Original subtitles

WILL: Previously on Sweetbitter...

Do you trust him?

Howard? Sure. He's a good boss.

Will, you seem to be enjoying your new position.

WILL: I am.

I applied there when I first moved to the city.

I'm a manager.

- MAN: Where did you publish? - Oh, an obscure quarterly.

The Sewanee Review.

- Can I read it? - You absolutely cannot.

SIMONE: He doesn't know that you and Tess are fucking.

Come on, man. Are you blind?

Actually you're a lot like him.

You guys would be great together.

Incredible.

HOWARD: I think whiskey distilleries

will be the new micro-brewery.

I heard a rumor.

Your friend Heather may be leaving us.

She might.

She wants to go back to law school.

You'd make an excellent server.

Uh, I mean,

I'd love to.

It should be Sasha, though.

Why do you say that?

Because he deserves it.

He's the kind of person

that the guests always remember.

The restaurant wouldn't be the same without him.

Interesting.

Did you know that they burn the inside of these barrels?

The subtlest difference in char

can drastically shift the flavor.

Let me see yours.

[ ambient music ]

♪

Campfire smoke.

Caramel.

How's Becky doing?

Fine.

I assume.

We aren't together anymore.

WILL: Excuse me, Howard?

Seems we lost you.

Just wanted to tell you everything's ready.

Terrific. Shall we?

♪

[ indistinct chatter ]

Dear friends,

I hope you are enjoying yourselves,

but this is not just another field trip.

Considering that we cannot close the restaurant

to celebrate the holidays,

we want you all to know

how much we appreciate all of your hard work.

Follow me.

[ Sasha trills ]

I love presents.

[ The Ponys' "I'm With You" ]

HOWARD: Happy holidays, changelings.

SCOTT: Where's mine?

♪

Great. More alcohol.

Fancy. I sell it on eBay.

♪

Hair of the dog.

♪ Are you afraid to go outside ♪

♪ Are you afraid of what you might find ♪

♪ Baby girl, I

♪ I understand it

♪ I've seen it too and I don't recommend it ♪

WILL: You good? Got it?

Got one?

Yeah?

♪ Are you afraid to seem retarded ♪

♪ When you go outside

♪ And do the things you do

Uh, hey, Will?

No.

♪

[ dramatic percussion ]

♪

[ ambient music ]

♪

[ exhales softly ]

Why are you awake?

♪

What's with you and mermaids?

I don't know.

I just like them.

Always have. It's a Cape thing.

When I was a kid, Simone made up this story

about my mom being a mermaid.

One that returned to the sea.

[ kisses ]

What was your mom like?

I don't remember.

Simone always said she was, like...

water.

Like, a tide.

Just depended on the time of day.

Is that what she wrote about?

Who?

Simone.

Her short story.

About the boy and the mermaid.

Was it about you and your mom?

I don't know.

♪

You never read it?

Yeah, I did.

I don't remember.

♪

Like I said, lots of stories.

[ glass clinks ]

♪

♪

- Hi. - Yes?

Uh, I'm looking for something called The Sewanee Review.

It's a obscure fiction magazine.

Um, author's name?

Uh, Simone Hughes.

♪

[ chittering ]

Fuck.

[ sly music ]

Boys.

♪

Code Stuart Little.

Seriously?

I check the traps regularly.

They've been empty.

Yeah, I haven't seen any mouse shit.

I saw one. In my office.

- One? - One.

Well, that's better. I mean, there's one mouse

in every restaurant in the city.

Not mine.

SCOTT: Hey.

Bodega cat.

What?

Old school trick.

We get the cat from the bodega across the street.

- No. - How many times

have you been to the bodega across the street?

A thousand.

How many times have you seen the cat?

Nobody ever sees a bodega cat.

No cat.

Get the glue traps from the basement.

I'll set them in my office.

Howard doesn't know what the fuck he's doing anymore.

I have an idea. Where's Sasha?

[ soft jazz music playing ]

Hey, Nicky. Uh, is Jake in yet?

What do you think?

Hi. Can I help you?

I'm waiting for Will.

She's waiting for Will.

Yeah, uh, I got this. Um, thanks.

[ clears throat ]

Hey. Hi.

Hi.

Um, yeah.

This place is even more beautiful than I remembered it.

It's so elegant.

Yeah, great. Uh...

Um, what are you-- what are you doing here?

I brought you my résumé.

Oh. Uh, terrific.

I will...

Yeah, I will-I will put in a word with the boss.

Aren't you the boss?

Well, I'm not the, uh, the bossboss.

But I'll, you know, I'll see what I can do.

Oh.

Got it.

[ ambient music ]

[ bell jingles ]

Gotta do this fast. On the clock.

Hello?

Hello!

Ask him.

[ both speaking Russian ]

What's wrong?

What's wrong?

He's fucking Ukrainian.

They hate Russians.

You know, we're not all the same.

Huh?

Tell him we'll cook for him.

Make him whatever he wants.

They don't eat. They drink blood.

- Savages. - [ speaking Russian ]

Just ask him for the cat.

[ exhales deeply ]

[ both speaking Russian ]

[ soft jazz music playing ]

♪

Uh, Jake?

Hey.

What's up?

I, um...

I read Simone's short story.

Oh, yeah?

Yeah, it's--it's not about your mom, is it?

Hey. Cover me for five?

- You got it. - Come on.

What are you doing?

It's about you and Simone.

Right?

The boy loses his mother,

and the mermaid raises him and cares for him.

That's a story.

But it's based on the truth.

It's about you guys. Right?

Yeah. She raised me.

Okay? It's not a secret.

But...

Jake, she more than raises you.

It's... games and the stories

and--and the sex...

Oh, Jesus.

You don't get it.

People don't get it. I--

It was just us.

Nobody else.

It was our little world.

Do you still?

Do I still what?

When you go to the Cape?

With Simone? Do you still have sex?

Oh, is that your question?

It's confusing.

It's not confusing for me.

Please. Stop.

Please.

Because this...

between us,

it's nice.

So just be here.

[ ambient music ]

Leave that there.

♪

Nicky's gonna think I actually walked out this time.

♪

[ tense percussive music ]

♪

[ silverware clatters ]

♪

Howard, can I, uh, speak to you for a moment?

Not now.

It's, uh, it's kind of important.

[ woman screams ]

[ laughs ]

♪

There is a mouse, William.

I know that there is.

Um...

Speak.

I don't want the job.

As much as I appreciate the opportunity--

You've barely scratched the surface.

You shouldn't give up so quickly.

It's not even the job, per se.

It's me.

I--I don't want to be that person.

What person?

I don't mean

any disrespect.

It's just, you're more comfortable with it.

With what, exactly?

The suit.

The-the power. The...

the situations that happen,

like--like Tess at the distillery.

Be careful, Will.

Be very, very careful.

I'm not. I'm just--I'm just--

Don't sell yourself short.

I think you're very comfortable with power.

I gave you a certain backwaiter to train,

and you fucked her and then came into my office

and begged me to hire her.

It wasn't like that.

Exactly.

I understand. I just don't thi--

Go back to work, Will.

[ indistinct chatter ]

[ ambient music ]

♪

♪

[ footfall receding ]

♪

What do you want from him?

What's that?

From Jake.

I read your story.

Uh, how did you...

[ chuckles ] How did you find it?

It's beautiful.

The mermaid raising the boy.

It's...

familiar.

She's, what, his mother?

Sister?

Best friend?

Whole world.

Lovers?

I'm trying to understand--

You are trespassing on something

that is not your business.

Itis my business.

I care about him!

I care about him.

AndI know him.

You don't know Jake.

You don't.

He and I have a history together,

and it is a shared history,

and it is ourhistory.

I know about the history.

Simone, I'm asking.

What do you want now?

Do you--do you want to be with him?

No.

Then why do you keep him right here?

I don't keep him anywhere.

Jake is an adult.

Do you really not see the effect that you have on him?

On people?

Or maybe you do.

That's what this is.

What are you doing?

Jake wants to escape. You know that.

But he is so scared of abandoning you.

Abandon me?

For you?

Oh. Jake doesn't care about you.

He will be bored of you in a week,

and then you will be leveled

because clearly you have nothing else.

I thought that you had something,

and I thought...

I thought we were friends.

And now you come at me with this.

I mean, the arrogance.

To make assumptions about me.

How fucking dare you.

♪

Oh.

I am so disappointed.

[ tense music ]

♪

[ exhales sharply ]

♪

[ compact clicks ]

SASHA: Baby monster?

You, my babiest of all the monsters,

my only true and one, baby monster fucking love.

Sasha, I--I don't know what you're talking about.

Howard told me everything.

[ knocking ]

[ door squeaks ]

Howard?

Um...

You're promoting Sasha?

Maybe.

But first we would need to solve the bigger problem

of his citizenship.

Did you know that Moscow

was supposed to have its first gay pride festival this year?

Uh, no.

Banned at the last minute,

followed by hate crimes

all over the city.

If a person is in danger of persecution

when they return to their country,

the United States of America

will sometimes grant "withholding of removal."

It wouldn't be safe for Sasha to go home.

[ laughs ] Oh, my God. Howard--

I've put Sasha in touch with our legal team.

That's so generous of you.

I don't know what to say.

I needed to do something nice today.

And...

I listen to you.

[ thud ]

[ chitters ]

Holy shit, Howard.

There--there's a cat in your office.

♪

HOWARD: Yes, there is.

[ chuckles ]

[ indistinct chatter ]

Hey.

Come here for a sec.

[ sighs ]

I'm ready to let go of the house.

You can have your money.

A bar, restaurant, I don't care.

I support you no matter what.

I've spent so much of my life thinking about you,

it's like...

breathing.

Maybe I didn't know what-- what I was doing.

But I was a child too.

And you forget that.

[ scoffs ] I don't.

We were dealt a shitty hand.

But we did build something together.

I would do it again.

With you. You know that, right?

I know.

Me too.

Now go make an old-fashioned for my 42.

[ Lou Reed's "Dirty Blvd." playing ]

♪

♪ Pedro lives out of the Wilshire Hotel... ♪

Oh. Mood lighting, Nick.

Very suave.

I like to mix it up.

Nicky, can I get the rest of that bottle, please?

Wow. You're coming in hot.

Yeah, well, too much drama.

Keeps the job fun.

It's exhausting.

♪ Pedro dreams of being older ♪

♪ And killing the old man

♪ But that's a slim chance

♪ He's going to the boulevard ♪

♪ He's going to end up

♪ On the dirty boulevard

♪ He's going out

♪ To the dirty boulevard...

Hey, um, can I talk to you for a minute?

I just--

I feel like...

I owe you an apology.

You want to go...

- Sure. - HOWARD: Will?

The close-out is on my desk.

Ready for you now.

- Then lock up. - WILL: Mm-hmm.

Good night, everyone.

ALL: Good night Howard!

Howard. You walking?

I am.

Walk me home?

I would like that very much.

♪

♪ Get 'em out, on the dirty boulevard ♪

♪ Going out, to the dirty boulevard ♪

SCOTT: You're a fucking coward!

[ indistinct arguing ]

[ arguing continues ]

Asshole.

♪

What happened?

He's a fucking adolescent moron.

Okay.

I just told him I'm not opening a place with that guy.

It was a terrible idea.

You're drinking already?

It's shift drinks, isn't it?

Jake...

I'm good.

Catch up with you later.

[ ambient music ]

♪

Home Bar?

Um...

I'll just meet you guys there.

Okay.

SASHA: Famous last words.

ARI: Okay, man.

♪

I don't know, Howard.

It stopped being fun.

I don't know when.

Is it still fun for you?

Sometimes.

But even the fun moments

are just recycled, watered down versions

of things that have happened before.

And I find myself

doing things...

and, I don't know,

being things...

We're just stuck.

Or at least I am.

I just... Oh, God.

I don't have the energy to fight my way out of it.

[ chuckles ]

Please don't laugh at me. Don't.

Unfortunately for me, you are...

you are all fight.

What would the kids say?

What would the kids say?

♪

Good night, Howard.

Good night, Simone.

♪

TESS: Howard?

Uh, hi.

Hello.

Do you have a minute to talk?

♪ Aspettami

♪ Wait for me

♪ I've been lost

♪ Adrift at sea

♪ In your dreams

♪ Dream my way

♪ Someday I'll find my heart

♪ And come back to stay...

Sorry.

I have a rule about wearing my suit at home.

I, uh, poured myself a drink.

Hope you don't mind.

I don't.

It's been a strange night.

I had a strange night as well.

Cheers.

♪ And never let me go again ♪

♪ My dear...

So...

So.

What were you hoping to talk about at such an hour?

[ inhales deeply ]

Howard...

I know that you want changes.

I see what you're doing.

And I really believe you,

that you want the restaurant to be more.

But it's not gonna happen this way.

And what way is that?

Without real change.

A sea change.

I'm listening.

I do really want to be a server.

Heather hasn't actually quit yet.

I know.

I'm not talking about Heather.

I think that you should fire Simone.

♪ I'm coming home

♪ Every sky in my heart will be blue ♪

♪ On the day

♪ I come back to you

♪

♪ I'm coming home

♪ Every sky in my heart will be blue ♪

♪ On the day I come back

♪ To you