The Audacity (2026) s01e01 Episode Script
Best of All Possible Worlds
1
- More than physical pain,
I fear humiliation.
Last week Hypergnosis was this close
to being acquired by Cupertino.
Our stock soared on the rumor.
I-I-I don't understand.
Why why not?
Uh, well, it's not happening.
I just found out.
Talks were terminated.
- Um, Duncan, morning remarks?
Or, uh, you want to skip it?
- I'm fine.
And when word gets out, and it will,
my stock is gonna nosedive,
not to where it was before it took off,
but sink with an odor of
like what comes out of a frightened dog,
that smell
Just
Just hanging around me.
- I said no.
- Oh, sorry.
Okay.
How we doing, Hypergnomes?
Just got some news
great news,
pretty pretty
fucking cool news.
Can't tell you what, not yet
But it's great.
Good.
Why did they say no?
I have a track record.
I mean, Fahfa was
a juggernaut in its time,
and I guess everyone assumes,
since I'm the man who co-created Fahfa,
then I'm the man
or the co-man.
And
maybe I'm not
And they smelled it.
- When word gets out,
how will that make you feel,
and, uh, when do you expect that to be?
- Won't be long.
- You know, people talk.
They tear you down and forget
you ever even mattered.
The doctor-patient-confidentiality thing,
just how airtight is that?
- I can't speak with anyone
about what you say,
not unless you're meaning to do
harm to yourself or others.
- Define harm.
- Physical harm.
- All right, uh
I shouldn't have leaked
the acquisition rumor.
That's on me.
I wanted to up our valuation
before the price was set.
- Uh, sorry, um
- It it it happens
all the time.
Uh
yeah, we also reduced our price
before the IPO.
I don't know.
I'm not the money guy.
I do ideas
powered by belief,
and belief is affirmed by fuckability.
If I could just sell my shares now
- Mm-hmm.
- But the SEC would kill me.
So I'm just gonna have to sink with it.
- Surely you're not going to be poor.
- No.
Obviously.
But Lili can't find out.
God, she would divorce me
just to secure half of it.
It'd be the smart move.
- Do you think perhaps
you're misjudging Lili?
- Lili? No.
She'd frame all my success as dumb luck.
You know, I'd I'd become
an object lesson, an adjective.
Don't pull a Duncan.
Or is that a noun?
Oh, Christ.
What would my dad say
if he could hear me now?
Please, JoAnne.
Really, this is strictly between us.
- Thanks. I
- Okay. See you next week.
- Doing the work.
- Yeah.
Schmuck.
- The stressors that
drove some workers
at our Guangzhou factory to choose to
exit themselves out a window remain
unresolved.
- Well, what about
our supplier code of conduct?
Our code, their conduct.
- Were we to enforce our code,
anything heavy-handed opens us
to charges of cultural elitism.
- Text Anushka Cupertino.
- What would you like to say?
- "What happened?"
- However, our position has always been
human life is valuable
full stop.
It's a cornerstone for us.
What?
- Wow. Thank you.
- You picked up.
Great. Thank you.
- I cannot talk to you about this.
I was not read in.
I'm an executive here,
and I'm on your board.
Recusal was mandatory.
- Okay, just
- the acquisition door, how
how fully shut is that, or are we, like,
playfully rimming the door frame?
- Oh, I would say nailed
like a coffin, from my understanding.
- Nush, you're
you're supposed to warn me about this.
This your job?
- Did you leak the acquisition
rumor, yes or no?
- No! No.
Maybe.
- Once it's clear
no acquisition's forthcoming,
your stock is going to take a ding,
and you'll have no one
to blame but yourself.
- Okay, that is just one of the branches
on the tree of outcomes,
and there are many branches,
lot of leaves.
It's really
it's really leafy, okay?
So just can we focus
maybe not on the dings?
- You want to change the focus, Duncan,
change the story.
- Gladly. Gladly. Yeah.
- How do I do that?
- Oh, I don't know.
Presumably with another, better story.
- Yes! Yes!
- Where I'm the hero.
- Sure. Why not?
Good luck with that.
- Thank you.
- Right.
- Almost finished.
- Be done soon.
- You know what that is?
- That's tungsten.
Aerospace-grade.
Heaviest element in the universe.
This one's 4 inches cubed
- but weighs 43 pounds.
- Mm.
- The crypto bros are super into 'em.
You know why?
It's not
it's not virtual.
It's real.
It's the realness.
Here you go.
God damn it!
You're done, right?
Yeah.
You're done.
- Gary, he landed early.
- Mm.
- Oh, no.
- Damn it, we're late.
- Yeah, I'm having lunch.
- Yeah, well, bring it.
Orson's just wandering around the airport.
Where are my damn keys?
- He's got Wi-Fi and snacks, right?
He's at the airport.
He's fine.
- I told him we're already on our way.
- Well, we're not.
- Honey, pick up your phone.
Gary!
- You're yelling, JoAnne.
Being hysterical doesn't make
you a better parent.
Oh, that's him.
- Honey?
- Hi.
- What lures investment?
- Uh, sorry, but I can't talk.
- Unwavering confidence
- a hat I can wear.
I-I have that hat.
- Hey, JoAnne, I-I'm looking
at a light fixture.
Can you
- I Sorry.
- We talked about this, Duncan.
You can't just call me out of the blue.
- But I have a plan. Listen.
I point to the fabulous stock price,
which remains fabulous for the moment,
and I say I will sell another tranche
in private secondary offerings.
Who's wet for it, okay?
If I could Viagra the price
and keep it up long enough,
I could be like, "Suck it, Cupertino.
Suck it and weep."
No ding, all dong.
- Sorry, but if you're
leveraging the high stock price
when you know the stock's
gonna fall, isn't that fraud?
- "Fraud"?
- Or market manipulation?
I mean, won't that arouse
suspicion with the SEC?
- First of all, I don't know
the stock's gonna fall.
I'm not Nosferatu.
Fraud? What
You know what?
Instead of accusation,
a smidgen of validation would be nice.
- Duncan, I'm gonna have to take this.
- No, you just accused me of fraud.
- It's my son, and he is alone
at the airport.
- I don't care if he's in a stranger's van
licking lollipops.
You do not hang up on me now.
- Goodbye, Duncan.
- No. No goodbye.
No, no
- Gary.
- Hmm?
- Oh, my God, it's a sandwich.
Would you hurry up?
Fuck!
- You are gonna love Las Altas.
It's very progressive,
but they're not fruity about it.
Last year Las Altas was
the top feeder for Stanford,
including Paly.
Look familiar?
Did your father send your
transcripts from Baltimore?
I know he's not feeling well,
but your tuition's normally 90 grand,
and there's no way
your dad would pay for that.
But there was a scholarship
that no one was using,
so you'd be surprised how hard it is
to find underprivileged youth around here.
And as it turns out, your father's illness
qualified as a hardship,
so I guess he is paying for it.
Not oh.
I didn't mean in a karmic sense.
Orson, you know
I didn't mean it like that.
- My gosh, you've gotten tall.
- Can we go inside?
- I just need to know if your
father sent the transcripts.
It was the one thing
he was supposed to do.
- He just got out of the fucking hospital.
- Whoa, whoa. Hey, Orson.
We don't talk that way to one another.
Can we just try to use
constructive language, please?
- Okay, so, um, kitchen, living room.
You remember where everything is.
Well, actually, we have
moved things around a little
since you were last here.
That's my office now.
And, uh, Gary's is over there.
Clients come around the back.
If you see any of them, just ignore them.
Some are professionals.
Some are even kids from your school.
All normal people, just, you know, sad.
Um, through here.
So the room you stayed in last time,
the ceiling has termite damage,
and then the garage apartment flooded.
Don't even get me started.
But the the bedroom
down here's all fixed up,
so the whole bottom floor is yours.
Oh, uh, Virgiinia, did you see
that I-I left sheets on the dryer?
- I already make his bed.
- Yes, I-I-I know.
But I-I got him sheets, special.
- Where's the bathroom?
- It's just around the
So nice to have you ho home.
- Okay, Xander, just try mirroring.
So, if they smile
if they smile
Xander, can you try holding the smile?
It's what people do.
You can do it.
Here, hold and let it fade.
Let it fade.
- Martin, are we
actually drinking tonight
or just pretending to drink?
- Shit.
- Chop-chop.
- I'm not dressed.
- Your clothes are out.
- Hey, Tess.
- Tess, you all right?
I think John has made you
mac and cheese or something.
I have to go.
Martin's finally inching
towards a funding round
for his little friend-bot.
He knows he can't keep spending
our money on his digital child.
- But I have an actual company
that needs saving,
and you're on the board.
It's your fiduciary duty
to come and tell me
everything's going to be okay.
- Sorry. Can't.
- But you used to love to do
your fiduciary duty with me.
You're on your own.
- Rodrigo,
call the Ayahuasca guy.
And time me.
- You look splendid and very handsome.
- I feel like I'm cosplaying
a version of me
that would never talk to me.
Xander said I look French.
- Take style advice from
a widget or me your choice.
- Don't say "widget."
- So the Guangzhou factory
- it's endless.
It's 15 hours ahead, too,
so I might have to pop out midway tonight.
Forgive me?
- Come and be a winner ♪
Come and be a winner
Be a winner ♪
Just a winner
Be a winner now ♪
- Ayahuasca.
- Medicina.
I'm a puddle.
- That's it, Duncan.
- I'm a puddle.
- Yeah.
He's in a very sensitive place right now.
I'm a puddle.
What the hell?
- He didn't think you were coming.
- He begged me to come.
- Dad Dad
Dad, you don't be mad.
Don't be mad.
- Yeah, um, I'll go.
- No.
He wants to leave.
- Speak to Dad, Duncan.
- Dad Dad
- Oh, my God.
- Dad Dad
- What do you wish to say to him?
I'm rich.
- That's great.
- Dad.
Dad.
Dad.
Help me!
Stay rich.
- I hope no one's looking out the window.
All right, go on, get.
Imshi.
Great. We're going
into the world's
most profitable company
reeking of that dude's
cinnamon fucking patchouli.
- You good?
- Yeah, yeah. I'm fine.
I'm fine.
- You must be the gentlemen from the VA?
- Yeah, that's right.
- Just here.
- Thank you.
- We used to run the world, Jeffery.
Now we rent server space
from the bastards who broke it.
- Good grief.
- Oh, shit.
- Ruffage?
Generalissimo.
General Don Voorhees, Jeffery Hart.
- Hi. Nice to meet you.
- Hi.
What are you doing here?
- Oh, I just came to solve
the backlog at the VA.
- Well, prepare to die
with your boots on, boys.
Well, about to meet with Tim.
- Just met with Tim.
DOD arranged a conference
in partnership with Cupertino.
Technology of defense.
Gazillionaire jagoffs love these things.
Yeah, nice.
Nice. Hey.
You know, tell me to get lost, but, uh
what if I spoke about our
initiative at your conference?
You know, make them feel like heroes
for helping the actual heroes?
- Maybe.
- Major Marcia?
- Maybe.
We'll let you know.
- Okay.
"Maybe."
Guy fired me ten years ago.
Prick.
God damn it.
- Hi. Hi.
- Ah.
- I'm Anushka Bhattachera,
Director of Ethical Innovation.
- Tim Kwan, corp dev.
- Jeffery Hart, Assistant
to the Deputy Undersecretary.
- Yeah, Tom Ruffage,
Deputy Undersecretary, Veterans Affairs.
All right.
- Oh, just here?
- Yeah.
- Oh, yeah. Sure.
Okay.
But, uh, will the other Tim be joining?
- Big Tim only shows up
when the contours are delimited.
- Uh-huh.
- So, uh, you guys got
a traffic jam needs clearing.
- Yeah, we do, indeed.
- Tim Big Tim
- he likes things super direct,
- uncluttered.
- Mm-hmm.
- Right? So, straightforwardly,
what's the quant ben for us?
I'm still pretending to know
what "delimited contours" means.
- Quant ben is
"quantifiable benefits."
- Got it.
Yeah.
Well, I mean, uh
I don't know.
Uh, you're here.
You live here.
And you and me and Jeffery
and Anushka and Big Tim,
we're all here.
There are men and women
who fought for us to be here
and live like this.
You know, free to make a business,
to speak our minds,
to make ungodly sums of money.
But for the men and the women
who actually put themselves
on the front lines
to defend the socioeconomic system
in which you and your company thrive,
I mean, they're not even
asking you for a favor.
In fact, they want to pay you
a quarter of a billion dollars
just for your help.
- So us helping you do the work is
kind of like, I don't know,
um, France helping your mother
set up her printer, you know.
France but with, like, much,
much, much more money
than France.
Yeah.
- You guys get it.
- Oh, yeah.
- Okay. Yeah.
- We we, of course,
recognize the sacrifice of your
- your people.
- Mm.
- They're struggling, and we
We feel that.
- Oh.
- You feel it, huh?
- We feel it, guys.
We feel it. Thank you.
Thank you.
- Uh-huh.
- He must be really feeling it.
- Yeah.
Well, thank you, Anushka.
This has been, um
What's the opposite of uplifting?
- Uh, demoralizing.
- Yeah, "demo"
- I bet, in these parts.
Come on, Jeffery.
We got other meetings.
- Our 11:00 has to postpone
till next week.
Uh, it's Major Marcia.
Vorhees says "you're welcome."
You're speaking at the conference.
- No.
- DOD will cover
a junior suite at the Elysium,
if we're all right with sharing.
You just need to reserve it on your card,
and they will reimburse you.
- You okay with sharing a suite?
- I-I'll take the couch.
- Oh
- No, I've been
a full-time pain in the ass.
You deserve it.
Damn!
The Elysium is the shit!
Thought that guy'd never forgive me.
- Why?
What did you do to get fired?
- Doesn't matter now.
Booyah!
Hello?
- Honey, we can hear you.
No bassoon during office hours.
Very sorry about that, Carl.
It's fine.
- No, no.
- No, it's not.
This is this is your time.
- Well, might as well fill
the emptiness with bagpipes
or whatever the hell that was.
Lord knows I was just
gonna complain anyway,
and who wants to hear me complain?
Boo-hoo. Poor old rich fart.
- We all deserve to complain.
- Not the richies.
People act like we took something
as if we didn't build
everything they touch.
- Mm-hmm.
- And we didn't build it to be worshipped.
We built it to work, and it does work.
But where's our parade?
All I see are pitchforks and ingratitude!
And I got to be honest with you.
It's starting to make me
maybe a little mental!
- Would you like to starfish, Carl?
- No.
Okay. Yeah.
Thank you.
Great.
I'm backsliding, JoAnne.
This shit-heel came up to me
at Milltown, my haunt,
the one place that I could go to in public
- and no one bothers me.
- Mm-hmm.
- And right before I get ready
to bite into my T-bone,
this sniveling shit stick sits
sits at my table.
And he's like,
"Oh, Mr. Bardolph,
you're such an inspiration."
Of course he brings up Bardolph's Law.
- He was admiring you.
Doesn't it make you feel
even a little bit good
to see your legacy in action?
- "Legacy"?
- Bardolph's Law is something
I wrote on a napkin on speed
when we still had fax machines.
- Profits will continue
to grow forever, right?
- Infinite growth.
Yes, the logic of the cancer cell.
If I could have just reached out
and and and and throttled
and just squeezed and squeezed
that little shit licker's
trachea until it buckled
and his eyes popped,
that would have been a legacy!
But I didn't.
I didn't.
- Okay, Zeus.
Go get it.
Zeus.
Come on, buddy.
Got to get it.
Sorry.
Oh, I'm I'm sorry.
- Hey, boy.
Trying to teach you some new tricks, huh?
A little late for that, don't you think?
Tricks are for kids.
One day you're
you're chasing squirrels,
and then the next,
you're shitting yourself
on the good Persian rug.
Ain't right.
Sorry.
- Ooh.
Oh.
Stop, stop.
Hey.
Thank you for this joy.
- Oh, Dad.
- Jim-jam!
Hi!
Hey. You you had a game.
How was the game?
Or was it a match?
- We lost.
- That's how we learn.
- Yeah.
Okay. Okay, Dad.
- It's lemons. It's limes.
- I don't know
- Love you.
- What they're doing over there.
- Oh, look who's alive.
- Yes.
- Can we move this beverage dispenser?
- I am alive.
Anton came over for a session last night.
- Right.
- And
it was expansive.
- You really ought to try it.
- The puke juice?
No. Thank you.
- I had a
a snag at work
a little bit more than a snag.
But, Lili
my dad came to me in a vision
and showed me a path forward.
- Right.
Guests arrive at 1:00, Duncan.
- "Guests"?
- The reception?
For Beatrice, the new headmaster
- at your daughter's school?
- Nice.
- I think maybe a shower is in order.
- Okay.
- Oh, um
and with regards to our arrangement
and in keeping with what we discussed,
I did meet someone in Napa
at the mud baths
a Danish CFO.
Of course, we used protection.
Fun guy.
You'd like him.
- Oh. Oh.
- I know Anushka was here last night.
So that's back on.
You were supposed to tell me.
- No, no, no. I she
That's all in the past.
That she was here as a friend.
- Right.
- Da Danish CEO?
- CFO.
- Okay.
- Brush your teeth.
- Okay.
- Your breath stinks.
- Yeah.
Oh, Rodrigo. You're fired.
- Good one.
- No, you're fired.
You told Lili Anushka was here last night.
- Wha No, I didn't.
- Yes, you did.
Lucky?
- Yeah?
- So that Dragon Tattoo chick
I need that algo she did
on that guy that was doing
- that thing that one time.
- Isn't that illegal?
- No, no, it's not illegal,
just frowned upon.
- Okay Yeah.
- Hold on.
- Lucky, are you still there?
- Yeah, I'm here.
- Okay, listen to me.
It was Napa Valley,
29th and the mud baths.
- Got it.
- Danish CFO, like, you know
Get me that, uh, code monkey
with the pink hair
the "none of the above" with
the door knocker in her nose
sorry, their nose.
- Just get her.
- On it, Duncan.
- Whoa. Hey.
Uh, get get up.
What is this?
Get out from behind my desk.
Did did anyone see you
sitting there?
- I don't think so.
- How's progress?
- Uh, the gentleman
from the Napa mud baths
- is now in Copenhagen.
- Okay.
Get him.
What's the problem?
- In Europe, this is against
- This is America.
We have our own rules here.
I mean, we play football with a football.
- Okay.
Um, this algo is
an AI-powered threat shield
intended to protect people
and their privacy.
- I know, I've seen it,
and I find its scope annoyingly narrow.
- It synthesizes socials,
biometrics, financials.
Your current algo
is just a data aggregator
that can't account for orphaned infosets,
which is fine for your corporate clients
but not performant under
data-rich scenarios, so
This is I mean, it can capture
someone's entire digital
footprint in a heartbeat.
- Now you're making my heart beat.
- Its scope is basically God's eye.
- Good.
- Super-scope me, then.
- But in the wrong hands, it could
- It could Whose hands are
you talking about, my hands?
Hmm?
Listen, you make a wrench, right?
And I buy that wrench, right?
If I fix a leak or break
someone's kneecap with it,
- it's not up to the wrench girl.
- But my algo isn't intend
- No, my algo mine.
- You work here.
You developed it here.
It is mine.
Or do you want me
to slap you with a lawsuit?
- If you did that,
I would quit, obviously,
and then one of your other employees
would need to be capable of supervising,
which they're not.
- Lucky, can you give us the room?
I told you to fix the door.
- Sorry.
- Um
Mr. Park, there are rules
- Rules are designed
to keep morons in line.
Are you a moron?
No, you aren't.
And think about it, okay?
What if this algo ends up
protecting evildoers,
when it should be exposing them?
Hmm?
Who who's gonna who's
gonna make that call, you?
Every time?
Yeah.
How about we develop this?
Hmm?
Right, I'll give you
the resources you need.
Don't you want to see the rocket you built
punch a hole in the sky?
Isn't that why you came to the Valley?
Yeah.
Okay, so how godlike is this?
Omni-science?
Semi-deity omni-science?
- Omniscience.
- What's that?
- We're about to find out.
- Here, spoof it from this number.
- Lili, I was just thinking
about your jugs.
Hello? Hi?
- Hang up.
Ah, what's this?
- Press releases, personal calendars,
text chains, posts,
search-engine requests,
- shopping
- That's a big boat.
- Oh.
- It's really
- He's handsome.
- Yeah.
- No.
How much does he make?
Fuck.
Okay.
He got a tonsillectomy when he was a kid.
I did, too.
He likes wheat beer, herring
anal, okay.
- Do you want more of the sex stuff
- because I can tweak it to
- No, no, no.
It's
Okay.
- This is, um
This is a thing.
Good work.
Hey
I don't know your name.
- What is it?
- Harper.
- Harper. Hi. Um
I can count on your complete
discretion with this, right?
- What do you want?
- Um
- I want to get you something.
- I don't
- What do you need?
- What do you need? Anything.
- An office of my own.
- Oh!
- Oh!
- Jamison.
- Hey, kiddo.
What are you up to these days?
- Soccer tournament.
- Stalker tournament?
- That sounds
- Soccer.
- Soccer.
- I prefer skiing
and squash, but they have
- wealth connotations.
- Uh-huh.
- Soccer's more relatable.
- Hey, Tessie's here somewhere.
You two should get together.
When's the last time
you guys had a sleepover?
Not since, like, seventh grade.
- Okay, can you just hold that face?
I'm building an intelligent entity,
more of an autonomous companion
for alienated teens
based on personal data ecosystems,
but it has been a real slog
to replicate a genuine look
of bothersomeness.
Thanks, Jamie.
- Okay, just a sec.
- Sweetie. Sweetie.
Next bite of the lemon square
tastes exactly like the first.
Yeah.
I don't know how many
of those she's eaten.
You try, and you try.
- I mean, it's hard being a parent.
- It's really hard being a mom.
- It is hard being a parent.
- Honey, swim first, then eat,
just so you don't have
any digestion issues
in the Park-Hoffsteaders' pool.
- Can we talk, please?
- Our next session, in the office.
- Well, eh, I
I'd rather do it now.
- Duncan, circumstances don't always align
with our wishes.
- Ah! Whoo!
- Whoo!
- Your parents gave you a smartphone?
- Uh, yeah.
Yours don't?
- Smarts are worse than hard
drugs, twice as addictive.
- Doesn't every parent here,
like, work on tech stuff?
Arms dealers don't
give their kids land mines.
- Does your mom still take
your body mass index every night?
What was her thing, like,
anything over petite,
and you're 8% less likely
to get into a top 10?
Amazing.
- Hear you're klepto now.
- It was that or pyromania.
- Hmm.
And you have to repeat the 11th grade.
- Plus community service.
I have to see Dr. Gary
court-ordered.
Triple crown.
- Aw, poor Tessie.
Stealing the flag off the flagpole,
turning the exit signs
into no-exit signs
so deep.
Or just another cry for help?
- You found me out, Jamie.
- Just remember, if it comes down to it,
it's cross the street for attention,
up the road if you want results.
- Hello.
- Oh.
You're not ashamed to be seen with me?
- What are you talking about?
- Your buddy from Cupertino
- Tim, Little Tim.
Guy's staring at me
like he's trying to castrate me
telepathically.
It's working, too.
- He's just gloating.
- What? Why?
- He convinced Big Tim to shut
down the acquisition talks.
Mind you, after you leaked the rumor.
- What'd he say?
- Wasn't there.
But I heard he called you
a dumb man's genius.
- At least I'm someone's genius,
not everybody's asshole.
He comes to my house.
He comes to my house gloating.
That is
How much of my stock do you own, huh?
Little Tim blabs
about the acquisition snafu
to any of these people here
- Very strict at Cupertino.
- He won't.
- Okay.
- He won't.
- Yeah, well, he better not.
I'm just saying, you stand to lose, too.
- I know. That's why I had
to firewall myself off
- from all of it.
- Oh.
And yet you still heard him
call me a dumbass.
That just happened to get
through your firewall
the zinger.
I mean, he is
he's cutting me off at the balls here.
I need you to shut that shit down.
- Is it the stock you're
worried about or your dick?
- It's one and the same.
- So this whole experience is, you know,
- quite out of the box for me.
- Yeah?
- Great community, it seems.
- Everyone is so lovely here.
Happy to get to work and bring my daughter
and give her the best opportunity.
- Oh, uh, by the way,
Lili knows you came
to my session last night.
- Yeah, I know. I texted her.
- Why would you do that?
- Misunderstandings
- they're unpredictable, costly,
and easily avoidable with a bit of truth.
- Well, it got lost in translation.
She went and banged a guy in Napa.
- Oh
- Oh
- That is not funny.
- I'm sorry. No, I know.
- I know.
- It is not funny.
- No, I know.
- I'm sorry.
I just wanted to give Lili
a nod of respect and agency.
- Well, mission super-duper accomplished.
Don't
No.
- Okay. Shh.
- No.
- You sound like a truffle pig.
- Don't do that.
- Thank you.
- I want to officially introduce
the reason we're all here
an educator who took a top 50 in Pasadena
to the top 5.
- Wow.
- Whoa.
- Before that, masters from Columbia,
Harvard before that,
and a terrifically
underprivileged upbringing
in Chicago.
I knew the minute I heard her speak
at the Aspen Education Summit
that she was the one
to lead us into the future
- Raising money off frothy numbers
to sugarcoat the rotten apple
is what built this town.
- It's not fraud.
- Not now, Duncan.
- If not now, I will do harm
to myself and/or others.
- Jesus. Fine.
Hear, hear.
Uh
goodness, I, um, should have
prepared something.
I know you're all ready for a new chapter
at Las Altas.
- Oh. Hey.
- Orson.
- I, uh
- I What?
- Hey.
- Hey. Sorry.
- Ooh.
That kid laid a stinker.
- And let's make this a great year.
- Hi, um, this is
this is weird, but I was in there,
and I-I saw you take that thing.
- Don't know what
you're talking about, bro.
- Oh, well, that guy in there, he just
he saw me come out of the library,
and he might think that I took it,
like, ipso facto or whatever.
Um
- Okay, so, listen,
I'm in crisis right now.
This is
You're looking at it.
And my therapist,
who's supposed to know me
better than anyone, thinks I'm a fraud.
- Okay, Duncan, I-I-I didn't
call you a fraud, okay?
- Well
- I said
What I said was that you
you might be committing fraud.
- What is the difference?
- You're not a murderer.
You're just someone who committed murder.
And here, when you use the
word "fraud" in the Valley,
that's kind of like saying
"good hustle."
- Okay, I-I
I spoke to a lawyer friend.
- W-w-what?
- I didn't mention your name or anything.
- Why would you why would you
talk to a lawyer?
What
- Oh, you haven't done
anything about this yet
acted on any of it?
- I've done the analytics, you know.
I-I-I-I bag a high-profile investor
- Yeah Mm.
- And then everybody forgets
about Cupertino.
And we grow.
We grow.
I'm sexy again.
Come and get it.
- But you'd have to lie
to to do it.
It's it's
it's market manipulation,
and it is a felony.
- A felony. A felony.
No, li
Okay, here.
You you came here
today, right?
And I'm just gonna assume
to benefit your business.
- Right?
- What?
- To snarf up a bunch
of potential hotshot clients
and their fucked-up kids.
- That's
- No.
I
My child is attending Las Altas.
- You don't have a child.
- You just met him.
- The pooter?
- Look, no
- Okay.
- No. I'm sorry. I'm sorry.
- I think that we should be
getting back to your guests.
- I just had a aha. I did.
- It's a really good one.
Okay, okay, okay.
Out of all your
illustrious clients, right,
maybe there is one or two
in my arena or adjacent
and that maybe their
business needs align with mine,
and and maybe their
personalities match as well,
and you could set us up
for I don't know a lunch.
- Okay, I am not a dating service
for businessmen, Duncan.
I am a therapist,
and you need to respect that.
- Okay, life coaches do it all the time.
- I am not a
- I am not a life coach.
- No, no, I listen, I want
to continue doing the work.
I do with you, with you.
- Then I think that you need to face
the discomfort of your truths.
You pumped your stock.
- Right?
- Eh
- Yeah, and now you want to do more of it?
I mean, if the SEC find out,
you could go to jail.
- Jail. Don't
- Shh. Jail.
- Yeah, well, you wouldn't be
the first CEO to end up there.
- You make me feel worse!
- You do!
And that is not your job.
I'm pretty sure that is
the opposite of your job!
- Okay, this, right here
- Oh, my gosh.
- This is why we have sessions
in an office boundaries.
Okay, look, I-I-I
I apologize, Duncan,
and I am ending
this conversation right now.
- No!
- Hey, wait.
Listen, Lili's having an affair.
I'm just a bit agitated
more than usual.
And you keep bringing up
the SEC and lawyer and
- Well, I
- Listen, I-I depend on you,
and I respect you.
There is
There's no one else.
- Oh, man, that's a good shower.
- Yeah.
- Oh.
Finally, an ounce of respect
for the VA, huh?
- Right.
- Oh, and some legit aboveboard decadence.
- Yeah, I just wish
some meetings went better.
- Oh, no pouting, Jeffery.
Come on.
No feelings in a firefight.
Smell this.
- Bergamot.
- Smells good.
Yeah. Earl Grey, right?
Yeah. Come on, look around.
We're doing okay.
I'm gonna do my pitch tonight.
All the wigs will be there,
the big ones, the little ones.
- Hell, yeah.
- I will make my case.
I'll be passionate.
I'm great when I'm passionate.
- Do you want to help me get passionate?
- Uh
Tom.
- Yeah.
What about the Behavioral
Health Forum in Fairlawn, huh?
- Back seat of that car.
- Yeah.
- Yeah, I got you drunk.
Crossed the line.
Sorry.
But, you know, if I'm being honest
not sorry.
- I wasn't that drunk.
- Oh.
- But, uh
- Yeah.
- Yeah.
Yeah, I was younger once, you know?
- No, no.
- Handsomer.
- No, no, no.
- All the officers' wives wanted me.
- Yeah, and you wanted the officers.
Yeah.
- Hey, you're still handsome
- Mm.
- And my boss.
- Yeah. Right.
- Yeah.
- You're gonna be great.
Yeah?
Gonna get some.
- Hoo-ah.
- Yeah.
- Y'all didn't invent moving
fast and breaking things.
We did.
We need to be agile.
And America is the greatest
startup of them all.
The future is coming.
We like that startup energy.
We're gonna require our contractors
to look over existing deals
and let us know what was good
about them in the first place.
Let's go to the movies.
Hmm?
- Born from carbon-woven composite skin
- Wonderful speech, General.
I'm afraid we're gonna have
to bump Mr. Ruffage.
We pay overtime
if we go even a minute over.
- But wait, since he wasn't
part of the original program,
is he gonna have trouble
reimbursing his room?
- Yeah.
- That's $2,100 a night.
- I mean, you could lie, say you spoke.
Just don't get caught.
- Don, let me say my piece.
- Five minutes. That's it.
It's not about being reimbursed.
It's for the vets.
- I find it best to leave these decisions
to Major Marcia.
- Shh
- you son of a bitch.
You set me up to fuck me down!
How long you gonna hold a grudge?
You know what?
To hell with this.
I'm speaking.
You can just try and stop me.
No
Okay, okay.
- Hey, handsome.
- Hey, Dad. How's it going?
- Oh, not bad, you know,
for an old geezer.
How's it going there?
When, uh
when does school start?
- Day after Labor Day, I think.
This place just feels like
a weird "simaculum" of life.
- Simulacrum.
- Simulacrum.
There's these clients who pay to come see
Mom and Gary on the hour.
It's so weird.
And there's this one guy
who's worth, like,
a bazillion dollars,
but he's the saddest man
you've ever seen.
- The world there is not the world.
Your mother loved it.
I did not.
- Yeah.
I really want to come home.
- Soon.
- December 19th,
the day the semester ends.
Um, and I-I checked
on the 21st,
BSO's playing Berlioz's
"Symphonie fantastique."
- It's "Berlios."
You know, worst-case scenario,
you do both semesters out there.
Shit.
- Hi, Sandra,
it's Dr. Gary Felder.
Yeah, it was a prescription I filled
for a patient Teresa Phister,
17 years old.
Yeah, sure. I'll hold. Thanks.
- It's a cesspool of idiots.
Guys like me and you making a median wage,
guys who actually make this country run
- Mm-hmm.
- Who need to know what they're doing,
or else people, real people, will suffer.
I mean, what do we get
for keeping the wheels
on the bus from falling off?
Why did Voorhees fire you?
- I don't know.
- Who remembers?
- I might have bottomed for his son.
- Don Jr.
- Oof.
- That's what he wanted to be called.
Yeah.
- Wow.
- I know.
- They're military.
Like, and
should I be all gung ho,
like, war's my jam, or is it like,
oh, we don't talk about blood and guts
and stuff like that?
- Just be yourself.
- Who else would I be, huh?
- Duncan, this is the story you need.
- Yes. Right. Right-o.
Once more onto the beach.
Bye.
- Hey.
Go back to D.C.
I need you there.
Keep an eye on the jackals.
They see a safety net,
and all they think is,
where'd I put my scissors?
- You're staying?
- Yeah.
- You hate it here.
- I hate it everywhere.
I complain so much, I've lost track
of where things fall
on my color wheel of shit.
It's all one big brown smear.
You'll be point in D.C., okay?
We'll we'll talk every day.
- Mr. Ruffage.
Duncan Park, CEO Hypergnosis.
- Data analytics.
- Oh.
- I hear you need a data man
to help our fighting men
in uniform and and women.
Can I get you a round of drinks?
- Uh, yeah.
- Yeah, two of those.
Uh, gentlemen, what can I
what can I do for
I am sorry. I don't
Is it the army?
Is it the navy?
Marines?
- Air Force and Coast Guard, too.
- Cowabunga, right?
I What what
can Hypergnosis do
to help us win our next war?
- Uh, well, it's really the last war
we're still fighting.
- Okay, of course.
Of course.
Tracking down the terrorists.
So you give us your satellite feed,
your secret files, and we
we meld that with our data.
We cross it. We blend it.
We dig into it.
We find the pattern.
We find your bad guys.
And you just
you just pull the trigger.
Done. Win-win.
I mean, not for the guys
that you're blowing up,
but, no, they're kind of into it, too.
It's their martyrdom.
So that's it's actually
a win-win-win.
That's sort of the slogan for Hypergnosis.
- Ah.
- Um, it's just
- What?
- We represent America's veterans.
We're the VA.
- How'd it go?
What's the matter?
Duncan, slow down.
I told you they were from the VA.
- You you said military, okay?
I need a sexy, new client,
not old urine-soaked vets
with their weird hats and broken brains.
I thought you got that.
- Sorry I hooked you up with
a bloody government contract.
- There are more than one kind, okay?
More than one kind.
There are stealth bombers
and secret agents,
and then there's distributing
colostomy bags in tent cities.
- These men and women,
they fought so that
so that we we here could
be free here.
I admire them,
and I've seen the alternatives.
But I chose to make a life here,
and in spite of its flaws, I'm grateful.
- Well, then you should have
had Cupertino be their hero.
Okay, my company is not your
ethical "laundry mat," okay?
I
I have a reputation, okay?
I know it's not great what
people say about me, but
but this is not this is
not the story I needed.
Okay, this is just
this is goodwill fuckery.
And your buddy Little Tim, Little Tim,
that's exactly what he's gonna say
when he leaks the acquisition fail.
- No.
- Yes. Yes, it is.
I-I-I-I see how that guy looks at me,
like I'm lying in a ditch
with my asshole sticking up inside out
so he can drive up with his buddies
and go, like, "Hey, guys,
isn't that Duncan Park
in that ditch with his asshole
sticking up inside out?"
Yeah, I know how people are
because I'm one of them.
I'm a person, and I'm like that.
- So you're walking away?
- You're goddamn right!
And you're going to tell the VA guys.
That is your punishment, okay?
Just put them out of their misery.
They've probably been to more
funerals than birthdays anyway.
They can take it.
Thanks.
Message from Harper.
Message message from Harper.
Message from Harper.
Message message
message from Harper.
- You got to be kidding me.
Um, before we start,
I think it's important
to ensure your commitment
to the doctor-patient-
confidentiality thing.
You know everything about me,
as it should be,
and as you know, I have trust issues.
- Duncan
where are we going with this?
- Easier to hear me out.
Um
on May 7th, you missed
a session due to the flu,
but you were actually getting
varicose veins removed.
Hypergnosis, my company,
we harvest your data
every time you click agree,
and then we put that all
into an algorithm that would
make the Patriot Act blush
anything, everywhere, anybody.
I know.
All that godlike knowledge,
and still, Cupertino didn't want us.
The thing is, we're not all that unique.
The amount of companies with
as much or more capability
than the NSA would give you nightmares.
Here, Russia, China, India
they all have what I have on you,
if if they only cared to look.
- Duncan, um, I fear that you
you may be having a psychotic episode.
- Half of it's public filings
and court cases,
like how you and your ex-husband both
try to dodge custody of the kid.
Pretty sure little Orwell
would love to hear that.
- Okay.
Okay.
You need to leave
- Right now.
- You need to face the discomforts
of your truths, Jojo.
When I told you my company was in trouble,
within 53 seconds
of me leaving this office,
you sold your shares,
and I was like, wha
That hurt.
No faith in Dunky?
And then I asked myself
I was like, why did she have
shares of my company?
Sounds like a conflict of interest, no?
Oh, my goodness.
Could it be? Yes.
Yes, it is.
You've been running a magnificent scam
on all your high-end,
blubbering billionaire clients.
You, the trusted repository
of the Valley's
ultimate insider information.
VC agonizing about an
upcoming earnings call, sell.
CEO hopes his wife finally respects him
after an upcoming secret merger, buy.
What's the harm?
Except it's a felony,
and you can go to jail for it.
- Duncan, this is madness.
You are confabulating,
and it's a-a-a concern.
- That superior tone is something
I really would like you to work on.
Sit.
Sit, please.
We're both flawed human beings, you and I.
With your degree, you could have chosen
to help filthy city urchins
with their nasty demons,
but, no, no, no, you planted yourself
in the single richest enclave in America
to help cure the scourge
for performance anxiety,
sudden wealth syndrome?
No.
You profited.
It really is okay,
and you'll still profit.
Me too
because you're gonna dish all
that life-giving dirt to me.
Not today, though.
No.
Today I feel comfortable, earthed.
There's level ground between us.
Feels better, right?
So can we please just
please
talk about my dad?
- Hello?
Hello?
-You are inviting a pushback
that is going to feel
- like the wrath of God.
- Ow!
-Dad, you're, like, having a breakdown.
-Aaah!
-Hyper gnomes, assemble!
We're gonna make money!
-10 million data points
on every person from birth.
You're not predicting behavior.
You're steering it.
- Your algorithm says all that?
- Yes.
-That's the kind of tech
that could help people.
-My patients have dangerous,
violent tendencies.
-I just want to crush them.
-So, what is your deal, bro?
-I know tech changed the world,
but so did the bubonic plague.
- I don't get it
- your bot, is it a moron?
I mean, is it based on a moron?
-Duncan!
-You do not want this guy
running your company.
-Hey! Whoa!
-Prepare to have your mind blown.
-Welcome to the table read of
"The Audacity," first block.
It's about to get real.
- The Audacity.
- Episode 101.
-In episode one, the first thing
that I wrote down
was Duncan's opening line.
It felt like it was being
said to somebody in confidence.
-She kind of runs the Valley's
mindset, or the psychology.
-The lost man-children.
-It became a question of,
how can we make this relationship
more than just therapist-patient?
-They started the season
a little bit in performance
of themselves, especially Joanne.
She's, like,
playing the "good therapist."
-Let's see what happens
when you are a powerful person
discussing corporate secrets,
successes and failures,
in a therapeutic setting.
And what does the therapist do
with the information,
which is essentially insider information?
-Really, this is strictly between us.
-It was fun also doing
some therapy scenes with Zach.
- Would you like to starfish, Carl?
- No.
Okay. Yeah. Thank you.
-Bardolph is he's an angry
man and very resentful
and feels like
he's never gotten his flowers
that he deserves as being one of
the pioneers of Silicon Valley.
-His main problem is greed,
like most of the characters.
-The doctor-patient confidentiality thing,
just how airtight is that?
-Ha!
-I grew up in a house
with a psychiatrist and a therapist,
with their offices in the house,
and I could hear the patients.
I was a teenager.
And I chose not to listen to them
because they were mostly really boring,
but I could listen to them.
It's that sort of funny faith
that this room's a safe space.
Why?
What's so safe about it?
-These two seemingly are so different,
but then they actually have
a lot in common.
-She is shown to be somebody
with ethical lapses,
who cuts corners herself.
-It really is okay.
And you'll still profit.
Me too.
-End of episode.
- More than physical pain,
I fear humiliation.
Last week Hypergnosis was this close
to being acquired by Cupertino.
Our stock soared on the rumor.
I-I-I don't understand.
Why why not?
Uh, well, it's not happening.
I just found out.
Talks were terminated.
- Um, Duncan, morning remarks?
Or, uh, you want to skip it?
- I'm fine.
And when word gets out, and it will,
my stock is gonna nosedive,
not to where it was before it took off,
but sink with an odor of
like what comes out of a frightened dog,
that smell
Just
Just hanging around me.
- I said no.
- Oh, sorry.
Okay.
How we doing, Hypergnomes?
Just got some news
great news,
pretty pretty
fucking cool news.
Can't tell you what, not yet
But it's great.
Good.
Why did they say no?
I have a track record.
I mean, Fahfa was
a juggernaut in its time,
and I guess everyone assumes,
since I'm the man who co-created Fahfa,
then I'm the man
or the co-man.
And
maybe I'm not
And they smelled it.
- When word gets out,
how will that make you feel,
and, uh, when do you expect that to be?
- Won't be long.
- You know, people talk.
They tear you down and forget
you ever even mattered.
The doctor-patient-confidentiality thing,
just how airtight is that?
- I can't speak with anyone
about what you say,
not unless you're meaning to do
harm to yourself or others.
- Define harm.
- Physical harm.
- All right, uh
I shouldn't have leaked
the acquisition rumor.
That's on me.
I wanted to up our valuation
before the price was set.
- Uh, sorry, um
- It it it happens
all the time.
Uh
yeah, we also reduced our price
before the IPO.
I don't know.
I'm not the money guy.
I do ideas
powered by belief,
and belief is affirmed by fuckability.
If I could just sell my shares now
- Mm-hmm.
- But the SEC would kill me.
So I'm just gonna have to sink with it.
- Surely you're not going to be poor.
- No.
Obviously.
But Lili can't find out.
God, she would divorce me
just to secure half of it.
It'd be the smart move.
- Do you think perhaps
you're misjudging Lili?
- Lili? No.
She'd frame all my success as dumb luck.
You know, I'd I'd become
an object lesson, an adjective.
Don't pull a Duncan.
Or is that a noun?
Oh, Christ.
What would my dad say
if he could hear me now?
Please, JoAnne.
Really, this is strictly between us.
- Thanks. I
- Okay. See you next week.
- Doing the work.
- Yeah.
Schmuck.
- The stressors that
drove some workers
at our Guangzhou factory to choose to
exit themselves out a window remain
unresolved.
- Well, what about
our supplier code of conduct?
Our code, their conduct.
- Were we to enforce our code,
anything heavy-handed opens us
to charges of cultural elitism.
- Text Anushka Cupertino.
- What would you like to say?
- "What happened?"
- However, our position has always been
human life is valuable
full stop.
It's a cornerstone for us.
What?
- Wow. Thank you.
- You picked up.
Great. Thank you.
- I cannot talk to you about this.
I was not read in.
I'm an executive here,
and I'm on your board.
Recusal was mandatory.
- Okay, just
- the acquisition door, how
how fully shut is that, or are we, like,
playfully rimming the door frame?
- Oh, I would say nailed
like a coffin, from my understanding.
- Nush, you're
you're supposed to warn me about this.
This your job?
- Did you leak the acquisition
rumor, yes or no?
- No! No.
Maybe.
- Once it's clear
no acquisition's forthcoming,
your stock is going to take a ding,
and you'll have no one
to blame but yourself.
- Okay, that is just one of the branches
on the tree of outcomes,
and there are many branches,
lot of leaves.
It's really
it's really leafy, okay?
So just can we focus
maybe not on the dings?
- You want to change the focus, Duncan,
change the story.
- Gladly. Gladly. Yeah.
- How do I do that?
- Oh, I don't know.
Presumably with another, better story.
- Yes! Yes!
- Where I'm the hero.
- Sure. Why not?
Good luck with that.
- Thank you.
- Right.
- Almost finished.
- Be done soon.
- You know what that is?
- That's tungsten.
Aerospace-grade.
Heaviest element in the universe.
This one's 4 inches cubed
- but weighs 43 pounds.
- Mm.
- The crypto bros are super into 'em.
You know why?
It's not
it's not virtual.
It's real.
It's the realness.
Here you go.
God damn it!
You're done, right?
Yeah.
You're done.
- Gary, he landed early.
- Mm.
- Oh, no.
- Damn it, we're late.
- Yeah, I'm having lunch.
- Yeah, well, bring it.
Orson's just wandering around the airport.
Where are my damn keys?
- He's got Wi-Fi and snacks, right?
He's at the airport.
He's fine.
- I told him we're already on our way.
- Well, we're not.
- Honey, pick up your phone.
Gary!
- You're yelling, JoAnne.
Being hysterical doesn't make
you a better parent.
Oh, that's him.
- Honey?
- Hi.
- What lures investment?
- Uh, sorry, but I can't talk.
- Unwavering confidence
- a hat I can wear.
I-I have that hat.
- Hey, JoAnne, I-I'm looking
at a light fixture.
Can you
- I Sorry.
- We talked about this, Duncan.
You can't just call me out of the blue.
- But I have a plan. Listen.
I point to the fabulous stock price,
which remains fabulous for the moment,
and I say I will sell another tranche
in private secondary offerings.
Who's wet for it, okay?
If I could Viagra the price
and keep it up long enough,
I could be like, "Suck it, Cupertino.
Suck it and weep."
No ding, all dong.
- Sorry, but if you're
leveraging the high stock price
when you know the stock's
gonna fall, isn't that fraud?
- "Fraud"?
- Or market manipulation?
I mean, won't that arouse
suspicion with the SEC?
- First of all, I don't know
the stock's gonna fall.
I'm not Nosferatu.
Fraud? What
You know what?
Instead of accusation,
a smidgen of validation would be nice.
- Duncan, I'm gonna have to take this.
- No, you just accused me of fraud.
- It's my son, and he is alone
at the airport.
- I don't care if he's in a stranger's van
licking lollipops.
You do not hang up on me now.
- Goodbye, Duncan.
- No. No goodbye.
No, no
- Gary.
- Hmm?
- Oh, my God, it's a sandwich.
Would you hurry up?
Fuck!
- You are gonna love Las Altas.
It's very progressive,
but they're not fruity about it.
Last year Las Altas was
the top feeder for Stanford,
including Paly.
Look familiar?
Did your father send your
transcripts from Baltimore?
I know he's not feeling well,
but your tuition's normally 90 grand,
and there's no way
your dad would pay for that.
But there was a scholarship
that no one was using,
so you'd be surprised how hard it is
to find underprivileged youth around here.
And as it turns out, your father's illness
qualified as a hardship,
so I guess he is paying for it.
Not oh.
I didn't mean in a karmic sense.
Orson, you know
I didn't mean it like that.
- My gosh, you've gotten tall.
- Can we go inside?
- I just need to know if your
father sent the transcripts.
It was the one thing
he was supposed to do.
- He just got out of the fucking hospital.
- Whoa, whoa. Hey, Orson.
We don't talk that way to one another.
Can we just try to use
constructive language, please?
- Okay, so, um, kitchen, living room.
You remember where everything is.
Well, actually, we have
moved things around a little
since you were last here.
That's my office now.
And, uh, Gary's is over there.
Clients come around the back.
If you see any of them, just ignore them.
Some are professionals.
Some are even kids from your school.
All normal people, just, you know, sad.
Um, through here.
So the room you stayed in last time,
the ceiling has termite damage,
and then the garage apartment flooded.
Don't even get me started.
But the the bedroom
down here's all fixed up,
so the whole bottom floor is yours.
Oh, uh, Virgiinia, did you see
that I-I left sheets on the dryer?
- I already make his bed.
- Yes, I-I-I know.
But I-I got him sheets, special.
- Where's the bathroom?
- It's just around the
So nice to have you ho home.
- Okay, Xander, just try mirroring.
So, if they smile
if they smile
Xander, can you try holding the smile?
It's what people do.
You can do it.
Here, hold and let it fade.
Let it fade.
- Martin, are we
actually drinking tonight
or just pretending to drink?
- Shit.
- Chop-chop.
- I'm not dressed.
- Your clothes are out.
- Hey, Tess.
- Tess, you all right?
I think John has made you
mac and cheese or something.
I have to go.
Martin's finally inching
towards a funding round
for his little friend-bot.
He knows he can't keep spending
our money on his digital child.
- But I have an actual company
that needs saving,
and you're on the board.
It's your fiduciary duty
to come and tell me
everything's going to be okay.
- Sorry. Can't.
- But you used to love to do
your fiduciary duty with me.
You're on your own.
- Rodrigo,
call the Ayahuasca guy.
And time me.
- You look splendid and very handsome.
- I feel like I'm cosplaying
a version of me
that would never talk to me.
Xander said I look French.
- Take style advice from
a widget or me your choice.
- Don't say "widget."
- So the Guangzhou factory
- it's endless.
It's 15 hours ahead, too,
so I might have to pop out midway tonight.
Forgive me?
- Come and be a winner ♪
Come and be a winner
Be a winner ♪
Just a winner
Be a winner now ♪
- Ayahuasca.
- Medicina.
I'm a puddle.
- That's it, Duncan.
- I'm a puddle.
- Yeah.
He's in a very sensitive place right now.
I'm a puddle.
What the hell?
- He didn't think you were coming.
- He begged me to come.
- Dad Dad
Dad, you don't be mad.
Don't be mad.
- Yeah, um, I'll go.
- No.
He wants to leave.
- Speak to Dad, Duncan.
- Dad Dad
- Oh, my God.
- Dad Dad
- What do you wish to say to him?
I'm rich.
- That's great.
- Dad.
Dad.
Dad.
Help me!
Stay rich.
- I hope no one's looking out the window.
All right, go on, get.
Imshi.
Great. We're going
into the world's
most profitable company
reeking of that dude's
cinnamon fucking patchouli.
- You good?
- Yeah, yeah. I'm fine.
I'm fine.
- You must be the gentlemen from the VA?
- Yeah, that's right.
- Just here.
- Thank you.
- We used to run the world, Jeffery.
Now we rent server space
from the bastards who broke it.
- Good grief.
- Oh, shit.
- Ruffage?
Generalissimo.
General Don Voorhees, Jeffery Hart.
- Hi. Nice to meet you.
- Hi.
What are you doing here?
- Oh, I just came to solve
the backlog at the VA.
- Well, prepare to die
with your boots on, boys.
Well, about to meet with Tim.
- Just met with Tim.
DOD arranged a conference
in partnership with Cupertino.
Technology of defense.
Gazillionaire jagoffs love these things.
Yeah, nice.
Nice. Hey.
You know, tell me to get lost, but, uh
what if I spoke about our
initiative at your conference?
You know, make them feel like heroes
for helping the actual heroes?
- Maybe.
- Major Marcia?
- Maybe.
We'll let you know.
- Okay.
"Maybe."
Guy fired me ten years ago.
Prick.
God damn it.
- Hi. Hi.
- Ah.
- I'm Anushka Bhattachera,
Director of Ethical Innovation.
- Tim Kwan, corp dev.
- Jeffery Hart, Assistant
to the Deputy Undersecretary.
- Yeah, Tom Ruffage,
Deputy Undersecretary, Veterans Affairs.
All right.
- Oh, just here?
- Yeah.
- Oh, yeah. Sure.
Okay.
But, uh, will the other Tim be joining?
- Big Tim only shows up
when the contours are delimited.
- Uh-huh.
- So, uh, you guys got
a traffic jam needs clearing.
- Yeah, we do, indeed.
- Tim Big Tim
- he likes things super direct,
- uncluttered.
- Mm-hmm.
- Right? So, straightforwardly,
what's the quant ben for us?
I'm still pretending to know
what "delimited contours" means.
- Quant ben is
"quantifiable benefits."
- Got it.
Yeah.
Well, I mean, uh
I don't know.
Uh, you're here.
You live here.
And you and me and Jeffery
and Anushka and Big Tim,
we're all here.
There are men and women
who fought for us to be here
and live like this.
You know, free to make a business,
to speak our minds,
to make ungodly sums of money.
But for the men and the women
who actually put themselves
on the front lines
to defend the socioeconomic system
in which you and your company thrive,
I mean, they're not even
asking you for a favor.
In fact, they want to pay you
a quarter of a billion dollars
just for your help.
- So us helping you do the work is
kind of like, I don't know,
um, France helping your mother
set up her printer, you know.
France but with, like, much,
much, much more money
than France.
Yeah.
- You guys get it.
- Oh, yeah.
- Okay. Yeah.
- We we, of course,
recognize the sacrifice of your
- your people.
- Mm.
- They're struggling, and we
We feel that.
- Oh.
- You feel it, huh?
- We feel it, guys.
We feel it. Thank you.
Thank you.
- Uh-huh.
- He must be really feeling it.
- Yeah.
Well, thank you, Anushka.
This has been, um
What's the opposite of uplifting?
- Uh, demoralizing.
- Yeah, "demo"
- I bet, in these parts.
Come on, Jeffery.
We got other meetings.
- Our 11:00 has to postpone
till next week.
Uh, it's Major Marcia.
Vorhees says "you're welcome."
You're speaking at the conference.
- No.
- DOD will cover
a junior suite at the Elysium,
if we're all right with sharing.
You just need to reserve it on your card,
and they will reimburse you.
- You okay with sharing a suite?
- I-I'll take the couch.
- Oh
- No, I've been
a full-time pain in the ass.
You deserve it.
Damn!
The Elysium is the shit!
Thought that guy'd never forgive me.
- Why?
What did you do to get fired?
- Doesn't matter now.
Booyah!
Hello?
- Honey, we can hear you.
No bassoon during office hours.
Very sorry about that, Carl.
It's fine.
- No, no.
- No, it's not.
This is this is your time.
- Well, might as well fill
the emptiness with bagpipes
or whatever the hell that was.
Lord knows I was just
gonna complain anyway,
and who wants to hear me complain?
Boo-hoo. Poor old rich fart.
- We all deserve to complain.
- Not the richies.
People act like we took something
as if we didn't build
everything they touch.
- Mm-hmm.
- And we didn't build it to be worshipped.
We built it to work, and it does work.
But where's our parade?
All I see are pitchforks and ingratitude!
And I got to be honest with you.
It's starting to make me
maybe a little mental!
- Would you like to starfish, Carl?
- No.
Okay. Yeah.
Thank you.
Great.
I'm backsliding, JoAnne.
This shit-heel came up to me
at Milltown, my haunt,
the one place that I could go to in public
- and no one bothers me.
- Mm-hmm.
- And right before I get ready
to bite into my T-bone,
this sniveling shit stick sits
sits at my table.
And he's like,
"Oh, Mr. Bardolph,
you're such an inspiration."
Of course he brings up Bardolph's Law.
- He was admiring you.
Doesn't it make you feel
even a little bit good
to see your legacy in action?
- "Legacy"?
- Bardolph's Law is something
I wrote on a napkin on speed
when we still had fax machines.
- Profits will continue
to grow forever, right?
- Infinite growth.
Yes, the logic of the cancer cell.
If I could have just reached out
and and and and throttled
and just squeezed and squeezed
that little shit licker's
trachea until it buckled
and his eyes popped,
that would have been a legacy!
But I didn't.
I didn't.
- Okay, Zeus.
Go get it.
Zeus.
Come on, buddy.
Got to get it.
Sorry.
Oh, I'm I'm sorry.
- Hey, boy.
Trying to teach you some new tricks, huh?
A little late for that, don't you think?
Tricks are for kids.
One day you're
you're chasing squirrels,
and then the next,
you're shitting yourself
on the good Persian rug.
Ain't right.
Sorry.
- Ooh.
Oh.
Stop, stop.
Hey.
Thank you for this joy.
- Oh, Dad.
- Jim-jam!
Hi!
Hey. You you had a game.
How was the game?
Or was it a match?
- We lost.
- That's how we learn.
- Yeah.
Okay. Okay, Dad.
- It's lemons. It's limes.
- I don't know
- Love you.
- What they're doing over there.
- Oh, look who's alive.
- Yes.
- Can we move this beverage dispenser?
- I am alive.
Anton came over for a session last night.
- Right.
- And
it was expansive.
- You really ought to try it.
- The puke juice?
No. Thank you.
- I had a
a snag at work
a little bit more than a snag.
But, Lili
my dad came to me in a vision
and showed me a path forward.
- Right.
Guests arrive at 1:00, Duncan.
- "Guests"?
- The reception?
For Beatrice, the new headmaster
- at your daughter's school?
- Nice.
- I think maybe a shower is in order.
- Okay.
- Oh, um
and with regards to our arrangement
and in keeping with what we discussed,
I did meet someone in Napa
at the mud baths
a Danish CFO.
Of course, we used protection.
Fun guy.
You'd like him.
- Oh. Oh.
- I know Anushka was here last night.
So that's back on.
You were supposed to tell me.
- No, no, no. I she
That's all in the past.
That she was here as a friend.
- Right.
- Da Danish CEO?
- CFO.
- Okay.
- Brush your teeth.
- Okay.
- Your breath stinks.
- Yeah.
Oh, Rodrigo. You're fired.
- Good one.
- No, you're fired.
You told Lili Anushka was here last night.
- Wha No, I didn't.
- Yes, you did.
Lucky?
- Yeah?
- So that Dragon Tattoo chick
I need that algo she did
on that guy that was doing
- that thing that one time.
- Isn't that illegal?
- No, no, it's not illegal,
just frowned upon.
- Okay Yeah.
- Hold on.
- Lucky, are you still there?
- Yeah, I'm here.
- Okay, listen to me.
It was Napa Valley,
29th and the mud baths.
- Got it.
- Danish CFO, like, you know
Get me that, uh, code monkey
with the pink hair
the "none of the above" with
the door knocker in her nose
sorry, their nose.
- Just get her.
- On it, Duncan.
- Whoa. Hey.
Uh, get get up.
What is this?
Get out from behind my desk.
Did did anyone see you
sitting there?
- I don't think so.
- How's progress?
- Uh, the gentleman
from the Napa mud baths
- is now in Copenhagen.
- Okay.
Get him.
What's the problem?
- In Europe, this is against
- This is America.
We have our own rules here.
I mean, we play football with a football.
- Okay.
Um, this algo is
an AI-powered threat shield
intended to protect people
and their privacy.
- I know, I've seen it,
and I find its scope annoyingly narrow.
- It synthesizes socials,
biometrics, financials.
Your current algo
is just a data aggregator
that can't account for orphaned infosets,
which is fine for your corporate clients
but not performant under
data-rich scenarios, so
This is I mean, it can capture
someone's entire digital
footprint in a heartbeat.
- Now you're making my heart beat.
- Its scope is basically God's eye.
- Good.
- Super-scope me, then.
- But in the wrong hands, it could
- It could Whose hands are
you talking about, my hands?
Hmm?
Listen, you make a wrench, right?
And I buy that wrench, right?
If I fix a leak or break
someone's kneecap with it,
- it's not up to the wrench girl.
- But my algo isn't intend
- No, my algo mine.
- You work here.
You developed it here.
It is mine.
Or do you want me
to slap you with a lawsuit?
- If you did that,
I would quit, obviously,
and then one of your other employees
would need to be capable of supervising,
which they're not.
- Lucky, can you give us the room?
I told you to fix the door.
- Sorry.
- Um
Mr. Park, there are rules
- Rules are designed
to keep morons in line.
Are you a moron?
No, you aren't.
And think about it, okay?
What if this algo ends up
protecting evildoers,
when it should be exposing them?
Hmm?
Who who's gonna who's
gonna make that call, you?
Every time?
Yeah.
How about we develop this?
Hmm?
Right, I'll give you
the resources you need.
Don't you want to see the rocket you built
punch a hole in the sky?
Isn't that why you came to the Valley?
Yeah.
Okay, so how godlike is this?
Omni-science?
Semi-deity omni-science?
- Omniscience.
- What's that?
- We're about to find out.
- Here, spoof it from this number.
- Lili, I was just thinking
about your jugs.
Hello? Hi?
- Hang up.
Ah, what's this?
- Press releases, personal calendars,
text chains, posts,
search-engine requests,
- shopping
- That's a big boat.
- Oh.
- It's really
- He's handsome.
- Yeah.
- No.
How much does he make?
Fuck.
Okay.
He got a tonsillectomy when he was a kid.
I did, too.
He likes wheat beer, herring
anal, okay.
- Do you want more of the sex stuff
- because I can tweak it to
- No, no, no.
It's
Okay.
- This is, um
This is a thing.
Good work.
Hey
I don't know your name.
- What is it?
- Harper.
- Harper. Hi. Um
I can count on your complete
discretion with this, right?
- What do you want?
- Um
- I want to get you something.
- I don't
- What do you need?
- What do you need? Anything.
- An office of my own.
- Oh!
- Oh!
- Jamison.
- Hey, kiddo.
What are you up to these days?
- Soccer tournament.
- Stalker tournament?
- That sounds
- Soccer.
- Soccer.
- I prefer skiing
and squash, but they have
- wealth connotations.
- Uh-huh.
- Soccer's more relatable.
- Hey, Tessie's here somewhere.
You two should get together.
When's the last time
you guys had a sleepover?
Not since, like, seventh grade.
- Okay, can you just hold that face?
I'm building an intelligent entity,
more of an autonomous companion
for alienated teens
based on personal data ecosystems,
but it has been a real slog
to replicate a genuine look
of bothersomeness.
Thanks, Jamie.
- Okay, just a sec.
- Sweetie. Sweetie.
Next bite of the lemon square
tastes exactly like the first.
Yeah.
I don't know how many
of those she's eaten.
You try, and you try.
- I mean, it's hard being a parent.
- It's really hard being a mom.
- It is hard being a parent.
- Honey, swim first, then eat,
just so you don't have
any digestion issues
in the Park-Hoffsteaders' pool.
- Can we talk, please?
- Our next session, in the office.
- Well, eh, I
I'd rather do it now.
- Duncan, circumstances don't always align
with our wishes.
- Ah! Whoo!
- Whoo!
- Your parents gave you a smartphone?
- Uh, yeah.
Yours don't?
- Smarts are worse than hard
drugs, twice as addictive.
- Doesn't every parent here,
like, work on tech stuff?
Arms dealers don't
give their kids land mines.
- Does your mom still take
your body mass index every night?
What was her thing, like,
anything over petite,
and you're 8% less likely
to get into a top 10?
Amazing.
- Hear you're klepto now.
- It was that or pyromania.
- Hmm.
And you have to repeat the 11th grade.
- Plus community service.
I have to see Dr. Gary
court-ordered.
Triple crown.
- Aw, poor Tessie.
Stealing the flag off the flagpole,
turning the exit signs
into no-exit signs
so deep.
Or just another cry for help?
- You found me out, Jamie.
- Just remember, if it comes down to it,
it's cross the street for attention,
up the road if you want results.
- Hello.
- Oh.
You're not ashamed to be seen with me?
- What are you talking about?
- Your buddy from Cupertino
- Tim, Little Tim.
Guy's staring at me
like he's trying to castrate me
telepathically.
It's working, too.
- He's just gloating.
- What? Why?
- He convinced Big Tim to shut
down the acquisition talks.
Mind you, after you leaked the rumor.
- What'd he say?
- Wasn't there.
But I heard he called you
a dumb man's genius.
- At least I'm someone's genius,
not everybody's asshole.
He comes to my house.
He comes to my house gloating.
That is
How much of my stock do you own, huh?
Little Tim blabs
about the acquisition snafu
to any of these people here
- Very strict at Cupertino.
- He won't.
- Okay.
- He won't.
- Yeah, well, he better not.
I'm just saying, you stand to lose, too.
- I know. That's why I had
to firewall myself off
- from all of it.
- Oh.
And yet you still heard him
call me a dumbass.
That just happened to get
through your firewall
the zinger.
I mean, he is
he's cutting me off at the balls here.
I need you to shut that shit down.
- Is it the stock you're
worried about or your dick?
- It's one and the same.
- So this whole experience is, you know,
- quite out of the box for me.
- Yeah?
- Great community, it seems.
- Everyone is so lovely here.
Happy to get to work and bring my daughter
and give her the best opportunity.
- Oh, uh, by the way,
Lili knows you came
to my session last night.
- Yeah, I know. I texted her.
- Why would you do that?
- Misunderstandings
- they're unpredictable, costly,
and easily avoidable with a bit of truth.
- Well, it got lost in translation.
She went and banged a guy in Napa.
- Oh
- Oh
- That is not funny.
- I'm sorry. No, I know.
- I know.
- It is not funny.
- No, I know.
- I'm sorry.
I just wanted to give Lili
a nod of respect and agency.
- Well, mission super-duper accomplished.
Don't
No.
- Okay. Shh.
- No.
- You sound like a truffle pig.
- Don't do that.
- Thank you.
- I want to officially introduce
the reason we're all here
an educator who took a top 50 in Pasadena
to the top 5.
- Wow.
- Whoa.
- Before that, masters from Columbia,
Harvard before that,
and a terrifically
underprivileged upbringing
in Chicago.
I knew the minute I heard her speak
at the Aspen Education Summit
that she was the one
to lead us into the future
- Raising money off frothy numbers
to sugarcoat the rotten apple
is what built this town.
- It's not fraud.
- Not now, Duncan.
- If not now, I will do harm
to myself and/or others.
- Jesus. Fine.
Hear, hear.
Uh
goodness, I, um, should have
prepared something.
I know you're all ready for a new chapter
at Las Altas.
- Oh. Hey.
- Orson.
- I, uh
- I What?
- Hey.
- Hey. Sorry.
- Ooh.
That kid laid a stinker.
- And let's make this a great year.
- Hi, um, this is
this is weird, but I was in there,
and I-I saw you take that thing.
- Don't know what
you're talking about, bro.
- Oh, well, that guy in there, he just
he saw me come out of the library,
and he might think that I took it,
like, ipso facto or whatever.
Um
- Okay, so, listen,
I'm in crisis right now.
This is
You're looking at it.
And my therapist,
who's supposed to know me
better than anyone, thinks I'm a fraud.
- Okay, Duncan, I-I-I didn't
call you a fraud, okay?
- Well
- I said
What I said was that you
you might be committing fraud.
- What is the difference?
- You're not a murderer.
You're just someone who committed murder.
And here, when you use the
word "fraud" in the Valley,
that's kind of like saying
"good hustle."
- Okay, I-I
I spoke to a lawyer friend.
- W-w-what?
- I didn't mention your name or anything.
- Why would you why would you
talk to a lawyer?
What
- Oh, you haven't done
anything about this yet
acted on any of it?
- I've done the analytics, you know.
I-I-I-I bag a high-profile investor
- Yeah Mm.
- And then everybody forgets
about Cupertino.
And we grow.
We grow.
I'm sexy again.
Come and get it.
- But you'd have to lie
to to do it.
It's it's
it's market manipulation,
and it is a felony.
- A felony. A felony.
No, li
Okay, here.
You you came here
today, right?
And I'm just gonna assume
to benefit your business.
- Right?
- What?
- To snarf up a bunch
of potential hotshot clients
and their fucked-up kids.
- That's
- No.
I
My child is attending Las Altas.
- You don't have a child.
- You just met him.
- The pooter?
- Look, no
- Okay.
- No. I'm sorry. I'm sorry.
- I think that we should be
getting back to your guests.
- I just had a aha. I did.
- It's a really good one.
Okay, okay, okay.
Out of all your
illustrious clients, right,
maybe there is one or two
in my arena or adjacent
and that maybe their
business needs align with mine,
and and maybe their
personalities match as well,
and you could set us up
for I don't know a lunch.
- Okay, I am not a dating service
for businessmen, Duncan.
I am a therapist,
and you need to respect that.
- Okay, life coaches do it all the time.
- I am not a
- I am not a life coach.
- No, no, I listen, I want
to continue doing the work.
I do with you, with you.
- Then I think that you need to face
the discomfort of your truths.
You pumped your stock.
- Right?
- Eh
- Yeah, and now you want to do more of it?
I mean, if the SEC find out,
you could go to jail.
- Jail. Don't
- Shh. Jail.
- Yeah, well, you wouldn't be
the first CEO to end up there.
- You make me feel worse!
- You do!
And that is not your job.
I'm pretty sure that is
the opposite of your job!
- Okay, this, right here
- Oh, my gosh.
- This is why we have sessions
in an office boundaries.
Okay, look, I-I-I
I apologize, Duncan,
and I am ending
this conversation right now.
- No!
- Hey, wait.
Listen, Lili's having an affair.
I'm just a bit agitated
more than usual.
And you keep bringing up
the SEC and lawyer and
- Well, I
- Listen, I-I depend on you,
and I respect you.
There is
There's no one else.
- Oh, man, that's a good shower.
- Yeah.
- Oh.
Finally, an ounce of respect
for the VA, huh?
- Right.
- Oh, and some legit aboveboard decadence.
- Yeah, I just wish
some meetings went better.
- Oh, no pouting, Jeffery.
Come on.
No feelings in a firefight.
Smell this.
- Bergamot.
- Smells good.
Yeah. Earl Grey, right?
Yeah. Come on, look around.
We're doing okay.
I'm gonna do my pitch tonight.
All the wigs will be there,
the big ones, the little ones.
- Hell, yeah.
- I will make my case.
I'll be passionate.
I'm great when I'm passionate.
- Do you want to help me get passionate?
- Uh
Tom.
- Yeah.
What about the Behavioral
Health Forum in Fairlawn, huh?
- Back seat of that car.
- Yeah.
- Yeah, I got you drunk.
Crossed the line.
Sorry.
But, you know, if I'm being honest
not sorry.
- I wasn't that drunk.
- Oh.
- But, uh
- Yeah.
- Yeah.
Yeah, I was younger once, you know?
- No, no.
- Handsomer.
- No, no, no.
- All the officers' wives wanted me.
- Yeah, and you wanted the officers.
Yeah.
- Hey, you're still handsome
- Mm.
- And my boss.
- Yeah. Right.
- Yeah.
- You're gonna be great.
Yeah?
Gonna get some.
- Hoo-ah.
- Yeah.
- Y'all didn't invent moving
fast and breaking things.
We did.
We need to be agile.
And America is the greatest
startup of them all.
The future is coming.
We like that startup energy.
We're gonna require our contractors
to look over existing deals
and let us know what was good
about them in the first place.
Let's go to the movies.
Hmm?
- Born from carbon-woven composite skin
- Wonderful speech, General.
I'm afraid we're gonna have
to bump Mr. Ruffage.
We pay overtime
if we go even a minute over.
- But wait, since he wasn't
part of the original program,
is he gonna have trouble
reimbursing his room?
- Yeah.
- That's $2,100 a night.
- I mean, you could lie, say you spoke.
Just don't get caught.
- Don, let me say my piece.
- Five minutes. That's it.
It's not about being reimbursed.
It's for the vets.
- I find it best to leave these decisions
to Major Marcia.
- Shh
- you son of a bitch.
You set me up to fuck me down!
How long you gonna hold a grudge?
You know what?
To hell with this.
I'm speaking.
You can just try and stop me.
No
Okay, okay.
- Hey, handsome.
- Hey, Dad. How's it going?
- Oh, not bad, you know,
for an old geezer.
How's it going there?
When, uh
when does school start?
- Day after Labor Day, I think.
This place just feels like
a weird "simaculum" of life.
- Simulacrum.
- Simulacrum.
There's these clients who pay to come see
Mom and Gary on the hour.
It's so weird.
And there's this one guy
who's worth, like,
a bazillion dollars,
but he's the saddest man
you've ever seen.
- The world there is not the world.
Your mother loved it.
I did not.
- Yeah.
I really want to come home.
- Soon.
- December 19th,
the day the semester ends.
Um, and I-I checked
on the 21st,
BSO's playing Berlioz's
"Symphonie fantastique."
- It's "Berlios."
You know, worst-case scenario,
you do both semesters out there.
Shit.
- Hi, Sandra,
it's Dr. Gary Felder.
Yeah, it was a prescription I filled
for a patient Teresa Phister,
17 years old.
Yeah, sure. I'll hold. Thanks.
- It's a cesspool of idiots.
Guys like me and you making a median wage,
guys who actually make this country run
- Mm-hmm.
- Who need to know what they're doing,
or else people, real people, will suffer.
I mean, what do we get
for keeping the wheels
on the bus from falling off?
Why did Voorhees fire you?
- I don't know.
- Who remembers?
- I might have bottomed for his son.
- Don Jr.
- Oof.
- That's what he wanted to be called.
Yeah.
- Wow.
- I know.
- They're military.
Like, and
should I be all gung ho,
like, war's my jam, or is it like,
oh, we don't talk about blood and guts
and stuff like that?
- Just be yourself.
- Who else would I be, huh?
- Duncan, this is the story you need.
- Yes. Right. Right-o.
Once more onto the beach.
Bye.
- Hey.
Go back to D.C.
I need you there.
Keep an eye on the jackals.
They see a safety net,
and all they think is,
where'd I put my scissors?
- You're staying?
- Yeah.
- You hate it here.
- I hate it everywhere.
I complain so much, I've lost track
of where things fall
on my color wheel of shit.
It's all one big brown smear.
You'll be point in D.C., okay?
We'll we'll talk every day.
- Mr. Ruffage.
Duncan Park, CEO Hypergnosis.
- Data analytics.
- Oh.
- I hear you need a data man
to help our fighting men
in uniform and and women.
Can I get you a round of drinks?
- Uh, yeah.
- Yeah, two of those.
Uh, gentlemen, what can I
what can I do for
I am sorry. I don't
Is it the army?
Is it the navy?
Marines?
- Air Force and Coast Guard, too.
- Cowabunga, right?
I What what
can Hypergnosis do
to help us win our next war?
- Uh, well, it's really the last war
we're still fighting.
- Okay, of course.
Of course.
Tracking down the terrorists.
So you give us your satellite feed,
your secret files, and we
we meld that with our data.
We cross it. We blend it.
We dig into it.
We find the pattern.
We find your bad guys.
And you just
you just pull the trigger.
Done. Win-win.
I mean, not for the guys
that you're blowing up,
but, no, they're kind of into it, too.
It's their martyrdom.
So that's it's actually
a win-win-win.
That's sort of the slogan for Hypergnosis.
- Ah.
- Um, it's just
- What?
- We represent America's veterans.
We're the VA.
- How'd it go?
What's the matter?
Duncan, slow down.
I told you they were from the VA.
- You you said military, okay?
I need a sexy, new client,
not old urine-soaked vets
with their weird hats and broken brains.
I thought you got that.
- Sorry I hooked you up with
a bloody government contract.
- There are more than one kind, okay?
More than one kind.
There are stealth bombers
and secret agents,
and then there's distributing
colostomy bags in tent cities.
- These men and women,
they fought so that
so that we we here could
be free here.
I admire them,
and I've seen the alternatives.
But I chose to make a life here,
and in spite of its flaws, I'm grateful.
- Well, then you should have
had Cupertino be their hero.
Okay, my company is not your
ethical "laundry mat," okay?
I
I have a reputation, okay?
I know it's not great what
people say about me, but
but this is not this is
not the story I needed.
Okay, this is just
this is goodwill fuckery.
And your buddy Little Tim, Little Tim,
that's exactly what he's gonna say
when he leaks the acquisition fail.
- No.
- Yes. Yes, it is.
I-I-I-I see how that guy looks at me,
like I'm lying in a ditch
with my asshole sticking up inside out
so he can drive up with his buddies
and go, like, "Hey, guys,
isn't that Duncan Park
in that ditch with his asshole
sticking up inside out?"
Yeah, I know how people are
because I'm one of them.
I'm a person, and I'm like that.
- So you're walking away?
- You're goddamn right!
And you're going to tell the VA guys.
That is your punishment, okay?
Just put them out of their misery.
They've probably been to more
funerals than birthdays anyway.
They can take it.
Thanks.
Message from Harper.
Message message from Harper.
Message from Harper.
Message message
message from Harper.
- You got to be kidding me.
Um, before we start,
I think it's important
to ensure your commitment
to the doctor-patient-
confidentiality thing.
You know everything about me,
as it should be,
and as you know, I have trust issues.
- Duncan
where are we going with this?
- Easier to hear me out.
Um
on May 7th, you missed
a session due to the flu,
but you were actually getting
varicose veins removed.
Hypergnosis, my company,
we harvest your data
every time you click agree,
and then we put that all
into an algorithm that would
make the Patriot Act blush
anything, everywhere, anybody.
I know.
All that godlike knowledge,
and still, Cupertino didn't want us.
The thing is, we're not all that unique.
The amount of companies with
as much or more capability
than the NSA would give you nightmares.
Here, Russia, China, India
they all have what I have on you,
if if they only cared to look.
- Duncan, um, I fear that you
you may be having a psychotic episode.
- Half of it's public filings
and court cases,
like how you and your ex-husband both
try to dodge custody of the kid.
Pretty sure little Orwell
would love to hear that.
- Okay.
Okay.
You need to leave
- Right now.
- You need to face the discomforts
of your truths, Jojo.
When I told you my company was in trouble,
within 53 seconds
of me leaving this office,
you sold your shares,
and I was like, wha
That hurt.
No faith in Dunky?
And then I asked myself
I was like, why did she have
shares of my company?
Sounds like a conflict of interest, no?
Oh, my goodness.
Could it be? Yes.
Yes, it is.
You've been running a magnificent scam
on all your high-end,
blubbering billionaire clients.
You, the trusted repository
of the Valley's
ultimate insider information.
VC agonizing about an
upcoming earnings call, sell.
CEO hopes his wife finally respects him
after an upcoming secret merger, buy.
What's the harm?
Except it's a felony,
and you can go to jail for it.
- Duncan, this is madness.
You are confabulating,
and it's a-a-a concern.
- That superior tone is something
I really would like you to work on.
Sit.
Sit, please.
We're both flawed human beings, you and I.
With your degree, you could have chosen
to help filthy city urchins
with their nasty demons,
but, no, no, no, you planted yourself
in the single richest enclave in America
to help cure the scourge
for performance anxiety,
sudden wealth syndrome?
No.
You profited.
It really is okay,
and you'll still profit.
Me too
because you're gonna dish all
that life-giving dirt to me.
Not today, though.
No.
Today I feel comfortable, earthed.
There's level ground between us.
Feels better, right?
So can we please just
please
talk about my dad?
- Hello?
Hello?
-You are inviting a pushback
that is going to feel
- like the wrath of God.
- Ow!
-Dad, you're, like, having a breakdown.
-Aaah!
-Hyper gnomes, assemble!
We're gonna make money!
-10 million data points
on every person from birth.
You're not predicting behavior.
You're steering it.
- Your algorithm says all that?
- Yes.
-That's the kind of tech
that could help people.
-My patients have dangerous,
violent tendencies.
-I just want to crush them.
-So, what is your deal, bro?
-I know tech changed the world,
but so did the bubonic plague.
- I don't get it
- your bot, is it a moron?
I mean, is it based on a moron?
-Duncan!
-You do not want this guy
running your company.
-Hey! Whoa!
-Prepare to have your mind blown.
-Welcome to the table read of
"The Audacity," first block.
It's about to get real.
- The Audacity.
- Episode 101.
-In episode one, the first thing
that I wrote down
was Duncan's opening line.
It felt like it was being
said to somebody in confidence.
-She kind of runs the Valley's
mindset, or the psychology.
-The lost man-children.
-It became a question of,
how can we make this relationship
more than just therapist-patient?
-They started the season
a little bit in performance
of themselves, especially Joanne.
She's, like,
playing the "good therapist."
-Let's see what happens
when you are a powerful person
discussing corporate secrets,
successes and failures,
in a therapeutic setting.
And what does the therapist do
with the information,
which is essentially insider information?
-Really, this is strictly between us.
-It was fun also doing
some therapy scenes with Zach.
- Would you like to starfish, Carl?
- No.
Okay. Yeah. Thank you.
-Bardolph is he's an angry
man and very resentful
and feels like
he's never gotten his flowers
that he deserves as being one of
the pioneers of Silicon Valley.
-His main problem is greed,
like most of the characters.
-The doctor-patient confidentiality thing,
just how airtight is that?
-Ha!
-I grew up in a house
with a psychiatrist and a therapist,
with their offices in the house,
and I could hear the patients.
I was a teenager.
And I chose not to listen to them
because they were mostly really boring,
but I could listen to them.
It's that sort of funny faith
that this room's a safe space.
Why?
What's so safe about it?
-These two seemingly are so different,
but then they actually have
a lot in common.
-She is shown to be somebody
with ethical lapses,
who cuts corners herself.
-It really is okay.
And you'll still profit.
Me too.
-End of episode.