TITLE SEQUENCE

NARRATOR: It begins like this. Two billion years ago, an amoeba.

The screen cuts microscopic footage of an amoeba.

NARRATOR: Wait, let's... Let's back up. I've skipped too many connections.

The screen cuts to a black screen. A white explosion then encompasses the screen.

NARRATOR: Out of nothing, in an instant, everything.

The shot goes through the universe, showing a number of celestial bodies.

NARRATOR: An infinite cosmic orgy of matter and energy, rubbing, bumping, and grinding together.

Two suns spin around each other quickly before colliding. One large planet crashes into another, sending out a large shock wave.

NARRATOR: There would be no galaxies, no suns, no planets, no life without collisions of heavenly bodies.

Many rocks orbit a celestial body. Cut back to the amoeba.

NARRATOR: Back to our amoeba. It engulfs a bacteria with unique powers, and... Voilà. Earth's first photosynthesis-enabled organism. Maybe it was chance. Maybe it was inevitable.

Shots of the amoeba change to shots of various plants growing.
NARRATOR: This one changed amoeba becomes the ancestor of every living plant on Earth, which in turn floods the planet with oxygen, paving the way for every other form of life we know, leading to more souls, more connections, and therefore more new worlds branching outward from the first.

The camera zooms in to Earth through the clouds. We see shots of various animal eyes, followed by a shot of a city that zooms out to show the whole planet.

NARRATOR: These forces of nature, when they converge, be they astronomical collisions, biological unions, demonstrate the infinite potential of our connections.

A satellite whizzes past, then a comet. Sperm approach an egg. As they do, the shot turns into a newspaper clipping on a window. We zoom out to see Annie enter a shop.

NARRATOR: This truth also extends to the human heart.

Annie knocks on the window.

ANNIE: Pack of Stuttons.

The clerk clears his throat and grabs a pack of cigarettes. He puts them down on the counter. Annie reaches for them, but he pulls them back.

CLERK: No offense, but how are you gonna pay for these?

ANNIE: I'm gonna use an adBuddy to cover this purchase.

The clerk points to a sign that indicates the store doesn’t accept adBuddys.

CLERK: Those assholes record client conversations. National Database of Desires. The businessmen, ever hear of it? They know you better than you know you.

ANNIE: Okay.
Annie looks incredulous and begins to leave the store.

CLERK: It's not a conspiracy, just a conspiracy theory.

Outside, Annie approaches a newspaper dispenser. She begins to fiddle with it and gets it to give her a number of quarters.

NARRATOR: Hypothesis: All souls are on a quest to connect. Corollary: Our minds have no awareness of this quest.

Annie returns to the store with the quarters.

CLERK: Oh. (He takes the quarters and gives her the cigarettes.) Did you know that most quarters have been swallowed and defecated by a human?

Annie leaves. On the street outside, she walks by a large line of adBuddys and smokes a cigarette.

NARRATOR: Hypothesis: All the worlds that almost were matter just as much as the world we're in. Corollary: These hidden worlds cause us great pain.

Now in a store, Annie buys a drink and sits down. At another table, a man wearing a FriendProxy pin tells a story to a number of people.

MAN: No wallet, no shoes. No idea how I even really got to Poland in the first place. Bro, I'm telling you, this was seriously such a crazy situation. (The other people at the table begin to lose interest in the story and turn to their own conversations.) The... From Poland! I was in... I had no idea I had no idea how I got there.

The man looks down dejectedly and then notices Annie staring. She looks away quickly.

NARRATOR: Camaraderie, communion, family, friendship, love, what have you. We're lost without connection.

Cut to Annie walking on a sidewalk. She passes an advertisement.
AD: … relationships are tough. Thank you, Friend Proxy.

NARRATOR: It's quite terrible to be alone.

Behind Annie, the ad changes to an ad for a book.

AD: … join Dr. Greta as she guides you.

Cut to Annie still walking. She approaches a number of boxes and office supplies lined up on the sidewalk.

NARRATOR: Put simply, my goal is to eradicate all unnecessary and inefficient forms of human pain. Forever. We must evolve past our suffering.

Annie picks up a Rubik’s Cube from the trash, then throws it behind her. As she picks up a coffee mug, a security guard approaches her.

SECURITY GUARD: It's trash, not a handout. Let's move it.

Annie sets the mug down and picks up a copy of Don Quixote.

ANNIE: What are you, a cop?

SECURITY GUARD: Not much of a difference authority-wise. Let's go.

The guard waves her away, though she keeps the book. The camera pans up the building behind them.

NARRATOR: My research into this matter is of course, ongoing.

A title card plays.

CUT TO: INT. CONFERENCE ROOM

The scene opens on a shot of Owen sitting at a conference table. Offscreen, Frank talks to him.

FRANK: The witness has already been sworn in. Mr. Milgrim, can you state for the court your relationship with the defendant, Mr. Jed Milgrim?

OWEN: He's, um. He's my brother.

FRANK: Thank you. Have you ever been arrested?

OWEN: No.

FRANK: Are you married?

OWEN: No.

FRANK: Children?

OWEN: No.

FRANK: And can you tell us about the psychotic break that you experienced roughly ten years ago?

OWEN: Really?

FRANK: I'm just asking.

OWEN: That's how they're gonna start? Dad, come on.

The camera pans to Owen’s father, Porter, also sitting at the table.

PORTER: It doesn't necessarily mean that it'll be like that in the trial, Owen, but, uh, sometimes prosecutors, they... they try atypical inroads to crack you. That's why we we have to prep for the unexpected. Can you resume, please?

The shot cuts to Frank sitting at the table. Another man sits next to him, and a woman stands in the background.

FRANK: Have you ever been hospitalized for mental illness?

The camera cuts to open. Behind him, a door opens, and a man comes in holding papers.

OWEN: Yes, ten years ago.

The man with the papers sets them on the table and stands behind the Frank.

FRANK: Please explain what happened.

OWEN: I was hospitalized and medicated and that was the last episode I had.

As Owen talks, the camera pans under the table, revealing that he is playing with a Rubik’s Cube.

FRANK: Wasn't the nature of this psychosis delusional? That you sometimes thought you saw your brother when he wasn't there?

OWEN: Not exactly.

FRANK: Just say no. Then what was the nature of this psychosis?

Owen doesn’t answer. He looks down at his cup of water, and it begins to wobble and shake.

FRANK: Owen, don't you think that your mental illness should disqualify you from testifying as a witness on your brother's behalf?

PORTER: Look, there's only one question here that really matters. Owen, do you know what is real?

Owen looks back at his glass, which is now still once again.

OWEN: One hundred percent. I'm compos mentis.

Discordant music plays in the background.

CUT TO: EXT. PARK AREA

The camera cuts to a shot of a large statue. It pans down to a tour group, and then further to Owen sitting on a bench, throwing corn kernels to pigeons.

TOUR GUIDE: Welcome to New York. And this is Statue of Extra Liberty. Da. Statue of Extra Liberty.

Offscreen, Grimsson begins talking to Owen.

GRIMSSON: How'd the trial prep go for a naughty brother? Did you tell them about me?

OWEN: You're not supposed to be here.

GRIMSSON: Good. You're still using the code words, even though I am technically invisible. Owen, this week must be a doozy for you, huh? (He walks on screen and sits down next to Owen.) You thought you were rid of me, but I have new information. This time I know. You've been chosen to save the world. You're gonna be a hero.

OWEN: I don't want this. I don't want it. I don't want this.

GRIMSSON: The details of the mission will be delivered to you by an agent, a woman. You'll know her when you see her, trust me. Just make contact with her. The pattern is the pattern. (He stands up and begins to jog away.) She'll reach you for further instructions! Don't fuck this up!

Grimsson disappears. The ground beneath Owen begins to shake. The kernels he had been throwing to the pigeons begin to pop into popcorn.

CUT TO: INT. SUBWAY STATION

Owen approaches a machine in the subway and follows the machines instructions.

MACHINE: Welcome. Please make a selection to begin. You selected single ride. How will you pay? You selected credit. Please swipe now. Declined. Insufficient funds. Would you like to use an adBuddy to add funds? Yes or no?

Cut to Owen and an adBuddy walking onto the train. After they go through the doors, the shot cuts to them sitting mid-trip. The adBuddy begins reading advertisements to Owen and handing him pamphlets.

ADBUDDY: Okay, Mr. Milgrim, I'm gonna need your attention. When tragedy strikes others, it's sometimes hard to know what to do until now Owen. Daddy's Home. Consider becoming a temporary volunteer mail-order husband and changing the lives of a heartbroken family in your region.
Owen looks at the pamphlet for Daddy’s Home. On it, Annie and two children stand next to the outline of a man with ‘YOU ARE HERE’ written in it.

ADBUDDY: Okay, well, up next, we got something called Neberdine Pharmaceuticals. Good afternoon, Owen. Did you know that your rent comprises 87.2 percent of your annual income. Is that actually true?

OWEN: I just moved into my own place.

ADBUDDY: Manhattan these days I'm over in an underground warehouse unit. Hoboken.

OWEN: I actually live in Roosevelt Island.

ADBUDDY: Okay, well. Uh, let's see. Oh-ho-ho. A catastrophic interruption in your professional life, like a furlough, could ruin you. Ever thought about supplementing your income with pharmaceutical testing? FriendProxy. Tired of spending your time and energy making friends?

Owen stares at the pamphlet for Neberdine Pharmaceutical.

CUT TO: INT. OFFICE

Owen sits at his desk, talking on the phone.

OPERATOR: And that is why Daddy's Home is happy to welcome you, Mr. Milgrim.

OWEN: And I'd have to cover relocation costs?

OPERATOR: And inherit any potential debt of the deceased.

OWEN: That doesn't make sense.

OPERATOR: So, that's a yes?

OWEN: To what?

OPERATOR: It makes perfect sense. We are offering you heroism.

Owen looks up at his boss talking to other employees.

BOSS: So this is your office area. Again, it's a question of commitment.

Owen’s boss begins walking over to him.

OWEN: Your ad is misleading, cause you refer to it as a volunteer opportunity, but in the end I'd have to pay.

OPERATOR: But think about what you'd be getting. A wife, lonely, in need.

OWEN: Yeah.

OPERATOR: Owen.

BOSS: It's a done deal.

OWEN: I have to go.

BOSS: Rozo did the anonymous hammerhead from the top down and came back with a 12-bullet short-termer.

OWEN: When?

BOSS: Well, they randomized the pattern. We've sent out 30 memos on it since this morning.

OWEN: Um, so this furlough, how long does it last?

BOSS: It's temporary.

OWEN: Right. So when am I back?

BOSS: Oh, I don't know. I was kidding. It's probably permanent. I was using your kind of humor, when you say something you don't mean and nobody laughs.

OWEN: It's... Yeah, it's okay. I'll just... I'll just dip into my savings.

BOSS: Bye.

Owen’s boss walks away. As he does, Owen’s entire office space begins to shake. Cut to Owen running into a bathroom stall. He violently vomits, and then cleans his face up with toilet paper. He angrily tears the whole box holding the toilet paper off the wall. Behind it appears ‘the pattern is the pattern’ written in sharpie.

THERAPIST: Okay, Owen. Do you know what I want to do?

RECORDING OF OWEN: Yes.

THERAPIST: Are you sure you know what I want to do?

RECORDING OF OWEN: Yes.

Cut to Owen on a train, listening to an adBuddy.

THERAPIST: The way this deprogramming works, it's not an overnight fix. You have to listen to it like a mantra. If you start feeling paranoid, you play this tape right away, okay?

RECORDING OF OWEN: Okay.

Cut to owen leaving a subway station.

THERAPIST: Now, stop me when I say something that's not true. The world sends you messages.

RECORDING OF OWEN: Yes.

A shot of the city pans over to Owen’s approaching his apartment.

THERAPIST: Words are often code words, or passphrases for important secrets.

RECORDING OF OWEN: Yes.

THERAPIST: You're visited by a brother no one else in your family is aware of. A facsimile of your brother Jed.

RECORDING OF OWEN: Yes.

THERAPIST: He sends you messages. Instructions for important missions you must accomplish.

RECORDING OF OWEN: To see the deeper truth.

Cut to a ground shot of Owen approaching his building.

THERAPIST: He tells you you're meant to do something big, something that matters to the world, and that you're not meant to do it alone. All you need is a partner.

RECORDING OF OWEN: Yes.

As Owen approaches his building, he sees Annie’s face in another ad, this time for a golf resort. He pulls out the Daddy’s Home pamphlet to compare, making sure it really is the same woman.

AD: You made a promise to me, and you made a promise to yourself. You promised we'd golf together in Hilton Head.

THERAPIST: You sense danger all around you, but you stay disciplined. A fight's coming. Something even bigger than this world. Possibly extending to multiple galaxies.

RECORDING OF OWEN: Yes.

Cut to Owen getting off of an elevator. An old woman gets on.

OWEN: Hello, Mrs. Finkelstein.

MRS. FINKELSTEIN: Fuck off, Donovan.

OWEN: It's, uh... Owen. Owen Milgrim

MRS. FINKELSTEIN: Fuck off, Donovan.

OWEN: Never mind.

Cut to Owen sitting in his apartment. As the recording of his therapist and himself plays, he eats and reads.

THERAPIST: Good. Does it feel good to be heard?

RECORDING OF OWEN: Yes.

THERAPIST: Does it feel good to know that you're not alone with this information?

RECORDING OF OWEN: Yeah.

THERAPIST: Will you complete your mission?

RECORDING OF OWEN: Maybe.

THERAPIST: Am I a trusted messenger?

RECORDING OF OWEN: Yes.

Owen puts down his book and picks up his pills.

THERAPIST: Good. Then here are your real instructions. Repeat after me. There is no pattern.

RECORDING OF OWEN: There is no pattern.

THERAPIST: I am vulnerable, but I am not stupid.

RECORDING OF OWEN: I'm vulnerable, but I'm not stupid.

Owen sets down his pills and begins to flick them into a nearby plant pot, which is shown to have dozens of pills in it.

THERAPIST: But I will seek out the people in my life that care about me.

RECORDING OF OWEN: I will seek out the people in my life who care about me.

THERAPIST: I am not the chosen one.

RECORDING OF OWEN: I am not the chosen one.

THERAPIST: The voices aren't real.

Owen begins to speak with the recording.

RECORDING OF OWEN: The voices aren't real.

OWEN: The voices aren't real.

THERAPIST: The voices are just noise.

RECORDING OF OWEN: The voices are just noise.

OWEN: The voices are just noise.

THERAPIST: I am just a guy with a vivid imagination.

RECORDING OF OWEN: I'm just a guy with a vivid imagination.

Owen’s doorbell rings.

THERAPIST: I will most likely not be the savior of our galaxy.

Cut to Owen standing at his intercom.

OWEN: Hello?

DELIVERY MAN: I've got a package from Neberdine Pharmaceutical Biotech for an Owen Milgrim.

OWEN: What?

DELIVERY MAN: I've a package in your name.

OWEN: Hello?

Owen buzzes the man in. The man sprints down the hall, knocks on Owen’s door, and sprints back out. Owen opens the door and picks up an envelope from the ground. As soon as he picks it up, his phone rings. He closes the door, sits down, and takes papers out of the envelope. He answers the phone.

OWEN: Hello.

WOMAN: Hi, Owen. Did you get what I sent you?

OWEN: How did you -

WOMAN: I've just been informed that you qualify as a hero candidate.

OWEN: What does that mean?

WOMAN: It's a term we use for those who've been specifically selected for one of our studies. You're a very desirable individual to us, Owen. I've never seen B.N. over-ratios like this before.

OWEN: What does a hero candidate do?

WOMAN: Exactly the things they were born to. In your case, helping us treat maladies ranging from sluggishness and depression to I.B.S, to popcorn problems and irrational fears.

OWEN: "Popcorn problems"?

WOMAN: Prostate problems, yes.

OWEN: Oh, I thought you -

WOMAN: We'll give you all the details when you come in. So, we'll see you on Monday?

CUT TO: INT. MILGRIM HOUSE

A butler opens the door for Owen.

BUTLER: Good evening, Mr. Milgrim. Everyone is on the patio for the recital.

OWEN:Thank you.

Owen hands the butler his coat. He walks down some stairs. His four brothers are performing as a quartet for their extended family. Owen looks over at Jed’s fiance, Adelaide. The brothers finish their quartet and everyone claps. Cut to Owen talking to one of his young nieces. She’s playing with some dolls and a dollhouse.

OWEN: Where does she sleep when she stays over?

BELLE: This one?

OWEN: Yeah, she's your sister, right? Or is she a secret agent?

BELLE: How did you know?

OWEN: Because I have super-secret sources at a super-secret agency. Don't tell anyone.

BELLE: Okay.

Angelica enters the room.

ANGELICA: Supper's ready.

OWEN: Okay, Mom.

CUT TO: EXT. DINING ROOM

The Milgrim family sits in their dining room eating dinner, with the adults around a large table and the children at a bar nearby. Each of Owen’s brothers sit next to their partners, with Porter and Angelica sitting at the head of either side of the table. Owen, partnerless, sits next to his mother. Everyone listens as Jed tells a story.

JED: I was completely baffled. You know, I left for school. Ernie was fine, and then, you know, the food was in the bowl. The water was there, cage was locked up, and I get back from basketball practice, and he's just gone, absolutely

MIKE: The great gerbil escape artist.

PHIL: But he wasn't exactly fucking gone.

ANGELICA: Language, Phil.

JED: No, that's correct. He wasn't exactly fucking gone like that.

ANGELICA: Language, Jed.

JED: Where'd he go, O?

OWEN: Maybe you shouldn't curse so much in front of the children.

MIKE: Ah, come on. Tell the rest.

ANGELICA: This is not a farmyard, boys.

JED: So, um, I ask everyone, right? Everyone's looking around the whole house, everyone frantic, and finally Owen, you know, eventually comes up and brings me to his room How old were you then, Owen? Like, eight or something?

OWEN: Nine.

JED: Eight or nine, whatever. And he says he says, "Uh, I have to tell you something.My my hawk ate Ernie." "What?" And he points over there, and there's this big fucking red-tailed hawk sitting on his desk staring at me. What eight-year-old has a fuckin' hawk?

HOLLY: Uh, how did you have a hawk?

OWEN: Um, I rescued it from the park. I found it with a broken wing and brought it to my room and fed it.

MIKE: Yeah, I forgot. You'd feed him.

JED: That was the craziest part. He would feed it, like a mother bird, you know

HOLLY: Oh, masticate No, no, no. Premasticate.

JED: Yeah, premastication!

PHIL: Jed was a chronic masticater.

JED: How'd you know?

PHIL: He'd go blind doing that.

ADELAIDE: How long did you take care of the bird for, Owen?

OWEN: Two or three months, until it was strong enough to go into Jed's room and eat his gerbil, I guess.

Everyone laughs. Belle, having been listening in from the kids’ table, chimes in.

BELLE: But what happened to the hawk?

JED: We set it free.

BELLE: Oh. Okay.

PORTER: That reminds me. Remember when Colby fell in the Gowanus Canal? Remember that day?

ANGELICA: Oh, poor Colby.

Jed stares directly at Owen.

PORTER: I threw the stick, he didn't go for it, so traumatizing.

The scene cuts to a large painting in the Milgrim house. It features Owen’s parents, brothers, and the family dog, but not Owen. The shot pans over to a very small picture of Owen hanging on the wall next to it, and then to Owen and Adelaide looking at the painting.

ADELAIDE: I told Jed I wouldn't marry him until they painted you in. Maybe that's why we haven't set a date yet.

OWEN: They're gonna paint me in. The artist just took a six-month sabbatical to Nepal, to study the light. I lost my job.

ADELAIDE: I'm sorry, Owen.

OWEN: It's okay, I'll find a new one. I'm actually thinking about becoming a temporary volunteer husband.

ADELAIDE: You're not serious.

OWEN: Get rid of my lease, bounce from widow to widow.

ADELAIDE: Mm-mm. Do you ever notice that your plans always involve starting over often with an entirely new identity?

OWEN: It's a good fantasy.

Adelaide swallows a pill. Angelica shouts from another room.

ANGELICA: Pudding's upstairs by the fireplace, everyone.

ADELAIDE: Just to get through the post-dinner conversation.

They begin walking. After a few moments, Owen stops Adelaide.

OWEN: Think about it. Seriously as a hypothetical. Say you and I left, right? Tonight. I got us passports, new identities. You steal all the money from Jed's bank account. We just do that. We get a house in the middle of nowhere. Start again. Different people.

ADELAIDE: Are we a married couple?

OWEN: We don't... We can be, you know. We don't have to be. We could be brother, or sister, or friends.

ADELAIDE: So tonight, then, after dessert?

OWEN: Yeah. I'm serious. Let's do it.

ADELAIDE: You're fucking with me.

OWEN: I got you. You believed me.

They start walking again.

ADELAIDE: This week's gonna be a living hell for me.

OWEN: He'll totally win. He's not guilty. No chance of a conviction.

ADELAIDE: It's all just so humiliating. I mean, it's been going on for fucking ages, all just for one day in court.

OWEN: Because he didn't do it, so

ADELAIDE: You're positive? Right? You were actually with him?

OWEN: Yes.

They reach the room where most of the family is waiting. The men are sitting around one table and the women are in chairs nearby. Adelaide joins the women while Owen hangs back.

PORTER: Hey, Owen, you're not trying to sneak off, are you?

OWEN: No, Dad.

PORTER: I need a second of your time before you leave.

Owen’s mother and a maid enter. The maid is carrying a board game.

ANGELICA: Come on, boys, it's time.

ALL: Balderdash!

ANGELICA: Owen, you're staying to play.

OWEN: No, I - I have to go. I have something -

ANGELICA: You love Balderdash.

OWEN: No, I don't.

ADELAIDE: Come on, stay, it will be fun.

OWEN: I have a fundamental problem with Balderdash.

PORTER: I gotta say, what a delicious meal that was.

MIKE: Sure was.

PHIL: So good, Mom.

RYAN: So good.

ANGELICA: You used to love Balderdash.

OWEN: Oh, no, I didn't.

Jed enters, followed by all of the children.

JED: Who wants ice cream? Who wants ice cream?

CHILDREN: I do!

JED: Oh, you do? Of course. But whoever's the quietest gets ice cream, I promise. Mom. Oh, are we playing Balderdash, or what?

OWEN: So, um, I've been considering -

ANGELICA: Considering leaving Roosevelt Island?

OWEN: No -

ANGELICA: Oh, thank God. So, have Hal help you find something closer.

MIKE: Oh, you moving closer?

OWEN: I'm not moving closer.

JED: Crazy to think that every word did get invented.

OWEN: I - I have to go. Goodbye.

JED: Wait, you're not playing Balderdash?

OWEN: No, I can't. Bye.

JED: Oh, Owen, come on, you love Balderdash.

OWEN: No, I don't fucking love Balderdash! Balderdash is bullshit.

PORTER: Jesus, Owen.

Belle starts crying.

PHIL: Is he off his meds?

PORTER: I'll walk you to the station.

PHIL: Sweetie, don't worry about Uncle Owen. He’s a spaz, and we’re gonna get ice cream now.

CUT TO: EXT. SIDEWALK

Porter walks with Owen and the family dog, Colby.

PORTER: Is it a money crisis?

OWEN: No.

PORTER: I know it's an expensive apartment to rent, but have you... have you thought about a a roommate?

OWEN: No.

PORTER: I don't know why you won't let us just buy you a place. That way you'd have more security. Or you, you could come and work for the company. All your brothers do.

OWEN: I already agreed, okay? You don't need to buy me off.

PORTER: Uh, I don't... I don't follow you.

OWEN: What I will lie for Jed next week in court. I get the expectation.

They stop walking.

PORTER: It's not an expectation, Owen, it's a gift. You are giving your brother the gift of an alibi. This woman is an opportunist. She sees an in. You're protecting him. You're protecting the family. I know, I know, it sounds muddled, but that is the way reality works, Owen.

A sanitation bot approaches them. As they talk, Colby stares at it.

OWEN: How's that, Dad?

PORTER: With... with adjustments.

OWEN: Just so you know, I got a new job.

PORTER: Oh? What, what job?

OWEN: Business marketing. It involves travel, so I'll be gone a couple days next week, but I'll be back in time for the trial. And don't worry if you can't reach me. Someone invented a new kind of ham.

PORTER: Oh. That's that's wonderful, Owen. That's, that's, that's great. Milgrim men, we always come out on top. Anyway…

They hug. Owen leaves.

OWEN: All right.

Colby poops in front of the sanitation robot.

PORTER: Hey, Colby, it's a Tristan 500.

ROBOT: Cleaning in progress.

PORTER: No kicking and licking.

The robot cleans up the dog poop and rolls away, leaving a trail of a cleaning chemical.

CUT TO: EXT. NEBERDINE PHARMACEUTICAL BUILDING

The camera pans down the building. Then the shot cuts to Owen sitting in a large waiting area, filling out a form. A voice is coming through a P.A. system.

P.A. VOICE: Find the end of your rainbow at Neberdine Pharmaceutical and Biotech.

5: Psst, buddy. Which one are you here for? It should be on the form right there.

OWEN: It says, uh, U.L.P.

The man holds up his lanyard, which has a 5 on it.

5: Me too. That's a good one. It's the big time. Get ready to make a lot of fuckin' money.

P.A. VOICE: Carol Cuddy. Carol Cuddy, please report to D.M. test room three for A.E.B Phase I.

Owen looks back at his form and sees six bombs at the top. He turns back to 5.

OWEN: What do the bombs mean?

5: High-risk. That's where the dollars come from. Apparently, they're havin' some kind of problem with this new drug.

In a nearby hallway, Annie and a woman exit a room. As Owen listens to 5, we faintly hear Annie’s conversation.

ANNIE: I think you should let me do it again.

5: Strong stuff. Very trippy shit.

ANNIE: Who's in charge of the red light?

OWEN: That doesn't bother you?

ANNIE: I don't fucking understand.

5: No. No risk, no reward.

ANNIE: I'm supposed to be part of the trial.

WOMAN: I'm sorry.

ANNIE: This is fucking bullshit.

P.A. VOICE: John Mallory, please report to D.M. test room one. John Mallory, please report to D.M. test room one for Rumi Phase III.

Owen watches as Annie approaches the front desk of the waiting area and attempts to talk to one of the women working there.

ANNIE: Patricia. Patricia.

PATRICIA: I got bosses around.

Patricia seems reluctant to talk to Annie, but eventually relents.

ANNIE: I have to get into that study. You have a daughter. Her name is Usnavy, and she goes to Hunter College.

Annie walks over to the waiting area and sits down.

P.A. VOICE: Owen Milgrim, please report to D.M. test room five. Owen Milgrim, please report to D.M. test room five for U.L.P. screening. Steven McDougal, please report to test room eight. Steven McDougal, please report to test room eight for M.S. One Phase II.

As Owen walks over to his room, he makes eye contact with Annie. A woman lets him into the room. Cut to him sitting in the room. The woman sits across from him. She shows him a slide of a bottle of pills.

OWEN: Unnecessary.

WOMAN: Try to answer with an emotion, rather than a description.

OWEN: Uh... calm.

The woman types something. The slide changes to a picture of a hawk mid-air.

OWEN: Justice.

The woman types again.

OWEN: Is this personalized somehow?

WOMAN: No. Focus on your answers.

She changes the slide to an image of a family eating a meal together at a table. Owen examines it in silence for a few moments.

OWEN: Suffocated.

The woman types more.

WOMAN: Good. Now, Mr. Milgrim please turn your attention to me as I ask you this final question.

The woman says nothing and stares. Owen grows increasingly uncomfortable.

OWEN: Are you gonna ask it? Does that disqualify me?

A machine beeps, and a green light lights up on the table.

WOMAN: Your defense mechanisms are fungible. You've been accepted.

She bows slightly. He smiles a little bit.

CUT TO: INT. WAITING ROOM

Annie sits in the waiting room tying her shoe. Owen sees her and sits across from her. He’s holding a lanyard that says 1. She’s wearing one that says 9. He leans across to her and opens his mouth a bit, but doesn’t say anything.

ANNIE: Stop looking at me.

OWEN: Did... Did you... Did you lose your husband recently?

ANNIE: Huh?

OWEN: Did you lose your husband recently?

ANNIE: No.

OWEN: But I just saw -

ANNIE: Leave me alone.

OWEN: Do you play golf in Hilton Head?

ANNIE: I'll kill you. I have a gun.

P.A. VOICE: Attention, please, all participants in the U.L.P. phase III trial, please look at your lanyards. If you are an odd number, please line up at the intake corridor. All even numbers will be next.

Annie gets up. Owen watches her leave. Grimsson clears his throat, having appeared in the spot she was sitting in. He hides his face with a clipboard.

GRIMSSON: It's Jed. (He moves the clipboard.) No, it's Grimsson. Mustache. No, don't say anything. Just be cool. The pattern is the pattern. The pattern got you here. Keep trusting the pattern. She's your handler now. She has a certain je ne sais quoi. She's no Olivia, though. Make contact with her. Use the code phrase.

P.A. VOICE: If you are an odd number, please line up at the intake corridor.

GRIMSSON: The pattern is the pattern. I know it doesn't make sense. It doesn't make sense to me either right now, but it will. Keep going forward. (He holds out his finger and points at Owen.) Just reach out and make contact.

Grimsson disappears.

P.A. VOICE: All odd numbers, line up by the intake corridor.

Cut to Owen standing in line behind Annie. Owen reaches out and pokes Annie.

ANNIE: What the fuck is wrong with you?

OWEN: Sorry.

Owen, Annie, and the others in line begin to enter, showing their lanyards as they do. Annie looks behind her. Cut to an elevator. All of the ‘odds’, including Owen, Annie, 5, and three other test subjects stand behind two Neberdine employees. Owen stands across from Annie. He looks at her, but she avoids eye contact.

CUT TO: INT. LAB

Azumi sits in a chair smoking. Cut to Robert, who is passed out at his desk.

AZUMI: Robert. (He mumbles, not waking up) Robert. Robert, wake up. (He jerks awake) The odds are here.

ROBERT: Okay.

AZUMI: Let us complete this trial with none of the old problems, sir.

ROBERT: Yes, Dr. Fujita. None of the old problems.

She gets up and leaves. Robert hides some drug paraphernalia in his desk.

CUT TO: INT. HALLWAY

The two neberdine employees exit the elevator. One stands to the side while the other leads the ‘odds’ down the hallway into the common room. As they enter, one of the orderlies addresses them. A diorama of a grassy cliff is on one side of the common room. A large circular table sits in the center, with computer monitors hanging from the ceiling above. Small sleeping pods line the walls.

CARL: As you enter the common room, you will notice there are numbers on the pods. The pod numbers correspond with the numbers on your lanyards. Please go to your pod. That will be your home for the duration of your stay here with us. Leaving your pod at any unauthorized moment will result in the termination of your stay here at this trial, as well as bringing shame and humiliation upon you. Once you reach your pod, an orderly will approach and begin to inspect your bag. Once the orderly has inspected your bag, you will put your bag in your locker. Once you have done that, make your way to this gentleman. He will give you your uniform, as well as your patented Neberdine shoes, which you cannot take with you at the end of the trial. Once you have your uniforms and your shoes, you will make your way back to your pods, then you will get in your pods and change clothes in your pods. There will be no changing in the commons.

Owen watches Annie as she walks around. The orderly inspecting 5’s bag pulls out a long sheet of condoms.

3: Oh my God.

CARL: Condoms are contraband.

5: Safety first.

Owen begins approaching Annie.

CARL: That's a red flag right there. Intimacy in this facility is off-limits. There will be no cohabitation inside the pods. Once the curfew starts, lights go out.

OWEN: You're not supposed to be here.

Annie looks up, startled.

ANNIE: Please.

OWEN: What are my instructions? The pattern is the pattern. You're my contact. What are my instructions? Please turn off the pattern. Please turn off…

After a moment, Annie grabs Owen’s shoulder.

ANNIE: Owen. Your instructions are to go back to your pod and await my signal.

OWEN: I'm going to save the world.

ANNIE: Yes. You're gonna save the world. But not if you blow our cover.

OWEN: Okay, I understand.

CARL: If you're having trouble getting into your pod, there is also a little ladder underneath that will help you get into your pod. Also note, from here on in, you will be referred to as the number on your lanyard. You are the Odds. Attention.

A door opens and Azumi and Robert exit. They bow deeply before approaching the group.

CARL: Please give your attention to Dr. Muramoto and Dr. Fujita. They will be supervising your trials.

Azumi and Robert bow again. Robert says something in Japanese.

ROBERT: Welcome, subjects. You made the right choice. It's time to start your lives again. (While he’s talking, Azumi pulls out and lights a cigarette) You don't fuck this up I won't fuck this up. Just kidding.

Owen and Annie make eye contact. The camera zooms in on Owen’s face as he sighs.

END CREDITS