A Round of Applause (2024) s01e02 Episode Script

1
A ROUND OF APPLAUSE
It's all right, darling.
All right.
Rest while you don't have contractions.
It's all right.
-Just wait.
-It's all right!
Come on.
-Oh honey.
-It's okay, honey.
Episiotomy scissors!
Fuck!
Come on
Gauze sponge!
Come on
-Rest while you don't have contractions.
-Okay. Rest.
Rest. Breathe.
It's coming.
There we go. Clamp, please.
All right.
There we go. Nurse, clamps, please.
I'm going in.
Removing the blanket.
Man, seriously, I'm just gonna say
-Psst. What are you doing?
-Huh?
Mehmet.
He's asleep.
-We put him to sleep.
-Let's go get some sleep.
Mehmet.
Honey?
-What is it?
-What if I told you the baby's not here?
Come here for a sec.
Should we be freaking out?
No, honey. There's no reason to freak out.
Hang on a second.
He's really gone, huh?
Well, he's not in the immediate vicinity,
that's for sure.
-Should we freak out already?
-No.
Wait, honey. Let's not panic.
Let's retrace our steps.
Let's just think.
What did we
Call your parents.
I'll call my mom. My parents
I'll call my parents.
Good morning, Mom.
How has it been, dear?
How was the first night?
I have a question for you.
Go ahead, dear.
We can't find the baby,
we figured we'd call you.
You don't know anything about it, right?
No, dear. We left you
at the hospital, you know.
And then
Well, I haven't spoken to you since then.
I know, I thought I'd ask anyway.
Can you ask Dad too?
How would your dad know
anything about it, dear?
He just woke up. He's having his coffee.
We were about to have breakfast.
He insisted I make pancakes,
so I was in the kitchen.
What's going on?
They can't find the baby.
I just got up. Tell them to look properly.
I told them already, Mustafa.
I thought you weren't
supposed to eat those anymore.
Dad's not taking
his cholesterol seriously.
Yeah, try telling him that.
He's making me eat them too.
I mean, when it's there, you eat it.
-Yeah?
-Talk about the baby.
They don't know anything.
Let's try your parents.
I swear we turned the house upside down.
We looked everywhere.
We called every hospital,
every police station. Nothing.
Did you check the car?
Of course I did, Dad.
I hope you took a good look
under the seats.
I did, Dad.
Don't half-ass it.
Check every compartment very carefully.
You always lose something.
Look at you. A grown man
making us deal with this stuff.
Not just me, though.
Zeynep can't find him either.
She lost him too.
-Look under the seats more carefully.
-Oh, come on!
Tell her to find the gold first.
Three pieces are missing!
I've asked her many times
since the wedding,
but she keeps brushing me off.
I'm ashamed to ask at this point.
Such a thing
would not happen in our family.
If she's doing this
for three pieces of gold,
your work is cut out for you.
You're on speaker. Zeynep can hear you.
The compartments.
Hey, Asuman. How have you been?
I'm fine, dear.
How have you been? How's motherhood going?
Well, it's not going at all, really.
We're stuck since the baby's gone.
We haven't been able to start yet.
I'm sure you will, dear.
Let's hope for the best.
-The glove box.
-Let's talk about the gold later, though.
Just the two of us.
There are things you don't know.
Oh, don't mind me, dear.
What's three pieces of gold anyway?
Don't you worry about them.
No, I'm not worried.
I'm not worried at all, dear.
You will understand it much better
when you're our age,
God willing.
Our expectations from life have changed.
We have different priorities now.
Such as?
Such as spending time with our grandkids,
but you've fucked that up already.
-The hood.
-Hanging up.
You can't conduct a search party hungry.
You can't think straight.
Turns out
my maternal instincts are shit, right?
Aren't I supposed to sense him?
Like, sense my cub's scent
from five miles away?
You're being too hard on yourself.
I'm kind of hung up on this.
And you have every right to be.
I don't want to overreact, but
I'm this close to freaking out.
No. There's nothing to freak out about.
It's just, we haven't retraced our steps.
If we could just do that
Mehmet, we retraced them a million times.
If we could only trace them forward.
Maybe he's 30,
waiting with a cig in his mouth.
Without us experiencing his childhood?
I'd resent him.
Let's find him first. Pass me the pepper.
I have one last idea, but
What is it?
The baby, I mean.
I have one last place in mind, but
-You want it?
-No, please have it.
-Take it, please.
-No. Please. I insist. I'm full anyway.
Let's share it.
I was just being greedy. Please have it.
-I'm taking it, then.
-Go on.
Go ahead.
So?
So what?
Where is it?
You told me you had a place in mind
we haven't checked yet.
-He's here.
-Whew! What a relief.
Bless you, Doctor!
I hope he doesn't make this a habit.
Or I'll wear lots of layers.
I'll zip up before I sleep.
I'll dress really warm,
wrap myself tight until the morning.
-Our sex life is over.
-We can't lock the door.
We wouldn't hear him if he cried.
He went up all the way inside you.
We didn't notice.
He overcame all obstacles
and crawled inside her.
Sign him up for athletics now.
Right now! Get him out, so he can grow up.
Nurse, prepare the room, please.
With your permission,
I want to say something.
Maybe it's not for me to say, but
I mean, you said it yourself.
The kid jumped through all sorts of hoops
and crawled back in.
He made a decision to go back
and made an immense effort to do so.
As a tiny baby,
he has achieved
a legendary accomplishment, right?
He has.
But we didn't even applaud him.
Doesn't this performance
deserve a round of applause?
Whatever our friend here has been through
And it's not like we can ever know.
I don't think we need to know either.
Let's not make a spectacle
out of someone's preferences here.
He made a decision of his own free will.
He's an individual.
Clearly an individual.
He masterfully executed his decision too.
He wanted to return and he did.
Are we going to drag this free individual
back in line here?
Maybe it's not my place to say this,
but you know, the zeitgeist
I don't know.
Well, all right. I understand.
I hear you and agree with you
for the most part,
but I mean, we can't
Please don't get me wrong,
I'd never say this
from a proprietary standpoint,
but the baby is mine, after all.
But the zeitgeist?
I mean, the zeitgeist
will have to excuse us.
Agreed. I'm sure you're looking at this
from a respectable standpoint
-Of course it's not my place to say, but
-No, no.
These are all very contemporary ideas,
really very precious thoughts
and very valuable perspectives,
but what would I tell my father?
It's not just us.
The moment we step out,
they'll be on speaker.
What? It's you.
What?
Did you forget your phone somewhere?
We can't lose a phone too!
Should I check inside?
See, not funny.
From a professor, even!
Associate professor.
Answer it, Zeynep.
Let's hear what I have to say.
Hello?
I think this lady might have a point.
Mehmet?
The things the nurse said got to me.
-Why don't you say so, then?
-Say what?
I don't know.
I couldn't say it to your face.
Figured it'd be easier on the phone.
Am I there with you right now?
Yeah.
Can you get away so I don't hear it?
-I'll be back in a sec.
-What happened? What did I say?
Hey, Zeynep!
Did you step away?
I'm listening.
Would you look at our baby!
Such individual free will,
such grand ambition.
And physical performance.
I swear I was just gonna say that.
By taking him back out, aren't we
disregarding the effort he has made?
Aren't we undermining
his first deliberate decision
as a free individual?
Oh wow! She really got to you, didn't she?
You really felt that way?
You hid it so well.
Of course I did.
I wouldn't take that risk,
show my true feelings.
Am I crazy? Would I ever do that?
Of course you wouldn't.
How are you feeling?
Mehmet, I'll tell you something then,
since you've called.
Go ahead, honey.
I've been freaking out from the beginning.
I've been miserable since he got lost.
You didn't show it even one bit.
Because I had promised myself!
What promise?
I had set myself a goal that I'd be
a much calmer person as a mother.
But our baby was missing, Zeynep.
Is this the right time to be calm?
It's not, Zeynep.
By the way, I guess I don't love you.
What?
-You know how I've been meditating?
-Yeah?
I sit on the floor and
keep asking myself these questions.
"Do I really love Mehmet?"
"Do we really have a connection?"
"Are we making this baby
just not to get divorced?"
Oh?
Yeah.
And I just sit there and stare at you.
I told you a million times not to.
But it doesn't do you any good that way.
You're always in your head.
There's zero benefit that way.
-I'm glad you called.
-Me too.
-But you won't ever hear any of this.
-Of course. Don't you ever tell me!
Never!
It felt so good
having this conversation with you.
Thank you.
Thank you.
It was a bit of a shock, but
it felt good to hear the truth.
Thank you
for not saying it to my face.
Well
I'm hanging up, then.
All right. I should go too.
I don't want to keep you waiting.
And let's quit therapy, for God's sake.
We spent a ton of money.
The solution shouldn't be this expensive.
I mean, us getting along
shouldn't cost this much.
It's ridiculous.
Let me call you more often.
Let's keep talking like this.
I'd love that.
We'd still bottle everything up,
but I'll try calling you now and then.
That'd be great.
I wish you had called earlier.
When I was pregnant, maybe.
You wouldn't have picked up.
You'd have handed it to me
with a sour face.
I'd have picked up,
and I'd have never listened to me.
Otherwise, I'd have started
going to the gym,
visited my grandma before she passed,
learned to play an instrument,
learned more languages.
And I wouldn't tell you every time
I could see through your clothes.
Oh, how I wish you didn't do that!
Well I wouldn't.
If I'd listen to myself, that is.
I say to myself every time,
"Don't say that her boobs are showing.
Don't make her uncomfortable."
But
I don't listen.
If I'd just listened
You're doing so well, please keep going.
I wouldn't brush off my little lies
as unimportant.
I'd know that half-truths
are the biggest of lies.
And I wouldn't blabber on
just because I don't know what to say.
I really don't want to hang up.
I know, darling.
Come on now. Hang up.
Don't keep me waiting.
I'm hanging up. My food is here.
One soda, please.
I knew you weren't actually full.
-What did I say that took this long?
-All right.
Let's get my baby out of me, Doctor.
I don't remember anything
before I was three. Do you?
It's blurry.
Say he'll remember being two. Maybe one.
But he won't remember the day he was born.
You won't be forgiven.
I said he won't remember, ma'am.
What will there be not to forgive?
Not the kid.
The zeitgeist won't forgive you.
As if I care if it did.
I won't forgive it either.
Let's get my baby out, Doctor.
What are you doing? What the
But right at this moment
I'd like a round of applause for Zeynep.
RIGHT AT THIS MOMEN
She really felt it.
This woman felt it.
If it weren't for her, we'd be home,
about to freak out right now.
You ridiculed your maternal instincts too.
-Turns out they were on fire.
-That's a mother's heart.
-My heart was on fire.
-It sure was, honey.
And I never lose my stuff.
That's right! She never does!
And she thought he'd be in here too!
Absolutely!
I would never have thought of it.
I swear to you, God above as my wit