Hey. Hi. How are you?
Let's catch up.
So far, I've met a stalker,
almost got kissed by a lady,
joined a sort of cult,
tripped my butt off, ignored falling bodies,
cried, became a junior detective,
got a mad crush,
got made over by an ex-TV star,
went on some awful dates, cried some more,
got fired, got hit...
got my heart broken,
watched porn and had an epiphany.
But now things were going to get really weird.
Yo, you ever seen a Stella Cross porno?
She's as old as my dad,
but man, back in the day? Wow. Smokin'.
I tried to find more of her stuff online,
but it's all behind a paywall, you know? Price-jackin' scum.
That's why you gotta keep all your porn on a hard drive.
- There you go. - I call it the "Spank bank."
Ex-- Excuse me, but, uh, can I help you?
- I'll help you, baby. - Hey, man. Look. Look.
I'm sorry, miss, but there
are new rules about women being in the--
Shut up, man! Let the lady express herself.
Show us your tits, baby!
Yo, check this out. We got eyes on us at all times. For real.
If shit like this gets viral--
- Shut up, man! - Nobody posts it!
Get naked, baby, come on!
Grind it, baby!
What in the hell's going on here, John?
No!!!
Hey, watch where you're goin'.
Excuse me?
Whatever, fat bitch.
- Plum. Baby girl! - Hi!
Oh, Plum! You OK?
- I'm great, yeah. - You sure?
I am. I'm really great.
All right. It's good to see you.
You catchin' this?
They're blowin' up kids now.
..Suspected suicide bomber's name is Fiona Trace,
a sophomore here at Botha University.
Witnesses near th--
I'm getting word
the death toll stands at ten, including the bomber.
- The world's just... - Gettin' a good shake.
What?
Getting a good shake?
Kind of, yeah.
What the hell is that?
Like the world's a kid having a nightmare?
That's kind of apt, actually.
W-What-- What are you wearing?
What is this, the Glockenspiel House uniform?
Calliope. No.
Well, you look like a Monster High doll.
Thank you.
That was, like, the longest week of my life.
Ben, why don't you go get us a couple of coffees?
- All right? - OK.
Thank you.
Actually, can I get a chocolate shake?
And a tuna melt. With fries.
- Kitty! - Monique.
Oh, Jamie! Abra!
It's been too long.
Look.
I'm told all the teenagers at Spence are carrying one of these.
Maybe it's a trend for Daisy Chain.
Never mind. You've moved on to more important things.
Stanley gave her a promotion.
Fabulous!
It's been a whirlwind.
I'm-- Forgive me. I owe you both phone calls.
We're going for a quick bite. Why don't you join us?
I'd kill to... but I have a meeting.
Too bad.
But I will see you at the Tom Ford dinner tomorrow?
For the Boys and Girls Club.
Jamie.
Kitty, it was nothing personal.
Not at all. We really struggled about whether to include you.
But with the controversy, we just felt that it was better--
Totally get it. Give my best to Stanley.
Absolutely.
- That seemed excessive. - Please.
That viper has had it coming for a very long time.
And everybody knows it wasn't a promotion.
Yeah, gonna be on the east side of the street...
Do I have you through tomorrow?
I hope you're asking because you're about to proposition me.
Because the answer is "Maybe."
I'm flattered. I was going to say a town this grim
can't afford to lose its football team.
It's the only thing they live for.
That is the wrong angle.
Let Fox make this about football.
This is about Jennifer.
How it's infiltrating campuses now...
warping young minds.
- What? - I'm-- I'm just catchin' up.
The food, the look, the shake.
It's nothin'.
Just ask me what's going on with me.
Why am I afraid to?
Because it's scary.
But something's happened.
Something incredible.
I want to share it with my best friend.
Ok.
That, I can handle.
Ok.
All right. So, let me back up.
- Dominic. - He came here looking for you.
Figures. Screw him.
- Guess what I found out. - What?
He's married.
And he's not a detective anymore. He works for Kitty.
- Holy sh-- - Yeah. Lying scumbag,
just like the rest of 'em.
But whatever.
It's not important.
So when I got to Calliope House, I was broken.
You know, my heart, my body, my mind.
If I had more energy, I would have considered suicide.
- Plum. - But wait.
Just wait.
So Verena takes me to this place she's got in the basement,
like--it's like, I don't-- like a monastery or something.
I don't know. It's bleak.
But there's this room,
and it's art, terrifying art,
but finally I'm so desperate that I go in there,
- and it's porn. - What?
Yeah. There's a live feed from Porn Hub or something,
and I can watch what everyone in the whole world is watching.
And it's awful. Hideous.
Like, women blowing men until they puke,
and men strangling women, women taking two--
- I get the picture. - So I feel like I want to throw up.
Like, why are they showing me this, you know?
And then I--
It clicks. Why.
All these women getting beaten and screwed
and humiliated-- they're me.
But they're also Alicia...
my thin woman within.
They look just like Alicia.
They're thin and perky
and glossy.
And for what?
They get strangled.
Violated. Killed.
There is no there there, you know?
I-- I'm tryin' to follow.
I could work my whole life
to be someone's ideal,
to be lovable to someone,
and even if I get there, I'm still not safe.
Say I lose the weight, get the surgeries,
I fit in with all the perfect size twos of the world.
All I've done is turned
myself into better fodder for the predators.
All my life I've been trying to turn myself into better prey!
- Jesus Christ. - Right? Incredible!
Plum, you need to stay away from those people.
Verena, all of 'em. It's not safe for you.
All right, OK, I know-- I know it sounds a little crazy.
A little crazy? It's alarming crazy.
Losing weight will turn you into better prey?
How about staying fat will kill you?
Excuse me?
Look, Plum, I love you.
But I'm gonna go hard here.
You are not healthy. You are not well.
I can't tell you how many times
you have walked in here and huffed and puffed,
and I was terrified that you
were gonna have a heart attack and die on my floor.
I am healthy.
Listen, baby, please, don't do that, OK?
What I am trying to say is that I think you need to--
No, I get-- I get what you're trying to say.
Look... A basement with a porn room?
They're recruiting you. That's straight-up Al Qaeda.
What's next, blowing up innocent football players?
- That's enough. - You know not all women are victims.
Not all women are prey.
- How would you know? - How?!
I'm a gay black man from the South, Plum.
Who passes as straight.
Who's moved to New York to escape the most of it.
We're not gonna play that game.
We're not gonna play who's the most oppressed.
No? No.
Well, game over. Fat woman wins!
I can't pass. There's nowhere I can go to escape.
Not work, not home, not the bus,
not even inside my own damn head.
I'm not saying you're not oppressed.
- You are-- - You known damn well what I've gone through.
And I'm saying you cannot understand what it's like to be me.
Or any woman.
We are not safe. Anywhere!
And if I like this body,
I'm gonna live in it as long as I want to.
I don't care if it scares you.
Scares me?
It scares me for you. Your health.
My health is my own damn business!
- Hey, Plum-- - Get your hands off me.
Wake up.
A girl blew up a football team.
- And herself. - What?
You can't stay here anymore.
back up. Who blew up what?
Some coed walked into a locker room
with a bomb strapped to her chest.
Why are you hiding?
I didn't know what they were gonna do. I didn't.
The money wasn't for killing people.
That manifesto was like every screed you ever wrote me.
It was like you cut and pasted your college journals.
I had nothing to do with the manifesto.
Our help was supposed to go to lawyers.
A class action suit for rape survivors.
Military women.
And it did.
Until it didn't.
I found Leeta in some farm town, through her vlog.
What is that?
- What's a vlog? - Video blog?
Jesus Christ, how are you gonna change the world
when you don't even live in it?
Or do you have people for that, too?
Could we do this without you attacking me?
Leeta was working in a clinic
with military rape victims.
I was looking for something different to support.
She was compelling.
The cause, the women-- all of it was righteous.
You knew. She worked for you.
I lured her from Chico to be an intern, to do good works.
She said the money was with the lawyers.
Nothing about anything else.
She knew I would have stopped her if she--
You would have stopped her? Really?
With your radical ideas?
Your poisonous, eye-for-an-eye ideas?!
- Every women talks about revenge-- - I don't!
- It leads to anarchy! - Bullshit!
Don't get sanctimonious with me, Saint Verena.
Violence--I have said this--
violence is never the answer!
Maybe not for a rich white woman!
What about for rich black women?
I'm black. And I'm angry.
But I still know you shouldn't kill people.
And yet... look what you did.
Fiona was...
kinda off-your-meds strange.
I don't exactly remember
when she started coming to the DAS meetings.
Dissident-Ass Sisters. It's our group.
Did she ever talk about the football team?
I have three brothers. And I love men.
I have a father, two grandfathers, and a boyfriend.
What does that have to do with anything?
Well, my mom said we should get lawyers
before we talk to anyone.
But we're not the bad guys here.
I'll go on the record.
OK. Gerald. Can I--?
Great.
- Just a second. - OK?
I'm speaking with senior Luca Tacara
about the tragic bombing at Botha University.
Luca, tell me how the group started.
I'm a fashion and design major,
but I also play lacrosse.
The group started when the school took our field away
because the football team wanted a second field for drills.
An unnamed source told me Jennifer inspired you.
Is that true?
sort of. I mean, who isn't talking about them?
Someone said we should paper the boys' locker room
with those manifestos, to make a point.
Did you do that?
No! That wasn't our style.
The dissident group,
did they have direct contact with Jennifer?
Did Fiona say they'd directed her to do something?
We didn't even like Fiona.
She was just some weird girl who ate our food
and listened to us debate whether to have a bake sale
or a protest to get our field back.
That's all.
Thank you.
Yep.
I smudged the crap out of Julia's room for you.
You know I burned a sage the last time Julia left the house?
Lady leaves fumes around here like weed.
What do you think? Am I wrong?
Must have been a helluva fight you two had.
I don't think I've ever heard you ask that.
- You OK? - No.
Anything you want to talk about?
No.
- Damn it! - Here. Let me--
I don't need your help!
Inside voice, doll.
Sorry.
I just hate you.
I hate you, I hate Steven, I hate everybody.
I hate hating everybody, I hate--
I just want to eat everything in sight, or...go back to bed.
Or both. Eat, then bed.
Or we could talk.
Fine!
Fine.
Change is hard.
That's why most people don't do it.
- But it's worth it. - Promise?
I guarantee it, actually.
I just feel like I can't regulate my energy.
Like, one minute I'm high,
and the next I'm, like, on the ground.
I was reading about bipolar disorder--
You do not have bipolar disorder.
What you have is feelings.
Well, I hate that.
Seriously, I get it.
Tell me what it's like when you're feeling high.
like I'm sixteen.
Nobody's ever told me I suck.
Like I'm wild and horny
and everything is awesome.
Got it. And when you're on the floor?
Well, first I-- I'm furious,
this rage ball, at everyone--
except me, which is new--
That's great. That's progress.
I guess so.
Feels crappy.
You said "First" You're furious,
and then you're on the floor.
Pancaked. Like, completely exhausted.
Everything you're telling me is so normal.
You don't have a huge personal epiphany
and then change overnight; you build on that epiphany.
But sometimes it's one step forward, one step back.
- I also hate that. - I know.
You said you hated Steven. Did something happen?
Boy, do you ever turn off your listening ears?
Not lately. The world feels too...
Unsafe?
Like you have to be on high alert?
What I m-meant to say
is that when you are talking,
my listening ears are on.
Always.
Steven?
Steven.
I don't think Steven likes the new me.
He says he's worried about my health.
- Your health. - He's afraid I might die.
He said I huffed and puffed.
Part of me wonders if he's right.
Like, I feel fine now, but...
what if I'm in denial?
Do you trust me?
Yeah.
I do.
I promise you these feelings aren't gonna kill you.
Just be easy on yourself. They'll settle down.
And in the meantime,
listen to what your body wants, and have it.
Eventually all the...
I don't know, ice cream, Doritos,
"bad food,"
you'll get full, you'll have enough.
Your body will find its happy balance.
What a concept.
I wanted to say, if you want to go home, that's fine,
but if you--
Sometimes people like to stay here for a while
while they're getting their sea legs.
- I could do that? - Yeah. Of course.
You don't have to go through this alone.
And we can keep talking.
Jesus, there I go again.
I-- I would like that.
Could we maybe not talk every day, though?
This is really intense.
Of course.
And maybe spend a little time with Sana.
Do some art, and play.
Try a hobby outside of baking.
One where you don't necessarily have to follow the recipe.
Eladio, get Stanley for me.
Where's your temp?
I fired the temp. He was a loud chewer.
Kitty, you know I have a new gig.
Oh, fine.
Who's this?
Right. Agatha. I need to speak to him.
No, I can't talk to him at the Tom Ford dinner.
Have him call me back.
How about this one?
Got it.
How long will it take?
I can expedite it. I got a cousin who works at the DMV.
Three hundred extra.
Does this cousin make changes?
No hundreds. Too easy to track.
You can't be here. Especially looking like my tia Rosa.
She works at K-Mart.
Relax.
They thought I was the delivery tia.
Figured you could use the food.
Well, take it back after you leave.
I'm not a fan of flatbread crackers.
I'm going for anonymous, not haggard.
I told you to text if you need anything.
Kitty's been popping by whenever she's bored,
which is all the time.
I couldn't text this.
Jesus.
What am I supposed to do with this?
Whatever you need.
I just may not be around.
I come bearing blueberry muffins.
Yeah? How are you feeling?
Better.
It's inverse states.
It's the same, but different.
It's incredible.
What?
You don't mind?
Me looking at you?
Not if you give me a muffin.
Oh, come on! I've called them four times.
This is the first time they called me back,
and my phone doesn't ring.
Stupid doctor. I'm trying
to cancel my surgery and get my deposit back.
It's a lot of money. It's like $10,000.
Didn't Verena give you like 20 grand?
Yeah, I gave them half of it.
Now I don't want the surgery,
and I have all my bills and no job.
Maybe you should go there and ask for it back.
Maybe I should.
Verena says I should try art therapy.
She called it that?
Well, no, she said maybe you should help me find a new hobby.
But same difference, right?
Do you want to try art?
I don't know.
Well, you do seem kind of...restless.
I don't know what I am.
I do.
What?
Oh, a shadow?
A human? A body?
A shadow of my former self?
A shadow puppet?
Wait.
What?
Oh, wait, don't move. Don't move.
You're here now.
Do you want to add something?
I'm gonna get my money back.
- Daisy Chain? - Jesus.
Isn't that one of Austen's daring magazines
that put Jennifer on the cover?
How many copies of that issue did we sell?
I owe you a phone call.
You owe me a giant yacht. Why are you reading my magazine?
Well, we can't decide on your replacement,
if you have to know.
I'm trying to decipher your special sauce.
The special sauce is right here.
I'm bored to tears.
So bored that I walked here to talk to you.
I took the stairs.
You took the stairs to avoid my assistant, Kitty.
I cannot take you back. You blew it, honey.
Oh, come on!
This isn't rocket surgery.
Put out a press release
saying that I sought treatment for exhaustion.
Or in Sedona for opioid addiction.
- Something. - No. No.
You know all our computers were hacked?
I hired an ex-cop, who said it was Jennifer.
- They know everything. - You're just telling me this now?
Well, I'm on top of it.
But how do you think they would react
when they find out that you silenced
the only woman editor at Austen.
An ally, no less.
You know what?
I...
am not afraid of them.
- Or you. - Stanley, you're hurt--
Especially not you.
Ok?
Now that I've trimmed all the fat,
I'm gonna cut some slices about a half-inch thick...
Thank you. Next.
Hi, I'm Plum-- Uh, Alicia Kettle.
I need to cancel my surgery,
and I'd like the deposit credited back to my card.
Which surgery is this?
Um, gastric bypass.
The full stapling.
Yes, I found you.
And you want to cancel, not reschedule?
Yeah, I'm here because I need the deposit back.
Are you sure?
We don't refund deposits on non-medical cancelations.
Office policy.
I'm sorry. Medical cancelations?
Pregnancy. Death.
Some types of paralysis.
So you're telling me that
the doctor gets to keep $10,000 of my money
because I no longer want to have gastric bypass?
A surgery which is dangerous and potentially lethal?
I know it's upsetting, but it's in the contract.
And most surgeries are safe and effective.
Oh, until it's not and you die.
- Alicia. - Plum.
Plum.
I know surgery is scary,
but don't give up on yourself.
I'm not giving up on anything.
I'm giving myself a chance.
I told myself it was just money.
It was the price to pay for freedom.
But it was the way that woman looked at me--
like a lost soul, like a chump.
I wanted to scream. I wanted to fight.
Hey, lady!
You're under arrest.
How was it OK for that cop to pull a gun on me?
You were in the act of committing a felony.
He was in fear for his life.
Oh, come on.
This image you drew. Was it a signal?
Were you marking the building for Jennifer?
That's crazy.
- No! - You seem angry. Who are you angry at?
That scam doctor who stole ten grand from me...
and his stupid secretary who thinks I'm in denial
- or something. - So you wanted to get back at them.
I don't know, it was an impulse.
It's a felony? Really?
Up to four years in prison.
Excuse me.
OK. Free to go.
That brotherhood of yours has a big mouth.
I can handle myself.
OK, I figured out who's in that picture you gave me.
Oh, good. That's what you want to talk about, the case?
Yeah? Christ, don't any of you people
care that people are dyin' here?
People die every day. Women, mostly.
- And children. - Not true. But everything's political now.
Wake up. It's always been political.
Verena and Julia have a history together.
I don't want to hear it.
If they knew each other,
- what that means-- ‭- I don't care what it means!
It could be the connection we're lookin' for.
The connection you're looking for.
I'm tryin' to tell you something.
- I just got arrested! - And I am the one that just got you off!
Well, I'm still pissed at you!
OK, what do you want me to do?
I don't know.
What? The two middle-aged feminists know each other.
Does that surprise you?
It doesn't surprise me.
At least they treated me with honesty and respect.
They didn't try to manipulate the lonely fat chick.
Just give me another chance, all right?
This is a good start, huh?
You're in trouble, I got you off.
Look. One hundred percent clean, all right?
The night that I was in your place--
Oh, my God.
OK. I'm just trying to tell you something.
What? I make you want to be a better man?
You went through my files!
No, I didn't. It didn't seem right, so I had a guy do it.
But he didn't find anything.
What a piece of shit you are.
I can't stop thinkin' about you.
Figures.
Anything?
The pharmacist couldn't say much.
- She wanted to. - So...?
She told me if I spoke to Fiona's parents
to let them know she had a bunch of prescriptions waiting.
The kind of prescriptions that...
would be dangerous to miss.
"Off-her-meds strange."
Could still be a Jennifer copycat.
Or...
Some have speculated
that this is the story of a Jennifer copycat--
a disenfranchised girl
driven to radicalization through online sites.
And maybe it is.
But more likely,
this is just the tragic, senseless story
of a girl with mental health issues
who slipped through the cracks.
After jail and fresh wrenching violation
by the ex-crush who now "Couldn't stop thinking" About me,
I was done. Fried.
Ready to space out on soothing videos of frosting
pouring like silk onto anything.
- Good lord. - Which awful man is dead now?
No. People are going nuts online for this--
So I made some art today...
and these people, this girl,
"You are truly loved. Can we put this on t-shirts?"
I am strong, I am loved
Look at that.
"I made this into a meme!" Somebody memed me!
Oop. Skip the next one.
"You're fat. You're gross.
No one will ever love you."
- Weak sauce. I can take it. - Plum...
"How many people died because they look like you?
You should be--"
Just delete them.
On your phone and in your head.
Sounds like what I'd say to Kitty's Girls.
Maybe I should look up my own advice
while I'm finding my voice.
But that is your voice, Plum. You own it.
I rented it to a 90-pound witch.
So evict her ass.
It's your one voice, and it can change the world.
You're showing yourself. Loved.
And look what a stir it caused.
You should be proud.
Nobody truly remarkable is universally liked.
Trust me. They never are.
You look like hell.
Thanks.
You want a fry?
A shame they get cold so fast.
So...?
Julia Smith. That's not her name.
- What is it? - I'm still workin' on that.
I'm gonna need another thousand so that my guy can--
You know what I think on that one? Not my duck, not my bottle.
Excuse me?
I had this mentor when I was coming up,
back when I thought I was gonna be a journalist.
She told me this:
A monk gives his disciple a live duck in a glass bottle.
Monk goes away, comes back.
The disciple's in despair. He can't do it.
Monk goes away. Comes back.
The duck is still in the bottle.
The disciple wants to die.
Monk goes away, comes back.
This time the disciple is full of joy.
Dancing, singing.
Monk sees duck is still in bottle.
He says, "What have you learned, son?"
Disciple says, "Not my duck, not my bottle."
Really.
So you don't want to find Julia...
see if Austen's not next on Jennifer's list?
No. The FBI is on it, and we have security.
I was a cop.
Security guards are cops too dumb to pass the written.
You really want those folks responsible for your life?
Well, our head of security has his own private jet. I'm fine.
And he was good enough to get me
a fascinating file on you.
All that trouble on the force
even when your father-in-law is the chief of police?
Don't bring him, or her, into this.
And what about that suspension?
Your mandatory counseling, voluntary resignation?
And what about your dire financial situation?
Couldn't keep it together, huh, Dom?
That's not the whole story.
No. It never is.
But it's the only one people care about.
You know, I can't figure you out.
Thank you.
Oh, and forget "You want to do what's right."
I will give our intel to who I want, when I want.
I paid for it. Welcome to the private sector.
And besides, I know you love to play the hero,
but look where that got you.
Let me get another one.
Oh, and I'm having you assigned to Austen's security department.
Yeah? Well, despite my high regard
for those night school rejects,
no, thank you.
I've approved a $15,000 bonus for you.
But it's not a bonus.
- Then what is it? - Secret.
'Cause you're gonna help me bring Stanley down.
$15,000 would give you a lot of breathing room, no?
Get you away from bitches like me.
Nice wig. You get that from Mom?
- Nice personality. - Stop it.
Come on. Enough. Focus.
You see the latest? They killed a football team.
- That's not confirmed. - What are we gonna do?
What we should have done all along.
We're gonna stop those bitches.
What Verena's husband #2 said to me was corny--
"One voice can change the world."
But I wanted to believe. Don't we all?
Maybe the first step was claiming what was my voice all along.
Mine.
So I used the emails for Kitty's Girls.
Dear Kitty's Girls...
My name is Plum,
and you've been writing to me all along.
Me and Kitty Montgomery have been lying to you.
I'm fat as hell, and I'm not gonna take it anymore.