01x02 - I've Got the World on A String

[bunniefuu]

Previously on "Twenties"

- Are you late

with your rent again?

- Now I've hit rock bottom.

- So you wanna be my assistant.

- That's the job, right?

- It doesn't mean

that you wanna do it.

- If you wanted to be a writer,

you'd be writing every day.

- Why don't you stop

micromanaging my life

and worry about

why you and Chuck

ain't had sex

in three months.

- What's the point

of speaking your mind

if you're only gonna

apologize for it?

I do need a writers PA.

- Longer hours and less money.

- Yep.

- I'll take it.

- You start tomorrow.

["I've Got the World

on a String" playing]

♪

- Congrats, b*tch.

You finally got a job.

- I know it's not

the job you wanted,

but at least it's a job

on a scripted show.

And it's about a black woman

with a messed up, sad life.

You know all about that.

- I'm just happy

to be in the mix.

'Cause eventually,

one of the writers

is gonna ask

to read my script,

and when they do,

they gonna be like,

"Oh, sh*t.

This is amazing."

Then they gonna call up Ida B.

and be like,

"Ay, yo, Ida,

"why you got her

running around here

"grabbing coffee

when she need to be

in the writer's room

dropping gems?"

- That's not gonna happen.

- You need to

will it into existence.

- Marie, you don't know.

- Yes, I do.

You need to be the best

writer's PA they've ever had.

That's the only way

you're gonna move up.

- Oh, make no mistake,

I'm gonna slay.

- When I teach yoga

at that office,

it always feel like

the aura needs to be cleansed.

There's too much ego

and not enough vulnerability.

You should take some sage

with you.

- I'm not wasting

my good sage on them.

- I'm gonna give you

some unsolicited advice.

- That is the only advice

you give.

- Don't be late.

- I won't.

- You want me to walk with you?

- No, I'm good.

- Only speak when spoken to.

- It's not a plantation.

- Yes, it is.

Massa just happens

to be a crazy black woman.

Oh, and don't mess up

the coffee orders.

You'll never live it down.

And the writers assume

that if you can't get

their coffee right,

then you're not worth

the minimum wage

they're paying you.

- Hmm.

- Oh.

And don't fall under her spell.

She's a showrunner, not Prince.

Ida develops really close

relationships with people,

particularly women.

She takes them on trips,

calls them

all hours of the night,

tells them her deep,

dark secrets.

Things get really intense,

and then, out of nowhere,

she gets bored

and never talks to them again.

One of the girls she ghosted

tried to commit suicide.

- [sucks teeth]

I heard she moved back home.

- Same difference.

- Well, I'll try my best

not to make eye contact.

All right, boos, I gotta go.

- You wanna do some breathing

exercises before you go?

Nah, I'm all right.

[hip-hop beats]

- I'm so proud of her.

♪

- She's going the wrong way.

- This sh*t

is a girl blunt ♪

I only smoke girl blunts ♪

[shutter clicking]

- Yeah, yeah ♪

- Nah, that's too chip, right?

- Yeah ♪

- Nah, I look like I gotta pee.

♪

[shutter clicks]

Ooh, sexy!

But not too desperate.

Perfect, you can use that one.

[printer whirring]

I wasn't gonna

take another one.

["I've Got the World

on a String" playing]

♪

- I've got the world ♪

On a string ♪

Sittin' on a rainbow ♪

Got the string ♪

Around my finger ♪

[dramatic musical flourish]

What a world ♪

What a life, I'm in love ♪

♪

I've got a song

that I sing ♪

I can make the rain go ♪

Anytime I move my finger ♪

Lucky me ♪

Can't you see I'm in love? ♪

- Don't touch that!

That's a prop.

- Life is

a beautiful thing ♪

- To your left

is the soundstage

where "Shark Summer"

was filmed.

See those rocks?

They're Styrofoam,

but people usually take them

for granite.

[shutters clicking]

Oh, she is very stylish.

Or he.

Or maybe that's a they.

Unclear.

Well, to your left,

you will see another studio.

[elevator dings]

[upbeat music]

♪

- What? ♪

[stuttering vocalizations]

- Hey, sis.

- What? ♪

- That's Courtney.

Remember me?

I'm Ben's boo!

[squeals]

Welcome, girlfriend.

- What the

- [laughs]

I knew I felt a kinship.

- Thanks.

What do you do here?

- Oh, I'm Ida's assistant.

I wanted to tell you

the other night,

but it wasn't about me.

[both chuckle]

Hey, the writers

haven't gotten here yet,

but when they do, I'm sure

they'll want their coffee.

- Cool.

- Hit that pose,

take that flick ♪

Check your angle,

post that ♪

- You want me

to take that for you?

- Oh, nah.

I like a selfie.

- Hit that pose,

take that flick ♪

- Good morning, ladies.

all: Good morning.

Hattie, what are you doing?

- Uh, waiting for someone

to tell me what to do.

- That's your first mistake.

This isn't a classroom.

It's a job.

- Be a self-starter.

- I'm gonna do a coffee run.

What can I get you?

- A vanilla latte

with almond milk.

I don't do dairy.

I'm lactose intolerant.

- Well, truth is,

we're all lactose intolerant.

Dairy is the devil's food.

- [laughs]

Yeah.

[indistinct chatter]

[phone tapping]

- Hattie, the writers are here.

[sweeping orchestral music]

♪

[indistinct chatter]

- So you want

a caramel macchiato

with a little bit

of foam on top.

No foam on the top?

You want a little bit

of drizzle on top?

You don't? Okay.

A regular black coffee,

no cream, no sugar, no nothing?

Okay, so you want a chai latte

with two shots of espresso

and a little bit of cinnamon

on top?

Got you.

How do you have everyone's

coffee order already?

They order the same thing

every day.

I typed it up a while ago

so I could have their coffees

ready when they got here.

- Why did you just watch me

chase all the writers down

like a crazy person?

- You looked so happy

with your little pen and pad,

I didn't wanna take that

away from you. [laughs]

I'd lose the badge

if I were you.

- That's the last time

I swipe right on someone

who has a profile pic taken

from a super-high angle.

- [laughs]

- Marie, you're so lucky.

What do you mean?

- You have

the perfect relationship.

- There is no such thing.

I feel like you just gotta find

somebody you can work with

and then go from there.

It's kinda like Build-A-Bear.

[dramatic ringtone plays]

- sh*t.

- Hi, Ma.

- Mother's beauty.

- How much this time?

- Oh, Christ with a capital C.

I hope you're not so

wham-bam-thank-you-ma'am

with that scrumptious Chuck.

You know, foreplay

is a girl's best friend.

- Hi, Mrs. Owens.

I'm here, too.

- Oh, hello, Nile.

How's your Zumba class?

- It's Nia,

and I teach yoga.

- How wonderful for you.

- Ma, I'm about to go

into the office so could

you just spit it out, please?

- Okay, I need 5K to raise

a table at a blackjack game.

The pot is brilliant

life-changing, really.

- Even if you win, your life

is gonna look exactly the same.

- Oi, my winnings paid

for that unforgettable day

at Disneyland when you were 12,

young miss.

- So don't get cheeky with me.

- I don't have time for this.

- Think about it, darling.

Please.

I've had a rough go

of it lately.

[mellow music]

[keypad beeps]

- My mom's crazy, too.

♪

[dramatic music]

♪

- All right, go ahead

and ring all that up.

That should be good.

[cell phone ringing]

What up, Ni?

- How's your first day going?

- [sucks teeth]

I already have a nemesis.

- So soon?

- Yep, she's black.

And her name Courtney.

It must be hard being

a black girl with a white name.

Why is she your nemesis?

- I don't know,

but she's acting like

I stole her bike.

- Try to send her love

and light.

- I ain't sending her sh*t.

All right, Nia, I gotta go.

[line disconnects]

- Okay.

- Damn.

- Here you go.

- II got it.

Oh, thanks, though.

- Mm- hmm.

You must work at the studio.

- Yeah, not for long

if these coffees get cold.

- Thanks.

- Mm-hmm.

I'm Idina.

- Cool.

[upbeat music]

[indistinct chatter]

♪

- [inhales sharply] Um,

they usually put the letter A

on the cup

to signal the beverage was made

with almond milk.

- Damn it.

It was loud as hell in there.

And I had a g*ng of orders.

- So what?

- Wasn't nobody talking to you.

- Look, I always get

the same exact thing as Ida.

I figure

if I wanna be just like her,

I should order like her, too.

- That's weird, but okay.

- You can give her mine.

- [sucks teeth]

- [laughs]

- Thank you.

- Yeah.

I'll drink the devil's latte.

I have the genetics for it.

- Have you found the next

Barry Jenkins yet?

- Shut up.

- Look, I commend you

for wanting to find

black auteurs,

but the truth is,

most of them aren't that great.

- When was the last time

you read a script

written by a black person?

When was the last time

you had dinner

with a black person?

Besides me.

- I'm not interested in making

straight-to-Redbox movies.

Do you know

there's a movie called

"Who Made the Potato Salad?

- I am aware.

Hattie's mom made us watch it

with her last Christmas.

You know, I didn't hate it.

Also, Zack just assigned me

to the director's

passion project,

"Rosa Parks: Before the Bus"

- Don't let 'em tokenize you.

- Please.

You love being

the only black man here.

- It does have its advantages.

- Yeah, you get to act like

you're the authority

on all things black.

- That's not true.

You spent the last staff

meeting talking about

how much you love

"Black p*ssy,"

which was written

by a white writer.

- The working title

is "Black P."

And I found that script

to be very entertaining.

- Really?

That script entertained you?

- It surprised me.

- You know

what would surprise me?

- What?

- If you put your D

in a black P.

- Tried it once,

and it wasn't for me.

- What happened?

She wasn't loud enough for you?

- Actually, she wasn't.

- I'm sure Lauren screams

every time you look at her.

- Actually, she does.

- No wonder you have

delusions of grandeur.

[knocks]

- Hey, Marie.

Ah!

This is what I love to see.

Two of my favorite employees

going toe-to-toe.

- Hey, Zack.

- Hey, so how's

the Rosa Parks movie coming?

I heard Tiffany Haddish passed?

- Yeah, her schedule

just got a little crazy.

- [groans] Okay.

- But I did get a call

from Misty Copeland's reps,

and apparently they wanna

do the Raven Wilkinson story.

- Ohh.

I don't know who that is.

- She was the first

black ballerina

with a major company.

- [sighs]

I'm over the whole

"first black" thing.

You think she'd be down

to do "Black p*ssy"?

- No.

No, I don't think

she'd wanna do that.

- 'Cause of the title?

- It's because

of a lot of things.

- Cardi B might be interested.

- Are you serious?

- I'm friends

with her Pilates teacher.

- No, you're not.

- Yes, I am.

- Oh, my God!

- I'll set a freakin' meeting.

Bro, I could kiss you

right now.

- Oh, you've gotta wait.

- [laughs]

- Thank you.

- Thank you.

[somber hip-hop music]

♪

[sensual R&B music playing]

- Whatever it is

that you do ♪

When you do

what you do to me ♪

♪

- Breathe in the peace,

beauty and perfection

of this moment.

- I am.

- My heart starts

beating triple time ♪

- Thank yourselves,

thank your hearts,

thank your bodies

for committing

to this class today.

You brought your whole selves,

and I appreciate you.

Have a beautiful day.

Namaste.

all: Namaste.

♪

- Thank you for

deepening my stretch.

- It was my pleasure.

- Look, I'm going

to the helipad tonight

to look at some stars

if you wanna roll.

- I accept.

- [chuckles]

Dope.

Meet me there at 8:00?

- Well, let me get your number

so I can text you

when I get there.

- Oh, I don't have a phone.

- What?

- They interfere

with human connection

and the authentic experience

of the world.

- [laughs]

Are you serious?

- I hope you don't think

that's weird.

- It is weird.

- [laughs softly]

Just meet me out front.

I'ma be the only black dude

there wearing moccasins.

8:00.

[soft music]

- How's your first day going?

- Pretty good.

- What's pretty good mean?

- Um, it means it's going well.

But I guess it could be

going better.

- And what would

make it better?

- If I could be closer

to the writing part.

- The writing part?

- Yeah, well,

I'm a creative person,

so I guess it would be cool

if I could see you guys

do some creative stuff.

- I'll keep that in mind.

- Okay.

But just so you know,

I'm just happy to be here.

I don't need you

to do anything more

than you're already doing.

Seriously, I'm good.

I am blessed

and highly favored.

- Why do you do that?

- Do what?

- Ask for what you want

and then apologize for it.

- I didn't realize

that's what I was doing.

- Lauren, where are those

sketches that Diana wanted?

[papers rustling]

- Don't do that.

- I'll never do it again.

- Here. Take these over

to the art department.

- Where's that?

- Figure it out.

- Where the hell

is the art department?

- You want a map?

["Spaceships"

by Tank and the Bangas]

- Look at all the money ♪

Look at all the money ♪

Money fallin' from the sky ♪

I got my hands out,

I got my hands out ♪

- That girl is a blizzard ♪

Ice cold thing,

that's a winter ♪

But my family goes off

like a meter ♪

I got a Hummy, go ♪

That's my guzzler ♪

[phone chimes]

- What?

[frantic music]

♪

- Uh-huh.

No, I gave myself

that note already.

- [indistinct speech]

- I'm already on it.

- Damn.

- I need advice.

I'm about to go on a date.

- Yoga dude?

- Yes.

- Since when is there

a yoga dude?

- But there's a problem.

- Already?

- This n*gro don't believe

in phones.

- I don't even know

what that means.

- He doesn't have a phone.

- How does he live?

- Turn around, now.

- But I'm already dressed.

- Just go on the date

and then ghost his a*s.

- You can't ghost somebody

that ain't got no phone.

This some serial k*ller sh*t.

I saw a story on "20/20"

about a dude

who used to take his dates

to look at the stars

and then strangle them

behind a giant telescope

with his jump starter cables.

I was, uh

- Digging your own grave,

one personal phone call

at a time?

- Why not get weird?

Let's get weird ♪

Why not get weird?

Let's get weird ♪

- What do you do?

- I

I'd rather not say.

- Is that because

you're a serial k*ller?

- No.

[laughs]

No, it's cause

I don't like labels.

You know what I'm saying?

There's what we do

and then

there's who we really are.

- So what are you?

- Technically,

I'm a photographer.

- How do people book you?

- [laughs]

I have a email.

I'm not Amish.

Look up.

- What?

- Look up at the stars.

Now look at them

with your phone.

- Oh.

- It's not as good, is it?

- No, it's not.

- No, exactly.

I'd rather just

be in the moment

than always trying

to capture it.

- But isn't that your job

as a photographer,

to capture

unforgettable moments?

- Well, this is an

unforgettable moment right now.

Standing under the stars

with you.

[romantic music]

What's better than that?

How could a person

possibly capture this?

You know,

it's not just a moment.

Thisthis is a feeling.

♪

[phone chimes]

[sighs]

[mellow music]

[phone tapping]

- This is the one.

- This one's $25 less.

- n*gro, please, it's $25.

- Yes, it's $25 today.

But that's $1,000

20 years from now.

- How are you so cheap?

You have a trust fund.

- That's how I got

a trust fund.

Look, my great granddaddy's

motto was,

"Money talks, but it only

knows two words: good bye."

- I don't even want it anymore.

- What?

Don't be that way.

I'm just trying to look out

for the future

and our three kids.

- I thought we said two.

Well, I've been thinking,

and an even number of kids

feels boring.

Yeah, three means we had two,

went through some sh*t,

decided we still

loved each other

and accidentally

[dramatic ringtone plays]

- Oh, no.

Yes, Mother?

- Finally!

Why haven't you picked up

any of my calls?

I've been trying you all day.

Is it a yes or a no?

- Ma, it's not like

you're asking me for 50 bucks.

- Hey, hey, hey.

Hello, Mrs. Owens.

- Chuck, darling!

I have told you

to call me Shirley.

I didn't know she was with you.

I hope I'm not interrupting.

- Actually, you are.

Shirley, you have

a gambling problem.

I'm serious, Shirley.

I know the associate producer

of "Iyanla: Fix My Life."

Don't make me call him

and get you on the show.

- Ma, I will get you

half of the money,

but you have to get the rest

somewhere else.

- That'll work.

- Why'd you do that?

- Because she's my mother.

- You can't keep

letting her do this.

- I know.

I love you.

- I know.

[mischievous music]

♪

- Aim higher.

- I'm sorry, but do you have

some sort

of vendetta against me?

- I'm trying to help you.

- By disrespecting my dreams?

- You're dreaming about winning

a Black Folks United award?

- What's wrong with that?

- Why would you want an award

from an organization that voted

"Me and You, Your Momma

and Your Cousin, Too"

best movie of the year?

- I like that movie.

- [scoffs]

- [chuckles]

I won't let Ida know

you entered the shrine.

- Does this ever

get any easier?

- I'm sure it will

once Courtney gets over

hating you for taking her job.

- What?

- I might as well

pour all the tea.

She applied for your job,

but didn't get it

at the last minute.

Ida just told her that

someone needed the opportunity

more than she did.

That person was you.

- May I?

- Yes, you may.

- Good night.

[chuckles]

- If you had a phone,

I would text you

all the freaky things

I might do to you

the next time I see you.

- [laughs softly]

I thought you were celibate.

- There are plenty of freaky

things I can do to you

that have nothing to do

with intercourse.

- Don't text about it.

Be about it.

["What a Diff'rence

a Day Makes" playing]

♪

[women vocalizing softly]

- What a difference ♪

A day made ♪

♪

24 little hours ♪

[man and woman

moaning passionately]

Brought the sun

and the flowers ♪

♪

Mm ♪

Where there used

to be rain ♪

[phone chimes]

My yesterday was blue,

dear ♪

Today,

I'm a part of you, dear ♪

- [groans]

- My lonely nights

are through dear ♪

♪

Since you said

you were mine ♪

[phone chiming]

Lord, what a difference

a day makes ♪

[indistinct vocalizations]

[bassy electronic music]

- Hey ♪

Hey ♪

Hey ♪

Hey ♪

♪

Hey, hey ♪