Survivor's Remorse (2014) s04e10 Episode Script
Answers and Questions
1 Why have you never reached out? I wrote a few times early on.
We're living on two different earths.
I think we just should spare ourselves the trouble and time and not pursue this.
Cam asked me to be the chairperson for a gala event for the family foundation.
[ALL RETCHING, VOMITING.]
- How did you fuck this up? - How did I fuck this up? You got an issue with me, why don't you take it up with my dad, John Francoer? - Your badge says "Frankel.
" - Yeah, I changed my name.
I like to see how people treat me before they learn my lineage.
I was raped.
Your sister was conceived that night.
I damn sure don't want anybody else knowing my business, Mary Charles.
We're going to read one another's work aloud.
"See, my mom was - My mom was " - Give me.
- You want to sleep with me? - [HEAVY BREATHING.]
- I have HPV.
- You asked me here to ask me out? I wouldn't ask you out if it weren't important.
Read the prospectus.
I'll need a wire by the 23rd.
- So about that, uh, school thing.
- All right.
I don't want to do it.
I don't think that you should do it either.
It ain't what we want to be.
Oh, she's very pretty.
Like a Disney princess.
Okay, when you meet her, maybe don't say that.
You know you're too young to marry, right? You sure you know what you're doing? First time in my life I'm really sure about anything.
Well, that's good.
That's how it's supposed to be, I guess.
You have my blessing if that's what you came here for.
It isn't, but thank you.
- Well, why are you here? - I gotta have a reason? You don't, but you do.
I'm your father.
Get paid to know these things.
I mean, I sniffed out a little something in your last letter.
[INHALES DEEPLY.]
I'm concerned about balance.
I feel two hungers.
The one for personal happiness, which is satisfied now.
And the one to improve the world, - which is never satisfied.
- Hmm.
These two drives, they seem con Contraposed.
Part of me says you found your soulmate, reached the top of my profession.
I've earned the right to be happy and at peace.
To lay down your burdens and to take leave of your struggles and declare victory and just be.
But then I look around at all the senseless hate and all the suffering.
Ah, at the cabal of angry morons who run our country.
[CHUCKLES.]
Yeah.
And I think, I can't relax into happiness.
- No.
- That's the selfish choice.
- Mm.
- I gotta keep fighting.
I'm a role model whether I like it or not.
- Mm.
- I have a responsibility.
So which do I dwell on? Which one fires my day? Is it the Small Good or the Big Bad? Mm.
I was hoping maybe you'd have an opinion.
You know who you're asking? [SOFT CHUCKLE.]
A man whose life has been artificially small, kept small against my will.
But, also one that's never been free to love as an adult.
So, I I figure that you have more than one hunger, too.
I was 17 when I came in.
Tried as an adult even though I wasn't.
And I was given eight, reducible to six.
A couple of months before my scheduled release, I got [AHEM.]
taken down in The Paint by this cat named Wilkerson.
He was huge.
Uh, there was a spoon hidden in there just for such occasions.
I got to it and attacked him with it.
How the fuck did you defend yourself with a spoon? Nah, I always go for the eyes.
I scooped his left one clean out.
You know, it's surprisingly easy to do.
I mean, you just stab it and flip the wrist.
Popped out like a skinned grape.
Earned 10 to 20 on top.
If he attacked you, then why were you blamed? A point I did make.
But a point no one but me was interested in my making.
H his injury was the kind that cries out for punishment.
That is completely unfair.
Well, well, you know, eye for an eye, and I still have both of mine.
We're talking about your life.
This is some bullshit.
- That it is.
- [SIGHS.]
Self-perpetuating modern slavery bullshit, which I bring up so I can answer your question.
I'm not telling you to be noble.
But knowing that the Big Bad is out there, how could the Small Good be good enough? Mm.
Mm-mm.
Choose the larger life, Cameron.
That's what I would do if I could wish upon a star.
My parents' check cleared.
If you get Cam's check today, we can wire Chen the money in the morning.
Missy, why do we have so many pillows? - Will you get Cam's check today? - Jesus.
Man, I don't think it's gonna happen.
- What? - I don't think he's gonna do it.
What, is he so busy that he can't find three seconds to sign a check that you will write out for him? Yeah, I don't think he wants to do it.
You don't think he wants to or you know he doesn't want to? Ah, it's one of those.
He don't feel good about making money off of disused schools.
- And when did that happen? - Recently.
- How recently? - I told you he was thinking about it.
And when did he finish that regal process? - He told me the other night.
- And you're just telling me now? Yes.
I had hoped that he would change his mind.
He hasn't, and he don't want to do it.
Fuck it then.
More for us.
We'll take the other 500K from joint savings.
Uh [STAMMERS.]
Here's the thing.
He doesn't want us to do it either.
[SCOFFS.]
Well, fortunately, that's not his call.
It's not his call, but yet, it kinda is.
It isn't, and it kinda isn't.
Missy, he doesn't want his people making money that way either.
Well, fortunately, we're more than just his people.
Well, we are, and yet, we're not.
Okay, stop talking like a fucking fortune cookie.
- Stop telling me how to speak.
- Well, I'm fucking frustrated.
I'm fucking frustrated too, but we can't take it out on one another.
Who are we supposed to take it out on? Nobody else is here.
And we certainly can't take it out on The Righteous Cam Calloway now, can we? You brought this deal to me, Reggie.
You did.
You brought this deal into this house.
- You want me to rub some lotion on your feet? - I got it.
- Okay, listen, Missy.
- I'm listening.
He doesn't want us to do it, so we're not gonna do it.
- Oh, is that right? - Yeah, that is right.
Look, I know you're all fired up about it, and that's my fault for not getting Cam in the boat before I got you in the boat.
It's my fault for not crafting this process better, and it's my fault for not managing upwards.
But, baby, it is what it is.
It is not what it is.
Because this deal, as you've brought it to me, as we vetted it, and as we've concluded, is a money train, and we ain't missing it.
Besides, I did not go out on all kinda limbs with my parents just to crawl back two weeks later and say, "Never mind.
" They will never respect me again.
And besides that, ask me how many assholes I have, Reggie.
How many assholes do you have, Missy? Two.
The second arrived courtesy Cam Calloway when he tore me a new one for some shit at that gala that was not even my fault.
Hey, he apologized about that.
I saw how he treated people when push went to shove, so my tolerance level for his bullshit, yeah, it's at an all-time low.
He's against the deal morally.
Okay, well, he doesn't have to do it.
But he has no right to tell you you can't do it.
You offered to kiss him in, not let him fuck you out.
Well, he is Cam.
He has all the rights.
He has no right to treat you like a junior partner.
He ain't treating me like a junior partner.
Anybody that's paying attention to all this family has, his and ours, knows that that ain't true.
Reggie, Cam has the luxury of making moral choices because Cam has 100-plus million guaranteed.
We? We do not.
Morality? That that's a rich man's disease, and one day, we, too, will be able to look down our noses at free money because we're not thrilled about its origins.
But not today.
I ain't his fucking junior partner.
You want your career to end when his does? Missy, we don't even know if this deal is gonna pan out.
Now, let's just say that it doesn't, and we've alienated Cam in the process, where are we then? Potentially, on the street.
[EXHALES SHARPLY.]
[WHISPERS.]
Fuck.
- What are you doing? - I'm reminding you what you have down here.
Oh, come on, Missy, don't make it about that, please.
We have to leap at some point.
And, baby, we are never gonna be out on the street because we are two extremely capable and badass people.
We are you and me, Reggie.
Not you, me, and Cam.
- You feel me? - I do.
There is virtually no way in this moment that I cannot feel you.
Okay.
We're gonna have to do the pillows again.
Mm-hmm.
- I got it.
- Hey, Mikey C.
- Allison, what's up? - Nothing much.
How are you? Uh, Fr Frankel Frankel want to holla at you.
- Frankel? - Fr Frankel, yeah.
- About what? - I don't know.
You know, I don't I don't be it's not my bu I don't he just say he need to holla at you.
Is it about the promotion? I have no idea.
Frankel want to holla at you, and it's time for me to take a break.
I'ma take a motherfucking smoke break.
I gotta smoke some vape.
I got to.
It's a pretty poorly-kept secret that we've been looking for a new head of MRI.
Hospitals are basically rumor mills with blood.
[CHUCKLES.]
And you've done a fine job here, but we're promoting Mikey C.
- Mikey C? - We feel that it's in the best interest of the department - and the hospital.
- Why? I'm senior to Mikey C.
I'm better at the work.
You guys know me and, I thought, liked me.
- All true.
- His last name is a letter.
We feel that it's in the best interest of the department and the hospital.
Yes, you said that.
And then I said, "Why?" As in, "What is the explanation for that thing that you said?" Well, why don't you discuss it with your future husband - on the veranda of his manse? - His what? His mansion.
His gigantic house.
What does the size of my fiancé's house have to do with anything? Officially, nothing.
But, unofficially, if this were your candy store, who would you rather have working for you? The person that would be out on his ass if it wasn't for the shit-ass $43,500 salary that you were paying him, or the person for whom 43,5 is just the tax on her boo thang's latest receipt.
A, I'd pick the person who would do the better job You say that, but it's just the narcissism of the underling.
And B, don't ever say "boo thang.
" Boo thang.
Boo thang, boo thang, boo thang.
Can I help it if I listen to modern music? If you don't want me to quote the lyrics, don't play it on the radio.
I just don't want you to say those lyrics in this meeting.
Come on, Allison.
We both know that if we gave you the gig, you'd be difficult as hell to work with because you don't need the gig.
I'd be the same as I am now.
You'd bail on us the minute that you got too aggravated or the day you decided to, say, have a baby.
That's not true at all.
And I don't think you can say these kinds of things - without getting into a lot of legal trouble.
- Off the record, then.
Why would I possibly promote somebody that's too rich for me to boss around? You can't just say you're off the record.
It doesn't make it off the record.
- Is your voice memo function on? - No.
Then I'm off the record.
Look, I'm not judging you.
I'm really not.
I congratulate you on your catch.
- [EXHALES SHARPLY.]
- You're super hot, super smart, and super cool.
You're Supergirl.
Fly away on your husband's private jet.
But let's just have a come to Jesus for a second.
Women like you don't have careers.
They simply dip their toe in the working world for just a little bit until they find their meal ticket, and you have certainly found yours.
- [EXHALES SHARPLY.]
- I don't think I'm being unreasonable.
What they've done is immoral and possibly illegal.
- [INDISTINCT SHOUTING.]
- You dumbass motherfucker! - Hey, Ma.
- Oh, hey, baby.
Bullshit! Oh, my God, why is she so loud? She yelling at you? Nah, baby, you'd know if she was yelling at me.
You give employees what they deserve.
You don't punish them for marrying someone wealthy.
- Hello, lovebirds.
- Hey, Chen.
They're afraid I won't be as malleable as Mikey C, won't eat as much shit because he's broke all the time because nobody below a supervisor makes a fucking living wage in the health care business.
What's another word for testicle? - Hey, sis.
- CHEN: Ball sack.
CASSIE: Are you kidding me? What the fuck? - Hello! - Oh, Jesus Christ! Could there be any more fucking people in this house? Baby, you can quit that job if you want to.
I mean, it's not like we need the money.
Not the point.
This is my profession.
That night we met, which will go down in history as both the best thing that's ever happened to me and the worst thing that's ever happened to my career Ah, so far.
You got a long career ahead of you.
Do you think every MRI tech - could have read your images accurately? - [PHONE RINGING.]
- Sorry.
- - [EXHALES SHARPLY.]
- No, of course not.
Of course not.
Most of them couldn't tell a medial patellofemoral ligament from their own dick.
Baby, you could easily get another job.
Also not the point.
My career is as important to me as yours is to you.
My little Allison world may be a speck compared to yours, but my need to succeed is just as big.
- [PHONE RINGING.]
- Sorry.
- [EXHALES SHARPLY.]
- I've done everything right and I'm just getting fucked here.
- [CHUCKLES.]
- Just fucked.
If it helps, we can get a prenup.
- That way you'll still be broke.
- Not now, Cam.
- CASSIE: Motherfucker! - CHEN: How about slappers, goolies, and privy parts? M-CHUCK: Ooh, good ones.
Al, what they did to you is terrible, but these people are just gonna be answers to trivia questions in your life.
How would you feel if you had been passed over for the All-Star game because some other, shittier player needed props more than you did? - [PHONE RINGING.]
- Ugh.
Can I just have nine seconds of my fiancé's undivided attention? It's a reporter.
You know how they are.
Oh, yeah.
Because they just call me all the time.
I should just take it.
Get it over with.
- By all means.
- Hello? Don't act like I'm not still in your phone.
You're very persistent.
ISA: I'm working, and I have a tight window.
- FLAHERTY: Whoa, whoa, whoa, she's a lady - Bad time, I assume? - What can I do for you? - Are you with somebody? - Yeah, I am.
- And yet, you answered.
Who is it? That girl? It is true.
I'm engaged.
- [INDISTINCT SINGING.]
- Engaged? Wow.
Congratulations.
Allison Pierce, the MRI tech who treated me when I got hurt that time.
Oh, that is a deeply moving and romantic story.
- And you're welcome to print it.
- She know about us? About the gift? Yeah.
About the giver? No.
- You gonna tell her? - FLAHERTY: Whoa whoa whoa What is that sound? Are you on a tugboat? You know, that's smart.
No reason to go through every detail.
- Most first-timers wouldn't realize that.
- Allison hails from Jonesboro.
You ever think, you and me? Might have been fun to find out what that was.
- I do not.
- ISA: Well, life is long, Cam.
Smart man never deletes his contacts.
Was there anything else, Ms.
Catalano? A source close to the team, very close to the team, practically indistinguishable from the team, told me that Southeast Heartland Company bought the right to place a logo patch on Atlanta uniform tops.
Thought you might want to comment.
You know what, I'm gonna go.
I'm getting right off, babe.
Seems a little mercenary, but I guess you can't expect Jimmy Flaherty to get by on the paltry three grand per courtside seat.
Anyway, I've always wanted to play on a European soccer team.
- Do you know anything about Southeast Heartland? - CAM: Should I? Only if you care who you're shilling for.
I really don't blame you for all of this.
But it's what I said the first night we met.
Do you remember? - Babe, just one more second.
- They have their fingers in a lot of other businesses, too.
Offshore investment, munitions, and not everything passes the smell test.
I'm virtually done.
Did you know they're the second largest American stockholder of privatized prisons? I'm gonna stay at my place tonight, okay? I'll Uber.
- CASSIE: You lying sack of shit! - CHEN: What about jellybeans? Or glorious marbles? Would you say that again, please? FLAHERTY: Isa? Your turn.
I will help.
Mm, gotta go.
Good-bye, wealth.
- Whoa, don't say it like that.
- Like what? Say, "Farewell for the moment, wealth.
Godspeed.
We look forward to seeing you again very soon, at which time you will have grown up big and strong.
" Really, really big and strong.
- Push send.
- I'm not pushing send.
- Come on, Reggie, push send.
- No! - Okay, come on.
Together, together, together.
- Missy, pu - MISSY: Ah! - REGGIE: Oh, shit.
Wait a minute.
What's this $35? Oh, that's the wire charge.
How much do you have to wire for them to waive the wire charge? - Fucking bank fees.
- Fuck those fuckers.
Makes no sense.
One time I sent Aunt Mim $100, they still charged me $35.
Oh, wait, so we should be happy about this 35? No.
- You hungry? - Yeah.
- I'll make us some ramen.
- Mm.
You cut up some hot dog in mine.
- Thanks for coming, Clayton.
- I live for this shit.
Reggie, you clear on the argument? - As clear as L.
Ron Hubbard.
- What? I'm clear.
By the way, did you pull out of that Chen deal yet? - Not yet, but I will.
- Good.
What the fuck? They just called me.
- Why aren't you dressed for the game? - I'm not playing.
Are you injured? Jesus, don't tell me you're injured.
- I'm fine.
- Then what the fuck, Cam? Come on.
We're clinging to the eighth seed.
We need this game.
This is Detroit.
They suck, I grant you, but it's not like it's the Knicks.
- I heard about the Southeast Heartland logo patch.
- So? I'm not gonna be a human billboard for our nation's second largest investor in privatized prisons.
[LAUGHING.]
Get dressed for the game, will you, please? This fucking guy.
Uh, if I may, according to the Collective Bargaining Agreement, forced endorsement of this sort qualifies as restraint of trade.
- Is that true? - Probably not.
But it sure would be expensive to find out.
In this country, we jail black men like my father for sport.
- He's right, Jimmy.
- Southeast Heartland is a direct beneficiary of that sport.
Government says to the prison companies, "You scratch our back by helping us keep black people locked up, and we'll scratch yours by making you a fuck-ton of money.
" The reason we have a government is to take the profit motive out of certain things, like fighting wars, preventing diseases, or running prisons, for fuck's sake.
The reason we have a government.
If we weren't serially, unjustly, and perpetually walling African-American men in public prisons, there wouldn't be a need for private prisons.
And once you build a private prison, hell, it's like the hotel business.
You gotta keep those rooms filled.
- He's right, Jimmy.
- [MOCKING.]
"He's right, Jimmy.
He's right, Jimmy.
" Hey, there's a reason why he's your Team Rep.
Don't remind me.
I knew that shit was gonna bite me in the ass.
- Then what'd you do it for? - $5 million.
- That's all? - Per year.
- Sounds like a bargain.
- It's a small patch.
I knew you were a whore, but I at least thought you were high-end.
Let me ask you fucknuts something.
How exactly did you think this all works? - What all? - This all! Basketball, business, America.
Who would you rather have sponsoring us? Because I'm not leaving 5 million per annum on the floor.
You wouldn't leave a quarter on the floor.
And there isn't a company in this great country bigger than a breadbox that isn't dirty in some way.
If if it isn't illegal labor practices, then it's destruction of the environment or bribery or influence peddling or insider trading or fraud or or giving hormones to chickens or self-dealing or cornering markets or conflict of interest or restraint of trade or harassment or hacking or piracy or job discrimination or breach of fiduciary trust or obstructing justice or corporate blackmail or just good old-fashioned lying, cheating, and stealing.
Or any number of other things that are written about every day in the failing Paper of Record.
[CHUCKLES.]
No one is clean.
You think your friend, Chen, is clean? You think his father never put the bamboo to anybody back in jolly old post-Communist Communist China? I started in the hard cider business.
I built my empire getting people fucking drunk.
They say behind every fortune lies a great crime.
That's an understatement.
That's kind.
Behind every great fortune lies a vast, interconnected latticework of sins committed by companies that own each other and feed each other and suck each other off in an ongoing orgy of mutual financial gratification.
You think you're clean? You own even one share of a mutual fund, you're not clean.
If you ever paid your taxes, uh, cashed a paycheck, put money in a bank, then you're dirty.
You just haven't figured that out yet.
What do you think banks do with money? Put it in other banks? No.
They do what everyone with money does.
They use it to rout and pillage and plunder because that is the American way.
You are an American millionaire.
A creation of this system and its unsatisfiable maw.
And so this is a very odd time and a very strange place for you to be drawing a line in the sand.
That's a bit cynical.
I just have a lot on my mind.
When you hit 50, you think about this shit.
So thank you for the opportunity to get that off my chest.
Everything you said may be true, but I ain't wearing this logo.
I may be a billboard for fuckers, but not these fuckers.
- All right.
- What? I said all right.
Fine, you win.
You always win, and you win.
I don't give a shit.
Whatever you want.
I'll get Taco Bell or somebody.
- You got a problem with Taco Bell? - Should I? Has anyone heard a word I've said? He doesn't have a problem with Taco Bell.
- Taco Bell is fine.
- Good.
Good.
Thank you for coming, Clayton.
Yes, always a delight.
[GASPS.]
Look, an ambulance.
[CHUCKLES.]
You gentlemen have a good evening.
Please dress for tonight's game.
I think we all need a couple hours' distraction, a sorbet for the mind.
[SIGHS.]
Must be exhausting repping that guy.
Nah.
[CHUCKLES.]
I mean, he is who he is, you are who you are.
As long as he's on this team, this is how it's gonna be between you two.
Yeah, I know.
What the hell? Breaks up the day.
- Right.
- Hey, Chen told me he got your wire.
- Mm.
- You're in on the schools deal.
- Congratulations.
- Thank you.
I'm in it, too.
I guess that makes us partners.
I guess it does.
Things could get pretty interesting around here.
Yes.
Yes, things could.
You looking for this? Yeah.
You, um - you read it? - I did.
And apparently I'm not the only one.
Just my class.
And my teacher.
And this guy, Filipe, who cleans up in the library.
Hmm, so those people and whoever they tell in person and maybe even on social media, considering your brother's kinda well-known, now know my most private secret.
I don't think anyone's gonna put that up on social media.
Do you have any idea how many nightmares have begun with that sentence? Probably one or two.
M'kay, I see that you are taking this matter out of the realm of decency and into the realm of common sense and survival.
What are you talking about? I don't know what happened to those three boys, - and I don't want to know.
- Uncle J had 'em killed.
- Or either he killed them himself, I ain't sure.
- What the fuck did I just say? I don't want to know.
How much clearer about not wanting to know can I be other than saying, "I don't want to know"? But now I know, so my chances of not knowing are way low because I know.
Knowledge is power, right? Mary Charles, we are talking about murder here.
Murder has a way of sticking in the craw.
The craw of family and friends of the murdered.
Some of whom I most definitely know are still walking this earth.
Even 28 years later, people tend to be a little sensitive about murder.
It gets their dander up.
Reawakens their rage.
Inspires them to do some delving and try to find out who gave the order or who pulled the trigger and seek revenge.
Well, there's no one alive to blame.
Uncle Julius is dead and and I never said those boys were shot.
Oh, for fuck's sake, Mary Charles, it's a figure of speech.
They could try to find out who gave the order and who pulled the trigger and come after those people.
Or maybe even those people's children.
It's called street justice.
It's what I would do.
It's time for you and we to let sleeping corpses lie.
That paper that you have in your hand.
Because of it, for the first time in my life, people are looking at me with respect.
Like I'm my own person with my own capabilities.
Not just the other kid.
The fucked up angry one with the shitty past that we don't talk about.
It's always all about you, ain't it, Mary Charles? [CHUCKLES.]
It always has been, from the moment you crawled out.
It always will be.
Must be that half of you that comes from your father that thought nothing of itself as it swam around inside of me looking for the good part of you.
I ain't listening to that no more! Mary Charles, you have endangered yourself, your brother, and everybody else in this family.
I want you to promise me that you have written and spoken your last word on this subject.
Everything in me wants to say no to you right now.
So why can't I? 'Cause you love me and what I said makes sense? Nah, that ain't it.
[CHUCKLES.]
[CHUCKLES.]
The deal made so much sense.
It couldn't miss.
- And yet, it did.
- Some things that couldn't miss don't miss, but other things that can't miss do miss.
- Oh, thank you.
- Yeah.
Thank you, Cam.
Never mind that, man.
Find shelter.
You want my shoes? No, no.
We're fine just being a barefoot disappointment to all and the ruiners of our families for generations to come, and basically just a yoke around the neck of society.
Hmm.
Well, you want this? No, I can't.
Ca you we can't.
- Hey, don't be swatting away my lo mein.
- [BABY GURGLES.]
- You were my partner.
- Junior partner.
Nah, could have been full partner.
See you, partner.
[GASPS.]
Oh, fuck.
It's okay.
It's okay, we're okay.
We got stuff we can sell.
We got the IRA.
We can sell the kid, the Cadillac.
Sell your ring.
It's good.
We'll be fine.
[SIGHS.]
[PHONE VIBRATING.]
[PHONE TRILLING.]
I feel like a chip on my shoulders I feel like I'm losing my focus I feel like I'm losing my patience I feel like my thoughts in the basement Feel like, I feel like you're miseducated Feel like I don't wanna be bothered I feel like you may be the problem I feel like it ain't no tomorrow, fuck the world The world is ending, I'm done pretending And fuck you if you get offended I feel like friends been overrated I feel like the family been faking I feel like the feelings are changing Feel like my daughter compromised and jaded Feel like you want to scrutinize how I made it Feel like I ain't feeling you all Feel like removing myself no feelings involved I feel for you, I've been in the field for you It's real for you, right? Shit, I feel like Ain't nobody praying for me Ain't nobody praying for me
We're living on two different earths.
I think we just should spare ourselves the trouble and time and not pursue this.
Cam asked me to be the chairperson for a gala event for the family foundation.
[ALL RETCHING, VOMITING.]
- How did you fuck this up? - How did I fuck this up? You got an issue with me, why don't you take it up with my dad, John Francoer? - Your badge says "Frankel.
" - Yeah, I changed my name.
I like to see how people treat me before they learn my lineage.
I was raped.
Your sister was conceived that night.
I damn sure don't want anybody else knowing my business, Mary Charles.
We're going to read one another's work aloud.
"See, my mom was - My mom was " - Give me.
- You want to sleep with me? - [HEAVY BREATHING.]
- I have HPV.
- You asked me here to ask me out? I wouldn't ask you out if it weren't important.
Read the prospectus.
I'll need a wire by the 23rd.
- So about that, uh, school thing.
- All right.
I don't want to do it.
I don't think that you should do it either.
It ain't what we want to be.
Oh, she's very pretty.
Like a Disney princess.
Okay, when you meet her, maybe don't say that.
You know you're too young to marry, right? You sure you know what you're doing? First time in my life I'm really sure about anything.
Well, that's good.
That's how it's supposed to be, I guess.
You have my blessing if that's what you came here for.
It isn't, but thank you.
- Well, why are you here? - I gotta have a reason? You don't, but you do.
I'm your father.
Get paid to know these things.
I mean, I sniffed out a little something in your last letter.
[INHALES DEEPLY.]
I'm concerned about balance.
I feel two hungers.
The one for personal happiness, which is satisfied now.
And the one to improve the world, - which is never satisfied.
- Hmm.
These two drives, they seem con Contraposed.
Part of me says you found your soulmate, reached the top of my profession.
I've earned the right to be happy and at peace.
To lay down your burdens and to take leave of your struggles and declare victory and just be.
But then I look around at all the senseless hate and all the suffering.
Ah, at the cabal of angry morons who run our country.
[CHUCKLES.]
Yeah.
And I think, I can't relax into happiness.
- No.
- That's the selfish choice.
- Mm.
- I gotta keep fighting.
I'm a role model whether I like it or not.
- Mm.
- I have a responsibility.
So which do I dwell on? Which one fires my day? Is it the Small Good or the Big Bad? Mm.
I was hoping maybe you'd have an opinion.
You know who you're asking? [SOFT CHUCKLE.]
A man whose life has been artificially small, kept small against my will.
But, also one that's never been free to love as an adult.
So, I I figure that you have more than one hunger, too.
I was 17 when I came in.
Tried as an adult even though I wasn't.
And I was given eight, reducible to six.
A couple of months before my scheduled release, I got [AHEM.]
taken down in The Paint by this cat named Wilkerson.
He was huge.
Uh, there was a spoon hidden in there just for such occasions.
I got to it and attacked him with it.
How the fuck did you defend yourself with a spoon? Nah, I always go for the eyes.
I scooped his left one clean out.
You know, it's surprisingly easy to do.
I mean, you just stab it and flip the wrist.
Popped out like a skinned grape.
Earned 10 to 20 on top.
If he attacked you, then why were you blamed? A point I did make.
But a point no one but me was interested in my making.
H his injury was the kind that cries out for punishment.
That is completely unfair.
Well, well, you know, eye for an eye, and I still have both of mine.
We're talking about your life.
This is some bullshit.
- That it is.
- [SIGHS.]
Self-perpetuating modern slavery bullshit, which I bring up so I can answer your question.
I'm not telling you to be noble.
But knowing that the Big Bad is out there, how could the Small Good be good enough? Mm.
Mm-mm.
Choose the larger life, Cameron.
That's what I would do if I could wish upon a star.
My parents' check cleared.
If you get Cam's check today, we can wire Chen the money in the morning.
Missy, why do we have so many pillows? - Will you get Cam's check today? - Jesus.
Man, I don't think it's gonna happen.
- What? - I don't think he's gonna do it.
What, is he so busy that he can't find three seconds to sign a check that you will write out for him? Yeah, I don't think he wants to do it.
You don't think he wants to or you know he doesn't want to? Ah, it's one of those.
He don't feel good about making money off of disused schools.
- And when did that happen? - Recently.
- How recently? - I told you he was thinking about it.
And when did he finish that regal process? - He told me the other night.
- And you're just telling me now? Yes.
I had hoped that he would change his mind.
He hasn't, and he don't want to do it.
Fuck it then.
More for us.
We'll take the other 500K from joint savings.
Uh [STAMMERS.]
Here's the thing.
He doesn't want us to do it either.
[SCOFFS.]
Well, fortunately, that's not his call.
It's not his call, but yet, it kinda is.
It isn't, and it kinda isn't.
Missy, he doesn't want his people making money that way either.
Well, fortunately, we're more than just his people.
Well, we are, and yet, we're not.
Okay, stop talking like a fucking fortune cookie.
- Stop telling me how to speak.
- Well, I'm fucking frustrated.
I'm fucking frustrated too, but we can't take it out on one another.
Who are we supposed to take it out on? Nobody else is here.
And we certainly can't take it out on The Righteous Cam Calloway now, can we? You brought this deal to me, Reggie.
You did.
You brought this deal into this house.
- You want me to rub some lotion on your feet? - I got it.
- Okay, listen, Missy.
- I'm listening.
He doesn't want us to do it, so we're not gonna do it.
- Oh, is that right? - Yeah, that is right.
Look, I know you're all fired up about it, and that's my fault for not getting Cam in the boat before I got you in the boat.
It's my fault for not crafting this process better, and it's my fault for not managing upwards.
But, baby, it is what it is.
It is not what it is.
Because this deal, as you've brought it to me, as we vetted it, and as we've concluded, is a money train, and we ain't missing it.
Besides, I did not go out on all kinda limbs with my parents just to crawl back two weeks later and say, "Never mind.
" They will never respect me again.
And besides that, ask me how many assholes I have, Reggie.
How many assholes do you have, Missy? Two.
The second arrived courtesy Cam Calloway when he tore me a new one for some shit at that gala that was not even my fault.
Hey, he apologized about that.
I saw how he treated people when push went to shove, so my tolerance level for his bullshit, yeah, it's at an all-time low.
He's against the deal morally.
Okay, well, he doesn't have to do it.
But he has no right to tell you you can't do it.
You offered to kiss him in, not let him fuck you out.
Well, he is Cam.
He has all the rights.
He has no right to treat you like a junior partner.
He ain't treating me like a junior partner.
Anybody that's paying attention to all this family has, his and ours, knows that that ain't true.
Reggie, Cam has the luxury of making moral choices because Cam has 100-plus million guaranteed.
We? We do not.
Morality? That that's a rich man's disease, and one day, we, too, will be able to look down our noses at free money because we're not thrilled about its origins.
But not today.
I ain't his fucking junior partner.
You want your career to end when his does? Missy, we don't even know if this deal is gonna pan out.
Now, let's just say that it doesn't, and we've alienated Cam in the process, where are we then? Potentially, on the street.
[EXHALES SHARPLY.]
[WHISPERS.]
Fuck.
- What are you doing? - I'm reminding you what you have down here.
Oh, come on, Missy, don't make it about that, please.
We have to leap at some point.
And, baby, we are never gonna be out on the street because we are two extremely capable and badass people.
We are you and me, Reggie.
Not you, me, and Cam.
- You feel me? - I do.
There is virtually no way in this moment that I cannot feel you.
Okay.
We're gonna have to do the pillows again.
Mm-hmm.
- I got it.
- Hey, Mikey C.
- Allison, what's up? - Nothing much.
How are you? Uh, Fr Frankel Frankel want to holla at you.
- Frankel? - Fr Frankel, yeah.
- About what? - I don't know.
You know, I don't I don't be it's not my bu I don't he just say he need to holla at you.
Is it about the promotion? I have no idea.
Frankel want to holla at you, and it's time for me to take a break.
I'ma take a motherfucking smoke break.
I gotta smoke some vape.
I got to.
It's a pretty poorly-kept secret that we've been looking for a new head of MRI.
Hospitals are basically rumor mills with blood.
[CHUCKLES.]
And you've done a fine job here, but we're promoting Mikey C.
- Mikey C? - We feel that it's in the best interest of the department - and the hospital.
- Why? I'm senior to Mikey C.
I'm better at the work.
You guys know me and, I thought, liked me.
- All true.
- His last name is a letter.
We feel that it's in the best interest of the department and the hospital.
Yes, you said that.
And then I said, "Why?" As in, "What is the explanation for that thing that you said?" Well, why don't you discuss it with your future husband - on the veranda of his manse? - His what? His mansion.
His gigantic house.
What does the size of my fiancé's house have to do with anything? Officially, nothing.
But, unofficially, if this were your candy store, who would you rather have working for you? The person that would be out on his ass if it wasn't for the shit-ass $43,500 salary that you were paying him, or the person for whom 43,5 is just the tax on her boo thang's latest receipt.
A, I'd pick the person who would do the better job You say that, but it's just the narcissism of the underling.
And B, don't ever say "boo thang.
" Boo thang.
Boo thang, boo thang, boo thang.
Can I help it if I listen to modern music? If you don't want me to quote the lyrics, don't play it on the radio.
I just don't want you to say those lyrics in this meeting.
Come on, Allison.
We both know that if we gave you the gig, you'd be difficult as hell to work with because you don't need the gig.
I'd be the same as I am now.
You'd bail on us the minute that you got too aggravated or the day you decided to, say, have a baby.
That's not true at all.
And I don't think you can say these kinds of things - without getting into a lot of legal trouble.
- Off the record, then.
Why would I possibly promote somebody that's too rich for me to boss around? You can't just say you're off the record.
It doesn't make it off the record.
- Is your voice memo function on? - No.
Then I'm off the record.
Look, I'm not judging you.
I'm really not.
I congratulate you on your catch.
- [EXHALES SHARPLY.]
- You're super hot, super smart, and super cool.
You're Supergirl.
Fly away on your husband's private jet.
But let's just have a come to Jesus for a second.
Women like you don't have careers.
They simply dip their toe in the working world for just a little bit until they find their meal ticket, and you have certainly found yours.
- [EXHALES SHARPLY.]
- I don't think I'm being unreasonable.
What they've done is immoral and possibly illegal.
- [INDISTINCT SHOUTING.]
- You dumbass motherfucker! - Hey, Ma.
- Oh, hey, baby.
Bullshit! Oh, my God, why is she so loud? She yelling at you? Nah, baby, you'd know if she was yelling at me.
You give employees what they deserve.
You don't punish them for marrying someone wealthy.
- Hello, lovebirds.
- Hey, Chen.
They're afraid I won't be as malleable as Mikey C, won't eat as much shit because he's broke all the time because nobody below a supervisor makes a fucking living wage in the health care business.
What's another word for testicle? - Hey, sis.
- CHEN: Ball sack.
CASSIE: Are you kidding me? What the fuck? - Hello! - Oh, Jesus Christ! Could there be any more fucking people in this house? Baby, you can quit that job if you want to.
I mean, it's not like we need the money.
Not the point.
This is my profession.
That night we met, which will go down in history as both the best thing that's ever happened to me and the worst thing that's ever happened to my career Ah, so far.
You got a long career ahead of you.
Do you think every MRI tech - could have read your images accurately? - [PHONE RINGING.]
- Sorry.
- - [EXHALES SHARPLY.]
- No, of course not.
Of course not.
Most of them couldn't tell a medial patellofemoral ligament from their own dick.
Baby, you could easily get another job.
Also not the point.
My career is as important to me as yours is to you.
My little Allison world may be a speck compared to yours, but my need to succeed is just as big.
- [PHONE RINGING.]
- Sorry.
- [EXHALES SHARPLY.]
- I've done everything right and I'm just getting fucked here.
- [CHUCKLES.]
- Just fucked.
If it helps, we can get a prenup.
- That way you'll still be broke.
- Not now, Cam.
- CASSIE: Motherfucker! - CHEN: How about slappers, goolies, and privy parts? M-CHUCK: Ooh, good ones.
Al, what they did to you is terrible, but these people are just gonna be answers to trivia questions in your life.
How would you feel if you had been passed over for the All-Star game because some other, shittier player needed props more than you did? - [PHONE RINGING.]
- Ugh.
Can I just have nine seconds of my fiancé's undivided attention? It's a reporter.
You know how they are.
Oh, yeah.
Because they just call me all the time.
I should just take it.
Get it over with.
- By all means.
- Hello? Don't act like I'm not still in your phone.
You're very persistent.
ISA: I'm working, and I have a tight window.
- FLAHERTY: Whoa, whoa, whoa, she's a lady - Bad time, I assume? - What can I do for you? - Are you with somebody? - Yeah, I am.
- And yet, you answered.
Who is it? That girl? It is true.
I'm engaged.
- [INDISTINCT SINGING.]
- Engaged? Wow.
Congratulations.
Allison Pierce, the MRI tech who treated me when I got hurt that time.
Oh, that is a deeply moving and romantic story.
- And you're welcome to print it.
- She know about us? About the gift? Yeah.
About the giver? No.
- You gonna tell her? - FLAHERTY: Whoa whoa whoa What is that sound? Are you on a tugboat? You know, that's smart.
No reason to go through every detail.
- Most first-timers wouldn't realize that.
- Allison hails from Jonesboro.
You ever think, you and me? Might have been fun to find out what that was.
- I do not.
- ISA: Well, life is long, Cam.
Smart man never deletes his contacts.
Was there anything else, Ms.
Catalano? A source close to the team, very close to the team, practically indistinguishable from the team, told me that Southeast Heartland Company bought the right to place a logo patch on Atlanta uniform tops.
Thought you might want to comment.
You know what, I'm gonna go.
I'm getting right off, babe.
Seems a little mercenary, but I guess you can't expect Jimmy Flaherty to get by on the paltry three grand per courtside seat.
Anyway, I've always wanted to play on a European soccer team.
- Do you know anything about Southeast Heartland? - CAM: Should I? Only if you care who you're shilling for.
I really don't blame you for all of this.
But it's what I said the first night we met.
Do you remember? - Babe, just one more second.
- They have their fingers in a lot of other businesses, too.
Offshore investment, munitions, and not everything passes the smell test.
I'm virtually done.
Did you know they're the second largest American stockholder of privatized prisons? I'm gonna stay at my place tonight, okay? I'll Uber.
- CASSIE: You lying sack of shit! - CHEN: What about jellybeans? Or glorious marbles? Would you say that again, please? FLAHERTY: Isa? Your turn.
I will help.
Mm, gotta go.
Good-bye, wealth.
- Whoa, don't say it like that.
- Like what? Say, "Farewell for the moment, wealth.
Godspeed.
We look forward to seeing you again very soon, at which time you will have grown up big and strong.
" Really, really big and strong.
- Push send.
- I'm not pushing send.
- Come on, Reggie, push send.
- No! - Okay, come on.
Together, together, together.
- Missy, pu - MISSY: Ah! - REGGIE: Oh, shit.
Wait a minute.
What's this $35? Oh, that's the wire charge.
How much do you have to wire for them to waive the wire charge? - Fucking bank fees.
- Fuck those fuckers.
Makes no sense.
One time I sent Aunt Mim $100, they still charged me $35.
Oh, wait, so we should be happy about this 35? No.
- You hungry? - Yeah.
- I'll make us some ramen.
- Mm.
You cut up some hot dog in mine.
- Thanks for coming, Clayton.
- I live for this shit.
Reggie, you clear on the argument? - As clear as L.
Ron Hubbard.
- What? I'm clear.
By the way, did you pull out of that Chen deal yet? - Not yet, but I will.
- Good.
What the fuck? They just called me.
- Why aren't you dressed for the game? - I'm not playing.
Are you injured? Jesus, don't tell me you're injured.
- I'm fine.
- Then what the fuck, Cam? Come on.
We're clinging to the eighth seed.
We need this game.
This is Detroit.
They suck, I grant you, but it's not like it's the Knicks.
- I heard about the Southeast Heartland logo patch.
- So? I'm not gonna be a human billboard for our nation's second largest investor in privatized prisons.
[LAUGHING.]
Get dressed for the game, will you, please? This fucking guy.
Uh, if I may, according to the Collective Bargaining Agreement, forced endorsement of this sort qualifies as restraint of trade.
- Is that true? - Probably not.
But it sure would be expensive to find out.
In this country, we jail black men like my father for sport.
- He's right, Jimmy.
- Southeast Heartland is a direct beneficiary of that sport.
Government says to the prison companies, "You scratch our back by helping us keep black people locked up, and we'll scratch yours by making you a fuck-ton of money.
" The reason we have a government is to take the profit motive out of certain things, like fighting wars, preventing diseases, or running prisons, for fuck's sake.
The reason we have a government.
If we weren't serially, unjustly, and perpetually walling African-American men in public prisons, there wouldn't be a need for private prisons.
And once you build a private prison, hell, it's like the hotel business.
You gotta keep those rooms filled.
- He's right, Jimmy.
- [MOCKING.]
"He's right, Jimmy.
He's right, Jimmy.
" Hey, there's a reason why he's your Team Rep.
Don't remind me.
I knew that shit was gonna bite me in the ass.
- Then what'd you do it for? - $5 million.
- That's all? - Per year.
- Sounds like a bargain.
- It's a small patch.
I knew you were a whore, but I at least thought you were high-end.
Let me ask you fucknuts something.
How exactly did you think this all works? - What all? - This all! Basketball, business, America.
Who would you rather have sponsoring us? Because I'm not leaving 5 million per annum on the floor.
You wouldn't leave a quarter on the floor.
And there isn't a company in this great country bigger than a breadbox that isn't dirty in some way.
If if it isn't illegal labor practices, then it's destruction of the environment or bribery or influence peddling or insider trading or fraud or or giving hormones to chickens or self-dealing or cornering markets or conflict of interest or restraint of trade or harassment or hacking or piracy or job discrimination or breach of fiduciary trust or obstructing justice or corporate blackmail or just good old-fashioned lying, cheating, and stealing.
Or any number of other things that are written about every day in the failing Paper of Record.
[CHUCKLES.]
No one is clean.
You think your friend, Chen, is clean? You think his father never put the bamboo to anybody back in jolly old post-Communist Communist China? I started in the hard cider business.
I built my empire getting people fucking drunk.
They say behind every fortune lies a great crime.
That's an understatement.
That's kind.
Behind every great fortune lies a vast, interconnected latticework of sins committed by companies that own each other and feed each other and suck each other off in an ongoing orgy of mutual financial gratification.
You think you're clean? You own even one share of a mutual fund, you're not clean.
If you ever paid your taxes, uh, cashed a paycheck, put money in a bank, then you're dirty.
You just haven't figured that out yet.
What do you think banks do with money? Put it in other banks? No.
They do what everyone with money does.
They use it to rout and pillage and plunder because that is the American way.
You are an American millionaire.
A creation of this system and its unsatisfiable maw.
And so this is a very odd time and a very strange place for you to be drawing a line in the sand.
That's a bit cynical.
I just have a lot on my mind.
When you hit 50, you think about this shit.
So thank you for the opportunity to get that off my chest.
Everything you said may be true, but I ain't wearing this logo.
I may be a billboard for fuckers, but not these fuckers.
- All right.
- What? I said all right.
Fine, you win.
You always win, and you win.
I don't give a shit.
Whatever you want.
I'll get Taco Bell or somebody.
- You got a problem with Taco Bell? - Should I? Has anyone heard a word I've said? He doesn't have a problem with Taco Bell.
- Taco Bell is fine.
- Good.
Good.
Thank you for coming, Clayton.
Yes, always a delight.
[GASPS.]
Look, an ambulance.
[CHUCKLES.]
You gentlemen have a good evening.
Please dress for tonight's game.
I think we all need a couple hours' distraction, a sorbet for the mind.
[SIGHS.]
Must be exhausting repping that guy.
Nah.
[CHUCKLES.]
I mean, he is who he is, you are who you are.
As long as he's on this team, this is how it's gonna be between you two.
Yeah, I know.
What the hell? Breaks up the day.
- Right.
- Hey, Chen told me he got your wire.
- Mm.
- You're in on the schools deal.
- Congratulations.
- Thank you.
I'm in it, too.
I guess that makes us partners.
I guess it does.
Things could get pretty interesting around here.
Yes.
Yes, things could.
You looking for this? Yeah.
You, um - you read it? - I did.
And apparently I'm not the only one.
Just my class.
And my teacher.
And this guy, Filipe, who cleans up in the library.
Hmm, so those people and whoever they tell in person and maybe even on social media, considering your brother's kinda well-known, now know my most private secret.
I don't think anyone's gonna put that up on social media.
Do you have any idea how many nightmares have begun with that sentence? Probably one or two.
M'kay, I see that you are taking this matter out of the realm of decency and into the realm of common sense and survival.
What are you talking about? I don't know what happened to those three boys, - and I don't want to know.
- Uncle J had 'em killed.
- Or either he killed them himself, I ain't sure.
- What the fuck did I just say? I don't want to know.
How much clearer about not wanting to know can I be other than saying, "I don't want to know"? But now I know, so my chances of not knowing are way low because I know.
Knowledge is power, right? Mary Charles, we are talking about murder here.
Murder has a way of sticking in the craw.
The craw of family and friends of the murdered.
Some of whom I most definitely know are still walking this earth.
Even 28 years later, people tend to be a little sensitive about murder.
It gets their dander up.
Reawakens their rage.
Inspires them to do some delving and try to find out who gave the order or who pulled the trigger and seek revenge.
Well, there's no one alive to blame.
Uncle Julius is dead and and I never said those boys were shot.
Oh, for fuck's sake, Mary Charles, it's a figure of speech.
They could try to find out who gave the order and who pulled the trigger and come after those people.
Or maybe even those people's children.
It's called street justice.
It's what I would do.
It's time for you and we to let sleeping corpses lie.
That paper that you have in your hand.
Because of it, for the first time in my life, people are looking at me with respect.
Like I'm my own person with my own capabilities.
Not just the other kid.
The fucked up angry one with the shitty past that we don't talk about.
It's always all about you, ain't it, Mary Charles? [CHUCKLES.]
It always has been, from the moment you crawled out.
It always will be.
Must be that half of you that comes from your father that thought nothing of itself as it swam around inside of me looking for the good part of you.
I ain't listening to that no more! Mary Charles, you have endangered yourself, your brother, and everybody else in this family.
I want you to promise me that you have written and spoken your last word on this subject.
Everything in me wants to say no to you right now.
So why can't I? 'Cause you love me and what I said makes sense? Nah, that ain't it.
[CHUCKLES.]
[CHUCKLES.]
The deal made so much sense.
It couldn't miss.
- And yet, it did.
- Some things that couldn't miss don't miss, but other things that can't miss do miss.
- Oh, thank you.
- Yeah.
Thank you, Cam.
Never mind that, man.
Find shelter.
You want my shoes? No, no.
We're fine just being a barefoot disappointment to all and the ruiners of our families for generations to come, and basically just a yoke around the neck of society.
Hmm.
Well, you want this? No, I can't.
Ca you we can't.
- Hey, don't be swatting away my lo mein.
- [BABY GURGLES.]
- You were my partner.
- Junior partner.
Nah, could have been full partner.
See you, partner.
[GASPS.]
Oh, fuck.
It's okay.
It's okay, we're okay.
We got stuff we can sell.
We got the IRA.
We can sell the kid, the Cadillac.
Sell your ring.
It's good.
We'll be fine.
[SIGHS.]
[PHONE VIBRATING.]
[PHONE TRILLING.]
I feel like a chip on my shoulders I feel like I'm losing my focus I feel like I'm losing my patience I feel like my thoughts in the basement Feel like, I feel like you're miseducated Feel like I don't wanna be bothered I feel like you may be the problem I feel like it ain't no tomorrow, fuck the world The world is ending, I'm done pretending And fuck you if you get offended I feel like friends been overrated I feel like the family been faking I feel like the feelings are changing Feel like my daughter compromised and jaded Feel like you want to scrutinize how I made it Feel like I ain't feeling you all Feel like removing myself no feelings involved I feel for you, I've been in the field for you It's real for you, right? Shit, I feel like Ain't nobody praying for me Ain't nobody praying for me