[light, echoing music]
♪ ♪
narrator: Since learning of Becca's pregnancy
as well as his own lack of agency in relation to it,
Marcus had tried to go about his life as usual
to control the things he could.
[ambient music]
♪ ♪
- Marcus, you okay?
- Oh, uh--
uh, yes, yeah.
Um...
could you print out Trey Lane's new pages for me?
And, um...
could I also get a tea with honey and lemon?
- Oh, the hot water thing's broken.
- Fine, uh, coffee.
- The coffee thing's connected to the hot water thing.
- Go to a coffee shop then.
- Okay.
Wait, do you want the tea again?
Or would-- - I, uh--
[energetic music]
♪ ♪
narrator: But everywhere he turned,
Marcus was hard-pressed to find even a shred of evidence
that he was in the driver's seat
of his own life.
[lively music]
♪ ♪
Even his own thoughts
seemed to have a life of their own,
playing and endless game of "What if?"
What if he'd never met Becca?
What if he'd never had that threesome?
What if he'd just worn a condom?
What if he just disappeared?
Better yet, what if Becca disappeared?
A carbon monoxide leak.
A piano falling from the sky.
Something quick and painless, of course.
He wasn't a monster.
Or maybe he was.
Maybe he was just another awful man
trying to weasel out of the consequences
of his own actions.
- You can't hide in here forever.
- I don't want to have a baby.
- And I don't want to be in love with the ex
who cut half my dreads off in my sleep one time.
But life throws shit at ya.
- So your parents never, I guess,
told you about the birds and the bees and shit.
Okay, so, like, you have the--
okay you have-- for you it's this, right?
And you put the condom over it and then you have sex.
And that way...
- Ki-Kian-- - babies don't happen.
- Look, after that last breakup,
I went through a string of women.
- Yeah, but did you get any of them pregnant?
- I was gonna do IVF with Nicole.
But that would have been a huge mistake.
- Oh, my God. - That would've been horrible.
- But listen man, you're about to have a kid
that's gonna be literally, like,
genetically coded to accept you.
That's cool. - Right.
Because nobody hates their parents, right?
- Oh, I'm just trying to look on the bright side, man.
Seriously, maybe this will bring you and this Becca chick
closer together.
I mean, it's fucking rough out there.
You know, I can't find anyone to love me.
- [chuckles] - Seriously.
At first, I was kinda like,
"I don't want a woman to love me because of my money."
And now, I'm like, "Fine, love me because of my money."
Love me for something, you know?
- Shit, Kian, I'm sorry.
- No, no, no, no, no, it's fine.
It's all right. It's cool.
- I still have some IVF in the freezer.
Can you see me with a baby?
[chuckles]
But come to think of it...
your baby would have had a cousin.
- Yo, what is this?
MSG change the dress code?
Look at yourself.
- Nah, nah, bro. Not quite.
You are looking at front office Yogi now.
- [laughs] Man,
that's what I'm talking about.
You made the leap. I'm so proud of you.
- I'm glad somebody is. Tina saw my check
and couldn't even look me in the face for like a week.
She was like, "Damn, assistant pay!"
It's cool though, man.
This is about the future, though, you know?
Trying to set it up, man.
Sometimes you gotta play the long game.
- Exactly, exactly. She'll come around, man.
- Oh yeah, yeah, I don't even worry about that.
I don't worry about that, bro.
But you know, if I hadn't had my kids,
I would literally be cool, just, you know,
hanging out, being where I was at.
Drinking a beer with a dumb-ass sweatshirt on
looking stupid. - All right, all right.
- Ha! Hear me out. Hear me out.
I'm not trying to lecture you. Okay? I'm not.
But it's like, bro--
Like, I love my kids, man. You know I do.
Like, they really inspire me, man.
They're in the car right now with the window cracked.
They're fine, they're fine. It's the--
wait, is that for kidnappers or dogs?
- No, you leave the window cracked for dogs.
You're not supposed to leave your kids in the car at all.
I thought, but-- - No, if you turn the car off
and leave the radio on-- like, leave it on ACC,
I think you're fine. Anyway, the point
I'm trying to make, bro, is that they inspire me.
I wouldn't be who I am without them, bro.
Like, you cannot tap out right now.
You gotta see this shit through.
- But look, man, I mean, I--
Becca already has two kids. She doesn't need me.
- Bro, that might be the most deadbeat as deadbeat shit
I ever heard in my life. What are you talking about?
- No, no, no, it's not--
- Come on, man.
You gotta be there for this kid, bro.
The stakes are a little different for us.
The kid's gonna be Black.
It's a big deal. You understand me?
He can't be around these hedge fund motherfuckers
and these bankers. They gonna have
this motherfucker watching "The Help"
to find out what it's like to be
a Black man in America. Is that what you want?
- This is why I tried to have, like,
a real-ass conversation with Becca.
- This is why you can't try, though, you have to just do it.
- You gotta mold this kid. It's gonna look like you.
It needs to act like you.
Come on, man, you a great dude. You got a lot to offer.
This kid is gonna be excited to have a dad like you.
Plus, the whole fatherhood shit--
this is, like-- that's where you get, like,
your man badge at. This is, like--
this is where you earn it, bro.
What kind of man do you want to be?
Hm? [car honking]
Oh, shit, wait, that's my kids.
All right, I gotta go, man. I'm double-parked.
I hope I got through to you, bro.
Clean this shit up, and I'm not playing.
All right?
And shave too. You look stupid.
- [laughs]
[door clicks open]
[door clicks shut]
[pensive music]
narrator: In a split second,
Marcus' life had taken a sharp turn.
And for the first time ever, he simply gave in,
as messy as it was.
- Hello?
- Hi.
Hi, it's Marcus.
- I know who it is.
It's been a while.
- Yeah.
How are you doing?
- I'm doing okay.
[light, emotional music]
♪ ♪
- Marcus.
- Becca, hey.
Uh, wow, you look--
uh...
- Like a soccer mom in distress?
[laughs] - No, no, no.
I was gonna say, uh-- - [clears throat]
- You look very normal and--
and healthy. - Hmm.
That's the nicest thing you've said to me in a month.
- Becca Evans.
- [clears throat] Hi.
- Here's the questionnaire for the genetic counseling.
- Thank you.
Um, he needs one too.
- Oh, hi, yeah.
I'm, uh, the other parent.
- Oh, of course you are.
- "Oh, of course you are."
What the fuck was that? - It--it's--it's fine.
- Well, I don't know who should be more insulted, you or me.
- Well, I'm pretty sure it's me,
but it seems like it's you.
- Fucking bitch.
Thank you for coming.
I'm actually relieved not to be doing this alone.
- No, I mean, no, it's--
it's good for me too.
- Every woman carries the risk of having a baby
with chromosomal abnormality or genetic issues,
but as we know, the risk increases with maternal age.
Um, paternal genetics can affect this too.
So...
Looks like you skipped a few.
What about Tay-Sachs, does that ring a bell?
Do you have any Jewish ancestry?
- Um, uh, no.
- Right, of course not.
What about cystic fibrosis?
- Uh,
I'm not sure about that one either,
but I don't-- I don't think so.
- Well, can you find out?
- Oh, yeah, sure. I'll ask my mom.
Oh, you want me to ask right now.
- It certainly would speed up the process.
- Yeah, yeah, sure.
Um...
I feel like I should have gotten an email
with this questionnaire in advance.
[line ringing]
[hip-hop music playing] - Yo.
- Hey, sis, quick question--
what did Uncle Harry die of?
Was that cystic fibrosis?
♪ ♪
- What?
- Um, I'm at the OB-GYN with Becca.
- Oh, that is really sweet.
Have a good time, Marcus.
- No, no, no, no. Wait, wait, wait.
What about Uncle Henry?
- Fool, I don't know how that old bastard died.
Call Mom. I'm busy.
- [sighs]
- Okay, so you want to be a dad,
but you don't want anyone to know about the kid.
[laughs]
You sound like Drake 2.0. I'm telling you.
- Well, I will tell them when the time is right.
- Uh-huh. Listen, Marcus,
I don't know anything about our family history, okay?
So just, I don't know, make something up.
♪ ♪
- [sighs]
No history of it.
You live up here, huh?
- Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
Just a few blocks up that way.
- Oh.
- You've never been to my place, have you?
- No I--I honestly thought you lived at the Palace Hotel.
- [laughs]
Do you-- do you wanna come see it?
I make a mean cocktail.
For you, not for me. - I know.
Anyway, you should probably see where you're gonna be
picking this kid up from on weekends.
- Oh, already jumping into the custody conversation.
Cool, cool, cool, cool.
- Ugh, I'm a planner. What can I say?
- Yeah, clearly.
- Asshole. Come on. - [laughs]
- Such an asshole.
[liquid pouring]
- I promise we are going to
baby-proof the shit out of this place.
I mean, I don't know. I might even move.
- What?
And deprive the kid of this view?
- I don't know, just trying to make the best of my do-over.
Cheers? [door thuds shut]
[footsteps approaching]
- Oh, God, Mom.
Is this the guy?
- This is Marcus.
- You literally said we'd never have to meet him.
Do we have any food? I'm fucking starving
and the animal shelter only has shitty snacks.
- It's community service, Maddie,
not an all-inclusive resort.
- Well, I feel like a fucking prisoner.
- Maddie got a DUI after swerving onto a lawn
and hitting a mini Labradoodle.
- Oh. - Shut up, Mom!
- Hey! I know you're angry, Maddie.
But I am not the enemy here.
I'm so sorry you had to see that.
I just--I don't know
where she gets that attitude from.
- Oh, well, it's from her dad, right?
It obviously can't be from you.
- Yeah. [both laugh]
- I don't know. She splits her time
between here with me and Connecticut with him.
And he just lets her run wild as, like, a "fuck you" to me.
And they break your heart every day.
But she'll always be my little baby.
- Yeah.
[footsteps approaching]
- [sighs] I'm sorry that I yelled at you, Mom.
I just feel awful about that dog.
- I know. - Will you help me think
of something nice to do for the family?
- Of course I will.
- I'm Maddie. Sorry about that.
I'm just a total cunt when I'm hungry.
- Oh, God. - Oh, no.
It's all good.
- All right, I'm leaving. - All right.
Goodbye.
- Hey.
- Can I come with you to your next appointment?
- Sure. - All right.
narrator: Marcus had already
called in sick to work that day.
And as perverse as it was,
there was only one person he wanted to see.
Luckily, it didn't take much convincing
to get her to play hooky as well.
- Hey, there he is.
Hi. - Hey, Mia.
- Hey, sorry I'm late. Holy shit, I always forget
how beautiful Central Park is. - Oh, yeah, no.
It's crazy that it's even here.
- It's insane. - Yeah.
- It's like a bit of a normcore choice for you,
but I love it. - [chuckles]
- Anyway, how are you? What's up?
- Um...
I'm having a baby.
- What? - Yeah.
- With who?
- Uh, with a woman that lives on the tenth floor
of that building right there.
- Wow.
Is she rich?
- It's I-- y-yes, yeah.
- Uh...
are you--
I mean, look, we're not-- I mean, we're not--
we're not together or anything.
We never really were.
- Okay. - Yeah.
- I mean, you seem like a guy who wears at least two condoms.
- Well, actually, wearing two condoms
puts the user at greater risk for malfunctions.
- Yeah, uh-huh, yeah. No, I know that.
- See, that's what I'm talking about.
I can't believe it.
- You know, me neither.
- Are you doing okay?
- I'm coming around.
I guess. I mean, it's fucking messy,
but...
I guess I've decided that that's okay?
- I gotta say, I really appreciate
your blasé approach to fatherhood.
- Oh, come on, man. - [laughs]
You know, I have never seen anybody
get down on a New York street knish,
like, harder than you.
- Oh, but--but um,
a hot dog is like-- that's Michelin star cuisine.
- Yeah, this is iconic. This is--
I'm a New York City icon right now.
- No, no. - Look at me. This is amazing.
So...
do you want kids?
Did you want kids? - You know, honestly,
I hadn't thought about it.
Emily and I promised not to bring it up
until after she turned 30, and then she turned 30 and...
she just kept getting new IUDs.
- And yet you still somehow
managed to impregnate a white woman.
- Oh, come on. How do you know she's white?
- Marcus.
She white, Marcus. - It's--[laughs]
I know. I know, she white.
- She white, Marcus.
- I know, I just--
I just don't want to suck at this.
You know?
I just want to show up in the right way.
- Don't put too much pressure on yourself, you know?
I mean, look at me,
I grew up pretty much without a dad,
and I have, like, no issues at all,
which is tight.
So what's your plan?
- Oh, God, I mean,
Becca was saying about moving to Connecticut
or upstate. - Wait, you would move?
Wow.
Uh, sorry, I'm just, like--
I'm, like, freaking out a little bit.
- Wait, you're freaking out? - Yeah.
- I'm the one who's having the baby.
- I know, I just-- I--
it's--it's a lot.
- Yeah. - Wow.
- Yeah. - [laughs]
You know, um,
for a while there, I thought you were ghosting me.
- I was. - [scoffs]
- Oh, it was-- it was for your own good.
- Whatever. - Trust me.
- No, I have my own shit going on anyway.
- Oh.
Yeah, yeah, I got that text.
- Oh, do you mean the text that you didn't respond to?
Was it that text? - Oh, are you pissed at me?
- No.
I shouldn't have sent you that anyway.
You don't need a play-by-play of my love life.
That's insane.
- Well, if it makes you feel any better,
I do like knowing when you dump somebody.
- I don't know, I just--
I'm done dating guys that are all over the place.
- Oh, you finally hit a wall, huh?
- No, I mean, me and this dude, we're just different.
I...
That's sort of my thing. - You don't say.
- Hey, you have to at least give me credit...
- [laughs] - For recognizing the pattern.
You know that, right? That's like,
an essential step to growth.
- Well, I don't know, maybe you should
date someone more like you.
- Oh, what, and actually have it
maybe work out for once?
Um...
hard pass.
- Ooh. - Oh, sh--
[laughs] - Oh, God.
What is-- - Are we in "The Notebook"?
This is insane. - What the fuck?
And out of nowhere. - [laughs]
- Hey, come on.
- [laughs]
- [shivers]
Uh, all right.
All right, how much is that? - $10.
- All right. - [winces]
- What's up? - Damn.
No, I--nothing. I wasn't expecting
to do, like, six laps around Central Park.
- [laughs] Um...
What--what size shoe are you?
- Uh, I am an 11 in women's but men's 9.
- Okay, men's 9, okay.
Uh...
Oh, snap. Look at that.
- Wow. - Yeah.
- Great. Hey, but, you do know
it's bad luck to buy somebody shoes, right?
- What? - No, seriously.
They say if you buy somebody shoes,
they'll just get up and walk out of your life.
- Okay, now I know you're making shit up.
[bell tolling]
Let's go! - Oh, my God.
Wait, wait, wait, wait.
Oh, are you skipping stairs?
- Yup. - Ah, these shoes hurt.
- [laughs] - [groans]
Oh, my God.
Oh, and it's gonna close in five minutes.
- What? - Yeah.
- Churches don't close.
- I think you have that confused
with casinos, actually.
- Well, that's not worth it for five minutes.
- Really? - Ehh.
- Now that I ran up all these stairs
in these corner store shoes?
- You are talking about it like
it's the "Rocky" stairs or something.
That's like 30 steps max. - Guess what.
A lot of us aren't secretly buff.
I've seen you in a Henley, man.
- Oh, come on, come on.
- Oh, I'm--sh--
- Oh, you're-- - Let's just sit.
- You are really sucking wind right now.
- Well, yeah.
- You need to get your heart checked.
Hey, can I show you something?
- Uh...
I guess so.
- Okay. - Okay.
Oh, wow. - Yeah.
- This is gonna sound really corny,
but I am really proud
of the way you're handling this whole thing.
- Thank you.
And now you see why I didn't call you
and tell you about it last month.
- I would just assume you were on suicide watch.
- I was.
- Yeah, definitely. - Yeah.
- I don't know, I guess I just feel like
I'm doing the right thing, you know?
I mean, not just for the baby, but...
for me. - Mm-hmm.
- I had an abortion once.
Not a segue, but, uh--
- Really? - Yeah.
I was--I was 18
and I just got out of high school.
And my mom wasn't having it,
and I sure as fuck wasn't ready for a baby.
And I just didn't want people telling me what to do.
- How'd you feel afterwards?
- I didn't really feel anything,
and then... I just felt relief.
And, uh...
now I honestly don't even really think about it anymore.
- I mean, do you-- I mean,
do you think you're gonna want kids in the future
or...
- Sometimes I think I still want kids,
and then I'm like,
"Who am I to be looking after another human?"
- Who is anyone?
- [chuckles]
[sentimental music]
♪ ♪
- Okay, let me ask you something.
- Okay.
- If you could bring back
anybody ever from the dead, - Uh-huh.
- But you had to kill somebody who was living,
who would you choose?
- God damn.
Mm, all right.
Bring back Bernie Mac.
- Okay.
- Kill Steve Harvey.
- God, you gonna kill Steve Harvey?
- Yeah. - Oh, holy shit.
- Would you miss him? - No--I--
maybe, I don't know. He's, like,
a pretty good "Family Feud" host.
- Eh, I like Louie Anderson.
- Marcus, I can't with you.
- He's idiosyncratic. He's interesting.
- [laughs] - He's his own being.
What about you? - Oh, my God.
I would kill you to bring Aaliyah back.
- Oh, that's fair. That's fair.
- [laughs]
Well, that was really fun.
I think I got eleventy-bajillion steps in.
- Oh, good.
- You should tell me you're having a baby more often.
[laughs]
I'm sorry.
- No, no.
No, I'm sorry.
[quiet music]
♪ ♪
I really like you, Mia.
♪ ♪
- I really like you too.
♪ ♪
[music rises]
♪ ♪
[cars honking]
- Hey, what's up? - Hey.
Um, I missed a call. - What call?
- The doctors called to tell me the results of the blood test.
- Oh, they leave a message? - They did,
but they didn't say, "Everything's fine."
They--they said to call back.
- Oh, okay.
Um...
Well, I'm-- I'm sure everything's perfect.
I mean, nothing came back in our family history.
So just-- just call 'em back.
- I know.
I'm a little scared.
- Okay, well, do you want me to come over
and we can call them back together?
- I mean, is that totally ridiculous?
I'm so sorry to make you do that.
- I'm just-- - No, no.
I'm on my way.
[elevator bell dings]
[doorbell rings]
- [breathes shakily]
- Becca, what's up?
- [sobs]
- Hey.
Okay, okay.
All right.
- [sniffles]
I'm really sorry I didn't wait for you.
I just had a bad feeling. So...
I couldn't take it. - It's okay.
It's okay. What did they say?
- Uh...
they doctor said the results show
Trisomy 13, 18, um...
Just a bunch of stuff.
- Okay, well, didn't-- didn't the doctor say
that the test isn't diagnostic?
Isn't there another test that you can take?
- No, this one was 99% accurate.
- What do we do?
- If I don't have a D&C, I'll probably miscarry.
[soft, emotional music]
♪ ♪
- Okay, I'm coming with you.
- That's so sweet.
But you know, I think, um...
I think I really just want to do this on my own.
Is that okay?
I'm really sorry, Marcus.
- No, what? No.
♪ ♪
[knocks on door]
- Hey.
- I--I picked you up some good knishes
from Yonah Schimmel because those park knishes
were so nasty.
[both laugh]
- Uh, thank you. - Mm-hmm.
- Okay.
Uh, come on in.
This is so much better.
- [laughs]
I know. - Oh, God.
- [laughs]
How are you feeling?
Um...
Okay.
Um...
This is gonna sound a little fucked up,
but...
maybe kind of...
Relieved.
[Jay Robinson's "You Are Mine"]
♪ ♪
So what do we do now?
- ♪ You are more ♪
♪ ♪
♪ Than the kind of love I pray ♪
♪ Pray for ♪
♪ ♪
♪ You're the kind of love ♪
♪ That will endure ♪
♪ ♪
♪ Yeah, honey ♪
♪ You're mine ♪
♪ Mine ♪
♪ Mine, mine, mine, mine ♪
♪ Even still ♪
♪ Uh-huh ♪
♪ You made me, darling ♪
♪ Lose my will ♪
♪ ♪
♪ I do things ♪
♪ I never thought I'd do ♪
♪ And it's all ♪
♪ All because of you ♪