Shatter Belt (2023) s01e01 Episode Script

1
[theme music]
[wind blowing]
[woman 1] Hey, guys, I
promised it would happen!
And now here we are, getting
some world-famous Penny's fries.
Oh! Damn, bro, this is
gonna be a week at the gym,
but so worth it!
- You guys want these?
- [woman 2] Uh, yeah, sure.
- [woman 1] Yeah. Have fun.
- [woman 3] Thank you.
[light suspenseful music]
- Callie.
- Terri, what the hell?
- Hi.
- What are you doing here?
Yeah, I followed your Instagram feed.
[engines rumbling]
[Callie] I'm-- I'm working.
I don't have time to hang.
Well, I don-- I don't want to hang,
I just-- I wanna know, are you okay?
- Yeah, I'm okay. I've been here.
- Where the hell have you been?
- Wher-- d--
- What happened to your eye?
N-- nothing, nothing happened to my e--
wha-- what happened to your hair?
- Yeah. Real nice. Okay.
- Listen, I got sensitive work, okay?
- And I'm not gonna be able to-- - What work?
Callie, I know you're not a food blogger.
Why don't you use email anymore?
- Just stop.
- Why did you sell your car?
- Give me your phone?
- What?
- Give me your phone, Terri.
- Why?
Just give me your phone.
I mean, jus-- why?
- What's that for?
- Privacy.
Privacy? Okay. Are you a spy?
Did you talk to Mom?
Don't talk about Mom. Listen.
- [Terri] I mean, don't tell m--
- I-- stop, just stop.
I'll talk when I can talk.
Okay? Stop asking a lot of questions.
And please, don't do this again.
- Do you understand?
- No, I don't.
I don't understand.
[bird cawing]
I gotta go.
What is wrong with you?
I'll talk to you later, Terri.
You can keep the pouch.
[mysterious music]
- [clicking]
- [whirring]
- [clicking]
- [whirring]
[buzzing]
- [buzzing]
- [whirring]
[buzzing]
[gate closes]
[bird chirping]
[doorbell rings]
[female voice] Front door.
[clears throat]
[birds chirping]
[soft rattling]
[woman] Can I help you?
I'm from DWP. I'm here to test
the water quality of your sink real quick.
We didn't get a notice or anything.
No problem.
Um,
I can come back later, but it'll take
less than five minutes
if we can do it now.
[dog barking distantly]
Um [sighs]
yeah, sure. Come on in.
[light suspenseful music]
[whirring]
Uh, kitchen is right over there.
Yeah, I just need to get
some signal here first.
Oh, uh, we usually get
pretty good connection here, so.
Yeah?
[mouthing]
Uh,
that way.
Yeah, we try to do spot checking
just to make sure that
the water pressure is strong.
Okay.
[whirring continues]
How many people are
in the house using water?
Uh, it's just me and my husband.
- Is it here?
- Yeah, right in that cabinet.
[Callie] Is he at work or--
Um
[soft rattling]
I'm not sure.
[suspenseful music continues]
- Okay.
- So you said you're testing the sink water, right?
- What is that for?
- [beeps]
Uh, this is just how we sync up
with the main office.
- [thud]
- Should we start in the kitchen?
You know what? The bathroom
gets these hard water deposits
- that you might wanna--
- So, kitchen, this way?
Um, yeah.
And it's just you here today?
Uh, me and my husband
- [banging]
- Carl.
[eerie music]
[whirring continues]
[loud thuds]
[Callie] Huh.
Um, he's just fixing something up.
- Uh, shouldn't--
- [Callie] Yeah.
[banging]
[woman speaks shakily] I'm so sorry.
[banging]
- [woman] This must seem really odd to you. I know.
- No!
- [woman] But-- it's-- - No, no, no.
You have a ni-- you have a nice kitchen.
[whispers] Just keep talking.
[loudly] Do you guys cook a lot?
Um, actually, not so much anymore. Um,
Carl used to cook, and he's--
he's very careful.
- He actually took cooking classes.
- [clicking]
- [whooshing]
- You know, uh--
You know, it doesn't
usually look like this in here.
This must seem really--
[sighing] Ugh, sorry,
everything's such a mess, uh, I'm--
[tense music]
Uh, what's--
- What are you--
- [soft moan]
- [refrigerator whirring]
- [clattering]
- [yells]
- [loudly moans]
- Oh, my God!
- [moaning continues]
Okay, so you stopped cooking?
- [whispers] Keep talking.
- Um, uh, we used to cook a lot,
- uh, when we first got married, and I
don't really know-- - That sounds nice.
[heavily breathing]
- Uh--
- [Callie] That sounds very nice.
[Carl heavily breathing]
Would you like a smoothie?
Yes, great. Thank you.
- Okay, um-- - You got
some fruit and stuff in there.
[woman] Okay. Um,
I'm not really sure what,
- uh, what we all have, um--
- [whirring]
W-- what should I--
I didn-- I'm-- I'm not sure--
Okay, I have cantaloupe and,
and watermelon and--
- [Callie] It's great.
- What exactly am I--
Yes, i-- it's really
good weather we're having, huh?
Lots of clouds and bird.
[clattering]
[mouthing]
[tense music]
[whirring]
[beeping]
[whirring continues]
[Carl heavily breathing]
[whispers] Go.
[blender whirring]
[muted]
[beeping]
- [gunshots]
- [screaming]
[moaning]
- Wait, wait--
- Put it over his head!
[shouting] Oh! Shit!
- [thud]
- Oh! Shit!
- Oh, my God!
- Put it over his face!
- [Carl growling]
- [women groaning]
[Carl yelling]
Get him d-- get him down here!
- [women grunting]
- [growling continues]
What's happening to him? Carl!
Oh, my God! What is that?
What did you just give him?
- Sugar ball.
- Sugar?
- Carl.
- Move.
- [Callie grunts]
- [sharp ripping]
Hey! What's going on?
Don't worry. He will be fine.
Carl, are you okay?
He just needs something to focus on.
- [Callie] Here we go.
- [high-pitched buzzing]
- [Carl moaning]
- Come on.
Carl, Carl!
What's happening to him?
Is he having a seizure?
- Sort of.
- [woman] What do you mean, sort of?
- [shuddering]
- [Callie] Okay, good.
Wha-- [panting]
[Callie] Come on.
[buzzing continues]
[softly] So beautiful
[Callie] What did he say?
So beau--
[groaning]
[woman shouts] Carl! Carl!
- Oh, my God! Oh--
- I got--
[panting]
[buzzing stops]
[deeply exhales]
He'll be fine.
[panting]
[eerie music]
[music increases]
[birds chirping]
[sighs]
I'm gonna suggest you don't call anyone.
Don't discuss this.
- Are you joking?
- It's better the less it's out.
- Well, then you need to tell me what just happened.
- Seriously, in my experience,
- it's best-- - Lady, I don't care
about your experience, okay?
Either tell me what just
happened or I'm calling 911.
Fine.
- [softly] can't even know--
- Put that down.
Put it down. Let me see.
[soft rattling]
There are a few rare things in homes
that are on the edge
of having [sighs] awareness.
- Awareness?
- Yeah, in your house.
- What? Like, my house is alive?
- We don't say alive.
There's a bunch of different categories
as AI starts thinking for itself.
- Stages, sort of.
- Uh, stages?
- Like--
- Yeah, basically.
So who are you
and what are you doing here?
[light tense music]
I'm Denise.
That's Carl.
You're obviously
not from DWP, so [scoffs]
who are you?
I'm Callie. I'm sent out whenever a signal
of possible AI comes up.
It's contact tracing.
I go wherever it flares up
before it can erupt into
full-blown consciousness, and--
What?
- What, blows up the universe?
- Maybe.
Well, why would it want to do that?
We don't know what it would want.
Wanting is something,
that's part of how it gets classified.
It's-- trust me, it's really complex,
- I can't--
- Okay, well, just tell me.
I used to teach math,
so I'm not completely stupid.
- I'm not saying that you're stupid. I'm saying
- Alright.
- that it's re--
- Well, then explain it to me,
jus-- how does what get classified?
So, there's feeling and sensation,
which your fridge clearly had, right?
- That's one stage.
- M-- my fridge has feelings?
Yeah, it feels. It has sensors.
It's very job is to detect energy.
It can feel. It feels the hot,
the cold, pain, pleasure.
That's one level. And then
there's awareness of the feeling,
which is not just feeling something,
but knowing you're feeling it,
experiencing it.
And then, there's awareness
of the awareness,
- which is consciousness.
- Okay, so my fridge has feelings
- and it's conscious?
- Probably.
Or maybe. It was definitely
aware, it exhibited intention.
Which is technically something else,
because you can have
intention without awareness,
and awareness without intention,
but your fridge had the kind of intention
that can translate into
affecting the outside world,
- which is a big deal.
- Wh-- affecting the outside wo--
like, what happened to Carl?
Yeah.
[light eerie music]
Okay, so there's awareness,
and intention, and--
Is there another stage after that?
That's the big one.
Desire. That's
the wanting you mentioned.
[Denise] Well, how d-- how
does an object want something?
How do you and I want anything?
Uh, we just do.
- And it just does.
- Right?
Keep your hand still.
Okay, so an object can want something,
and it can have a desire, an--
- and intentions, and--
- Yeah, and there are a bunch
of different categories,
like, you can have desire
without intention or awareness,
or intention with awareness,
but no feeling.
And which one are you again?
- Sorry, that was a joke.
- Funny.
Wait, so [sighs] you end up
killing these new things, right?
Well, I try to halt the progress.
Your house could've been patient zero.
Once it grabs hold, it only spirals up.
So yeah, we try to clip it
before it knows we know.
He should be up soon.
Do you have any clear alcohol?
[tinkling]
[birds chirping]
And lemon juice?
- [soft thud]
- [soft splattering]
Can you fill that up with alcohol again?
And do you have orange juice?
- Orange juice?
- Yeah.
[soft splashing]
[soft thud]
So, why-- why shoot these things?
Why not just unplug them?
God, no. It has to be instant death.
Even cutting the power gives
it a second to leap somewhere,
and the only place it can go is a cloud,
which is the worse possible outcome.
But why Carl? What happened to him?
Well, it took hold of him to feel,
to experience the outside world, but
I don't know why
he's not waking up, usually--
- Usually what?
- [whirring]
You don't have
another smart device, do you?
With Bluetooth, maybe.
Um, I don't kno-- um
- [whirring continues]
- the Blu-ray player, maybe.
No. Something else.
You never answered
my question. Why Carl?
[Callie] Men seem to get occupied
at a higher rate than women.
We don't know why,
we don't know if it's hormonal
or something
about their single focus, or
if they're just easier to manipulate.
- Huh.
- [whirring continues]
Listen. What does your husband
like to do around the house?
Um, I don't know, watch TV in his office.
[stutters] This is gonna sound strange,
but I-- I wasn't very aware o--
of much of anything that he was doing
because we've kind of been doing
our own thing. [sighs]
- And-- - Are you saying he
could've been affected for a while,
and you didn't notice?
When you put it like that,
it's pretty embarrassing.
- But, yeah, I mean, w-- - No, trust
me, I see a lot of different situations.
We've been married for a long time,
- we're living kind of--
- Really, I get it.
People disconnect.
I mean, sometimes
we have to disconnect
to get through whatever is happening.
And the refrigerator
was trying to connect.
It's not your modem. Where did he--
- [Denise] Oh, my God! Carl! Carl!
- This has never happened before.
- Okay, think. What does he like to do?
- He was just here. I don't know.
- Carl!
- Alright, he might be trying to reset.
- So people are usually drawn to soothing activities
- Carl!
when they're coming out of
it. So does he have a hobby or--
Carl! Oh, my God, Callie,
he's here! He's out back! Carl!
Don't get too close. Be careful.
[splashing]
Wait, what's happening?
What's wrong with him?
Carl, can you hear me?
Com-- come back this way.
He's still captured. I'm gonna need your
help finding whatever's got him. Come on!
[tense music]
[Denise shouts] Callie!
[whirring]
This is done.
You sure there's nothing else
- in your-- - No, you
need to explain this to me,
otherwise I'm just calling the police.
That's not going to help, okay?
We need to break the connection here.
W-- why can't
we just move him away from it?
- Far enough to-- Wait.
- There's a lot more to it than that.
Jesus, I'm so sick of you
saying that. Just explain it to me.
[Callie] I don't know
how to explain it to you,
but clearly, there's some
underlying principle of consciousness
- that we don't understand.
- Oh, my God,
what underlying principle?
What does that even mean?
Take ancient cultures, okay. Twins.
Must've seemed crazy or magical
without knowing about genes
and embryo splitting. Right?
Only when we know about
that stuff does it make sense
that once in a while there's--
there's an exact duplicate
of another person.
Right?
How is that even relevant
to what you're talking about?
- What does--
- So this, too, has weird rules.
And one is that unless the
connection is broken at the source,
Carl could remain captured
by some sort of
consciousness wave that
seems to exist in the universe.
A consciousness wave?
Yeah. I'm not talking
about some new-agey,
"everything is conscious" stuff.
If any intelligence
gets advanced enough,
it starts to connect with this wave,
and it starts to test it.
It's, like, if a baby picked up a Ken doll
and started bashing him around,
it would look pretty weird
if you were Barbie
trying to have lunch with him.
Wait, so Carl's the Ken doll?
Yeah. He's newly occupied,
so it's curious,
learning how to work everything.
[whirring continues]
Denise, what is that?
- [Denise] The treadmill.
- [Callie] You didn't mention this.
[Denise] Well, I didn't think to, but--
- [Callie] It's on.
- Oh, shit.
Well-- God, don't judge me, okay?
I mean, I keep it covered up
'cause it makes me feel guilty,
- and I-- I-- - Yeah, I
know, it's been captured
by the refrigerator, recruited.
[tense music]
- Shit!
- [growling]
[beeping]
- [Denise] Carl? Carl?
- Denise,
- he can't understand you.
- Stop! Stop!
- Stop it! Carl! Stop!
What are you-- - [moaning]
- Don't shoot him!
- [gunshot]
[Callie] I'm not!
Carl! Remember this one?
- [calm piano music]
- [Callie grunts]
[Denise] Carl!
Oh, my God.
[soft gasping]
- [gunshots]
- [Denise shouts]
- [glass shattering]
- [growling]
I need you to boil some water.
[groaning]
What? Wha--
- [groaning continues]
- For what?
[yelling]
[Callie] I need something
sensory to jolt him.
I-- I'm improvising, this is new.
I've never seen it
try to defend itself like this.
I mean, can we get this
to boil any faster?
- H-- how would I go about doing that?
- I-- I don't know.
- I don't cook.
- [growling]
- In here. In here.
- Oh!
[growling continues]
[tense music]
Come on! Close the door!
- [door bangs]
- [thud]
[grunting]
[banging]
- [sighing]
- [panting]
You said it would release him.
- I thought it would.
- [softly] Oh, my God.
[banging continues]
You don't know what to do, do you?
What are you scared of?
Wh-- what aren't you telling me?
[growling and banging]
- He's gonna come in.
- He can't come in.
- You said he was occupied.
- He is.
Well, then, what's
occupying him? The treadmill?
[whispers] No, the consciousness
wave I told you about.
- So how do you even know that exists, Callie?
- It exists.
- How do you know it exists?
- We know it exists.
You don't explain it to me,
and you keep saying--
Because all of us are occupied by it.
[whispering] All of us
are no different than Carl.
[dramatic music]
[panting]
So what are you gonna do
right now to fix my Carl?
[tense music]
[sighs]
[banging]
Make noise to keep him here,
I'm gonna go around the front.
[shouts] Oh, my God! I'm staying here?
I gotta get to my bag.
[grunts]
[water softly lapping]
[soft rattling]
[tense music increases]
[banging]
- Denise, you okay?
- [shouting] I'm really not!
- [buzzing] - I'm gonna need
you to get the hot water, okay?
I'm gonna pull him away from the door.
[Denise] Wait, are y-- wait, you serious?
Yes!
[buzzing]
- [Callie] Are you ready?
- What do you want me to do?
We have to overload him
so his brain reboots.
- Get the water.
- [buzzing]
Ow! Ow, ow, ow, ow!
[buzzing]
Alright, now slowly take his hand.
- [hissing]
- [yelling]
Oh, shit!
- [crosstalk]
- Shit!
Unbutton his pants! Unbutton his pants!
- What are you gonna do?
- Something I've never tried before!
[growling]
- [buzzing]
- [screaming]
[beeping]
Shit! You too!
- [gunshots]
- [yelling]
[screaming]
[tense music continues]
[growling]
- [yelling]
- [buzzing]
Come on!
[buzzing continues]
[Callie loudly sighs]
[Denise softly] Carl?
[yelling]
[moaning]
[softly exclaims]
[calm music]
[whispering] So beautiful.
- No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no.
- [loud thud]
[panting] Carl!
Carl, babe. [panting]
[gentle instrumental music]
[soft rattling]
[gentle music continues]
[soft rattling]
[door softly closes]
[birds chirping]
[Callie] Marjorie.
Marjorie, can you hear me?
I didn't know
[gentle music continues]
Hi, it's Callie, I'm here with her.
And see that she gets sunlight
at least a few days a week.
She does. Well, she,
she gets out every day.
That's good. That means she's
navigating all the way from her bedroom.
On some days, she puts her hair back.
So, there's something.
Awareness, possibly.
- Or habit.
- I think habit.
We're all 98% habit in a typical day.
[birds chirping]
[Callie] Sometimes--
Sometimes she looks at me, and
it feels like she recognizes
me, just for a second.
Her face--
[light melancholic music]
But, you know, that's-- that's
me reading into what I want.
That's the other 2%,
seeing what we want.
[chuckles] Yeah. Thank you.
An-- and for all the cognitive attention.
[woman] Of course.
Old age is a journey.
There's many levels.
It's still new how we categorize abilities.
The first to go is awareness.
Yeah.
That went a long time ago.
[woman] You lose that awareness,
and it just sort of
spirals down from there.
She wrote this.
I think this morning.
I found her sitting at the window.
I think she wakes up
and watches the sunrise.
I can't read it.
[soft rustling]
[music continues]
- [Callie] So beautiful.
- So beautiful.
You seem to be handling this pretty well.
What do you do?
I'm a food blogger. [softly chuckles]
But
[bird chirping]
I'm thinking of doing something else.
[music continues]