Yep. Yeah, that looks great. Awesome work, Phil.
-I'm glad she's back up. -Me too.
Yeah, good. Good morning.
Hey, there's my guy.
Good news, buddy. Good news.
Mom and dad are getting back together.
Yeah, we are partners again. But for real this time.
We decided to come together and work it out.
Yeah, we're gonna make one amazing expansion together on time and on budget.
Okay. That's… That's good.
We thought that'd cheer you up. What's going on?
Yeah, of course you did.
'Cause when you commit to someone you expect them to be happy.
Things took a turn with the widow, huh?
I asked her to move in.
She said no.
-Yeah. -Yeah.
Actually, first she said that we've only been dating a few months,
and she didn't feel like we were at that level yet.
Which, I misread the signals, and so I got down on one knee.
Oh, no.
Yeah, I proposed.
-Oh, no. -Yeah.
-Then she said no. -Yeah.
Yeah. But I figured, hey,
I'm already down here, so I might as well--
-You didn't. -I begged.
On my knees. I said, "Hey, show her your soft underbelly.
That's what a wolf does sometimes.
If he has to."
-And she did not like that. -No.
-No, they like one knee,
but they don't like two.
-And she didn't like any. No. -No.
So that's--
That did not go well.
So, that is…
done.
Yeah, that makes sense.
But hey! It's all good.
Yeah, wolf will bounce back. 'Cause you know what I realized?
I realized that you guys are my real family.
Yeah, no, women in my life may come and go…
Mostly go.
But MQ and the people who work here have always been there for me.
You know what, bud? We always will.
-Hey, the wolf's back. -Yeah. Wolf's back, baby.
-Back to work. -The wolf is back.
-Yes. Yes. -The wolf is back.
Fangs, baby.
You guys wanna hang now?
We got a lot of work to do, but--
Right?
Yeah.
There we go.
-Hey, David. -Do you have a second to talk?
Hey, of course, come in. Yeah. Always got time for you guys.
Girls. Women.
I always got time for my MQ family.
-Okay. -Anyway, we--
You know what I was just realizing?
The three of us, we work, like, ten feet apart from each other.
All this time we've never taken a group photo. Isn't that weird?
-Is it? -Not really.
-Let's take one. Come on. This'll be fun. -Okay.
Here we go. Come on in.
-Okay. -Oh, yeah. Look at us.
The Three Musketeers. Smile.
That's great. Love that. I'm gonna send this straight to my digital frame,
which I am filling with my entire MQ family.
David, we're quitting.
-What? -Yeah,
-Rachel and I are moving to Berkeley. -Yeah.
To get married?
-No. -What? No. What?
-We're going to school. -Yeah.
I thought you would be happy for us.
I am. Yeah, no, that's good.
It's great for you.
Yeah, no, I was--
I'm just kinda going through a… bit of a rough…
You wanna talk about it?
Not your issue. Yeah, no.
Listen--
I accept your resignations.
-Thank you. -Yes. Thank you, David, for everything.
-Yeah, you were a really great boss. -Yeah.
Thank you.
Well, there was a time when a moment like this would call for a hug.
-We don't-- -We don't gotta hug.
Yeah, no. It's inappropriate now. That's not appropriate.
So I guess we just… say goodbye.
-Okay. Bye. -Goodbye, David.
-Bye, David. -Yeah.
-Okay. Bye. -Bye.
Bye. Thanks.
Go for Zack.
Warmest regards and salutations, Zachary.
Hey, it's Jo.
Jo. From Mythic Quest.
-How you been, stranger? -I'm great.
Super excited for MQ mobile to launch
because as you already know, we're both gonna make a buttload of money.
I'm sorry. I don't understand.
Don't play coy with me. We both know you sent me $10,000 in cash
to buy you shares of MQ stock after I shared privileged information with you.
Information which you used in flagrant disregard for your fiduciary duties.
Shares? Cash? Jo.
What you're describing is highly illegal.
You would never catch me doing something like that.
Yeah. I guess you're too smart for that, huh?
Thank you.
But you don't have to be smart to know that insider trading is a felony,
and it carries a sentence of up to ten years in prison.
I mean, what kind of dumb, stupid idiot doesn't know that?
Right?
You set me up, you two-faced, backstabbing motherfucker!
Tough luck, Jo.
And tell my brother I said, "Oink, oink."
I'm screwed. They're gonna send me to prison.
Worry not, Josephine. I can help.
For I, too, have been in prison.
-You have? -Oh, yes.
The most notorious prison of all. The prison of mind.
Cool. Yeah, I'm going to actual prison.
Like bars and concrete and inmates and shit!
Oh, right. Yeah, I've never been there.
But I've heard dreadful things.
Okay, yeah. I think I got it.
So your plan is to rewrite both the server and the client architecture
so that all the players experience the same instance of our game world
at the same time.
Yes. Yes. See, he gets it.
-Yeah, that's impossible. -Told you.
Shut up, Anthony.
Look, I know it sounds impossible--
No, Pop, it is impossible.
Your plans for Hera are awesome, but MQ just wasn't made for that.
It's like you're trying to redo the foundation of a skyscraper
after it's already been built.
See, he gets it.
Yeah, thanks. Anthony, is it?
Shut the fuck up. You're talking to Poppy Li.
-Okay, man? This woman's a goddamn genius. -Yeah.
Every single time I have thrown out some crazy-ass idea, she gets it done.
-Yeah. -Every single time, she nails it.
-Yes. -Except for this time.
Yeah! What?
Pop, that's how I know that Hera can't be built.
Because if it could have been,
you'd have done it already.
You're right.
Oh, my God. You're right.
-I wasted so much time and resources on… -Your vision.
That's the gig. Dream big.
Unfortunately, sometimes you fail big.
But, hey, Pop, you should feel really good about yourself, man.
I mean, you failed fucking huge.
-Thanks. -Yeah. Yeah.
Yeah, this is a genius idea that could have bankrupted the entire studio.
And it almost did. That's amazing.
-Wow. -Yeah. Yeah.
All right. Pack it in, boys.
-Well, men. -Men. Pack it in, men.
We're spinning our wheels. Hera can't be built.
-Yeah, I've been saying that for months. -Shut up, Anthony. You shut up!
Hey, I'm all packed up, and are you hungry?
I didn't get in.
What?
I didn't get in to Berkeley. They rejected me.
We just quit our jobs, Dana.
We just quit our jobs and you didn't even know if you got in?
I got wrapped up in the excitement. I thought it was a for-sure thing.
Oh, my God.
Carol's on her way up here with the exit paperwork right now, dude.
What was I thinking? God, I'm so stupid.
No, you're not stupid. You're not stupid.
I hate that stupid goat.
Babe.
Oh, no. I am not touching this shit.
Here you go.
Brad, don't do that thing you do.
I need your help getting a confession out of Zack.
Now, why would a tiny mouse help a big, bad shark
after she's already attempted to devour him?
-Because you're a nice guy? -Insulting me is not gonna help.
Please, Brad. I don't wanna go to jail.
Jo… I can't help you.
Sometimes you need to hit rock bottom to realize you have a problem, and you do.
You're addicted to power, but you can detox in jail.
You might even thrive and get a law degree,
which could lead to more power and more jail time.
But, hey, addiction's a vicious cycle.
What if I told you you wouldn't be helping me? You'd be helping yourself.
Go on.
If we work together, we could pin this whole thing on Zack.
Get a little payback for killing your beloved Kate.
I could help you send your brother to jail.
Yeah, for six months, tops. In Club Fed.
Which, in our line of work, is sometimes actually a good thing.
Gives you street cred. Shows you don't fuck around.
Either way, turning in your own brother is hard-core.
This is your chance to prove you're the true shark of the family.
I am the true shark of the family.
Yeah, okay, I'll help. Here's the story.
You were manipulated by an older, more experienced mastermind.
Feds love a good mastermind.
And you're just a sweet, impressionable young woman.
-Girl. -Even better.
-I think it's a dog. -Why is it limping?
Maybe it's injured.
So the game is about a sad, injured dog?
I have no idea.
-Actually, the game is about-- -No one asked you to talk.
So let me get this straight.
You kept working on this even though Brad killed the project.
Then yesterday, you quit your job to attend Berkeley.
But you didn't get in.
So you, a tester, decided to interrupt your bosses
in the middle of a very important meeting about the future of their game
in order to beg for you and your lover's jobs back.
-Am I allowed to talk now? -No.
I'm sorry. There was just a long gap.
-So when did this happen? -I don't know.
It feels like every single person under the age of 30
thinks that what they feel needs to be broadcast to the entire world,
and we give a flying fuck--
-You know what? I'm sorry. -No, it's not--
-You know how this gets me. -I know.
-You know what I mean? -It's not your responsibility.
I know how you get.
All right. What's with the dog?
You can talk now.
-Me? -Yes. Who else would I be talking to?
-You're not even looking at me! -Talk now!
It's a goat.
-It's shit. -I know.
And yet you kept working on it. Why?
I don't know. I just see it.
And if I were to tell you that it was shit as well, would you believe me?
-Yes. -But would you stop working on it?
Yes.
No.
I just think it could be so cool because--
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
All right. We'll get you into programming school.
Not Berkeley. Somewhere reasonable.
Local. MQ will pay for it.
And we're gonna keep you under contract,
so that when you graduate, we don't look like assholes
when you go work somewhere else.
I'm sorry. This is all happening really fast.
Did you say that you like the game?
Are you not paying attention? We think the game is shit.
But you don't. And that's the only thing that matters.
Do you think talent is the most important part of this job?
-No, it's having-- -Balls.
Well, I was gonna say grit.
Grit. Yes, you gotta have grit.
Yeah. Look, these people out here,
they will crumble the first time someone rejects one of their "brilliant" ideas.
Which happens all day, every day.
Now, are you gonna make anything good? I don't know.
But you sure as shit aren't gonna quit until you do.
Obviously.
All these people, they would give up, like, almost right away.
-Because most of them are straight up-- -Pussies.
Well, I was gonna say…
Well, no, I was gonna say pussies actually 'cause there's not a better word for it.
-We should come up with one. -We should. Okay.
-Let's workshop it. -In the meantime,
they're all pussies, and you've got gritty balls.
We should stop putting labels on it. It's getting a little messy.
It is. It is.
The two of you, you're probably fine. But I could get canceled.
All right, well, get out. We're busy. Goodbye.
Right, yes. Thank you. Wow.
I don't know what to say.
I just feel so grateful--
God. We don't fucking care how you feel!
We are trying to run a company!
Okay. Thank you.
Wait. Where?
Shit.
Worth it!
It's happening. The feds are here. Oh, God.
Zack dimed me out.
Don't be so dramatic. Zack didn't dime you out.
-I did. -What?
Yeah. I called in an anonymous tip to the SEC
about insider trading at Mythic Quest.
Guess this is goodbye.
Oh, my God.
-You really are a shark. -You're goddamn right I am.
Come and get it!
Mr. Bakshi. We're from the SEC.
May we speak with you privately?
Yeah, sure thing, fellas. Just one sec.
Why do they wanna talk to you?
Well, clearly, Jo, they're going after the real mastermind.
Wait, you called them on yourself?
-I can't believe you would do that for me. -No.
I did it for me. Do you know what this shit's gonna do for my street cred?
No more Mr. Nice Guy.
Fellas, I'm gonna save you some time.
I did it. I'm guilty.
Go ahead and cuff me.
We just wanna talk.
We can do it right here or in the conference room. Anywhere, really.
-Okay. -Wait!
Walk him to the parking lot. This will sell it.
-That's not necessary. -Yes, it is.
I like you.
I know.
All right, folks. Nothing to see here!
Just your typical perp walk. Dangerous felon on the move.
Yeah, you're gonna wanna get that picture.
Yo, Brad. Everything okay?
Peachy. See you in six to eight months.
Fuck you, everybody!
Did I miss something?
That's it. Just as shitty as before.
Yep, back to normal.
This is so great. You'll be here. I'll be close.
I'll come visit you all the time. It'll be just like always.
Yeah.
I think I gotta go.
No shit. The way you pounded that Red Bull.
No, Dana, I mean…
to Berkeley.
To the writing program.
Yeah, I think I gotta go.
I can't believe I'm saying it either, to be honest,
but…
it's what I want.
-You wanna go without me? -No, no.
I wanna go with you.
But… if you're not going…
I'm still gonna go.
Well,
your mind seems pretty made up.
It is, but I just-- I have to do it, you know.
Do you hate me?
Hate you? Hell no.
Rache, I was down for the long-distance thing
when it was just me going up there. So what's the difference?
I mean, unless there is a difference now.
Oh, shit. Did something change between us? I didn't feel it.
But now I'm not sure, and I didn't give you space to process this,
and I think maybe I jumped the gun a little bit and I feel--
Sorry. I just had to shut you up.
Hey, remember when Carol told us not to fuck in the office?
Yeah.
We don't work here anymore.
-My goodness, what fun. -Isn't it?
Wow. Pop, did you put all this up yourself?
Nah, got the art department to pull a bunch of stuff from the archives
in the middle of the night.
Wow, these are, like, all my original sketches from the beginning.
Yeah. I figured if we wanna avoid repeating ourselves,
we should probably remind ourselves where we've been.
It's a literal walk down memory lane.
Look. The Mog Yod!
That's your first idea that made it into MQ.
Well, it wasn't exactly my idea. We just got blind drunk at Casa Vega,
and I accidentally called the yard-long margarita a "Marg Yard."
You're the one that drew it and put it in the game.
We should start sketching on bar napkins again.
-That was a good method. -Yes.
This is like watching a child's life
from the moment of conception through infancy,
adolescence, the teen years and finally…
-Raven's Banquet. -Our masterpiece.
And the end of the hall.
Or maybe… the end of the road.
Well, we can just blast this whole fucking wall out of here
and just build more hall.
Yeah, or we could just turn left
and continue down the hall that already exists.
That's super-small thinking, Poppy. Look, imagine a hallway--
Don't you see?
The child is all grown up. He's off to college.
Or she. The game could be a she.
We've been getting along so well. Now you're gonna throw that bullshit at me?
Listen to me!
Do you wonder why your creative well has suddenly dried up?
How it is that you've toiled over this expansion but to no avail?
For months I've waited, pen in hand.
But you will not allow me to write the next chapter. Why not?
Our story has only one logical, inevitable end.
And you know it as well as I.
Listen to your hearts.
There are no more chapters.
Raven's Banquet is…
was… the end of the story.
Our work here is done. The child has been raised.
She's legal now.
-All right, that's enough. -Gross.
Come on.
Goodbye, Brad.
Oh, you guys.
I have had the worst couple of days.
-Brad got arrested. -He did?
Yeah, for insider trading. Can you believe that?
-Yeah. -Absolutely.
That tracks.
Yeah, it does track.
It's just been rough.
I feel like our whole family is falling apart.
Oh, no. Please don't tell me you two are fighting again.
Us? Oh, no. We are in total alignment.
Great.
-So what's up? -We're leaving you and Mythic Quest.
What?
Ian and I have decided to walk away from MQ, permanently.
No.
Yes.
No, no.
-Yes. -Yes.
No! No! No!
Why? Why?
-Well-- -Why?
We thought we needed to stay together for the baby,
but it turns out the kid's all grown up.
Yeah. And honestly, it's time to let him live his own life.
Does that make sense?
Yeah. It makes sense.
I'm the kid.
-No. -What are you talking about?
-You're a grown man. -We're talking about the game.
-The game is the kid. -I'm not the kid?
-I thought I was the kid. -No.
-What the fuck is going on here? -This is very confusing.
Thought you were saying I was the kid and you were the parents.
Sorry. I've just been dealing with a lot today, man!
So have we, man. This was not an easy decision,
but Poppy and I have to go off and have our own new adventure.
Great. Great for you.
What am I gonna do?
You would stay here and run MQ without us.
Or not. You're a grown man, and you can do whatever you want.
Yeah.
I would be a pretty good boss, I bet.
Let's go.
David. Good luck.
-Wait, don't jump! -What?
Jo, whatever you're going through,
no matter how bad it may seem, you will get through this.
Okay? You have people that love you. You have friends, family.
Do you have family?
I don't know that much about you. But I'm willing to learn.
I wasn't gonna jump, David. I just came up here to get some fresh air.
Okay. Okay.
Great. Yeah. Cool.
Why did you come up here?
Fresh air.
Uh-huh.
I just--
Everybody left me.
They always do.
God, I would give anything to just hop on the 60 to the 57 over to the 90
and be back in Yorba Linda with the widow.
-Ex-widow. -No, she's still a widow.
I just feel abandoned and just so
powerless.
Powerless.
You have no power.
Yeah, well, no, I have some power. I'm still executive producer.
Take me back. Please.
-Can I be your assistant again? -What?
I should have never left you in the first place.
Yeah. You shouldn't have. That was your mistake.
But yes, I will take you back.
Yeah, on one condition though. You're my employee. Okay?
-We're not friends, and we're not family. -No, we never were.
Yeah. Great.
-Great. -Yeah.
Okay.
Jo, take a note.
Actually, I can't. Brad had me throw away my computer.
What? Seriously? That is so weird.
What did you ever see in that guy?
Well, he was tall and smart. Great skin.
Okay. I don't need a note.
-Actually, we got a lot of work to do. -Uh-huh.
We gotta get a new tester,
a new money guy and two new creative directors.
Actually, you know what? Make that one creative director.
-Preferably a man. -You got that right.
-But don't say that to anyone else. -Okay.
-Cheers. -Cheers.
To drowning our sorrows.
What do you mean? This is a celebration. This is exciting.
You're not even, like, a little bit depressed?
I don't really do depressed.
We just left the game that means more to us than anything in the entire world.
-Yeah, I'm over it. -You're over it?
Yes, which actually is kinda strange, isn't it?
That's probably why I'm not a very good dad.
But it does make me good at moving on.
So let's talk about the new game.
-Unless you wanna get a real job. -No.
Okay, what are you thinking? MMO, open world, sim?
I'm not gonna do some hack and slash dungeon crawler.
We already know what the new game is. Your expansion: Hera.
-I told you I thought it was awesome. -You also told me it was impossible.
Yes. Impossible in MQ.
But we're gonna start from scratch.
It was never gonna work for you to force your ideas into a game that I created.
We need to conceive this child together.
Without fucking, to be clear.
-No, that's clear. -You were looking at me really weird.
No, I was--
You just told me that we're gonna make my dream come true.
I'm a little frazzled.
Yep. And this one will truly be ours.
Although, I did come up with Hera on my own,
so technically it would be my game, and I'd be bringing you on.
Yeah, Poppy, I'm not as insecure as you,
so I don't need the specifics to be perfect for me to feel like I'm in charge.
Okay.
Let's get started. Your canvas.
And your brush.
Me?