Phony (2026) s01e03 Episode Script

1
- [branches cracking]
- [ring back tone]
[Sonny]
My name is Sonny Cooke.
Before everything went insane,
I, I had a really great life.
[water splashing]
- Hi, sweetheart.
- [Sonny] The biggest change
has been with my mom.
She looks like
a different fucking person.
What? Dugga, you're high, okay?
Sonny, you just went through
something really crazy.
I-I can see why you would want
to pin that on your mom.
[Weldon]
You can't go to the cops, okay?
They won't believe you.
[whispering]
I know a private detective.
[Sonny] Something's deeply
fucked up with her.
[Sharla]
What's her motive?
Why is she doing this?
- [sirens chirping]
- [teens laughing]
Somebody saw something.
No way a person disappears
without a trace.
[Ominous music playing]
[beanbag balls juggling]
Um, I heard Shovel saw
a dead body in the woods,
out by the beaver pond.
Mm-mm, no, it wasn't Shovel.
It was Reggie Harris
and Michaela Feingold
who saw the dead body.
No. No, up at the notch,
Reggie gave Michaela a hand job.
[laughing] If it's a girl,
no one calls it a "hand job."
Some people do.
- [Anxious music playing]
- [phone buzzing]
[phone notifications buzzing]
[student] No, Shovel's the one
who saw the dead body.
Are you kidding me?
He literally makes stuff up all the time.
He told me that Sonny
did a back flip at the dance.
[student] Scott Penney
did the back flip at the dance.
[student 2]
But Sonny body-checked Vogel,
like hard.
- That was crazy.
- Yeah, that was crazy.
Honestly, not surprised.
- Sonny's always been a little
- Maybe repressed?
So sweet, though!
[student 3]
Like, a little full of shit.
[student 4]
Like, great guy, but it's like
Don't be so peppy all the time.
I hate to even say this, but
I like him having a freakout.
[student 5]
Love a freakout for him.
[students giggling]
I just hope Sonny's okay.
Right?
Mm-hmm.
Ethan, you make me
feel so lonely.
- [Tense music playing]
- [door opens, bells jingling]
[Ellen 2] Sonny?
[voice distorted] Hey, sweetie,
you were calling out to me in your sleep.
[normal] Morning.
[Unsettling music playing]
Carbone wanted to suspend you
because of everything
that happened with Vogel.
And I told him,
no, that's not gonna happen.
But I changed my mind.
You're suspended, mister.
I just feel like I just
I've missed so,
so much stuff already, and
I know.
I'm in the same boat.
But I called in sick, anyway.
So, you and I are gonna have
a little mother-son day.
Why don't you get ready?
Come on downstairs.
[Tense music playing]
[bell on door jingling]
[phone dialing]
[line ringing]
[phone ringing]
[Sharla] [on phone]
You got something for me?
Or are you just trying
to order a pizza
on the burner I gave you?
No, no, no, no, look.
She's trying to trap me
in the house with her.
Is she getting rough with you?
No. No, she she
[whispering]
She wants to spend time together.
[Sharla] Fuck.
This is starting to feel like
a reverse cuckoo situation.
What [laughs]
What is that? Sorry.
The cuckoo bird lays its eggs
in another bird's nest,
and then it tricks
the other mother
into taking care of its eggs.
So, a reverse cuckoo situation
[Sonny] Cool, cool, cool,
cool, cool. That's great.
It's just, how is that helpful,
like, right now?
[Sharla]
There was a case in Oklahoma,
you know, a few years back,
just like this.
This maniac woman
breaks into a house,
gets rid of the parents,
and then, get this, she moves in
- and she raises the little kid as her own.
- [dog barking]
What happened to the kid?
He went to Harvard.
What the fuck do I know?
[over phone]
The point is Nash!
- Nash! Don't eat it.
- [dog barking]
Okay, okay, thank you.
Thank you, I just
I-I need you to tell me, like,
what to do right now.
That woman with you,
whoever she is,
seems like she really wants a son.
So, give her a son.
No, no, I can't. I can't.
I can't do that.
Well, then slip a can of beans
into a tube sock and swing away.
I would say that that woman
you know, she might be
the only one who knows
what's happened to your mom.
Okay, okay. [Sighs] Okay.
[Sharla] Call me, if you need me.
I'll be close.
[sighing deeply]
[Ellen 2] Sonny?
[Unsettling music playing]
[indistinct chatter]
[school PA chiming]
Swap back
before you leave, please.
Mallory, right?
Yeah. How'd I do?
You aced it.
Sweet.
And I'm guessing I did not.
Yeah, you bombed.
Oh.
But you've got a beautiful mind.
Thank you.
[both giggling]
[students chattering]
Mallory.
Um, if I was to retake that,
could you explain, like,
what the fuck is going on
in that class? [Chuckles]
Totally. I might just have
a weird way of doing it
because I was homeschooled.
I've always wanted
to be homeschooled.
What, you wanna spend
all day with your parents?
Well, I bet you have, like,
cool, crunchy parents
who are, like, musicians.
- Ooh! Dead wrong.
- [both chuckling]
- My dad's a pastor, but
- Oh.
What do you think
my parents are like?
- Guess.
- [laughing] Okay.
Uh, eee They're
MMA fighters who give good hugs.
I wish they were huggers.
Um, I have
a free period right now.
Do you wanna maybe
explain the test to me?
- I guess. Let's go.
- [Chloe chuckles]
[tense music playing]
No, not today.
[whispering]
This cannot happen today.
No, this has gotta stop.
You guys are insane.
I I did not agree to that.
No, and you know what?
You need to really
You've gotta stop calling me.
- [floor creaks]
- That's it, I'm done.
- [phone slamming]
- [Sonny's feet stomping]
- [Music fades out]
- [Ellen 2 sighs]
[in gruff voice]
It's alive!
[imitating Frankenstein]
[Ellen 2 laughing]
You're not wearing your sling.
Oh, the Yeah, yeah, yeah.
I, I woke up and I was just like,
you know what?
I feel, like, a lot butter Um, better
- Really?
- But you Looks like you did a lot of
- Oh, I did.
- a lot of shopping.
[Ellen 2]
I got so much fun stuff.
- Fun stuff.
- And, most importantly
brand-new phone.
I figured we shouldn't hold our breath
for them finding the old one, you know?
Thanks.
Costco was a zoo.
I thought,
how's it gonna be busy
- at eight o'clock in the morning?
- Wait, Costco?
- Yeah.
- Don't-Don't I have your Costco card?
Oh, I grabbed it, from your wallet.
But, by the way,
- and very importantly
- [tense music playing]
I got you
your own Costco card.
- Thanks.
- Now you're not gonna have
- to borrow mine anymore.
- Hmm.
♪♪
[Ellen 2]
Well, listen, we have a day.
We can do whatever
the F we want.
We can make something yummy.
- [Music stops abruptly]
- Yeah, how 'bout Chicken Nummers?
Oh.
You remember how
to make it, right?
- Our special soup.
- Of course.
♪♪
- Something wrong?
- Um, no. Yeah, it's, um
It's been a long time.
I know, I just really
want Chicken Nummers,
just exactly the way
you used to make it.
[Music stops]
[clicking tongue]
Okay.
[Chloe] Sour Patch Kids are vegan,
Pringles are vegan,
I think, and Oreos are vegan.
[mouth full] They are not!
Yes, they are!
Oreos are vegan.
[mouth full]
Then, what is this cream made out of?
Yeah, I decided to go vegan
when I found out that cows
have best friends.
And then I saw a cow get
its head chopped off.
[mouth full]
Oh shit.
[laughing]
You're kinda nuts, dawg.
[chuckles] Thanks.
[mouth full] Have you heard anything
[crunching]
About this, like,
party thing tonight?
Shovel started a rumor
about a dead person
in the woods.
Okay, he's an idiot.
And it's also just an excuse
for him to get drunk.
- Sweet.
- No. Shovel's, like, troubled.
Yo, Chloe.
Lemme get 10 bucks,
it's for charity.
Oh shit, what's up, Mallory?
- Hi.
- [Vogel] Yo, what's up?
All I can remember is your
eighth-grade Spanish name.
It was Raul.
Oh, word. And you were,
um, uh, Raquita, right?
- Mm-mm.
- [Vogel] No? Damn.
Uh, alright, hold on, hold on.
It was Raquel!
No. Raquel? How dare you.
Right. Oh, Sonny says you're, like,
back in normal people school now.
- Yeah.
- [Vogel] Dope.
You know my boyfriend?
Yes. Yeah, back in the day.
[crunching]
We haven't really, um, like,
we haven't really
kept in touch much.
Speaking of which,
I spoke to Carbone.
He said Sonny got suspended.
- What?
- Yeah, I mean, it's fine.
He needs the rest.
Uh, I don't think he has
his phone right now.
Yeah, but he might
have his laptop.
Francesca!
- Yo soy Francesca!
- Ah!
[chuckling] Nice!
[Folk-rock music playing
on stereo]
- [faucet running]
- I meet destiny here with you ♪
All my life ♪
- [phone vibrating]
- I've dreamed of your every move ♪
I meet destiny here in your ♪
- [Ellen 2] These colors are so springy.
- Arms ♪
Now I believe it ♪
- I meet destiny here with you ♪
- [phone buzzing]
- All my life ♪
- [phone buzzes]
I've dreamed of your every move ♪
- [sighs]
- I ♪
[Ellen 2]
Uh, excuse me.
Can you please help me figure out
what to do with these guys?
- [mechanical chickens chirping]
- Yeah.
I just
I, uh, I thought you were
I thought you were
gonna make the soup.
Alright, you don't like this stuff?
It's just, we don't
We don't normally decorate
this time of year, so
I know, I was just thinking
new beginnings, and
[phone ringing loudly]
Shit. Hold on.
- [ringing stops]
- [Sonny] Everything okay?
Uh, yes. Yes.
[Tense music playing]
So, was the body male or female?
Weldon!
Okay, what color was the hair?
Are you guys
Are you guys dating?
- No. What? That's
- No. No.
- He's my cousin.
- No.
Yeah.
You should, uh, you should
come to my party later.
I'm throwing it with,
uh, Dylan and Jerm,
like, out in the woods.
Meet a ton of people.
You should come up,
bring some friends if you want.
- Hey! Hi.
- Hey, what's up?
We forgot to exchange numbers.
For math, or anything else.
[Mallory] Yeah, that would be
[singsongy] Great ♪
What's up, Chloe?
Hi.
Thanks.
- [phone buzzing]
- Ooh! Sonny's texting you.
- Oh.
- That's cool.
Yeah, he, um
I thought you guys
weren't in touch?
He We haven't really
been in touch at all
since I've been back.
He's actually texting Weldon.
Uh, he's texting both of us.
They're cousins,
they're not dating.
["Lovely Words"
by AnnaMy playing]
When it's singing in my head ♪
[phone buzzing]
All those lovely things you said ♪
I'm coming home ♪
I am home ♪
[phone buzzing]
[phone buzzing]
[Ellen 2] You're making me regret
that I got you that phone.
Wanna come help out
a little bit?
[Sonny] Yeah, just tell me
what to do and I'll, I'll do it.
[Ellen 2]
Herb sachet, all you.
Alright.
♪♪
[Ellen 2 chopping vegetables]
I don't
I don't see our secret ingredient.
[Tense music playing]
Oh!
Nutmeg!
Did you think I forgot?
I was actually
a little surprised that you
asked to make this
'cause I didn't realize that
you would make the connection
between then and now,
you know, with the hospital
and being sick.
'Cause that was the first time
we made Chicken Nummers.
I was so scared.
You had meningitis
for the second time.
And I just couldn't do anything
except hold your little
teeny tiny hand.
And then you started
asking for "nummers."
And I'm like, "What is it, honey?
What is it?"
And then you finally said,
"The chicken soup
with the nummers."
And I was like, nutmeg!
My special secret ingredient!
That's when I knew
you were gonna be okay.
[Melancholy music playing]
And you know what?
We're gonna be okay.
[resumes chopping vegetables]
- [phone ringing loudly]
- Shit!
[ringing stops abruptly]
Hey, who, who keeps calling you?
Um Carbone, you know.
- Carbone? [Sniffles]
- Yeah.
He's been calling you all day.
Yeah, you know how he is.
[chopping forcefully]
So, why don't you pick up?
'Cause there could be, like,
a serious problem at school
that you're ignoring.
Shit! Fuck!
Ay, yi, yi, yi, yi, yi, yi, yi.
Yeah, shit.
[Sonny] Um
- Fuck.
- Wait. Here, I'm gonna get
the first aid kit.
[footsteps thudding]
[tripping]
[Tense music playing]
♪♪
♪♪
[Ellen 2]
Oh, hi, there you are.
You're reading my journal?
You know you're not
supposed to do that.
You shouldn't be
looking at this.
Honey, that's my journal
from the first time
you were in the hospital.
I pulled it out
because it helped me remember
Yeah, just like how you
remembered the nutmeg, yeah?
[doorbell ringing]
Are you expecting someone?
Don't worry about it.
It's probably a delivery.
Don't! No!
Probably a It's probably a
Um, this was
[doorbell ringing]
I can re No, Sonny. S-Sonny!
- [Folk-rock music playing]
- In your hands ♪
- Sonny. Sonny, please.
- [stair thudding]
♪♪
[mechanical chickens chirping]
Hi, Chloe.
[Chloe] Hi. Ooh.
[exhales deeply]
Hi.
What is this?
Bobo, are you bleeding?
[exhaling slowly]
[Ellen 2]
Did he ask you to come over?
[Chloe] No, I, I just wanted
to check on him.
Has he been acting
weird with you?
[Chloe] I think that the whole
car accident thing is
It's still a big deal.
- I have a cousin who
- [phone ringing]
who actually lives in Spain
and she fell off
a ladder one time
and she got really bad PTSD
- I'm listening.
- for, like, a year, so.
She's-She's okay now
- 'cause they have good healthcare.
- Um, great.
Um, I I think I I think I have
to go to Urgent Care.
- Okay.
- [Ellen 2] Um, Sonny?
Uh, honey, I think I need a stitch.
So, uh, I'm gonna just
run out very quickly.
Can you stay here with him?
Of course!
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
[Ellen 2] I think it'd be better
if you guys stay downstairs. Yeah.
Bye, guys!
[front door closing]
Um
What were you
What were you saying to her?
I was telling her
about my cousin,
the one from Spain.
Oh.
- [car engine starts]
- Yeah, she, um,
said that you were acting weird.
She said I was,
I was acting weird?
- Well
- She's fucking
She's acting weird!
Yes, I, I know. She
She basically just told me
to supervise you while she's away.
I think that she's worried
[sighs]
that we're gonna have sex.
[chuckles]
Really?
Yeah, that's why she told us
to stay down here.
[both chuckling]
Are you okay?
[Sonny inhales]
[sighs]
Your hands smell nice.
[Chloe giggles]
So, what do you wanna do?
What do you want to do?
- [Anxious music playing]
- [car engine idling]
[gears shifting, engine rumbling]
♪♪
[host] [on AM radio]
but difficult to prove.
You're telling me Hitler
had a base on the moon?
[radio guest]
Th-There's no way the Nazis
didn't have a base on the moon
because the alien technologies
needed a landing spot.
And there's simply too much
technology showing up
from the Germans and, uh,
from the Nazi regime itself
[Sharla]
What are you up to?
Getting some cash out?
[Tense music playing]
[Soft, eerie music playing]
[slurping]
[softly] Fuck me.
♪♪
[camera clicking]
[inaudible conversation]
- Shit.
- [engine starting]
♪♪
[indistinct chatter]
[sighing]
[Jason] Ellen?!
- No way!
- [Ellen 2] Oh, my God.
- Hi.
- Hey!
- Hi!
- Oh, it's so cool you came.
Oh, my God, it's 20 minutes
until happy hour's over.
- Oh
- The teachers are gonna be so excited
that you're here.
Yeah, I know.
Um, Tuesday.
Yeah!
I wanted to come so bad,
and then I got here,
and I'm like,
"I, I can't do this.
I have to go back to Sonny."
- Uh, I just
- So, you're just gonna smoke
a secret cigarette
behind the bar,
then and then take off?
So busted.
I don't smoke. I
It's just, like,
I'm a little stressed out.
I smoke when I'm
One drink, it'll be good.
Caretakers need care, too.
Okay.
[Sonny snickers]
What?
Um
When I was originally
planning this night, I
I bought a sex toy.
A a sex toy?
Y-Yeah.
Oh, like, for your butt?
- No. Not for my butt.
- [both chuckling]
- For, for you, obviously.
- Oh oh, for me.
Well what were you gonna do
while I was using that?
- Fire off some texts to the homies.
- [laughing]
Make some nuggets.
- Maybe get a haircut.
- Oh, my God.
[both chuckling]
[Soft, melancholy music playing]
Where'd you just go?
I don't know.
Can you promise me something?
Yeah.
If you ever want to
break up, or
be with someone else
just tell me.
Hey.
What?
What do you mean?
I
It's just what I want.
I definitely don't want to break up
with you, and-and
I really don't want my
weirdness to
to hurt us, you know?
I like your weirdness.
[Sonny chuckles]
[people chattering]
He saw a dead body?
He says he saw a dead body,
but please consider the source.
Who saw it? Bucket?
No, Shovel. Shawn Vallejo.
Oh!
Did anybody do any follow-up?
[Jason]
I think it's just a story.
- I saw him credit-card Dylan.
- What's that, credit-carding?
- Credit-carding?
- That's when you
slide your hand
between someone's butt cheeks.
- [group groaning]
- Like a credit card.
- [group laughing]
- [Ellen 2] So, wait, did, did Carbone
reach out to have the cops
break up the party, or?
"Carbone?" To my husband,
I call him, "Carboner."
[gasps] Jen!
Guys, I'm so sorry, I'm
- I'm gonna have to go.
- [Jason] Aw!
'Cause Sonny's at home,
and, you know?
But I'm so glad I came.
- [Jason] I'll walk you out.
- And I'll see you tomorrow.
- Okay. Oh, okay, thanks.
- [teachers] Bye-bye!
Bye, everybody.
[exhales]
I feel bad that
I called him Carboner.
- [phone buzzing]
- Oh, shit.
Who is it?
Weldon.
He said, have you, have you heard
anything about a "Dead Body Party"?
Oh, my God, it's a Shovel thing.
Wait, Shovel
Shovel saw a dead body?
[laughing]
Definitely not.
Do you think he was able
to tell, like, who it was?
Or, like, what,
what it looked like?
No, it-it It's fake.
That's why it's, like, a party.
Right, right, of course.
Obviously.
[sniffles]
Well maybe
we should go.
You wanna go?
Really?
Yeah. Right?
I like this for us.
Party on a weeknight.
- Party on a weeknight!
- Mwah!
Um, maybe you should leave
a note for your mom
- so she knows where you are.
- Yeah.
- Like, shoot her a text or something.
- For sure.
[Slow music playing]
Thanks. [Chuckles]
Did you have fun?
Uh, yeah.
- Uh, yeah, that was fun.
- Yeah.
Did you ever talk to Sonny?
- How did that go? Yeah?
- Yeah, yeah. It was good.
We had, like,
a trust-building session.
- Oh, yes.
- Talked about moms.
Did you end up reaching out
to Susan Randall?
- Uh
- She's I feel like she'd be helpful.
She's the therapist
above the bike shop that
Oh! Yeah, yeah, yeah.
I guess she's really busy.
She was checking her schedule.
She may not be taking new clients,
but, you know
we have you, so.
[chuckles]
You do
have me.
I No, thank you.
Oh, that's nice.
- I mean [nervously chuckles]
- Sor No, I'm sorry. I'm sorry.
- [groaning]
- [laughing politely]
- I Thank you.
- I'm so sorry.
- I appreciate that, but I'm
- I'm sorry. I'm I know.
- Yeah.
- It's a, it's a
- It's a vulnerable time for
- No, it's okay.
I-I can handle it.
I'm handling it.
- Good, good.
- Um, I would really appreciate it, though,
if you continue to talk to Sonny.
- 'Cause it
- Yeah, yeah.
He really likes you.
- [chuckles]
- He thinks you're artsy.
I do, I do love art.
Mary Oliver
- Okay, thank you so much.
- Okay, yeah.
- Sorry for
- No, I'm sorry.
Don't tell anybody
about the cigarette.
- Be safe, please.
- Okay.
- [car door shuts]
- [engine starting]
["All Out" by Culture Villains
ft. Big Yae & KJ Carter playing at party]
Run it back, run it back,
run it back, blitz ♪
♪♪
[teens laughing]
I'm on a dream team,
it's cool if they sleep now ♪
[Chloe]
Hold my hand?
I need some big rings,
'cause by time they wake up ♪
We gon' be sky walking,
we gon' be way up ♪
[Ominous music playing]
- [Music stops abruptly]
- [water splashing]
[Tense music playing]
Sonny?
♪♪
- [phone buzzing]
- [sighs]
[phone continues buzzing]
[Sharla] [on phone]
Sonny, I got something for you.
Who's this?
[whispering] Shit!
["HAHA" by Bolis Pupul
and Charlotte Adigéry playing]
[manic laughing]
[manic laughing continues]
[manic crying]
[manic laughing resumes]
G-g ♪
[manic crying]
G-g ♪
[manic crying]
G-g-guess you had to be there ♪
- [eerie techno music continues]
- [manic laughing resumes]
[Song fades out]
[voice]
Sew faster.
[Fanfare playing]