First Person Shooter (2022) Movie Script
1
Incoming, incoming!
I'm hit, I'm hit!
Dutch, talk to me.
- It's no good.
- My back, it's broke.
- The extraction point is
10 clicks. I'll carry you.
Jesus Christ. Pause.
Hey, Rosey.
Rosey.
Stevie boy.
In here, dipshit.
You took my world, so it's
only fair that I take yours.
That was good, but not great.
Should've been great.
It was too fast. Right?
Bang.
Boom. Over.
I mean, maybe 10 seconds from the headset
to the valley of the shadow.
Next time will be slow, methodical,
and yes, magical.
The uniform is ridiculous.
You know that.
- I know that.
- The male troopers are
dressed for urban combat.
Why is Melinda dressed for a pap smear?
- Blame the focus groups.
They wanted to see-
- I know what
they wanted to see.
Jesus, I work for a 21
billion-dollar industry
run by 14-year-old boys.
- If I can get Zhang to approve these,
we get these into development today.
- What's this?
This is new.
No. Well, yeah, it's new.
- Holy shit. This is next level.
- Yeah, you know, just kinda came to me.
- Oh, man, I do not know how
beautiful things like this
come out of an ugly head like yours.
- Yeah, it's a wonder.
Morning.
What's up?
We got trouble.
When do we not?
We're falling behind
on "Courage for Carnage."
How far?
Only two weeks now.
But Randy's leaving.
- Randy. He's gonna put us off our date.
- Not an option. We miss
the holidays, we're fucked.
- So hire more coders, then.
- Can't. We're up against the budget.
You're the one that wanted
to expand and reno the place.
I had to pause the construction
just to stay on budget.
Bleeding cash and not taking enough in.
- So what do we do, then, Zhang?
We miss the holidays, what,
we're just supposed to hope
that people buy fucking video games
instead of flowers for Valentine's Day?
Zhang, I need this game,
okay? I need it to be great.
- I'm sure you meant to say "we."
- It's been 18 months
since "Concrete Angels."
We can't dine out on that forever.
- How many coders do you want?
- Three.
- I can maybe find budget for two.
- Fine. I want three, but I need two.
Make it happen.
- Uh-oh. Cop?
- How can you tell?
- It's a gift.
Whenever a cop gets close, my
taser scars start tingling.
- No shit?
A sniper?
That's right,
but he didn't suffer.
- Haven't talked to Steve
Rosey in, like, four years.
How'd you get my name?
- I'm kind of a casual gamer.
- Well, actually, 48% of
gamers are female, so...
- My favorite game is "Leadstorm."
So you know, then, that
that was the last game
I worked on with Steve Rosey.
And that the lead character
in "Leadstorm" is a sniper.
- Briggsy.
He cuts the bills off his baseball caps
and preferred headshots.
- No muss, no fuss.
No body armor.
- So you haven't spoken
to Rosey in four years?
- At least.
So I have no idea who
might've blown his head off.
- Mr. Bradford, I don't remember saying
that Rosey was shot in the head.
- I mean, I assumed.
You were the one that
brought up Briggsy, so...
- Actually, it was the upper spine.
Came out his chest.
If you think of anything
that might be helpful,
call me, okay?
Don't just keep it to yourself
like the Dark Silent Priest
in Level 6 of "Leadstorm."
And so, based on my
own personal work experience
with digital designer Steve P. Rosey,
I can heartily endorse Steve
for the following skills:
ripping off intellectual property,
bleeding, PowerPoint, and dying.
- Fucking derivative horseshit.
What's wrong?
- Nothing.
- You only drink Jack when you're upset.
- Christ's sakes, Molly.
- Just chill, okay?
- You promised me.
- And I will.
I'm gonna get clean, Spencer,
but it's not gonna from you ragging on me.
Hey, put that down.
- This is really interesting.
- Oh, yeah. Bullshit.
My good ideas aren't original,
and my original ideas aren't good.
Steve Rosey thing has me freaked out.
I mean, somebody shot
the guy in his own house.
Mm. How awful.
- When we were designing "Leadstorm,"
Rosey and I, we made the bad
guy virtually indestructible.
But there was one specific
part that you had to hit him,
and it was above his body
armor, back of the neck.
Steve and I were the
only ones who knew that.
At least that's what I thought.
- Do you wanna do me or what?
- You're high.
- That wasn't the question.
- Come on, you don't need me for that.
- Oh, but I do.
- How many?
- A dozen entitled
digital millennials in your
area are waiting to meet you.
- Shoot me in the head already.
- So why should we hire you?
Two words: Total game changer.
Don't contact my former employer
'cause they sexually
harassed the shit out of me.
- I could start this week, but
I'm going to Cabo next week.
And that's not really negotiable.
- So how many people would I have, like,
under me, on my team?
- I want you to interview me hard
and then hire the shit out of me.
- My BS in Information Systems
is from Cal State Irvine,
and I did some graduate work in C++.
- What do you like to do for fun?
- C++.
- And then after my internship
at L-Tec Gaming in Montreal,
they actually hired me to write code.
Go Habs, eh?
These are our finalists, huh?
They could all write code.
These two are the ones I didn't
want to kill with a shovel.
So what do you want from me?
Gut check.
- Just see if you like them.
Or at least don't hate them.
Spencer.
Oh, hey, Frank. Just
hang on a second, okay?
- Just talk to them.
If they're not dangerous
psychotics, hire them.
- Yeah?
No, I never use that site. Why?
What the shit?
- Kyle White.
Am I pronouncing that right?
It says here you worked on
"Anthrax Cloud." Great game.
How was that?
- Was okay.
- What did you do on that dev team?
- Wrote code.
- Right. Well, that's kinda the job.
Connor Burns.
- Yes. I love this business.
And I would love the opportunity
to work for Spencer Bradford.
I think he's a genius.
- Well, that's something you
two already have in common.
I like the Burns kid.
He's a gamer and he gets what we do here.
And he's also got a crush on you.
Well, everyone
does, especially the women.
What about the other guy?
Kyle White?
Well, he's got the
personality of a drywall,
but he knows his stuff.
Look, we've got personalities.
We need coders.
- Wanna grab something to eat?
- I got something to do.
- Your father seems to be
tolerating the memantine well.
There's a clinical trial that just started
for a new drug for dementia.
It's been effective for very few patients,
but for those few, the results have been,
frankly, astonishing.
- I don't want him drugged up.
- Oh, no, Mr. Bradford, I-
- My father is, or was an artist.
One of the most creative
people I ever knew.
So, it's incredibly important to him
that we keep as much of whatever
keeps him alive as we can.
- Perhaps I'm not explaining this clearly.
This has the potential
of completely reversing-
- Look, the memantine is
keeping him calm for now, right?
So let's just stick with that, all right?
- Mr. Bradford, I really...
- What you working on?
- Hi. I'm Jim Bradford.
- Spencer, Dad.
I'm your son.
This would be great in
the game I'm working on.
Mind if I take it?
I have to go to work.
- Have a nice day.
Play these stupid
kids' games all night
and then you go to work
and play with them all day.
It's like an addiction.
- Don't know if I'd be throwing around
that whole "addiction"
thing if I were you.
Just saying.
- Yeah, well, at least my
jones is a goddam grownup.
- Shit.
What the fuck?
- And in the six years Magical
Realism has been in business,
we've created three of the
10 best-selling indie games,
with total revenues of over $18 million.
- Is that Ragnarok's battle
sword from "Bloodfeud"?
- Yeah.
- Oh, my god, it's so heavy.
I thought it was, like, plastic.
- We have an armorer in Saratoga
who does all of our prototypes for real.
- Oh, wow.
- Oh, watch the edge,
it's sharp.
- Awesome.
Shall we continue?
- Yeah.
This way.
I have less sharp things.
- Every time, and it's
gonna keep happening
until somebody fixes it.
- I'll put one of the new kids on it.
- Just fix it, okay? I've
got an audio session.
Noobs, we got a
real performance problem here.
Should be getting 30 frames per second.
Getting maybe nine.
- Oh, I'm all over this, I'll try-
- Sounds like a Load-Hit-Store.
So it's stalling
in the load construction?
- No, in the oris instruction.
- You're guessing.
I think we should-
- See?
That instruction can't complete
until the store into r9 finishes,
and it's waiting for
the L1 cache to update.
There's your stall.
- Okay.
- Whoa, whoa. Excuse me?
- Oh, sorry.
Look, listen, hey, while I have you here,
I just want to say thanks
so much for the job.
And I know it's probably not
the best time to tell you this,
with your dick in our hand and
all, but I love your stuff.
And I know. I know, this is so awkward.
But when "Leadstorm" came
out, it changed my world,
and "Concrete Angels," to me,
was like "Empire Strikes Back."
Underappreciated, but, you know,
superior to the original in so many ways.
Thanks.
- I know. Total fanboy.
- Yeah, obviously.
- I just want to say how grateful I am
for the opportunity to
learn from the best.
- Well, we're glad to have
you here. It's Connor, right?
- Yeah.
Yeah. Connor.
- We'll shake hands later.
My face, it's melting!
- Um.
What's her name again?
- Cassie.
- Cassie, can we try that again,
but can you, um, I don't know,
sound like a little less happy?
- "My face is melting," right?
- That's correct, yes.
- So why would I sound happy?
- Well, that's my question...
Hang on a sec.
Cassie?
Spencer, right?
Uh, yeah, Spencer.
Nice to meet you.
- Thanks for the job.
- Uh, you're...
I'm sorry.
In my experience,
voiceover professionals...
Don't have, uh-
- We have faces for radio?
- Well, I'd like to think I'd phrase it
a little more gracefully than that, but...
- So how exactly do you want this
"face-melting" line delivered?
- Oh, right.
It's just that you were sounding too
not horrified and in agonizing pain.
- Tell you what, you go
back in your little room,
I will do a bunch of reads,
and you can let me know
when I do one you like.
- But I have a button I can talk to you-
- Mm, but this way, I get
your digits. And you get mine.
- Good work.
- She drives me crazy.
All she does is spend my money.
And I wouldn't mind if we
connected the way we used to,
but after we had kids, she
doesn't even want to talk to me.
Any idea what I should do?
- You want my advice?
Yeah, okay, sure. I'm here to help.
You should cheat on her.
- I should what?
- Yeah, you should go fuck somebody else.
That'll solve all your problems.
- You really think so?
- Yeah, you got, like, a hot neighbor?
Like a yoga mom?
Yeah, you should fuck her.
- I think I need another drink.
How about another Death in the Afternoon?
- Please let it be yours.
Pardon?
- All yours. Coming right up.
You know what you should do,
is you should take a bunch of pictures,
you know, if yoga mom is down for it,
and then leave them on your phone
so that your wife can find them.
She would love that.
What's up?
- Fuck is that?
- Just doing my job
the best I fucking can.
- Look, I just came to see you
because I felt bad about
our argument this morning.
- I did too.
- So listen, this "Leadstorm"
thing is getting kinda freaky.
- Yeah?
- Yeah, some weird online.
I think I need to talk to the cops.
- The cops?
You think that's a great idea?
- Don't worry, we'll talk to
them when you're not high,
if you could, you know,
just give me some
approximate times and dates.
- You are such an asshole.
- Look, I didn't come here
to fight with you, okay?
- That's comforting.
- Yeah, you know, I gotta go,
so we'll talk about it later.
Fuck.
- Bye.
- Oh, shit.
Sorry, I was-
- It's okay.
Really.
God, I haven't played
"Concrete Angels" in years.
- Well, it is a goddam
mother loving masterpiece
is what it is.
- There's a hit squad,
just there on your right.
If you hold down X right
here, it'll turn on auto.
Yeah, just wait.
He's not gonna pop out. You go to him.
- Oh, this is ridiculous.
Spencer Bradford walking me
through "Concrete Angels."
Talk about living the dream.
- All right.
Let me show you how to
beat the night patrols.
I read this thing once
about a bunch of bored
rich kids who called 911
and said that their friends
were getting murdered and shit.
They call it swatting. It's a
bit retro but still effective.
- Wow.
- Truce?
Detente?
- Absolutely.
Swatting is
basically like sending a bunch
of pizzas to the wrong house,
only instead of pepperoni
with extra cheese,
you're sending tear gas and body armor
and MP-5 automatic rifles.
Get your hands up!
- Freeze!
- Freeze!
Freeze, scumbag!
He's got a gun!
- Whoa, whoa, whoa, stop!
- Get your hands up!
- Seriously, what the hell was that?
What, you guys don't check your shit out
before you come in guns blazing?
- We were checking it out.
And if our guns were
blazing, you'd be dead.
Is your girlfriend okay?
- Yeah, she's just swell. Thanks.
- She got some Valium
or Xanax or something?
- Or something.
- You haven't exactly been
forthcoming with us, Mr. Bradford.
- I told you everything
I knew at the time.
- Not the details about the shooting.
How many people knew
about the "Leadstorm" hack
with the neck thing?
- It was just Rosey and I.
I mean, that's what I thought.
- So either Rosey told the shooter or...
You said you haven't talked
to Rosey for four years.
Why so long?
- I left the company.
You guys part on good terms?
- No, not particularly.
- Who's that?
- It's just another fan.
I get these all the time.
So you think I shot Rosey?
I hacked my own Networkq page
and then I swatted myself?
- I have to consider every possibility.
- Maybe you should see...
See what?
- I'm sorry, this is...
You know, maybe you should see
who's doing all this shit to me.
It's kinda crazy, don't you think?
That's some freaky shit.
- I know. Talked to the cops.
- The cops? They're not gonna protect you.
- Sure they will.
- Look, I gotta run. Beth,
would you give him the talk?
- Yeah.
The talk?
A while back,
some guy was bugging me.
Zhang hooked me up.
Yeah?
- The talk came with this.
- Oh, shit.
- Jesus, Spencer.
- What? Relax.
I've been handling guns for years, okay?
- In games!
You've been putting together
these bullshit military missions
and simulated laser shootouts,
and they're nothing like a real gunfight.
- I think we've been pretty
authentic. Thank you.
Besides, what do you know about guns?
- Not me. Zhang.
Growing up in the 'Loin,
he ran with the gangs.
They got into a shooting
war with Filipinos.
- He never told me that.
- Well, I don't think he likes
to talk about it very much.
- Jesus. What was that?
- Lesson number one, guns are noisy.
A hundred time louder than that.
And when they're going off,
you get a sensory overload.
It's scary.
You feel like your heart is
going to jump out of your chest.
You panic. In games, no one panics.
Also, when guys get shot in
our games, they fall down dead.
When you shoot someone for real,
they just keep shooting back.
Unless you, you know,
blow out their brains
or the left ventricle of
their heart, they keep coming.
And they keep shooting until
they run out of rounds.
And again, that never
happens in our games.
So what do you do?
- Well, I think, you know-
- Show me.
- All right.
- Keep your finger off the trigger guard.
You'll shoot yourself
in the dick. Dumb-ass.
Don't walk backwards.
You'll fall and shoot
yourself in the head.
Get your finger off the trigger.
- What if I want to shoot you?
- This gun does not have a safety.
Get your finger off the trigger,
or you'll either shoot your partner
or you'll jerk it and shoot your shot off.
Finger off the trigger until you're ready
to squeeze off a shot.
- So you don't want me to jerk it,
you want me to squeeze it.
That's what she said.
- Yeah, give me the gun right now.
What are you, 13?
- Well, you said...
- Zhang needs to teach
you the fundamentals.
Listen to me, Spence.
This isn't a game.
Some dipshit wants to kill you.
What? Is that him?
- No. It's just a advertisement.
- How was your day?
- You're high.
- That wasn't the question.
I had a really shitty day.
- The fuck is this?
- Honey, they're so good,
and you're so hard on yourself, I just-
- What, put them up on the fridge
like I'm a fucking seven-year-old?
Jesus Christ!
Moll, like, you have lost it.
You know that? You have
truly fucking lost it.
- They're good!
- Is that your expert opinion?
I love you.
- These sketches are
shit, but they're my shit.
I don't want you fucking
touching my shit ever again.
- I'm sorry, I...
I'm sorry!
Fuck!
- Hey, Kyle.
Got a second?
- Um, I'm not busy.
- Get busy. Kyle?
- What, not interrupting or...
- Who told you to stop?
Oh, my god.
- Holy shit.
Whoa, whoa, whoa. What's the rush?
I have an
audition in the morning.
- So, what, I'm excused?
Until such time
as you're needed again.
Okay.
- Uh, yeah, you know, I
gotta get going, anyway.
We're racing the clock on this game.
It's gonna be huge.
You know, for me, anyway.
This business, you're only as
good as your last game, so...
- Spencer?
Don't take this the wrong way.
You're a nice guy and, oh, a terrific lay,
but I have my own friends.
Would you be a doll and lock
the door on your way out?
Thanks.
With things
moving along so nicely,
there is no time for little Kyle
to start playing employee of the month.
Sorry, dipshit. There can be only one.
- Yeah?
- Dude.
What are you doing?
- Sleeping.
I just got 12 emails
from you, and four texts.
- What?
You've been hacked.
Delete your accounts.
- Are you sure? Which ones?
All of them.
- Oh, shit.
No, no, no, no, no.
Fuck.
Oh, fuck.
- What the hell?
Oh, shit.
Son of a...
Son of a bitch!
- Fuck you, motherfucker!
Eat shit and die!
- I don't know.
All I know is I just
became the poster whore
for a new generation of women
who actually work their asses
off to get to where they are.
And somebody's gonna bleed.
Did you talk to the cops yet?
- The cops are analog.
They're the Amish with
guns. They've got no game.
And they certainly do not care
about social media hacking.
- Yeah, somebody emptied
my savings account, okay?
They bought guns, they bought dildos,
and then donated the rest
to every fucking violent
hate group in America.
- Oh, you're so done on TSA Pre.
- Yeah, and apparently,
I sent indecent Tweets
to religious leaders and little girls.
- You gotta help us
nail this piece of shit.
- Okay, now we have some scary
good hackers on this staff.
We just need to-
- Guys.
- They can track
this asshole down.
- That is not their job.
Spencer, a lot of people here
don't like you that much.
- But they love Beth. Love her.
So we give them the word
and then they don't stop
until they find out who did this to us.
- Sorry.
We're on deadline.
- Come on, Zhang.
- Goddammit, Spence, you stood
in this office three days ago
and told me we're in danger
of missing our ship date.
The bank is up my ass,
and you yourself told me how
important this game was for us.
Were you lying?
- Yeah.
Yeah, I was lying.
I'm a lying liar. What do you want?
Well, this sucks.
- Hey, Spencer, I heard what happened.
Do you want me to do any poking around?
I'm pretty good at this kinda shit.
- Yeah, just don't make it worse, okay?
Yeah. I'm all over this.
When we find this guy,
I'm gonna fucking shoot him myself.
Holy shit.
- Your turn. Aim for center mass.
- Not the head?
- Start with the biggest
target you can. Harder to miss.
- Thanks for the vote of confidence.
- Whoa. Finger off the trigger
until you're ready to shoot.
- Everybody keeps telling me that.
- Yeah, because we care.
About getting shot.
Okay.
Not bad.
- Well, I was aiming for his head.
- You're new to the Glock.
That means you're gonna
anticipate the recoil
that makes you shoot low and to the right
because you're leaning into it.
Try it again.
Bring the trigger back much slower.
- Aimed for his junk that time.
- Yeah, that'll show him.
- No. Boss, I'm telling
you, I need more hours.
Living on tips sucks. I
need to make more money.
That's kind of
a me-centric attitude,
don't you think, Molly?
- This place is dead 80%
of the time, like now.
And I don't know what you expect me to do.
I'm hearing a lot of "I," Molly.
"I need, I want, I can't."
Somebody's forgotten
there's no "I" in team.
- Yeah, well, fortunately,
there is an extra I in idiot!
- Hey! Ow, ow!
What are you doing?!
- You're outta here.
What, I don't...
Please, I don't understand!
And you're sure it was him?
- Oh, yeah.
Yeah, I found his IP address
in the server log at Spencer's bank.
It was buried deep, but not deep enough.
Listen, there were selfies in a folder
labeled "Beth is a Whore."
- Thanks. And for the
record, I am not a whore.
- Connor, step into my office.
- Okay. Back to work.
- You know, it's customary to
send an outstanding employee
a fruit basket or a ham.
This saves me a trip to Harry and David.
Okay, okay.
"Doom II," you gotta
kill the end boss monster
by shooting him in the face,
and then the creator pops up
and you gotta kill him too.
- Okay, all right. Okay, I got one.
So "Call of Duty: Black Ops II,"
you gotta shoot all the dummies
in the head within 30 seconds,
and then this old Atari console pops down,
then you shoot all those,
you get those old retro Activision games.
- Oh, man.
Steve Rosey loved putting
Easter eggs in games.
- Who?
- Just some guy I worked with once.
So I've got this plan, okay?
When I design my first game,
I'm gonna imbed code
that no one's gonna find.
And then when you reach a certain level,
and then you make a certain move,
the whole damn thing will
just burst into flames.
So the screen will fill with fire,
and then it'll burn the shit
out of everything onscreen,
and then melt the TV itself.
I call it, you ready, "The World Burns."
Get it?
- Your name.
- Yes.
I get it! Connor Burns!
Right?
- That's awesome.
- Did you ever put any
Easter eggs in your games?
- Mm. All the time.
- What? Where?
- I'll won't tell you that.
Only Zhang knows that.
- You guys are tight, huh?
- Yeah, he's my best friend.
He's the only guy in the
world I can absolutely trust.
Yeah?
Where is she?
Thanks for driving, man.
Yeah, glad to do it.
I hope she's okay.
Take your time, okay? I'll wait out here.
- Hey. Are you okay?
Is she okay?
- She's gonna be just fine.
She just fell and hit her
head a little too hard.
- Yeah, you mean you
snorted too much meth,
then you fell and hit your head, right?
- It's okay.
He's right, right?
- I'll give you some privacy.
- Sorry.
- Yeah.
- I am.
- Does that even matter
now, Moll? Jesus Christ.
- Maybe you should leave now.
- Swell.
Yeah, you know, I'd
love to leave right now,
except I got a video game
careening off the rails,
I got a hacker who's spent
every cent that I own
on butt plugs and Girl Scout Cookies,
and oh, yeah, somebody wants
to blow my fucking head off.
But here I am, at Our
Lady of Perpetual Crank,
making sure you're still alive this time.
- You never once tried to help me.
- I've been telling you for
fucking months to get help.
- Ragging on me.
Never once taking me somewhere,
to someone to try and
help me beat this thing.
- You didn't want the help!
- I'm a junkie!
An addict! Who cares what I want?
You bitched about my
Christy problem when it was
an inconvenience to you,
or embarrassed you.
You never once fought for me, Spencer.
Not even once.
Hey. You wanted to see me?
I just got back.
- Yeah, come in.
Look, we're in some shit here.
Kyle was a sociopath,
but he could write code.
We're shorthanded now,
and I'm gonna need you
to pick up the slack.
Can you do that?
- You watch me.
- Can I tell you something, between us?
I'm worried about Spencer.
He has a lot riding on this game
and he has a ton of personal
shit he's dealing with.
- Yeah. Yeah, we just left his
girlfriend at the hospital.
What a train wreck.
- Anyhow, we need to help
him as much as we can,
and right now, that means
putting our heads down,
finishing this goddamn game.
- Hey. I like Spencer.
I got his back.
So due to the recent opening
for a company kiss-ass and overachiever,
I thought I might as well
apply for the position.
So a funny thing happened
on the way to the homicide.
This all began with the goal
of bringing Spencer Bradford
to room temperature in a
slow and torturous manner.
Goals are important, but they
should also be malleable.
For example, what if instead of
ending Spencer Bradford's life...
Oh, shit! Shit, shit.
I could step into it?
Oh, come on! Oh!
Or better yet, what if I could do both?
And once we're
locked on the graphics,
there might be a little bit of ADR to do,
but we should still be
able to go gold by August.
Go gold?
Yeah, it's the
final master for duplication.
Used to be on a gold disk,
so when your game's
ready for dupe and ship,
it's, you know, still called going gold.
- Want something to drink? Smoke?
- I'm good. I just wanted
to see where you work.
- Well, this is it.
- Mm, what shall we do now?
Get these out of the way.
- So you're not the mad, passionate,
sweeping things on the floor type?
Happy?
- Oh, whoa, whoa, whoa. Slow down.
Spencer, you gotta watch more porn, man.
Oh, hello.
Dr. Jabara has rounds tonight.
I think he's gonna turn you loose.
- A day early? God, I hope so.
Have you got
someone staying with you?
- Just my friend Spencer. You met him.
He's kind of a dick.
- He was having a bad day.
Yeah, well, so were you.
Have you got any family
that can stay with you?
- Spencer will take care of me.
He really is a sweetheart.
Anyways, the
doctor should be by shortly.
Hey. I thought
you were coming home tomorrow?
- I'm out of here.
- Whoa, whoa, hey.
Look, sorry I was kind of
a jerk at the hospital.
I was just worried about you.
- I need to get well.
And you are not gonna get me there.
If you were, it would
have happened already.
I'll come back for the rest of my stuff.
- Oh. If I can just see what you got here.
Hm, clothes, shit from the bathroom.
Oh, that's right, 'cause nothing
else here belongs to you.
- Go fuck yourself.
Oh, wait, you have the blonde for that.
- What blonde?
And I'm pretty
sure she faked it!
- Fuck!
- Can I get another?
Thanks, Pete.
It's on me.
You look like someone needs
to be nice to you tonight.
- Do lines like that usually work?
I couldn't really
say. I never use them.
I love women with luggage.
They look so portable.
- I'm gonna be honest with you.
I have had four vodkas,
absolutely zero methamphetamine,
and I have zero plans for the evening.
- So I've already helped with the first.
Can't really do anything about the second.
Good.
- So let's talk about the third.
These brownies are amazing.
- Oh, we get them from my cousin.
We used to call him
The Pillsbury Dope Boy.
Used to play this game all the time,
the original "Uncharted,"
not this one, with my dad.
Seems like the only thing
that we could do together
without getting in a fight.
- You guys still tight?
- Yeah. Yeah, I guess.
Yeah, pretty tight.
- I'm gonna need some time tonight.
Yeah, you've
been putting in the hours.
Take whatever time you want.
- Oh, and there's this girl.
- There always is.
- Well, for you.
I haven't had that much
luck in that department.
- Maybe that's about to change.
- Do you realize that no woman
has ever said "I love you"?
To me, I mean.
- I don't even know
how to respond to that.
- It bothers me a lot.
- Well, it'll happen, you know.
I mean, you've been with
women before, right?
- Yeah, of course I have.
But nothing real.
And that's actually what I'm looking for.
Yeah, something real.
- Yeah, I don't...
What does that even mean?
- I'll know and she'll know.
And then she'll say "I love
you," and she'll mean it.
- Well, man, you're too young
to get tied down to one woman.
Zhang. Come on in, man.
We're about to find Libertalia.
- Connor, I need that new
source code to the compilers.
- Yeah, just give me a minute.
- Now.
- Oh, yeah. Sorry.
See you later, Spence.
- Yeah.
- What?
- Nothing.
Get outta here.
- Wow, Dad, I wish you
wouldn't embarrass me
in front of my friends.
- I don't trust him.
- Look, he's a good kid.
- I don't know what he is.
- Whoa. Hey, Coop, hold up.
Isn't the music too hot right there?
- Blame the composer.
There's a natural swell right on the beat.
- Yeah, but I can't hear the dialogue.
Hey, Spencer.
Hey, Coop.
How's it going, Beth?
- Okay. How are you?
- Oh, I'm great.
Ready to start my shift. Where are we at?
- Well, we just started
the Winter War sequence.
And Mr. Cooper and I were
having a professional argument
on the music levels.
- We can go back to Richard and ask him
to re-edit the music so the
big swell doesn't happen
at the same time as the dialogue.
- We don't have the time
or the money for that.
Just play it for me.
Hey.
Go home. I got this.
- Okay.
How's Molly doing?
- You know, people need to stop
fucking asking me how Molly is doing.
Anyone else wanna ask?
Coop? Hm?
Good.
Not a lot to tell.
I just lost my job,
and I got out of a long-term relationship.
New chapter.
Turn of the page.
- Yeah, but that's kind of exciting
when you put it that way.
- It is, I guess.
Listen, I really appreciate
your help like this.
Last night was-
- Last night was incredible.
Someone as smart as you,
and as sweet,
and hot.
There, I said it.
I didn't even think you were real.
You've got a bad guy, Molly,
and that's not your fault.
You got a guy who's so far up his own ass
that he can't see what an
amazing person you are.
And you deserve someone who thinks,
no, who knows that you're the greatest,
someone who can't wait to start
that next chapter with you.
You deserve someone who'll fight for you.
- Does that explosion sound good to you?
- Give me playback?
- It happens in a snowdrift,
so I rolled off a lot of high end.
- Yeah, no, I want them to feel
it in their bladders. Yeah.
Play it again.
- I couldn't forget what Spencer said
about him and his dad playing "Uncharted."
Guys are weird about their dads.
I mean, when I was eight,
my dad came into my bedroom,
kissed me goodnight,
then he put a gun to his
forehead and pulled the trigger.
Screwed me up royally.
Okay, that's just bullshit.
It never actually happened.
But if it had, wouldn't
it just explain a lot?
We ought to start a support group,
people your son ripped off.
We'll gather in church basements
with a jug of wine and a sheet cake.
Ooh, nice drawings.
- I'm Jim Bradford.
- Listen, Jim, have you
ever seen one of these?
Go on. Yeah.
Yeah, there you go.
Hey, Jim, have you ever
heard of Russian Roulette?
Oh, no, no.
You've seen it in the movies.
You put it to your forehead.
Yeah. Yeah, just like that.
Now you put your finger
on the curly thing.
Yeah. The trigger.
Well, that's one.
- Okay, can you play back
when the bayonet goes
into Lieutenant Morley's stomach,
before the steam rises up from the wound?
Yeah, yeah, yeah, I think if we put,
like, a wet zipper noise in
there, that could be very cool.
That's good, Coop. Thanks.
- He was alone when the
unit arrived. Are you sure?
Fuck.
- That's what I thought.
Let's talk.
- Dad, I'll be back later
tonight to check on you, okay?
Nothing? No description at all?
What about Kyle White? He's out on bail.
- We got a dozen witnesses that place
Kyle White teaching at a C++ workshop
in Walnut Creek tonight.
He's off the hook.
For everything.
- Shit.
- So we're getting to the point
where you seriously gotta ask:
Whose cereal bowl did you piss in?
You seem like kind of an
asshole, but in a benign way.
- Thanks.
- Seriously, I'm having
trouble thinking of
who would want to screw
with you this much.
Business partner?
- No, never had one.
- Jilted lover?
- This is gonna sound bad-
- Try me.
- Pretty sure no one's
ever loved me that much.
- Okay. Just so you know,
honesty looks good on you.
We'll talk to the folks here
about their security measures,
which obviously could use some hardening.
But you need to think hard about
who in the world wants
to F with you this much.
Magical Realism. Connor.
- Connor.
- Hey, Spence.
- Hey. Hey, I need to
speak to Zhang right away.
Oh, haven't seen him.
- Do you know where he is?
Mm, nope.
- Well, then find him. This is important.
- He's not here. What do you need?
- What I need is for you to get
off your ass and find Zhang.
Have him call me right away.
- Well, I can do anything
for you that Zhang could do.
- Not on your best fucking day!
Now get Zhang to call me, now!
What are you doing?
- I just talked to Spencer.
Yeah, dude is in a bad place.
- Yeah, I left him a message a while back.
Did he ask to talk to me?
- No.
- Get back to work.
Where'd you say you worked in Montreal?
- L-Tec Gaming.
- Oh. Really?
'Cause I checked and
they've never heard of you.
- Well, I interned before I got hired,
so the records are
probably all screwed up.
- What?
- L-Tec Gaming Montreal
is a Francophone office.
Their people have to speak French. Do you?
- Dad, do you believe in karma?
'Cause I'm starting to.
You know I'm stealing that, right?
Your drawings, your ideas,
passing them all off as my own.
So all this stuff that's happening to me,
it's payback, right?
It's okay, Dad. You can be honest.
That's like how it was with "Leadstorm."
The original concept.
You know, all the rules for the worlds,
dynamics of the weapons,
all the shit that Steve Rosey didn't do,
you know where that came from?
Some kid on Reddit.
It was one late night on
one of their message boards,
and this kid just starts
spouting off all this crazy shit,
and I just ripped him off.
And the new thing, "Courage For Carnage"?
Well, I'll take the credit for that too,
even though it's all you, Dad.
Like this, your little sketchpad
on your little kitchen table.
- I'm Jim Bradford.
- You know what really pisses me off?
I used to be able to do this myself.
And then one day, it all just went away.
They never came back.
And I don't know if they ever will.
And Molly's right, I never
fought for her, at all, once.
I never fucking fought
for anything in my life.
And now karma's coming down,
and it is such a bitch.
I'm trusting you're gonna
keep all of this between us.
Oh, no.
- Yeah, yeah! Hang on!
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah!
Jesus. What now?
Detective.
- Zhang Lui was murdered
earlier this evening.
- Zhang?
How? When?
- It gets worse.
Spencer Bradford, you're
under arrest for murder.
- I work here.
Hey.
Thanks for getting the lawyer.
I didn't know who else to call.
- The security guard was my idea.
People are freaking out.
- I'm right there with them.
- I still don't understand
why they busted you.
- Well, there were some
text messages on my phone
that were threatening Zhang
with some pretty crazy shit.
Bullets. You know, sniper rounds.
Kind that killed Steve Rosey.
- You're so lucky that
nurse signed you in and out
of your dad's place.
- Yeah. Yeah, I'm just
dripping luck these days.
- Doesn't feel real.
You must have some idea who's behind this.
I mean, I know people don't
particularly like you,
but who hates you to this extent?
- Don't you think I've been over that
a hundred times already, Beth?
- Well, you better figure it out,
because people, they're scared.
Nobody wants to get in a
goddam elevator with you.
- And yet here you are.
- Yeah, well, I'm a badass.
- Hey, you got a second?
- Yeah, why not?
- Listen, I am so sorry
to hear about Zhang.
He was a really great guy.
- What do you got?
- Oh, well, actually,
thought the uranium mine
sequence was kind of dragging,
so I sketched out a sequence
with new assault vehicles
to kinda pick up the action.
- Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa.
You sketched?
- Yeah.
See, these could actually
come rumbling over the hill,
and then by the time they-
- So we're four days behind,
and this is what you're working on?
- Well, I...
- You're a goddamn code
monkey, so go write some code.
- I showed them to Beth,
and she really liked them.
- Oh, she did, did she? That's great.
I'm up against it now that
Zhang's gone, you understand?
So get your ass back in your chair
and finish the fucking game.
Do you understand?!
Or do I need to draw
you a fucking picture?!
- What?!
No more games, Spence.
It's time to settle with the house.
- Excuse me? Could I get my check, please?
Thank you.
- No, no, no. Absolutely not.
You tell the bank that we
will make our date, okay?
We're gonna pay off our line of credit
before our fiscal year end.
Just like Zhang promised.
Yeah, I know Zhang's gone,
but I'm still here, okay?
Beth is still here.
Yes.
Yeah, we'll...
We got this. Just tell them that.
Thank you.
Hi.
- Hey, what's up?
- Did the security guard let you in?
- What security guard?
- What are you doing here?
- You asked me to come over.
- No, I didn't.
- You texted me.
- Oh, this is nice.
Classless, even for you, Spencer.
- Okay, okay, wait. Who are you?
- I'm the ex, bitch.
I came first-
- Whoa.
- When I came at all.
Stop, stop, just stop!
Hey! Okay, that's enough!
That's enough!
Okay! You win, okay?!
You win! I lose!
I'm outta tokens, I'm
outta lives! You win!
I don't know who you are,
whatever you did, but you win,
so leave the women and
the elderly outta this!
You can come to me for a change
and we can fucking play
from the men's tees!
Fucking Connor.
Great. Christ!
Did you see the security
guy on your way up?
- Oh, the big guy in the uniform?
Yeah, I think he's bleeding
out in the break room.
Hey, Molls.
- What are you doing here?
- Awkward.
- It was you.
- Jesus. Finally.
I thought I was gonna have
to whiteboard it for you.
- Hold time it was you.
Thank Christ.
No, no, seriously, man.
I thought I was up against,
like, an evil super villain or something,
but it's just the code
monkey from the men's room.
- You watch your mouth.
- You guys know each other?
- Oh, yeah, we go way back,
back to a night on a Reddit
chatroom all those years ago
where I was spouting an idea
for a new game, like an idiot.
And you were there with
your thumb up your ass,
just taking notes.
You know when "Leadstorm" came out,
I played it for 96 hours straight?
When I figured out that sniper shot,
the hack with the C-7 vertebrae,
seemed kinda poetic to
end Rosey in that way,
but I just wanted you to twist.
Are you twisting yet, Spencer?
Are you enjoying this game?
- This isn't a fucking game.
- Really? Mm, well, sure
kinda plays like one.
Come here.
- Oh, my god.
- You're the voiceover
professional, correct?
Great. Great.
Listen, I actually wrote down
a few lines here for you.
They're not great, but I really feel like
a professional like you could
really do it some justice.
- Just leave her alone.
- Go on.
- Oh, no, don't shoot. I wanna live.
- Jesus.
I mean, I know it's a cold reading,
but, I mean, I was expecting a little more
from someone who does this for a living.
Okay, can we do this again,
but can you just do another take,
and this time, just give it a
little more oomph, all right?
I mean, your life's at stake here.
There's a madman with a gun.
- Oh, no, please don't!
I wanna...
- Better. Better.
Okay, but I'm still
not 100% believing you.
I think you got a better one in you.
- Oh, no, please don't!
I wanna...
And scene.
You know, trying on your life
for size, I kinda like it.
I nailed your girlfriend,
and now I'm about to take your job.
How's your apartment? I
bet you it's real nice.
- Cops are gonna know.
- Oh, are they?
Huh, well, new slutty girlfriend
and old junkie girlfriend
both shot in the head, hm.
Oops, spoiler alert.
And then the old fan favorite:
"And then he just pulled
the gun on himself."
Run, Molly!
Okay. Come on.
Come on, come on down. Down, down, down.
Go. Go.
Hey, get down, get down.
- Welcome to multiplayer
mode, motherfucker!
Shit!
Beth.
- Kill that asshole.
Wait, wait, wait. Stop.
Shh.
Where are you?
- Okay.
Don't jerk it, squeeze it.
Okay.
Shit.
I'm out.
He's reloading.
Go, go.
- Just so you know, I'm having
a terrific user experience!
Go, go, go!
Hey. You gotta go hide.
Okay, go. Go, go, go, go.
- Hey, Spence! Where you going?!
We're just starting to have fun!
Sounds like you're outta ammo, Spence!
There's auto-reload in real life!
Molly!
I thought we had something special!
- Hey, he's coming, okay?
And when he does, you gotta
tell him that you love him.
- What?
- You gotta tell him
that you love him, okay?
And tell him that it's real.
- It's real? What does that even mean?
- Just tell him.
Spence!
- Hey. Hey.
You fought for me.
- Still fighting, Moll.
- Oh, yeah, just in case
you're thinking about it,
those elevators, they're shut down!
And the stairwell's locked!
Yeah, you think I'm just
so fucking stupid, right,
and so worthless?!
Well, I'm actually not!
I just wasted Briggsy, Spence!
Felt really fucking good!
I'm sorry, sweetheart,
I gotta get close to
sell this as a suicide.
- But I love you.
I love you.
Connor, I love you.
And it's real.
For the first time, it's real.
Beth gonna be okay?
- She will be.
What the hell went down in there?
We've got a dead rent-a-cop
with a slashed throat,
a girl shot in the head at close range,
and somebody killed with a sword.
For Christ's sakes, a sword.
It's almost, almost like...
- I know.
A video game.
Yeah, Dad, I know, but you
need to listen to the nurse.
She knows what she's doing.
Yeah.
Yeah, yeah, I'll see you this weekend.
I love you too.
Bye.
- Big difference, huh?
- New meds he's taking are amazing.
- That's really great to hear.
- Yeah.
- I saw Molly on Thursday.
- Yeah, she's doing great, huh?
- Yeah. Fantastic.
- Yeah, she had a job interview this week,
but I told her to, asked her to cancel it.
She needs the full 60 days.
There's no shortcuts, right?
- Good.
Well, we did it.
"Courage for Carnage" is
now duped and shipped.
What a fucking miracle.
To Zhang Lui.
- To Zhang Lui.
- Oh, by the way, I'm
making you full partner.
This game is just as much yours, Beth.
Feel free to belch.
Oh, ho ho ho!
There we go!
- I'm a true lady.
- Come on. Join the party.
Troops are waiting.
- I'm good. You go ahead.
You know, do the CEO thing and mingle.
I gotta start spending some
time doing other things.
Working on a new idea.
- Okay.
Come here.
Don't be long.
I need to see if
there's anything left in me.
If the whatever it is is really gone.
Or if it could ever come back.
- Is it supposed to do this?
Incoming, incoming!
I'm hit, I'm hit!
Dutch, talk to me.
- It's no good.
- My back, it's broke.
- The extraction point is
10 clicks. I'll carry you.
Jesus Christ. Pause.
Hey, Rosey.
Rosey.
Stevie boy.
In here, dipshit.
You took my world, so it's
only fair that I take yours.
That was good, but not great.
Should've been great.
It was too fast. Right?
Bang.
Boom. Over.
I mean, maybe 10 seconds from the headset
to the valley of the shadow.
Next time will be slow, methodical,
and yes, magical.
The uniform is ridiculous.
You know that.
- I know that.
- The male troopers are
dressed for urban combat.
Why is Melinda dressed for a pap smear?
- Blame the focus groups.
They wanted to see-
- I know what
they wanted to see.
Jesus, I work for a 21
billion-dollar industry
run by 14-year-old boys.
- If I can get Zhang to approve these,
we get these into development today.
- What's this?
This is new.
No. Well, yeah, it's new.
- Holy shit. This is next level.
- Yeah, you know, just kinda came to me.
- Oh, man, I do not know how
beautiful things like this
come out of an ugly head like yours.
- Yeah, it's a wonder.
Morning.
What's up?
We got trouble.
When do we not?
We're falling behind
on "Courage for Carnage."
How far?
Only two weeks now.
But Randy's leaving.
- Randy. He's gonna put us off our date.
- Not an option. We miss
the holidays, we're fucked.
- So hire more coders, then.
- Can't. We're up against the budget.
You're the one that wanted
to expand and reno the place.
I had to pause the construction
just to stay on budget.
Bleeding cash and not taking enough in.
- So what do we do, then, Zhang?
We miss the holidays, what,
we're just supposed to hope
that people buy fucking video games
instead of flowers for Valentine's Day?
Zhang, I need this game,
okay? I need it to be great.
- I'm sure you meant to say "we."
- It's been 18 months
since "Concrete Angels."
We can't dine out on that forever.
- How many coders do you want?
- Three.
- I can maybe find budget for two.
- Fine. I want three, but I need two.
Make it happen.
- Uh-oh. Cop?
- How can you tell?
- It's a gift.
Whenever a cop gets close, my
taser scars start tingling.
- No shit?
A sniper?
That's right,
but he didn't suffer.
- Haven't talked to Steve
Rosey in, like, four years.
How'd you get my name?
- I'm kind of a casual gamer.
- Well, actually, 48% of
gamers are female, so...
- My favorite game is "Leadstorm."
So you know, then, that
that was the last game
I worked on with Steve Rosey.
And that the lead character
in "Leadstorm" is a sniper.
- Briggsy.
He cuts the bills off his baseball caps
and preferred headshots.
- No muss, no fuss.
No body armor.
- So you haven't spoken
to Rosey in four years?
- At least.
So I have no idea who
might've blown his head off.
- Mr. Bradford, I don't remember saying
that Rosey was shot in the head.
- I mean, I assumed.
You were the one that
brought up Briggsy, so...
- Actually, it was the upper spine.
Came out his chest.
If you think of anything
that might be helpful,
call me, okay?
Don't just keep it to yourself
like the Dark Silent Priest
in Level 6 of "Leadstorm."
And so, based on my
own personal work experience
with digital designer Steve P. Rosey,
I can heartily endorse Steve
for the following skills:
ripping off intellectual property,
bleeding, PowerPoint, and dying.
- Fucking derivative horseshit.
What's wrong?
- Nothing.
- You only drink Jack when you're upset.
- Christ's sakes, Molly.
- Just chill, okay?
- You promised me.
- And I will.
I'm gonna get clean, Spencer,
but it's not gonna from you ragging on me.
Hey, put that down.
- This is really interesting.
- Oh, yeah. Bullshit.
My good ideas aren't original,
and my original ideas aren't good.
Steve Rosey thing has me freaked out.
I mean, somebody shot
the guy in his own house.
Mm. How awful.
- When we were designing "Leadstorm,"
Rosey and I, we made the bad
guy virtually indestructible.
But there was one specific
part that you had to hit him,
and it was above his body
armor, back of the neck.
Steve and I were the
only ones who knew that.
At least that's what I thought.
- Do you wanna do me or what?
- You're high.
- That wasn't the question.
- Come on, you don't need me for that.
- Oh, but I do.
- How many?
- A dozen entitled
digital millennials in your
area are waiting to meet you.
- Shoot me in the head already.
- So why should we hire you?
Two words: Total game changer.
Don't contact my former employer
'cause they sexually
harassed the shit out of me.
- I could start this week, but
I'm going to Cabo next week.
And that's not really negotiable.
- So how many people would I have, like,
under me, on my team?
- I want you to interview me hard
and then hire the shit out of me.
- My BS in Information Systems
is from Cal State Irvine,
and I did some graduate work in C++.
- What do you like to do for fun?
- C++.
- And then after my internship
at L-Tec Gaming in Montreal,
they actually hired me to write code.
Go Habs, eh?
These are our finalists, huh?
They could all write code.
These two are the ones I didn't
want to kill with a shovel.
So what do you want from me?
Gut check.
- Just see if you like them.
Or at least don't hate them.
Spencer.
Oh, hey, Frank. Just
hang on a second, okay?
- Just talk to them.
If they're not dangerous
psychotics, hire them.
- Yeah?
No, I never use that site. Why?
What the shit?
- Kyle White.
Am I pronouncing that right?
It says here you worked on
"Anthrax Cloud." Great game.
How was that?
- Was okay.
- What did you do on that dev team?
- Wrote code.
- Right. Well, that's kinda the job.
Connor Burns.
- Yes. I love this business.
And I would love the opportunity
to work for Spencer Bradford.
I think he's a genius.
- Well, that's something you
two already have in common.
I like the Burns kid.
He's a gamer and he gets what we do here.
And he's also got a crush on you.
Well, everyone
does, especially the women.
What about the other guy?
Kyle White?
Well, he's got the
personality of a drywall,
but he knows his stuff.
Look, we've got personalities.
We need coders.
- Wanna grab something to eat?
- I got something to do.
- Your father seems to be
tolerating the memantine well.
There's a clinical trial that just started
for a new drug for dementia.
It's been effective for very few patients,
but for those few, the results have been,
frankly, astonishing.
- I don't want him drugged up.
- Oh, no, Mr. Bradford, I-
- My father is, or was an artist.
One of the most creative
people I ever knew.
So, it's incredibly important to him
that we keep as much of whatever
keeps him alive as we can.
- Perhaps I'm not explaining this clearly.
This has the potential
of completely reversing-
- Look, the memantine is
keeping him calm for now, right?
So let's just stick with that, all right?
- Mr. Bradford, I really...
- What you working on?
- Hi. I'm Jim Bradford.
- Spencer, Dad.
I'm your son.
This would be great in
the game I'm working on.
Mind if I take it?
I have to go to work.
- Have a nice day.
Play these stupid
kids' games all night
and then you go to work
and play with them all day.
It's like an addiction.
- Don't know if I'd be throwing around
that whole "addiction"
thing if I were you.
Just saying.
- Yeah, well, at least my
jones is a goddam grownup.
- Shit.
What the fuck?
- And in the six years Magical
Realism has been in business,
we've created three of the
10 best-selling indie games,
with total revenues of over $18 million.
- Is that Ragnarok's battle
sword from "Bloodfeud"?
- Yeah.
- Oh, my god, it's so heavy.
I thought it was, like, plastic.
- We have an armorer in Saratoga
who does all of our prototypes for real.
- Oh, wow.
- Oh, watch the edge,
it's sharp.
- Awesome.
Shall we continue?
- Yeah.
This way.
I have less sharp things.
- Every time, and it's
gonna keep happening
until somebody fixes it.
- I'll put one of the new kids on it.
- Just fix it, okay? I've
got an audio session.
Noobs, we got a
real performance problem here.
Should be getting 30 frames per second.
Getting maybe nine.
- Oh, I'm all over this, I'll try-
- Sounds like a Load-Hit-Store.
So it's stalling
in the load construction?
- No, in the oris instruction.
- You're guessing.
I think we should-
- See?
That instruction can't complete
until the store into r9 finishes,
and it's waiting for
the L1 cache to update.
There's your stall.
- Okay.
- Whoa, whoa. Excuse me?
- Oh, sorry.
Look, listen, hey, while I have you here,
I just want to say thanks
so much for the job.
And I know it's probably not
the best time to tell you this,
with your dick in our hand and
all, but I love your stuff.
And I know. I know, this is so awkward.
But when "Leadstorm" came
out, it changed my world,
and "Concrete Angels," to me,
was like "Empire Strikes Back."
Underappreciated, but, you know,
superior to the original in so many ways.
Thanks.
- I know. Total fanboy.
- Yeah, obviously.
- I just want to say how grateful I am
for the opportunity to
learn from the best.
- Well, we're glad to have
you here. It's Connor, right?
- Yeah.
Yeah. Connor.
- We'll shake hands later.
My face, it's melting!
- Um.
What's her name again?
- Cassie.
- Cassie, can we try that again,
but can you, um, I don't know,
sound like a little less happy?
- "My face is melting," right?
- That's correct, yes.
- So why would I sound happy?
- Well, that's my question...
Hang on a sec.
Cassie?
Spencer, right?
Uh, yeah, Spencer.
Nice to meet you.
- Thanks for the job.
- Uh, you're...
I'm sorry.
In my experience,
voiceover professionals...
Don't have, uh-
- We have faces for radio?
- Well, I'd like to think I'd phrase it
a little more gracefully than that, but...
- So how exactly do you want this
"face-melting" line delivered?
- Oh, right.
It's just that you were sounding too
not horrified and in agonizing pain.
- Tell you what, you go
back in your little room,
I will do a bunch of reads,
and you can let me know
when I do one you like.
- But I have a button I can talk to you-
- Mm, but this way, I get
your digits. And you get mine.
- Good work.
- She drives me crazy.
All she does is spend my money.
And I wouldn't mind if we
connected the way we used to,
but after we had kids, she
doesn't even want to talk to me.
Any idea what I should do?
- You want my advice?
Yeah, okay, sure. I'm here to help.
You should cheat on her.
- I should what?
- Yeah, you should go fuck somebody else.
That'll solve all your problems.
- You really think so?
- Yeah, you got, like, a hot neighbor?
Like a yoga mom?
Yeah, you should fuck her.
- I think I need another drink.
How about another Death in the Afternoon?
- Please let it be yours.
Pardon?
- All yours. Coming right up.
You know what you should do,
is you should take a bunch of pictures,
you know, if yoga mom is down for it,
and then leave them on your phone
so that your wife can find them.
She would love that.
What's up?
- Fuck is that?
- Just doing my job
the best I fucking can.
- Look, I just came to see you
because I felt bad about
our argument this morning.
- I did too.
- So listen, this "Leadstorm"
thing is getting kinda freaky.
- Yeah?
- Yeah, some weird online.
I think I need to talk to the cops.
- The cops?
You think that's a great idea?
- Don't worry, we'll talk to
them when you're not high,
if you could, you know,
just give me some
approximate times and dates.
- You are such an asshole.
- Look, I didn't come here
to fight with you, okay?
- That's comforting.
- Yeah, you know, I gotta go,
so we'll talk about it later.
Fuck.
- Bye.
- Oh, shit.
Sorry, I was-
- It's okay.
Really.
God, I haven't played
"Concrete Angels" in years.
- Well, it is a goddam
mother loving masterpiece
is what it is.
- There's a hit squad,
just there on your right.
If you hold down X right
here, it'll turn on auto.
Yeah, just wait.
He's not gonna pop out. You go to him.
- Oh, this is ridiculous.
Spencer Bradford walking me
through "Concrete Angels."
Talk about living the dream.
- All right.
Let me show you how to
beat the night patrols.
I read this thing once
about a bunch of bored
rich kids who called 911
and said that their friends
were getting murdered and shit.
They call it swatting. It's a
bit retro but still effective.
- Wow.
- Truce?
Detente?
- Absolutely.
Swatting is
basically like sending a bunch
of pizzas to the wrong house,
only instead of pepperoni
with extra cheese,
you're sending tear gas and body armor
and MP-5 automatic rifles.
Get your hands up!
- Freeze!
- Freeze!
Freeze, scumbag!
He's got a gun!
- Whoa, whoa, whoa, stop!
- Get your hands up!
- Seriously, what the hell was that?
What, you guys don't check your shit out
before you come in guns blazing?
- We were checking it out.
And if our guns were
blazing, you'd be dead.
Is your girlfriend okay?
- Yeah, she's just swell. Thanks.
- She got some Valium
or Xanax or something?
- Or something.
- You haven't exactly been
forthcoming with us, Mr. Bradford.
- I told you everything
I knew at the time.
- Not the details about the shooting.
How many people knew
about the "Leadstorm" hack
with the neck thing?
- It was just Rosey and I.
I mean, that's what I thought.
- So either Rosey told the shooter or...
You said you haven't talked
to Rosey for four years.
Why so long?
- I left the company.
You guys part on good terms?
- No, not particularly.
- Who's that?
- It's just another fan.
I get these all the time.
So you think I shot Rosey?
I hacked my own Networkq page
and then I swatted myself?
- I have to consider every possibility.
- Maybe you should see...
See what?
- I'm sorry, this is...
You know, maybe you should see
who's doing all this shit to me.
It's kinda crazy, don't you think?
That's some freaky shit.
- I know. Talked to the cops.
- The cops? They're not gonna protect you.
- Sure they will.
- Look, I gotta run. Beth,
would you give him the talk?
- Yeah.
The talk?
A while back,
some guy was bugging me.
Zhang hooked me up.
Yeah?
- The talk came with this.
- Oh, shit.
- Jesus, Spencer.
- What? Relax.
I've been handling guns for years, okay?
- In games!
You've been putting together
these bullshit military missions
and simulated laser shootouts,
and they're nothing like a real gunfight.
- I think we've been pretty
authentic. Thank you.
Besides, what do you know about guns?
- Not me. Zhang.
Growing up in the 'Loin,
he ran with the gangs.
They got into a shooting
war with Filipinos.
- He never told me that.
- Well, I don't think he likes
to talk about it very much.
- Jesus. What was that?
- Lesson number one, guns are noisy.
A hundred time louder than that.
And when they're going off,
you get a sensory overload.
It's scary.
You feel like your heart is
going to jump out of your chest.
You panic. In games, no one panics.
Also, when guys get shot in
our games, they fall down dead.
When you shoot someone for real,
they just keep shooting back.
Unless you, you know,
blow out their brains
or the left ventricle of
their heart, they keep coming.
And they keep shooting until
they run out of rounds.
And again, that never
happens in our games.
So what do you do?
- Well, I think, you know-
- Show me.
- All right.
- Keep your finger off the trigger guard.
You'll shoot yourself
in the dick. Dumb-ass.
Don't walk backwards.
You'll fall and shoot
yourself in the head.
Get your finger off the trigger.
- What if I want to shoot you?
- This gun does not have a safety.
Get your finger off the trigger,
or you'll either shoot your partner
or you'll jerk it and shoot your shot off.
Finger off the trigger until you're ready
to squeeze off a shot.
- So you don't want me to jerk it,
you want me to squeeze it.
That's what she said.
- Yeah, give me the gun right now.
What are you, 13?
- Well, you said...
- Zhang needs to teach
you the fundamentals.
Listen to me, Spence.
This isn't a game.
Some dipshit wants to kill you.
What? Is that him?
- No. It's just a advertisement.
- How was your day?
- You're high.
- That wasn't the question.
I had a really shitty day.
- The fuck is this?
- Honey, they're so good,
and you're so hard on yourself, I just-
- What, put them up on the fridge
like I'm a fucking seven-year-old?
Jesus Christ!
Moll, like, you have lost it.
You know that? You have
truly fucking lost it.
- They're good!
- Is that your expert opinion?
I love you.
- These sketches are
shit, but they're my shit.
I don't want you fucking
touching my shit ever again.
- I'm sorry, I...
I'm sorry!
Fuck!
- Hey, Kyle.
Got a second?
- Um, I'm not busy.
- Get busy. Kyle?
- What, not interrupting or...
- Who told you to stop?
Oh, my god.
- Holy shit.
Whoa, whoa, whoa. What's the rush?
I have an
audition in the morning.
- So, what, I'm excused?
Until such time
as you're needed again.
Okay.
- Uh, yeah, you know, I
gotta get going, anyway.
We're racing the clock on this game.
It's gonna be huge.
You know, for me, anyway.
This business, you're only as
good as your last game, so...
- Spencer?
Don't take this the wrong way.
You're a nice guy and, oh, a terrific lay,
but I have my own friends.
Would you be a doll and lock
the door on your way out?
Thanks.
With things
moving along so nicely,
there is no time for little Kyle
to start playing employee of the month.
Sorry, dipshit. There can be only one.
- Yeah?
- Dude.
What are you doing?
- Sleeping.
I just got 12 emails
from you, and four texts.
- What?
You've been hacked.
Delete your accounts.
- Are you sure? Which ones?
All of them.
- Oh, shit.
No, no, no, no, no.
Fuck.
Oh, fuck.
- What the hell?
Oh, shit.
Son of a...
Son of a bitch!
- Fuck you, motherfucker!
Eat shit and die!
- I don't know.
All I know is I just
became the poster whore
for a new generation of women
who actually work their asses
off to get to where they are.
And somebody's gonna bleed.
Did you talk to the cops yet?
- The cops are analog.
They're the Amish with
guns. They've got no game.
And they certainly do not care
about social media hacking.
- Yeah, somebody emptied
my savings account, okay?
They bought guns, they bought dildos,
and then donated the rest
to every fucking violent
hate group in America.
- Oh, you're so done on TSA Pre.
- Yeah, and apparently,
I sent indecent Tweets
to religious leaders and little girls.
- You gotta help us
nail this piece of shit.
- Okay, now we have some scary
good hackers on this staff.
We just need to-
- Guys.
- They can track
this asshole down.
- That is not their job.
Spencer, a lot of people here
don't like you that much.
- But they love Beth. Love her.
So we give them the word
and then they don't stop
until they find out who did this to us.
- Sorry.
We're on deadline.
- Come on, Zhang.
- Goddammit, Spence, you stood
in this office three days ago
and told me we're in danger
of missing our ship date.
The bank is up my ass,
and you yourself told me how
important this game was for us.
Were you lying?
- Yeah.
Yeah, I was lying.
I'm a lying liar. What do you want?
Well, this sucks.
- Hey, Spencer, I heard what happened.
Do you want me to do any poking around?
I'm pretty good at this kinda shit.
- Yeah, just don't make it worse, okay?
Yeah. I'm all over this.
When we find this guy,
I'm gonna fucking shoot him myself.
Holy shit.
- Your turn. Aim for center mass.
- Not the head?
- Start with the biggest
target you can. Harder to miss.
- Thanks for the vote of confidence.
- Whoa. Finger off the trigger
until you're ready to shoot.
- Everybody keeps telling me that.
- Yeah, because we care.
About getting shot.
Okay.
Not bad.
- Well, I was aiming for his head.
- You're new to the Glock.
That means you're gonna
anticipate the recoil
that makes you shoot low and to the right
because you're leaning into it.
Try it again.
Bring the trigger back much slower.
- Aimed for his junk that time.
- Yeah, that'll show him.
- No. Boss, I'm telling
you, I need more hours.
Living on tips sucks. I
need to make more money.
That's kind of
a me-centric attitude,
don't you think, Molly?
- This place is dead 80%
of the time, like now.
And I don't know what you expect me to do.
I'm hearing a lot of "I," Molly.
"I need, I want, I can't."
Somebody's forgotten
there's no "I" in team.
- Yeah, well, fortunately,
there is an extra I in idiot!
- Hey! Ow, ow!
What are you doing?!
- You're outta here.
What, I don't...
Please, I don't understand!
And you're sure it was him?
- Oh, yeah.
Yeah, I found his IP address
in the server log at Spencer's bank.
It was buried deep, but not deep enough.
Listen, there were selfies in a folder
labeled "Beth is a Whore."
- Thanks. And for the
record, I am not a whore.
- Connor, step into my office.
- Okay. Back to work.
- You know, it's customary to
send an outstanding employee
a fruit basket or a ham.
This saves me a trip to Harry and David.
Okay, okay.
"Doom II," you gotta
kill the end boss monster
by shooting him in the face,
and then the creator pops up
and you gotta kill him too.
- Okay, all right. Okay, I got one.
So "Call of Duty: Black Ops II,"
you gotta shoot all the dummies
in the head within 30 seconds,
and then this old Atari console pops down,
then you shoot all those,
you get those old retro Activision games.
- Oh, man.
Steve Rosey loved putting
Easter eggs in games.
- Who?
- Just some guy I worked with once.
So I've got this plan, okay?
When I design my first game,
I'm gonna imbed code
that no one's gonna find.
And then when you reach a certain level,
and then you make a certain move,
the whole damn thing will
just burst into flames.
So the screen will fill with fire,
and then it'll burn the shit
out of everything onscreen,
and then melt the TV itself.
I call it, you ready, "The World Burns."
Get it?
- Your name.
- Yes.
I get it! Connor Burns!
Right?
- That's awesome.
- Did you ever put any
Easter eggs in your games?
- Mm. All the time.
- What? Where?
- I'll won't tell you that.
Only Zhang knows that.
- You guys are tight, huh?
- Yeah, he's my best friend.
He's the only guy in the
world I can absolutely trust.
Yeah?
Where is she?
Thanks for driving, man.
Yeah, glad to do it.
I hope she's okay.
Take your time, okay? I'll wait out here.
- Hey. Are you okay?
Is she okay?
- She's gonna be just fine.
She just fell and hit her
head a little too hard.
- Yeah, you mean you
snorted too much meth,
then you fell and hit your head, right?
- It's okay.
He's right, right?
- I'll give you some privacy.
- Sorry.
- Yeah.
- I am.
- Does that even matter
now, Moll? Jesus Christ.
- Maybe you should leave now.
- Swell.
Yeah, you know, I'd
love to leave right now,
except I got a video game
careening off the rails,
I got a hacker who's spent
every cent that I own
on butt plugs and Girl Scout Cookies,
and oh, yeah, somebody wants
to blow my fucking head off.
But here I am, at Our
Lady of Perpetual Crank,
making sure you're still alive this time.
- You never once tried to help me.
- I've been telling you for
fucking months to get help.
- Ragging on me.
Never once taking me somewhere,
to someone to try and
help me beat this thing.
- You didn't want the help!
- I'm a junkie!
An addict! Who cares what I want?
You bitched about my
Christy problem when it was
an inconvenience to you,
or embarrassed you.
You never once fought for me, Spencer.
Not even once.
Hey. You wanted to see me?
I just got back.
- Yeah, come in.
Look, we're in some shit here.
Kyle was a sociopath,
but he could write code.
We're shorthanded now,
and I'm gonna need you
to pick up the slack.
Can you do that?
- You watch me.
- Can I tell you something, between us?
I'm worried about Spencer.
He has a lot riding on this game
and he has a ton of personal
shit he's dealing with.
- Yeah. Yeah, we just left his
girlfriend at the hospital.
What a train wreck.
- Anyhow, we need to help
him as much as we can,
and right now, that means
putting our heads down,
finishing this goddamn game.
- Hey. I like Spencer.
I got his back.
So due to the recent opening
for a company kiss-ass and overachiever,
I thought I might as well
apply for the position.
So a funny thing happened
on the way to the homicide.
This all began with the goal
of bringing Spencer Bradford
to room temperature in a
slow and torturous manner.
Goals are important, but they
should also be malleable.
For example, what if instead of
ending Spencer Bradford's life...
Oh, shit! Shit, shit.
I could step into it?
Oh, come on! Oh!
Or better yet, what if I could do both?
And once we're
locked on the graphics,
there might be a little bit of ADR to do,
but we should still be
able to go gold by August.
Go gold?
Yeah, it's the
final master for duplication.
Used to be on a gold disk,
so when your game's
ready for dupe and ship,
it's, you know, still called going gold.
- Want something to drink? Smoke?
- I'm good. I just wanted
to see where you work.
- Well, this is it.
- Mm, what shall we do now?
Get these out of the way.
- So you're not the mad, passionate,
sweeping things on the floor type?
Happy?
- Oh, whoa, whoa, whoa. Slow down.
Spencer, you gotta watch more porn, man.
Oh, hello.
Dr. Jabara has rounds tonight.
I think he's gonna turn you loose.
- A day early? God, I hope so.
Have you got
someone staying with you?
- Just my friend Spencer. You met him.
He's kind of a dick.
- He was having a bad day.
Yeah, well, so were you.
Have you got any family
that can stay with you?
- Spencer will take care of me.
He really is a sweetheart.
Anyways, the
doctor should be by shortly.
Hey. I thought
you were coming home tomorrow?
- I'm out of here.
- Whoa, whoa, hey.
Look, sorry I was kind of
a jerk at the hospital.
I was just worried about you.
- I need to get well.
And you are not gonna get me there.
If you were, it would
have happened already.
I'll come back for the rest of my stuff.
- Oh. If I can just see what you got here.
Hm, clothes, shit from the bathroom.
Oh, that's right, 'cause nothing
else here belongs to you.
- Go fuck yourself.
Oh, wait, you have the blonde for that.
- What blonde?
And I'm pretty
sure she faked it!
- Fuck!
- Can I get another?
Thanks, Pete.
It's on me.
You look like someone needs
to be nice to you tonight.
- Do lines like that usually work?
I couldn't really
say. I never use them.
I love women with luggage.
They look so portable.
- I'm gonna be honest with you.
I have had four vodkas,
absolutely zero methamphetamine,
and I have zero plans for the evening.
- So I've already helped with the first.
Can't really do anything about the second.
Good.
- So let's talk about the third.
These brownies are amazing.
- Oh, we get them from my cousin.
We used to call him
The Pillsbury Dope Boy.
Used to play this game all the time,
the original "Uncharted,"
not this one, with my dad.
Seems like the only thing
that we could do together
without getting in a fight.
- You guys still tight?
- Yeah. Yeah, I guess.
Yeah, pretty tight.
- I'm gonna need some time tonight.
Yeah, you've
been putting in the hours.
Take whatever time you want.
- Oh, and there's this girl.
- There always is.
- Well, for you.
I haven't had that much
luck in that department.
- Maybe that's about to change.
- Do you realize that no woman
has ever said "I love you"?
To me, I mean.
- I don't even know
how to respond to that.
- It bothers me a lot.
- Well, it'll happen, you know.
I mean, you've been with
women before, right?
- Yeah, of course I have.
But nothing real.
And that's actually what I'm looking for.
Yeah, something real.
- Yeah, I don't...
What does that even mean?
- I'll know and she'll know.
And then she'll say "I love
you," and she'll mean it.
- Well, man, you're too young
to get tied down to one woman.
Zhang. Come on in, man.
We're about to find Libertalia.
- Connor, I need that new
source code to the compilers.
- Yeah, just give me a minute.
- Now.
- Oh, yeah. Sorry.
See you later, Spence.
- Yeah.
- What?
- Nothing.
Get outta here.
- Wow, Dad, I wish you
wouldn't embarrass me
in front of my friends.
- I don't trust him.
- Look, he's a good kid.
- I don't know what he is.
- Whoa. Hey, Coop, hold up.
Isn't the music too hot right there?
- Blame the composer.
There's a natural swell right on the beat.
- Yeah, but I can't hear the dialogue.
Hey, Spencer.
Hey, Coop.
How's it going, Beth?
- Okay. How are you?
- Oh, I'm great.
Ready to start my shift. Where are we at?
- Well, we just started
the Winter War sequence.
And Mr. Cooper and I were
having a professional argument
on the music levels.
- We can go back to Richard and ask him
to re-edit the music so the
big swell doesn't happen
at the same time as the dialogue.
- We don't have the time
or the money for that.
Just play it for me.
Hey.
Go home. I got this.
- Okay.
How's Molly doing?
- You know, people need to stop
fucking asking me how Molly is doing.
Anyone else wanna ask?
Coop? Hm?
Good.
Not a lot to tell.
I just lost my job,
and I got out of a long-term relationship.
New chapter.
Turn of the page.
- Yeah, but that's kind of exciting
when you put it that way.
- It is, I guess.
Listen, I really appreciate
your help like this.
Last night was-
- Last night was incredible.
Someone as smart as you,
and as sweet,
and hot.
There, I said it.
I didn't even think you were real.
You've got a bad guy, Molly,
and that's not your fault.
You got a guy who's so far up his own ass
that he can't see what an
amazing person you are.
And you deserve someone who thinks,
no, who knows that you're the greatest,
someone who can't wait to start
that next chapter with you.
You deserve someone who'll fight for you.
- Does that explosion sound good to you?
- Give me playback?
- It happens in a snowdrift,
so I rolled off a lot of high end.
- Yeah, no, I want them to feel
it in their bladders. Yeah.
Play it again.
- I couldn't forget what Spencer said
about him and his dad playing "Uncharted."
Guys are weird about their dads.
I mean, when I was eight,
my dad came into my bedroom,
kissed me goodnight,
then he put a gun to his
forehead and pulled the trigger.
Screwed me up royally.
Okay, that's just bullshit.
It never actually happened.
But if it had, wouldn't
it just explain a lot?
We ought to start a support group,
people your son ripped off.
We'll gather in church basements
with a jug of wine and a sheet cake.
Ooh, nice drawings.
- I'm Jim Bradford.
- Listen, Jim, have you
ever seen one of these?
Go on. Yeah.
Yeah, there you go.
Hey, Jim, have you ever
heard of Russian Roulette?
Oh, no, no.
You've seen it in the movies.
You put it to your forehead.
Yeah. Yeah, just like that.
Now you put your finger
on the curly thing.
Yeah. The trigger.
Well, that's one.
- Okay, can you play back
when the bayonet goes
into Lieutenant Morley's stomach,
before the steam rises up from the wound?
Yeah, yeah, yeah, I think if we put,
like, a wet zipper noise in
there, that could be very cool.
That's good, Coop. Thanks.
- He was alone when the
unit arrived. Are you sure?
Fuck.
- That's what I thought.
Let's talk.
- Dad, I'll be back later
tonight to check on you, okay?
Nothing? No description at all?
What about Kyle White? He's out on bail.
- We got a dozen witnesses that place
Kyle White teaching at a C++ workshop
in Walnut Creek tonight.
He's off the hook.
For everything.
- Shit.
- So we're getting to the point
where you seriously gotta ask:
Whose cereal bowl did you piss in?
You seem like kind of an
asshole, but in a benign way.
- Thanks.
- Seriously, I'm having
trouble thinking of
who would want to screw
with you this much.
Business partner?
- No, never had one.
- Jilted lover?
- This is gonna sound bad-
- Try me.
- Pretty sure no one's
ever loved me that much.
- Okay. Just so you know,
honesty looks good on you.
We'll talk to the folks here
about their security measures,
which obviously could use some hardening.
But you need to think hard about
who in the world wants
to F with you this much.
Magical Realism. Connor.
- Connor.
- Hey, Spence.
- Hey. Hey, I need to
speak to Zhang right away.
Oh, haven't seen him.
- Do you know where he is?
Mm, nope.
- Well, then find him. This is important.
- He's not here. What do you need?
- What I need is for you to get
off your ass and find Zhang.
Have him call me right away.
- Well, I can do anything
for you that Zhang could do.
- Not on your best fucking day!
Now get Zhang to call me, now!
What are you doing?
- I just talked to Spencer.
Yeah, dude is in a bad place.
- Yeah, I left him a message a while back.
Did he ask to talk to me?
- No.
- Get back to work.
Where'd you say you worked in Montreal?
- L-Tec Gaming.
- Oh. Really?
'Cause I checked and
they've never heard of you.
- Well, I interned before I got hired,
so the records are
probably all screwed up.
- What?
- L-Tec Gaming Montreal
is a Francophone office.
Their people have to speak French. Do you?
- Dad, do you believe in karma?
'Cause I'm starting to.
You know I'm stealing that, right?
Your drawings, your ideas,
passing them all off as my own.
So all this stuff that's happening to me,
it's payback, right?
It's okay, Dad. You can be honest.
That's like how it was with "Leadstorm."
The original concept.
You know, all the rules for the worlds,
dynamics of the weapons,
all the shit that Steve Rosey didn't do,
you know where that came from?
Some kid on Reddit.
It was one late night on
one of their message boards,
and this kid just starts
spouting off all this crazy shit,
and I just ripped him off.
And the new thing, "Courage For Carnage"?
Well, I'll take the credit for that too,
even though it's all you, Dad.
Like this, your little sketchpad
on your little kitchen table.
- I'm Jim Bradford.
- You know what really pisses me off?
I used to be able to do this myself.
And then one day, it all just went away.
They never came back.
And I don't know if they ever will.
And Molly's right, I never
fought for her, at all, once.
I never fucking fought
for anything in my life.
And now karma's coming down,
and it is such a bitch.
I'm trusting you're gonna
keep all of this between us.
Oh, no.
- Yeah, yeah! Hang on!
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah!
Jesus. What now?
Detective.
- Zhang Lui was murdered
earlier this evening.
- Zhang?
How? When?
- It gets worse.
Spencer Bradford, you're
under arrest for murder.
- I work here.
Hey.
Thanks for getting the lawyer.
I didn't know who else to call.
- The security guard was my idea.
People are freaking out.
- I'm right there with them.
- I still don't understand
why they busted you.
- Well, there were some
text messages on my phone
that were threatening Zhang
with some pretty crazy shit.
Bullets. You know, sniper rounds.
Kind that killed Steve Rosey.
- You're so lucky that
nurse signed you in and out
of your dad's place.
- Yeah. Yeah, I'm just
dripping luck these days.
- Doesn't feel real.
You must have some idea who's behind this.
I mean, I know people don't
particularly like you,
but who hates you to this extent?
- Don't you think I've been over that
a hundred times already, Beth?
- Well, you better figure it out,
because people, they're scared.
Nobody wants to get in a
goddam elevator with you.
- And yet here you are.
- Yeah, well, I'm a badass.
- Hey, you got a second?
- Yeah, why not?
- Listen, I am so sorry
to hear about Zhang.
He was a really great guy.
- What do you got?
- Oh, well, actually,
thought the uranium mine
sequence was kind of dragging,
so I sketched out a sequence
with new assault vehicles
to kinda pick up the action.
- Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa.
You sketched?
- Yeah.
See, these could actually
come rumbling over the hill,
and then by the time they-
- So we're four days behind,
and this is what you're working on?
- Well, I...
- You're a goddamn code
monkey, so go write some code.
- I showed them to Beth,
and she really liked them.
- Oh, she did, did she? That's great.
I'm up against it now that
Zhang's gone, you understand?
So get your ass back in your chair
and finish the fucking game.
Do you understand?!
Or do I need to draw
you a fucking picture?!
- What?!
No more games, Spence.
It's time to settle with the house.
- Excuse me? Could I get my check, please?
Thank you.
- No, no, no. Absolutely not.
You tell the bank that we
will make our date, okay?
We're gonna pay off our line of credit
before our fiscal year end.
Just like Zhang promised.
Yeah, I know Zhang's gone,
but I'm still here, okay?
Beth is still here.
Yes.
Yeah, we'll...
We got this. Just tell them that.
Thank you.
Hi.
- Hey, what's up?
- Did the security guard let you in?
- What security guard?
- What are you doing here?
- You asked me to come over.
- No, I didn't.
- You texted me.
- Oh, this is nice.
Classless, even for you, Spencer.
- Okay, okay, wait. Who are you?
- I'm the ex, bitch.
I came first-
- Whoa.
- When I came at all.
Stop, stop, just stop!
Hey! Okay, that's enough!
That's enough!
Okay! You win, okay?!
You win! I lose!
I'm outta tokens, I'm
outta lives! You win!
I don't know who you are,
whatever you did, but you win,
so leave the women and
the elderly outta this!
You can come to me for a change
and we can fucking play
from the men's tees!
Fucking Connor.
Great. Christ!
Did you see the security
guy on your way up?
- Oh, the big guy in the uniform?
Yeah, I think he's bleeding
out in the break room.
Hey, Molls.
- What are you doing here?
- Awkward.
- It was you.
- Jesus. Finally.
I thought I was gonna have
to whiteboard it for you.
- Hold time it was you.
Thank Christ.
No, no, seriously, man.
I thought I was up against,
like, an evil super villain or something,
but it's just the code
monkey from the men's room.
- You watch your mouth.
- You guys know each other?
- Oh, yeah, we go way back,
back to a night on a Reddit
chatroom all those years ago
where I was spouting an idea
for a new game, like an idiot.
And you were there with
your thumb up your ass,
just taking notes.
You know when "Leadstorm" came out,
I played it for 96 hours straight?
When I figured out that sniper shot,
the hack with the C-7 vertebrae,
seemed kinda poetic to
end Rosey in that way,
but I just wanted you to twist.
Are you twisting yet, Spencer?
Are you enjoying this game?
- This isn't a fucking game.
- Really? Mm, well, sure
kinda plays like one.
Come here.
- Oh, my god.
- You're the voiceover
professional, correct?
Great. Great.
Listen, I actually wrote down
a few lines here for you.
They're not great, but I really feel like
a professional like you could
really do it some justice.
- Just leave her alone.
- Go on.
- Oh, no, don't shoot. I wanna live.
- Jesus.
I mean, I know it's a cold reading,
but, I mean, I was expecting a little more
from someone who does this for a living.
Okay, can we do this again,
but can you just do another take,
and this time, just give it a
little more oomph, all right?
I mean, your life's at stake here.
There's a madman with a gun.
- Oh, no, please don't!
I wanna...
- Better. Better.
Okay, but I'm still
not 100% believing you.
I think you got a better one in you.
- Oh, no, please don't!
I wanna...
And scene.
You know, trying on your life
for size, I kinda like it.
I nailed your girlfriend,
and now I'm about to take your job.
How's your apartment? I
bet you it's real nice.
- Cops are gonna know.
- Oh, are they?
Huh, well, new slutty girlfriend
and old junkie girlfriend
both shot in the head, hm.
Oops, spoiler alert.
And then the old fan favorite:
"And then he just pulled
the gun on himself."
Run, Molly!
Okay. Come on.
Come on, come on down. Down, down, down.
Go. Go.
Hey, get down, get down.
- Welcome to multiplayer
mode, motherfucker!
Shit!
Beth.
- Kill that asshole.
Wait, wait, wait. Stop.
Shh.
Where are you?
- Okay.
Don't jerk it, squeeze it.
Okay.
Shit.
I'm out.
He's reloading.
Go, go.
- Just so you know, I'm having
a terrific user experience!
Go, go, go!
Hey. You gotta go hide.
Okay, go. Go, go, go, go.
- Hey, Spence! Where you going?!
We're just starting to have fun!
Sounds like you're outta ammo, Spence!
There's auto-reload in real life!
Molly!
I thought we had something special!
- Hey, he's coming, okay?
And when he does, you gotta
tell him that you love him.
- What?
- You gotta tell him
that you love him, okay?
And tell him that it's real.
- It's real? What does that even mean?
- Just tell him.
Spence!
- Hey. Hey.
You fought for me.
- Still fighting, Moll.
- Oh, yeah, just in case
you're thinking about it,
those elevators, they're shut down!
And the stairwell's locked!
Yeah, you think I'm just
so fucking stupid, right,
and so worthless?!
Well, I'm actually not!
I just wasted Briggsy, Spence!
Felt really fucking good!
I'm sorry, sweetheart,
I gotta get close to
sell this as a suicide.
- But I love you.
I love you.
Connor, I love you.
And it's real.
For the first time, it's real.
Beth gonna be okay?
- She will be.
What the hell went down in there?
We've got a dead rent-a-cop
with a slashed throat,
a girl shot in the head at close range,
and somebody killed with a sword.
For Christ's sakes, a sword.
It's almost, almost like...
- I know.
A video game.
Yeah, Dad, I know, but you
need to listen to the nurse.
She knows what she's doing.
Yeah.
Yeah, yeah, I'll see you this weekend.
I love you too.
Bye.
- Big difference, huh?
- New meds he's taking are amazing.
- That's really great to hear.
- Yeah.
- I saw Molly on Thursday.
- Yeah, she's doing great, huh?
- Yeah. Fantastic.
- Yeah, she had a job interview this week,
but I told her to, asked her to cancel it.
She needs the full 60 days.
There's no shortcuts, right?
- Good.
Well, we did it.
"Courage for Carnage" is
now duped and shipped.
What a fucking miracle.
To Zhang Lui.
- To Zhang Lui.
- Oh, by the way, I'm
making you full partner.
This game is just as much yours, Beth.
Feel free to belch.
Oh, ho ho ho!
There we go!
- I'm a true lady.
- Come on. Join the party.
Troops are waiting.
- I'm good. You go ahead.
You know, do the CEO thing and mingle.
I gotta start spending some
time doing other things.
Working on a new idea.
- Okay.
Come here.
Don't be long.
I need to see if
there's anything left in me.
If the whatever it is is really gone.
Or if it could ever come back.
- Is it supposed to do this?