- Previously on "Games People Play"...
- Vanessa's a murder suspect. She's on the run with Deja.
- About covers it.
- It's always, "Now is not the time"!
- Okay, well, what, do you want me to lie
and say I wanna settle down?
- I don't want you to say nothing.
You've said enough. Thank you.
- What's your name? - Golden Goddess LA.
- Oh, it's my lucky day.
- ♪ We got a new mindset and it's starting this season ♪
♪ 'Cause Vipers doing bad, and Marques is the reason ♪
- I'll drop you off.
- Born rich, You smart, and you funny.
What's wrong with you?
- A soft spot for lost souls.
- Save me then.
- ♪ I know it sucks rolling into real life ♪
♪ I know it sucks ♪
♪ Stop, know what it feels like ♪
♪ So I'm giving you all the love ♪
[phone buzzing]
♪ ♪
- Morning, son. - Hey.
- You not up?
- Not yet.
- The world's not gonna wait for you.
Get up and get in the shower, son.
You'll feel better.
- A shower ain't gonna fix my problems, Dad.
- But it will fix that funk.
Now, go on.
I can smell you through the phone.
[dial tone droning]
- ♪ I know it's a long time ♪
♪ ♪
♪ I know it's a long time ♪
[thunder booming]
♪ ♪
- Mr. King. - Yeah, man.
Come on in. It's coming down out there.
- Yeah. An El Niño. - Wow.
So... - You called me.
Is there something you want to say?
Confess?
- To what, man? Come on.
You want a coffee or espresso?
- Uh, I'm fine, thank you. - All right.
All right, look,
I'm still trying to figure out what's going on,
and you said I could call you anytime.
- With information.
- I don't know anything. Do you?
- This is not a game, Mr. King.
- Well, does it look like I'm playing?
- This is an ongoing investigation,
and we're under no obligation to inform you of our findings.
- So you can know where my daughter is and not say shit?
- If telling you impedes our investigation, yes.
- You serious?
- Look, you could hire a private investigator--
- Hey, you the police! I came to your ass for help!
- Whoa, whoa, whoa.
Or you could file a missing persons.
[tense music]
- I am very angry with my wife,
but I do not want her arrested.
♪ ♪
I just want to know where my baby girl is.
- And I can understand that.
- Can you at least tell me if they okay?
- No.
- It's not that you can't help me.
It's that you don't want to.
- That's not true, Mr. King.
We are in the midst of an ongoing investigation--
- Out! Out, man. Get out now.
- Fine.
♪ ♪
[dramatic music]
♪ ♪
- ♪ Pick it up now, pick it up now ♪
♪ Pick it up now, pick it up now ♪
♪ Bow, bow, bow, bow, bow ♪
♪ Pop it, drop it, jump ♪
♪ Bow, bow, bow, bow, bow ♪
♪ Pop it, drop it ♪
♪ Pick it up now, pick it up now ♪
- [laughs]
- It's not funny.
They almost got me for real this time.
- What is it now? [laughs]
- They here. That's what it is now.
I saw a man that looked just like Jebediah.
Just like him.
- But was it him?
- No, but it could have been him.
- Hold on, wait.
So you tripping over some shit that didn't happen
because you think it could have happened?
- Don't talk to me like I'm stupid, MJ, okay?
- I am not talking to you like you stupid.
I'm talking to you like you crazy.
There's a difference.
- I might as well be at Nia's.
- Yeah. - Oh, my God.
- Say it again for the people in the back.
- Low-key I thought that they sent that package
to mess with me. They trying to get in my head.
They trying mess with me and trying to make us crazy.
- Low-key?
Eric, who else would send you a ball gag and a whip?
- Nia told you about that?
Oh, God. Oh, my God.
- I'ma make us a drink.
You want a drink? That's what I'ma do.
- So she didn't send it, did she?
It was them. I knew it was them.
- Go ahead and... - I told her.
- Put this on social media.
- Social media. That's how they track you.
- Exactly. - That's--that's not smart, MJ.
That's how they get to us.
- What's up, MJ gang?
I'm back for another crazy cocktail, because guess what.
I got somebody crazy that's in my damn house.
Now, first thing's first.
- It's 10:00. - Vodka.
- ♪ Bow, bow, bow, pop it, drop it ♪
- Whoo! - Remember for the win.
[laughter]
- Oh, and it good? Yeah? Okay, great. Thank you, Rome.
Tyreck, let's get you in there.
- I know you camera shy. - Watch me work. Watch me work.
- We good?
- You know we're still missing a player.
- Always waiting on King.
[line trilling] What's up, fellas?
[phone rings]
- [voice echoing] Hello. Hello. Hello.
- Where are you at? - I'm right here.
Look, look, look.
Can you hold that for me, please?
Thank you.
- You're late. - I apologize.
- Don't apologize. Just don't let it happen again.
Let's get you in.
All right, thank you, Tyreck. Let's get Marques in there.
- 'Bout time, man.
- My boy posing like a '90s hip-hop album.
- Good to see you, man. - My bad. My bad, brother.
- Thank you. Thank you.
- Hey, can I, um, can I ask you something?
- What is it?
- It's, uh, it's about last night.
- What about last night?
- Did we, uh, you know?
- Are you out of your mind?
- I'ma take that as a no.
- You can take that as a hell no.
- You ain't gotta say it like that.
- Zzz.
Can we get some powder on Marques, please?
- You ain't gotta be all like that about it.
No, no, no, bro. Please, please.
Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.
- You gotta get the King nice and pretty, don't you?
- No, bro. You know, we born like this.
- Oh, okay. All right.
[camera shutter clicking]
- You better fix your face. - Come on, man.
- Come on. You're happy. You love playing basketball.
This is what you do.
There you go. Big smiles.
- Smile like one of those yearbook pictures, man.
- Cool, man. All right. How many you take?
- I only took one. That's all I needed.
- Oh, shit. He took one, I'm done.
- Thank you, Marques.
[upbeat music]
- ♪ Bad girl boss drip ♪
♪ I keep it 100-365 ♪
♪ Squad of bad girls and they're down to ride ♪
♪ I'm the CEO ♪
♪ I was born to shine ♪
♪ I'm a girl boss till I die ♪
♪ I got the ice ♪
♪ I got the crib ♪
♪ I got my day one girls in the whip ♪
♪ I got the cash ♪
♪ I got the hits ♪
♪ And you're gonna need a bucket ♪
♪ For all this drip ♪
♪ Bad girl boss drip ♪
- ♪ Wake up in the a.m. and it's time to grind ♪
- ♪ I always make it rain ♪
♪ I got a one-track mind ♪
♪ I'm the queen, the duchess, the president ♪
♪ I had the male secretary call the private jet ♪
♪ Here's a little presentation ♪
♪ Take some notes ♪
♪ I'm on a different wave on a different boat ♪
♪ I got business furs, not business coats ♪
♪ And I drip so much I'm gonna need the moat ♪
- Hi. I'm Laila James.
Hey. I'm--okay.
I should definitely not sound that excited.
Okay.
Just because I'm a rookie doesn't mean I'm new at this.
Freeze. Police.
Freeze! Freeze!
Why do I have two guns? I could not be a cop.
This is not believable at all.
I'm Laila James, I'm 5'7", and I'll be reading
for the role of Officer Sara Drake.
Okay, you got this.
Just because I'm a rookie doesn't mean I'm new at this.
Freeze. Police.
That one is just gonna have to be it, 'cause I am sucking.
- Come on, y'all. Two. Two.
[whistle trills]
Good, good, good.
Find an open man. All right, King.
- Oh, man. We got him.
- Easy. Real easy. - Rome, run it right.
- Welcome to LA. It ain't sweet.
- He shouldn't be scoring, all right?
Go at him, Rome. - All right.
- I got you, man. - Back on D. Back on D.
- I got him.
- Oh, watch out. Pretty boy can't do nothing.
- Self-check. Self-check.
- He checking me? - Look, ma. No hands.
- You better D up. - Watch out.
- No. I need you on D. - Look, ma. No hands.
- D up.
- Self-check. - 'Cause your man--
- Wild check. - Right here?
- I dare you. - Need you on D.
- I dare you. - Play basketball.
Come on, man. Play the game.
I don't know who he think he talking to,
but you're not winning.
- You better play some defense. - Find the open man.
Find the open man, King.
- I'm just testing the temperature.
- Come on. Come on. It's a team sport.
Run and play. - I swear. This one I want it.
- Oh, yeah. Mouse to the house.
- No help. No help.
Big body. Come on, big body.
What you doing, King? - That.
- Whoo. - Baby!
He's a baby. Mouse in the house.
- Go right back at him, Rome. Right back at him.
Romello, find the open man.
- Watch out.
Everybody, clear out. Everybody, clear out.
- Hey, you better test out, Tyreck.
You better tell 'em.
- We'll see. We'll see.
- You gotta put him to bed.
- Ah, this is easy. - Coming right at you.
- Whoo! - Pass the ball.
Pass the ball, bro. [whistle tweets]
- Everybody, clear out.
You can't guard me. Too little.
- He's 6'7" and a little boy. - Who's a little boy?
- He out here flopping, coach. - No, that's bull.
You didn't see? He just ran me over.
- Like your wife ran over one of your hos.
- Come on, man.
- Hey, kill that noise.
- Man, get off me.
- Hey, chill, man, chill. Chill, bro.
- What do you want to do? - I'll beat your ass.
Do something, man. - Don't you ever talk about her
like that.
- There's a new sheriff in town; deal with it.
- Marques, a word.
- Coach, my bad about what I said earlier,
but I don't even know why we having this conversation,
'cause you know what he said to me.
- So somebody mentions your wife,
you just gonna take 'em out? That's it. Game over?
- Yes.
- Yes?
- No. It-- - No? Maybe so?
- No, Coach. You know how it is.
- No, Marques, I don't know how it is,
and I don't know what you're going through.
But what I can tell you is this.
If this is how you handle business,
you not gonna last very long.
- So I'm just supposed to let people talk shit to me?
- You gotta admit you got a lot of shit to talk about.
- Man, look, I might be from the suburbs,
but I ain't nobody's bitch.
- Let me explain something to you, son.
Rome plays like he's got something to lose.
Cats like that aren't just playing for themselves.
He's playing for every night he went to bed
with nothing to eat.
So if he sees a weakness,
no matter how sensitive it is, he's gonna exploit it,
because he knows what you're gonna do,
and that's exactly what you did.
You fell right into that trap.
So who won, hmm?
- Shit, Michael Jordan punched Steve Kerr right in the face.
- You ain't Michael Jordan.
[upbeat music]
♪ ♪
- The Foundation is an international network
of influencers that entices its members and associates
with promises of personal and professional gain.
Their sole purpose is to advance their own
financial, cultural, and political dominance.
Oh, they want to rule the world.
Their tactics include blackmail, intimidation,
character assassination, and in some cases murder.
"The greatest trick the devil ever pulled
was convincing the world that he didn't exist."
And that's also the greatest accomplishment
of The Foundation.
But I can assure you, oh, it's real.
- Definitely real.
What?
[tense music]
♪ ♪
What?
♪ ♪
[light music]
- So we can open up a new salon in the shopping center
at the new stadium.
- Okay, so this your way of spending half the money?
- Kareem, it's called an investment.
Black people need to start building capital.
That's us.
- Okay, so that means you not gonna set up shop up in here,
'cause that'd be just way too much.
- You know what?
Disrespect my in-home salon one more time...
[knock at door] Who is that?
- Probably one of my little thang-thang.
- Better not be no little thang-thang.
Get beat up.
- Uh-huh.
Ooh. Marques. - Oh, wow.
- What's up, man? This a bad time?
I didn't even know you knew where I live.
- Surprise, surprise. Hey. - What's up, Quan?
- Can I get you something to drink?
- You got any beer?
- No, but Kareem could definitely go to the store
and get you some. Get your friend some beer.
- Ha! The hell I can. What you talking about?
- No, no, no. It's cool, man.
Let me just get some of that Henny.
- We ran out of Hennessy last week.
- You thought.
- Every brother got some brown juice somewhere.
- [laughs] Really?
Wow. Okay. Just hide that.
- Hey, I be hiding this from you, baby.
- That don't even make no sense.
- Much stress you put me in? You gotta have something, baby.
- You got a nice little spot, bro.
- You like it, right? - Yeah.
- You good?
- No. - Let's go talk, man.
[upbeat music]
- ♪ And I wonder how it all comes back to you ♪
- Out of all things,
how you gonna call the police to your house to interview?
I don't care if he was Black.
- Well, what am I supposed to do, Kareem?
He the only one that know anything
about my daughter and wife.
- Marques, you email, or you call the news.
Simple stuff. What are you talking about?
- That's easier said than done.
I mean, at this point, I'm so damn desperate
for any information on my daughter,
I'll call anyone, obviously.
- Marques, you are a Black man.
You don't just call no police to your house.
Your ass can still get shot.
- Hey.
- And that's Quan with that food.
- I'm not hungry.
- Hungry or not, you need to eat, man.
- Smell like cigars in here.
Can you please close the door next time?
Thanks, baby.
Light a candle or something.
[upbeat music]
- All right, the hot sauce literally...
- On everything.
- Makes it all better. Okay, here we go.
- Mm-hmm.
Yes. Every time. Every time.
- It's criminal is what it is.
- Wait. Why did you guys break up?
- Um...
it seemed like he was coming in for a landing,
and I was ready for takeoff if that makes sense.
- You can't be mad at that. - Yeah, but he was.
I'm sorry.
You said you were having a crappy day,
and I'm here just rambling on and on.
- Seriously, don't apologize.
[ringtone playing]
Ooh. I gotta take this.
Hi.
I'm good. How are you?
Mm-hmm.
Wait. What?
Wait. Are you serious? Me?
Oh, my--what?
Oh, my God. I can't believe it.
Okay. Of course.
I'll literally be waiting by my phone.
Okay. Thank you so much. Thank you, thank you.
Bye.
- What? - Girl, I got the part.
- Oh, my God.
Congratulations. Oh, my God. - Thank you.
I honestly--I can't even believe it, because I swear
I totally bombed that shitty-ass self-take,
and I had no idea what I was doing, but--
- Well, apparently not. Congratulations.
- Oh, my God. - That's amazing.
Okay, let's do a mac and cheese toast
to being booked and blessed, honey.
- Okay, period. both: Cheers.
Congrats, ma'am. - I can't believe this.
[both snoring]
- [whispering] Hey, baby. Let's go to bed.
[suspenseful music]
♪ ♪
- ♪ Check it out ♪
- Now, all I'm saying is, for real,
you gotta do like you did when you was in college.
Start shooting them threes, man.
- How?
'Cause he won't even pass me the ball.
- What does the coach say?
Ain't he the one calling the shots?
- He's saying I gotta figure it out and that, um...
"He's an Alpha too,
and he playing for all of St. Louis"
or some dumb shit like that. - It's whack.
- You already know people think poor people work harder.
- They do. Shit. - Sometimes they do.
I had a girl who worked in my shop named Marshay
with three kids. They sent her all the clients.
She didn't braid it faster
or better with them crooked-ass plaits.
- What'd you do? - Shit.
I got to know the bitch. Started kiki-ing with her.
Next thing I know, she sending me her clients,
'cause she dumb, okay? She dumb, though.
- Little thief-thief, huh? - Yeah.
- You stole all her clients.
- But I'ma tell you, to this day we still friends.
You see? Mm-hmm.
- I ain't gonna lie to you. Quan do got a point, all right?
Kill him with the kindness.
He won't even know what hit him.
[laughter]
You know how he get. - Mm-hmm.
- Little swing-swing. I know how you do, boy.
Head turn red. Little red-hot pepper and shit.
- He spicy.
[funky music]
- Jebediah Hawthorne is an internet preacher.
He doesn't even have a church.
And now he's leading the Annual Day of Devotion
for national political leaders?
- You literally caught him with his pants down.
Now he's vulnerable.
That's just the type of people they want.
- So they're looking for damaged people?
- Damaged. Incompetent. Anybody got issues.
It's why so many business executives
and government officials get jobs
that they're not even qualified for.
Oh, they can be manipulated.
- So maybe it wasn't him that sent me the box.
Maybe it was them. Right?
So that means they looking for me.
- He is one of them now, fool.
They're just sending you the message
so you'll back off.
- So--so what you think I should do?
- Hey. - Hey.
- Who's that?
- That's just a friend of mine. He cool.
- Oh, I gotta go, boy. Look, just be careful.
- Who is that?
- Nobody.
- So what role are you playing, though?
- I play Sarah Drake. She's a rookie cop.
She's got a chip on her shoulder,
and she's just trying to prove herself, you know?
- Okay. - She's a badass.
- Come on, Chip on the shoulder.
I see you.
- Hi. - Hey.
Laila. - Yeah. Spencer.
- You play Lightning Rod.
- [laughs] - Sorry.
- So that wasn't my best work, but it was always my dream
to play a superhero, and I figured,
if Seth Rogan and Paul Rudd can do it, why not me too?
- True.
- And my amazing agent Sanders Bright made it happen.
- Wait, I'm with them too. - No kidding.
- I love them. Yes.
- Lucky you. They make dreams come true.
- [laughs] They do.
- But who is this lovely lady?
- Oh, I'm Nia. The friend of the leading lady.
- Oh, well, it's nice to meet you, Nia,
the friend of the leading lady.
Well, listen, I certainly hope I see you again.
- You too.
- Congrats again, Laila. - Thank you.
- Look forward to seeing you on the set.
- Yes. I can't wait. - All right. Bye.
- Bye.
- Hmm. Ooh. Okay. - He looks kind of fine.
- He looks fine-fine,
and it's seeming like he was kind of feeling you, baby girl.
- Oh, please. - You need me to set that up?
'Cause, you know, we costars and all that.
- Girl, you know I'm not looking.
Now, let's just... - What do you mean?
I thought you and Eric were broken up.
- Yeah, we probably gonna be back together in a week.
Just-- - Ugh. You're one of those?
- Shut up.
- So boring. - Yep.
- Come to the dark side. - No.
- Where are we going? - Wardrobe.
- Ooh.
[funky music]
♪ ♪
- Yeah that's better. - What's up, fellas?
- Yeah.
- Hey, what's up? - What's up, now?
- MJ, what up? - This my boy Eric.
You know, I brought him in here to get that legendary chop.
- What's up, man? - Hey. How you doing?
How you doing? - This y'all too?
- Yeah, all right, that's enough.
- You need to chill out.
Embarrassing me. What is wrong with you?
- I thought that was Jebediah.
- You gonna have to stop this paranoid shit.
Chill out. Man.
- My bad. - Y'all good?
- Yeah, we straight.
- Paranoid people got enemies too.
- All right. I'll take the boy now.
- All right.
- I'm good. - Chill.
- I'm gonna need you I justo chill out.was--
You embarrassing both of us.
- That's what I'm talking about.
- Get in the chair.
- How you doing, my brother?
- Chill. - All right.
- MJ. - What's up, Deuces?
- Y'all gotta excuse my boy.
He a cyber guy.
He all caught up in these conspiracies
about The Foundation.
- Oh, that's some crazy shit right there.
- I'm not crazy. I'm not crazy.
- Not you. Damn.
- Man, they the ones that brought crack
to the hood back in the '80s.
- Oh, please don't tell me y'all believe in this shit too.
- Hell yeah The Foundation real.
How else you think these cops can get away with murdering
unarmed brothers on camera and not get convicted?
- Exactly. - Len, systemic racism, duh.
- "Systemic racism."
- Oh, y'all missing it.
- These chiefs of police and shit,
they in The Foundation.
- You damn right about that, Mike.
- Whoa, so y'all trying to say The Foundation are murderers?
- Hell yeah.
They killed Pac and Biggie, Michael J and MLK.
- Brother, I will stop you when you lying.
- That's right, 'cause I ain't lying.
- Please. - You hear this crazy shit?
- It's not crazy, MJ.
This is what I've been telling you.
I wish you would have brought me here a long time ago.
- Stay still. - Okay. I'm sorry.
Politicians who got put in office
is killing the same people that voted for 'em.
- Mm-hmm. - Right?
And they doling out favors to regular people
so they can keep they foot in our community
so they can keep control of what's going on.
- Wow. - Yeah.
Man, it just so good to be in a place where people understand.
Thank y'all for having me, man.
- Yeah. - Yeah, bro.
- Good to know another brother trying to get
to the bottom of this shit. - Mm-hmm.
- Man, I am, man.
Just one man trying to figure it all out.
- Mm-hmm, man. - We all are.
You should check out The Foundation thread on Grodeck.
- No, no, no, no. - Grodeck?
- They're trying to do the same thing you are.
- How you spell that? - G-R-O-D-E-C-K.
There it go. Yeah.
Tell 'em Mike sent you. Mike the barber.
- Now y'all got him going to sites?
He already crazy.
- Man, shut up. - Thanks, Mike.
- Yeah. - You all right.
- Thank you, man.
[camera shutter clicks]
- [laughs]
What's up, my boy? How you doing?
- [laughs]
- Thanks. Good. Thank you.
- I appreciate you coming out. Yeah.
Nice to meet you.
Thanks.
- Oh, look who decided to show up.
- I just want you to know, on behalf of the team
we're happy you're still engaging
in your charitable works.
- You're here to make sure no damage is done to the team.
- That too, but also the first thing.
- Well, you're good at your job.
- How the hell'd you get Rome to stay after practice?
- I apologized and invited him out.
- That was very big of him to show.
- Vurp. I'm sorry?
You said it was what of him?
- You're big too, Marques. - Thank you, Eden.
- I'm gonna stick around for a bit.
Make sure you don't embarrass us.
- Do your thing.
- All right, guys. Let's get a group shot.
- Whoa, chill out.
- Let's get some kids in there.
Come on, guys. Yeah. Now, get in tight.
Let's get a couple more kids on this side.
Let's even it out.
- Tell the truth.
You think she a screamer or a moaner?
- Man, chill out, man. The kids is right here.
- Man, they can't hear me now.
They don't know what I'm talking about.
I think she's a screamer.
- You better relax before I break my promise
about putting my hands on you. - Man, shut up.
- Big smiles.
- Hoop fans, what's good?
You are now rocking with the best, Ro Parrish.
Tonight the LA Vipers, the Austin Stallions
go toe-to-toe, but let's discuss the trade
that might just change the game.
I'm talking about the big dog.
Romello Copeland and Tyreck Wooldridge
coming over to join Marques King and the Vipers.
All that and more after the break.
We good?
All right, cool, bet.
Hey, Kareem. What up? What's cracking?
- Ro-Ro. - My man. Hey.
- What's up, Mr. Parrish? - Good to see you.
- You look good, boy. - Hey, man. Not as good as you.
- I ain't interrupting nothing, am I?
- No, no, no. In fact, we had a no-show.
- No-show?
- How you feel about jumping on,
chopping it up with your man pregame?
- Right now live on TV with you?
- Absolutely. Let's do it.
- Boy, I wouldn't skip a day.
Yeah. Come on, Ro P.
- There it is. We good? Hey.
Ro Parrish back with a baller that you remember.
I'm talking about the All-American Kareem Johnson.
Did his thing in Southwest Cal with Marques King.
Man, homey, back in the days, you was the man, homey.
- I'm still the man now. What he talking about?
- All right. You know, you got me.
- What?
- You and Marques King, you two are tight on and off...
- Yep. - The floor, so...
- Definitely. - This Romello Copeland trade.
I need to know your thoughts, because there's only one ball.
- Well, if you think about it like this,
what is Steph without Klay?
And who the best in the world?
What was he without Pippen? Come on, man.
- Facts. - Come on.
- Hey, I love that analogy. - Right.
- You know, apparently there's been some friction,
so in your opinion, on this team, who's Jordan?
Who's Pippen? Who's Steph, and who's Klay?
In other words,
who's number one, and who's number two?
- Well, you might not get this, okay,
but you gotta treat both
of these players like you dating them.
- [laughs] Hold on, player. - Sound crazy, right?
- Ro P. knows a lot,
but he don't know nothing about that.
- Yeah, that's because Ro is married.
Let me break it down to you, player.
This to the world, right?
- Right here, to the world. - Right there.
Look, it's no problem, y'all.
The coach, all he gotta do
is make both players feel like they number one.
Okay, you give 'em the same amount of touches.
The same amount of press. The same amount of everything.
You don't let one just drive a Honda Accord
and the other one driving a Beemer.
You don't do that. No.
- A unique perspective right there from Kareem Johnson.
Hey, we got Vipers and Stallions on deck.
Keep it locked.
- Vipers, baby. - Man.
- Welcome to your Los Angeles Vipers...
- That's right. You are rocking to the best.
Ro Parrish here delivering the season opener.
The Vipers and the Stallions to tip things off.
The tip is up.
[indistinct] wins and pushes it towards King,
who is beaten to the ball by Dallas.
Taylor with the ball driving in unopposed
for the easy layup.
Stallions start this game out on the right foot.
- You can't be doing that, bro.
- Man, you talking too much. Come on. Come on.
- Don't start that this game, bro.
- Stop talking. Stop talking.
- Here you go. - Wait. Hold up.
Seems like there's already some tension
between Romello Copeland and Marques King.
Hopefully they'll get it all worked out
as the season goes on.
- Come on, y'all. Come on!
Run the play; pass the ball! Move the ball. Move the ball.
- King's on the move calling for the ball.
- Yes, sir. - Copeland.
Wait. Waving him off? Wow.
King is shocked. I'm shocked.
Copeland gets hits him with a fake,
the little shimmy.
Whoo! Right past him, layup city.
- Copeland for two.
- Copeland's turnt up and letting his coach know.
Austin offensively effective with their style.
King late over to defend Taylor.
Taylor leaves King planted in the woods.
He's got cement shoes on defense,
baseline drive, bucket. - Wow. You gonna play defense?
- Shut up. - Play defense, man.
- Right now, the Vipers' defense...
baby, they could not stop a nosebleed.
The Stallions coming from Austin
are about to gallop all over these Vipers.
However, the game isn't through.
[upbeat music]
- Girl, this place is sickening.
- I know.
- I am so happy for you.
- Thank you.
I honestly can't even believe I'm here.
But the free champagne?
- The free champagne. Always good.
I want to live here too.
[laughter]
- Hey. - Hmm?
- You know, Spencer was asking about you.
- Oh, yeah? Hmm.
- Wanting some doesn't make you a ho.
- Yeah, but getting it from a stranger kind of does.
And that's just not me, okay?
And I'm-- I'm just not in any rush.
- So when men do it, what does that make them?
Studs?
- Player.
- God, we have got to get over that double standard.
It's 2021.
When men want to release their sexual energy, it's cool,
but when we want to we're hos?
- That's how I was raised, I guess.
- Well, that's bullshit. Girl, get yours.
You're beautiful, and you're brilliant.
Don't let anyone define you.
- Wow. - Sorry.
That shit just really pisses me off.
- No. It's okay.
You know the first thing
you said to me when we first met was?
- No. - "I'm not a ho."
[laughter]
- Really? - Yeah.
- I forgot about that. - Mm.
Well, you were right.
You're not.
You're my friend.
With some ho tendencies.
- Eh.
[laughter]
- That's what I'm talking about.
- Fourth quarter, don't call it a comeback,
but the Vipers, they have closed the gap.
- King caught out of position
hustles over to the corner; the long shot is up.
And it is good.
- [indistinct] for two.
- The home team down by two.
Coach Gordon calling for the safe play
can tie the game with a deuce.
They don't need a three.
It's the final possession.
What are they going to do?
Copeland's calling for the ball to hand off.
Ten seconds on the clock.
King using the pick; he's open on the wing.
Copeland to King.
King has it on the isolation.
- There's a screen coming for Copeland, but wait.
- Come on. Come on. - Shoot the ball, big man.
- King's looking to take the last shot on the isolation,
the step back, the pump fake.
King's shot is up.
[suspenseful music]
For the win, it's up.
And it's...
oh, no good.
The iron unkind. - Damn it, King.
- Damn it, King!
- King misses a shot; the Vipers are through.
They lose by two.
- The Foundation's trying to take over the world.
Who has time for that? Are you freaking kidding me?
- See, that's what you don't realize.
Their network reverberates down to regular people.
- And how would they keep track of all of that?
- They have algorithms based on social media profiles.
The more you share, the more they know, okay?
They don't just know that Jebediah Hawthorne
is a closet case.
They know what you did last night.
Shoot, they know what we doing right now.
- And who told you this? - No one told me this.
- [laughs]
- Look, I work in cybersecurity; I can prove it.
- If they knew what we were doing,
we wouldn't still be doing it.
- Oh, they would have shut us down months ago.
[tense music]
♪ ♪
- Yes. It's about time.
[ringtone playing]
- Don't want to talk to you.
- ♪ Oh, yeah ♪
♪ Okay ♪
♪ Oh, yeah ♪
♪ Okay ♪
♪ Oh, yeah, okay, oh, yeah, okay ♪
- Okay, this is fire, but this is amazing.
Please try it. - Are you sure?
- Yes, I'm telling you it is.
- I'ma take your word for this. - Please.
- Let's see.
Okay. All right.
- See? - That's pretty good.
- I told you.
- See, now you gonna have to take me to all the hotspots.
- Ooh, about that.
I'm not really doing the whole baller bullshit anymore.
- "I'm not really doing the whole baller..."
I ain't asked you to do the baller thing.
We just chilling. Vibing. Relaxing.
You know, nothing major.
Just friends. That's all.
Just relax. So what's up with you?
How the acting going?
- It's actually going really good.
- For real?
- Yeah, I just booked my first major role.
- What? - A lead and everything.
- Girl. - You know.
- Congratulations. - Thank you. Thank you.
- All the work pay off. - Yeah.
- Happy to hear that. Good for you.
- Thank you.
So what about you?
How long you been playing basketball?
- Since my mama had me. - What do you mean?
So you just came out your mama's womb
with a basketball in your hand, just dribbling and all that?
[laughter]
- I mean, I've been working hard, man.
I ain't where I want to be at,
but I keep playing like I'm playing,
I'll be there soon.
- I feel you.
- You gotta come to more games. Check me out.
- Maybe I will.
You're actually not as bad as I thought you were gonna be.
- Ooh, somebody owe me an apology.
- Okay. You stay doing too much.
- Ah, okay. I'm sorry. - Yeah.
- I'ma bring it back down a notch.
- Please, please. Just eat your food.
- Okay, bossy. [laughter]
♪ ♪
[phone buzzing]
[notifications dinging]
- Eric.
- Hey.
- I'm Ruff. - Hey.
Thanks for meeting me here. - No problem.
Appreciate you coming to meet me.
- Man, I'm just glad to know I'm not alone
in knowing this thing is real.
You know, like, they could be watching us right now.
- They're definitely watching right now.
They're watching all the time.
- Yeah.
- I assume you like coffee? Order two cups.
- Yeah. Black please.
- No problem. - Thanks.
- I'll be right back. - Okay.
[light music]
♪ ♪
- Two coffees as ordered. - Thank you. Thank you.
So what more can you tell me?
- You pretty much hit the nail right on the head
with your theory about The Foundation.
It's not some urban myth. - I knew that.
They think it's something like illuminati,
but it's nothing like that. It's real.
- Oh, it's real, and they're ruthless
if they think people are asking too many questions
or getting too close.
- I was telling my girl about that.
We getting into it.
Everybody think I'm going crazy.
I'm not going crazy. I know.
- No. You're not crazy.
- It's crazy.
- Everything all right? - Yeah.
- You seem a little out of sorts.
- I'll be all right. I'ma get some fresh air.
I'll be back. Give me a sec.
- I'll be here.
[tense music]
♪ ♪
- Next on "Games People Play"...
- Do you like champagne? - I love champagne. And weed?
Oof. You gonna hit this?
- I sure am.
- I can't legally divulge - Loothat information.mily?
- You want me to be the voice of the Vipers?
- Hold on, player.
When it's primetime, it's my time.
- We'd like for you to do color commentary during the game.
- What I don't understand is, why is Rome on tickets
and the marquee
like he's the face of the goddamn franchise?
- You have not been on a ticket
ever since the Kalinda Walters situation.