03x06 - The Embrace

[bunniefuu]

[EMCEE]

Previously on The Girlfriend Experience.

You know, my daughter, she's up in...

[UNEASY MUSIC PLAYS]

- up in...

- [LEANNE]

Now we know.

Dad has early onset Alzheimer's.

Give me one reason why we should get on that wait list.

What's it worth, to potentially give a loved one more time?

I thought it was one thing: protect and serve.

Got seduced by the window dressing.

♪ I know who you are now.

[GEORGES]

Would it be too much to ask to have you for myself for an entire hours?

♪ I'm gonna take you somewhere special.

[CHRISTOPHE]

Somehow, decoding their wants comes easy to you.

[HEAVY BREATHING]

[TAWNY]

You're not recording them, are you?

Tawny, I'm trying to be smart.

When was the last time you spoke with the V?

_ [TAWNY]

Nothing.

I didn't do anything.

- Tawny.

- [LINE CLICKS]

Client privacy is to be protected at all times.

The V doesn't f*ck around.

You're fired.

♪ [TENSE MUSIC PLAYS]

♪ [INTENSE MUSIC PLAYS]

♪

[INDISTINCT CONVERSATION]

♪ [DRIVER]

Yes, sir.

[BIRDS CHIRPING]

[IRIS]

I don't know if you know, but I was dropped by the V, and I don't know what they said to you, if anything.

[IRIS SIGHS]

It was unexpected.

So if you have any questions...

♪ [GEORGES]

They told me.

♪ [BOTH PANTING LIGHTLY]

Change is always good.

[IRIS]

I left my information with your driver.

I wanted you to have it.

[TENSE MUSIC PLAYS]

♪ [GEORGES]

Thanks for letting me know.

♪ [IRIS]

Yeah.

Of course.

[BIRDS CHIRPING]

♪ - Take care.

- Okay.

♪ [GEORGES]

You know what this is?

A cocoon.

[GEORGES]

Protecting its precious cargo.

Mysterious and shape-shifting like you.

[IRIS SIGHS]

- Like me?

- Yes.

The creature inside longs to be something else.

More.

That sounds like you.

Uh, ditching civilization for hours, coming to the middle of nowhere with a girl you barely know while people are trying to contact you about unmanned systems.

Did you know that my people want to put relay stations on your soil?

You should probably be handling that.

[UNEASY MUSIC PLAYS]

♪ [GEORGES SIGHS]

[LOCK BEEPING]

♪ So this is it.

[GEORGES BREATHING HEAVILY]

Make yourself at home.

Thank you.

[SOFT MUSIC PLAYS]

♪ [RUPERT]

Cassie, Georgina, I'm so glad you called.

♪ Rupie...

show us.

♪ Let's see what's in the box.

[RUPERT]

Ladies, are you ready?

♪ Let me guess.

Something to make things better?

[RUPERT CLICKS TONGUE]

Anonymity and augmentation.

[CASE BEEPS, CLICKS]

♪ [DISQUIETING MUSIC PLAYS]

♪ [RHYTHMIC PANTING]

Welcome, players.

♪ [MAN]

Before you enter, we need your release of liability.

♪ Any devices provided are in beta testing.

♪ Anonymized data will be collected for the purposes of refining user experiences.

[MACHINE CLICKS]

[MACHINE BEEPS]

[MACHINE WHIRS, CLICKS]

[MACHINE WHIRRING]

♪ And what do they measure?

Um, they give you a percentage how great the sex would be or something.

I think it's a pheromone thing.

So pheromones and saliva to predict attraction?

I guess so.

♪ [RHYTHMIC PANTING]

[GEORGES INHALES DEEPLY]

[SIGHS]

[IRIS]

Can I ask you a personal question?

Go on.

How do you deal with all of the misinformation that's out there about you?

I divest.

[IRIS]

So how do you keep seeing the truth?

What truth?

Where do you see yourself in five years?

I don't know; somewhere like this would be nice.

[GEORGES]

Off-grid?

Yeah.

A little house.

Lots of land.

A record player, maybe.

Kids?

[IRIS]

Yeah...

though adoption seems more noble.

[GEORGES]

Love?

Yeah.

[THUNDER RUMBLES]

I like you.

All of you.

[SOFT MUSIC PLAYS]

♪ [SURREAL MUSIC PLAYS]

♪ [RHYTHMIC PANTING]

♪ [SOFT MOANING]

♪ [SOFT MOANING]

♪ [MOANING]

♪ [MOANING]

♪ [LIGHT TENSE MUSIC PLAYS]

♪ ♪ [BIRDS CHIRPING]

Vanessa virginiensis in the making, commonly known as "painted lady," before she disappears inside her cocoon.

What happens to the caterpillar?

[GEORGES]

That's a good question.

The caterpillar's tissues break down into proteins then reassemble.

As they found out, some of the caterpillar's memory survives across life stages, across time.

The butterfly will recognize certain smells, for instance, that meant something to the caterpillar.

Some memories survive even biological meltdown.

Um, DNA turning to soup, that's what's happening with my father, his brain.

Alzheimer's?

Yeah.

The early-onset kind.

It's vicious...

and hereditary.

Are you scared?

Yeah.

[GEORGES]

Tomorrow is not real yet.

The only chance we have is this right here.

[IRIS]

I know.

[IRIS SIGHS]

How does the caterpillar decide which memories will transfer?

Maybe it doesn't.

Maybe it's just following instructions for survival, or maybe the little worm chooses what's worth remembering and what isn't.

That's a whole lot of choosing for a tiny worm.

[DISQUIETING MUSIC PLAYS]

♪ [SOFT MOANING]

♪ Hi.

Hi.

[SURREAL MUSIC PLAYS]

Blue?

What?

Is that your real eye color?

♪ Is that your real arm?

I don't know.

What can you see?

♪ [SHIMMERING MUSIC PLAYS]

♪ [SOFT MUSIC PLAYS]

♪ [PULSATING b*at PLAYS]

♪ [SINGER]

♪ Dropping in with the rhythm ♪ ♪ ♪ I'm a wrench in the system ♪ ♪ ♪ You don't tell me how to sing ♪ ♪ ♪ I am a new machine ♪ ♪ Leave it all on the table ♪ ♪ Give me more than I can handle ♪ ♪ ♪ Give me more than you think ♪ ♪ I am awakened dream ♪ ♪ Dropping in with the rhythm ♪ ♪ I'm the brains of the system ♪ ♪ ♪ Yeah, I'm the man on the scene ♪ ♪ I am a new machine ♪ ♪ ♪ I am a new machine ♪ ♪ ♪ Go on and hit him with the haymaker, lover ♪ ♪ It's the big show, honey ♪ ♪ ♪ Make them believe it from the cheap seats, baby ♪ ♪ Put your mouth where your money ♪ ♪ ♪ Go on and hit them with the haymaker, lover ♪ ♪ It's the big show, honey ♪ ♪ ♪ Make them believe it from the cheap seats, baby ♪ ♪ Put your mouth where your money ♪

[SURREAL MUSIC PLAYS]

♪ [DOOR CLICKS]

[SIGHS]

[SOFT MUSIC PLAYS]

♪ [FOOTSTEPS]

[INDISTINCT CHATTER]

[ELEVATOR BELL DINGS]

♪ [SIGHS]

♪ - [IRIS]

Hi.

- [SIGHS]

[LEANNE]

Hi.

Hi.

Um...

You know why the former French colonies have right-handed traffic?

'Cause Napoleon was left-handed.

Hi, Dad.

- Can I?

- [DAD]

Hello.

Hi, Dad.

[SOMBER MUSIC PLAYS]