04x01 - Fallout

[bunniefuu]

- MAN: Missy Vaughn.
- Yes?

This is Trent Vaughn, Reggie's dad.

I'm in Atlanta.

MISSY: I text you Trent's
number for you to call him.

Yeah, and that was a
waste of a kilobyte.

However, I am glad that you found this,

because... [CHUCKLES]

I thought I had gotten rid
of all of them, but...

I hadn't.

You call me or my wife again

I will b*at the living sh*t out of you

and enjoy every second of it.

Baby, can you believe it?
I am off to China.

If my grandparents could
see me now! This is crazy.

I gotta find my father.
I am fed up with not knowing.

I can get that answer out of Ma.

Ma, we know my father is a deadbeat.

We don't even know who her father is.

I was r*ped...

by a bunch of boys.

Your sister was conceived that night.

I want to go after the guys
who pulled the train on Ma.

You can take my plane.

JIMMY: You know where to start looking?

M-CHUCK: I got an idea.

Mary Charles.

Hey Pookie, what's going on?

Cam, expectations were so high.

And a first-round exit to the Celtics?

The Celtics?

- REGGIE: Dude, you okay?
- Nope.

Think about how far we've come.

I mean, when I bought this team

we used to cry this
way on opening night.

Cam, any final thoughts on your
disastrous playoff performance?

Wish we'd scored more points than them.

Look,

losing hurts, but there's a
lot of seriously sad stuff

going down in the world today, so

let's reserve the word "disastrous"
for more suitable matters.

I don't know how he does this
without just popping people.

Weed. Lots of weed.

Cam, lately many athletes weighed
in on subjects that people

think athletes shouldn't tackle.

I don't care. I've said before,
and I'll say it again,

that a smoothie with ice cream
in it is no longer a smoothie.

It's a milkshake.

[LAUGHTER]

REPORTER: In the United States,

there are over million men in prison.

% of them are black.
What's with you black people?

- I'll show you.
- Oh, no, no, mm-mm, mm-mm, don't.

Listen, man, I went to the
University of New Hampshire.

There were no black people.

Excuse me, Cameron.

Is there a black person alive

who's ever rooted for
a white tennis player

against Serena Williams?

Highly unlikely.

But if there was anybody,
my guess would be Kanye.

No, no, no, no.
Why did he take the bait?

Eh, sometimes weed works like that.

Serena is an all-time great.

She inspires me and many others.

There's nothing better than a-a black
queen achieving new levels of greatness.

You say "nothing better,"

meaning that if a white, or Asian,
or Latino, or Polish woman

has such success,
it couldn't be better to you

because they aren't your race?

Who's in the mood for a milkshake?

[LAUGHTER]

Ain't the Polacks white?
Why she making it two categories?

Go set your girl straight, Chen.

She's Japanese, for f*ck's sake.

She's not my girl. You're my girl.

Oh, that's my billionaire boo.

Chen, how'd you get so good
at telling the difference

between Chinese and Japanese?

It's a small yet useful
evolutionary yield

from generations of bilateral hostility.

That and we look different.

Cam, your father entered the
Massachusetts Department of Corrections

shortly after your birth.

Why, after all these years are
you trying to reconnect with him?

Uh, first of all,
my private life is private,

unless I choose to
share it on Instagram,

and second, ain't it past your bedtime?

No.

Why are you so interested anyways?

Because I'm you, at age .

- [CAR HORN HONKS]
- MAN: Man, let's go!

- [HONKING CONTINUES]
- MAN: Move it!

Are we almost there?

Yes, sir, moments away.

♪

Come on, let's go.

[BUZZER SOUNDS]

[DOOR OPENS]

[DOOR CLOSES]

Well, you've grown since
the last time I saw you.

I don't remember the last time.

Oh, years ago.

Two days before Christmas.
You cried a lot.

Wasn't pretty. Why today?

Lost in the playoffs.
Cried a lot. Wasn't pretty.

Had some unexpected free time.

Sorry about the surprise.

When one's existence is monotonous,

surprises are welcome.

It's that hope sh*t you
gotta look out for.

Hope can f*ck a man up.

Sorry you lost.
I thought you played well.

You watched the playoffs?

We have a TV in the common room.

Sometimes your game's on,
I'll watch when we're not on lockdown.

You don't need to lie.

Oh, you don't need to
accuse me of lying.

Hey, it's cool that you watch
the games and all that now,

but I'm just saying.

You know, hearing that
you do is a surprise.

Why are you here?

Why today? For real.

After all this time.

That's all you got, a shrug?

Oh, now we got a smirk and a shrug.

I ain't smirking.
I-I'm here because... you know.

No, I don't know.

Felt it needed to be done.

Okay, now it's done.

Hey, yo, I didn't come
here to agitate you.

I'm just saying, you know,

my whole life I wondered if
you ever thought about me

and then not only did you just tell
me that you'd been thinking about me,

but that you'd been watching
my games and following me,

and hearing that you do,
it's-it's a surprise.

So now you're insulting me.

I'm not meaning to.

I'm just wondering why.

Uh, why have you never reached out?

Especially after hearing that
you watch and follow my games.

Because I don't need anything from you.

I bet I am the only one who
hasn't reached out to you,

especially now that you
are who you now are.

I'm sure that everyone
you know and met and more

have been reaching their hands out
trying to get something from you,

but... I don't need nothing from you.

I ain't talking about material things.

I'm saying just reaching
out before basketball,

showing a little interest
in my existence.

Do you even know when my birthday is?

October th. Do you know mine?

I have been locked up
since I was years old.

That's on me.

And I know me and your mama
were no Romeo and Juliet

but I wrote a few times early on,

and then you know, I...

got distracted in here.

And then, I wrote a bunch more,

when you were about or .

More than a bunch.

That's not true. It is.

And you not writing back or reaching
back out, that's true, too.

I don't resent it. I get it.

I never got any letters.

Look, man...

I ain't going nowhere.

If you have some unexpected free time,

holla at your mama,
ask her about what I just said.

Then if you want to visit again,
chances are I'll be right here.

Coffee's on me.

- [LOUD SLAM]
- Ooh, what the f*ck?

- Don't tell me you dented my car.
- It seems fine.

I'll say if it's fine, assh*le.

Hey, who you calling an assh*le?

assh*le that dented my man's car.

- Tell him, Trenay.
- I told him!

World ain't here for you to be
running around f*cking up, assh*le.

Hey, ain't no need for
no disrespect, homeboy.

Ain't no need for you to be
f*cking up my man's car, assh*le.

Get out the way. Ooh!

He done chipped the paint
off the door, baby.

Hey, get the f*ck outta here.

Don't tell me where to get
the f*ck in and out of.

I'll get the f*ck wherever
I damn well please.

Get out of my way so I
can get out of your way.

Don't open no door on my head.

I'm gonna need you to run me
some money for this door, bitch.

Lot of money.

This here is a Volvo. A Volvo, fuckboy.

This a f*cking clown car?
How many people you got in here?

- Just one more.
- Yo, what's popping, Lamar?

What's popping, Big and Tall Darryl,

is this dude gonna
come up off some bread

or you and me and Lady Ricky
gonna put the pause on him.

Am I needed to b*at someone's ass?
'Cause that's what I do.

- Okay, Darryl, listen...
- Uh, Big and Tall Darryl.

And that's your actual name?

His full name is Big and Tall
Darryl Who Will f*ck You Up,

but we going with nicknames tonight.

All right, I'll tell you what.

Why don't you go and you
get your ain't broke fixed?

He treating you like a
trick at Magic City.

Don't take that sh*t, Lamar.

f*ck his ass up!

I'll get the money.

[BOTH GRUNTING]

I got this one.

[PUNCHING]

TRENAY: Wait, no, Oh, my God.

[SIGHS]

What do you think?
Should we go over and intervene?

Yes, we should. Of course we should.

Thing is, if we go over there,
the situation may escalate.

Right. Captain says I gotta
complete more training

before I get myself into
situations that may escalate.

That's all they keep hitting nowadays,
training, training, training.

Makes sense, I guess.

Ah, it totally makes sense.

Used to be they just gave you a badge

and let you go make sh*t right.

That's the cost of progress.

Let's get out of here, huh? Yeah.

[GRUNTING]

Well, I'm glad you did it,
'cause I was gonna do that.

TRENAY: Get back in the car.

Come on, everybody, let's go. Let's go.

[GRUNTING]

[KNOCKING]

Mary Charles.

M-CHUCK: Hey, Pookie, what's going on?

What's going on?
It's : and you're in Boston.

Yeah. Guess I should have called first,

sent a text or something.

Hey listen, quick question.

You know anything about what happened

to my mother that night on Long Island?

It looks wet out there. Come in.

You're right, I wasn't thinking.
I should have called or something first.

I'm sorry about that.

I really need you to tell me the truth.

- Not sure what you're talking about.
- See, you can't pause like,

"Oh, sh*t," and then be all "Not
sure what you're talking about,"

'cause when you paused your
face sorta said, "Oh sh*t,"

like you did know what
I was talking about.

You didn't scrunch up
your face confused,

so cut the bullshit.

Ma told Cam my existence on Earth

started with a sexual
as*ault on Long Island.

What do you know about that?

For what it's worth,
you've yet to offer me a beverage.

I got water, coffee, Diet Dr. Pepper.

Is the coffee made, or is it
gonna be like a whole process?

Diet Dr. Pepper, please.

Is what Ma said true?

You wearing a wire?

If you're worried I'm wearing a wire,

some sh*t really went down.

I didn't say that.

So what is it, some opportunistic
ploy to get me to show you my tits?

For God's sakes, Mary Charles!

It's fine. You tell me who r*ped
my mother, I'll show you my tits.

- I don't want to see your tits!
- I got great tits.

You're my dead friend's niece.

All grown up with a great rack.

Anyway, you like girls.

My titties don't know that.

In a vacuum, titties
ain't straight or gay.

Mine are perfect. You'd be
grateful to see how perfect.

I can see titties whenever I want.

- Bullshit.
- I can.

Bullshit.

Right now, if I want to see some titties

I can walk next door,
tell Yolanda I'm good to go

and I'd have a face full
of titties in six seconds.

So she's just sitting over
there on titty standby?

Amongst other things she's juggling.

She's a bookkeeper.
She's active on black Twitter

and volunteers at church.

My titties are better.

Titties are in the eyes of the beholder.

And no disrespect,

there's no use in me looking at titties

that I ain't gonna do nothing with.

Pook, my conception is a dark
hood mystery with few facts.

The one clue I got is
that my ma told Cam

that some friends drove
her to Long Island

and what I know is that you were the
one with the car back in the day.

I know you and Julius
and my ma and my aunt

partied when you were younger,
so if my mother was in a car

driving to Long Island from Boston,

the likelihood that you
were driving that car

that took her to that
first party is high.

But since my uncle is dead
and my mother is in China

I am sitting here
seeking answers from you

on who impregnated my
mother against her will.

And even though that
pregnancy resulted in me

I am gonna find them and I am gonna go

full f*cking Munich on them,

but I need to know where to start.

Munich. You talking about
the Spielberg movie

where the dudes chase
down the other dudes

- that k*lled the Israeli Olympians?
- Yes.

Violent flick.

Call your ma.

- For what?
- I don't know. Ask her.

Ma's in Shanghai, and she told
me never to bring this up again.

So why aren't you listening to her?

CAMILLE: Missy, you can't be taping
old photos on punching bags.

You're gonna make a difficult
situation more difficult,

and you're gonna make
your husband difficult.

Mom.

[STAMMERING] I'm just saying.

MISSY: It's not that
Reggie is difficult.

It's just that life can be.

One's past can be,

and more for him than me.

Well, the burden is on each individual

to lead a worthy life
regardless of pedigree.

Please go to another room.

I know Reggie hurts,

but what's difficult

is that he won't let me in to help.

He tells me I don't understand,
because I got great parents.

CAMILLE: Now, I agree.
You've got great parents.

But... this is what happens when the
genesis of a marriage is rebellion.

Love was the genesis.

Pursuing what one believes is love

despite one's instincts is rebellion.

My instincts are spotless.

Opposites attract, but they also repel.

I have breakfast with the Speaker
of the House in six hours.

Mom, I married Reggie
because I love him,

not because he wasn't the kind of man

you expected me to marry.

Being in love and having
incredibly bad ideas

are not mutually exclusive...

- SAMUEL: I heard that.
- CAMILLE: but the following is indisputable.

Any woman who thinks she
possesses the antidote

to fix a man who was
essentially constructed

in an abusive and rotten environment

is a woman who will one day find herself

calling her mother wondering what to do

when that man unravels.

I just wanted you to listen.

CAMILLE: Well, I listened.
Now I'm talking.

No, you were talking
before you were listening,

and you weren't even
listening for that long.

I think you know better than me

that this phone call is about
preemptively preparing us both

for another phone call in the future.

I just want you to know that,
when that phone call comes,

your father and I will welcome
you home with open arms.

Sweetheart, you and
Reg are gonna be fine.

We love you. Keep us posted.

[BEEPING]

Samuel Lawrence Jordan,
what did you just do?

I just saved you from yourself.

Or at least I tried to.

Now go downstairs and call her back,

and apologize for saying
just a little too much.

And don't give me that look like a
man can't be right about such things,

because this man is, and you know I am.

And I love you, and you know that too.

Well, I just don't appreciate your tone.

Then you understood it perfectly.

[BUBBLING]

Oh, oh. Oh, no.

Oh, no.

[PHONE RINGING]

- Mary Charles.
- Hey, Ma.

How goes it in Shanghai?

CASSIE: I just clogged the
toilet in Chen's parents' house

so I'm ankle deep in my own
sh*t and piss right now,

so not so good.

I'm sorry. By the way,
you're on speaker.

I'm up in Boston.

CASSIE: Boston? What the f*ck for?

- Visiting Pookie.
- Hey, Cass.

Hey, Pookie. How you doing?

Sorry, I'm just...
Just looking for a plunger.

Don't the Chinese ruling class

have servants they rule over and
make them clean up sh*t like that?

I am not asking no servant to do this.

I'm keeping this sh*t private,
once I can flush it.

M-CHUCK: All right, Ma, we'll let
you go. Tell Chen we said hey,

but before you go, would you
give Pookie the all-clear

to tell me what he
knows about that night,

you know, in Long Island with the thing?

The thing I said very, very clearly,

that I never wanted to talk about again?

Take me off speaker.

Okay, done.

CASSIE: I told Cam that the last time

that I was gonna talk about
the thing was in the driveway.

And then you call to talk
to me about the thing,

and although I did not want to,

I confirmed that it was true,

and then I told you that I did not want

to talk about the thing anymore.

And then you said, "I understand, Ma."

But yet here I am,
on the other side of the world,

swamped in a cloggy broth

of my own f*cking piss and sh*t,

talking about the f*cking thing

I told you I didn't want...

I didn't want to talk about again.

I'm sorry, it's just that
Pookie won't tell me...

CASSIE: Put me back on speaker.

All right.

- Pookie.
- Yes, Cass.

Can you please tell Spinster for Hire

the little you do know,

and then shut the f*ck back up.

- Yes, Cass.
- CASSIE: Thank you.

I got a new life, okay?

I got a great new life.

And I don't need no old bad life sh*t

f*cking with my current
noteworthy happiness.

You guys are f*cking with my Zen.

Sometimes I think that when life
forces you to confront your past,

there can be joy and
discovery in the knowing,

even if the knowing is painful.

That's the way life works.

Okay.

Mary Charles, um,

the way life works is,

sometimes sh*t happens to you,

and you just gotta adapt.

You were curious about why I never
told you who your father was.

Now you know why, and you're
about to know some more.

There are things that Pookie
knows that I don't know,

but when he tells you,

you'll either adapt, or not.

Baby, I don't want to know any
more than what I already know,

and I damn sure don't want
anybody else knowing my business,

Mary Charles.This is not just
your business. It's my business.

And I am not here on Earth to be pitied.

I'm doing great.

I appreciate you, Ma.

I love you, baby.

- I'll be home soon.
- M-CHUCK: Okay.

So you were about to say?

You probably got a concussion.

Want me to call Missy?

Hey, I told you about
speaking to my wife.

You keep her name out of your mouth,

and her number out of your phone.

I can call you an ambulance.
I don't need to call your wife.

I can call my own wife
or my own ambulance,

if I needed my wife or an
ambulance, but I don't.

f*ck, I should have
never came to see you.

Reggie, you're bleeding. You're hurt.

You get in that car, you swerve,

you get pulled over, something happens,

you got a lot to lose
on the car ride home.

Listen, if it's the last
useful thing I ever say,

please let me call you
an Uber or a taxi,

but don't drive this car in
the condition you're in.

You lying about being off the booze?

Five years.

My love, rise and shine.

Mother had the servants
make some American coffee.

Aw, Mama Chen. She's so thoughtful.

Mother and Father are out.

Let's retire to my teenage bedroom.

I've never had sex in there
with anyone else but myself.

[PHONE RINGING]

Ooh!

My son! My shining light.

Hey, Ma.

Ma...

I just saw Rodney.

Rodney who?

Rodney Barker. I'm in Boston.

Oh.

Oh, with your sister?

- She's in Boston.
- What's M-Chuck doing in Boston?

Putting me in a bad mood.

Chen, can you excuse
me for a minute, baby?

I'm gonna go shower. Meet me.

Oh, don't eat the white spongy stuff.

Stick to the duck.

The duck is the stuff
that looks like ham.

Okay.

What's up with you two mopey kids

placing so much importance
on who got me pregnant?

Well, in M-Chuck's case, she still
doesn't know exactly who that is.

- CASSIE: Exactly don't matter.
- My case, Rodney's half of me.

Oh, no, no, no. Hell, no.

He ain't f*cking half of you.

If he had half your ass
growing inside of his belly,

then he pushed you through
the tip of his d*ck,

then maybe I would give
him half the credit

for having half of you.

But no, the mother has the egg.

Learn your science.

I know science, Ma.

Well, then you would know
that I hatched the egg

that turned into you, okay?

You came from my egg. Mine!

The shell, the white part,
the yolk, mine.

That convict's contribution
was nothing more

than the paprika sh*t they
sprinkle on deviled eggs.

Don't be making that
m*therf*cker into the yolk.

Ma, that ain't how DNA works.

Half the genetic
material comes from you,

and then the other half comes from him.

Read the Internet.

I still got your DNA floating
around inside of me.

Rodney doesn't even have
the powdered prison eggs

that he ate this morning in his ass.

sh*t!

Oh, man, you kids!

Look, [STAMMERING] you
got all this money now,

and you're distracted with
this trivial bullshit!

- [MURMURING]
- Trivial.

So how was your visit
with your dear old Pops?

He said he wrote me
letters when I was .

Did he?

He may have. I can't recall.

I was too busy raising
you and your sister

to be the overly-inquisitive

nosy-ass little shits you turned into.

Okay, so he wasn't a total deadbeat.

Oh, God, he's a convict.

Stop trying to make him into
something that he's not

just because you're sad that
you lost in the playoffs!

Look, baby, he was a boy

that I met at a fair.

And that I had sex with nine times,

many, many summers ago.

You want to have a chit-chat
with him? Go ahead.

Have at it. Pen-pal it out.

Matter of fact, why don't you
go put some money on his books

or maybe toss a ball in
the prison play yard.

But don't you dare call me here

all the way in China trying to blame me

for some sh*t that I did
many, many years ago

when all I was trying to do
was make shitty ends meet.

You know what,
if you are done judging me,

I'm gonna go take the new
vag*na that you bought me,

and I'm gonna go have sex
with my billionaire boyfriend

in his teenage bedroom.

There were three of them.

Two brothers and their cousin.

, years old.

Your uncle went to find
her the next morning,

he found her walking.

She had a lot of bruises,

and a lot of scrapes.

She had rope burns on her wrists.

What the f*ck? How did
they get away with it?

They didn't.

[PHONE BUZZING]

Hey, Ma.

He did write you.

What?

CASSIE: He did write you.

Why didn't you ever tell me?

Because you were the type of kid

who would commit a crime
if you thought it would

allow you to live with him in prison.

Did you save any of them?

CASSIE: For a time.

At the apartment on Washington and Reed.

You don't remember us getting evicted?

Who moved in there? Like, why wouldn't
they have forwarded the mail?

Would you stop applying rich
man logic to the ghetto?

I mean, have you forgotten
about where we come from?

We got evicted in the middle
of a f*cking blizzard.

I'm sorry, baby. I mean,
he did write you, for a time.

You were , but almost
nothing up until then.

But you never told me he did.

Cam, I wasn't who I am now.

You weren't who you now are,

and he is... He's where he is.

And that's all I can say, baby.

That, and that I-I'm sorry
that you're hurting.

I'm sorry if you feel

that this is part of the
reason why you're hurting.

I'm sorry for not being
more of a hoarder

who hoards sh*t from years ago

or who can't remember to grab the sh*t

that she was hiding from you

because she got evicted during
a m*therf*cking blizzard.

And there weren't that many,
like or or something.

Look, you are a man now.
I can't tell you

what you should and shouldn't be doing,

or who you should or
shouldn't be visiting.

But I raised you, son.

And it wasn't easy. I know, Ma.

CASSIE: Well, it's good to be
reminded, even for a famous man.

I raised you.

I made sacrifices.

Your grandmother helped
me before she d*ed.

My sister helped me before she d*ed.

My brother helped me before he d*ed.

That's how hard a job
it is raising a kid.

People die from doing it!

- So don't forget them.
- I won't. I don't.

CASSIE: Good. Go visit
your grandmother's grave.

Go visit your aunt's grave.

Put some flowers there.

They are the ones who did a bunch,

not Rodney.

The only sh*t he did was the sh*t
that put him where he is now.

Don't stay up there for long.

We've been all good
since we left Boston.

Boston is in the past.

Don't bring your past
into your right now.

Okay, baby?

- Yep.
- CASSIE: I love you. Be good.

And when you get back to Atlanta,

you and your sister need to
cut it with the curiosity

'cause that sh*t kills more than cats.

Bye, baby.

I want to see proof.

Three gravestones in Long Island.

Be a fun trip long as one
of us don't get g*ng r*ped.

We won't get there till : ,
: in the morning.

Pook, I waited my entire
life for some closure.

Gas up the car. I got the keys.

Those are my mom's.

These are mine.

♪ It's gonna take a bit of work ♪

- MAN: Right this way, sir.
- ♪ Oh ho, work ♪

♪ Now that you're here ♪

♪ Whoa ho, work ♪

MISSY: Hello?

Missy, it's Trent Vaughn.

♪ But I think you should know ♪

♪ That I ♪

♪ I think this will work ♪

♪ Ooh ooh ♪

♪ Ooh ooh ooh ♪

♪ Ooh ooh ♪

♪ Ooh ooh ♪

♪ It's gonna take a little time ♪

♪ But with you by my side ♪

♪ I won't let go

♪ Till I've got what's mine ♪

♪ 'Cause people come and go ♪

♪ And you should know ♪