So...
I'm sure you've all been programmed to expect something radical.
But what I have here for you today...
it really isn't new at all.
We know you have a decades-long plan
to become entrenched in Western markets,
sports franchises, entertainment venues.
But a bank...
is a more unique proposition
in terms of its reach and influence
over foreign institutions.
Finance isn't a space you can just break into.
You'll be buying both our U.S. and our European banking licenses.
Plug and play.
Excuse me, it's Mikey Leibowitz from Vanguard.
As one of your biggest investors,
we'd like to know why Pierpoint is showing so much leg here.
Sorry, Mikey.
Care to explain what you actually mean there?
I think he means that Al-Mi'raj Holdings
is just private equity makeup
masking the true face of a sovereign wealth fund.
As long as we're all aware...
this is state-backed financing.
"We would like to know why you think your imperialism
is better than ours."
Et tu, Brute?
Harper...
people who fuck around with my investments...
find themselves cut off from society.
Invasions of privacy. Bureaucratic entanglements.
Do sit down.
I have ways and means of making people's lives hell.
So what? You're...
threatening me out loud now?
If I told you sovereign wealth money had come into Pierpoint,
would you use that information to take profit on your short?
The whole game is information.
I was born as a node in an average network.
I worked hard to become a key node in an excellent one.
Betting on sure things is the aim.
Petra doesn't see it that way.
I'm very aware of that.
And it's probably more shameful to trust our friends
than to be deceived by them.
She's a tattletale.
And she's why I called you here.
I want a spiritual successor to my operations.
Peter's too old.
And even he's lost the cloacal breath and bought a grouse moor.
I want someone who believes in trading like I trade.
Who understands that nothing comes from nothing.
I'd be an interesting figurehead.
The optics are good.
You'd make my fund look terribly modern.
But I also want someone who understands
and wears the attendant downside risks that I've worn for years now.
Look, when you're as good as us, you don't get caught.
But one day, there may well be a rather loud knock on the door
that requires a fucking expensive lawyer.
Fuck me.
This all sounds rather Faustian, doesn't it?
Forgive me. I'm not Beelzebub.
I'm something... far more dangerous.
A primate...
aware of his own mortality.
Hello.
What the hell is this email?
I think you know what it is.
How dare you try to intimidate me?
And what the fuck were you trying to do to me the last time that we met?
This is what's gonna happen, okay, you stupid fucking bitch,
you're gonna pay the restitution to the embezzlement claimants,
and you're going to leave me the fuck alone.
Do you have any idea--
I know you like to think of yourself as some bootleg Anna Wintour,
but the board are not gonna think twice about kicking you to the curb.
I mean, this is the systemic cover-up
by a female-led institution
of a man's consistent pattern of abuse.
I mean, I don't know about you, but I think that's a sensational story,
and I know exactly where to take it.
All right, where?
Who... Who will listen to you?
What network do you have?
Rose, I think you forget who my family are.
What family?
This is the courtesy of a final warning.
You know what?
You sound exactly like your father.
I sound nothing like him.
He was weak.
Come on!
Henry.
Hi. Been a while.
We're still over a barrel.
If we look like we're trading to zero at U.S. open,
they'll buy us for a single U.S. dollar and we'll be grateful.
- We need share price stability. - How do we ensure that?
I'm flying to New York so that when they wake up,
I can speak to our big investors.
Vanguard sounded edgy.
I'll speak to BlackRock and Berkshire Hathaway
to make sure the Al-Mi'raj offer flies through uncontested.
And crucially, also to our employees.
We need to present today as just another trading day.
Can one of you address London while I'm in the air?
I'll dial in.
Wilhelmina, it may help coming from someone senior.
If we're looking to maintain the status quo...
Eric is the voice of the status quo.
I can-- I can do it. I'll-- I'll speak to London.
Can't imagine how many billions of words you've said in sales.
Time for some choice ones.
Rob, it's like 9:00 a.m.
So? It's never too early for these.
Who were you on the phone to?
I was talking to Henry.
Oh, yeah?
What did he want?
I called him.
I kind of thought that his dumb "smart" money
might be a good place for you to start seed funding conversations.
It's funny, 'cause...
I'd actually been thinking the exact same thing,
but I thought you might be uncomfortable.
Oh, God, fuck that.
Take the money and run, babe.
Yeah, no, he wants us to swing by for a face-to-face.
He's at his uncle's. It's kind of on the way home.
What, now? You're not tired?
You know, I got this sort of jolt of vicarious energy
at the thought of you just rinsing the bitch's coffers.
So...
would LittleLabs mean a move to New York?
California.
Shame.
I'd murder a little res at the Polo Bar.
Glass of Ruinart, dozen oysters. God, heaven!
So...
where are we headed then, boss?
Deepest, darkest Somerset.
Oh, marvelous.
- So did you win? - What?
Your little lottery thing, did you win?
Of course not.
Hi.
So, I know some of you haven't been home.
Guys?
Yeah, lot of uncertainty.
Guys, can I...?
Can I have your attention?
Okay.
How we carry ourselves through turbulence
is how we define ourselves.
Let me take you back to 2008.
I know, the eye of the Lehman storm.
Hours from insolvency. Do you know what we did?
We came to work.
We answered the phones.
We printed tickets. We carried the day!
It is imperative you go to your desk
and let clients know,
this morning, the sun still rose on Pierpoint.
'08 was totally different.
We had capital reserves and good management.
Apparently, you're sending us down the river
to the fucking Gulf of all places.
The Gulf? They'll fire us all!
Are you serious?
It would be unwise to confirm or deny speculation...
Fucking hell!
...given-- given the-- the sensitivity of our share price.
You know...
I've stood in this room many times.
I've watched a lot of you grow up.
I think, if I could see myself
as a grad now...
Me, immigrant son,
bespectacled, so scared, scared of my own shadow,
swallowing down the promises of capitalism and meritocracy.
Do I look like a man who was lied to?
Today?
Your nose is growing, Pinocchio.
Our prospective partners believe in the principles
that I heard on my very first day here.
I cleaved them to my heart...
like you have.
Pierpoint people.
This is what we're selling.
How well you've come to embody what you've been taught.
You are all safe.
That's something.
You are all safe because you are the asset.
Are we safe, though?
Growth and change are inevitable
but this process must be anchored in shared values.
Pierpoint's history is a history of change.
First movers, quick winners.
Whatever alleged deal you've heard about
represents two axes using economic trust
to put themselves in the box seat
of a new world order.
They want us and respect us for our history.
We choose to respect them
for their vision of a shared future.
This is how we survive.
Remember, everything good comes from two partners
willingly coming to the table.
Orderly financial exchange is the basis of harmony.
Money tames the beast.
Money is peace.
Money... Money is civilization.
The end of the story...
is money.
Our partners believe this.
They believe in us.
We take their hand
and build a bridge with our belief.
Your desk...
is your house!
That's right.
So go home! Go to work!
Thank you.
Wow.
What was all that shit about "money is peace"?
I cribbed it from a short story
about an advertising executive
called The Largesse of the Sea Maiden.
Thought I'd hit all the targets.
Immigrant mentality, American promise,
"this place made me," blah, blah, blah.
ESG bullshit.
- Well, good work. - Thanks.
Very good speech,
in the sense that they've falsely convinced people
that they've fully considered something.
Can you ever really buy a word that comes out of that cunt's mouth?
Sweetpea, a couple of messages on Pierpoint internal messenger
saying we're getting bought by something called Al-Mi'raj?
Fuck. Those rumors are getting louder than skeletons fucking on a tin roof.
Paging that old Italian geezer.
Just to let you know,
we've reached the ninth circle of your cunting inferno,
having Arabs bid for your services.
Now I finally know what IG baddies feel like.
I hope you all enjoy feeling your flesh sear
in the hell you've created for yourselves.
Good fucking morning.
Your jokes are lead, mate. Fuck off!
What the fuck am I doing?
Am I here to mediate something?
I feel like Howard Smith.
You're Buckley and you're Vidal.
No. Both Buckleys.
Probably. Hopefully.
We want this to be amicable.
You've made a handsome ROI on your initial seed investment.
We've outperformed the market by eight percent.
You will have that capital back, plus your eight percent.
In return, we will be fully untethered from your fund and oversight.
This all sounds rather final, doesn't it?
Where are we on the Pierpoint short?
We took profit.
Why? When did you take profit?
Less fees to Goldman.
It wasn't our most... lucrative trade.
At one point in the middle of the night,
you were making 300 million dollars on that trade.
Hundreds of millions of dollars. Poof! Gone.
Like snowflakes on a carburetor.
Harper, is this acceptable to you?
We had a sure thing here, didn't we?
It is, amicably.
You do know what you could have paid yourselves,
had you landed the plane on this trade?
We do.
We'd like to amicably remind you
that you have made money being in business with us
in the final reckoning,
and we appreciate your initial seed investment.
"Hide not thy poison with such sugar'd words."
Well, in this case,
in good conscience,
I can't be in business with people who seem comforted
by the casual slide toward mediocrity
that is the hallmark of modern life.
Really thought I'd found a spark.
As ever, I wish you the best.
All these classically-educated guys hide their thuggishness
behind their verbosity and tailoring.
Look, I'm sorry I went behind your back.
I had a full-blown fucking wobble.
I felt the floor go beneath me with the legality
of how you got us into the Pierpoint short.
Okay? I panicked.
I forgive you.
I'm not gonna punish you for reacting that way.
Thanks for owning it.
Thank you for... being honest with me.
Didn't use any inside information
on our take-profit level, so I hope you'll forgive me too.
Fucking hell.
No unilateral decisions.
I meant that.
I've been making decisions on my own for, like, a long time,
so I think I'm ready for something new.
No unilateral decisions.
Who knows...
maybe reciprocity really is the key to a happier life?
Yeah.
Fucking hell.
Bit much.
- You found us. - Hey, you all right?
It's a nice gaff.
- Hello. - Hi.
Come in.
Al-Mi'raj Holding Companies just bought Pierpoint.
It's all over the wires.
I was given a bit of Pierpoint stock
as a sweetener when they landed the Lumi IPO.
Might make a bit of prosciutto money if it continues to rally.
I haven't told them yet, but I won't be going back.
Prosciutto money?
Yeah, you know, money for cold cuts.
Odds and ends.
A couple of million dollars. Prosciutto money.
You... you already know
how big a fan I am of Pierre and LittleLabs.
I guess I just...
never really saw a scalable thing there due to legality.
People are thinking too short term.
Well...
word of advice, if they make you CFO...
don't IPO too early.
Currently, I'm actually financing a speaker circuit
for public business failures.
An arena where business leaders can be vulnerable
and learn from each other's mistakes.
What, for a thousand bucks a head?
No.
No, clearly, Henry's transcended all material possessions, right?
Oh, sorry. Sorry.
Can you not hear me over there?
Speak to Rob.
He knows how powerful a re-centering can be.
And I've been speaking to the prime minister
about contesting a marginal seat at the next election.
I want to dedicate my life to public service.
You keep bending my ear for a few more hours,
I may have no choice but to back your venture.
Something about you, Robert...
makes me either want to kill you or love you.
Not quite sure which yet.
You guys staying?
It's...
We don't want to impose.
You came all this way. Stay the night for God's sake.
I mean, do you have the space? I don't...
I've already had rooms made ready.
Haven't we, Stevens?
Yes, sir.
We can stay.
I'm actually glad you said that, to be fair.
I'm knackered. I can't be arsed driving anymore.
Yeah, we'll stay.
Separate rooms, right?
Joking.
It's my uncle's 60th tomorrow.
Supper...
then shooting on Sunday.
He'd be delighted to have you as guests.
I wouldn't have anything to wear.
Nonsense, I know your size.
A friend of mine at Net-a-Porter owes me a few favors,
so we can send someone to London
- to pick something up. - Absolutely, sir.
I think we'll head back in the morning.
But thank you.
Yas, hi.
I'm so glad you came.
I wanted to call you, so when you called me, it felt...
I don't know.
I wanted to say sorry...
for...
I've treated a lot of people as chattel,
whose value and utility I've seen only in relation to myself.
Honestly, I'm slightly jaded by people apologizing
for their behavior.
Nobody's perfect, right?
But honestly, Henry, I'm just not sure I buy this whole re-brand.
Thank you, sir.
Ruinart and Twiglets.
No, it's good to see you, Yas.
I'm glad you had the sense to hire me.
I always felt like we had a bond.
You know?
The type of people who aren't for everyone.
But are definitely for someone, right?
Tell me, for my own... sanity,
when exactly did you and Eric decide to fuck me?
That's-- That's water under the bridge.
Exactly!
Water under the bridge. So, indulge me.
Reception...
at my wedding.
Your wedding.
Thanks for that, by the way. Sorry I didn't send a card.
Eric sidles over, and he just says...
"She's gotta go."
Actually, I think he said, "That psychopath's gotta go."
He was pretty loaded, so...
Do you think I'm a psychopath?
I...
I don't know.
Does it matter? They walk among us.
I guess emotional detachment probably makes a good trader.
- I agree. - Yeah.
Opportunism.
Predatory instinct.
Do you consider yourself a predator, Rish?
Sweetpea is gonna be working with us.
What is this, fucking Blind Date?
What are you--
What are you doing? Are you... Are you, like,
trying to humiliate me or something?
I wanted to give Sweetpea the pleasure
of watching someone treat you with as little respect
as you treat them.
She's fucking brass!
She hawks her beef curtains on the net!
I'm well aware of Sweetpea's extracurriculars.
What, and you think that's acceptable for a hire, do you?
I love a woman who doesn't leave money on the table.
Rish, let's be straight.
You are not without charm, but you are a punter.
A... chancer.
A dinosaur.
There's no room for you in the modern market.
A machine could do your job.
Well, they already do.
Time's up.
All right.
All right, you know, I've... I've-- I've--
I've made mistakes, okay? I... I can admit that.
Look, I-- I... I don't wanna-- I don't wanna swan in here
and tell you how to do your job. That's not my job, okay?
I'm... I'm-- I'm an execution guy.
You'll always need an execution guy.
We have an execution guy.
Who?
Please, you have no idea what you're doing to me here.
Look, respectfully...
you make it very hard to give a fuck.
- Okay, please listen. - Yeah.
Listen, you... No, you-- You don't understand, okay?
I-- I... I need liquidity.
Plea--
Can--
For fuck's sake.
You're up early.
Henry told me we'd have the pleasure of your company.
It's quite a difficult house to sleep in.
I agree. I still don't feel wholly comfortable in it.
It was here before me, it'll be here after me.
Please.
Your paper keeps buying my pictures.
My news editor.
Stop hiding behind your editors.
What, you think it's a distancing device
I use to... to comfort myself when terrorizing people?
When are you going to print the Alondra stuff?
You can't sit on it much longer.
She won't be easily appeased.
We paid for the exclusive, but... that'll lapse.
The woman has nothing and a child.
What would you have me do?
I wanna take care of her.
I used to hate this house...
in my bones.
I had three older sisters my father never cared for.
He was obsessed with the execution of the estate
and what he bequeathed, and to whom.
Then I was finally born. A boy. Hurrah.
Doted on by women. Rather fey.
He hated me too.
He bred a particular strain of misandry in me,
which has led me to maybe a rather regressive view.
A feminine touch built into a family...
saves it from itself.
Perhaps it's even misogynistic to say it,
but I've found the capacity for self-destruction
to be a more male trait.
I think people tend towards it anyway.
It's-- It's not gendered.
And I...
I don't think that the key to Henry's salvation is in...
some random girl.
Your unwarranted public shunning for your privilege
shouldn't blinker you from your own exceptionality.
You're not a random girl.
May I speak candidly for a moment?
Yeah. Of course.
I always knew your father was a predator.
There were a number of disciplinary hearings at Oxford,
which he only wriggled out of
because of the quality of the lawyers he could hire.
You know that has nothing to do with you?
Yasmin, look at me.
That has nothing to do with you.
Do you understand?
It really has nothing to do with you at all.
I'm sorry. I...
I haven't wished you a happy birthday.
You just did.
I am fiercely protective of my family.
And I always use my...
not-insubstantial power to protect them.
But then again...
life's about the family you choose.
Hi.
Should we...
go somewhere for a while?
Yeah.
Okay.
Stop it!
Where do you want me to come?
Come inside me.
- Are you sure? - Yeah, come inside me.
I love you. I love you.
I love you.
I love you too.
Do you love me?
Where have you been?
Exploring.
I got lost in the grounds.
And I fucked Robert.
How have you been?
Yeah, yeah...
- Feeling centered. - Don't lie to me.
I've really been struggling.
Can't seem to...
feel joy at the moment.
I hope it passes.
I see past this costume, Henry.
All of this...
- self-searcher shit-- - After the journey, the...
the ayahuasca trip.
I was driving home and the sun was about to come up,
and I just started...
screaming...
at the driver to stop, just stop...
in the middle of the road.
And I found my way down to the riverbank,
and I watched the sunrise with some tramps
under Vauxhall Bridge.
Did some smack.
Sent you a message saying you were deeply connected to my purpose.
I fucking shared their needles.
I thought if I made this higher-consciousness shit a...
cornerstone of my personality for a bit,
it might help me through whatever this is, so...
Well...
it's escapist nonsense, Henry.
And we should be practical.
Charlie van de Ven. Remember Charlie?
I knew we had similar dimensions.
You look even more handsome than me, which isn't easy.
Thank you.
Christ, better say something.
Well, no, I was like, "The guy's a fucking charlatan!"
I did!
Anyone who knows me knows I loathe speeches.
Any pronouncements, really.
Unless they're in print.
Suffice to say, that being with you all in this room, now,
and what it will mean for my memories of the house...
is a gift.
You are my life's work.
Every life is full of unintended consequences,
but I've really tried to live
so you all feel my life has been an act of familial... care.
I hope my life's been an act of love.
Thank you for sharing it.
- Hear, hear. - Hear, hear.
Hear, hear.
A loyal toast.
- Yes! - Yes!
The king.
- The king! - The king!
Fuck the king.
Now, sorry, sorry.
I'm going to have to be...
well, characteristically selfish here and co-opt my uncle's celebration.
Yeah, I think the... the biggest surprise of the night
is this still fits me from university, just about.
- Buller, buller, buller! - Buller, buller, buller!
Quite.
But, no, that aside, and seriously...
We-- Well, we have some news.
We're engaged.
Bravo!
I knew it! I knew it.
We should be practical.
So do you love me?
Yes.
Honestly, I don't know.
Maybe I'm just too selfish.
Do you love me?
Yeah.
I don't believe you.
I want commitment.
I want a partner.
Yas, you're not serious.
Look at the state of me.
You-- You want me to what? You want me to... propose?
Get down on one knee like this?
To tell you I'm yours forever and I'm incapable of letting you down?
You're not serious.
If I asked you to marry me, you'd say no.
Is this some kind of game?
Do you really want to spend a life...
with me?
Henry, you had me at Net-a-Porter. I mean...
I can't believe this.
I don't even have a ring. You deserve a ring.
Thanks, Daddy.
Henry.
I deserve everything.
To my wonderful fiancée!
To your wonderful fiancée!
I'm sorry.
I understand.
And so say all of us!
For he's a jolly good fellow For he's a jolly good fellow
And so say all of us!
Hurray!
Okay, outside, Land Rovers on the left.
Marco, if it flies, it dies.
- You okay? - Yeah.
You guys ready? Let's go.
Get in! Come on!
I'm good at making people feel like I love them.
But...
I don't know that I ever have.
Loved anyone.
When the fuck did that happen?
Okay.
I should have known when I stopped getting emails.
- Eric. - Do me one courtesy.
Spare me the soft-touch spiel. Just do it.
I get that I was a useful idiot.
We don't see it that way.
How do Al-Mi'raj see it?
Cuts have been more aggressive than we anticipated.
Our new partners fear the thinning margins
in sales and trading can only be allayed by more automation.
New York is the focus there.
Sales and trading in London and Zürich is being wound up.
Our offices will be focused on private wealth,
manage the assets of Al-Mi'raj's partners in their part of the world.
There's no business need for you at Pierpoint now.
I presume Tom knew about this?
He didn't.
He'll be moved on.
Al-Mi'raj don't agree with his lifestyle.
From Madam ESG to the mouthpiece for a state.
- In how few moves? - Come on, Eric.
We both know it's all the same.
I'm head of institutional securities.
- I know what my contract is. - And you'll be very happy
with what we're paying you to break it.
This is not a confrontation.
It's a happy goodbye.
Twenty million dollars over 48 months.
Stock?
No, these guys do cash.
Do the other London desk heads know?
No, but...
VPs and associates are being told across the other floors this morning.
I'll call the desk heads.
You don't have to do that.
Listen.
It's better coming from me.
Sure.
I'll see you Thursday?
Thursday?
Bill's memorial.
Of course.
Happy Friday!
- Do you want a donut? - Thank you.
I guess where I think I can add alpha
- is by looking for dislocations. - Donut?
- Oh, no. - No.
You've got a light in your eyes which tells me...
Do you want a jammy donut?
- Keep up the good work. - Thank you.
- Okay? - Okay, thanks.
Oh, I hope you don't mind.
Petra's asked me to block book the first Wednesday
of every month for a team dinner.
I put it in for the next 12 months.
Great.
No, I got those hot girl frames...
You good?
- Mm-hmm. - Good.
You should be, you're doing great.
I look sexy as all fuck.
LeviathanAlpha. Sweetpea here.
Yeah, I can-- I can get that over to you in, like, 30 seconds.
Thank you so much.
I don't usually let people walk away from me twice.
If I work for you, the risk to me is huge.
So, the proposition is mine and mine entirely.
I'm going to run a short-only fund.
You'll be popular.
Hating on short-selling is a political pawn.
The market needs short-sellers.
Short-selling generates bad ethics PR.
You're wrong.
The fund will look like a white knight.
We'll knuckle down on companies who might be misleading the market,
committing fraud, or engaging in unethical business practices.
We will find the liars, we will find vulnerabilities,
and therefore, what is misprized.
Using a combination of forensic accounting and corporate espionage.
Corporate espionage?
Would you like me to say it again?
What gave you this idea?
If someone had been inside Lumi,
close to your godson from the jump, we would've always known it was a short.
You want information. We will be drowning in it.
A lot of it above board, some...
Let's say we'll have kompromat and leverage
so that we are always right and always on time.
Well, it's subversive.
It's very smart.
"Anti-fraud fraudsters." It's quite a disguise.
It's only criminal if we're caught.
And I wanna run it from New York.
I think I'm ready to go home.
Have you heard from Jesse?
Oh, yes.
I'm sure he'll throw in a few bucks.
I told him we were meeting today.
He asked if you were happy.
I said...
"She seemed it the last time I saw her." And he said...
"That's no way to live."
Harper.
Don't make the mistake of thinking you'll grow up
and live in a world without fear.
Goodbye, Peter.
Goodbye, sir.
This is the list of people who have yet to RSVP, by the way.
Malala is a no.
And I saw Carrie Johnson was on the list,
but I assume that was an oversight.
Great.
Could you-- Could you send my secretary in?
Thanks.
Hi, pack of lights, please.
Excuse me.
Hello?
Why haven't you responded to my wedding invitation?
Thought it was a courtesy invite.
I want you there.
Why, Yas? When was the last time we spoke?
Well, I saw you on Forbes 30 Under 30.
Congratulations.
I'm surprised Eric gave you a quote.
So was I.
My mom texted me for the first time in 18 months
with some crucial info.
My hair looked like shit.
Fuck her.
Did you see me... in Real Country?
Can't say I'm a subscriber.
- Which issue? - This month's.
Did you control the copy?
Of course we did.
Okay, so where is this wedding? Puglia?
God, no.
No. No, no. It's-- It's here. It's in the country.
Tell me about the seating chart. Any corporate bigwigs?
You know I like to get them drunk and talking.
Are you honestly saying that you'll only come to my wedding
if I sit you next to someone important?
Why else would I come?
Big man.
Yes, bro. How you doing?
- Good. - Looks like I'm intruding.
I wanted to surprise you before he turned up unannounced.
How's the bambino?
Di, light 'em up, please.
Go on.
Make a wish, Rish.
Happy birthday, bro.
Thanks.
Thank you. Just...
I'm-- I'm not hungry right now.
Oh. What is this little bolt-hole?
Rish, you're not living here on your own, are you?
Yeah.
Smells like a wank palace.
Look at that. Fucking generic, innit?
- It's just temporary. - Temporary.
You lot on the skids or something?
I mean, separation suits you though, Di. You look good.
Your hair is different. Blondie.
I thought you were done with each other.
Nah.
You're never done with friends, innit?
You're not his friend. You prey on him.
No, no, he preys on me, darling.
You exploit him.
- He exploits my generosity. - Tell him to leave.
He owes me half a million pounds.
Closer to six big figure.
I'm...
I'm sick.
You broke us.
You are the worst kind of person, because he might be sick and selfish,
but you enable him and feed off his sickness.
And I bet you have no idea what it’s like to feel love because--
Oh, fuck!
The chancellor is confirmed to stay next weekend.
Put Aurore in the king's room.
She's eyeing Number 10.
Will Sir Henry be back this evening?
I doubt it.
He's-- He's in some Welsh town
trying to get on the shortlist for the by-election.
He's been trying to pronounce the name of the town all week.
Do you want a drink? Or...
we could do a bit of blow.
I mean, I have some left over
from that ghastly Historic Houses event last week.
Sure.
I wanted to thank you for giving me employment.
It was very generous.
And I'm sorry I went to the papers at all.
Well, as long as you understand
the people that work with me...
are loyal to me.
We're a family.
So, your baby...
is she my sister?
No, no, no. Not Charles's.
Are you sure?
I'm with the father now.
I can't imagine what life must have been like for you.
On that boat, I mean, you know, week after week,
the people, the requests.
The tips were excessive.
They were buying your silence.
I-- I never wanted to tell you, but...
there were days on the boat when Charles and his friends,
their company...
some of the girls, they were young.
Very young.
How young?
Twelve. Thirteen, fourteen.
You know, if he ever did that to you
when you were young, if he hurt you like those girls,
I-- I want you to know you are seen and protected.
He never... He never did that to me.
You are seen.
What the fuck are you doing? Stop!
Get rid of her.
These conversations are never easy.
Okay.
- Sorry? - Can I put you on hold?
Yeah.
Hello?
Thanks for your comment in Forbes.
"A brilliant dropout whose ambition is boundless."
Very magnanimous.
I'm glad you read it that way.
I heard they really swung the scythe over there.
Yep.
Did how the cards fell make you rich?
Not nearly enough.
So you're hiring?
I hope they paid you.
A lot.
Not enough.
I guess you know what they say,
being wealthy isn't the same as being loved.
But most of the time it's close enough?
Harp?
Yeah?
Take care.
You too.
So...
I'm sure you've all been programmed to expect something radical.
But what I have here for you today,
it really isn't new at all.
- Jimmy. - Eric.
How goes it up there on the tenth floor?
- Yeah, we're good. - Listen,
I hate to be the bearer of bad news...
Every prospective LittleLabs customer is trapped...
somewhere, on a... sliding scale.
The listless ennui of the hyper-privileged,
the insatiable affluenza of the strivers born with nothing.
Our product is a shortcut to something higher.
Transcendence in a pill.
And we'll control the supply-demand curve by aggressively limiting availability.
Something that the elite see
as the new answer to problems which can never be solved
and the aspirational classes long to have because they can't.
You got a million dollars pre-seed
from Henry Muck six months ago, right?
And half a million from Ashford Asset Management.
And we're seeing you gentlemen and three other VCs today.
Listen, I...
I'm just here...
to give you an opportunity.
Join us on the ground floor
of what is going to be a spectacular journey.
Mark my words.