- To thine own self be true,
At least that's what I used to think,
Now I wonder if it isn't something more insidious,
Like a curse or a joke,
Of all the different people we are inside
who are we to be true to?
Maybe they're not home,
- Hey, it's gonna be okay,
Temporary, remember,
Temporary,
- So how was your flight?
Oh, I feel terrible you had to fly coach,
You should have said something to me,
We would have bought you a better ticket,
- Mom, coach is fine,
- When's your stuff getting here?
- What stuff?
- Your furniture,
- I told you, Mom, we sold it,
- What, why?
- 'Cause they had to get the hell out of Dodge,
Am I right, Joel?
- I guess I still don't get it,
I don't even know what GTI stands, or, stood for,
Joel, what happened, exactly?
- You know what, Mom, let's not discuss this,
- It's all the papers are talking about,
- Guys, we just got here, let's enjoy this amazing meal,
- Alright, honey,
But Joel, you wanna give us your side of the story, right?
Otherwise, we're gonna think all the bad things
they're saying about you are true,
- How about some wine, Mom?
- It's fine,
Um,,,
GTI, Genesis Technology Integrated,
My partner, Craig Vine, developed a process
that could catalyze water,
No pollution, just steam,
We were gonna save the world,
Al I had to do was raise the money,
- 30 copies by 11 o'clock, please,
- Sure, I'll get started on that now,
Oh, and your wife's on line two,
- Hello, Mrs, Eastman-Green,
are you ready for this afternoon?
- Oh, shit,
Um, did I forget to tell you? - What?
- The realtor moved the closing to 11,
Does that work?
- Oh, babe, that's when we're closing GTI,
- Shit, I'm sorry, I forgot,
You know what, don't worry about it,
I can handle it,
We'll celebrate tonight, though,
- You know what?
I'm gonna do both,
I'm gonna run Sonny through the agenda,
let him get caught up to speed,
he can take care of the rest,
- Babe, are you sure?
- I'm gonna be late, but I'm gonna be there,
- Oh, that is so great, okay!
- See you in a bit,
Sonny, I'm gonna need a favor,
- Joel, we need to talk,
Joel, did you hear what I said?
Craig faked his results, the Board's withdrawn support,
- I don't understand,
- Now, I know how much you put into GTI,
both personally and all your friends,
but the Board's exposed here,
This is a, it's a scandal,
And Ventura needs a firewall or a lot
of people are gonna lose a lot more,
- What do you mean, firewall?
- There's gonna be a press release,
You'll be named; cutting corners, looking the other way,
And, hey, one bad egg sounds a lot better than bubble, okay?
There's so much more at stake here than just GTI,
- I'll lose all my relationships,
No one's ever gonna trust me again,
- You'll bounce back,
- Bounce back?
I don't have time to bounce back, Sonny!
I'm buying a house in an hour!
What am I supposed to tell my wife?
- I need you out of here by the weekend,
- Wait, Craig's still in town, let me talk to Craig,
- Dude, it's over!
- No, it's not, gimme a day!
An hour, gimme one hour to figure something out,
- Fine, you save GTI by lunch
I'll take it back to the Board,
- Let me in, Craig,
- You don't wanna come in here, man,
- How do we save GTI?
- We don't, it's over, Joel,
- No, it's not!
I'm gonna lose everything,
What did you fake?
Did your process ever even work?
- Look, early on I had a partner, okay,
He didn't exactly do things above board,
As long as he was cutting me checks
I needed to show results,
The whole thing just kind of snowballed,
I knew if I got Ventura involved
I could buy enough time to figure
out how to make the process work,
- Help me save GTI,
- Bro, you're not hearing me, it's dead,
- That's unacceptable,
I don't care if you have to fake more numbers,
I'm gonna lose my house!
Do you understand?
Ventura is pinning the whole thing on me!
- I worked on this thing for 12 years,
Joel, you've been on it for two,
My old partner, that guy's probably
looking for me right now,
My wife is suing me,
I'm outta here in two hours,
I don't know where I'm sleeping tonight,
so I'm sorry that you lost your reputation!
Word of advice, Joel; don't believe everything you see,
- When I told Jessica I lost our savings,
our home, and was responsible
for a 90 million dollar screw-up,
she said we ought to come back East,
- It's all gonna blow over,
He's gonna find something else,
- The goddamn media blows everything up,
- They said you took people's money,
That's ridiculous, you lost everything!
- Thank you,
So, what's everybody else been up to?
- I got an audition already,
- Really, honey?
Well, that's great!
- Yeah, it is,
I think that I'm gonna do really well here,
The theater scene is big, so, you know, fingers crossed,
- I love seeing her onstage,
- I can't wait, but it's gonna take a lot more
than acting to get you two back on your feet,
- She's right, Joel,
Tomorrow you and I should hit the links,
I might know a couple of guys
that could use a financial advisor,
We could talk about it,
- Thanks, Ward, but I'm pretty tired,
- Come on, fresh air'll do you good!
- That's okay,
- Yeah, we're still on West coast time, Dad,
- So, push through it, that's how you beat jet lag,
Trust me, Joel, we'll warm up on the driving range,
we'll go for $20 bucks a hole,
You might even make some money!
- Maybe this weekend, huh?
I'm pretty tired, probably just gonna sleep in,
- Am I missing something here?
You lose everything, you run out of town
and you wanna sleep in? - Dad!
- I'm serious,
I know what it is to be depressed, I was a cop,
And you gotta be proactive,
You gotta get out of your head,
- I'm not depressed, Ward,
- You don't know what you are,
I'm gonna call and set up a tee time
for 7:30 tomorrow and you will
thank me when we're out there,
- How do you even afford club dues on a cop's pension?
- Pension, nothing,
We got a million and change in mutual funds,
Don't worry how I pay my dues,
- Okay, could everybody just please relax?
- We just don't want you two
to run out of time to have kids,
- Kids?
Mom, that's our business,
- But you gotta lay the groundwork
and you gotta be aggressive and you can't sleep in,
- Right,
- Tell them about the house,
- There's a very nice house for sale across the street,
Very modestly priced,
- And we could help you guys out with a down payment,
- It'd be even easier with grandchildren
somewhere on the horizon,
- That's all we're saying,
- That's all we're saying!
Just think about it,
So, what do you think?
- Thank you both, very much, but we really
don't need all this extra pressure right now,
- You're right, Joel,
This is too much pressure,
We need to relax,
- Thank you,
- Tomorrow morning, bright and early we can get up and we--
- I'm not golfing tomorrow, Ward!
- Calm down,
- Me, calm down?
- Just, why don't you just golf?
- It's fine,
- You know what, maybe I am a little wound up,
I'm gonna go for a walk,
Thanks for dinner,
- Joel?
It is you,
- Veazy,
- How you been, Joel?
I didn't know you were in town,
- Sleazy Veazy,
You still slingin' apps?
- No one calls me that anymore,
- Sorry,
How you been, man?
- Amazing,
GTI, huh?
You okay, buddy?
- Well, everyone I know hates me and I live with my in-laws,
Other than that, yeah, pretty good,
- You moved here?
You know what, good for you,
Fuck Silicon Valley!
Perfect's not good enough out there,
You know, back here people understand,
You go up, you go down, but in the long run we're all dead,
So, who gives a fuck, right?
- Thanks,
Let me buy you a drink,
- Joel, let me ask you a question,
If you had the inside track on
the next big thing how much do you think
you could scrape together, hypothetically?
- Nothing,
Everybody I know got burned on GTI,
Why?
- Me and a friend of mine, an engineer,
we started something that we think is pretty unique,
Right now we're just trying to close the gap
on product testing before we go live,
- What do you make?
- It's a service, actually, we sell virtual experiences,
- That's great, Nick, I'm glad you're doing well,
But, uh, right now I have no access to capital,
- None?
- Until I can rebuild a stable of investors,
I need a day job,
- Damn, - Yeah,
- All we're looking for is a million and change,
We're not just offering this to just anybody,
I want to work with someone I know,
- Why just a million?
Isn't VR supposed to be big boys only?
- Yeah, well, we're small, but our tech is revolutionary,
It's called XVR and it's realer
than anything anybody's ever seen,
- That's what everybody says,
- You don't understand, XVR feels
and looks as real as this conversation
we're having right here, right now,
Taste, too,
Smell, touch,
See Lester, the engineer, he's a genius,
And that's just the tech part,
most people are more intrigued by our applications,
- What's that?
- We allow high-end clientele to experience
what it's like to be underprivileged,
- Empathy,
Why would anyone want to feel underprivileged,
don't people want to feel rich?
- No, people want to be rich,
What they want to feel like is different,
Think of the most successful people you know,
Are they happy?
- I don't know anyone that's happy, rich or poor,
- Fine, fair enough,
The point is, people are miserable
because they forget what they have,
Me and Lester help them remember,
- How?
- Perspective,
You know when you're having a bad day
and you think your life sucks?
And then you just found out your
neighbor's son just killed himself,
And then you think, damn, my day wasn't that bad after all,
In fact, I had a great day,
That's the service we provide,
You ever read the Bible?
- No,
- Yeah, me neither, but there's a verse I memorized,
There is one who pretends to be rich and has nothing,
another pretends to be poor and has great wealth, Proverbs,
- It's a good slogan,
- It's the truth,
Walk a mile in the shoes of the less fortunate
and when you wake up, no matter what problems
you have in your real life, feel that much better,
- There probably is a pretty big market
for something like that,
- Oh, sorry,
Now, this is gonna take a minute,
I'll see you around, okay?
Yeah, I'm in a bar, hold up, - Hey, Nicolaus, wait up,
- Yeah?
- I, uh, I actually might know
a couple people who could help,
A retired couple with a nest egg,
I could test the waters,
- Call me anytime, Joel,
- Hey,
- They asleep?
- Yeah, where'd you go?
- Some bar,
- I would have gone with you,
- I know, sorry,
I shouldn't have left like that,
- There were out of line, too,
But they're not wrong, we need some sort of plan,
otherwise they're gonna drive us crazy,
- Actually, I might have an idea,
- Yeah?
- I ran into an old friend tonight,
He has this virtual reality start-up,
It actually kind of sounds interesting,
I haven't seen the tech yet, but if it checks out,
I might help out with financing,
- I thought GTI ruined all that?
- I thought it did, too,
But, all I'd have to do is raise a million,
which is nothing, and there's still
a couple people I could ask,
- Who?
Mom and Dad? - Why not?
- Joel, no, - Why?
- They don't have the money,
- Your dad was just bragging about
his million and change in mutual funds,
- Yeah, in retirement, they need that,
- I'd check it out first,
I'd only ask if it was rock solid,
- It's a start-up, Joel, anything could go wrong,
You know that from GTI,
And if it went bad they would blame you
and I can't even imagine what that would do to us,
- Yeah, but what if it went really well?
- They're family, it's too risky,
Promise me you won't ask,
- Okay,
We'll figure something out,
- You were right,
Feels good to be out here,
- I told you,
You got screwed, kid,
You just need to blow off some steam,
- So you said you got some friends
that might need a financial advisor?
Nicolaus, thanks for meeting me,
- Are you kidding?
You got news for me, right?
- My client is ready to pull the trigger,
but first I need to see XVR work,
- Lester's very secretive about his process, Joel,
- I need to meet him, too,
You ever regret it?
- Regret what?
- Playing it safe, back in the day,
- Why, you got something we should be looking at?
- Look, he's also busy,
XVR isn't exactly finished,
Once we have the capital he'll work out the bugs,
then it'll be ready to demo,
- Do I look like an idiot?
I'm not investing my client's resources sight unseen,
Well, to be honest, something did come across my radar,
And it could be a good opportunity for the right investor,
- I understand your need to be thorough,
but you're not the only guy we're talking to, Joel,
The offer's not on the table indefinitely,
We need a commitment now,
or we're gonna go with somebody else,
- Then good luck, Nick,
- Joel, wait a second,
- It's a work in progress,
Lester Cooper, founder,
Joel Eastman-Green, our backer,
- Nice to meet you, Lester,
- Yeah,
Yeah, yep, you too, you too,
Okay, let's get this going,
Over here on this side we have your alternate reality,
Over on that side, it's you, the user,
- So, what does XVR stand for?
- Extreme Virtual Reality,
He made it up,
- Let's go,
- Okay, listen up, 'cause there's rules,
Number one, the code is unstable
so stay in the environment you wake up in,
Don't go opening any doors, alright?
This is for your own safety,
Number two, don't underestimate XVR,
It's gonna feel like your real body,
It's not your real body, it can be kind of disorienting,
Number three, avoid mirrors at all costs,
Seeing yourself in somebody else's body
can kind of fry your brain,
- I should mention I did
just have a big meal before this,
- I'm serious,
It can cause anything from delusions to flashbacks,
You don't want it,
Alright, I'm gonna be monitoring your experience,
You break my rules,
I will unplug you,
I'm not gonna risk everything I worked for
just because he gets curiouser or stupid,
One more thing,
Everything in this room and everything in here,
it's proprietary,
If you betray that there will be consequences,
- I got it,
No, no, no, whoa, whoa!
What is that for?
- It's what makes it work,
- Jesus!
- Count back from a hundred,
- 100,
99,
98,
97,
96,
95,,,
- Well?
- It felt real,
- And the cat?
You like the cat?
- It was moving,
- Well, you feel sick, dizzy, lightheaded?
- I, uh, I cut my toe and I threw up, but,
I feel fine,
- You're not confused about who you are?
- Actually, I feel more like myself
than I have in a really long time,
- See, I told you it was ready,
So, you in?
- Thank you, sir, thank you,
Have a nice day,
- Hey, how's the play going?
- I'm not a bad actor, am I?
- What?
Of course, not, why?
- That audition that I got, I didn't get the part,
I asked the director why and he said
that I wasn't committing,
I wasn't believable,
Believable, what does that even mean?
- It means he's an idiot,
You're great at what you do,
Maybe his play sucks,
- It's Shakespeare,
- Oh,
Well, you know, why don't we just take a break tonight?
Have a little fun, a little wine,
A little more fun,
- No,
I'm gonna practice,
I'm gonna crack this thing,
And then I'm gonna go down there tomorrow
and ask for a re-audition,
- Well, if he thinks you don't have commitment
that will certainly show him,
- Will you help me?
- I would love to,
- You're in a good mood,
- Am I?
Hadn't noticed,
- Yeah, something's different,
What did you do today?
- Nothing,
I was looking for work,
Come on, let's do the scene,
Who am I?
- Milk, three Splendas,
- Oh, Joel, thank you so much!
Have a nice day!
- Bye bye, - Thank you,
- Joel?
- Hey, I brought us some coffee,
And I thought I might take another spin
in the, uh,
Is the chair open?
- No, it's not, Joel,
Did anyone follow you here?
- Why?
- XVR is for clients only,
You're not a client, Joel,
You need to leave,
- Nicolaus, I'm protecting my client's investment,
- Lester and I appreciate you coming
through for us, Joel, we do,
And when we start making money, so will everyone else,
But the financing phase is over,
- Come on,
I think I'm entitled to see our progress,
- You know how it works,
You need to leave,
- How about we let Lester decide, huh?
If he wants me out of your hair I'll scram,
- Lester's busy, and I'm not bothering him with this, Joel,
And frankly, I got a lot of work to do, too,
- Okay, okay, alright, you know what?
I apologize,
I did kind of barge in here,
- It's fine,
I know you're anxious,
but you gotta let us do our thing
and I promise you won't regret it,
- You're right, it's just that, you know,
doing that the other day, it really affected me,
- And I wanna hear more about that,
Why don't we grab a drink sometime?
- Yes, drinks, let's get drinks,
- Next week,
- I'll call you,
- Okay!
- Enjoy the coffee,
And keep up the, you know,
- Alright,
- Hello?
Oh, fuck,
- Hey, hey, kid, hey,
You pay for that?
- No,
- No?
- Fuck,
- Hey, hey kid, I'm talking to you!
- Fuck off!
- Fuck off?
Gimme your hand,
You little!
Fuck!
You're dead!
Screw you, little punk!
God!
- Holy shit!
- You're dead!
You're fucking dead!
- No!
- And the director didn't want to see me either,
but I would not take no for an answer,
I was so nervous I was shaking,
I didn't get any sleep the night before,
And I just,
babe, are you okay?
- Huh, what?
Yeah,
Then what happened?
- So I got up on the stage and I looked the director right
in the eyes like it was just me and him,
I don't remember what happened next,
All I know is that I got the part!
- Hey!
- That's wonderful, honey,
You know, Joel, I was reading an article the other day
about a tech bubble and they said that the kind of
thing that happened at GTI was like an epidemic,
That's what they called it,
You don't think there's anything to worry about, do you?
- Even if there is a bubble there's good ideas, too,
People that are leveraged in those will watch
their investment grow, you'll see,
I wouldn't worry about it,
- Technology, it's so complicated,
It moves so fast,
How can anybody keep a bead on it?
That's why our money's in an IRA, right honey?
- Exactly,
- It's people we have to worry about,
Did you know the Richardson's had their house broken into?
This is supposed to be one of the nice neighborhoods,
I don't know what's happening to this city,
- Mom, some people don't have what we have,
- I know, because we work for it,
- We have that opportunity, others don't,
- And what, that's our fault?
- It is if we ignore the circumstances that they come up in,
- Please,
At least your husband has a head on his shoulders,
Joel, tell her about that hobo you got rid of,
- What?
- That old homeless lady harassing people on the street,
Oh, she is an eyesore!
- The one by the cafe?
She's nice,
- Joel, I saw you and her in a shouting match,
You don't have to be ashamed,
- When was this?
- The other day,
I was having lunch with some people
who wouldn't have approved, otherwise,
I would have gone over and congratulated you,
- That's ridiculous, I like her,
I don't make a point of harassing people I like,
We ought to do more for people like that, a lot more,
- Joel, I don't know why you're denying it,
I know what I saw,
- Mom, it wasn't him,
And you're being ignorant,
- Ignorant?
This from the actress?
- What's that supposed to mean?
- It means other people foot the bill
so you can play dress up,
- Mom, you guys got me into acting,
You took me to lessons, paid for my training,
- Well, I didn't think you'd take it this seriously,
- Wow, Mom, maybe you should take some acting lessons,
It might do you some good to walk in someone else's shoes,
- I hope I didn't keep you waiting,
- Hey,
- We just got a new client,
He loves XVR, but he's a handful,
- Who is he?
- Client privacy's the cornerstone of our business, Joel,
That's what they need to feel in order to work with us,
You know what?
I never gave you a finder's fee,
- Is everything okay?
- Yeah, great,
I, uh, just put something in your account,
- Already?
- Yeah,
And, uh, there's gonna be a lot more coming soon, too,
- Wow,
Enough for a down payment on a house?
- Sure,
You getting into real estate after all?
- Just the house across the street,
For you and Jessica,
- Ward, this is your retirement,
You need to hold on to it,
- Well, didn't you say that there'd be more coming soon?
- Yeah, but you shouldn't be giving it away, not even to me,
- Well, it's not a gift, Joel,
It's an investment,
We want our daughter and any of our grandchildren close by,
And the way I see it,
this is our best shot at making that happen,
It's yours if you're willing to stay,
- They're not bad,
In small doses,
They're just a different generation,
And they do, they love us,
- What's not to love?
- And I, um,
I feel like I could make something of myself here,
There's more options,
I could have a career,
- Me, too,
- Really?
- Yeah,
I don't miss the West coast at all,
- I don't either,
Okay, then it's settled,
- I, uh, have a little surprise for you,
- A surprise for me, what is it?
- I want to show you,
Hang on,
- Where are we going?
- You pushed me,
- I'm sorry!
Where are you taking me?
- Walk straight,
- Okay,
- Straight ahead,
Eyes closed,
- They're closed,
And your hand is over my--
- Alright, alright, shh, shh, - Okay, okay,
- Go for it,
- Oh, my God,
What?
It's beautiful,
What is it?
- It's ours,
- Ours, what, how?
- Okay, so you remember that little
opportunity I told you about?
Well, I moved on it and it's going really well,
- Where did you get the money?
- From your dad,
He saw an opportunity and he wanted to help us out,
- But I asked you not to do that,
- I know, but I had to jump on this,
For us,
I mean, look at this place,
It's beautiful!
Wait till you see the kitchen,
Jess, I'm sorry, but,
it all worked out,
You know?
We got the house and your dad
is in line to make some serious money,
- Just take the call,
- Joel, hey, it's not too late to call, is it?
- Sonny, I don't know why you're calling me at all,
- Look, I'm sorry, it's just,
I'm in the city I wanted to meet,
- Sonny, I'm not interested,
- Joel, please, I'll come to you, man,
Let me buy you lunch?
- Hey, what happened to the nice old lady
that used to hang out out front there?
- Oh, Miss Miriam?
She's dead,
The cops found her in the park, beaten,
It was brutal,
Whoever did it deserves to die,
$3,85,
Wait a minute,
Weren't you yelling at her the other day?
- What?
Of course, not,
- No, yeah, it was you,
What's your deal, man?
You fucking yell at homeless people?
- Hey, hey, hey,
It wasn't me, okay?
You're confused,
Keep the change,
- I'm just saying I, uh, I should have had your back on GTI,
- Thanks, Sonny,
What can I do for you?
- I came to ask your forgiveness,
- Forgiveness?
- Yeah, it's just something I needed to do,
You know, after GTI, Ventura got skittish,
They're talking about investigating everything,
We've all got a black spot on our records now,
I can't find a job,
- Tragic,
- Yeah,
You heard about Craig?
Shot himself,
- What?
- Yeah, blew his brains out in his wife's car,
- Jesus,
- That's what made me wanna talk, you know,
It made me think about how I left things,
- Really?
- So what have you been up to, man?
I gotta tell you, you look good,
- Yeah, I found some work pretty quick, actually,
- See?
I, man, I knew it,
You're already downtown, aren't you?
Killin' it!
What, are you working at a hedge fund?
- No, start up,
- Oh,
- One that actually makes money,
- Really?
- It's pretty exciting, actually,
- What are you gonna do?
Wait, wait, let me guess,
Biotech?
No, uh, health care?
- No,
- Cloud storage?
- Jesus, stop,
It's VR,
- I have always wanted to get into that,
It's so cool!
Who you working with?
- It's a small shop, just two guys,
One of them's the neuro engineer, Lester Cooper,
And the other's just the money guy,
Guy I went to school with, actually, Nicolaus Veazy,
What?
- Veazy?
Yeah, I did a deal with Nicolaus Veazy,
- So?
- You remember secured email?
So like, six years ago, Veazy's out in LA pitching
this app that's supposed to make your phone unhackable,
He had all these A-list clients,
I was in for half a million,
Then we come to find he's using the app to spy
on the very people he's supposed to be working for,
He was blackmailing them, - Bullshit,
- I got the emails to prove it,
And when I threatened to go to the cops that
son of a bitch blackmailed me,
He put the app on my phone without my knowing it,
I got skeletons in my closet, Joel,
so I let him take the money,
- Sonny, you're fucking with me, right?
- I got no reason to lie to you, Joel,
Nicolaus Veazy is a straight up con artist
who will do anything to make a quick buck,
We used to call him Sleazy Veazy,
- Hey, what's going on?
Thanks for calling first,
- Sorry,
There's something I need to talk to you about,
- You know what?
Perfect timing,
I need to show you something,
Why don't you come inside?
- Do you know Sonny Seagraves?
- Seagraves?
Yeah, I fucking know Seagraves, why?
What did he do, slander me?
He's got an ax to grind because I bested him in a deal,
- He says you blackmailed him,
- Yeah, and he threw you under the bus at Ventura,
You gonna listen to him?
Come on, let's go inside,
- How did you meet Lester?
- How'd we meet?
- It's a pretty simple question,
- Look, Joel,
getting any business off the ground is a delicate operation,
And, in my experience, it's right when
things start to heat up that partners
start second-guessing each other,
That tends to put everyone's investment at risk,
But I completely understand your inquisitiveness, though,
It's what makes you a shrewd guy,
But when the dice finally do roll your way
you've gotta learn to enjoy it,
- Bring both of them,
What about that steak place on Broadway your dad likes?
- Isn't that place expensive?
- It's fine, I'm buying,
- Okay, I'll talk to them,
What time do you think we should meet?
Joel?
Joel, are you there?
Joel, hello?
Joel?
- Hey, Jess, I'm gonna have to call you back,
- Hello?
Joel, are you here?
Hey,
What a frustrating rehearsal!
This director keeps giving me the same note
and I'm like, what do you want from me?
He said I need you to be more like Tom,
Tom's the other actor,
He's a drunk and miserable to work with,
But it's true, he walks onstage
and he completely transforms,
Last night I had a dream,
It's opening night and I walk offstage
and I can't get out of Viola, like I'm trapped in her,
And it was really scary at first
because I couldn't stop thinking like her,
talking like her,
But then the next night, I steal the show,
Are you okay?
What is this?
- It's a real guy,
- Did you know him?
Joel, talk to me,
What's going on?
- I was him,
- What do you mean, you were him?
- It's not a simulation, XVR,
They're using real people,
- The company you work for?
- Jess, this is gonna sound crazy,
but they are somehow allowing their clients
to inhabit other peoples' bodies,
- Joel, what are you talking about?
- They do whatever they want,
They jump out whenever they need to,
I bet none of those crimes were even his,
- Joel, do you hear yourself right now?
This is insane,
You sound like a lunatic,
- I did it,
Twice,
You sit in a chair, you put on a helmet,
You get knocked out, you wake up, you're somebody else,
You think it's fake, but it's real,
I know because I went there,
- Okay, even if you could do this, why would anyone want to?
- If you could be someone else
without consequences imagine what you could do,
- Joel, you need to call the police,
- They have your parents' money,
If they find out that I know that money is gone,
- I asked you not to get involved with this,
You didn't listen,
- I didn't know it was gonna turn out this way,
- Call the police,
Where are you going?
- To get the money,
- How, Joel?
- They don't know I know,
Privacy is their weakness,
If I can get my hands on the client list Nicolaus will deal,
- I fucking told you what I'm doing!
Ow, goddamn it!
I'm fine!
I'm fine, no,
Yeah, I'm walking into the lab now,
I told you, yes Nicolaus, you fucker!
Did you listen to what I said?
I'm just fucking walking into the lab!
Yeah, yeah,
Well, is the weather nice?
Don't, no, no, no, don't interrupt me, okay?
I'm thinking,
No, not with you out seducing the rich and depraved,
Yeah, yeah, Bridgewater,
No, no,
It is not secure that is what I've been fucking saying!
We need guards with guns, like yesterday,
Yeah,
No, no, I could not find him,
What the fuck did I just say, Nicolaus?
I just fucking said I couldn't find him!
I don't know where he is!
Fuck!
And you, you've gotta stop fucking taking any
new clients before we get this shit on lockdown,
I swear to fuck!
Anyone we do take on we've got to screen them
more thoroughly than that nosy fucker, Joel,
I gotta go,
Well,
speak of the devil,
What the fuck are you doing back there?
- Lester, I'm sorry, I, I--
- Huh?
- I had to check on the--
- Did you?
Shut up, get the fuck out here, come on,
- I'll wreck it!
- You'll wreck my chair, Joel?
That's okay, we got other chairs,
- Look, I'm sorry,
I shouldn't be here, - Shut the fuck up,
Come on, come on, - I'm sorry, I--
- Shit!
Fucking damn it!
I'm gonna fucking kill you!
Fuck!
Fuck you!
- 911, what's your emergency?
- Hello?
I need a car,
Someone's after me,
- Who do you think is after you, sir?
- I just want my family to be safe,
- Sir, you gotta explain
to me what's going on first,
- Fuck,
- Are you still there?
- Oh, fuck,
- Look, all I need is my in-law's money back
and you'll never hear from me again,
- We still need it,
And I have no guarantee you'd keep your word,
- I'm not asking,
Those names will go public,
People are gonna be after you,
Do we have a deal or not?
- Okay, what's wrong, what's wrong?
What are you doing?
I see that,
Joel, come here!
Talk to me!
Joel, Joel, don't, no, don't do that!
No, please!
No, don't!
- I'm sorry, lady!
- That's not me,
- It looks like you, Joel,
Sounds like you, too,
- I didn't do that,
- I know that,
He knows that, but nobody else ever will,
- Who the fuck is that?
- When you become someone else they become you,
You didn't know that?
I'm sorry, I didn't know what you figured out
with all your snooping around,
I said, clients only!
And as far as the Green's money goes, it's gone,
And if I or Lester ever hear from you again,
including whatever leverage you think you have
with that list, this will go public,
- I already told them,
- There's, um, more you don't know,
- More than everything we own tied up with criminals?
- It's, I can't get it back,
It's gone,
- What do you mean, it's gone?
- It's gone,
There's nothing I can do,
- Get out,
- Jess, I'm so so--
- Get out!
- No, no, no, no, no,
- Yeah, white rice,
Uh-huh,
Cancel that,
- Where'd you move them?
- Oh, shit,
- Where's the equipment?
- That's all you need,
You know, a little more time and I
wouldn't even need the chairs,
- Have a seat,
- No, no, no fucking way, man,
- Have a fucking seat,
Where's Nicolaus?
- I don't know,
- Tell me where he is or I strap in the cat,
- It doesn't work like that,
- Let's find out,
- Okay, wait, wait, wait!
Wait, just, he went out West,
Okay?
Don't switch me with that fucking cat!
- Where?
- Menlo Park,
Now would you let me go?
- Why's he out there?
- I don't know, some conference or fundraising or some shit,
Look, you don't need me,
What are you even gonna do with me?
I told you what you wanted, just let me go!
Whoa, whoa, you don't know what you're doing with that,
Put that down, come on,
- This was just to knock us out, wasn't it?
Then you could move us around, do whatever you want,
- Fuck you!
- What the fuck are you doing, man?
Fucking chair,
You fucking cuffed me to the fucking chair, man?
What the fuck?
Lemme the fuck out of here, man!
Where's the fucking key?
Where's the fucking key, man?
What the fuck?
- Okay,
- What's up?
I'm busy,
- We need to talk,
- Okay, what's up?
- In person,
- I'm in California,
What's going on?
- It's Joel,
He, uh, he's out of the picture,
Whatever deal you made, it didn't stick,
- Dead?
- He was snooping around our Bridgewater location,
I didn't have any choice,
- Jesus, Les!
So what's the problem?
- Is there any way you could come back sooner?
- Financing takes time, Les,
Not everybody's as greedy and desperate as Joel,
- Okay, then I'm coming out there,
- I can hear you just fine right now, Les,
What's on your mind?
- Ever since I had to, uh, handle Joel, I just,
I don't know, I'm a little shook up,
I just, I don't feel right anymore,
- Since when do you care about feelings?
- I told you we needed to have guards!
I told you we needed to hit pause on this thing!
Fuck, Nicolaus!
You didn't listen to me!
You left me to do all the dirty work!
- Okay, okay, calm down,
- Don't tell me to calm down,
I can't do this shit alone!
- Get a flight,
- $200,000,
Look, I have to call you back,
Jesus, Lester, you look like shit,
- Fuck!
- So, tell me, Lester,
how many people did you fuck in that thing?
Or kill?
What, suddenly you got a conscience now?
- It was different with Joel,
- Yeah, but you hated him,
- I know it sounds crazy,
but when he was begging me for mercy
I looked into his eyes and I saw something familiar,
I can't explain it, but I,
I felt bad for him,
- Well, I don't feel a bit of guilt about Joel,
I told him to stay away and he broke the rules,
- What about the others?
- What do you want me to do, justify everything?
- I think I need to hear it,
- Okay, fine,
For one thing, if society actually cared about
these people we'd never be able to do what we do,
So whose fault is that?
And two, if they end up in prison
at least there they get three square meals,
Hell, half the time they're better off,
- Jimmy Dale's mugshot didn't look too happy,
- I never said happy,
I said better off,
- And when we kill them?
- It's a mercy,
You know what it feels like to have nothing?
I mean, to really have nothing?
I know I'd rather be dead,
Feel better?
- A little,
- Hey, what the fuck?
Les?
- You know, before coming here
I didn't know,
I didn't know if I was gonna kill you or what,
- What?
Why?
Come on, man, I did everything you asked,
- Not everybody's as greedy and stupid as Joel,
- Where's Lester?
- You are gonna wire that money back
into my wife's account, all of it,
- Joel, now wait a minute, - Now!
And the video of me and Miss Miriam,
- Who?
- The woman you killed,
Erase the video,
- Okay, listen, Joel, I wasn't,
what I said, look, I was just saying
what I thought you wanted to hear,
I mean, I thought you were Lester!
I don't believe in any of that stuff,
I'm a good guy!
- Shut up and get on with it,
- There, see?
It's done,
It's in her account,
- And the video?
- I deleted it,
I swear,
- How do I know there's not another copy?
- There's no more copies,
You gotta believe me!
- I do,
I do believe you,
- Thank you,
What are you doing?
Okay, now wait a minute, Joel,
Okay,
I admit it, okay?
I'm greedy, okay?
I'm a greedy motherfucker,
But Lester, he's a psychopath!
It's gonna take both of us to stop him,
After that I'll turn myself in,
I'll come clean, I'll make it right, I promise!
But for the good of everyone now, let's work together,
- I'm done making deals,
- Jessie,
- Joel,
How've you been?
Are you there?
- Yeah,
- You sound different,
- I know,
I'm not feeling like myself,
- Where are you?
- Don't worry about me, Jessie,
Listen, I really need to go,
- Joel, I, um,
I saw the money and I just, I wanted to say,
thank you,
- I just wanted to make it right,
- How did you get it back?
- It's complicated,
- Jesus, Joel, now I'm worried about you,
Look, I'd like to see you if you want to see me, I mean,,,
- I can't, Jessie,
Too much has changed,
- Changed, Joel, what's changed?
Listen, if you're in trouble I wanna help you,
- It's too late,
- No, it's not, whatever it is,
I need you to know
I still love you,
- I don't deserve you,
- Joel, I wanna see you,
- Can I help you?
- It's me, it's Joel,
- What?
- I know, it's crazy, it's a long story,
But it's me,
- I believe it's you, I think, I don't,,,
- I'm sorry,
- It's okay,
It's you, Joel,
- I'm sorry for
hurting your family,
For hurting you and
for losing us and,
becoming this,
- Can't we get you back?
I mean, the old you,
- He's gone, he took the chairs,
There's nothing we can do,
I'm stuck,
- It's okay,
It's gonna be okay,
We'll figure it out,
I don't know how, but we'll figure it out together,
What?
- Nothing, - Am I doing something wrong?
- No, no, it's just-- - Joel,
I've missed you,
Oh, I've missed you,
- Jessie,
I've missed you too, but--
- But what?
- It's not,
I'm not me,
- Yes, you are,
- Hold on! - Joel,
- Wait,
Careful,
- I want you,
- Uh, Jessie, it's too soon,
- I know it feels that way,
You just have to get into character, this'll help,
Just get into it, come on,
- Jessie,
- Why aren't you getting into it?
- Okay, come on, - No, Joel!
- What is wrong with you, Jessica?
- What's wrong with me?
What's wrong with you, Joel?
I've accepted you,
I've forgiven you,
- But I am not me!
- Is it because I'm not beautiful enough for you?
- No!
I mean, yes!
- Good, because I want you,
I want you,
I want you!
I was very happy when you had Nicolaus
put the money back in our account,
I never had more fun at the bank,
- Lester,
- Lester!
- Where is Jessica?
- You don't recognize your own wife?
Well, I'm right here, sweetie,
- Where is she?
- Guess I'm a better actress, huh?
- Look, I'll do anything you want,
Just please don't hurt her,
- You mean, don't do this?
- No,
- Or this? - Stop it!
- Shut up!
You know, I'm mad at you, Joel,
I wanted to have some fun, but you ruined all that,
Do you know how good it feels to fuck yourself?
There's nothing like it,
But if you don't wanna play along
we can move on to the final act,
Now get up,
I want my body back,
Keep moving, Joel!
- Jessie!
- Hey, get away from her!
First, I'm gonna reboot us all back to our original bodies,
Then I'm gonna kill ya,
Shut the fuck up!
- Wait!
Why'd you do this?
- You know when I was a kid
they told us we could be whoever we wanted to be,
I actually believed it,
- Shit!
Oh, fuck, fuck, fuck!
- Joel!
No!
- Oh, my!
- Fuck!
- Shh, Jessie,
You're okay,
Jessie, just wait,
- It's too late to stop it,
- No, no, no, it's gonna be fine,
- Joel, please,
- I'll just call an ambulance, okay,
- Babe, please!
- Jessie, Jessie, Jessie,
Jessie,
Forgive me,
- Joel,
Who am I now?
Who was I before?
And when I leave this stage
who will I be?
♪ I thought the future would be cooler ♪
♪ Crowd sourced cults
♪ All lit up on LED
♪ Next thing you know
♪ You're sippin' on a battery
♪ Infinitely scroll
♪ Through a SWAT team on the sidewalk ♪
♪ Sudden death by remote control ♪
♪ And unrestricted sidearms
♪ I thought the future would be cooler ♪
♪ I thought the brave world would be newer ♪
♪ I thought the future would be cooler ♪
♪ Loving comes easy
♪ But liking it ain't free
♪ We save our face in public
♪ While we erase each other privately ♪
♪ Got my broken heart
♪ I got it sold right back to me ♪
♪ By an algorithmic
♪ Social entity
♪ I thought the future would be cooler ♪
♪ I thought the brave world would be newer ♪
♪ I thought the future would be cooler ♪
♪ I thought the future would be ♪
♪ Looking for the edge of our unrendered world ♪
♪ I don't know what we'll find
♪ Oh, here comes tomorrow