SurrealEstate (2021) s01e05 Episode Script

1
Previously on SurrealEstate
I never deserted my family.
You never had a family.
And you never will.
- Mom?
- Father Phil?
Fallen priest.
- I just love him.
- I married him.
Bob Livingston fired me.
We had a thing.
- What about your mother?
- It's complicated.
- Moms always are.
- Keep your family time.
It's important.
Never realized how
important until my dad died.
Now I know.
Cortona House.
Stately. Elegant. Historic.
A luxurious throwback to an
age of glamor, grace and
Shit!
- Where is it?
- Sh.
What a serene,
inspiring environment to nurture
the muse of a creative artist.
I can't tell you
how proud our client
is that Damon has chosen
to record his next album
in our magnificent venue.
I have the lease agreement
here and should Damon happen
to fall in love with the place
the estate has agreed to apply it
to the purchase price.
Yes, I'm sure.
You will coordinate
the logistical aspects
of the residence with
Zeke, our engineer.
Tessa, I can assure you
that we are every bit
as committed to a positive
experience for Damon as
Let's be clear: I
personally think that Damon
could have found a much better place,
managed by professionals.
- But, here we are, so
- Easy.
You're going to make these
people think you're not nice.
Your brother pays me to be not nice.
Tessa plays the brother card
whenever she gets mad at me.
- Damon is your brother? - I'm
the handsome, well-adjusted one.
So, for better or for worse,
Damon is fascinated by the place
and wishes to know a bit of its history.
Of course. The Cortona House
was originally built in 1880.
Over the years, it was owned by
a number of individuals
and institutions.
Until 1985, when it was
purchased by this man.
Russell Vaughn the Third.
Russell, by all accounts, was
a remarkably unpleasant man,
especially if you were an
environmentalist, a woman, or a sea otter.
He died a few years back,
leaving the estate to our client,
his great-niece, who he never
knew well enough to hate.
It has been beautifully restored,
meticulously maintained.
It features a state-of-the-art
recording studio
courtesy of Russell's third wife,
who fancied herself
either the third Judd,
or the fourth member of The Chicks.
Hey!
Hey, you big,
smelly piece of shit.
Ah!!
Stupid booties!
Anyway, the place is stunning.
It is inspirational.
It is uplifting.
Russell Vaughan the Third?
Nice catch.
Nooo!!
Ah.
Listen: we would like
to see the place now.
Well, I assume it's ready.
- Sure it is.
- Absolutely.
Hm.
The original woodwork is amazing
and the recording studio is downstairs.
You got the donuts?
Exactly as specified in the rider.
Overhead lights must be 40 watts.
Pre-set and totally controllable
if you download the home's SmartApp.
- I already have it.
- I knew you would.
I knew you'd know.
That'd be the studio equipment guys.
Excuse me.
I've gotta get this.
Anything else?
No.
For now.
What's up?
We were nearly back
at the office when
What's that?
It appears to be a Slinky.
Came down that big
staircase by itself just now.
Autonomous locomotion.
- Odd.
- There's something still here.
Felt youth. Innocence.
A whole lotta lonely.
That is not our oil tycoon.
No, Russell was a chain dragger.
Could there have been a second entity?
Living in the shadow of the bigger one?
A Fredo? I suppose it's possible.
We need to talk to the previous owner.
The Catholic diocese.
Yeah, I, uh
probably still have their
number written down somewhere.
Oh.
It's you.
Sister Mary Ellen.
How are you doing on
that problem like Maria?
Any closer to a solution?
Mister Orley,
you really can't be stopping up here
24 hours a day.
Oh, I'm sorry. I thought that's
exactly what the church was for.
No.
No, I'm sorry. I'm
thinking about Denny's.
May I ask what we can do for you?
I have a client leasing Cortona House.
The big place up on Broadmore? I
just need a quick look at the records,
- get a little history
- Our records are private.
Oh, come on!
We're talking 35 years
ago. Who would care?
Church business.
None of your concern.
Let sleeping dogs lie.
You're Father Phil.
Just Phil. Orley.
Mm. I'm Yasmin.
Sister.
I know some of the
folks in your old parish.
They still talk about your carrot cake.
Well, if I could not bring
them comfort and hope,
beta-carotene and fiber seemed
like the next best thing.
I heard about the day
you left the church.
The organization
wasn't meeting my needs,
so I became a total Karen
and asked to see the manager.
He wasn't available so I
took my business elsewhere.
Yeah, in the middle of Easter Mass!
- They said you were drunk.
- I was drunk.
Gay and drunk.
But I knew, eventually,
I'd be gay and sober.
Think I know what you're looking for.
Come to the back door
after vespers, around 11.
Why are you being so helpful?
It's time to wake a few sleeping dogs.
Hey, Meg. Uh, it's me.
I hope you're having a really good day.
I'm dealing with some client issues.
I just wanted to check
in and say last night
was really nice and I hope
to see you again really soon.
I'm going to stop using
the word really so much.
Anyhow, gonna check in when I can.
Right now, I really
gotta make another call.
Come play with me.
Hey.
I know.
But he's gone.
I cross my heart.
Great to see this kind of
commitment to client service.
Yeah, well, you win six Grammys
and I'll bring you donuts, too.
Hey, man.
- You look good, man. Yep.
- Hey, hey, hey.
Mm-hm.
What up?
- Where's Zeke at? In the stu'?
- Do you want me to show you?
Uh, no, man. I feel like I've
lived here in a past life.
Ooh. Donuts. Hey, how you doin'?
I'm good.
Think we may have an opportunity
to prove ourselves indispensable.
Oh, god. What now?
There is something still in the house.
What? Is it dangerous?
Think it wants to play.
Yo! My guy!
Hey!
What's poppin', man?
Are you ready to get this? I
got the words for track two.
Hey! Do not put your
honey-glazed fingers on my shit.
Man, you too serious. You
need to relax your shoulders.
- Get in the booth.
- All right!
Okay.
Where'd this come from?
- Give it to me!
- Huh.
Uh ♪
Nobody does it quite like me ♪
And that's something to be said ♪
Don't let the gift go
straight to your head ♪
Flex on the mic like Mike seeing red ♪
Most of them thought I'd be dead ♪
Going through the motions ♪
Range of emotions ♪
Places I've been over oceans ♪
Lifestyle of the rich and the famous ♪
What the goal is ♪
What the aim is ♪
What they want from me ♪
What they want me to be ♪
Thought to be mentally free ♪
After a while it gets hectic ♪
All they're caring
about is the metrics ♪
I was just taking it deep, down ♪
Meditating on this beat now ♪
They was just calling me freak, huh ♪
Thinking I finally peaked? Nah! ♪
Yeah!
That's the way right there.
Play that back. Play that back.
Mm-hm.
Uh ♪
Nobody does it quite like me ♪
And that's something to be said ♪
- Don't let ♪
- Right? Right?
- your head. ♪
- Flex on the Mic like Mike seeing red ♪
- Yo.
- Most of them thought I'd be dead ♪
Going through the mo ♪
- What you doin'?
- since I've been over oceans. ♪
You hear that?
- Man, what you doing?
- Oh, you don't hear that?
What they want from me ♪
What they want me to be ♪
Come play with me.
Somebody play with me.
Taking it deep down ♪
Medi ♪
Are you there?
Thinking I finally peaked? Nah! ♪
What the ?
Scream. I know a scream
when I hear a s . Ah!!
That was a scream! All right? Look.
Maybe there was a bug in the WiFi?
A bug in Wi ? This was
no bug in the WiFi, man!
Okay, this was some loud,
screamy, end-of-days shit.
If you just give me a
few minutes in the studio.
Ohh
I don't got time for
that. I don't got time!
Tess, this is on you!
We might have some acoustical
issues in the house.
I make a living on acoustical issues
and I have never heard
something like that.
Look, this place is right
for you. I can feel it.
I just need a little
time to figure it all out.
- Acoustical.
- Damon
Damon? Damon.
You gotta tune a Stradivarius
before you play it, right?
Well, you are a Strad, man.
You are the ultimate
Strad of your generation.
And we?
We gotta tune the room to you.
And that takes a little time.
I am a Strad.
While we start the
all-important room tuning,
you must be getting hungry.
I can eat.
Damon, remember the pit-master
who did the amazing brisket
at Mister Mo back in your hometown?
You mean Mo ?
- Damon!
- Mo No, no, no! Mo!
Mo, what are you doing here, man?
I ain't seen you since the '80s!
Look at
Oh-oh-oh-oh. Mo!
How'd you know about Mister Mo?
Research.
It's what we do.
Your game is strong.
Ours is a service industry.
I assume you two have met.
Yeah, we still play
racquetball on Thursdays.
Mm-hm. Here's the current
file on Cortona House.
- Cortona.
- It's in Tuscany.
The home of Saint Margaret of Cortona,
- the patron saint of unwed mothers.
- And prostitutes.
Which tells you everything
you needed to know
about the church's take on
unwed mothers back in the day.
Mm. Not our finest hour.
But, Phil?
Don't forget about the good stuff, too.
Yeah.
- The good stuff.
- Education.
Feeding the hungry. Caring for the sick.
But, see,
aren't those things kind of
expected?
I mean, isn't that
the price of admission
if you're gonna tell 1.2 billion people
what they can eat on a Friday?
Not much here for such an old place.
Well, that's the current file.
The archives are over there.
Oy, gevalt.
Look, don't make it weird, okay?
I'm not looking to get back together.
I was just in the neighbourhood.
By the way, I like that Sister Yasmin.
Really, I do. She's got this
little rebellious streak.
Could use more people
like her around here
instead of all these "yes" nuns.
You might want to
transition her into sales.
Anyway,
talking to her reminded me of this
thing that happened a while ago.
So I'd had this really lousy day.
I was researching this one
house where they kept seeing
this little girl in a torn dress
sitting in a corner alone, in a chair.
I tracked down the social
services records and
there was just some horrible
shit that happened in this house.
You were probably busy
with some fundraiser or
putting another image of your mom
on a toaster waffle, or something,
but that doesn't matter.
That's not the point.
The point is is that I
was feeling like crap.
And I'm walking to my car
it was, um
I'd parked across from St.
Cyril's on Third and, um
Oh, shoot. Third and Well,
you know where it is. Of course.
What am I even saying?
You're you. Uh
And I hear this music.
It's Mozart's Requiem.
The Lacrimosa.
It was, like, a Thursday night and
they were having choir practice.
And so I walked in.
There wasn't a powerful electric shock
when I touched the door handle,
so I took that as a good sign.
And I'm sitting there in the back pew
and I just let
the music wash over me.
I hadn't heard it since I, um
since I left.
And I was surprised how it
helped.
I felt better.
Gave me strength and
And comfort.
You could've taken that away from me.
I'm really glad that you didn't.
Anyhow, uh
I got work to do, so, uh
Just going to stay focused on this.
Say hi to everyone.
You just wait until
they get a taste of me ♪
I'm the one that's got the juice ♪
So, you did read the rider.
- I did.
- It's my destiny ♪
It's guaranteed that ♪
Let's eat!
I'm the one that makes you go boom ♪
I'm like the morning
thunder, I like to bring ♪
- Hey, guys.
- Well, hello.
- Here we go!
- I'm Everett's House of Pain ♪
Too many days I waited ♪
No, really? Get out.
Yeah, it's actually a thing.
I'm pretty sure all these little
green army men we keep finding
are a big shout-out to Uncle
Franco. You remember how he was?
He always scared me.
Man, that guy, he he
wanted me to join the army.
All right, he said my
music was a pipe dream.
"Join the army! See the world," he said.
Four platinum albums.
How's that for a pipe dream?
I'm pretty sure all this
success and what-not is
is me showing Uncle Franco, hell, yeah!
- I can do this!
- Mmm.
I I bet you he's smiling right now.
So raise a glass to Uncle Franco.
A great big glass.
Franco!
You know, you might as well enjoy it.
You're paying for it.
- Yeah.
- Yeah. Fill 'er up.
Oh, I need to take this. Sorry.
Look, I know you and
Tessa go round and round,
but you gotta admit she knows her wine.
I like Tessa.
I get her.
She's she's smart,
organized,
demands the best for her clients.
She reminds me of me.
I'm going to pretend I believe that.
I hate this place.
Zeke?
Man, quit playing! I'm
too tired for this, man.
Play with me.
Come play
with me.
How long have you been up?
I never really slept.
Tracking these adoption files.
It's really depressing.
You have that Catholic
look on your face.
Yeah, well it seems
like every time I look,
they were doing something horrible.
Might have been an orphanage.
Turns out it was something much worse.
It's not your problem anymore.
I know.
Can I tell you something?
I miss it.
I do.
I miss the communion,
the music,
the rituals that have been
around for 2,000 years.
I mean, th they're comforting.
Why do you think they've
been around for 2,000 years?
But most of all
I miss feeling like
somebody's in charge.
Like our destinies
are being crafted by somebody kind
and benevolent
and wise.
So
you're not looking for God
as much as
Lin-Manuel Miranda.
Don't you have a roof or
something to fall off of?
Oh! Um
Hey. Um
Fix your acoustic issues?
Someone has a very inappropriate
sense of humor and way
too much spare time!
What?
Wow! Uncle Franco got busy.
Oh, Uncle Franco? You
think Damon did this?
Look, maybe he's getting a little tired
of you trying to drag
him outta the house?
He's getting work done.
Okay? Let him be.
Uh-huh.
Yeah. Okay.
Mm. I'm making coffee.
Based on Damon's description,
we're talking about a boy of
four to seven years.
Metallurgy on this particular Slinky
indicates a manufacture
date in the early sixties.
Using that data,
we narrowed our search
from the photos we found.
Okay.
If a, um
woman, or a girl,
was found to be in the family way,
they could live out their
pregnancy at Cortona house,
away from the judgement
of polite society,
for a generous donation
to the church, of course.
24 hours after giving birth,
the babies would be put up for adoption
and the young women could return home
like it was all a bad dream.
Again, the adoption fees
would roll back into
the sponsor of our program, but
the mothers and babies would
never see each other again.
Ever.
We're looking at thousands
of women and children here.
A fair amount of people died there.
Mostly babies, a few moms, but
there were very few children
there at any one time.
These were the kids
that were late to adopt.
Uh, illness, development issues and
other factors.
I'm still looking for where
some of these kids went.
That kid is older than three.
Yeah. Look at this. Zooey?
That's him.
His fire truck I saw it.
Wait. Who's that?
We don't know who he
is. There's no file.
He's gone.
1970. We never see him again.
God, I hope he was adopted.
Dude, you can't be eating
donuts and touching my board.
I don't even know what you're
talking about, man. Just calm down.
Okay, look, I'm tired, okay?
I'm going to take a break.
You want to hit up track
two when I get back?
Bep-bep.
I like my donuts.
Where is that coming from?
I need to record this.
Well, don't stop now.
Any more acoustical issues?
Only good ones.
So
So tell me more about what you do.
Well
Okay, so when you
say "hard-to-sell"
What, you mean ugly-ass houses?
Not necessarily
I mean, 'cause this place is beautiful.
But, see, that's exactly the point.
Every house is is beautiful,
unique, special in its own way.
To group them together is
it's like using the term hip-hop.
It can be general and reductive.
You know, if I were to tell you
that boom-bap and trap were the same,
you'd tell me to get right out of here.
Just like I would if you were to tell me
a a ranch-style
Mediterranean was like a
three-story Colonial
and now I'm just
- just riffing, so feel free to jump in
- No, no, I get it, I do.
- It's just, um
- Zeke! Zeeeeeeke!
Um excuse me.
Someone has an unmet need.
Zeke! Zeke!
Zee!
Zeke! Zeke. Zeke.
Man, this house, man, it's special.
Okay, some special
shit is going on here.
It's reaching out to me! Look at this.
I was 13.
We was playing some ball, all right?
I split my head open
on that rusty rim
busted my skull! Remember?
Yeah.
The paramedics they
saved my life that day.
Do you know what they was driving?
- Man, that's a reach.
- It's a reach? No-no-no, look.
Listen to this.
- Listen to this.
- Oh, man.
Night has fallen ♪
That's what.. ♪
Mm-mm-mm.
Don't don't you see?
The the the the little
green army men, the truck,
the the the voices in my head,
the words that come out
of nowhere. And last night,
I saw a Slinky.
- A Slinky?
- A a Slinky!
Coming down the stairs, all by itself,
telling me to take
this one step at a time!
I mean, all this time I've been
rushing and pushing too
hard when all I gotta do
is sit back and let this
house do what it do, baby.
Okay. Yeah! Yeah.
You you think I'm crazy.
That's okay! That's okay.
I just need some air. I need to breathe.
I'm going to go for a drive.
All right? I'll see ya' in a bit.
Uh.
Nobody does it quite like me ♪
And that's something to be said ♪
Don't let the gift go
straight to your head ♪
Flex on the Mic like Mike seeing red ♪
Most of them thought I'd be dead ♪
Going through the motions
♪
Range of emotions ♪
Now, meditating on this beat. ♪
Wow! ♪
They were
just calling me freak ♪
Huh. ♪
Thinking I finally peaked ♪
Nah!
It's a miracle you weren't hurt!
- Ah, I told you the house has character.
- Yeah, I didn't think you meant
a Wes Craven character.
Damon, that's it. We're
going back to New York.
Lo look, I I don't know, man. I
Come on, you are onto
something huge here, D.
I'm not sure leaving is a good idea.
It might follow you, you know.
- Follow us?
- But it might not.
- Oh, brother.
- Is that a threat?
It's a fact, Damon.
You are in touch with something
very real and very special here.
It's the raw, childlike creativity
that we're all born with
before the world takes it away.
You run away from it now,
- you might never, ever find it again.
- That is a crock, Damon.
This house is talking to
you. Tell me I'm wrong.
Your album, it's unfinished business.
- Finish it.
- You're finished.
You're done. You're fired!
I'm done here!
So, we're not actually fired?
Not until I say we are.
What do we know for sure?
Person he reached out to was you.
You've got the thing.
The gift. The radar love.
Yes, but you were nice to him.
It's been over 50 years
since he's had a friend.
Maybe even longer.
You've met those nuns.
But then he attached himself to Damon.
'Cause he was living there.
Maybe.
That is the first time people
slept in the house since Russell.
That must have been really comforting.
Think he was drawn to the music.
So I was his friend.
That makes Damon what?
Big brother?
What does a little boy need
more than a friend or a brother?
What does a little boy want?
His mother.
Little boy just wants his mom.
Oh.
Mister Orley.
I need a word.
How about this for a word:
pride.
You left God's work because
the parish's problems weren't
important enough for you.
You were meant for bigger things.
That's the sin of pride.
Fair enough.
But maybe I could have worked things out
if the mother church
didn't brand me a sinner
not for what I did, but for who I was.
Who I am.
Anyway,
you want to talk sin,
Sister, let's talk sin.
Those were very
different times.
These girls had no one,
no nowhere to turn. We
Their families had cast them out.
The church
- You cannot fault our intentions.
- Watch me.
No. Don't go.
Hm?
Open this door!
He was such
a sweet child.
No bother at all,
unless he wanted to play.
Or needed a hug.
I'm afraid the sisters were
very ineffective in those areas.
The flu took him in, um
- Was it 1969?
- Seventy.
Huh.
I was very young.
I didn't
What exactly
do you want, Mister Orley?
His mother.
- We need her information so that we can find her.
- She's dead.
What are you doing? Let me out.
Play with me.
- Stop that!
- PLAY WITH ME!
Help!
Stop it, man! Help!
Help!
Helen Potter,
a lovely oh, lovely girl.
She had just found a job.
She was going to
take her little boy
back to live with her.
But then there was an accident.
Very sad.
Why,
Mister Orley?
Why do you ask these questions?
What good could possibly come of this?
We owe him.
All of us.
His name
was George.
Help! Help!
Help!
- Help!
- Damon! Damon! Damon!
- Help!
- Hey!
Help!
Help me!
I can hear him screaming in
the in the in the studio!
Somebody!
How many people does it take?
- Tessa, it's fine.
- No, it's not okay.
George?
Open up, buddy.
George, I got some sad news to tell you.
Come here.
Your mom?
She isn't coming to get you.
She wanted to.
God, she did more than anything.
But we don't always get
what we want in life.
But the thing about moms is,
they never stop being your mom.
And you gotta believe me because
I know a little bit about this.
Even when they're away,
they're still still kind of there.
Yep.
You know.
Right there.
But now I need you to go to sleep.
And when you see a bright
light, you go there.
Your mom's there.
And a bunch of other kids to play
with and they're all waiting for you.
Can you go to them?
Can you do that?
All I need you to do is go to sleep.
The next time I saw Sister Yasmin,
she told me that Sister Mary Ellen
lit a candle that night
for little George,
his mother
and all the other moms
who never came back.
I'm glad we came here.
We always had fun.
What's wrong with you tonight?
Tough day.
Must be grueling,
lifting those
big pens,
pushing 'em across pages all day.
Dad, why did Mom leave?
- I really don't want to talk
- No, see, you never do.
But what is it that
you're not telling me?
- I never lied to you.
- That's not what I'm asking you!
I just want to know if it was
me she was running from or you?
It was, uh
- Us.
- I think it was me.
- You'd have to ask her about that.
- I did.
- You wouldn't know her if you saw her.
- I found the snapshot.
One from the hospital.
Well, that's private.
- Who told you could ?
- You were dead, Dad!
I guess you found those,
uh, magazines, too, uh?
Look, a man, uh, a man gets lonely.
You're just going to joke your way
through this whole thing again, huh?
Uh-huh.
Ha-ha!
Would it defuse this tense moment
if I said something
nice about your shoes?
Luke!
Come on!
Nobody does it quite like me ♪
That's something to be said ♪
Don't let the gift go
straight to your head ♪
Flex on the Mic like Mike seeing red ♪
Most of them thought I'd be dead ♪
I go through the motions ♪
My range of emotions ♪
Places I've been over oceans ♪