'm trying to be helpful.
- I'm worried about her too.
- Hm.
So concerned that
you're taking a trip to Mexico.
To our factory in San Pedro.
Hollette is a global operation.
Emma was running point on 118, not me.
Which is why the FBI is so
concerned with her disappearance.
Tell me, can you document
your whereabouts
after you met with her yesterday?
[CHUCKLES] Come on.
[TENSE MUSIC]
Am I under arrest?
Oh, that can be arranged.
That approach usually work for him?
It does.
I want a lawyer.
Mm-hmm. Not this time.
What would you suggest?
All right, we've checked Hollette.
We've checked her family,
associates, social media.
If she ran,
we would've located her by now.
I don't think we find her alive.
Without a body, we don't
have much to hold him on.
Yet. We've got 24 hours to dig.
During your interview,
all of his body language
eyebrows raised, head slightly tilted,
open posture
suggests that he's concerned
about Emma and wants to cooperate,
but he's spooked.
He may not have killed her,
but he knows a lot more
than he's saying.
Let me talk to him.
No one can question him once
he's asked for an attorney.
I can if we cut him loose.
Wait, Alec, you can't be serious.
I am if it's the only way
I can speak with him.
He's a flight risk.
We literally caught him
on his way to Mexico.
I can find out what he's hiding.
Cut him loose and give me a shot at him.
♪
This is the time when we need
to let Alec do his thing.
Thank you.
[CLEARS THROAT]
♪
Don't screw this up,
or we could lose
our only suspect for good.
♪
[DOOR CLOSES]
Ready?
Sort of.
It's weird.
I'm about to retrace
my brother's last flight path.
To be honest, I'm afraid of flying.
Now, that is a tragedy.
To me, flying is freedom.
Okay, well
maybe if you figure out what went wrong,
we'll both feel that way.
[SOFT DRAMATIC MUSIC]
- Rizwan?
- Yeah?
How you doing up there?
[GRUNTS] We're all set.
♪
We're gonna read from the
black box transcript, right?
Yep.
And we're good.
[ENGINES POWERING UP]
Throttle set.
Speed alive?
Check.
80 knots.
Check.
Rotate.
[MACHINERY CREAKS]
- Positive rate.
- Gear up.
Gear up.
Autopilot.
After-takeoff checklist.
- [ALARM BEEPING]
- Wind shear.
Unstable.
Elevator stuck.
Release the trim.
What are you doing?
Repeat. That's not protocol.
ATMOS failure.
- Prepare to ditch.
- Pull up.
- Lucas, no.
- Terrain, terrain.
Pull up. Pull up.
[ALARM BLARES]
[SOFT DRAMATIC MUSIC]
You okay?
Do you have any idea why he
would've veered toward the river?
I don't know.
- We hit a vertical wind shear.
- That's when we lost altitude.
Triggering ATMOS,
but my brother shut it off.
Then pitched the nose down again
before leveling off
just over the bridge.
We'll run it again.
Okay.
This time, I'm gonna follow protocol.
- Rizwan?
- Restarting.
[ENGINES POWERING UP]
Throttle set.
Terrain, terrain.
- Pull up. Pull up.
- [ALARM BLARES]
Restarting.
Cross control 0500, ATMOS activated.
The plane wouldn't have crashed.
Let's run it again.
I've got a few more ideas.
Rizwan?
Speed alive.
Set.
80 knots.
[PLANE WHOOSHING LOUDLY]
[UNSETTLING MUSIC]
[SIRENS WAILING]
[ALARMS BEEPING DISTANTLY]
♪
- Ah!
- [ALARM BLARES]
[PANTING]
[DOOR CLOSES]
Sorry about that.
I, uh, got a little too into it.
Just, um, needed a minute, that's all.
Okay.
I didn't realize the laptop
would slam shut so loud.
Is Rory weirded out?
I mean, it wasn't
that big of a deal, right?
No.
Okay.
You know, it doesn't
have to be me, but
I think that you should talk to someone.
Listen, I know that I can
be competitive sometimes,
but that is not
what I'm doing now, okay?
I got into this field to help
people. I'm just
- I'm just trying to help you.
- Yeah.
I don't want anyone to think
there's something wrong with me.
Rizwan, you witnessed a plane crash.
That's the thing, I just saw it.
I wasn't in it, okay?
There were people really hurt,
people who died.
Those are the real victims.
But you were affected by it.
How could you not be?
I thought I could just work
through it like the professor.
Maybe that's who you should talk to.
No, I I don't want him
to know about this.
And you're not gonna
say anything, right?
Your boss is the world's
leading expert in human behavior.
You don't think he's already noticed?
I
Hey. Um, sorry to interrupt.
I think I found something.
[SOMBER MUSIC]
♪
Hey.
So, let me guess,
Hollette told you to take the day off.
I was supposed to be in Mexico today,
- reviewing a new factory line.
- Mm.
But the PR team wasn't sure
about the optics
of sending you out of the country
after sitting with the FBI.
What do you want?
I want to help.
I was brought in because
I know things about people.
[GRUNTS SOFTLY]
The FBI, companies like Hollette,
I tell them why people do
inexplicable things.
The attorney you called,
he was counsel for Hollette, right?
Sure.
I've worked there for 22 years.
Mm-hmm, you're loyal to them, no doubt.
But are they loyal to you?
When that attorney looks at
corporate interest,
is he protecting Hollette's or yours?
You don't know Hollette.
They're not like other companies.
Though, things have changed
since the acquisition, haven't they?
New management, new investors
who care more about the bottom line
than the quality of your work
or safety.
All that time you put into
mentoring employees like Emma.
You sponsored a membership for her
to Hillvale Golf Club.
I see where this is headed
the Barnum effect.
Now that Alec has established he
knows something that he shouldn't,
he's gonna take a few shots.
Before Emma went missing,
she told me about the other incident.
She did?
Yes, she did.
Pull up any Hollette mishaps
in the last six months.
It was a firmware update.
We found it quickly.
The engineer swore that it would
take less than a week to patch.
Arizona, three weeks ago,
a cargo plane crash landed
after takeoff. No deaths.
NTSB finding: pilot error.
Grounding the planes would
have cost hundreds of millions.
And then the impossible happened.
I was prepared to ground that fleet.
- But when Dale came to us
- Dale?
From the NTSB?
He said he wouldn't report the problem
if we paid him off and fixed it.
Emma didn't know about that part.
[TENSE MUSIC]
♪
Hey, Phoebe.
Is Rory still there?
Uh, he just left.
He found some irregularities in the sim,
wanted to talk to someone at the NTSB.
- Dale?
- I think so?
I think they're meeting
at Gravely Point. Why?
Marisa, get a team.
I got a feeling
Rory's about to go missing too.
[DRAMATIC MUSIC]
I ran the sim without
the software update.
It turns out there was a calibration
error following wind shear.
The plane has time to compensate
at high altitude, but during takeoff,
ATMOS was forcing
the nose into the ground.
That's why Lucas switched to manual.
He didn't have time
to explain any of this
'cause he only had seconds
to steer toward the river
to attempt a water landing.
Who else knows about this?
Nobody. I wanted to come to you first.
[TENSE MUSIC]
I'm glad you did.
Let's run it on one of my sims.
Alec FaceTime.
Look, don't answer it.
We'll catch everyone up afterwards.
- Alec.
- Are you with Dale?
Yeah. Uh, he's right here.
Are you still at Gravely Point?
We're just about to leave.
Stay there.
Dale, do you hear the sirens?
[SIRENS BLARING]
That's the FBI.
You may feel
a rush of cortisol right now.
That's the fight or flight
response. It will pass.
We know that you didn't mean
for anyone to get hurt.
What's going on?
Hollette Aviation assured you
that they could fix the firmware.
That wasn't your fault.
[SIRENS BLARING]
[BREATHING HEAVILY]
You killed my brother!
Easy.
- It's okay.
- It's okay, man.
It's okay, Rory. We got him.
They're all gonna pay
Hollette, everybody.
We got him.
♪
We found Emma.
She saw someone break into her house
and was hiding out at a friend's.
- How is she?
- She's gonna cooperate.
She wanted to come in
right after the crash.
But Owen was her boss,
and she was following orders.
Obedience is strongly
motivated by authority.
And Dale was the higher authority.
He put this whole scheme in motion.
Quis custodiet ipsos custodes.
Who's watching the watchman?
Thank you, Professor.
[CHUCKLES]
I'm glad I called you in on this one.
I'm glad I was able to help.
Look, about Jace and me
No.
- I'm glad you told me.
- [PHONE RINGING]
But really, it's none of my business.
Excuse me.
Hmm.
Hey.
You up for grabbing a bite?
I feel bad.
You've got so many
more important places to be.
- No, I don't.
- I mean, I shouldn't need to
take up your time with my problems.
Look, don't worry about it.
Let me ask you this.
Are you familiar with the shadow self?
Of course, yeah. I did
my senior thesis on Jung, so.
Okay, so you know that sometimes
the feelings we try the most to hide
fight the hardest to get out.
I don't I don't want to have PTSD.
You don't.
- I don't?
- No.
What you're feeling
is completely normal.
All you need to do is
allow yourself to feel it.
Okay. I I thought I could just
channel my energy into my work, like
- Hmm, like me?
- Yeah.
- [LAUGHS]
- Yes.
That wasn't my initial reaction.
I didn't have this work for years.
Right.
First, I needed to learn to
remember the explosion
without reliving it.
How'd you do that?
Reframing.
I needed to see my experience
as a chance to
better understand
the decisions people make
and how we can all make better ones.
Hmm.
Try it where you sit.
Okay. Uh, I guess this led to a chance
for me to help expose an NTSB coverup.
There you go.
This work can be
surprising, stimulating,
profoundly fulfilling, right?
- But all-consuming.
- Mm.
So if you bury yourself in it,
there's a cost.
[SIGHS]
Breaking news out of Washington, DC.
Six senior executives have
been arrested at Hollette Aviation.
Evidence shows that
a bug in a firmware update
caused the guidance system
to malfunction.
The pilot, Lucas Taylor,
attempted to override
the automated controls.
Simulations have shown that
had the aircraft responded
to actions in the cockpit,
he would have safely
emergency landed the plane.
Still, in the face of disaster,
his extraordinary bravery
saved more than half of the passengers.
Tonight's vigil is a tribute
to the courage of all those
aboard Flight 118.
I know there's gonna be
some brighter days ♪
Yes, I do ♪
I swear that love will
find you in your pain ♪
I feel it in me like the
beating of life in my veins ♪
I know there's gonna be
some brighter days ♪
I know there's gonna
be some brighter days ♪
I know there's gonna be
some brighter days ♪
Oh, I swear that love
will find you in your pain ♪
I feel it in me like the
beating of life in my veins ♪
I just wanna honor my brother.
Look around. You have.
I know there's gonna be
some brighter days ♪
♪
[INTRICATE PIANO MUSIC]
♪
People are irrational,
but predictably so.
I'm Alec Mercer.
Welcome to Applied Psychology.
You're the science guy.
That's Bill Nye.
I'm actually the behavioral science guy.
Why use a barely detectable
poison on one of
the only people on Earth
who'd be able to recognize it?
This is where understanding
human nature could be helpful.
It's called the cocktail party effect.
You're in a crowd.
You're talking to one person.
Everything else becomes background noise
until you hear something like "sex."
See, everyone hears the word "sex."
What kind of sorcery is this?
We call it attentional blindness.
I didn't give up hope.
It's the hope that'll kill you.
Science says the opposite.
[PLAYFUL MUSIC]
♪
Damn.
Let me guess,
you get burned at the stake
in the 12th century?
The Tower is the creepiest
card in the deck
misery, distress,
unforeseen catastrophe,
imminent disaster,
or possibly sudden clarity.
Can the card be more specific?
That's part of the art of divination.
Ah, in my world,
we call that the Barnum effect.
No, we don't.
It's named after
the showman himself, PT Barnum.
His fortune tellers would offer
vague, general predictions
that would apply to anybody
and convinced folks that
they could see the future.
You know, you're like
the behavioral scientist
who ruined Christmas.
[CHUCKLES] If you don't
understand the science,
everything looks like magic.
Can't it just be fun?
Come on, let me do yours.
Another time.
I got a meeting with Marisa.
I thought we agreed ex-wives need space.
Technically, we didn't agree.
You insisted.
But I did listen to you,
and then Marisa called me.
Ah, I see romantic disaster ahead.
The meeting's at the FBI,
the least romantic spot in town.
And it's about the logo
on the getaway van
that I remembered from the bombing.
Well, I'm just saying,
proceed with caution, Alec.
You're wading in tricky waters
going back to the well so quickly.
I don't know if you can
wade in well water.
But point taken. Though, for the record,
she didn't have to ask me
to meet her in person.
Read into that what you will.
Well, okay.
[CHUCKLES]
Oh, this one's easy.
You owe me rent.
Bye. Love you.
[CHUCKLES] Love you too.
Rent's still due.
♪
[ELEVATOR DINGS]
Judge expects an approval
on the warrant by 3:00.
- Oh, hey, Alec.
- Jace.
Hey, thanks for guest lecturing.
The students are still talking about it.
Oh, hey, any time.
I got two summer interns
out of it, so win-win.
Then I guess next time,
dinner's on the FBI.
You got it.
Morning, Alec.
Morning to you. New hairstyle.
Oh, not that new,
but thanks for noticing.
Uh, 3:00 p.m. We'll keep you posted.
Thanks. Good news.
We found a company that
matches your logo.
- Really?
- After 19 years,
the FBI is officially
reopening the case.
Come on in.
[EXHALES]
Turns out human beings are
not really rational at all.
I mean, we make terrible
decisions constantly,
like driving drunk.
So dangerous, but people
uh, not me do it every day.
Thing is, we're not only irrational
but also predictable,
highly predictable.
And all this has been
documented by Dr. Alec Mercer,
Chair of Behavioral Sciences
at Wylton University.
You familiar with his work?
No.
Oh.
Well, it's groundbreaking.
I just started as one
of his research assistants.
Driving helps put a dent
in my student loans.
[PHONE CHIMES]
Totally get it.
Apologies.
[PLANE WHOOSHING LOUDLY]
- What the
- [TIRES SCREECH]
[DRAMATIC MUSIC]
♪
Here's the logo on a van
owned by JoJo's Dry Cleaners.
It was located less than three miles
from Methodist Church, here.
After the bombing,
we know the van turned left
on 10th Avenue.
Same direction as the dry cleaners.
Mm-hmm.
[SOFT DRAMATIC MUSIC]
♪
This is it.
That's what I remember seeing.
What's next?
Well, JoJo's went out
of business eight years ago,
and the owner passed.
Any family still around?
His daughter relocated to Iowa.
Now that I have your confirmation,
I can reach out to
an agent in Sioux City.
Thank you.
I know this isn't easy for you.
I imagine the feeling's mutual.
I'll always be here for you, for this.
That means a lot.
There's something that
I wanted to talk to you about.
[PHONES RINGING, INDISTINCT CHATTER]
Marisa, the SAC's calling
for an all hands.
Sorry. I gotta go.
Uh
We'll talk later.
[MUTED SHOUTS]
[HIGH-PITCHED RINGING]
[DRAMATIC MUSIC]
♪
[SIRENS WAILING]
♪
We have to run it by the FBI.
Just wait with us here until then.
[SIRENS WAILING, INDISTINCT SHOUTS]
♪
Commuter Flight 118 crashed
into the Chain Bridge
just miles outside of Washington, DC.
The pilot, copilot
- [PHONE RINGING]
- And at least 17 passengers
are confirmed dead.
Miraculously, however,
22 survivors have been rescued
Are you at the crash site?
Yeah. This was the all hands.
I'm watching on the news.
The FAA called us in
because they believe
the flight was downed deliberately.
Deliberately?
Someone get into the cockpit?
Right now, all eyes on the pilot.
He died in the crash.
- Any motive?
- Well, I was hoping
you could shed some light.
He's highly experienced,
had a perfect flying record,
but weirdly, he didn't follow
any protocol after takeoff.
Did they drug test?
Yeah, he's clean.
We need help figuring out
his state of mind.
Any interest in giving your assessment?
I'll be right there.
The three most basic rules of flying:
aviate, navigate, communicate.
The pilot did none of those.
Alec, this is Owen Kalagian,
Hollette Aviation,
manufacturers of the aircraft.
And this is Dale Newhouse, NTSB.
He's leading the investigation.
This is Emma Liu.
She'll be running point for us.
I've read your books. Glad you're here.
Uh, so were there
any problems with the plane?
Uh, we're still gathering data,
but there were no indications
of any mechanical problems.
- Everything passed inspection.
- Pilot error?
Well, seconds after takeoff,
the guy switched to manual
and changed course to clip the bridge.
Nobody makes that kind of mistake,
sure as hell not a pilot
with 12 years of flight experience.
- Weather?
- Well, there was
some minor wind shear,
but nothing abnormal.
What do we know about the copilot?
Didn't make it either.
Once we locate the black box,
we'll know exactly
what was said in the cockpit.
I understand there were survivors?
Up to 25. It's really quite a miracle.
We haven't ruled out terrorism.
Or suicide.
You said he was a skilled pilot?
Yeah, one of the best.
So if he wanted
to kill himself and others,
why would he crash a plane
in a way that would let
half the passengers survive?
I don't know.
That's why you're here.
How many commercial airlines
do you think have crashed
in the U.S. in the last ten years?
I should know this. More than 20?
[CHUCKLES] Your answer suggests
you have a fear of flying.
Along with roughly 40%
of the population.
- Zero.
- Sorry?
Zero commercial plane crashes
in the last ten years.
Imagine that.
25,000 flights per day,
22 million per year,
not a single crash.
Until today.
Okay, that's one in 220 million.
Do you have a fear of driving?
Not yet.
Six million.
Six million car accidents per year.
The chances of us dying going
to see a plane crash
are 1,000% greater than dying in one.
Hey, Professor.
Rizwan. I hear you had quite a morning.
I know. Yeah.
Sorry I'm late.
The traffic was terrible.
You were near the bridge, right?
You saw the crash?
Heard you're on the investigation.
- I'd like to help.
- You sure?
Maybe you should take it easy today.
I can cover.
No, I'm fine, really.
All right, let's go.
[SOFT DRAMATIC MUSIC]
The NTSB sees a strong
indication of pilot suicide,
despite conflicting evidence.
Why?
Confirmation bias?
- Cognitive closure?
- Both.
The more uncertain the times,
the more we crave certainty.
They're ignoring bad facts.
What are bad facts?
Ones that don't fit
their operating theory
but are true nonetheless.
But what if it is suicide?
It's the number two cause
for plane crashes.
There were eight cases
between 2002 and 2013.
And the airline discovered
the pilot had been
in treatment for depression.
Not depression, a depressive episode.
There's a difference.
Following a prolonged,
difficult divorce?
Maybe he was on edge.
I went through a prolonged,
difficult divorce.
Am I at risk of downing a plane?
But he did down a plane.
The question is why.
If the pilot was suicidal,
there'd be a note maybe,
a pattern of behavior.
There definitely wouldn't be
any survivors
lest he be one of them.
If this was intentional, it was sloppy,
which records indicate
he was anything but.
We need to get
an unbiased view of the pilot.
You're right.
Give me a second.
Alec, we've already been
through the pilot's home.
Yes, but you were looking
for the wrong things.
Well, what are you looking for?
That's the point. I don't know yet.
The key's in the lockbox.
I'll text you the code.
Oh, well, you two seem
to be on good terms.
Uh, that mean he took it well?
Actually, I haven't told him yet.
Oh.
I was going to,
but then we got interrupted
by the plane crash, and it's
been a little hectic since.
No pressure. [CHUCKLES]
It's all new to me too.
So I was reviewing the flight
manifest for possible targets.
Now, every plane out of DC had
prominent figures on it.
- But this one
- 34 members of
the Worldwide Women
in Leadership Association.
- Could be a coincidence.
- Unless it's not.
We should look into it.
[INTRIGUING MUSIC]
We have to approach this
with a completely open mind,
no theories or assumptions.
I feel kind of weird going
into a dead guy's house.
To understand how he died,
we gotta see how he lived.
♪
I love those metal desks
made from airplane wings.
Seems like he would have one of those.
♪
If it's too uncomfortable for you here,
you you don't have to stay.
Look, I'm fine. I wasn't on the plane.
Stop treating me like a victim.
- Rizwan
- I'll check downstairs.
Rizwan okay?
He was pretty freaked out earlier.
He gets defensive every time
I try and talk to him about it.
In my experience, if someone
doesn't ask for help,
you can't force it.
So I should just do nothing?
[CHUCKLES] That's my advice.
[SIGHS] Don't push.
He'll come to you when he needs help.
Hmm.
What?
Fresh produce.
Aha.
Fresh seafood.
What does that mean?
Pescatarian.
And he put it in the refrigerator?
He was planning on coming home tonight.
[SNAPS FINGERS]
I'm going upstairs.
- [SCREAMS]
- Whoa!
- Whoa. Whoa.
- Hey, hey, hey, hey.
Wait, wait, wait, wait!
I'm with the FBI.
The FBI? You got some ID?
[PLAYFUL MUSIC]
♪
It says Wylton University.
I'm a professor.
The FBI brought me
onto your brother's case.
You are Lucas' brother, right?
I can see the resemblance.
This is Phoebe, my research associate.
Hi.
Yeah, I'm Rory. I'm Lucas' brother.
Uh, and this is
my friend, Daisy.
Uh, when you guys are ready,
you mind answering a few questions?
Yeah. Uh, yeah.
Great. Excuse us.
How'd you guys get in?
The FBI has a key.
This is all just so crazy.
Should I check on
Daisy? No, she's fine.
Uh, I I was hanging out
with her in Norfolk
when I got the call about Lucas.
I didn't want to come alone.
You guys have no idea
what today's been like.
Daisy and I got here.
It was the first quiet moment.
And we put our stuff in the guest room,
and hell, you guys walked in and
There's something called
bereavement sex.
♪
Oh, yeah. A flood of adrenaline
mixed with grief can cause
a misdirected craving for intimacy.
It's, uh, bereavement sex.
- That's a thing?
- It's not uncommon.
Professor Mercer is
a behavioral scientist.
He's working with the FBI to
better understand your brother's
state of mind.
It was not suicide, I promise you that.
He was the older one,
the responsible one.
I was the one that almost
didn't finish flight school.
- You're a pilot too?
- Same airline.
Lucas got me into the program,
helped me train.
We heard he was pretty
broken up about his divorce.
Yeah. Being a pilot is hard
on relationships.
You're away all the time.
Caitlin tried to make it work.
But then she left him?
No.
Uh-uh.
She gave him an ultimatum.
It was either the marriage or flying,
and he chose flying.
If he was so distraught
over his marriage breaking up,
he would have chosen her, right?
Look, there is no way
that Lucas would intentionally
crash a plane.
[SOFT DRAMATIC MUSIC]
The truth is everyone has
incentive to blame the pilot.
It's because he's dead
and he can't defend himself.
Alec, we've gotten some new evidence.
Hey, Alec.
We've been going through the
pilot's credit card and bank statements.
Are you familiar with
the Mastery Select?
I've read about them.
They teach classes on
how to be attractive to women.
I've seen better advice
on bathroom stalls.
Two weeks ago, Lucas signed
up for a daylong seminar.
One of the sessions was led by
a subset called the Black Pill Group.
Basically incel for divorcées.
They're targeting prominent women,
people who they see as
destroying the patriarchy.
Flight 118 was carrying 34 members
of a women's global
leadership conference.
You think Lucas crashed the plane
to kill prominent members
of a women's leadership group?
Mm-hmm.
This does not sound like
the guy whose home we visited.
He traveled a lot.
It's easy to live a double life.
Right before takeoff,
he deleted all of his emails.
More to the point,
the group's rallying cry is
"I took the black pill."
The NTSB recovered the flight recorder.
- [ALARM BLARING]
- Pull up. Release the trim.
- Pull up.
- Whoa, what are you doing?
Hey, wait, what are you doing?
- That's not protocol.
- I took the black pill.
- That bitch
- Lucas, no!
- That's not protocol.
- I took the black pill.
- That bitch
- Lucas, no!
I never felt threatened by Lucas.
He wasn't that type of person.
Maybe he changed or maybe
I never really knew him.
He was flying so much.
Our entire marriage could've been a lie.
I flew with Lucas on the leg before 118.
Pretty quiet, kept to himself.
Looking back, I guess
he was angry about the divorce.
I wish I'd been in the cockpit
yesterday.
You know, maybe I could have
stopped him.
This is just insane.
I have known Lucas my whole life.
There's no way that he was a member
of the Black Pill Group
or even, uh, what was it,
the Mastery Select?
I'm sorry.
I'm sure this is hard to hear.
That's probably why Lucas
never shared it with you.
You're wrong.
I'm with Rory.
I'm not convinced
Lucas committed mass murder.
He deleted his emails.
You heard his voice
on the flight recorder.
His therapist, his ex-wife,
his colleagues, his brother,
none of them reported a single
warning sign beforehand.
But looking back,
except for Rory, they all realized
That's retrospective framing.
Let's say you go out to dinner,
and it's amazing,
the best meal of your life.
Then someone tells you
they served cat food.
Now your experience is ruined
even though you thought
it was fantastic at the time.
Not if it was cat food.
I don't know
what their marriage was like,
but just because Lucas chose
his career over her
doesn't mean he didn't still love her.
Some of these Mastery guys,
they're soccer dads.
They get radicalized.
Jace has been tracking them.
Yeah, well, no offense to Jace,
but I got some notes on his techniques.
[CLEARS THROAT]
What is it?
I don't want to make a big thing
of this because it's very new.
You're seeing Jace.
[INTRIGUING MUSIC]
♪
You're wrong about Lucas.
Alec.
Alec.
♪
- Hey, hey.
- Hey.
It took some phishing to hack
into the Mastery Select's database.
But you did?
Oh, you know.
So much for their mastery over women.
According to these
attendance-tracking idiots,
Lucas left after the second session,
before the Black Pill Group even spoke.
- Are those his emails?
- Mm.
I thought he deleted his account.
Nah, he deleted his emails,
but not his account
- Ah.
- Because it was filled
with spam from the Mastery Select
porn sites, sex shops, more porn.
But if you look at when
he first signed up for them,
it was
The day after he attended
the Mastery Select.
Mm-hmm, which led me to this.
Here on the Red Flag Forum he posted,
"These guys are a bunch
of impotent losers."
And they retaliated
by doxing and spamming him?
Which is why he deleted his emails.
I owe you big.
Mm-hmm. Sure do.
But just tell me why you had
me do all of this work
when you have the entire FBI
at your disposal.
They're onto a different theory.
I need to come with answers,
not questions.
Ooh.
You need to stay clear of Marisa.
No.
Did things not go well when you met up?
She started dating someone
Jace.
I'm sorry, Alec.
Guess you were wrong though,
about the FBI building and romance.
I was wrong. You were right. Okay.
I misinterpreted her cues.
See?
I told you.
The cards predicted disaster
plane crash, your love life
Barnum effect.
Sure, yeah.
We see what we wanna see.
We hear what we wanna hear.
[INTRIGUING MUSIC]
We do, don't we?
What?
You just reminded me of an experiment.
I did?
Thank you.
[SCOFFS]
All right, I'm gonna play
a recording of people chanting,
"that is embarrassing" four times.
After the fourth time,
write down what you hear.
[GROUP CHANTING] That is embarrassing.
That is embarrassing.
That is embarrassing.
That is embarrassing.
Interesting.
Almost everyone here heard
"that is embarrassing."
Okay, listen again,
and watch the screen.
And when I cue you,
write down what you hear.
[SAME AUDIO CLIP PLAYING]
[KEYBOARDS CLACKING]
[CHUCKLES] [INDISTINCT CHATTER]
It's freaky, isn't it?
You heard the same thing
every single time.
Our eyes and ears take in
electrical signals
which our brains interpret
based on our expectations.
We don't see reality.
We see our reality.
Let's try this again
with another phrase.
- [ALARM BLARES]
- ATMOS failure.
- [ALARM BLARES]
- ATMOS failure.
Okay, results are loading.
Top two answers on the board.
Our survey says,
"at most sailor,"
"ATMOS failure."
Any idea who or what "ATMOS" is?
Yes.
I've been working on my pilot's license,
and the plane I'm training on has
an automated control system
called ATMOS.
I guess that's why it was in my head.
Gold star, Brittany.
Now, if something went wrong with ATMOS,
what would you do?
I would get on the comm
and tell air traffic control,
"ATMOS failure,"
and then try not to panic.
It's called an auditory illusion.
When Alec didn't give
the students any context,
only about 20% of them heard
the words "black pill."
Almost half the class heard
something like "ATMOS."
You're referring
to the Automated Tracking
and Maneuvering Operational System?
Right. So I primed the group on ATMOS
and common pilot crash landing
terms like "prepare to ditch."
- [ALARM BLARES]
- ATMOS failure.
82% of the students then heard
"ATMOS failure. Prepare to ditch."
But you just proved that
we can't be sure what he said.
Well, it's at least as plausible
as the pilot signing off with
a hate group's catchphrase.
Have there been any issues with ATMOS?
No, we've never had one before.
ATMOS runs in every plane we make.
If there was something wrong with it,
that would mean that
The black box records
every airplane function,
as well as every word.
That's how we know
the ATMOS performed flawlessly.
That is, until the pilot deactivated it.
It does seem unlikely.
If I'm wrong, you covered your bases.
If I'm right, there could be
hundreds of lives at risk.
[TENSE MUSIC]
Okay.
We don't want another 737 Max situation.
Thanks. Let us know what you find?
♪
Emma.
Uh, I'm in a bit of a rush.
Anything I can help with?
Um, I've got to go. Sorry.
♪
So you can deliver it tonight?
Yeah, that'd be great.
Thanks.
- What's up?
- I was thinking,
now that the FBI has the black box,
we could put the pilot's
commands into a flight simulator.
If the plane was operating properly,
then the sim flight should match it.
If not, then maybe it can
tell us what happened.
That's actually a great idea.
Professor thought so too.
So I tracked down a simulator
at Jefferson Flight School,
and they're gonna deliver it tonight.
- Industrious.
- Thank you.
We need a pilot though.
I can ask Rory.
He'll want to help
clear his brother's name.
If he's not too busy with
his bereavement sex and all.
It's a thing.
People are funny, huh?
ATMOS.
It's not impossible, but
look, the NTSB said I can't participate
in the investigation.
I am "biased" was the word they used.
We have the data from the black box.
We've gotten access
to a flight simulator.
We just need a pilot to run
the different scenarios.
The airline already grounded me.
They said it's to give me time
to grieve.
But you know what this is about.
If I lose my job
Flying is all I have left.
You knew your brother best.
[SOFT DRAMATIC MUSIC]
If the situation was reversed
♪
Jace, what are you doing here?
I was gonna ask you the same thing.
Emma asked me to meet her.
She didn't feel comfortable
talking at the crash site.
She gave me this card with her address.
She say anything specific?
No. She seemed worried. Why?
Well, she had good reason.
They broke the window
to unlock the door.
Whoever did this was clearly
looking for something specific.
They didn't take any
of the obvious valuables.
Well, where's Emma?
Her cell phone's off.
No one's seen her
since she left the crash site.
So either she had some information
somebody wanted
and went into hiding or
Or they got to her first.
[TENSE MUSIC]
♪
[TIRES SQUEALING]
Owen.
Agent Clark, Agent Richards.
Sorry, I'm running a bit late.
If this is about 118, the NTSB
has all our most recent data.
Emma's missing.
Her place was ransacked. Her cell's off.
We'd like to ask you a few questions.
Yeah, of course. Anything you need.
After we left the crash site,
we went back to the office.
She left before I did.
And what time was that?
I don't
Look, I'm trying to be helpful.
- I'm worried about her too.
- Hm.
So concerned that
you're taking a trip to Mexico.
To our factory in San Pedro.
Hollette is a global operation.
Emma was running point on 118, not me.
Which is why the FBI is so
concerned with her disappearance.
Tell me, can you document
your whereabouts
after you met with her yesterday?
[CHUCKLES] Come on.
[TENSE MUSIC]
Am I under arrest?
Oh, that can be arranged.
That approach usually work for him?
It does.
I want a lawyer.
Mm-hmm. Not this time.
What would you suggest?
All right, we've checked Hollette.
We've checked her family,
associates, social media.
If she ran,
we would've located her by now.
I don't think we find her alive.
Without a body, we don't
have much to hold him on.
Yet. We've got 24 hours to dig.
During your interview,
all of his body language
eyebrows raised, head slightly tilted,
open posture
suggests that he's concerned
about Emma and wants to cooperate,
but he's spooked.
He may not have killed her,
but he knows a lot more
than he's saying.
Let me talk to him.
No one can question him once
he's asked for an attorney.
I can if we cut him loose.
Wait, Alec, you can't be serious.
I am if it's the only way
I can speak with him.
He's a flight risk.
We literally caught him
on his way to Mexico.
I can find out what he's hiding.
Cut him loose and give me a shot at him.
♪
This is the time when we need
to let Alec do his thing.
Thank you.
[CLEARS THROAT]
♪
Don't screw this up,
or we could lose
our only suspect for good.
♪
[DOOR CLOSES]
Ready?
Sort of.
It's weird.
I'm about to retrace
my brother's last flight path.
To be honest, I'm afraid of flying.
Now, that is a tragedy.
To me, flying is freedom.
Okay, well
maybe if you figure out what went wrong,
we'll both feel that way.
[SOFT DRAMATIC MUSIC]
- Rizwan?
- Yeah?
How you doing up there?
[GRUNTS] We're all set.
♪
We're gonna read from the
black box transcript, right?
Yep.
And we're good.
[ENGINES POWERING UP]
Throttle set.
Speed alive?
Check.
80 knots.
Check.
Rotate.
[MACHINERY CREAKS]
- Positive rate.
- Gear up.
Gear up.
Autopilot.
After-takeoff checklist.
- [ALARM BEEPING]
- Wind shear.
Unstable.
Elevator stuck.
Release the trim.
What are you doing?
Repeat. That's not protocol.
ATMOS failure.
- Prepare to ditch.
- Pull up.
- Lucas, no.
- Terrain, terrain.
Pull up. Pull up.
[ALARM BLARES]
[SOFT DRAMATIC MUSIC]
You okay?
Do you have any idea why he
would've veered toward the river?
I don't know.
- We hit a vertical wind shear.
- That's when we lost altitude.
Triggering ATMOS,
but my brother shut it off.
Then pitched the nose down again
before leveling off
just over the bridge.
We'll run it again.
Okay.
This time, I'm gonna follow protocol.
- Rizwan?
- Restarting.
[ENGINES POWERING UP]
Throttle set.
Terrain, terrain.
- Pull up. Pull up.
- [ALARM BLARES]
Restarting.
Cross control 0500, ATMOS activated.
The plane wouldn't have crashed.
Let's run it again.
I've got a few more ideas.
Rizwan?
Speed alive.
Set.
80 knots.
[PLANE WHOOSHING LOUDLY]
[UNSETTLING MUSIC]
[SIRENS WAILING]
[ALARMS BEEPING DISTANTLY]
♪
- Ah!
- [ALARM BLARES]
[PANTING]
[DOOR CLOSES]
Sorry about that.
I, uh, got a little too into it.
Just, um, needed a minute, that's all.
Okay.
I didn't realize the laptop
would slam shut so loud.
Is Rory weirded out?
I mean, it wasn't
that big of a deal, right?
No.
Okay.
You know, it doesn't
have to be me, but
I think that you should talk to someone.
Listen, I know that I can
be competitive sometimes,
but that is not
what I'm doing now, okay?
I got into this field to help
people. I'm just
- I'm just trying to help you.
- Yeah.
I don't want anyone to think
there's something wrong with me.
Rizwan, you witnessed a plane crash.
That's the thing, I just saw it.
I wasn't in it, okay?
There were people really hurt,
people who died.
Those are the real victims.
But you were affected by it.
How could you not be?
I thought I could just work
through it like the professor.
Maybe that's who you should talk to.
No, I I don't want him
to know about this.
And you're not gonna
say anything, right?
Your boss is the world's
leading expert in human behavior.
You don't think he's already noticed?
I
Hey. Um, sorry to interrupt.
I think I found something.
[SOMBER MUSIC]
♪
Hey.
So, let me guess,
Hollette told you to take the day off.
I was supposed to be in Mexico today,
- reviewing a new factory line.
- Mm.
But the PR team wasn't sure
about the optics
of sending you out of the country
after sitting with the FBI.
What do you want?
I want to help.
I was brought in because
I know things about people.
[GRUNTS SOFTLY]
The FBI, companies like Hollette,
I tell them why people do
inexplicable things.
The attorney you called,
he was counsel for Hollette, right?
Sure.
I've worked there for 22 years.
Mm-hmm, you're loyal to them, no doubt.
But are they loyal to you?
When that attorney looks at
corporate interest,
is he protecting Hollette's or yours?
You don't know Hollette.
They're not like other companies.
Though, things have changed
since the acquisition, haven't they?
New management, new investors
who care more about the bottom line
than the quality of your work
or safety.
All that time you put into
mentoring employees like Emma.
You sponsored a membership for her
to Hillvale Golf Club.
I see where this is headed
the Barnum effect.
Now that Alec has established he
knows something that he shouldn't,
he's gonna take a few shots.
Before Emma went missing,
she told me about the other incident.
She did?
Yes, she did.
Pull up any Hollette mishaps
in the last six months.
It was a firmware update.
We found it quickly.
The engineer swore that it would
take less than a week to patch.
Arizona, three weeks ago,
a cargo plane crash landed
after takeoff. No deaths.
NTSB finding: pilot error.
Grounding the planes would
have cost hundreds of millions.
And then the impossible happened.
I was prepared to ground that fleet.
- But when Dale came to us
- Dale?
From the NTSB?
He said he wouldn't report the problem
if we paid him off and fixed it.
Emma didn't know about that part.
[TENSE MUSIC]
♪
Hey, Phoebe.
Is Rory still there?
Uh, he just left.
He found some irregularities in the sim,
wanted to talk to someone at the NTSB.
- Dale?
- I think so?
I think they're meeting
at Gravely Point. Why?
Marisa, get a team.
I got a feeling
Rory's about to go missing too.
[DRAMATIC MUSIC]
I ran the sim without
the software update.
It turns out there was a calibration
error following wind shear.
The plane has time to compensate
at high altitude, but during takeoff,
ATMOS was forcing
the nose into the ground.
That's why Lucas switched to manual.
He didn't have time
to explain any of this
'cause he only had seconds
to steer toward the river
to attempt a water landing.
Who else knows about this?
Nobody. I wanted to come to you first.
[TENSE MUSIC]
I'm glad you did.
Let's run it on one of my sims.
Alec FaceTime.
Look, don't answer it.
We'll catch everyone up afterwards.
- Alec.
- Are you with Dale?
Yeah. Uh, he's right here.
Are you still at Gravely Point?
We're just about to leave.
Stay there.
Dale, do you hear the sirens?
[SIRENS BLARING]
That's the FBI.
You may feel
a rush of cortisol right now.
That's the fight or flight
response. It will pass.
We know that you didn't mean
for anyone to get hurt.
What's going on?
Hollette Aviation assured you
that they could fix the firmware.
That wasn't your fault.
[SIRENS BLARING]
[BREATHING HEAVILY]
You killed my brother!
Easy.
- It's okay.
- It's okay, man.
It's okay, Rory. We got him.
They're all gonna pay
Hollette, everybody.
We got him.
♪
We found Emma.
She saw someone break into her house
and was hiding out at a friend's.
- How is she?
- She's gonna cooperate.
She wanted to come in
right after the crash.
But Owen was her boss,
and she was following orders.
Obedience is strongly
motivated by authority.
And Dale was the higher authority.
He put this whole scheme in motion.
Quis custodiet ipsos custodes.
Who's watching the watchman?
Thank you, Professor.
[CHUCKLES]
I'm glad I called you in on this one.
I'm glad I was able to help.
Look, about Jace and me
No.
- I'm glad you told me.
- [PHONE RINGING]
But really, it's none of my business.
Excuse me.
Hmm.
Hey.
You up for grabbing a bite?
I feel bad.
You've got so many
more important places to be.
- No, I don't.
- I mean, I shouldn't need to
take up your time with my problems.
Look, don't worry about it.
Let me ask you this.
Are you familiar with the shadow self?
Of course, yeah. I did
my senior thesis on Jung, so.
Okay, so you know that sometimes
the feelings we try the most to hide
fight the hardest to get out.
I don't I don't want to have PTSD.
You don't.
- I don't?
- No.
What you're feeling
is completely normal.
All you need to do is
allow yourself to feel it.
Okay. I I thought I could just
channel my energy into my work, like
- Hmm, like me?
- Yeah.
- [LAUGHS]
- Yes.
That wasn't my initial reaction.
I didn't have this work for years.
Right.
First, I needed to learn to
remember the explosion
without reliving it.
How'd you do that?
Reframing.
I needed to see my experience
as a chance to
better understand
the decisions people make
and how we can all make better ones.
Hmm.
Try it where you sit.
Okay. Uh, I guess this led to a chance
for me to help expose an NTSB coverup.
There you go.
This work can be
surprising, stimulating,
profoundly fulfilling, right?
- But all-consuming.
- Mm.
So if you bury yourself in it,
there's a cost.
[SIGHS]
Breaking news out of Washington, DC.
Six senior executives have
been arrested at Hollette Aviation.
Evidence shows that
a bug in a firmware update
caused the guidance system
to malfunction.
The pilot, Lucas Taylor,
attempted to override
the automated controls.
Simulations have shown that
had the aircraft responded
to actions in the cockpit,
he would have safely
emergency landed the plane.
Still, in the face of disaster,
his extraordinary bravery
saved more than half of the passengers.
Tonight's vigil is a tribute
to the courage of all those
aboard Flight 118.
I know there's gonna be
some brighter days ♪
Yes, I do ♪
I swear that love will
find you in your pain ♪
I feel it in me like the
beating of life in my veins ♪
I know there's gonna be
some brighter days ♪
I know there's gonna
be some brighter days ♪
I know there's gonna be
some brighter days ♪
Oh, I swear that love
will find you in your pain ♪
I feel it in me like the
beating of life in my veins ♪
I just wanna honor my brother.
Look around. You have.
I know there's gonna be
some brighter days ♪
♪
[INTRICATE PIANO MUSIC]
♪