Nine Perfect Strangers (2021) s02e05 Episode Script
Prague
1
- [MARTIN] What about this?
- No, that needs to be tested first.
- What? On whom?
- You haven't changed much
- in 20 years, have you?
- I've changed quite a bit.
Nice necklace, by the way.
[MASHA]
It was given to me by an old friend.
I was on your show and you asked me
what I wanted to be when I grew up.
An astronaut.
[MARTIN]
I just wanna be able to trust you.
Did you bring me here for my money?
I brought you here to heal, David.
I don't need to be healed, Masha.
We'll see.
[HELENA] You spent years coming to terms
with your relationship with this man.
Well, I've just got
this one last thing to finish,
and then I'll be available, I promise.
[HELENA] So, he's here to be punished.
Not punishment, a reckoning.
Tonight is the night
you're gonna meet your father.
Is this what the kids call a booty call?
[MASHA] [CHUCKLES] No. It's not that.
You're not gonna try
and kill me again, are you?
[MASHA] I'm gonna take you
on an advanced psychedelic journey.
Oh, so I've made
the advanced program, then?
- [MASHA] Mm-hmm.
- Because so far,
I've had about as much insight
at this place
as I had from my week at Burning Man.
Are you afraid to go deeper?
No.
Are you afraid of me?
Listen, I get that you think
you're manipulating me.
- I don't think that.
- Look, I'm not afraid of much.
And I'm certainly not afraid
of what's inside my head.
So, let's do it.
Lie down.
["DEMOLITION" BY
MARIE DAVIDSON PLAYING]
I'm gonna tell you a story.
- [UPBEAT MUSIC PLAYING]
- [DEVICE WHIRRING]
It all started in Prague, 2001.
["DEMOLITION" CONTINUES PLAYING]
♪
[PEOPLE CHATTERING]
Unh ♪
Extraction ♪
Rendition ♪
Damnation ♪
[HIGH-PITCHED SQUEALING FROM DEVICE]
[WINCING] Ah!
Your cigarette just burnt my chest.
- [MACHINE BEEPING]
- Demolition ♪
Better ways to get my attention,
you know.
- You speak English?
- Mm-hmm.
But stupid small talk
isn't the best way to get my attention.
Oh. You wanna hear me
practice my talking points instead?
I could save you the trouble.
Free enterprise, freedom of speech,
golden age of partnership
between the West and Eastern Europe.
[CHUCKLES] Did I leave anything out?
No, that was pretty good.
I'm a businessman
who believes in freedom of the press,
the absence of censorship,
and I'm humbled
that my company's partnership
can play a small part in paving the way
to a new united Europe.
- How's that, not bad?
- Mm, I've heard worse.
- Oh, yeah?
- We get one of you here every week,
wealthy businessmen from the West
pontificating about freedom and truth,
when, really, you're just gonna strip
the Iron Curtain of everything
and just use it for parts, yeah?
It's all just business though, isn't it?
They're ready for you.
[PEOPLE CHATTERING IN DISTANCE]
[RIVETING NEWS SHOW
THEME MUSIC PLAYING]
Well, my company is very honored
to have formed such strong relationships
across the whole of Europe.
Having said that,
the last thing anyone needs
is a wealthy investor from the West
coming in and talking about partnership,
while all the while
stripping these countries for parts.
[REPORTER]
So, how do you see your company
shaping the future of
the Czech Republic?
Well, I'm a businessman, so obviously,
I'm looking to make a profit.
But, um, I believe that doing good
in the Czech Republic
or Ukraine,
or any other countries formerly
under the chokehold of Communism,
it can only be a net positive
for the wider economic world.
I mean, I I believe you can do well
by doing good.
Thank you for the interview,
David Sharpe,
- from Signal Op.
- [DAVID] Thank you.
- [BACKGROUND CHATTER]
- [BELL RINGS]
[MASHA] [VOICE ECHOING]
Breathe in.
Breathe out.
Come back to me.
Deep breaths, David.
[DAVID GASPS]
Mm, don't resist it.
Just stay with it.
- Breathe in and out, and focus.
- [DAVID BREATHING HEAVILY]
Breathe in, breathe out.
It's very normal to drift in and out
of the hallucination.
[MACHINE BEEPS]
Your vital signs are normal.
You're tolerating
the medication beautifully.
How was that
I mean, h how was I just seeing that?
Neurologists used to think
that memories
were like a camera,
replaying the perceptions over and over,
again and again, unchanged.
But now, now we know that memories
are destroyed and rebuilt
every time we recall them.
And with the right triggers,
we can relive them
and have a new understanding of them.
And the medication I am giving you,
it lets you experience it
as if for the first time.
[SOFT, UNSETTLING MUSIC PLAYING]
- [METAL CLINKING]
- [TOOL HISSING]
- And this is safe?
- [MASHA] We're gonna see.
I mean, we're in
what you would say is beta.
What do you what do you mean?
You've you've never done this before?
No, I've done it on myself.
I just use more traditional
approaches with the others.
But you
[WHISPERING]
I was waiting for you, David.
I knew you'd jump in with me.
I knew you were brave. You're a leader.
[LAUGHING] Well, I'm I'm honored.
[MASHA LAUGHING]
Would you like to try a little more?
Sure.
Okay. Look up.
[SOFT, TENSE MUSIC PLAYING]
[MASHA] [WHISPERING]
Breathe in, breathe out.
This feeling is totally normal.
[DAVID] This feeling is totally normal.
- This feeling is totally normal.
- This feeling is totally normal.
the last thing anyone wants
[DAVID] This feeling is totally normal.
West to come in
and talk about partnership
while stripping these
countries for parts.
Take a deep breath.
- Deep breath.
- This feeling is totally normal.
[MASHA] This feeling is totally normal.
This feeling is totally normal.
[MASHA] [WHISPERING]
This feeling is totally normal.
[DAVID]
This feeling is totally normal.
[MUFFLED]
This feeling is totally normal.
[DAVID] [WHISPERING]
This feeling is totally normal.
[MASHA] [WHISPERING]
This feeling is totally normal.
[DAVID]
This feeling is totally normal.
[MASHA] [WHISPERING]
This feeling is totally normal.
[DAVID]
This feeling is totally normal.
[MASHA EXHALES SLOWLY]
- This feeling is
- [BOTH, DISTORTED] totally normal.
[DAVID]
This feeling is totally normal.
[MASHA] [VOICE ECHOING] Everything
I'm feeling is totally normal.
Everything I'm feeling
is totally normal.
[MASHA] Everything
you're feeling is totally normal.
[DAVID] Everything I'm
feeling is totally normal.
- Thank you, David Sharpe, from Signal Op.
- Thank you.
- [BACKGROUND CHATTER]
- [BELL RINGS]
[NEWS SHOW THEME MUSIC CONCLUDES]
[PEOPLE CHATTERING]
I didn't catch your name.
- I didn't tell it to you.
- Oh.
Mila Zarutskova. Would you, um
would you consider having dinner
with me this evening?
There's nothing more I like
than a smart, beautiful woman
- who can see through my bullshit.
- Oh.
There's plenty of smart, beautiful women
who can see through your bullshit,
in the Red Light District.
Very affordable.
You misunderstand me.
I I travel a lot.
I get bored. I get lonely.
I just wanna have a meal with someone
who can hold a conversation in English.
We can go wherever you like.
Money's no object. Best place in town.
[ENERGETIC ROCK MUSIC PLAYING IN BAR]
- Best place in town.
- Yeah, smells like it.
[PEOPLE CHATTERING AND LAUGHING]
[MUSIC CONTINUES]
Mila!
[BOTH SPEAKING RUSSIAN]
[ALYONA CHUCKLING]
[DAVID] Hi.
- Yes. [SIGHS]
- [ALYONA LAUGHING]
I'll have what he's having.
[MASHA LAUGHING]
Come on, what is this place?
Is this a test?
No, David, this is a bar.
[SPEAKING RUSSIAN]
[DAVID SPEAKING RUSSIAN]
- [GLASSES CLINKING]
- Terrible. Terrible Russian.
[GROANS] Do they make this here?
They do.
Capitalist entrepreneurs just like you.
Uh-huh, why, what are you, a Communist?
I'm a journalist.
And what am I,
your, um, your latest scoop?
Don't flatter yourself.
[CHUCKLES]
No, I'm not really a journalist.
- I'd like to be one.
- Why, TZD 24 isn't journalism?
It's PR for corporate hacks.
Oh, well, now I'm flattered.
[MASHA CHUCKLES]
[SIGHS] So, why don't you do it?
- Do what?
- Journalism.
Or whatever it is
you think of as journalism.
I think you'd probably
be really good at it.
- How do you know?
- Well, you're observant.
You've, um, got a nose for trouble
and an eye for bullshit.
And I suspect you are kind of interested
in what it is people aren't telling you.
["EYES WITHOUT A FACE" BY BILLY IDOL
PLAYING IN BAR]
What are you not telling me?
Hm?
- Eyes without a face ♪
- [MUSIC DISTORTING]
[GLASSES THUDDING]
[ELECTRONIC MUSIC PLAYING IN BAR]
Wanna dance?
- Dance?
- I wanna see you dance.
Yeah, sure.
♪
[PATRONS CHATTERING]
[VOCALIST SINGING RUSSIAN]
You burned me with your cigarette.
I think you left a mark on my chest.
- Bullshit.
- No, it's true.
Let me see.
That?
Oh, poor thing.
♪
Wanna get outta here?
I'm hungry.
[LIGHT STRING MUSIC PLAYING]
[PEOPLE CHATTERING QUIETLY]
- Do you like that?
- [CHUCKLES]
I'll have 'em send it up for you.
Hm. I can't accept that. [CHUCKLES]
Sure, you can.
Wanna take a look around?
[MASHA CHEWING, SNIFFS]
[DAVID] Yeah. It was a good meeting.
No, I can't really get into it right now
but it was all very positive.
Slight concern, but I told him
there are ways around it.
There are ways around everything.
Okay? We didn't get into numbers.
I'll leave that to you.
Let's talk tomorrow. I need to
get to Peter before he goes to bed.
Sure. Okay.
Hey, kiddo!
How's school?
[CONVERSATION FADING]
[MYSTERIOUS MUSIC PLAYING]
[DAVID] It shouldn't be too much longer.
It's lovely here.
Yeah, it's snowing at the moment.
[CHUCKLES] Loads of it!
Well, we'll go skiing as soon as we can.
Maybe not this time, but next trip.
It's another couple of days.
It shouldn't be too much longer.
Uh-huh.
Nearly done.
Alright, pal. Yeah.
You sleep well, okay?
I miss you, too.
Goodnight.
It's my son, Peter.
I always make a point
of calling him to say goodnight.
Must be hard for a little boy
to be without his father.
Well, he's 11 now, so
not so little anymore.
Do you like the snow?
Yeah, it's beautiful.
What about his mother?
Well, does it matter?
["BENDING HECTIC"
BY THE SMILE PLAYING]
Yeah, it matters.
[LAUGHING]
[MASHA] [VOICE SOFT, ECHOING]
Come back to me.
Come back to me.
Come back to me now.
[DAVID EXHALES SHARPLY]
Come back to me.
- Oh, my God.
- [CHUCKLES]
I'm changing down the gears ♪
I've often returned to that night.
I'm slammin' on the brakes ♪
It's never left my mind.
A vintage soft top ♪
You're not acting like yourself,
David Sharpe.
I'm not feeling like myself.
That's because you're coming down
off a large dose of psychedelic drugs.
Can I stay up here?
I quite like not feeling like myself.
Will you let me take you somewhere else?
Where?
Do you trust me?
A sheer drop down ♪
- Come.
- The Italian mountainside ♪
[SOFTLY GROANING]
And time is kind of frozen ♪
And you're gazing at the view ♪
- [DAVID EXHALES]
- Here, lie down.
[WHISPERING]
That's right, close your eyes.
I want you to just listen to my voice.
- [MACHINE BEEPING]
- You're in darkness.
You feel a pain in your core.
It's a deep pressure.
Very intense. It becomes deeper.
More painful.
It starts to throb.
You are floating outside your body.
You are looking down at yourself.
And then, white light floods,
it floods you.
[MASHA SINGING RUSSIAN LULLABY
"BAYU BAYUSHKI BAYU"]
[CONTINUES SINGING IN RUSSIAN]
[WHISPERING] She is the most beautiful
thing you have ever seen.
She opens her eyes, looks into yours
and from that point on,
there is only before and after.
And you will do everything you can
to protect this small child.
[SIGHS]
To give her just a fraction
of the pure joy
that her silent gaze brings you.
[NURSE] Mila Zarutskova.
She has no father.
[NURSE] What is she?
American, British, French?
Don't you want her to have a passport?
A ticket to the outside world?
She belongs to me. She is mine.
She will be the world.
- [NURSE] Father unknown.
- Father unknown.
[SOFT, DRAMATIC MUSIC PLAYING]
[PAPER CRINKLING]
Mine?
Mine.
Why didn't you tell me?
Because a one-night stand
with some woman
who mic'd you on a Czech talk show?
[SCOFFS] You wouldn't have wanted that.
You wouldn't have believed me anyway.
- That's not true.
- No?
You could have come to me.
I never forgot you.
I I could have helped you.
I could have found a place for you.
I didn't want your help.
I didn't want your money.
I could take care of my child.
Teach her to stand on her own
two feet, to be independent,
to know who she was,
who she would become.
What's her name?
Tatiana.
[DAVID] Tatiana.
- That's beautiful.
- Mm.
Does she know about me?
In a way.
Can I can I meet her?
I'd love to get to know her.
For her to know me.
Would you do that for me, please?
She must be, what, 24 by now?
There's more you need to hear.
Years later, I found out
you were back in Prague.
You didn't tell me, but I found out.
- [INDISTINCT CONVERSATION]
- [MASHA] I went to your hotel.
I don't know what I wanted,
what I planned to do.
I was young and silly and desperate.
♪
You walked right past me.
You were with a man I didn't know,
a Russian.
But I remembered his face that night,
and I became determined
to find out who he was.
What is this story you made up?
You've read too many
Cold War spy novels, Masha.
I think this is all in your mind.
We're in my mind now.
And this is all very real.
Soon after, I got a job at a local paper
and I started digging.
I found out the man's name
was Sergei Ivanvov,
a military contractor looking
to get into the drone business.
I kept writing. I was addicted
to the truth, to exposing him.
Maybe it felt like a way
of getting back at you,
or staying close to you.
I don't know.
But I couldn't stop.
[INTENSE MUSIC PLAYING]
Oh!
[SCOFFS]
[MASHA] And once that man
had seen my face, I was a target.
[ENGINE RUMBLING]
♪
[ENGINE IDLING]
[TIRES SCREECHING]
[DOG BARKING]
[FOOTSTEPS CLACKING]
What do you wanna be
when you grow up?
- An astronaut.
- [GASPS]
Did you know they think that
there are about a trillion stars
in the Milky Way?
And that each and every single one
we can see here on Earth
is actually bigger
and brighter than our sun.
[BRIAN] [ON TV] Wow!
[BRIAN AND YOUNG TINA LAUGHING]
- [BRIAN] That is so cool.
- [YOUNG TINA] Yeah.
[MASHA SIGHS]
Speak to me in English, huh?
This is my favorite part. Watch with me.
- [ALYONA LAUGHING]
- Okay.
Good. It's good for her English.
[TENSE MUSIC PLAYING]
[SIGHS] Yeah.
[MASHA SIGHS]
At the Crabapple Clubhouse ♪
Come and play, play all day ♪
Whoo! Mommy's hungry.
Crabapple Clubhouse,
right this way ♪
Mm. We watch it four times.
Four.
- Four.
- Mm-hmm, four.
- We're waiting for you!
- [LAUGHING]
[KEYBOARD CLACKING]
[DRAMATIC MUSIC PLAYING]
So, I moved again and again and again.
I quit my job, I changed my name.
But it wasn't enough,
because it wasn't about silencing me.
No. It was about punishment.
How do you punish me?
You come after my daughter.
So, I had to swallow my pride,
and I reached out to you.
I wrote to you, first pleading
and then threatening.
Threatening me?
TeleSync was the name
of the company in Asia
and in Eastern Europe.
But the name of the company in the U.S.
that owned the technology was Signal Op.
And the man I saw that day in the car,
he was under sanctions.
And he was forbidden from doing
any business with UK nationals.
And yet, still nothing.
So, I threatened you with exposure
with whatever protection
your laws would have given me,
but still, nothing.
But I never received any messages.
[MASHA SCOFFS]
They never reached me.
I swear to you.
Believe me, if I'd known,
I would've been there in seconds.
There would be no need to threaten me.
My business associates,
they kept things from me,
things that I should have known.
Which is why I sold it all.
I got rid of that part of the business.
I waited. I waited, hoping
for you.
You never came.
One day, they did.
[DRAMATIC MUSIC PLAYING]
[INAUDIBLE]
[SOMBER MUSIC PLAYING]
I couldn't protect her. [SOBBING]
I couldn't. I couldn't.
- I I couldn't.
- [SOFTLY] Come here. Come, come.
I couldn't.
No, don't. No, don't.
Don't. [SOBBING] You didn't
I failed her.
It's okay, it's okay, it's okay.
[SHUSHING]
[SOFT, DRAMATIC MUSIC PLAYING]
[INAUDIBLE]
[MASHA BREATHING HEAVILY]
I'm sorry.
I'm sorry.
[SNIFFLES]
[SOFT, DRAMATIC MUSIC CONTINUES]
[SIGHS DEEPLY]
♪
[WIND BLOWING]
[DAVID SIGHING]
Are you alright?
I've never experienced
anything like that in my life before.
When you were crying
I felt your pain like it was my own.
- It was so real.
- It was real.
Ego, that is the hallucination.
How did you do it?
Oh, years of honing
and practice, failure.
But I was always too scared
to do it on anyone but myself.
And now, you know it works, David.
More people need to experience this.
How can I help?
[SOFTLY] No.
David, I don't
No, I'm I'm serious.
I know you need money.
I don't want you doing this
out of guilt for my daughter.
Our daughter.
I know I never met her.
I I never even knew she existed.
But [SIGHS]
she's still my daughter.
I failed her. Not you.
I'm sorry you've had
to carry this all alone.
I forgive you.
- You forgive me?
- Mm.
How is that possible?
Years of practice.
[UPBEAT DRAMATIC MUSIC PLAYING]
♪
[MASHA MOANING LIGHTLY]
[MASHA MOANING OVER SPEAKERS]
[RECORDING REWINDING,
DIALOGUE DISTORTING]
[DAVID]
More people need to experience this.
- How can I help?
- [MASHA] No, David, I don't
[DAVID] No, I'm I'm serious.
I know you need money.
[MASHA] I don't want you doing this
out of guilt for my daughter.
[DAVID] Our daughter.
I know I never met her.
I I never even knew she existed,
but she's still my daughter.
[UPBEAT DRAMATIC MUSIC
CONTINUES PLAYING]
[KARAOKE VERSION OF
"CAN'T GET YOU OUT OF MY HEAD" PLAYING]
[ARTIST SINGING IN RUSSIAN]
- [MARTIN] What about this?
- No, that needs to be tested first.
- What? On whom?
- You haven't changed much
- in 20 years, have you?
- I've changed quite a bit.
Nice necklace, by the way.
[MASHA]
It was given to me by an old friend.
I was on your show and you asked me
what I wanted to be when I grew up.
An astronaut.
[MARTIN]
I just wanna be able to trust you.
Did you bring me here for my money?
I brought you here to heal, David.
I don't need to be healed, Masha.
We'll see.
[HELENA] You spent years coming to terms
with your relationship with this man.
Well, I've just got
this one last thing to finish,
and then I'll be available, I promise.
[HELENA] So, he's here to be punished.
Not punishment, a reckoning.
Tonight is the night
you're gonna meet your father.
Is this what the kids call a booty call?
[MASHA] [CHUCKLES] No. It's not that.
You're not gonna try
and kill me again, are you?
[MASHA] I'm gonna take you
on an advanced psychedelic journey.
Oh, so I've made
the advanced program, then?
- [MASHA] Mm-hmm.
- Because so far,
I've had about as much insight
at this place
as I had from my week at Burning Man.
Are you afraid to go deeper?
No.
Are you afraid of me?
Listen, I get that you think
you're manipulating me.
- I don't think that.
- Look, I'm not afraid of much.
And I'm certainly not afraid
of what's inside my head.
So, let's do it.
Lie down.
["DEMOLITION" BY
MARIE DAVIDSON PLAYING]
I'm gonna tell you a story.
- [UPBEAT MUSIC PLAYING]
- [DEVICE WHIRRING]
It all started in Prague, 2001.
["DEMOLITION" CONTINUES PLAYING]
♪
[PEOPLE CHATTERING]
Unh ♪
Extraction ♪
Rendition ♪
Damnation ♪
[HIGH-PITCHED SQUEALING FROM DEVICE]
[WINCING] Ah!
Your cigarette just burnt my chest.
- [MACHINE BEEPING]
- Demolition ♪
Better ways to get my attention,
you know.
- You speak English?
- Mm-hmm.
But stupid small talk
isn't the best way to get my attention.
Oh. You wanna hear me
practice my talking points instead?
I could save you the trouble.
Free enterprise, freedom of speech,
golden age of partnership
between the West and Eastern Europe.
[CHUCKLES] Did I leave anything out?
No, that was pretty good.
I'm a businessman
who believes in freedom of the press,
the absence of censorship,
and I'm humbled
that my company's partnership
can play a small part in paving the way
to a new united Europe.
- How's that, not bad?
- Mm, I've heard worse.
- Oh, yeah?
- We get one of you here every week,
wealthy businessmen from the West
pontificating about freedom and truth,
when, really, you're just gonna strip
the Iron Curtain of everything
and just use it for parts, yeah?
It's all just business though, isn't it?
They're ready for you.
[PEOPLE CHATTERING IN DISTANCE]
[RIVETING NEWS SHOW
THEME MUSIC PLAYING]
Well, my company is very honored
to have formed such strong relationships
across the whole of Europe.
Having said that,
the last thing anyone needs
is a wealthy investor from the West
coming in and talking about partnership,
while all the while
stripping these countries for parts.
[REPORTER]
So, how do you see your company
shaping the future of
the Czech Republic?
Well, I'm a businessman, so obviously,
I'm looking to make a profit.
But, um, I believe that doing good
in the Czech Republic
or Ukraine,
or any other countries formerly
under the chokehold of Communism,
it can only be a net positive
for the wider economic world.
I mean, I I believe you can do well
by doing good.
Thank you for the interview,
David Sharpe,
- from Signal Op.
- [DAVID] Thank you.
- [BACKGROUND CHATTER]
- [BELL RINGS]
[MASHA] [VOICE ECHOING]
Breathe in.
Breathe out.
Come back to me.
Deep breaths, David.
[DAVID GASPS]
Mm, don't resist it.
Just stay with it.
- Breathe in and out, and focus.
- [DAVID BREATHING HEAVILY]
Breathe in, breathe out.
It's very normal to drift in and out
of the hallucination.
[MACHINE BEEPS]
Your vital signs are normal.
You're tolerating
the medication beautifully.
How was that
I mean, h how was I just seeing that?
Neurologists used to think
that memories
were like a camera,
replaying the perceptions over and over,
again and again, unchanged.
But now, now we know that memories
are destroyed and rebuilt
every time we recall them.
And with the right triggers,
we can relive them
and have a new understanding of them.
And the medication I am giving you,
it lets you experience it
as if for the first time.
[SOFT, UNSETTLING MUSIC PLAYING]
- [METAL CLINKING]
- [TOOL HISSING]
- And this is safe?
- [MASHA] We're gonna see.
I mean, we're in
what you would say is beta.
What do you what do you mean?
You've you've never done this before?
No, I've done it on myself.
I just use more traditional
approaches with the others.
But you
[WHISPERING]
I was waiting for you, David.
I knew you'd jump in with me.
I knew you were brave. You're a leader.
[LAUGHING] Well, I'm I'm honored.
[MASHA LAUGHING]
Would you like to try a little more?
Sure.
Okay. Look up.
[SOFT, TENSE MUSIC PLAYING]
[MASHA] [WHISPERING]
Breathe in, breathe out.
This feeling is totally normal.
[DAVID] This feeling is totally normal.
- This feeling is totally normal.
- This feeling is totally normal.
the last thing anyone wants
[DAVID] This feeling is totally normal.
West to come in
and talk about partnership
while stripping these
countries for parts.
Take a deep breath.
- Deep breath.
- This feeling is totally normal.
[MASHA] This feeling is totally normal.
This feeling is totally normal.
[MASHA] [WHISPERING]
This feeling is totally normal.
[DAVID]
This feeling is totally normal.
[MUFFLED]
This feeling is totally normal.
[DAVID] [WHISPERING]
This feeling is totally normal.
[MASHA] [WHISPERING]
This feeling is totally normal.
[DAVID]
This feeling is totally normal.
[MASHA] [WHISPERING]
This feeling is totally normal.
[DAVID]
This feeling is totally normal.
[MASHA EXHALES SLOWLY]
- This feeling is
- [BOTH, DISTORTED] totally normal.
[DAVID]
This feeling is totally normal.
[MASHA] [VOICE ECHOING] Everything
I'm feeling is totally normal.
Everything I'm feeling
is totally normal.
[MASHA] Everything
you're feeling is totally normal.
[DAVID] Everything I'm
feeling is totally normal.
- Thank you, David Sharpe, from Signal Op.
- Thank you.
- [BACKGROUND CHATTER]
- [BELL RINGS]
[NEWS SHOW THEME MUSIC CONCLUDES]
[PEOPLE CHATTERING]
I didn't catch your name.
- I didn't tell it to you.
- Oh.
Mila Zarutskova. Would you, um
would you consider having dinner
with me this evening?
There's nothing more I like
than a smart, beautiful woman
- who can see through my bullshit.
- Oh.
There's plenty of smart, beautiful women
who can see through your bullshit,
in the Red Light District.
Very affordable.
You misunderstand me.
I I travel a lot.
I get bored. I get lonely.
I just wanna have a meal with someone
who can hold a conversation in English.
We can go wherever you like.
Money's no object. Best place in town.
[ENERGETIC ROCK MUSIC PLAYING IN BAR]
- Best place in town.
- Yeah, smells like it.
[PEOPLE CHATTERING AND LAUGHING]
[MUSIC CONTINUES]
Mila!
[BOTH SPEAKING RUSSIAN]
[ALYONA CHUCKLING]
[DAVID] Hi.
- Yes. [SIGHS]
- [ALYONA LAUGHING]
I'll have what he's having.
[MASHA LAUGHING]
Come on, what is this place?
Is this a test?
No, David, this is a bar.
[SPEAKING RUSSIAN]
[DAVID SPEAKING RUSSIAN]
- [GLASSES CLINKING]
- Terrible. Terrible Russian.
[GROANS] Do they make this here?
They do.
Capitalist entrepreneurs just like you.
Uh-huh, why, what are you, a Communist?
I'm a journalist.
And what am I,
your, um, your latest scoop?
Don't flatter yourself.
[CHUCKLES]
No, I'm not really a journalist.
- I'd like to be one.
- Why, TZD 24 isn't journalism?
It's PR for corporate hacks.
Oh, well, now I'm flattered.
[MASHA CHUCKLES]
[SIGHS] So, why don't you do it?
- Do what?
- Journalism.
Or whatever it is
you think of as journalism.
I think you'd probably
be really good at it.
- How do you know?
- Well, you're observant.
You've, um, got a nose for trouble
and an eye for bullshit.
And I suspect you are kind of interested
in what it is people aren't telling you.
["EYES WITHOUT A FACE" BY BILLY IDOL
PLAYING IN BAR]
What are you not telling me?
Hm?
- Eyes without a face ♪
- [MUSIC DISTORTING]
[GLASSES THUDDING]
[ELECTRONIC MUSIC PLAYING IN BAR]
Wanna dance?
- Dance?
- I wanna see you dance.
Yeah, sure.
♪
[PATRONS CHATTERING]
[VOCALIST SINGING RUSSIAN]
You burned me with your cigarette.
I think you left a mark on my chest.
- Bullshit.
- No, it's true.
Let me see.
That?
Oh, poor thing.
♪
Wanna get outta here?
I'm hungry.
[LIGHT STRING MUSIC PLAYING]
[PEOPLE CHATTERING QUIETLY]
- Do you like that?
- [CHUCKLES]
I'll have 'em send it up for you.
Hm. I can't accept that. [CHUCKLES]
Sure, you can.
Wanna take a look around?
[MASHA CHEWING, SNIFFS]
[DAVID] Yeah. It was a good meeting.
No, I can't really get into it right now
but it was all very positive.
Slight concern, but I told him
there are ways around it.
There are ways around everything.
Okay? We didn't get into numbers.
I'll leave that to you.
Let's talk tomorrow. I need to
get to Peter before he goes to bed.
Sure. Okay.
Hey, kiddo!
How's school?
[CONVERSATION FADING]
[MYSTERIOUS MUSIC PLAYING]
[DAVID] It shouldn't be too much longer.
It's lovely here.
Yeah, it's snowing at the moment.
[CHUCKLES] Loads of it!
Well, we'll go skiing as soon as we can.
Maybe not this time, but next trip.
It's another couple of days.
It shouldn't be too much longer.
Uh-huh.
Nearly done.
Alright, pal. Yeah.
You sleep well, okay?
I miss you, too.
Goodnight.
It's my son, Peter.
I always make a point
of calling him to say goodnight.
Must be hard for a little boy
to be without his father.
Well, he's 11 now, so
not so little anymore.
Do you like the snow?
Yeah, it's beautiful.
What about his mother?
Well, does it matter?
["BENDING HECTIC"
BY THE SMILE PLAYING]
Yeah, it matters.
[LAUGHING]
[MASHA] [VOICE SOFT, ECHOING]
Come back to me.
Come back to me.
Come back to me now.
[DAVID EXHALES SHARPLY]
Come back to me.
- Oh, my God.
- [CHUCKLES]
I'm changing down the gears ♪
I've often returned to that night.
I'm slammin' on the brakes ♪
It's never left my mind.
A vintage soft top ♪
You're not acting like yourself,
David Sharpe.
I'm not feeling like myself.
That's because you're coming down
off a large dose of psychedelic drugs.
Can I stay up here?
I quite like not feeling like myself.
Will you let me take you somewhere else?
Where?
Do you trust me?
A sheer drop down ♪
- Come.
- The Italian mountainside ♪
[SOFTLY GROANING]
And time is kind of frozen ♪
And you're gazing at the view ♪
- [DAVID EXHALES]
- Here, lie down.
[WHISPERING]
That's right, close your eyes.
I want you to just listen to my voice.
- [MACHINE BEEPING]
- You're in darkness.
You feel a pain in your core.
It's a deep pressure.
Very intense. It becomes deeper.
More painful.
It starts to throb.
You are floating outside your body.
You are looking down at yourself.
And then, white light floods,
it floods you.
[MASHA SINGING RUSSIAN LULLABY
"BAYU BAYUSHKI BAYU"]
[CONTINUES SINGING IN RUSSIAN]
[WHISPERING] She is the most beautiful
thing you have ever seen.
She opens her eyes, looks into yours
and from that point on,
there is only before and after.
And you will do everything you can
to protect this small child.
[SIGHS]
To give her just a fraction
of the pure joy
that her silent gaze brings you.
[NURSE] Mila Zarutskova.
She has no father.
[NURSE] What is she?
American, British, French?
Don't you want her to have a passport?
A ticket to the outside world?
She belongs to me. She is mine.
She will be the world.
- [NURSE] Father unknown.
- Father unknown.
[SOFT, DRAMATIC MUSIC PLAYING]
[PAPER CRINKLING]
Mine?
Mine.
Why didn't you tell me?
Because a one-night stand
with some woman
who mic'd you on a Czech talk show?
[SCOFFS] You wouldn't have wanted that.
You wouldn't have believed me anyway.
- That's not true.
- No?
You could have come to me.
I never forgot you.
I I could have helped you.
I could have found a place for you.
I didn't want your help.
I didn't want your money.
I could take care of my child.
Teach her to stand on her own
two feet, to be independent,
to know who she was,
who she would become.
What's her name?
Tatiana.
[DAVID] Tatiana.
- That's beautiful.
- Mm.
Does she know about me?
In a way.
Can I can I meet her?
I'd love to get to know her.
For her to know me.
Would you do that for me, please?
She must be, what, 24 by now?
There's more you need to hear.
Years later, I found out
you were back in Prague.
You didn't tell me, but I found out.
- [INDISTINCT CONVERSATION]
- [MASHA] I went to your hotel.
I don't know what I wanted,
what I planned to do.
I was young and silly and desperate.
♪
You walked right past me.
You were with a man I didn't know,
a Russian.
But I remembered his face that night,
and I became determined
to find out who he was.
What is this story you made up?
You've read too many
Cold War spy novels, Masha.
I think this is all in your mind.
We're in my mind now.
And this is all very real.
Soon after, I got a job at a local paper
and I started digging.
I found out the man's name
was Sergei Ivanvov,
a military contractor looking
to get into the drone business.
I kept writing. I was addicted
to the truth, to exposing him.
Maybe it felt like a way
of getting back at you,
or staying close to you.
I don't know.
But I couldn't stop.
[INTENSE MUSIC PLAYING]
Oh!
[SCOFFS]
[MASHA] And once that man
had seen my face, I was a target.
[ENGINE RUMBLING]
♪
[ENGINE IDLING]
[TIRES SCREECHING]
[DOG BARKING]
[FOOTSTEPS CLACKING]
What do you wanna be
when you grow up?
- An astronaut.
- [GASPS]
Did you know they think that
there are about a trillion stars
in the Milky Way?
And that each and every single one
we can see here on Earth
is actually bigger
and brighter than our sun.
[BRIAN] [ON TV] Wow!
[BRIAN AND YOUNG TINA LAUGHING]
- [BRIAN] That is so cool.
- [YOUNG TINA] Yeah.
[MASHA SIGHS]
Speak to me in English, huh?
This is my favorite part. Watch with me.
- [ALYONA LAUGHING]
- Okay.
Good. It's good for her English.
[TENSE MUSIC PLAYING]
[SIGHS] Yeah.
[MASHA SIGHS]
At the Crabapple Clubhouse ♪
Come and play, play all day ♪
Whoo! Mommy's hungry.
Crabapple Clubhouse,
right this way ♪
Mm. We watch it four times.
Four.
- Four.
- Mm-hmm, four.
- We're waiting for you!
- [LAUGHING]
[KEYBOARD CLACKING]
[DRAMATIC MUSIC PLAYING]
So, I moved again and again and again.
I quit my job, I changed my name.
But it wasn't enough,
because it wasn't about silencing me.
No. It was about punishment.
How do you punish me?
You come after my daughter.
So, I had to swallow my pride,
and I reached out to you.
I wrote to you, first pleading
and then threatening.
Threatening me?
TeleSync was the name
of the company in Asia
and in Eastern Europe.
But the name of the company in the U.S.
that owned the technology was Signal Op.
And the man I saw that day in the car,
he was under sanctions.
And he was forbidden from doing
any business with UK nationals.
And yet, still nothing.
So, I threatened you with exposure
with whatever protection
your laws would have given me,
but still, nothing.
But I never received any messages.
[MASHA SCOFFS]
They never reached me.
I swear to you.
Believe me, if I'd known,
I would've been there in seconds.
There would be no need to threaten me.
My business associates,
they kept things from me,
things that I should have known.
Which is why I sold it all.
I got rid of that part of the business.
I waited. I waited, hoping
for you.
You never came.
One day, they did.
[DRAMATIC MUSIC PLAYING]
[INAUDIBLE]
[SOMBER MUSIC PLAYING]
I couldn't protect her. [SOBBING]
I couldn't. I couldn't.
- I I couldn't.
- [SOFTLY] Come here. Come, come.
I couldn't.
No, don't. No, don't.
Don't. [SOBBING] You didn't
I failed her.
It's okay, it's okay, it's okay.
[SHUSHING]
[SOFT, DRAMATIC MUSIC PLAYING]
[INAUDIBLE]
[MASHA BREATHING HEAVILY]
I'm sorry.
I'm sorry.
[SNIFFLES]
[SOFT, DRAMATIC MUSIC CONTINUES]
[SIGHS DEEPLY]
♪
[WIND BLOWING]
[DAVID SIGHING]
Are you alright?
I've never experienced
anything like that in my life before.
When you were crying
I felt your pain like it was my own.
- It was so real.
- It was real.
Ego, that is the hallucination.
How did you do it?
Oh, years of honing
and practice, failure.
But I was always too scared
to do it on anyone but myself.
And now, you know it works, David.
More people need to experience this.
How can I help?
[SOFTLY] No.
David, I don't
No, I'm I'm serious.
I know you need money.
I don't want you doing this
out of guilt for my daughter.
Our daughter.
I know I never met her.
I I never even knew she existed.
But [SIGHS]
she's still my daughter.
I failed her. Not you.
I'm sorry you've had
to carry this all alone.
I forgive you.
- You forgive me?
- Mm.
How is that possible?
Years of practice.
[UPBEAT DRAMATIC MUSIC PLAYING]
♪
[MASHA MOANING LIGHTLY]
[MASHA MOANING OVER SPEAKERS]
[RECORDING REWINDING,
DIALOGUE DISTORTING]
[DAVID]
More people need to experience this.
- How can I help?
- [MASHA] No, David, I don't
[DAVID] No, I'm I'm serious.
I know you need money.
[MASHA] I don't want you doing this
out of guilt for my daughter.
[DAVID] Our daughter.
I know I never met her.
I I never even knew she existed,
but she's still my daughter.
[UPBEAT DRAMATIC MUSIC
CONTINUES PLAYING]
[KARAOKE VERSION OF
"CAN'T GET YOU OUT OF MY HEAD" PLAYING]
[ARTIST SINGING IN RUSSIAN]