Oh, look. It's me and Liz.
_
I've got no purpose.
Yes, you do.
We're going to Mexico to find the scrolls.
Who gave you your orders?
Melinda. Of course.
I need to stick around and make sure Janet's not framing me.
We did it, man.
The scrolls!
I won't let go!
So what happened to Lamar?
Well, we were a little worried about him,
uh, when he didn't land,
but he called us from a gas station in Manzanillo.
He said he needed to disappear for a little while.
And, uh, you can't argue with the guy.
He's a genius, so...
Right.
Mexico.
Got to go.
Your note's due.
What?
The thousand you took as an advance
on your future shark earnings.
Oh, yeah. Wow. Seems like a really long time ago.
Uh, take your time.
Well, you know what, Burt?
I got some pretty bad news for you.
Yeah. 'Cause I got a steady job now.
So I'll be able to pay you back
ASAP and be out from underneath you forever.
Wait, Dud!
What happened to the scrolls?
Oh, they're back in London.
Where they belong.
This car's a pain in the ass, man.
I told you. You gotta keep an eye on the cooling vanes.
Morning.
- Hey. - Hey.
I appreciate the ride.
Again.
I'm gonna get the Thing back. Yeah.
First I've got to pay off my shark loan.
And my hospital bills, 'cause those are...
- Is it bad? - Yeah.
There was a stack waiting for me when I got back.
We should've just stayed in Mexico.
That's the thing about a quest.
It ends.
Then you're back on the order desk.
35 hours in a car with Tarquin.
- Mm-hmm. - That's a nightmare.
Yeah, when he wasn't crying,
he insisted on listening to Janet's book on tape.
I threw it out the window somewhere around Hermosillo
and then he slept for, like, 10 hours in the back seat.
Hey, did you see that Janet made bail?
What? Really?
Isn't she a flight risk?
You know, because of the way she flew out of the country
to avoid prosecution?
No, the laws that keep the proletariat
in their place don't apply to Janet.
She exists beyond good and evil.
Well, I guess it's back to Temp Joy for all of us.
Like a dog to vomit.
Liz, I'm just so thankful you squeezed
the last bit of juice out of Omni for us.
That bonus...
We can finally breathe a little bit.
Sarah wanted me to tell you how much she appreciates it.
It was nothing.
Hmm.
She also wanted me to tell you that she forgives you
for trying to seduce me.
Thanks. Yeah.
I-I feel like a great burden has been lifted.
- All you got to do is call. - I know. I know.
Dud, I speak Spanish. I could've helped.
It's not like I got anything going on right now.
I-I'm a made Woman in the district.
I could've gotten a substitute like that.
I know! Guys, I know!
That's why I got you these cool souvenirs.
Oh, yes. Thank you.
I missed Ernie jumping through a burning tapestry,
but I got a 50-cent shot glass, so we're all good.
What happened to the Bitcoin lady?
Daphne went back to Lodge 55
to spend some time with her new lover.
Okay? Any more questions or complaints?
All you had to do was call.
Oh, my God...
No more TVs, huh?
Uh, nope.
Didn't really go over the way I'd hoped.
So, uh, yeah, I'm just gonna see
if Best Buy will take these back.
I don't think the TVs were the problem.
I mean, they just don't belong in the tavern.
It's a place to think and talk and listen to some music.
Why don't we hold on to a couple of these?
We could, uh, set them up in the Throne Room for big games.
Make a thing of it.
Yeah...
Yeah!
That's a pretty good idea.
So, this was in your shop?
Good old Paracelsus.
I went by that place today to salvage
what I could of the decor.
The eviction went through last week.
Ah, man. I'm sorry.
I wish there was something I could do.
I'll figure something out.
Mind if I stay in the trailer until I do?
Yes, no prob. I'll just go stay with Liz.
She, you know, pretends like it's a hassle,
but she gets bored when I'm not around.
Makes me happy to see your leg start to heal.
Yep. It's getting there.
The most important thing of all of this
was pulling that shark tooth out of you.
That's my calling.
Hmm.
Pulling shark teeth out of people?
Exactly.
I'm a healer.
That's what I want to get back to.
No more scrolls.
I still have the photos.
Maybe I'll crack the code, but I'm not holding my breath.
Perhaps there is someone who can read the scrolls,
but it is not me... and I'm fine with that.
I'm done looking for a door to another world.
'Cause that door doesn't exist, right?
And some of the stuff that I've seen,
that's just...
I can only speak for myself, Dud.
Here's what I do know.
The scrolls are real.
- I held them in my hands. - Yeah.
Same with me. They smell like eggplant.
I'm more interested in the human being
behind all that stuff that brought us to Mexico.
What did Merrill know?
What did he see?
What's so special about Long Beach
and the Orbis land?
And us!
We are special.
No more special than anyone else,
- you know what I mean? - Exactly.
We just need to dig deeper.
I want to solve the mystery of this world.
Is that typing?
Good lord! You're on fire.
We can hear you clacking away all the way in the library.
Oh, sorry. This machine is a beast.
It's magic. You broke through.
It's not the typewriter.
I hate to admit this,
but it's actually the advice Lamar gave me.
He said write under a pen name.
So that's what I'm doing.
I started writing the newsletter,
but it's sort of taken off into something else.
Lamar has a gift. Yeah.
His words change people.
What's... what's your pen name?
I'm not going to tell you that.
- No, you have to. - Say it.
Abdulia Bardwell.
Wow.
That's just between us. Okay?
Absolutely. We promise.
So you, uh, you gonna make this your office?
Sure. Why not? An egg room of one's own.
Any word from Clara?
Is London going to reward us for our heroic deeds?
I haven't heard, but I'm sure all is well.
And the news from Istanbul?
Oh... right.
Um...
So, I, uh, I just, uh,
stopped for one night, and, uh...
What is it, Anil?
I can't do this anymore. It's all too much.
I am going to resign, Melinda.
I'm leaving the order.
Did something happen to you?
I wasn't in Istanbul. I was in Mexico.
I was sent to find Clara.
Who sent you?
I received a sealed letter
from the office of the Sovereign Protector.
I-I can't say what it said, obviously.
I was doing my duty, but the trip was a nightmare.
Clara was with the American, Connie.
They viciously attacked me, they knocked me over,
and I woke up with my hands and feet tied.
Anil, I'd like you to take off the blindfold.
- What? - It's okay.
You have my full permission.
It's time.
Oh, shit!
- We have a lot to talk about. - Clara...
What are you doing here?
Look, I'm sorry about Mexico.
You just stepped in the middle of something
and things got a little out of hand.
Just a little?
Right.
Well, I'm back now,
and I'm just trying to sort it all out.
I am serious about leaving the order,
so I have something I want to tell you.
They had someone at auction.
They know the scrolls were taken.
I figured that.
They also know they were brought back to Long Beach.
They know the scrolls are still there.
How do they know that?
Maybe they have someone in Long Beach.
I received another letter today.
I'm supposed to go back, but I refuse.
I'm done.
I've been dragged into something I don't understand.
Clara.
Melinda.
Whoever you are.
I am afraid you're in some real trouble.
- Synced & corrected by MementMori - -- www.addic7ed.com --
Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh!
Good effort, Abdulia.
Jesus Christ. Already?
No one around here can keep a secret.
Anybody want a... You want a beer?
- Yeah. - I'm good.
All right.
♪ Whoa, oh, oh ♪
♪ There's a fire burnin' ♪
♪ And my heart is yearnin' ♪
♪ I know you can feel it ♪
♪ I can see it in your eyes ♪
It's a good thing Dud showed up here.
You needed a squire.
Yep.
Maybe you need one, too.
Me?
Every knight needs a squire.
Why should the hospital still get money from me?
My wound is healed.
So my debt should be healed, too.
- That makes sense. - Yeah.
I mean, really, what's the worst they can do?
Dud, they'll send it to a debt collection agency.
Yeah. Yeah.
But... but... but so what?
'Cause all those guys do is they...
they knock on your door and then they say,
"Hey, you need to forfeit all your assets."
But I don't have any assets.
So, I win and they go home.
I'm not sure it'll be that easy.
It was for you.
That was kind of a one-off.
Eh.
Look, don't worry.
It's midnight. Prime time for infomercials.
Huh?
Maybe you'll find some kind of debt relief solution.
Or a really good deal on some catheters. That'd be great, too.
We didn't get a great review from Dr. Kimbrough
for your last assignment.
Mostly 3s and 4s.
- 3s and 4s? - We like all 5s.
Yeah, I know I might seem biased saying this,
but he was a lunatic, and, I believe, a felon.
Any requests, moving forward?
Yeah, do you ever, like...
bundle people for jobs?
Bundle?
Do your clients ever need a team?
I don't see what's hard to understand about this.
We're migratory creatures. We move en masse.
Temping is hard, Ross. I don't need to tell you that.
It's lonely and stressful
just dropping into someone else's world.
So why not send a...
pod of people who already know each other?
Commerce is an acid that dissolves human bonds.
- Mm. - Send in the pods.
Look, I am a better employee, husband,
and father when I'm near Liz.
This makes perfect sense.
I'm not sure I can help you,
but if you want to stay together,
why don't you find a way to do that?
Make a plan. Start a business.
Why not give it a try?
Because we have no idea what we're doing?
Most businesses that I help are complete disasters.
No one knows what they're doing.
So you have as good a chance as anyone.
Hey.
This guy at Tento Pipe said that Beautiful Jeff
offered him 20% off his china order.
But I don't think the factory is running any specials, so...
We'll eat that 20%.
Beautiful Jeff probably thinks he can get that back
and then some the next time a big project goes through Tento.
Oh.
Ernie, Dud.
If you don't mind, I'd like to speak with you two
about a personal matter.
I'm afraid it's serious.
Thanks for sitting down with me.
This is hard.
Bob, are you all right?
Life.
We all think we're gonna be around here forever,
but then...
It's a brief candle, gentlemen.
A brief candle.
What's going on, Bob?
Are you... sick?
Yeah. We're here for you, Bob.
What? No! I'm not sick.
I'm going back to school.
Oh.
I figured it's now or never.
I signed up for some more poetry classes at City College.
Plus a bunch of other stuff.
I won't be around as much,
and that's what I want to talk to you about, Ernie.
I was wondering if you could take the helm whenever I'm gone.
Stay on top of our factories,
keep our outside salesmen in line.
You got it, Bob.
And Dud.
I want you to hop on the road.
I'm in. Yeah.
Um, I have to figure out
my current vehicle situation, but it's...
I got a feeling you can sell.
Ernie will show you what's what.
Hey, uh, what about the order desk?
That's easy.
Just hire another couple of knuckleheads to take over.
- Huh? - Yeah!
Hey!
All right!
Jesus!
Hey, girlfriend.
How are you even getting in here?
Congrats on making bail.
Everything is happening just as I hoped it would.
Going to prison?
I'm at the start of my redemption narrative, Liz.
You have to die to be reborn.
I'm exactly where I want to be.
Yeah, well, I don't want you to be in my apartment, so...
Please, Liz.
I'm trying so hard.
I'm terrible at this. When I'm with you, I...
for a moment, can stop being this superhero
and be myself.
I consider us friends.
You were gonna set me up to go to jail for you.
That was so "Plan B."
Options are angel wings.
- Blammo. - Fuck you.
- Blammo. - Wait.
Tarquin has pictures of the scrolls.
We've been in touch with Daphne's people.
It's all in motion.
I had a dreamstorm, Liz.
You were a part of it.
And that ridiculous lodge that your brother belongs to.
I'm sorry, I-I know this all sounds like brilliant ramblings,
but the point is my next chapter
is going to be a doozy.
I need your violent self-destructive power
by my side... you crave death and that's power.
Be my partner.
No thank you.
Goodbye, Liz.
I'll see you soon.
Are we cool?
Uh-huh.
Pink slip's in the glove.
You're gonna take a bath trying to keep that thing running.
I'm giving it to Dud.
He knows how to work it.
He's got the magic touch.
Wow.
Hey, Burt, how long have you been here?
- A long time. - Yeah?
Since when?
- Since the beginning. - Heh.
Pawn shops have been around
since the start of civilization.
Plumbing first, then pawn shops.
- Necessities. - That's right.
Keep it simple.
There's nothing simple about it.
To do what I do,
you have to see a long way.
Hi.
- Hi. - Sorry. I got lost.
I just sort of found my way into your bomb shelter.
We don't have a bomb shelter.
Well, you... you do.
Am I dreaming?
I-I... I feel like I'm dreaming.
Yeah. Me, too.
I'm Scott.
Michelle.
I'm... I'm... I'm just gonna go back.
Michelle.
Michelle, you okay?
Yeah. I'm fine.
- These look good. - Mm.
Fresh from the farmers market.
The tunnel leads to the trailer.
No, there is another path.
I must've walked about a mile. It was nuts.
- Well, shit. - I-I know.
I know, right?
Man. Anyway, th...
that's not even the reason I came over.
Oh, yeah?
Ernie, I've made a decision.
I am stepping down from the throne.
I am appointing you Sovereign Protector.
Scott. Come on, man. You just had a rough beginning.
You can't say "no," Ernie.
I've already spread the word. And you know what?
We are doing the ceremony tomorrow night.
Also, I'm gonna lose my mind unless you take over.
I've hated every second of my reign,
and so has everybody else.
Yeah.
It's what I thought I wanted, but now...
It's not about me.
It's not about me, Ernie. This is about you.
I watched you jump through fire. You know the best...
The best I've felt in the last couple of months
was blocking for you while you were running through the hotel.
- You crushed that dude. - I did.
- Didn't I? - Yeah.
Yeah, I did.
I'm just in a... I'm in a new place.
You know? Well, I mean, we all are.
- You know, you and me... - Yeah.
... Connie.
It's scary.
Yeah.
I'm just floating along, too.
The problem is that, uh,
I don't know who the hell I am.
But you know who you are.
That's why you need to be on the throne.
You'll figure it out, Scott.
I just realized I've been in the lodge all these years,
and I've never made any real friends.
Yes, you have.
Whoo!
Whoa!
Whoo-hoo!
Whoa!
This was a good decision. It's a little more practical.
Hey, thanks again for the help, guys.
No problem.
You drilling for oil?
Uh, no. No, no.
There's, uh, nothing underneath here.
- Except the hollow Earth. - Right.
Oh, man, I miss Lamar.
Hey, we're neighbors, by the way.
I developed a little subdivision over at Orbis.
Nice.
- Do you have beer in the trailer? - Yeah.
Good. I can tell you about the territorial disputes.
They might spill over here.
Oh... Oh, hey, Blaise, don't forget about our meeting later.
Okay.
Liz, so, Sunday I-I'm taking Sarah and Floyd
out to Catalina.
- Okay. - Um, Champ's going.
- I think Gerson might make it out, too. - Oh.
And I'd... I'd love to have you come along.
You, too, Dud, if you're free.
- Catalina? - Catali... Catalina?
Yeah. On Sunday.
- Yeah! - Nice.
Great.
I'm gonna do it.
I'm gonna dig a pool.
- Really? - Yeah.
Yeah! I mean, why not?
Look, we've got the slide here.
There's more than enough room.
All right. Do it.
Hey, you're the twin.
Tony the psychic.
I knew you'd be here.
No, you didn't.
You're 100% right.
I walk the bluffs every day,
and it's just a fateful coincidence
that you happen to be here.
No, it's not.
Well, in the most literal sense of the term,
it absolutely is a coincidence.
We can assign it whatever meaning
we want after-the-fact.
Okay, fine. I assign no meaning to it.
How'd it go at the track?
Uh, we won.
Yeah, the horse that was supposed to win died.
Exactly as I planned.
I'm kidding. That's terrible.
But Lenore must have been happy.
Yeah.
Ah.
This unties all my knots.
Ever since I turned 40, I get terrible claustrophobia.
I kicked out the back window of my friend's
Yukon the other day because I was stuck in the middle seat
and my buddies wouldn't let me out.
Your friends sound like assholes.
They're more colleagues than friends.
But this is nice.
I'm a water person.
They say the ocean is a mother.
We all come from the sea.
I've been spending time in freezers.
The cold relaxes me.
I have dreams about blizzards and ice sheets.
I'm not a therapist.
You're a pretend psychic.
Thermodynamics.
Cold is an end point.
Cold is the abyss.
So basically I have a death wish.
I've heard that before.
The abyss isn't death.
That's just a fable God made up
to keep us away from the truth.
Maybe you're just drawn to what other people fear.
That probably makes you more alive.
Oh! Here he comes. Okay.
Um, all right, so we got a deal, right?
Sean, I just want someone paying rent.
I don't care who.
- Hey. - Hey, thanks for coming.
Oh, sure, yeah. Hey. What's going on?
What's all the mystery about?
Uh, Blaise, this is Mr. Lang.
He is a property agent.
Nice to meet you, Mr. Lang.
Um, well, since Dudley & Son left he's had kind of a, uh,
kind of a hard time finding a stable tenant.
Uh, and hard to say why.
You know? I don't know.
Um, could be the current economic climate.
Could be something else.
Yes, there's no way to know.
Nope, there's not.
So, anyway, I told him about you,
and, uh, well,
he's willing to offer you a really good deal,
and he said he can even float you a couple months
while you're getting your things up and running.
I... I can't take this place.
It's your family's. It's sacred.
I know.
That's why you are the only person who can be in here.
Because you understand those type of things.
And, Blaise, you're like family now,
and I want you to have a home.
I'll take good care of it.
You too, Mr. Lang.
_
Hey. Hey.
There you are.
Hey. We're about to start.
- Okay, okay. - Yeah.
- I'm ready. - All right.
Why are we whispering?
I don't know... because you whisper
when things are important;
tonight is an important night, Ernie. It's your moment.
Dud, I want this to be your moment, too.
I want to make you a knight.
You've earned it.
- Yeah? - Wow.
Wow.
Um, thanks, Ernie, but...
What is it?
I don't know.
It's weird.
I couldn't be happier than I am right now.
Truly.
I knocked on a door
and it changed everything.
I feel so lucky.
The things that I've seen and done...
I mean, I never imagined.
Mexico? Come on.
And I am so excited to see what happens next...
but right now, I...
I don't know.
All I can feel...
is this shadow.
And I wish my dad were here
to see where I am,
see where I'm going.
But I know that the only reason that I'm here
is because Liz and I lost him...
And sometimes I don't know how to square that.
I don't know if I can handle paying that kind of price.
Everything is all tangled.
The good stuff, the bad stuff...
And it just seems unfair that on some days...
all of the beautiful things in my life break my heart.
Will it always feel this way?
Yes.
Always.
But that's the deal.
Yeah.
I'm not ready to be a knight, Ernie.
I need to clock a few more miles.
Fair enough.
But in the meantime,
I've have something for you.
Holy shit.
Wha... Ernie... Wait.
Um, Ernie, how'd you afford this?
Between my dumping money and selling my Caddy,
I had enough.
Dud, it's the least I could do.
I've been here a long time.
When I first walked in that door, I was pretty lost.
But Larry was here.
And all of you.
This lodge means more to me than I can say.
I've tried to be a good knight.
I've failed many times,
but hopefully I've learned some things along the way.
For a long time
I took the lodge for granted.
I stopped seeing it, you know?
But then something happened.
This kid knocked on the door.
I was hoping it was the carpet cleaner...
But it was Dud.
And since then, well, heh,
since then a lot has happened.
And through it all... Ah, man.
Dud, I don't know how the hell you did it.
But you kept us all together.
You got us here,
you believed in this place,
and all I can now is thank you.
Thank you.
Now I'm seeing the lodge in a new way.
I still want to compete for titles
in muni league softball, yes,
but I also cannot deny some strange doors
have been opening around here.
New rooms have been discovered.
And as we move forward,
we should keep an eye on the past,
history and traditions that got us here.
Let us dig deep.
And let us remember that outside these walls,
the world can be a cold, cold place.
But in here, when we're all together,
it's different.
It's different in here.
- _ - Hey, Long Beach!
Keep your water crystal clear
with the help of Dudley Pools.
Visit our store and stock up on everything you need
to keep your home pool sparkling...
Hey!
How was the big night?
It was amazing.
And guess what?
Ernie bought the Thing back from Herman.
- Yeah. I got wheels again. - What?
- Yeah. - That's amazing.
I know.
Yeah, I've watched this a couple times, too.
Mm.
They look really happy, don't they?
Mm.
I know someone's there going,
"Okay, now look really happy, but... "
You can see it in their eyes.
Hey. I know it's late.
But will you go somewhere with me?
Where?
There's something I want to do.
Something I need to do.
But I don't want to do it alone.
I'm excited.
I've never been to Catalina.
Oh, it's great. So, what are you doing here?
You should just go.
Well, I promised I'd stay here and help clean up.
Liz is gonna come pick me up here.
Dud, uh, there's a special kind of nightshade
that grows on Catalina.
Could I place an order?
Of course.
I need to talk to you.
Holy shit.
Clara thought it was for the best.
She's worried that something is wrong in London.
She doesn't trust the people she works for.
She went back to learn more, but it's... it's all gone wrong.
She thinks that London knows the scrolls are still here.
She's asked us to do whatever we can to protect them.
From who?
From whoever might come looking for them.
- It's our duty. - Our duty?
Isn't that the duty of the "True Lodge."
Ernie, I think we are the True Lodge.
This is Melinda.
Who is this?
What? Now?
Okay. Thank you.
For God's sake.
I got it.
Hi.
Uh, is Dud in there?
I've been texting him to come out,
but his phone's probably dead.
You're Liz.
I've heard about you.
- I'm Connie. - Hi, Connie.
Nice to meet you.
- Come on in. - Oh, no, I-I'm fine.
If you could just let Dud know I'm outside.
I think you should come inside.
Are you okay?
Liz!
Hey. Are you ready to go?
Yeah, I just got to go put the roof up on my car.
I'm so glad you came in.
Isn't this place great?
Okay. I'll be be right back.
- Welcome. - Welcome, Liz.
Hey.
It's weird.
I feel like I've been here before.
- Oh! - Whoa, whoa, whoa!
- Synced & corrected by MementMori - -- www.addic7ed.com --