Fleishman Is in Trouble (2022–…): Season 1, Episode 8 - The Liver - full transcript

Toby Fleishman awoke
in the middle of the night

to the sound of
knocking at the door.

Bubbles, keep it down.

Hey, who is it?

It's me. Open the door.

What's going on?
What time is it?

I have to talk to you. What?

Did you, like, not
go home or something?

No, I have to talk to
you. Your phone was off.

Sorry, keep it down.
The kids are sleeping.

I saw her. Who? I
don't understand.



I saw Rachel. You...

Yeah.

What?

You did? Jesus.

After I... After I left here,

I went downtown, just to...

I don't know, to, like,
walk around, and I saw her.

Just... Just, like, sitting
there on a park bench.

Hm. I'm surprised, honestly...

And so I told him what happened.

I told him about Rachel, where
she was, where she'd been.

It was like seeing a ghost.

I'd left her that
evening with her sleeping

and a doctor's appointment
scheduled for the next morning.



Hm.

So that's it?

That's it?

Yeah.

I have work in a few hours, Lib.

Sorry, did you hear
what I just said?

Mm-hmm.

That I saw Rachel and she
was in the park and...

No, I heard you, yeah. But
we all knew she was around.

I mean, she was
napping in the park.

She was fucking her
best friend's husband.

She was bound to turn
up. It's a small town.

No, Toby, she had a
nervous breakdown.

I know. It sounds stressful.

Okay, alright.

I gotta get the kids
to camp in the morning.

I also have a new
boss and a patient

that's going off life
support today, so...

I'm sorry, what is... what
is happening right now? Huh?

She had a nervous breakdown.

That's where she's been.

She didn't abandon her kids.

Yeah, of course she
did. Where is she?

I mean, she's not here.
I don't see her, do you?

Sure, but she had a
nervous breakdown.

Yeah, I know! I heard you!

She had a nervous breakdown.
You don't have to say it again.

She needs help, Toby.

She can hire help.

She... Wh... Who are you?

Seriously, who am I
talking to right now?

Th-This is the mother
of your children.

Yes, exactly, but she is
not my wife anymore, okay?

She has, like, no
relation to me.

I don't have to care about her.
She's, like, not my problem.

She's not your problem? No.

Oh, my God.

Remember, it's
divorce that means

never having to
say you're sorry.

That was funny. Yeah.

What? You know what?

I've been through her
breakdowns, Libby.

Do not worry about her, okay?

She'll make it work for her.

She'll... She'll come back
monetizing the whole thing.

She'll run a bank by the
time she's done with this.

I don't think that you
understand, okay? Yeah.

She's lost time.

Like, full weeks.

She's lost everything.
She didn't lose anything.

She lost, like, a client,

and she spent a few
extra days at a spa

when her best friend's husband
decided to stop fucking her.

You know what? You're right.
Sorry. I'll make her a lasagna.

Toby, Jesus!

Hey, you were supposed
to be on my side, okay?

You were supposed to be my
friend. I am your friend!

Yeah? Well, you're waking me
up in the middle of the night

to tell me this now that
I finally found a way

to move on with, like,
my sad, broken children.

Because she had a
nervous breakdown!

Hey! Yeah, I said
stop saying that!

Okay, fine, I won't
use that word, okay?

What do you want me to say?
She can't handle her life.

She's... She's...
She's collapsed.

She can't take care
of her own children

because she needs to put her own
fucking oxygen mask on first.

Actually, actually that
thing about oxygen masks

is about airplanes, alright?

It's really about
adult tolerance

for oxygen deprivation.
It's not, like, a metaphor.

It's not supposed to
be, like, a lifestyle.

I'm so s... I'm just,
like, shocked right now.

I am not gonna be the
prisoner of my mistakes.

This is what our ancestors
died for, the right

for us to be middle-aged
and bored and miserable.

Yeah, and shocked. Okay.

I'm going back to bed.

Go home, Libby.

I could tell you what
happened to Toby then.

I could tell you that
the next morning,

when he arrived
back at the hospital

to meet with the committees

over Karen Cooper's
brain activity

and to help David Cooper
move toward a decision,

he was full of remorse for
his anger at the poor guy.

What had happened to Toby
to make him so cold-hearted

that he would lash out at a man

who had just effectively
lost his wife?

All he could think was that
he was never like that before.

But also, he had to leave room
for the fact that maybe he was.

Maybe, like the Wilson's itself,

everything we are is dormant
and inside us all along.

What I could tell you is that

Toby was always
reactive and angry

and ready to blame everyone
else for his problems.

And he was also
someone who held even

the unpreventable
failures in his heart,

and who did not ever let a basic

and consistent fact of his job,

which was death,
become regular to him.

I could tell you that
in his darkest recesses,

Toby had some relief that
he got to keep his job

the way that it was,

that he fundamentally
didn't understand

why you would have to
stop doing what you loved

in order to get ahead

when it felt like it was
ahead to do what you loved.

Hi, how are we all doing today?

Alright, Dr. Fleishman.

I could tell you that
Toby was focusing

on making good on his
promises to his children.

And so... Mm-hmm.

The way the world
looks is different

depending on how you
look at it. Mm-hmm.

The electron cloud is uncertain,

but the nucleus is
always fixed. Right.

Which means it's always
in the same place.

It's the things around
it that move around.

Now, sir, please look
into the stereoscope.

Okay.

There are two realities.

There's the cloud of electrons
surrounding the nucleus,

which is the solution of
the Schroedinger equation.

That's the box they're in.

There's the physical locations
of each individual electron,

which can only be
determined by measuring them

directly by opening the box,

and both things are true.

And that is what I want to
say about superposition.

That is so good.

That is so good.

Do you think I'll win?

I can't imagine anyone has
anything better thought out

or a smarter,
harder-working son.

That is excellent work.

Oof, Jesus.

I could tell you that he
never got the blinds fixed,

and despite three separate
calls to the super,

the air conditioner
was still broken.

Dad, we're gonna be late!

What? For what? Oh,
crap. Solly, here.

Solly, come on. We have to go.

Come on. Come on. Okay.

Sorry I'm late.

Class went over a few minutes.

No, of course. Of
course. Thank you.

Hannah, how are you
doing with your haftarah?

Cantor Timberman says you're
doing very nicely on it.

Oh, yeah, she's been
studying every day.

Really? Mm-hmm.

You don't hear that a lot.

So what we can do is just
go over some logistics.

I know that you're going to want
to bestow honors on your family,

opening the ark, aliyah
to the Torah, etcetera.

I know you're
planning on speaking?

Mm-hmm.

And Rachel, too, I presume?

That is still a question.

Okay.

Hannah, do you understand
that you are engaging

in a tradition that goes
back thousands of years?

You are accepting the
yoke of responsibility

for your family
and your community

and all the commandments
of the Torah,

and you're taking
it upon yourself

that it is your turn to
try and fix this world.

The world is upside
down right now,

and we need all the smart,
thinking girls to help fix it.

Right, okay.

And you're gonna
carry this torch

for all of the Fleishmans

and all of the Jewish people.

Mm-hmm.

Right.

Well, then, I think we're set.

I think I'm not gonna do this.

Hm? Hannah?

I don't think I should do this.

Hannah?

Let's... Let's
just take a minute.

Yeah, yeah. I'm just not
doing it, the bat mitzvah.

Can we go? Hannah, stop.

She did the study... She
did all the studying.

I'm sorry. I don't know
what this is. Hannah?

I'm gonna go.

Thank you, Rabbi, and I'm
sorry it didn't work out.

Uh... I am so... This...

This came as a complete
surprise to me.

I know your family has
been going through a lot.

I... Yeah, let me
go speak with her.

Is that... Okay.
Yeah, that's fine.

I'm so sorry. Solly,
can we go now?

Hannah, hey.

W-What's going on?

I wanted to see what it
would be like up here.

You'll have another
chance in November.

Dad, I'm not doing
it. For real.

Is this about what
happened at camp?

Because I can promise
you that by the time

November rolls around, like,
no one will remember it.

It's not.

Is it about your mother?

It's not that.

Listen, I know it's been
hard with her gone, but...

But we're still Jews,
and this is what we do.

But why? Why do we do it?

I... I don't even know
if I believe in God.

Yeah, well, that's actually
not what this is about.

This is about becoming an
adult in your community.

This is about taking on
my traditions as yours.

You can pass them
along to your family.

I... I guess I just don't
understand why I would do it.

We do it because
that's what we do.

We're the Fleishmans
and we're Jews.

It doesn't seem smart to me.

What has it given us?

How... How has it
even helped the world?

We're a mess, Dad.

The Fleishmans are a mess.

You... You're being
too literal, I think.

No, no, I'm not. No?

You always tell me
to think for myself

and not to be corrupted
by other people around me,

but I want my own traditions.

I want my own life,

and I want to make
my own decisions.

I don't want to have
to fix anything.

I haven't even broken anything.

I'm only 11.

I could tell you that Toby
looked at his daughter

just then, his wise,
beautiful daughter

who had been put through
too much recently,

and realized that she was right.

You know, another great
tradition is forging

your own path and being
better than your parents.

Here, come here.

Come here, my sweet girl.

There, stand here.

And if a bat mitzvah is
also a coming of age,

then he had to agree that Hannah

did not need a
ceremony to do that.

She'd grown up right
in front of him,

slowly and then all at once.

Eilecha vichuneka.

Yisa Adonai panav eilecha

v'yasem lecha shalom.

May God make you like Sarah,
Rebecca, Rachel, and Leah.

May God bless you
and protect you.

May God show you favor
and be gracious to you.

May God...

May God show you kindness...

Hey... and grant you peace.

I could tell you that after
weeks of starts and stops,

that was the moment that
the Fleishmans understood

that a divorce was an
earthquake for two people

who used to be in love,

but it was a chronic
condition for the children

who had to somehow survive it.

♪ Kmo sirat ets ♪

♪ Merupetet ♪

♪ Sheyotseret gal veretet ♪

♪ Kmo shemila achat ♪

♪ Lev ee potachat ♪

♪ Yesh li sach akol gafrur ♪

♪ Az avhir takalachat ♪

♪ Vehamilim shenivlehu ♪

♪ Vebemochi hen itpakhu ♪

♪ Etsak otan chazak hayom ♪

♪ Hatishmehu otan pitom? ♪

♪ Ze shir hafite sheli ♪

♪ Achshav echye kuli ♪

♪ Emtsa ma tov li ♪

♪ Lo evater li ♪

♪ Meachshav e'afsher li ♪

I could tell you that
the Fleishmans found themselves

again at the Vantablack exhibit,

which was in its last days.

They decided to
go in and see it,

to really, finally
face the void together.

Ready?

♪ Li kulam hem doagim ♪

♪ Ma itcha ♪

♪ Ve'epatach ♪

♪ Ze shir hafite sheli ♪

♪ Achshav echye kuli ♪

♪ Emtsa ma tov li ♪

♪ Ki yesh bi adayin
amon fite betochi ♪

But I could not tell
you what Toby did next.

I had my own shit going on.

What had happened to me

was that at the
beginning of the summer,

before Toby called me,

I was heading into
my second year

of being a stay-at-home mom

and my 13th year of marriage

and my 5th year in a suburb
and my 41st year of life,

but none of that changed
who I essentially was,

which was a magazine
writer with no assignment.

That didn't stop me
from pontificating

all over the suburbs.

You know what I think?

I think that the men
of this generation,

they're all, like,
really good feminists,

but they haven't
actually thought

about what it means to be equal,

so they're so
fragile all the time.

We have to spend all of
our time on reassuring

and fellating every
insecurity out of them.

Do you ever think that

those "The future
is female" shirts,

they're like, "Free
beer tomorrow"?

You know, 'cause the future
is always in the future.

I mean, like, do
you really think

that they would let us wear
those shirts if it were true?

I think it's just a shirt, Lib.

Yeah.

I gotta go make dinner.

Yeah, me too.

Am I riding with you? Okay.

And then into that morass,
I bumped into Michelle.

Libby, hi!

Michelle, oh, my
God. Look at you.

You look amazing.

Yeah, well, I'm
getting a divorce.

What? Yeah.

Oh, my God, that's crazy.

Wh-What happened?

It's a long story,
but it's good.

I'm actually seeing someone...
My boyfriend from college.

What?

We reconnected on Facebook.

I know, what a cliché, right?

I'm gonna move to the city,
Jonathan will stay here,

and we'll take turns
staying with the kids.

I'm just so... I'm so surprised.

You guys... You always
seemed so happy.

We were just very good
friends, you know?

Yeah.

Yeah.

God, okay. I'm sorry.

I-I want to understand,
like, all of this.

Please start from the beginning.

So we had just come back
from this amazing vacation...

It was the third divorce
I'd heard about in a month.

I started thinking about
divorce all the time.

Not "divorce," but clean
slates and new starts.

I feel like I'm me again.

We're gonna get a place on
the Upper West Side, near ...

"Me again."

I'd somehow fallen for
it, some dream of safety

that I hadn't understood would
never reconcile with who I was,

which was a free and
independent person.

I'd taken all my
freedom and independence

and pushed them across
the poker table and said,

"Here, take my
jackpot. Take it all.

I don't need it anymore.
I won't miss it ever."

God, how hot I used
to be for life.

Larry Feldman was the
first guy I ever kissed.

He was the first guy I
ever... a lot of things.

Oh, my God.

Libby Slater? Wow.

How much I used to feel,

how much I didn't feel anymore.

Larry Feldman!

What is going on with you?

I just remembered
you and realized

that I didn't know
what became of you.

You know, I remember
you very often.

Oh, yeah? That's funny.

I just saw that you're friends
with everyone from school,

and I don't know how I
missed being a part of that.

I remember when you and
I were in that basement

at Melissa Cooperman's
bat mitzvah after party,

and I think about when
you let me put my...

Ugh, God. Gross.

And into that extra
morass, I heard from a friend

I hadn't spoken to
in a dozen years.

Toby Fleishman?

Elizabeth Slater.

Epstein.

It's Epstein now,
yeah, but yes, hello.

It was so nice to
be back with people

that I never had to
explain who I was to.

I'd been trying to return

to the most authentic
version of myself,

but it wasn't that dipshit
horndog Larry Feldman

who knew me when I was
most myself, it was Toby.

I began to feel less unmoored,

but I was living this life

that wasn't mine anymore,

and then I was living a life
that hadn't ever been mine.

Toby Fleishman, hot damn.

I did finally go home that night

after I went to Toby's house
to tell him about Rachel...

after I hadn't been in contact

with my own family for days.

Hi.

I'm sorry.

Mom, you're making breakfast?

Hi.

I have been helping a
friend with something,

but I'm back.

I made pancakes. I want
to hear everything.

I don't eat breakfast anymore.

What does that mean?

Well, that's why
we get you lessons, bud.

I'm never going
to pass. I'm not going.

What's going on?

I'm not taking
the swimming test.

Miles, you can't
learn this stuff

unless you learn this stuff.

What's the problem? You have
to take the swimming test.

I got this. I'm not going.

I'm not taking any more lessons.

Okay, Miles, I know
you don't want...

I got this. Well, it kind
of seems like you don't.

We're gonna be late.

I made breakfast for everybody.

We get breakfast on the way now.

I already called in an
order at the bagel place.

I got court today.
Come on, we're late.

We're late, let's go.

Bye.

It went on like
that for a while.

Me, doing penance.

Me, staring out
into the Vantablack,

wondering how this
would get resolved.

I wasn't speaking
to Toby anymore.

Seth wasn't speaking
to either of us,

and I was trying to wedge
myself back into my life

before anyone noticed
I'd been gone.

Republican
national security officials

have published a letter...

Sasha, what are you doing?

Hi, Mom.

Is this a party?

No, it's a barbecue.

Dad's in the back.

Dad's in the back?

Yeah.

I need 10 kids,
but so far, I have 3.

Wait!

Maybe Libby will do it.

Wow, look who came
out of the woodwork.

Libby? Hey.

Hi. I thought you
couldn't make it.

Adam said you couldn't make it.

Oh, uh, I-I-I think we just
got our signals crossed.

Hey. Thank you.

I was thinking of doing
that one-week drama camp

for the girls before school.

Do you think Sasha
would want to?

I don't actually know if
she's still into doing drama.

I have to ask her.
I'll ask Adam.

I went down a total rabbit
hole reading about it.

Vantablack? Vantablack.

Uh, sorry.

Can you just... Can
I... I'll be right back.

One second. laboratory
for the military.

It's so dark that it's
dangerous, you know?

People, they see it
and they freak out.

They freak out
and run screaming?

Yes. I tell you, it's...

They... They... They
have to leave... Adam.

'cause they, like,
lose their footing.

Oh, hey, Libby. Hi.

Hi.

Um, did we talk about this?

About this barbecue? Yeah.

I don't know. It was
in the family calendar.

Sure, but I mean, this
morning when we were talking,

did we talk about this?

I don't know, Libby. I
can't keep track of you.

Okay, I've been home.

That's not... fair.

Adam, you coming over
later for the game?

You know it.

Ah, better bring that queso.

Ha ha.

What game?

We're, like, people
who watch the game now?

Uh...

You eat queso?

He makes the best
queso I've ever had.

You made queso?

Yeah.

I made queso.

Excuse me.

Can I talk to you
for a second please?

Yeah, now's, uh...
Now's not good.

Oh, now's not good? Wow, okay.

We're at a fucking barbecue.

Oh, my God, can you
please just stop being

so fucking passive
about everything?

Please, please, please.

I just want to have, like,
a regular conversation.

You are incapable of that.

Just a regular
conversation, please.

Hi.

Okay, I know I'm terrible.

Okay?

I'm sorry.

So just please talk to me.

About what? There's
nothing to talk about.

You do whatever you want,

and I could not be

a more thoughtful,
considerate husband to you.

You are merciless lately...

Miserable all the
time, sarcastic.

What do you think
it means to me,

to the kids that you
walk around so unhappy?

I have no idea what's
happened to you lately.

Oh, God.

I didn't want to get into this.

Okay, look.

You're right.

I have been terrible.

You are wonderful.

I don't know what's
wrong with me.

I keep trying to figure it out.

I feel like I'm...

Like I'm not alive anymore.

Well, you know what?

I'm happy, okay?

We have friends. We have...

Okay, these are not
our friends, though.

Like, they're not.

I can't talk to any
of these people.

They treat me like
I'm a fucking oddity.

They just talk about their kids
and their houses all the time.

We have two wonderful children.

We have income and
safety and health

and the enormous
privileges of our class.

We are the kinds of people
who are invited to barbecues,

and if you gave these
people a chance,

you would find they are filled

with the same kind of
ambivalence that you have.

No, they're not. I
promise you they're not.

No, no. They are, okay?

They are all trying to
figure it out just like you.

Just like me, if
you wanted to know.

Oh, my God. That's not true!

It's not true, though,
Adam. They love it here.

All they talk about is how
wonderful it is all the time.

It's like we've died and these
houses are our headstones.

We chose this,
Libby! You chose it!

Marriage, children,

every single bit
of it, we chose it.

I know. I know. I know.

I don't know, though,
because honestly,

I feel like a few years
ago, I was a person, right?

And then I looked
up and I just...

I have no idea when everything
started to feel so the same.

Don't... don't talk to
me about your burdens.

The kids are always with
the babysitter lately,

and you barely even
look at me anymore.

I know. I know. Okay, okay.

I am trying to figure it
out, though. I really am.

You... You could
bother looking at me

while you try to
figure it out, right?

I... I could be a part
of your figuring it out.

Why is this about
you all of a sudden?

It's so not about you, Adam.

Are you sleeping
with Toby? Am I what?

You slept over at
his fucking house!

Oh, my God. Of course I'm
not sleeping with Toby!

Are you crazy?! That's
all you have to say?

No, I don't even know
why I did that, okay?

You expect me to know everything
and have all of these answers.

I don't have the answers.
I don't have them.

No, I expect you to,
like, come home at night.

Is that so crazy?

I have to go.

Sorry, you have to go? Yes.

I was asked to peel the
corn at this barbecue,

which you knew about and which
was in the family calendar,

and when I say I'm
gonna be somewhere

and do something, I do it.

♪ If I leave here
tomorrow [ sighs ]

Would you still remember me?

♪ 'Cause I must be
traveling on now ♪

♪ There's too many
places I've got to see ♪

You can't do
that in Brooklyn.

Did you get
a French drain?

No, actually,
we just pushed the soil

so there's no flooding.

Well, your house is
on top of that hill.

That makes sense.

♪ Things just
wouldn't be the same ♪

♪ 'Cause I'm as free

♪ As a bird now

♪ And this bird

♪ You cannot cha-a-a-a-nge

Get in the
shower and then bed.

Hurry up. Go.

You just staying in bed today?

My alarm.

I forgot to set it.

I just had the craziest dream.

I guess I'm taking
the kids to camp.

Kids?

Kids, come on.
We're gonna be late.

Let's go. Okay.

Come on, let's go!

Miles, hurry up.

Glenn? Hi.

Hey. I thought
you'd want to know...

Archer died.

Wait, what?

No, that's... that's so crazy.

I just... I like, literally
just had a dream about him.

What happened?

In my dream, I'd been
asking Archer for advice.

I can't remember on what,

but he kept asking if
we'd ever slept together.

Like in life, I kept
reminding him who I was

and how much I admired him,

and his response to that was,

"What does that
have to do with me?"

♪ I get up in the evening

♪ And I ain't got
nothing to say ♪

♪ Come home in the morning

♪ Go to bed feeling
the same way ♪

♪ I am nothing but tired

♪ Just tired and
bored with myself ♪

♪ Hey, man

♪ I could use just
a little help ♪

Hey, can we pretend
we talked all this through

and just move on?

I'm having a party on Saturday.

It's really important
to me that you come.

Dress nicely, please.

The three of us are
having a slumber party,

but we're gonna tell Sophie

that she has to start
using deodorant.

Oh. The situation

has gotten out of control.

Puberty, man.

I'm gonna call Susannah,
see if she can watch them

on Saturday night.

Why? I'll be home.

No, uh, Seth.

He's asked us to a party.

He's having a party.

I can't not go.

He specifically said

that it was important
to him that...

That I be there, so...

Um...

I hope you have a good time.

♪ This is how it works

♪ It feels a little worse

♪ Than when we
drove our hearse ♪

♪ Right through that
screaming crowd ♪

♪ While laughing up a storm

♪ Until we were just bone

♪ Until it got so warm

♪ That none of us could sleep

♪ And all the Styrofoam

♪ Began to melt away

♪ We tried to find some worms

♪ To aid in the decay

♪ But none of them were home

♪ Inside their catacomb

♪ A million ancient bees

♪ Began to sting our knees

♪ While we were on our knees

♪ Praying that disease

♪ Would leave the ones we love

♪ And never come again

Hi. What can I get you?

Um, a Negroni, please.

You've got it.

You know what's
going on here, right?

Oh, goddammit. Yeah.

I never thought I
would see this day.

I know. What a fucking idiot.

What a stupid dipshit.

♪ This is how it works

Oh, God.

Can I have
everyone's attention?

Just for a moment. Thanks.

Thank you. Thank you
for coming. Thank you.

Uh, I just wanted to say that
I've had a lot of parties

throughout the years, and I
used to have theme parties

that I would call
"learning parties."

And we would dress up
as historical figures

or, um, have somebody come
and give a math lecture.

Really, they were just
excuses to get drunk,

but I was always trying to
make sense of the world,

understand it, and
make peace with it.

And I thought if I
could just do that,

then I could start
to live my life.

Uh, today I'm here to tell you,

I give up.

I will never understand it.

And so I should do

what every part of my
body is telling me to do,

and that is to ask the
prettiest girl in this room

if she would marry me.

It's all a lot simpler than
I ever thought it would be.

I... I just want to
wake up every day

and see her face.

What do you say, Vanessa
Lipschitz-Finkelstein?

Can I make you

Vanessa Lipschitz-
Finkelstein-Morris?

Yes. Yeah?

I told her we were here
for my mother's birthday.

Are you crying?

I just... How can... Ugh.

How could he possibly think
that this is a good idea

after spending the entire
summer listening to us?

I know. I know.

I guess in Seth's story,
we're just the co-stars

who help him make
this big decision.

I'm sorry, Libby.

I am too.

I really th...

You know what? It
doesn't even matter.

I'm... I'm sorry, too.

Well, that's it.

Our boy is finally a man.

What can I say?

Life is a process in
which you collect people

and prune them when they
stop working for you.

The only exceptions are the
friends you make in college.

Hi. Hey.

Hey, congratulations.

I'm really happy for you.

So glad you came.

I'm sorry that we fought, Seth.

I take you very seriously.

You are a real person.

Yes, you are
extremely real.

I feel like I could touch you.

I bet you have a
Social Security Number.

Don't actually... Don't
actually... Don't actually...

Do you think I'm an
idiot for doing this?

No. No.

I think maybe marriage
is like that quote

about democracy, you know?

"It's the worst form of
government in the world

except for all
the other forms."

You know?

Nice. Listen, we love you.

We're here for you.

It's gonna be great. Mm-hmm.

Well, that's a rare nice
thing you just said to me.

Yeah,
no, I'm happy for you.

We're both very happy for you.

Yes.

May your... Okay.

May your most...
Most virile sperm...

Mm-hmm.

Make the odyssey through
her fallopian tubes

and conquer her ovaries,
bringing you sons.

Oh, sons. Sons!

I like conquering the ovaries.

Did you even take freshman bio?

Wait, is that not how it...
Is that not how it works?

No.

May your sons marry the
daughters of finance bros,

and, uh, with
ever-greater dowries

and stock options
in Tesla and Apple.

You know, everything the
beggar woman said came true.

She said you were never gonna be
happy with what you were given,

you were gonna always
want something different.

She said you were
gonna heal the world.

But that was only when
I had money to give her.

We're all good, right?

I feel like something's ending.

I can't take an
ending right now.

No, it's not. It's
not. We're good.

- Yeah, we're good.
- Seth!

Gotta go.

My fiancée's calling.

Ohh. Ooh.

Hi.

♪ Now the final frame

I heard Archer Sylvan died.

Yeah. Yeah.

He died as he lived,

practicing auto-erotic
asphyxiation

in a hotel in Thailand.

Oh, boy. Surrounded
by prostitutes.

Really? Yeah.

Yeah, oh, it was very,
very weird, though.

I had this dream about him,

and then my editor called me

and he told me that he died.

That's crazy. Yeah.

Took 'em, like, a
week to find the body.

Oh, that's terrible.
What, the smell...

No, no, no. He was on a story,

and he was late... or
later than usual, so... Oh.

The magazine's paying for
the funeral and everything,

'cause he didn't have anybody.

Oh, no, that's so sad. Yeah.

We're lucky we have people.

You're lucky.

You know that, right?

I think so, yeah. Okay.

I just... I'm just lost.

I don't know. I'm, like...

I don't know what I'm
doing with my life.

What do you mean, what
you're doing with your life?

It's done. You are...
You're loved, Elizabeth.

Please, please tell me you
understand how special that is.

I guess I just don't...

I guess that's just
not enough for me.

Oh, God. Okay. I know.

Honestly, it might not be
enough for you either, so...

No, no, no. It would be.
It definitely would be.

I know you fantasize
that it would be

because you have had such
a struggle all these years,

but you really have no
idea how you would feel

if you got the thing
that you wanted.

You don't.

Contentment breeds quiet,

which breed complacency,

which breeds unrest.

You should go back to work.

Yeah, I think I might.

I think I might write a book.

A book? Mm-hmm.

That's good. About what?

It's about life and, um,

marriage and money

and dissatisfaction
and lifelong friendship

and, like, how all
these things coalesce

in middle age, right,
and make you...

Make you miserable
right at the exact point

that you're supposed
to have everything set.

Okay. Yeah.

Yeah, it'll be about everything.

Everything? Everything.

Mm. That's heavy.

Maybe.

Or maybe what's the point
of writing about anything

if it's not gonna
be about everything?

Yeah. That's what Archer did.

That's good. No, you should...

You should go be like Archer.

Yeah.

Maybe I'll be better
than Archer, you know?

I'll tell a really good story,

but I'll tell all the
other sides of it, too,

not just the ones that I like.

Alright, so what... What
happens in the book?

Well, um, a newly divorced man

wakes up one morning

to find that his ex has
dropped off the kids

and does not appear
to be coming back.

Okay.

And so then he's left to
figure out where she is

and why life seems to have
gone so wrong for him.

I hate this story. Yeah.

No, but sorry. How are you
gonna write it, though?

I mean, it has...
It has no ending.

Yeah, I don't know.
There's no ending yet.

Maybe this... This
is the ending.

Oh, this, okay.
Well, imagine that.

No, don't end it here.
This is not a good ending.

Engagements are
not good endings.

Weddings, weddings are worse,
but engagements are not.

Okay, then maybe...
Maybe it ends

with her returning.

You know, like, the whole thing

was just this terrible blip.

So she just comes back?

Maybe.

Why? Why does she come back?

She comes back because she
was always gonna come back.

I mean, for a while,
she wasn't sure,

because being sure would
have made the whole thing

feel, you know, less dangerous.

It is possible that,
like, a person needs

a little bit of danger

in order to feel like
she knows what matters.

That doesn't sound like Rachel.

She's aware she
behaved terribly,

but it's like she's...

It's like she was outside
her body, you know?

Like, watching herself
the whole time.

And... And the problem wasn't
even her marriage, you know?

It was just like, her
marriage was a witness

to all of her other
failures, like a comorbidity

to how she was just getting old.

Hmm.

And so then, in the end,
when she comes home...

she realizes she
really, really needs

to figure out her life.

Because, yeah, her
marriage is not perfect,

but, like...

It's not like not being married

is ever gonna make
her young again.

Nothing could make
her unmake the choices

that she made.

She just didn't know when
she was making the choices

that they were gonna limit
all the other choices

that she could
make in the future.

It's not even her
decisions, like...

It's just, how can you live

when you used to have
unlimited choices

and you don't have them anymore?

Sorry.

No, no, no, no.
Please, continue.

So, sorry, what happens?
So she comes back?

She comes back

and it turns out it
was just a mistake?

Like, it was just like
a misunderstanding

or something? Yeah,
maybe she just, like...

She just... she just appears.

She just appears.

Okay, and then what?

It's raining. It's raining.

It's a rain that breaks
this terrible heat wave.

And you're at home in your
apartment and you're ...

You're thinking about
your life and you're...

You're thinking about
moving on, right?

But then you hear
the key in the lock.

Okay.

And the creak of the hinge.

That's nice.

And then you turn around
and suddenly she's just...

there in the doorway.

And then?

And then the book ends.

Yeah, but I mean, like,
what happens after that?

I don't know.

I really don't think I have
the imagination for that.

It's okay.

I love you so much.

You know that, right?

I haven't been a good
friend to you lately.

It's okay.

You've been going through a lot.

But I want you to
know...

you are still you.

I can see it all.

I can see your darkness.

I can see your goodness.

It is still there,
like the day we met.

Okay?

It's okay.

Thank you.

May God grant them happiness.

May God grant them happiness.

♪ I'll be there

♪ By your side

You want to walk
back uptown together?

Sure.

Alright, I'm just gonna
run to the bathroom.

Okay, I'll be outside.

[ horns

Hi.

Uh, can you take
me to New Jersey?

- I'll pay double the
meter. - Sure.

Hey, sorry, I found a
cab so I'm gonna head home.

We fall in love and
we decide to marry

in this one incredible moment.

What if everything
that happens after that

is about trying to
remember that moment?

Yeah. What?

It's true.

Were you listening?

Maybe that's what all
these divorces were about.

We watch ourselves
and our spouses change

and the work is to
constantly recall

the reasons why you did
this in the first place.

You mistake the person closest
to you for your misery.

You think, "Maybe if I excised
this thing, I'd be me again."

But you're not you anymore.

You haven't been
you in a long time.

It's not his fault.

It was always going to happen.

And what were you gonna
do with the fact that time

was going to march on anyway?

What were you gonna
do with the fact

that you couldn't
win this fight?

That was the problem.

You were not ever going
to be young again.

Come here.

You were only at risk
for not remembering

that this was as
good as it would get

in every single moment,

that you are right now as
young as you'll ever be again.

I can't tell anymore.

I got him, I got him.

And now. Yech.

And now.

And now.

And now.

Pay attention.

And now.

And now.

And now. You know what I mean.

And now.

And now.

And now.

And now.

And now.

And now.

And now.

And now.

And now.

And now and now and
now and now and now.

And now.

Oh, my God.

Ahh. Whoo.

I'm so cold!

And now.

You're home.

I ran home.

Because I love you so much, I
think I'm gonna die from it.

I'm sorry I'm late.

It's okay.

You always come back.

Toby Fleishman headed
home that night and waited

for the panic to
rise in him again...

the same panic that
washed him in sweat

every time he
contemplated the future.

But it didn't.

He was healing.

Hi.

Hi, how were they?
They were fine.

Yeah? Solly won Monopoly.

Oh, no.

Thank you so much,
Faith. Thank you.

Yeah, great. It's
really pouring.

You have an umbrella or
something? I got one.

Okay, great. Thanks,
have a good night.

Yeah, you too.

How could you be so
desperately unhappy

when you were so
essentially happy?

How could you know so much

and still be this
baffled by it all?

The heat wave in Manhattan
was finally broken.

Toby would survive this.

In a hundred different
ways, he already had.

He would start looking for
a new apartment tomorrow,

one where everything worked.

He looked out the window
and saw his reflection,

but then he also
saw beyond himself.

He saw the people in
the windows in the city,

all living their own,
separate, distinct lives.

God, he thought, you could
die of the loneliness,

but you could die of hope, too,

the way it blinded you a little,

the way it led you to try
again, despite what you knew.

Time would move forward,
but tonight, briefly,

he had logged some optimism
into his block universe.

It would stay there forever.

♪ Turn around

♪ Every now and then I
get a little bit lonely ♪

♪ You're never coming 'round

♪ Turn around

♪ Every now and then I
get a little bit tired ♪

♪ Of listening to the
sound of my tears ♪

♪ Every now and then I
get a little bit nervous ♪

♪ The best of all the
years have gone by ♪

♪ Every now and then I get
a little bit terrified ♪

♪ Then I see the
look in your eyes ♪

♪ Bright eyes

♪ Every now and
then I fall apart ♪

♪ Bright eyes

♪ Every now and
then I fall apart ♪

♪ And I need you now tonight

♪ And I need you
more than ever ♪

♪ And if you only
hold me tight ♪

♪ We'll be holding
on forever ♪

♪ And we'll only be
making it right ♪

♪ 'Cause we'll never be wrong

♪ Together we can take it
to the end of the line ♪

♪ Your love is like a shadow
on me all of the time ♪

♪ I don't know what to do
and I'm always in the dark ♪

♪ We're living in a powder keg

♪ And giving off sparks

♪ I really need you tonight

♪ Forever's gonna
start tonight ♪

♪ Forever's gonna
start tonight ♪

♪ Forever's gonna
start tonight ♪

♪ Forever's gonna
start tonight ♪

♪ Once upon a time I
was falling in love ♪

♪ Now I'm only falling apart

♪ There's nothing I can do

♪ A total eclipse of the heart

♪ Yeah, a total eclipse

♪ Of the heart