Original subtitles

♪ ("VERIDIS QUO" BY DAFT PUNK PLAYING) ♪

♪ (SONG FADES) ♪

HENRY MUCK: So you knew.

No, I didn't know shit.

Surely, it was obvious that I couldn't stand the little creep.

He was in our house practically swallowing you.

Well, you should have been fucking specific!

You introduced us. You didn't think, I don't know,

maybe if you had concerns about a...

about a life-altering disaster,

one that you helped me get into...

You need to stop speaking to me like that!

You never had the right

and you certainly don't have it now!

(HENRY SOBBING)

(HOARSELY) Yas, what the fuck are we gonna do?

(LETTER RUSTLING)

Honestly, what the fuck am I gonna do?

I mean, "Now that you're implicated."

I... What does it mean?

Oh, it's just self-mythologizing nonsense.

It reads like a guru terrorist manifesto.

It's a threat.

(SIGHS)

(EXHALES SHAKILY) Look, I... I... I think, uh...

I think what he's saying is... (STAMMERS) ...is that ignorance

is not a credible legal defense for me.

He's saying I won't be spared jail.

YASMIN KARA-HANINI: (SOFTLY) Oh my God.

HENRY: Shall I wipe my phone?

- My emails? - No, no, no, I don't think so.

- It's an admission of guilt. - Yeah, but I'm not guilty!

I don't think that matters anymore,

does it, Henry?

Fucking headlines write themselves.

I mean, we live in a house paid for by Tender.

Both of our salaries will be cut off.

Our stock is worthless.

Where is the rest of the money, Henry?

What?

What? Where the fuck is it, Henry?

No one could put that much in their arm.

You still have a fucking nose on your face,

so where's the rest of the money?

I used it to, um, to buy some...

well, to buy Tender stock.

(EXHALES SHAKILY)

(QUIETLY) Oh my God.

Yeah, why are we talking about money again?

The public perception of my morality is on the block.

And, please, take this with the love

with which it is intended, but nobody gives a fuck

about how you come out of this, okay?

- Not in the wider scheme. - Are you kidding me?

Henry, we're gonna end up with nothing!

We're gonna end up with nothing!

How can you give a single shit about the fucking press release?

Because it's what matters!

Because I want to be better!

Because that's the purpose of living a life. To be better!

You know, I am a good person,

and the world shall tell that back to me,

otherwise what am I doing here?

- What am I for? - Oh my God!

♪ (TENSE MUSIC PLAYING) ♪

(YASMIN BREATHING SHAKILY)

You're right.

You're right, of course. I'm so sorry.

♪ ("THE PROMISE" BY WHEN IN ROME PLAYING) ♪

(SOFTLY) We're not the ones to blame here.

Other people let this happen.

Remember that.

Of course.

- ♪ I'm sorry... ♪ - ♪ (SONG CUTS OFF) ♪

(BIRDS CHIRPING)

- ♪ (TENSE MUSIC PLAYING) ♪ - KWABENA BANNERMAN: Fuck, it snapped back.

Tender's up almost ten percent already.

Uh, they've issued another press release

of Tony Day's denials in writing.

HARPER STERN: Anything new in it?

SWEETPEA GOLIGHTLY: "Claims are baseless

and misleading and do not represent

the company's financial reality.

The company maintains a robust internal framework."

I mean, this shit is literally designed

to make any reader glaze over.

Yeah, everything is a rehash at this point.

Anything about a new audit?

No, just affirmations of the results

of previous ones.

Okay, so we hold the line until a new one is confirmed.

Yeah, well, who's forcing them into that?

Without another audit, we're dead in the water.

Um...

Well, I mean, maybe it's time we, uh,

meditate on how we catalyze the audit that kills them.

What would Eric's take be on that?

How should I know?

He decided not to be here.

♪ (OMINOUS MUSIC PLAYING) ♪

Shut the door.

♪ (MUSIC CONCLUDES) ♪

Can you, uh...

let me gather my thoughts for a second? Sorry.

Take your time.

We don't have much.

I feel like I'm in the room with a reptile.

No, just a man.

Get whatever you need to off your chest,

'cause I need you to focus.

I've been thinking about going to the authorities all night.

Why shouldn't I?

You already know why you didn't go, or you would've gone.

I'm an accessory.

- WHITNEY HALBERSTRAM: You're the face of the company. - An accomplice?

Fraud, embezzlement, market manipulation.

Hire the cream of the legal crop,

you're not escaping jail time, Henry.

♪ (TENSE MUSIC PLAYING) ♪

(MUTTERS) So...

why write me that letter?

Think of the optics if my CEO went AWOL now.

Besides...

we're close enough for honesty.

Fuck yourself.

Everything we have done

since we partnered has been true.

Why let them rob us of our glory for what was, at the time,

necessary balance sheet imagination?

Our share price will continue to recover.

Tender 2.0 has successfully transitioned us

into real revenue

and phased out inflated third-party acquisition flaws.

"Fake."

Do you start using the fucking word "fake"?

I watched SternTao's presentation,

which part of it was wrong, exactly?

WHITNEY: It's simply a misalignment

between the velocity of my vision

and the velocity of regulation.

And that gap is where smart people

have always made money.

Henry, look at me.

I have to buy time.

Make a clean audit

as protracted a process as possible.

Delay and complicate until some of our, uh,

overrepresented cash flows can be swallowed

by a much larger balance sheet.

How?

Targeted acquisition.

Hostile takeover.

'Cause it's as simple as saying that, right?

How the fuck would that even work?

A few months ago,

when you said we should increase our stake in Pierpoint,

I used Cayman and Luxembourg SPVs

to build an undisclosed synthetic position

to buy shares in Pierpoint.

Al-Mi'raj are spinning Pierpoint out.

They've been looking for an exit,

practically ever since they bought the old bitch.

Do you even know what you sound like?

This is how it's gonna play.

We say, "Due to a transformational merger,

any audit must reflect pro forma consolidation."

We need to hire more advisors.

Since you unwisely fired my auditor of choice,

we have to add intermediaries, add complexity

to the, uh, jurisdictional fog of who audits us,

plus the media smokescreen of a turbo-bullish headline.

I don't think there's a single person on earth

who thinks like that in this scenario.

No, you're lucky you have me.

What do I... What do I do?

WHITNEY: Believe in us.

One more time.

(KNOCKING ON DOOR)

Whitney, the board's convening in an hour.

(DOOR CLOSING)

(SOFTLY) Oh, God.

Well, I'm sure it hasn't gone unnoticed

for the Secretary of State

that there are whispers in the city

that some of the Tender profits

are as real as a stripper's affection.

Well, I'm sure his colorful,

roguish language will continue to play well

for the Andrew Tate clones

and Russian bots who like all his posts.

LEWIS GOODALL: This shouldn't descend into cheap point scoring.

(ON TV) It is clearly in the public interest

to understand what position Tender is now in,

and what risk it might now pose.

SEBASTIAN STEFANOWICZ: Agreed.

So let's ask the Secretary of State

to just explain the nature of her interactions

with Tender senior management.

Sebastian, as a former entrepreneur yourself,

you well know that ministers routinely meet

with a large number of business leaders,

stakeholders and industry representatives.

All such meetings are conducted in line

with the Ministerial Code

and they are properly recorded in transparency returns.

But people are saying that you and your department

were in bed with Tender senior management,

and expedited their licenses and approvals

in search of good headlines.

Expediting licenses? I mean,

that is a serious allegation you're making against the Minister personally there.

Yes. Do you have proof?

'Cause what you're saying is a deliberate inflammation of totally normal practice.

So you are in bed with them?

I... Look, I'm not in bed with anyone

apart from my husband. Sorry, you...

- We almost had a scoop there, Secretary of State. - (CHUCKLES) Yeah. Yeah.

Uh, you have no proof.

SEBASTIAN: Look, I understand the mainstream media hasn't deemed

this front-page news yet,

but, uh, people's lives and their hard-won finances,

they don't play out in the business pages.

These are real people. This is real money.

These are not pieces on Whitehall's chessboard.

Lisa has, uh, has made a career attacking Conservative,

cozy contamination of party politics and business beliefs.

All I would say to your listeners

is sometimes when you are shown a hypocrite,

all you can do is hand them a mirror.

LEWIS: Look, we've heard your spiel,

and we don't need to hear it again.

Far more important is the question

of how vulnerable this bank is.

- (DIAL TONE RINGING) - LEWIS: There are suggestions,

Business Secretary, you have seen on social media...

Alexander, um, are you in London?

(INDISTINCT CHATTER)

What's the blast radius of this fucking thing?

How big could it get and how quickly?

We were doing our jobs and fulfilling the PM's brief.

The insistent messaging about post-Brexit dynamism.

The amount of bastard times he said to me,

"Lisa, we can't keep losing contracts

to Frankfurt and Dubai.

Make the world feel we're pro-enterprise."

If you think deflecting blame to Number 10's

gonna help your cause, I'd advise a rethink.

We don't know what we're dealing with yet.

We may have been elected with a sandcastle majority,

but it doesn't mean the PM needs to govern

like a shit-scared Kremlinite.

RICKY MARTYN: We're not gonna wear that risk.

What's stopping us flushing this out,

calling our own audit?

LISA DEARN: We can't mark our own homework.

- (CELL PHONE BUZZING) - RICKY: Fuck's sake.

And what does a fucking self-inflicted bailout do

to our sandcastle majority?

♪ (INTENSE MUSIC PLAYING) ♪

The PM's gonna want a fucking name.

(SIGHS)

Thanks for not throwing me to the wolves.

I'd probably stand up for David Cameron

against that toady gobshite.

Can I offer you an apology?

Spare me. I backed you.

And then I watched your naivety play out

in slow motion.

JENNIFER BEVAN: Maybe we can ride this out.

How many off-book meetings did you have

with Tender management?

How many times did the Mucks pick up the tab?

How frequently are you recorded

as being in their offices or their home?

Make no mistake, if this flares up anymore,

they'll throw a body overboard before Politics Hour,

and your answer to those questions

is more damning than mine.

Sorry.

Yasmin, it's Jenni. Um...

Thanks for reaching out.

Listen, I... I... I do think I need to speak to Norton.

And Kevin from the red-top.

Kevin thinks the Prime Minister is a Marxist, Jenni.

I mean, he makes Marine Le Pen look like a Lib Dem councilor.

JENNIFER: I still think I am gonna need the help

of the Norton tabloids.

I'm just...

I'm trying to see how I'm gonna land in the fallout.

You sound a little scared.

JENNIFER: I just need to understand my options.

I need to be smart.

Yeah, okay.

Well, look, I'm here to help, so let me see what I can do.

All right?

♪ (MUSIC CONCLUDES) ♪

Sounds like they're scrambling.

YASMIN: Yeah.

Look, it's best for the family to start shaping a narrative

that shifts the blame to the right place.

Labour's relationship with Halberstram predates mine

and Henry's involvement in the company.

I think that's the story.

I think we should use the tabloids.

Kevin.

He's the right man for this.

You know, if we splash with this,

lead with the government, I don't think there's any way

the company survives.

Have you factored that in?

It... (STAMMERS) It's what's best for the family.

Yes, you keep saying that.

Maybe there's no need for me to put this delicately, but...

may I inquire about the status of your marriage?

You've seen my marriage, Alexander.

His behavior, his treatment of you,

it hasn't improved?

You know, I... I'm not saying that I'm blameless.

I mean, there are high highs,

but the lows are low.

Yeah, he's unfaithful.

- I know he's an addict, but... - He's relapsed.

- Drink? - YASMIN: Definitely booze.

(SIGHS)

I'm not sure about the rest. I mean, I know that

he's a cocaine user.

And I know he's used heroin.

Often.

Often?

Often.

WHITNEY: Good afternoon, everyone.

We wanna launch a stock-for-stock hostile takeover

of Pierpoint ahead of their AGM this week.

Tenacious.

WHITNEY: Henry and I could jump on a flight tonight.

Our stock continues to rally,

so we'd be trading at a premium to Pierpoint.

I don't understand why we aren't privileging a new audit.

We have nothing to hide.

If there are no skeletons in the closet,

why not open the closet?

I imagine there is a time sensitivity issue.

Also a confidentiality issue

around disclosure of valuations in the deal terms.

Henry, you're Whitney's chosen man.

Is he making the right call here?

♪ (DRAMATIC MUSIC PLAYING) ♪

Fuck's sake, Henry!

Tell them how passionately you lobbied me for this

as our fearless leader and CEO.

Al-Mi'raj Pierpoint

is already subject to audit supervision.

We could consolidate post-acquisition

and submit to a group-wide audit next year.

This is an essential move for our longevity.

We are saying to the world and market,

we aren't scared.

We don't run.

Running is not an option.

SAFFRON NEWMAN: To be clear,

this isn't final acquisition approval?

WHITNEY: Correct. With this vote,

authority is hereby delegated to CEO and CFO

in concert with legal and compliance,

to structure any transaction and return

to the board with final terms.

All against?

I think it's high time the men leading this company

stopped sidestepping substantive questions.

Cool. All in favor?

Thank you, everyone.

This resolution is adopted.

♪ (TENSE MUSIC PLAYING) ♪

Do you ever let go of that crutch?

My only vice. Well, one of them.

If you ever see me without it, you can assume I'm dead.

Yasmin suggested to me...

that you may have, uh, compromising recordings of us.

Explicit recordings.

Of you and who?

Do you?

What do you think? (CLEARS THROAT)

You think I'm capable of that?

Yeah. Yeah, I do.

Then you've answered your own question.

(CELL PHONE BUZZING)

(WILHELMINA FASSBINDER SPITS)

Yeah?

Wilhelmina, we're on our way to see you.

I'm warning you, I am getting a huge amount of blowback

about the Tender headlines as we prep for tomorrow's AGM.

There's rumors of an Al-Mi'raj term sheet floating around.

Word is you're being sold.

Clean structure. Laughable leverage ratio.

That is not entirely inaccurate.

WHITNEY: What are they pricing you at?

1.2 times book and a 90-day clawback window?

WILHELMINA: You're not far off. They're pricing us to go.

WHITNEY: Well, uh, let's speed it along for you.

Henry has something to say.

Al-Mi'raj never loved you

and had no idea what to do with you.

We could be a transatlantic giant.

WILHELMINA: You're not buying a fucking lollipop, for Christ's sakes.

There's stakeholder optics, governance, a process.

- Then give the floor to me. - WILHELMINA: Well, how do you mean? At the AGM?

No. You have no formal standing.

You have the power to cede the floor to me

under special motions.

You're not a stakeholder of record.

Well, it should be known that we're holding Pierpoint stock

under a number of nominee structures.

And we're an important strategic partner.

I don't have to be noisy about price suppression,

or, God forbid, talk about the undeclared sovereign wealth

in your recap structure.

What? That doesn't exist?

Well, me saying it is almost as bad as it existing.

Or I could leak my counter-valuation

to the press, or worse, say that, um,

Al-Mi'raj is a distressed seller in no position

to make a strategic exit.

I'll tie cinder blocks to the Pierpoint price

and throw it in the Hudson.

Yeah, point made.

You wanna use our AGM to declare a hostile takeover?

WHITNEY: A hostile without hostility.

I wanna offer a premium.

Al-Mi'raj wants out.

Let's give them an above-market print.

I'll get you a clean, attractive exit.

And a halo for everybody's fucking news cycle.

Look for two smiles in the crowd.

PILOT: (OVER PA) Making our final approach to Newark shortly.

♪ (MUSIC CONTINUES) ♪

- ♪ (MUSIC FADES) ♪ - (INDISTINCT CHATTER)

Sorry about how we covered your old man.

Ghastly stuff you went through.

Don't worry. He was a bastard.

KEVIN RAWLE: (LAUGHS) Well, that was the angle that sold, yeah.

YASMIN: Hi. I need to run and grab Jen.

EMPLOYEE: (IN DISTANCE) She thinks Princess Di was killed by the SAS.

Take a seat, Jenni.

♪ (TENSE MUSIC PLAYING) ♪

We know it all must feel like it's sort of

getting on top of you.

But don't worry, you're with friends.

You know, we have a roadmap.

No one's gonna ask you to do anything.

You can just sit there and listen.

You don't need me to tell you how radioactive this is

for the government.

Someone's going down for it.

YASMIN: And Lisa is already feathering her nest.

What have you heard?

You don't get to her position by acting impractically.

I mean, she's positioning herself

to come out of this as the adult in the room.

(SIGHS) Jenni, did you ever raise any red flags

about Tender?

Did you feel stonewalled by top-down expectations?

I haven't had a chance to reckon with any sort of hindsight.

Um...

Pressure to help party leadership.

But Lisa was always the cautious one.

Yeah, see, I'd cut that. (LAUGHS)

The messaging's pretty simple.

You were a young, dissenting voice

overruled by grim, old bureaucrats.

Your warnings were ignored.

You know, you were principled, youthful, uncontaminated.

But you know how much of this I was driving.

I mean, I was a guest at a private residence

for fuck's sake. I am the tainted one.

But nobody knows that.

I'm not gonna tell anyone.

If that's true, why'd you even need me?

The solution's pretty fucking clear.

If this goes front-page, the company is finished.

I have deniability.

I was just one of thousands of global employees.

- What would you need? - KEVIN: Anything.

Memos, minutes, documents that can overstate the case

for Lisa's proximity to Tender

and communicate her passion for it to succeed at any cost.

Lies.

Points of emphasis.

Journalism shouldn't be about myth-making

for an aristocratic class. I... I... I can't.

Lisa brought me into government.

I wasn't even gonna run, but she...

she lobbied the National Executive Committee.

She pushed for the safe seat.

What were you hoping would happen in here exactly?

No, no, but when it's laid out like this, so brazen, I...

I can't do that to her. Look, this...

this entire conversation is off the record, all right?

- All right? - Naturally.

We appreciate your...

principles.

KEVIN: Honestly, these women are hilarious.

How do they think this ends?

ALEXANDER NORTON: If Bevan's not gonna play ball,

we need to figure out another way

to stick this on Dearn.

Well, what if we picked it up from another source?

I mean, surely then we avoid direct liability

for sourcing and verifying a leak.

If there is a leak,

a memo, pick it up and make it pop.

Smart. Can say we're reporting public domain,

less risk of defamation claim.

Ideally, it would be an investigative outlet.

Add a veneer of credibility. By the time we publish,

Westminster would be aflame with the early report

and we can confirm it as a coup de grâce.

These amateurs wanna test the media food chain?

YASMIN: (SCOFFS) Maybe the front page

of a red-top can still turn a minor outlet's work

into a fully fledged fucking career ender.

Don't sound so excited.

(CHUCKLES) Just leave it with me.

Great to meet you, Kevin.

Hard fucking bird. (CHUCKLES)

(KNOCKING ON DOOR)

♪ (MUSIC FADING) ♪

Happy to see me?

Or is that impossible now?

I'm actually a little more than surprised.

So, this is the nerve center.

HARPER: Hmm.

- Where is everyone? - It's just me this afternoon.

Lonely?

Always.

How have you two not killed each other yet?

HARPER: He exited the fund.

Maybe we finally did. Coffee?

- Thank you. - Mm-hmm.

So, um, I have it on good authority

that Dearn and Bevan

have been in the Norton offices all morning...

- (CHUCKLES) - ...trying to save face and torch the other.

The cover-up is on, huh?

YASMIN: Yeah, the whole thing stinks.

I can personally verify that government officials

were far too close to Tender management.

I mean, the pressure.

They wanted everything done yesterday.

I remember Dearn introducing Henry at WebHorizon.

Wasn't Bevan at Henry's 40th, or am I misremembering?

Yep. At Dearn's request.

But it goes far deeper than that.

I mean, Dearn was always in our offices.

You know, the whole cabinet saw her

as an anti-business trade union lover.

She wanted to use Tender as an antidote to that.

A trophy.

Maybe Dycker missed a big piece of the story.

No, I think this is the story.

And then there was the memo.

♪ (INTRIGUING MUSIC PLAYING) ♪

What memo?

Bevan says that Dearn told her department

to bury a briefing note.

Tender represents a risk

to UK regulatory credibility type of thing,

and it was suppressed at a ministerial level.

FCA, PRA, National Audit Office?

Um, well, I don't know. (CHUCKLES)

Like I said, I didn't see it.

Uh, this is just what I was told.

Wow. You'd bet a political firestorm

would speed the end of the company.

Your job to bet, not mine.

Questions in Parliament, public inquiry,

independent audit of the government's interactions

with the company.

Maybe a government-mandated audit into Tender.

♪ (SUPENSEFUL MUSIC PLAYING) ♪

Don't fuck me around, Yas. Come on.

Be blunt. What are you asking me to do?

I'm working on my own...

escape.

I'm managing the timing of my resignation

and also steering people to know that I was a constant,

lone, dissenting voice in the company.

You weren't though, right?

What difference does it make?

Our interests finally align.

Get this in front of someone willing to write about it.

The share price isn't gonna tank itself.

Help me help you.

♪ (MUSIC FADES) ♪

EDWARD BURGESS: The wake was a riot

with a beautiful eulogy from his mother.

Jim was very honest in his dealings with me.

Trust me, I tested him.

There was no personal financial angle at all.

I, uh...

I heard from someone that warnings were made

and ignored about Tender,

that Labour's business department are now at war,

passing the buck.

Well, your, um,

Sweetpea Golightly got quite close

to bringing us an insider, or so she made it seem.

You should probably all leave journalism

- to the journalists. - (CHUCKLES)

Look, there's talk of memos.

A top-down culture of "act now, questions later."

Yasmin Muck, who ran their comms,

repeatedly raised concerns, again, on Deaf ears.

Do you have access to these memos?

(SIGHS) No. No, I'm told they exist.

(SCOFFS) What do you want me to do then?

Frame the article as a question. Don't name me.

Call me an insider, a market source, whatever.

No one else has this.

You can be cautious in your wording,

but any question is provocation.

The public's money is tied up in this.

♪ (SUSPENSEFUL MUSIC PLAYING) ♪

You know, your face does this amazing thing

when your concerns become moral.

Your eyes soften like you're trying

to trick your physiognomy

into telling yourself you actually care

about this shit.

HARPER: I'm tipping you off on a huge story.

Has that been lost in the wash?

Make some calls. Whitehall, the regulators.

Build it out. That's not my job.

Good opportunity for you to carry Jim's torch.

Don't do that. Jesus Christ, let's... let's all agree

that that, that there is fucking grotesque.

(SNIFFS)

It's like the saddest fucking thing in the world.

What's that?

- Unfulfilled potential. - ♪ (MUSIC SWELLS) ♪

- (METRO CARRIAGE RATTLING) - (HORN BLARING)

- (TRAFFIC RUMBLING) - (DISTANT THUD)

(BAG UNZIPPING)

MAN: Not a fucking word.

(DOOR CLOSING)

WHITNEY: All right, all right, all right. Okay.

(DOOR CLOSING)

(DIAL TONE RINGING)

WHITNEY: You've reached Halberstram.

- Leave a message. - (DIAL TONE BEEPS)

- (DOOR CLOSING) - (BAG THUDS)

(SIGHS, MUTTERS) Oh, fuck.

I was meticulous at every stage, how could you possibly know?

Your dead-drop phone.

The identical model to the one you often stare at.

(GROANS)

FERDINAND SCHARZWALD: The one you rarely turn on.

The one you take the SIM out of.

Powered it on when you landed and autoconnected

- to the airport Wi-Fi. - (RAPID THUDS)

Fuck! Fuck!

FERDINAND: That airport is a surveillance choke point.

The calls to your fixer and the subsequent ability

to map the flow of cash exchange around the calls.

First payment of 120,000 dollars

to Sunpath Living Residential Solutions,

a jouhatsu disappearing company in Saitama Prefecture.

DEZ WATKINS: These night-moving companies aren't the real deal.

It's like witness protection.

Someone wants to find you, they'll find you.

Please, please, just let me catch my flight

and disappear. You won't hear from me again.

It is not an option.

While Tender has a pulse,

it remains a very useful data set.

So what? If...

it dies, I go with it?

FERDINAND: On the contrary.

You stick around and face the consequences

of your actions without implicating me.

Us.

- (GRUNTS) - Escape is a fantasy.

You're only hearing this because they want you to.

You no longer exist outside their tolerance.

(ARM THUDS)

(SIGHS)

And the journalist?

Dycker?

Did you, uh...

finish him, too?

FERNDINDAND: You learn very fast that compliance is the only logical path.

Continue onto the AGM

and everything can be compartmentalized.

Tender buying Pierpoint opens up an entirely new data set.

Tender's the future.

- ♪ (OMINOUS MUSIC PLAYING) ♪ - Tender's real.

Tender's beautiful.

Just act like the great lie of your life

is not that different from its only truth.

You're world-class at this performance.

I'll find the version of you that fucking remembers that.

(BAD THUDS)

Go on. Off you fuck.

♪ (MUSIC SWELLING) ♪

- ♪ (MUSIC CALMS) ♪ - (CAR ENGINE STARTING)

HENRY: (WHISPERING) Why didn't you answer your phone?

- Go to sleep. - Who the fuck was that?

WHITNEY: Someone I owe money to.

Fucking who?

WHITNEY: Just a guy I see when I'm here, okay?

- What guy? - WHITNEY: Just a fucking guy.

What? You never fucking paid for it?

Go to sleep.

(DOOR CLOSING)

- ♪ (MUSIC FADES) ♪ - (BIRDS SQUAWKING)

Did you see the story that ran on FinDigest overnight?

FinDigest? It's a digital fucking pamphlet.

Proper drilled into your department's coziness

with Tender C-Suite.

I got a pre-publication notice

from the tabloids on the back of it.

They picked it up and now Norton wants to position you

as Tender's chief governmental architect.

(FOLDER THUDS)

Not much spin we can put on your dozen

or so Tender office visits, your introduction

of Henry to WebHorizon, or your photo op with him.

What about their reporting

of a suppressed Internal Risk Assessment

warning against Tender's rollout in the UK?

You know this is prefaced by "sources claim"

because it doesn't fucking exist.

RICKY: Your initials

are on the provisional authorization merger

and the granting of Tender's UK banking license

that followed hard behind it.

And what else do those minutes show?

The moment you walked into that meeting

endorsing the PM's wishes, it became a done deal.

Funnily enough, Norton

and his bullshit complex didn't mention that.

Who else? Which regulators didn't you hit?

How many red flags did you torch before those cowards

- could run them up the flagpole? - Wow.

Does sounding off make you feel better?

♪ (INTENSE MUSIC PLAYING) ♪

LISA: (SIGHING) Right.

“Acquit yourself of your charge, for I have long been prepared.”

RICKY: Excuse me?

It's what Anne Boleyn said

before the blade kissed her pretty White neck.

(CHUCKLES)

LISA: It means get the fuck on with it.

I accept ministerial responsibility

and I will weigh resignation as a point of principle. Okay?

RICKY: Like fuck you will.

The PM's expecting your resignation letter

on his desk before the story runs.

Short and sweet, to his point.

You're always too romantic, Lisa.

You mean Secretary of State?

No, I don't.

♪ (DRAMATIC MUSIC PLAYING) ♪

(CHUCKLES)

(DOOR CLOSING)

- (GRUNTS, SIGHS) - (BOX THUDS)

We remain well capitalized

with a core Tier 1 capital ratio of...

(WHISPERS) What's wrong with you? You look terrible.

I'm not feeling myself.

WILHELMINA: Now, as ever,

- I would like to close my remarks... - I don't think I can do this.

- ...by saying that... - Yeah, well, you have to.

...we at Al-Mi'raj Pierpoint pride ourselves

- on our proximity to regulators. - I can't.

WILHELMINA: That said, unless anyone has

- anything they wish to add... - You need to fucking perform.

...ladies, gentlemen.

At this point, I'd like to open the floor to questions.

- HENRY: Whitney, look at me. - WILHELMINA: Okay, quite a few.

Do the fucking thing you do.

♪ (TENSE MUSIC PLAYING) ♪

Yes, I would like to start with Mr. Halberstram

whose courage-under-fire leadership

of our strategic partner, Tender, has not gone unnoticed.

Whitney, you wanna kick us off?

Any operational insights you'd like to share?

WHITNEY: I, uh... (CLEARS THROAT)

...speak on behalf of myself and our CEO, Henry Muck.

It's a privilege to be with you all this afternoon.

This is a homecoming for me.

♪ (MUSIC CONCLUDES) ♪

We'd like it to be one for Tender too.

I don't have a question.

I have an offer.

♪ ("HEROES" BY BIG BEN TRIBE PLAYING) ♪

We don't see it as discretionary.

It's deterministic.

We wanna be US dollar natives again.

Our offer for Pierpoint is 1.9 times book.

Peers trade closer to 1.3 times, so why the hell the premium?

It is a display of faith

in what we believe this union to be.

A marriage of balance sheets,

of regulatory infrastructure, trust.

The offer is 90 percent stock.

Your stock is too volatile.

This man should not be heard. He isn't serious.

Your company is falling apart.

Fake news. Detractors have been at our door since jump

from being too early, too fast, too big.

Railroad to the internet,

the history of industry in this country

is pockmarked by a slew of disinformation

from those who don't stand to benefit

from radical thought or the displacement

of worn-out structures.

More bullshit.

Mr. Halberstram's offer must be heard.

Please, continue.

WHITNEY: Thank you.

The offer's mostly stock for stock.

By year one, we expect it to be earnings accretive.

By year two, this thing's gonna be paying for itself

through capital efficiency and operational overlap.

I leave you with the words that

every industrialist had sewn into their souls

at every point in the last century.

We want speed.

We want scale.

We want certainty.

We want America.

(AUDIENCE APPLAUDING)

♪ (SONG CONTINUES) ♪

♪ We can be heroes ♪

♪ Just for one day ♪

Uh, well, Mr. Halberstram,

we certainly appreciate your remarks,

and our C-Suite will take them into consideration. Thank you.

- (INAUDIBLE) - ♪ And we can be heroes ♪

- ♪ Just for one day ♪ - (CELL PHONE RINGING)

- Alexander. - ♪ (SONG FADES) ♪

Have you prepped Henry about the headline?

No.

NORTON: Because we both know there's no hope of the company

surviving this.

No.

Yasmin, we're not off stone yet.

It's not too late for me to slip the page

and change the splash.

I can stop it running.

I don't think that's wise.

Henry won't survive it.

This is more than just tough love.

He's lived his entire life without any consequences.

I mean, look where it's gotten him.

♪ (SOMBER DIRGE PLAYING) ♪

NORTON: But is this loving him?

Yes, Alexander. Yes, it is.

We've done everything we can for him.

You did...

more than anyone else could have.

NORTON: We did everything we can for him.

(SOBS)

(TEARFULLY) I've gotta go. Okay?

(SOFTLY) Fuck.

(SOBS)

(SOBBING)

♪ (DRUMS ROLLING) ♪

♪ (MUSIC CONCLUDES) ♪

- (GROANS) - WHITNEY: Wakey, wakey.

Rise and shine. We're almost home.

Bad sleep.

Bad dreams.

What was the dream?

It's often my... my father leaving.

People leaving.

Everyone we love has already started the process

of going away.

(GROANS)

WHITNEY: I didn't sleep much.

I've been waiting for Wilhelmina to call.

Tell me.

That Al-Mi'raj exec who supported your speaking

in the meeting.

Why'd he break rank?

Maybe he really believes in transparency, Henry.

Maybe he used to date Hayley.

Date?

- (CELL PHONE BUZZING) - Sure.

- Shit. - What?

They pushed the Business Secretary out.

Dearn's gone.

Over... over... over what?

Wait. Oh my God.

Oh, God, I've got an email from Kevin Rawle

giving me the opportunity

to respond to claims made before publication.

They're running a story

about Dearn's involvement with us.

It wasn't you?

What the fuck are you on about? No, I need to...

I need to, uh... I need to call Yasmin.

Kevin's fucked it this time, the bigot cunt.

Why don't I got a fucking signal?

Henry, relax. The focus is Pierpoint.

Pierpoint? What are you talking about?

You can't construct a universe where nothing's real.

Nobody can really live like that!

Do you know why you can't regulate your emotions?

'Cause you're a fucking child.

♪ (EXTENDED REMIX OF "I RAN" BY A FLOCK OF SEAGULLS PLAYING) ♪

Shut up. (BREATHES HEAVILY)

I need to... I just need to get hold of Yasmin.

She can, uh, call my...

call my uncle off. What the fuck...

I thought you hated your mother,

so why is your mouth still attached to her fucking tit?

Oh for... Why doesn't this thing fucking work?

(SOFTLY) Fuck.

Fuck.

Okay, okay, okay.

- ♪ (SONG CONTINUES) ♪ - JAMIE ABINGTON: Minister! Minister!

Wow.

JAMIE: These were delivered to your private office.

Okay. Um, who?

- (DIAL TONE RINGING) - ♪ (SONG CONTINUES) ♪

Oh, for fuck's sake...

Who the fuck are you?

I'm temping. I've been sat here the whole time.

- Yeah, okay. Where's Whitney? - ASSISTANT: I don't know.

You mean he hasn't been back here since we landed?

He's been in and out.

Okay, well. Okay. I go home. No Yasmin.

- I come here... - She resigned this afternoon.

Sorry, what?

ASSISTANT: She gave notice of her resignation

this afternoon.

♪ I walk along the avenue... ♪

(CELL PHONE RINGING)

ASSISTANT: Um, the LGBTQI+ delegation are waiting...

Whitney, where the fuck are you?

WILHELMINA: Henry, it's Wilhelmina Fassbinder

from Al-Mi'raj Pierpoint.

I owe you the call, not Whitney,

given my reservations about his character.

Uh, to be blunt, I allowed his little charade

at our AGM to jack up our sale to Temasek.

(SLURPS) It had been in the works for some time,

and his proclamations about our valuation

gave me a little leverage for the final negotiation.

HENRY: Uh, okay, yeah, um...

Have you, uh, spoken to Whitney at all?

I haven't. Although I...

I hope you realize his yarn

about buying multiple positions at Pierpoint was a bluff.

I called his supposed intermediaries.

There's no term sheets, no interbank confirmation,

no capital. There's no record at all, nothing.

Snake oil and sermons sound similar, don't they?

We will all be monitoring the Tender fallout closely.

If your equity continues to crater,

we'll trigger the conversion on your bond.

Hmm.

And we will be pursuing full recovery

so that our institution doesn't suffer.

Um, good luck.

♪ And I ran ♪

♪ I ran all night and day ♪

♪ Couldn't get away ♪

(CELL PHONE BUZZING)

♪ (INTENSE ELECTRO INTSTRUMENTAL PLAYING ) ♪

(CELL PHONE CONTINUES BUZZING)

- ♪ (SONG CONCLUDES) ♪ - (CELL PHONE CONTINUES BUZZING)

(CELL PHONE BUZZES)

Hi.

Jenni, I'm just checking how you're feeling

after how everything landed for you today.

JENNIFER: Did you hear Dearn's resignation speech?

No.

I'm sure I'll get the highlights on Twitter or whatever.

It's full of prevarications. Spares the PM.

(CHUCKLING) I mean,

the sentences carry about as much weight

as a Tender press release, if I'm honest.

Listen, it's yesterday's news.

Well, I mean, it's tomorrow's news, obviously.

But good luck with your television appearance.

It's a really great vote of confidence that the PM

wants you to be the face to front this thing.

And call me after.

We can talk about how I can drive the rest

of your communications.

I'm sorry. What...

Why... Why would I want or need that from you?

How much did you know?

What about... about Tender?

That leak to FinDigest that catalyzed

the whole red-top story, was...

was that you?

Look, it doesn't help you to know.

You have no fucking right.

You know this is crashing down around...

The right people will survive.

JENNIFER: I've only ever seen the sunniest version

of your disposition, and I increasingly wonder

if that's because I've only ever acted exactly how you designed.

Look, I know that you're under a lot of stress,

but can you, um, can you not take this out on me?

JENNIFER: The real cancer in our politics are the pigshit,

thick lightweights without a single real belief.

Except for their own self-advancement.

YASMIN: You knew what taking that meeting meant.

You got exactly what you wanted,

and I have been a genuine friend to you.

JENNIFER: What fucking friendship?

This has been a marriage of convenience,

but I suppose you're used to those.

You know nothing about my marriage.

JENNIFER: I know that your husband is an addict,

and I know that you deserted him to his ruin.

You abandoned him when he needed you the most,

so you take that for a fucking dance

around your conscience.

Oh, fuck you!

(PHONE THUDS)

♪ ("THE PROMISE" BY WHEN IN ROME PLAYING) ♪

How fucking dare you, you stupid fucking bitch!

♪ Don't look to a stranger You know in the end ♪

(BREATHING HEAVILY)

♪ I'll always be there ♪

Yes, yeah, thank you so much for letting me know. Speak soon.

- That was Burgess. - KWABENA: Mm-hmm.

Big story in the tabloids tomorrow, front page.

(BREATHES DEEPLY) The Serious Fraud Office

are announcing their investigation in the afternoon.

Yeah. Uh, the government's just mandated a Section 166

"skilled person" review into Tender's compliances

and risk controls. The FCA are instructing PwC.

Stock's indicating to open down 77 percent.

No one wants to catch the knife.

Tomorrow morning, we hit the tape small.

Don't show our hand

and exit as efficiently as we can.

Show me dollars.

(CELL PHONE RINGS, BUZZES)

Good. Yeah, we're all speaking the same fucking language.

Hey, what's up?

(BOTH CHUCKLE)

- (INDISTINCT CHATTER) - ♪ (SONG CONTINUES IN BACKGROUND) ♪

- YASMIN: You must be levitating. - (HARPER CHUCKLES)

Yeah.

Ironic I'm here with you.

Yeah, you used to make me feel very alone.

Now you're the only person in the world

I don't feel alone around.

I didn't want any of this to come at your expense.

It's kind of everything you've ever wanted,

really, isn't it? Me like this and you like that.

It's true, it is.

- It is! - (CHUCKLES) Yeah.

- Thanks for your honesty. - (CHUCKLES)

I mean, seriously, how the fuck did we get here?

Fuck if I know.

What drives anyone anywhere?

Lack and need.

(SCOFFS)

I'm so jealous of you.

I am. You're so smart, you know?

And the way that you wear it. You have this command, you know?

This autonomy. I'm so fucking soft.

I don't really know how to say this without...

(HESITATES)

I would do anything to live a day in your body and...

and just, like, see

how the world opened up around me.

I really resented you for being a breathing example

of how I was less.

♪ ("ONLY TIME" BY ENYA PLAYING IN BACKGROUND) ♪

I choose to love you

for being a breathing example of how I can be more.

I just want to be necessary.

I've never been necessary.

HARPER: Like, where does that come from?

Like, the need for control or desire to dominate?

Is it so you can say...

I don't know, you were never at anyone's mercy?

I don't know.

I don't know.

I guess...

I guess I kind of grew up at someone's mercy.

(SIGHS)

(YASMIN SNIFFLING, SOBBING)

(WHISPERS) I'm sorry.

♪ ("VERIDIS QUO" BY DAFT PUNK PLAYING) ♪

Do you want to go out? (SNIFFLES, CHUCKLES)

I mean, like,

just blow things away a bit, you know?

(HARPER CHUCKLES SOFTLY)

Do all the things that Lorde sings about?

- Lorde sings about being 17. - YASMIN: Exactly.

- God, I wish I was still 17. - HARPER: Girl. (CHUCKLES)

It was so easy to get people to do things for you.

(CHUCKLES)

(GLASS THUDS)

Will you promise me something?

Hmm.

Will you look after me tonight?

When the fuck are you gonna look after me?

Tonight.

♪ (SONG CONTINUES) ♪

♪ (SONG CONTINUES) ♪

(INDISTINCT CHATTER)

You have no idea how good I feel right now.

We're here forever, even if we can't be.

♪ ("VERIDIS QUO" CONTINUES PLAYING) ♪

♪ (SONG CONTINUES) ♪

♪ (SONG FADES) ♪