It's just gone 6 a.m.
The public inquiry into the government's three-month long bailout
of green energy startup Lumi
is being held today in Westminster.
Taxpayers are outraged by the two billion-pound bailout.
It seems fingers are being pointed
at the Lumi CEO, Henry Muck,
at the government for bailing out a sinking ship,
and at investment bank Pierpoint,
for overvaluing Lumi's initial public offer.
How's Rob feeling about the select committee?
I can't believe they're sending someone so junior.
It's total dereliction of duty on Pierpoint's part.
Yes, borderline abusive at this point.
I don't know why he's doing it.
Yeah, well, it doesn't sit well with me.
I'm gonna make it right.
Can you do something for me?
Can you be vulnerable with me if I'm vulnerable with you?
Okay.
Can you relieve yourself on me?
What?
What the fuck are you talking about?
I'm not a pervert.
It's like an intimacy thing, okay?
Yeah, I feel like we've reached the stage
where I can ask you to do this for me and not be shamed.
Okay.
I mean, I'm not sure that I can relax, but...
Just piss and think of England.
You really want me to do this?
I'm not a pervert.
I'm practical.
This is the one situation where I get to control my helplessness.
Okay.
Let me relax.
Thank you for trusting me.
Big up!
Children's Investment Trust Charity Day.
This is your annual chance to save your souls.
Remember, donations are tax-deductible,
so it's a fucking win-win in my opinion.
Booyakasha!
People respond emotionally before they respond intellectually,
so we're gonna go with the blue.
Tory blue.
It's more of a royal blue. It's a sympathetic color.
And we'd like you to wear these glasses.
- I don’t wear glasses. - They're non-prescription.
It's very much in your interest that you stick to this statement.
If they ask you any awkward questions,
just say, "I refer to my statement."
Are you Pierpoint's lawyer or mine?
I'm instructed by Pierpoint. You can be rest assured
that to the extent that your interests and Pierpoint's interests coincide,
I shall be looking after your interests today.
With respect, that's not very encouraging.
Sorry, what if I flat-out refuse to do this?
Rob, a company man would do this.
You're a company man.
It's just an information gathering exercise.
The government spent billions bailing out Lumi,
and the opposition is pointing fingers.
But that's not on you. You're not on trial here.
Any questions come up about Henry's integrity
or, indeed, Lumi's highly risky business strategy,
we don't advise that you implicate Lumi,
but your silence on these matters would be useful
in allowing people to draw their own conclusions.
Against Lumi in favor of Pierpoint.
Henry and Lumi will take any opportunity they can
to throw you under the bus.
So...
Lisa Dearn's on that committee.
The Shadow Energy Secretary.
She's an up-and-comer.
And a fucking Rottweiler.
Means eyeballs and good political capital for her,
but she's gonna grandstand, play to the gallery.
What's the narrative gonna be?
Dearn's gonna paint this as a big bank
over-inflating a startup into a national utility,
which she believes should be publicly owned anyway,
only for the taxpayer to foot the bill when it went tits up.
Off the record,
what do Adler and the higher-ups make of all this?
They're disowning it,
pretending it's a local, UK-centric issue
that'll be swallowed by the next news cycle.
But the more we can do
to lay blame at Lumi's feet, the better.
Why didn't we send a tank in?
Why didn't you go in and rip Henry's head off?
Because after COP, I'm the very public,
internal face of Lumi's failure.
I want a new one.
And so we're not at cross purposes here,
Robert's expendable?
He's a young man early in his career.
He'll recover.
The randomizer of the universe
is laughing at us as it spits out our bingo card.
A select committee and the Children's Investment Trust event
on the same day.
I've already spoken to the photographer
about avoiding Yasmin Hanani, but can you sensitively adios her?
I don't think that the charity want
the Charles Hanani association on their Twitter feed.
It's endearing you try so hard.
- Nice calves. - Rishi in the porno.
It's for the kids.
Rishi in the punani. Bop!
Hey, it's-a me, generic Italian plumber.
Okay.
Rish, can I have a word, please?
Sweetpea, you do look very fetching in your outfit.
All I wanna know is, does the carpet match the drapes?
That's pathetic.
- I'm not sure it is. - So, thanks for that.
Thanks for making such an effort.
You are welcome.
Ooh, this is nice.
What is it exactly you're doing on my desk?
I don't know.
Call your boss, he'll tell you.
Yo, what time you on the box, Bob?
You look like you're due in court for a racially motivated murder.
I spoke to Henry, you know,
he says this has got nothing to do with you.
He wouldn't lie to me, so you're gonna be fine, okay?
Yeah.
That's the exact opposite of what Eric just told me.
Yas, can I speak to you about my rotation project?
Sorry, I, um-- I have to firm up a meeting with LeviathanAlpha.
Please, um-- Please.
You could just listen to me, like, for once.
I'm bringing this to you because I do not want you
to look fucking stupid as my line manager.
I'm making a call, Sweetpea.
Is it 'cause I is Black?
- Um, Eric, can I talk to you? - In a little bit.
I was working late last night on this indicator model.
Well, it's turned into more of a risk assessment now.
Sweetpea, Robert's my focus this morning, okay?
Okay, yeah. No, I get that, um...
And I’m sorry, I don’t-- I don’t wanna be too forthright
but I actually think this is really important right now.
So I'm gonna, I'm gonna wait in a meeting room over there
until you come and talk to me.
- All right, in third place Paul and Ben... - Okay?
- ...who've come as Jimmy Savile... - Okay.
...and his mother's corpse.
In second place, Bilal, who's come as Bobby Sands,
complete with very inventive dirty protest make-up.
But the winner this year, Leanne and Julie...
I'm gonna call you back. I'll just see you at 4:00.
- Okay. - Uh, quick one.
It might be a good idea for you to take a personal day.
What do you mean? Like a day off?
Well... you want your privacy.
Yeah, when a fucking pap is camping out on my cistern,
not when I'm doing my job.
Eric, the last thing I want is for any of this shit
to affect my life in here.
Can you not throw your toys out of the pram?
Don't patronize me, okay? I'm not one of your daughters.
I'm just trying to offer you a little protection
from the glare of the spotlight in a tough time.
That's all.
I appreciate that.
But, you know, I've just gotten off a call with LeviathanAlpha,
who, let's be honest, left us a pretty shitty quarterly review.
What a surprise.
Harper's power to give us a bad review must really light up
the pleasure centers in her brain.
I've just set up a 4 p.m.
between Harper and Daisy, the CIT's new PM.
She's just moved over from Crux.
I have been speaking to her for weeks.
She thinks that Petra and Harper are cutting-edge.
You know, I can make this connection.
You know, we give the Children's Investment Trust
five percent of our PNL on Charity Day as gesture,
which they then end up reinvesting through us anyway.
It's a waste of my time.
Well, okay, it's not a waste of mine.
We have no idea where Daisy's gonna end up in a few years,
and I'm looking for longevity in this business,
so I'm going to introduce Harper and Petra
to the Children's Investment Trust at 4 p.m. today.
By the way, just so we're clear,
I certainly don't see you as my daughter.
Okay?
Apologies, I know this select committee is like a-- it's a big deal, so...
I've just-- I've been-- I'm a little freaked out
and no one here is listening to me.
So, I don't know.
I could, I could be adding two and two and be getting five,
but I also could be adding two and two and be getting four.
And four would be like... really bad.
So, like, five minutes? Ten minutes?
- Okay. - Okay.
- Let's start with five. - Okay, cool.
So, obviously, there's a trend of IPOs being pulled,
and ESG is experiencing a downturn.
Thank you for highlighting that for me.
So, um, I was speaking to my friend, Amir, in Fixed Income,
and he said that Pierpoint issued,
like, a fuck ton of senior secured debt around five years ago,
and it's about to reach maturity,
and there's literally no bid for it anywhere.
So this, this capital-raising strategy
coincidentally but also perhaps dangerously lines up
with the timing of our own ESG pivot.
So what are you saying?
Look, I could, I could probably get in a lot of trouble for this.
You know, with, like, the Chinese walls and everything.
But, um, my friend, Magdelena in Banking,
said that every IPO roadshow that they've done
over the past three months has gone badly.
No company coming to market will want Pierpoint to be its bookrunner.
And pretty much all of the IPOs
that Pierpoint have underwritten are in limbo
between postponement and pulling completely.
And the equity within these prospective companies
is close to zero by now.
No one wants them.
The valuations have completely collapsed.
Go on.
So, um... this is the kicker.
My friend, Keval, in Asset Management
said that Pierpoint took equity stakes
to facilitate these deals.
Is it possible that these prop bets are all going to zero?
So...
what you are saying is two plus two equals fucked?
Well, yeah.
Yeah, yeah.
Okay.
Sweetpea, this is what we're gonna do about this.
The way you gleaned this information
is potentially a regulatory issue,
a confidentiality issue,
and a disciplinary issue.
I think it's best for you
and whoever you... concocted this little conspiracy with
that you all go back to your desks
and do your fucking jobs.
Understood?
Yeah.
Yeah, sorry.
Hey, are you still in the UK?
At City Airport. Just landed from Switzerland.
Can you-- Can you come to the office?
I need to speak to you.
Haven't you got both eyes on the select committee?
Is this-- Is this more urgent?
I'll lay it out, and you can tell me.
You read the statement, make it clear and concise,
but don't make it interesting. The more boring, the better.
- Understood? - Yeah, all right.
Our role is to provide fledgling businesses with capital,
and we remind you that throughout bringing Lumi to market,
we made good on Pierpoint's foundational tenet...
doing business with integrity.
Thank you.
Why are you here?
Actually, let me rephrase that.
Why are we here?
Sorry, I... I'm not following.
Why are we here?
I was asked to be.
We're here because your employer overvalued Lumi,
which provided an essential service,
fanned its untenable growth trajectory
to the point where it had to be placed
under emergency government control
and bailed out by the taxpayer
to the tune of two billion pounds.
Do you agree that's why we're here?
I'd like to refer back to my statement, um, in that--
I spent my weekend reading testimony
from customers that Lumi failed.
And I'd share them aloud here, but we'd be here till next week.
I'd implore you to avail yourself of these.
But I fear the human cost will always be something
of an abstraction for people in your line of work.
I didn't think I heard a question
in the Shadow Energy Secretary's statement.
Rather an ad hominem attack.
One statement from a Lumi employee
called you Sir Henry's "whipping boy."
Is that a fair characterization?
I'd say you're more Pierpoint's whipping boy,
given that they've sent someone so junior
and youthful to face the music for them.
I do find myself feeling sorry for you.
I work in Equity Capital Markets.
That requires a certain level of time spent with management.
Sorry, I, um-- I refer to my statement--
"Time spent with management"
seems underpowered for what you really mean.
According to statements from an anonymous Lumi employee,
your relationship with Muck was,
and I quote here, "intimate."
I don't understand how this is relevant to the inquiry.
I think a level of incestuousness
between Pierpoint and Lumi might be at the crux
of the valuation problem.
I'd refer again to your use of the word "integrity."
I wonder if you might actually make good on that...
platitude.
Would you say that we've established
that you spent enough time
in Muck's orbit to make a character assessment of him?
I don't know.
Probably.
Then how would you characterize his relationship
with the young women he worked with?
I...
Because I have a... a source
at Lumi who it is incumbent on me to protect
who's made it very clear
that Muck ran a predatory environment.
She was indeed a victim of Muck's predation.
Again, how is this germane to our purpose here today?
This is the second and now largest bailout
since the introduction of the sweeping energy bailout bill.
The British taxpayer has been forced
to bail out a company created by a force of personality.
They deserve to know what kind of personality
they're footing the bill for.
Uh, sorry, Chair, um, I need to, um...
Sorry, uh, can I go to the toilet, please?
Let's reconvene in 20 minutes.
Keep it together.
Who's the Arab kid on my desk, by the way?
That's Ali.
His family are high up in the Egyptian government.
They have ties with the Al-Mi'raj Holding Company
out of the Gulf.
Big investors in our asset management division.
They wanted to give him a job, you know?
The usual "client's son" nepo thing.
How bad is our balance sheet?
Let's forget the Chinese wall for a moment.
Give it to me undiluted.
Where have you been?
John Lindsay's stepping down.
We're getting a new CEO?
Captain for a storm.
Who is it?
I wouldn't wanna preempt the final decision.
I, uh...
I want you to come see me at my place tonight
for a more intimate confab.
Tell me, honestly.
Is there a storm coming, Bill?
It's already here.
Look, can you tell me what's happening?
Like, what are they actually asking me?
None of this stuff about Henry's character was in any of the briefings.
Well, did you know about any of this?
No, I don't know what she's talking about.
Like, I really don't know.
They're giving you an open goal to hurt him.
These allegations could shift the attention from Pierpoint to Henry.
So...
go for it. Hurt him.
He's here.
Are you a predator, Mr. Muck?
Henry, you said you'd be here.
How much did you make, Mr. Muck?
Do you feel guilty, Mr. Muck?
What happened with Caedi?
It is not relevant.
Then why are they pinning me to the wall
for the fact that you fuck your employees?
Mate, lower your voice.
You don't know what you're talking about.
None of it is pertinent to why we are here.
No, it's pertinent because you use your power
to get your dick wet and somehow my job now is to answer for it.
Listen to me. Look at me.
You have to believe me.
All right?
This isn't anything.
It's a whole load of nothing.
It's not going to go anywhere because there's nothing there.
Mr. Spearing, a former Lumi employee
that I've had close contact with, attests that she was,
quote, "relentlessly and romantically
pursued by Henry Muck."
He bought her clothes and then offered her a position of power
in exchange for inappropriate relations.
The employee was then flown out to the UN climate conference,
which you attended with Mr. Muck.
And this employee was then, quote, "frozen out."
Mr. Spearing, do you believe this statement?
Do you believe this woman?
Spearing...
I'd like to speak to my barrister privately, please.
Mr. Spearing, are you aware that Henry is now
in a relationship with a Pierpoint employee?
I'm sure that would be of great interest to the regulators.
I refer to my statement.
Oh, fuck.
We can dress this up as an information gathering exercise,
but ultimately, we're here to assign blame.
I wanna be honest.
I have to face up to my own culpability, and...
this is the most humble day of my life.
I think the most important thing
is to be vulnerable in front of you right now.
I, uh, like you, believed I was engaged
in a public service.
Our mission was to disrupt
a stagnant and monopolistic industry,
and the little guy failed.
Yeah, we-- we overshot.
I assure you, the animating spirit
that caused us to overshoot
is the same one that made us feel that we were doing good for the country.
And your failure to model for a correction in natural gas prices?
Your unsustainably low introductory price point?
Less than five percent of your so-called "green power"
was from renewable energy sources.
You've "greenwashed" your credentials.
The only thing I'm guilty of is optimism.
Now, I am happy to answer any questions about my business,
and I will swiftly and judiciously
respond to any contentions about my private life,
privately, out of respect for those who raise them.
I won't let this story be just another bailout
consigned to the dustbin of history by the relentless pursuit of capital.
What about the 145 million pounds in stock
you sold before Lumi went into emergency government control?
How much of that have you paid in restitution to your victims?
This should have been a criminal investigation from the outset.
You should serve prison time for what you've done.
You are a mercenary.
Well, unlike you, I don't take pleasure in the suffering of others.
Yeah, and in terms of the, um,
the valuation and the, uh, the overheated, uh...
excitement around the... the IPO,
well, that would lay at the feet of our bankers.
Now, you keep using the word predatory.
If there is a predatory side to capitalism,
they are on it, we are not.
What a slippery shit.
I hope this is worth it? Just to see your old office?
I genuinely think that it could be useful.
Door opening.
I'm just gonna pee, but I'll catch up with you.
Okay, I'll see you in the meeting room.
Door closing.
What's going on?
I just...
I think I really fucked it up with Eric.
Oh, don't worry about him.
Why don't you sit in on this meeting with Harper and Petra?
Eric's allergic to Harper.
Trust me, your tears are wasted in here.
What happened?
Well, that's kind of sensitive.
And I... I don't-- I don't really know if there's anything to it.
Okay, well, don't say anything that's gonna get us into trouble.
There was this Euro Swaps kid who once spoke
about the fact that he spent his entire signing-on bonus
on Pornhub Premium and Oliver Peoples glasses
- in a lift with an MD. - All right.
He got sacked.
You never know who's listening.
Okay, so, um... I outlined this hypothesis.
Eric shot it down pretty viciously, but I think...
Pierpoint Asset Management might have
taken an outsize prop bet as part of our ESG pivot,
funded by debt that is about to reach maturity.
It's a balance sheet motherload.
Okay.
Honestly...
I think this is way above our pay grades.
Look, I have a lot going on today, okay?
But just don't let the geezers get you down.
Right?
I'm gonna go for a piss now, okay?
But you're good.
It was a stroke of genius. I think you did brilliantly.
Look, I'm getting a lot of heat about Henry
and the possibility of criminal proceedings.
We can't be associated with that.
What, I can, can I?
You need a fucking scapegoat.
Why fuck me?
Why did you choose to fuck me?
Because you're fuckable, Robert, all right?
I'm sorry. From a company level, you're fuckable.
Don't... Don't look at me.
Eric said you were expendable.
Hey. Hey, Rob, Rob, breathe, breathe.
It's Eric.
It's fucking-- It's Pierpoint.
They've hung me out to dry, Yas.
They're gonna fire me.
Maybe don't question the jailer when he hands you the keys, you know?
Getting away from all these people,
is that such a bad thing?
And from the very first instance,
I would contend that Lumi was far too
closely enmeshed with government.
We believed Lumi could be a beacon
for what the British tech and energy sectors
were capable of.
You were very quick to ratify a bailout.
Was that because you wanted to... soften the landing for a Lumi CEO?
I don't believe in bailouts philosophically,
but it was a moral issue.
Homes were going cold.
In all my dealings with Henry Muck,
I never questioned his integrity.
You're defending a man whose misconduct allegations
seem to be growing exponentially.
I don't think that's what we're here to talk about.
Pierpoint ended up as Lumi's lead underwriter.
Did that have anything to do with the fact that you started your career there?
Does the fact that you started your career
at the energy regulator Ofgem,
have anything to do with the lack of supervision
over Lumi's finances?
I don't follow.
What's that got to do with anything?
My point exactly.
It's a coincidence.
Okay, so it's not Lumi's fault,
and I assume you're here to ensure
that it's not the government's fault, so...
Secretary of State, whose fault is it?
My department dropped the ball
and therefore the responsibility is mine and mine only.
The goalposts over what's acceptable in public life
have shifted over the last half-decade
due in part to my party's leadership.
Scandal has become such an iterative process for us
that it has ceased to become scandal.
But I am here to prove to you
and the public,
that I still believe in accountability in politics.
Which is why I've come from Number Ten,
where I tendered my resignation to the Prime Minister.
You have no idea how lucky we just got.
She just made the government the story.
What are you talking about how lucky "we" got?
You mean me.
And on the subject of a criminal investigation,
this government welcomes the opportunity
to engage the Attorney General and the Serious Fraud Office
to mete out justice where appropriate.
How did the Prime Minister take your resignation as Secretary of State?
Now, back off.
If I knew they were gonna use Caedi like that, or she felt like this,
I would have reached out to her. It was traumatic.
And I didn't buy her any clothes, by the way.
I let her use my Net-A-Porter discount once.
Are you not worried...
about the...
the criminal implications that Dearn raised.
You sat through that shit show.
Wouldn't you say blame is complicated?
It lies with me, my board, my bankers...
and the government.
But people want a single reductive certainty.
Let me buy you an early dinner.
There's some friends of ours I want you to meet.
All's fair in love and war, right?
Give us our money back, wanker!
Some pre-prandial martinis to lube up the conversation.
Two? Three? Oh, and a glass of Ruinart
for our absent guest.
Wait, is someone else joining us?
Just a Perrier for me.
I thought Dearn was a little unsophisticated
how she went for the jugular in there.
I had a similar grilling from our current Foreign Secretary
during the Leveson inquiry.
He's in your pocket now, isn't he, Nortie?
You did hack Hugh Grant's phone, no?
I'm not rising to that.
It takes a certain person to not wilt under those lights.
You did well.
Yeah, your friend Harper realized
the sell-side is where the fertile minds go to die.
She's doing rather well with my money.
It's time for you to have the same realization, Rob.
Well, if it isn't our future Prime Minister.
Fuck me!
Well done in there.
This is purportedly the worst day of my career.
I've just had to let my entire private office go.
Where's Blanc de Blancs?
Oh, as if by magic.
Just giving a nod to James and the news team
on tomorrow's headline.
Aurore, do you prefer "Third Way" or "New Hope" for the sub?
You know best, Alexander.
After that disastrous budget,
they had to put a centrist in as Chancellor,
but we'll have him out by the election.
The job's yours to lose.
What about the, um-- Well, the criminal proceedings?
I had a word with the Attorney General.
It's in his in-tray.
He'll look at it,
then it'll be in someone else's in-tray.
Oh, and if the press come knocking,
ask something that'll use up oxygen,
like, um, can a woman have a penis?
Oh, dear.
Well, looks like my uncle made some promises.
Good to have him in your favor.
I am surprised you are such a bad bullshitter.
Isn't that what the Oxford tutorial system
is meant to teach us?
We should have a toast, shouldn't we?
Um, to England?
No, uh, to, uh-- Well, to friends.
Old and, uh, new.
- To friends, old and new. - Friends...
To friends, old and new.
Cheers.
It's a shame that the, uh...
the heart palpitations you get off shit gear
don't count as cardio.
Did you, uh...
did you ever, you know, get with Yasmin?
No.
Although she did once...
make me eat my own ejaculate off a mirror.
I've invited her to join us later.
And while... I'm not a... I'm not a sexually jealous man,
I just don't want it to be awkward, you know.
We're just friends.
She's a very good friend.
I think she might be it.
The bullet to take me out of the Great War.
What?
Oh, for fuck's sake. I think I'm in love with her.
Well, you shouldn't tell her that.
She's not in the emotional headspace to hear things like that.
So, you do love her.
That now ex-cabinet minister
really took the heat for us in there today.
Sorry I left you high and dry.
Senior management-- help yourself--
have had their eye on who's gonna sail us through this squall.
Is it premature to toast your ascension to the top job?
They're making you CEO, right?
Please.
I'm honored you think they'd even finger me for that.
No, I have it on semi-good authority it's gonna be Tom Wolsey.
You're fucking kidding me.
The ex-Bain turnaround guy?
He's-- He's a kid.
I think if he's announced, it tells us the story.
- He's gonna gut us? - Is that a question?
Between us...
I think Wilhelmina was part of the soft pressure
behind Lindsay's retirement.
She's gonna do everything she can to pass the buck
about the ESG disaster in front of Wolsey.
The grad was right.
Not even a forensic accountant could read our balance sheet.
It's too unwieldy.
What I can tell you is we're not safe from a plummeting share price.
We're not safe from panic.
Epstein's island was a naff Mustique.
- Stop! - You won't find the Muck name
- on the flight manifesto. - Don't.
Yeah, I heard he was Mossad agent--
- I need talk to you. - Oh, in a bit, in a bit, in a bit.
Henry, we need to talk about this girl.
Oh, it was nothing, Yas.
It was fucking nothing.
You're high, Henry.
Why do you get yourself into these fucking situations?
- Yeah, I know, I know, I know. - No! No!
It's an abuse of power, Henry.
Fuck, everything's an abuse of power
with me in relationships, Yas. I can only fuck down.
Who can I fuck that's higher status?
Uh, Hillary Clinton, Kamala Harris?
Not my tempo, babe.
I love a café au lait.
Obviously...
Obviously, I'm joking, I'm joking.
For fuck's sake, Yas.
You know, I'm with you now.
I'm with you.
Yeah? You're everything.
You're fucking everything.
- Stop. - No, no, listen to me.
I love how vulnerable you make me feel.
Yeah?
- I loved this morning. - Okay.
You know, that was a holy moment.
When we were that vulnerable with each other...
- Okay, I-- - ...when you pissed on me.
You got another girl to piss on you?
Lick it up off the fucking floor.
- Hey, Yas. - No, not right now.
Oh, I always liked her.
Hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, come on.
Let's give it a good fucking nudge.
Did you know anything about this Lumi girl?
- No. - Like, what am I doing
involving myself with someone like him?
Like, what is actually wrong with me?
There's nothing wrong with you.
So many fucked up fucking issues.
I surround myself with these men.
Like-- And I want them to want me.
Why? I don't...
I even... wanted... my dad to like me.
Yeah, but you know,
there's nothing wrong with wanting your dad to like you.
God, I spent years trying to get my mom's approval.
Have you tried Bacchanalia yet?
I mean, you know, presentationally.
Got some god-awful Damien Hirst in there.
Can't you just fall in love with me?
It would make everything so much easier.
Where we going tonight?
Thinkin' around Maison Estelle,
- Koko... - Hello?
Yas, it's Denise.
Uh, are you somewhere private?
Is everything okay?
Are you somewhere private?
What's wrong?
Okay, um, I'd rather not do this over the phone,
but I thought speed was quite important,
given how quickly it might get out.
Um, they found a body.
It's, uh, it's most likely your father.
Yas, do you-- do you need me to come to you?
- I'm gonna... - Yas...
I'll... I'll... I'll call you later.
Have you seen those fucking mugs queueing outside Greek Street?
It's like a fucking labor exchange?
Sorry, I can't, I can't.
Come on, fucking hell...
Fucking get in there.
I've got a surprise for later.
Whoa, easy, easy, easy, easy.
I'm taking you somewhere special.
This is dark web coke. None of your speed shit.
Shit got real.
Right.
So...
I wanted to bring you here to tell you privately.
I've been living with a medulloblastoma
in my left temporal lobe.
Rare in adults and inoperable.
Can you believe it?
I was repeating myself a lot, so I got it checked out.
What's the prognosis?
Oh, years, no doubt. Modern medicine.
Years.
Why are you looking at me like that?
You think I'm in denial?
No, not at all. I'm just...
thinking about how I always admired your hair.
It ain't budged.
Yeah, I decided chemo wasn't practical.
What a life, eh?
You bet death against your vanity and your vanity still wins.
Yeah, I didn't want people in the office thinking
I was in any way incapacitated.
So, I, uh, flew to this clinic in Switzerland.
They're trialing a DCVax treatment
where they expose nude mice to the tumor cells
to create a bespoke vaccine.
Cancer's like our business. It's, uh...
It's a country with its own language.
How are your daughters?
I'm fighting for custody.
But Candace is a merciless bitch.
That's why I loved her.
You want the weekends, or the week?
I used to see what my daughters could become and achieve
in every successful young woman I came across.
But now--
Now you wanna come across every successful young woman?
Mr. Tao, HR are on the line.
I don't know what I feel.
Ooh, disgrace is coming.
Don't expedite it.
Luckily, cancer really does a number on desire.
Hey, hey.
Who are you crying for?
- I hope it's not for me. - Sorry, sorry.
Remember...
we grew up in this bank.
We're lifers.
And I'm happy we made that trade,
but only if we act like we know its soul
and we're prepared to fight for it.
Because the next few weeks are gonna be a fight.
How long was I out for?
I've been thinking about my intentions.
One must think clearly
about what one will ask the medicine.
You can't wear that.
You look like a T.M. Lewin wanker.
Expensive way to get off your tits.
Where the fuck have you dragged me?
Cheap way to meet God though.
- Just sit on the blue blanket for me. - All right.
Just sit on that blanket for me.
I haven’t paid 800 quid to sit in some woods in Kent.
I better fucking figure some shit out.
Hey, dude.
Pierre.
Is this your first journey? This is my third set of cups.
I don't think I'm in the right headspace for this.
Well, you look like you've sobered up a bit.
I told Henry to abstain, but he never listens.
He doesn't respect the medicine.
And remember, the plant finds you when you're ready.
You're here now.
Do you really have a choice?
Diego!
Help me, Diego!
Guíanos...
Ayahuasca.
Shoeshine, shoeshine, shoeshine.
You're a company--
You're a company man.
Go on, Mommy's not looking.
She was a tyrant, you know?
You're just like my mother.
She was an unfillable void of need too.
She was very...
present.
She was restless.
Just like you, always in your ear.
She loved you.
We have to find a way to monetize this.
Christ, I'm coming down hard.
I had a very nasty experience in the loo just now.
I saw a monster.
Whatever you do...
don't look in the mirror.
Can I get in with you?
What time is it?
I don't know.
Where have you been?
I ended up in some member's club.
Sat at the bar for a bit, getting fucked up.
Got some guys to buy me about eight Negronis.
And then when they left,
they realized that I wasn't a paying member anymore.
So they asked me to leave.
And I came home.
Sorry I left you with them.
I think I'm gonna sell the house.
How did you afford this place in the first place?
Clement...
He left me half a million quid in his will.
I guess it doesn't really matter where the money comes from.
I think it does.
I think I'm finally beginning to see that.
What am I gonna do if I lose my job?
Henry will look after you.
But he's a cunt.
Yeah, he's your type.
I guess he is.
My fate is predetermined.
Yeah.
You're destined to marry your dad.
That would be impossible 'cause I killed him.