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The Audacity (2026)
» S01E05 — Lamplighters
The Audacity (2026)
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Season 1, Episode 5 — Lamplighters
But you didn't think it all the way through.
#1001
⇓
Nope.
#1002
⇓
Because I walked.
#1003
⇓
And now you got a ship with no captain.
#1004
⇓
And I think you like me a little.
#1005
⇓
I do.
#1006
⇓
You liked my pitch.
#1007
⇓
10 million data points on every person from birth.
#1008
⇓
But then, under my leadership,
#1009
⇓
Gnodin could have made it to 20 million.
#1010
⇓
And at that point, you're not predicting behavior,
#1011
⇓
you're steering it.
#1012
⇓
That's why you wanted my company.
#1013
⇓
You wanted to feel like God with a hard-on, didn't you?
#1014
⇓
- What's defeasance?
#1015
⇓
- If it weren't for that article--
#1016
⇓
the source of which was
#1017
⇓
an ex-special friend of mine that I neglected.
#1018
⇓
Yeah, so you reap.
#1019
⇓
You sow.
#1020
⇓
- Was it true?
#1021
⇓
- Yeah, it was. So what?
#1022
⇓
If that hit piece didn't come out, if I had my company,
#1023
⇓
you would be on a yacht right now.
#1024
⇓
Your board seat would be secure.
#1025
⇓
The stock would be 50 points higher.
#1026
⇓
My best friend wouldn't be backstabbing me right now.
#1027
⇓
- Best friends. Only in the K-hole.
#1028
⇓
- [stammering] Gabe, please tell me
#1029
⇓
you're gonna have a lawyer look at that.
#1030
⇓
- Oh, gee. Thank you.
#1031
⇓
What, you think I'm a dingus?
#1032
⇓
Oh, and Carl, soon to be none of my business,
#1033
⇓
but you do not want this guy running your company.
#1034
⇓
- Oh, don't worry. This man gets nothing.
#1035
⇓
- Why? Why? - Because you're selfish!
#1036
⇓
And because you ruined my breakfast.
#1037
⇓
- Yeah, he is selfish, and he's not a good guy.
#1038
⇓
- Says the man who made money off incels
#1039
⇓
betting on which girl at the orgy gets gangbanged?
#1040
⇓
Really? And you!
#1041
⇓
Spam?
#1042
⇓
Fucking spam.
#1043
⇓
I bet right now, there is a Nigerian prince
#1044
⇓
just cutting you a royalty check!
#1045
⇓
- How much are you worth, son?
#1046
⇓
- Oh, I--
#1047
⇓
Hamish and I were just trying to build a community!
#1048
⇓
And I'm the bad guy?
#1049
⇓
People exchanged candles and kayaks
#1050
⇓
and shit and then people--
#1051
⇓
people fell in love on Fah-fa.
#1052
⇓
- Never heard of it. - Yeah, bullshit!
#1053
⇓
Bullshit!
#1054
⇓
You don't stop thinking about me.
#1055
⇓
You came here to find a way to lure me back.
#1056
⇓
But the problem is, you don't know how to lure!
#1057
⇓
Only destroy!
#1058
⇓
[soft tense music]
#1059
⇓
God.
#1060
⇓
I'm not gonna sit around for this circle jerk.
#1061
⇓
God!
#1062
⇓
And, Carl, I'm taking your helicopter.
#1063
⇓
Oh, Gabe, hey, thanks for the hospitality.
#1064
⇓
Love you, man. Mm!
#1065
⇓
- Get the fuck off me!
#1066
⇓
- Yeah!
#1067
⇓
- In our own time. Eventually.
#1068
⇓
- Hey! Hey!
#1069
⇓
Hey, hey. Turn it on!
#1070
⇓
Turn it on!
#1071
⇓
[sighs] Yeah, he said it was fine.
#1072
⇓
He said you can take the chopper.
#1073
⇓
It's fine.
#1074
⇓
- Gabe, you have a chopper we can borrow?
#1075
⇓
- Of course.
#1076
⇓
[whirring]
#1077
⇓
- And who is his special friend?
#1078
⇓
♪ ♪
#1079
⇓
- What if I pay you back?
#1080
⇓
I'll get a job, I promise.
#1081
⇓
- [sighs] - But that stuff, without it,
#1082
⇓
I'll just go back to the way I was.
#1083
⇓
And I cannot do that.
#1084
⇓
So please-- - No. I get it.
#1085
⇓
I get it.
#1086
⇓
I had, when I was your age, zits, migraines, and man boobs.
#1087
⇓
I mean, the man boobs maybe have come back a little bit.
#1088
⇓
[chuckling]
#1089
⇓
No, but we do need to respect your mom on this.
#1090
⇓
She said no.
#1091
⇓
And also, I can't really recommend something unregulated
#1092
⇓
from somebody who spells "science" with a Y.
#1093
⇓
We can do better.
#1094
⇓
But I promise you,
#1095
⇓
if insurance covers it, I'll help you.
#1096
⇓
[beeping]
#1097
⇓
- Mm.
#1098
⇓
I spent an hour this morning meditating
#1099
⇓
on the terrors that teens face.
#1100
⇓
I mean, even if you make it through high school
#1101
⇓
without a shooting, then what?
#1102
⇓
Right? Like, AI, it is a poison weed
#1103
⇓
that is choking your generation.
#1104
⇓
I mean, there's not an image or a sound
#1105
⇓
you can trust in the whole world.
#1106
⇓
And the Earth, it's on fire.
#1107
⇓
I mean, it's no wonder that you feel like
#1108
⇓
someone is clear-cutting your gut biome, right?
#1109
⇓
[chiming] Oh! Approved.
#1110
⇓
Hmm. Oh.
#1111
⇓
- Thank you.
#1112
⇓
- Oh, shit.
#1113
⇓
[knocking]
#1114
⇓
- It's your old friend.
#1115
⇓
Don't wanna burst in uninvited.
#1116
⇓
You know, respect your boundaries.
#1117
⇓
Hello.
#1118
⇓
- Shit!
#1119
⇓
- Hey, listen, I have a treat for you.
#1120
⇓
Hear me out.
#1121
⇓
Very--hey! Whoa!
#1122
⇓
Whoa! Whoa!
#1123
⇓
Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. Put that down!
#1124
⇓
- Leave, Duncan!
#1125
⇓
Breaking and entering again?
#1126
⇓
- Come on! Just stop for a second!
#1127
⇓
- You're leaving now.
#1128
⇓
- Five-minute truce.
#1129
⇓
Five-minute truce, okay?
#1130
⇓
I'll be--come on, Jojo!
#1131
⇓
Our kids go to school together!
#1132
⇓
- I'm not putting it down until you get out.
#1133
⇓
- Really? Come on!
#1134
⇓
You're not gonna shoot me, Jojo!
#1135
⇓
You gonna shoot me?
#1136
⇓
I got fired!
#1137
⇓
I did. I lost my company.
#1138
⇓
I lost my friends.
#1139
⇓
All you can do is hurt my physical form.
#1140
⇓
The rest is gone.
#1141
⇓
So go!
#1142
⇓
[panting]
#1143
⇓
Thank you. Thank you.
#1144
⇓
I'm okay. Thanks for asking.
#1145
⇓
- [scoffs]
#1146
⇓
- And I'm gonna get it all back.
#1147
⇓
I have been on a journey.
#1148
⇓
I really have been.
#1149
⇓
Did you read about me?
#1150
⇓
You did. Of course you did.
#1151
⇓
Of course you did.
#1152
⇓
I went looking for truth.
#1153
⇓
And all signs point to you.
#1154
⇓
- Duncan.
#1155
⇓
No. - No, no, no. Please, JoAnne.
#1156
⇓
Don't be sad. Listen.
#1157
⇓
Listen.
#1158
⇓
You are my oracle.
#1159
⇓
And I have an offering.
#1160
⇓
[curious music]
#1161
⇓
♪ ♪
#1162
⇓
- $1.2 million?
#1163
⇓
- Yeah, Hamish--remember him?
#1164
⇓
My old--my old partner, you know?
#1165
⇓
Anyway, he left a little money for my daughter's college fund.
#1166
⇓
Sweet, right?
#1167
⇓
So--and I took that and used it to invest in your Smote thing.
#1168
⇓
And now--now it's a million and change.
#1169
⇓
And it's yours.
#1170
⇓
- It's--what?
#1171
⇓
- It's yours.
#1172
⇓
I--well, I did take half of it.
#1173
⇓
I do have to pay Jamie back.
#1174
⇓
But the rest of it, it is yours.
#1175
⇓
You deserve it.
#1176
⇓
It's bulletproof, VPN'd, invisible, on the dark web.
#1177
⇓
No one can hear you profit.
#1178
⇓
- Uh--no.
#1179
⇓
Duncan, I--I--
#1180
⇓
I can't take your money.
#1181
⇓
I--I don't want it.
#1182
⇓
- You earned it!
#1183
⇓
You did.
#1184
⇓
You have a gift.
#1185
⇓
You really do.
#1186
⇓
It went down like you said.
#1187
⇓
Orlando? They turfed him.
#1188
⇓
Stock went up, stock went down, and they brought him back.
#1189
⇓
- It was insider trading.
#1190
⇓
Orlando's closest advisor was my patient.
#1191
⇓
Anybody with even a little insight
#1192
⇓
who had the same information I had
#1193
⇓
could have figured it out too.
#1194
⇓
- But they didn't.
#1195
⇓
And--and, like, even if they did,
#1196
⇓
genius is not about figuring out the solution.
#1197
⇓
It's about being unhinged enough to do
#1198
⇓
something outrageous with it.
#1199
⇓
That's you. You did that.
#1200
⇓
And you--you deserve to be rewarded.
#1201
⇓
This--this has been my mistake from the very beginning.
#1202
⇓
I mean, you give, and you give,
#1203
⇓
and all I do--I do is take.
#1204
⇓
That's...[breathing heavily]
#1205
⇓
That's my bad.
#1206
⇓
I should never have blackmailed you.
#1207
⇓
Never.
#1208
⇓
It should have always been a bribe.
#1209
⇓
Will you be my bribe?
#1210
⇓
♪
#1211
⇓
- [snoring]
#1212
⇓
[door opening]
#1213
⇓
- Shoot straight, you bastards!
#1214
⇓
[sighs] Carl Bardolph.
#1215
⇓
Thanks for coming in.
#1216
⇓
- Anushka Bhattachera, obviously.
#1217
⇓
I've heard so much about you.
#1218
⇓
- Mm.
#1219
⇓
- Mostly appalling, of course.
#1220
⇓
- Oh, from big Tim? - Mm.
#1221
⇓
- He's a good man, if you're in the market
#1222
⇓
for bullshit and a pair of Allbirds.
#1223
⇓
- [chuckles]
#1224
⇓
Why don't you tell me what I'm doing here?
#1225
⇓
- Well, you know the CFO, former CFO.
#1226
⇓
What's his name?
#1227
⇓
Gabe? - Unfortunately.
#1228
⇓
- He sold me his shares.
#1229
⇓
And there it is.
#1230
⇓
It's mine.
#1231
⇓
So just trying to think what to do with this place, and...
#1232
⇓
knowing you're on the board--
#1233
⇓
- I'm not anymore.
#1234
⇓
- No, I read your letter.
#1235
⇓
You made some good points, identified the rot.
#1236
⇓
- You read it? - Yeah.
#1237
⇓
It was just sitting on Duncan's desk.
#1238
⇓
You're a smart cookie.
#1239
⇓
I'd hate to see what Tim has you doing.
#1240
⇓
His laundry?
#1241
⇓
- Chief ethicist.
#1242
⇓
- [gasps]
#1243
⇓
Ethicist Barbie.
#1244
⇓
Fancy title, and all the power of an overpaid schoolmarm too.
#1245
⇓
What a waste.
#1246
⇓
How would you like to be interim CEO?
#1247
⇓
You know the company. You're not a wrecking ball.
#1248
⇓
You're trying to do something.
#1249
⇓
Plus, Tim would hate it!
#1250
⇓
Duncan Park would too, I feel sure.
#1251
⇓
I--
#1252
⇓
well, I'm flattered.
#1253
⇓
But I'd have to take a leave of absence from Cupertino,
#1254
⇓
and it could derail my career.
#1255
⇓
- Or you could bet on yourself.
#1256
⇓
- Well, data isn't my area of expertise.
#1257
⇓
I mean, I have opinions, strong ones.
#1258
⇓
Okay, let me ask you.
#1259
⇓
Could you imagine using your algo
#1260
⇓
to spot people in crisis, communities in need,
#1261
⇓
and actually help them?
#1262
⇓
- Well, that sounds like some of the things we talked about
#1263
⇓
when we first started making this sausage, yes.
#1264
⇓
- But you never did.
#1265
⇓
[chuckles] And you never will.
#1266
⇓
"Profit uber alles."
#1267
⇓
- Look, there are about 20 dudes in the Valley
#1268
⇓
that make as much or more than me.
#1269
⇓
And we all come to the same fork in the road.
#1270
⇓
Do we want humanitarian legacy, or do we want planetary reach?
#1271
⇓
Do we wanna save the world or control it?
#1272
⇓
Heal or conquer?
#1273
⇓
Well, both have their charms, but I will tell you this.
#1274
⇓
Most of us go Dr. Evil.
#1275
⇓
I used to love the Valley, but I hate what it's become.
#1276
⇓
I hate it.
#1277
⇓
We've broken and disrupted everything,
#1278
⇓
and now there's nothing else to break.
#1279
⇓
And now they wanna upload consciousness
#1280
⇓
so guys like me can live forever, disrupting death?
#1281
⇓
Well, fuck you.
#1282
⇓
Death disrupts us!
#1283
⇓
Our limited time is why we try hard
#1284
⇓
to do anything worthwhile.
#1285
⇓
There's a shelf life. Then it's over.
#1286
⇓
Blue screen, done.
#1287
⇓
[soft music]
#1288
⇓
So convince me, Anushka.
#1289
⇓
Prove to me that the best way for me
#1290
⇓
to spend my money and the rest of the time that I have left
#1291
⇓
is to build a legacy of good.
#1292
⇓
♪
#1293
⇓
- It's been over a week.
#1294
⇓
No, not a missing person, just an absent husband and father.
#1295
⇓
He just walked out.
#1296
⇓
Well, I'm not completely without fault myself, so...
#1297
⇓
Yes, more than he knows, and I wanna keep it that way.
#1298
⇓
It's not about the money.
#1299
⇓
That said, if it comes to it, I will want the house.
#1300
⇓
[thud in distance]
#1301
⇓
Where the hell have you been?
#1302
⇓
- I'm so sorry. - Where were you?
#1303
⇓
- I'm sorry. - Were you with her?
#1304
⇓
- I'm sorry. Who?
#1305
⇓
Anushka? No, no, no.
#1306
⇓
God, no. - Were you with someone else?
#1307
⇓
- No.
#1308
⇓
I--I was all alone.
#1309
⇓
All alone.
#1310
⇓
Except you were there.
#1311
⇓
You were there, and Jamie.
#1312
⇓
[breathing heavily]
#1313
⇓
You are my best friend.
#1314
⇓
You always were.
#1315
⇓
And you're the only one I can trust against these jackals.
#1316
⇓
I need you.
#1317
⇓
I need you standing...
#1318
⇓
- [sighs]
#1319
⇓
- Behind me, next to me, in front of me.
#1320
⇓
Wherever--
#1321
⇓
wherever it's safest for me.
#1322
⇓
- Baby?
#1323
⇓
- Yeah, baby?
#1324
⇓
Yes, baby? - I'm sorry.
#1325
⇓
- No, I'm--
#1326
⇓
I'm sorry.
#1327
⇓
I am sorry.
#1328
⇓
- I want a divorce.
#1329
⇓
♪
#1330
⇓
-Cut 'em to ribbons, boys.
#1331
⇓
[Screaming]
#1332
⇓
-Hey, maybe we can, um, try to fix things.
#1333
⇓
-I can't have another abusive situation in my house.
#1334
⇓
-We're gonna be okay.
#1335
⇓
[Muffled scream]
#1336
⇓
-Privacy has value.
#1337
⇓
An unmined motherlode of value.
#1338
⇓
I'm a bad man.
#1339
⇓
♪♪
#1340
⇓
-Action. -You should see the other guy.
#1341
⇓
-[Chuckles softly] -No, really.
#1342
⇓
Can you give me some lift?
#1343
⇓
♪♪
#1344
⇓
-In Episode 5, we really see the manifestation
#1345
⇓
of Duncan's fear of humiliation
#1346
⇓
that he states at the very beginning of the show.
#1347
⇓
-What's our stock at now, huh? What's the price?
#1348
⇓
-Down 10%. 20.7%.
#1349
⇓
-But Duncan only owns 20.
#1350
⇓
-Who's Duncan?
#1351
⇓
♪
#1352
⇓
-We see that feeling of wanting to crawl away from the situation
#1353
⇓
as quickly as possible.
#1354
⇓
-Okay. Bye.
#1355
⇓
Okay! Bye!
#1356
⇓
♪♪
#1357
⇓
-We know that he has this dumb house,
#1358
⇓
a place he can go where there is no Internet,
#1359
⇓
there's no Wi-Fi.
#1360
⇓
And I've always imagined him getting there
#1361
⇓
and the first five minutes being...
#1362
⇓
[ Exhales deeply ] "I can relax here."
#1363
⇓
-What's so wrong with the Internet?
#1364
⇓
It made us a lot of money. Made us a lot -- a lot of money.
#1365
⇓
-Again and again, he tries to relax
#1366
⇓
into being on some kind of sabbatical from his life.
#1367
⇓
And again and again, it doesn't work.
#1368
⇓
-[Groaning]
#1369
⇓
-We learn also in this episode,
#1370
⇓
when Lili comes to the dumb house...
#1371
⇓
♪
#1372
⇓
-Duncan!
#1373
⇓
-...this relationship between Lili and Hamish
#1374
⇓
was much more complicated and, I think it's safe to say,
#1375
⇓
romantic and perhaps was behind Hamish's choices in the end.
#1376
⇓
♪♪
#1377
⇓
There's a picture in the dumb house.
#1378
⇓
One of them is Duncan -- and his struggles are known to us --
#1379
⇓
the other one is Hamish, who decided to end his life,
#1380
⇓
and the other one is Gabe,
#1381
⇓
who decided to isolate himself entirely from the world
#1382
⇓
and live on an island,
#1383
⇓
take his winnings and go be alone.
#1384
⇓
Gabe was played brilliantly by Randall Park.
#1385
⇓
-Too many moons, buddy!
#1386
⇓
-I can't do physical contact. -What...
#1387
⇓
-Uh, dopamine fasting. Got to purify.
#1388
⇓
-This is all very much based on real-life scenarios
#1389
⇓
with some of these guys at this level of wealth.
#1390
⇓
You really haven't quite made your nut
#1391
⇓
until you've got a compound you can escape to
#1392
⇓
when the shit hits the fan. -Did you talk to Bardolph?
#1393
⇓
-Now! -[ Helicopter whirring ]
#1394
⇓
-Duncan goes there, I think genuinely,
#1395
⇓
to try to have a retreat from the reality
#1396
⇓
that he left behind with Bardolph.
#1397
⇓
But also he's got an agenda,
#1398
⇓
and Gabe can spot it immediately.
#1399
⇓
-W-What is that? -A tender offer.
#1400
⇓
-Fifteen percent above market for Gabe's voting shares.
#1401
⇓
-No. No, no. You can't do... -No.
#1402
⇓
I never wanted to be CFO. I took the job for Hamish.
#1403
⇓
-You are a twisted prick. You know that?
#1404
⇓
-Cut. -Cut.
#1405
⇓
-Orson was just saying how much better he feels.
#1406
⇓
-Antibiotics are so -- You know what I mean?
#1407
⇓
-Actually, I stopped taking them a while ago, so...
#1408
⇓
-I think in Episode 5,
#1409
⇓
a subtitle could be "The Kids Are Not All Right."
#1410
⇓
Orson is starting to take medicine
#1411
⇓
that's changing his behavior,
#1412
⇓
a mysterious proprietary blend from the nutritionist.
#1413
⇓
You see that heartbreaking scene between Jamison and Duncan,
#1414
⇓
where she so wants him to be a better dad
#1415
⇓
and he's just not capable of it.
#1416
⇓
And you see Xander trying to recover
#1417
⇓
from essentially virtual,
#1418
⇓
but as far as Xander's concerned,
#1419
⇓
physical abuse at the hands of his stepmother.
#1420
⇓
-I'm sorry. I'm bad. I'll clean it.
#1421
⇓
-How could he wee himself, Martin?
#1422
⇓
He's pixels! -Leave! Go to work!
#1423
⇓
And leave me to mine!
#1424
⇓
-Anushka is also Tessa's stepmother.
#1425
⇓
And so "the kids are not all right"
#1426
⇓
is a really interesting way to look at not just this episode,
#1427
⇓
but I think overall in this show, the stakes are the kids.
#1428
⇓
They are the ones who are the most targeted
#1429
⇓
in terms of the social-media stuff.
#1430
⇓
Also, do these kids have in them --
#1431
⇓
and even Xander in a sense --
#1432
⇓
the desire and ability to make things better?
#1433
⇓
And do they have a voice in the future?
#1434
⇓
-Nothing's your fault.
#1435
⇓
Let's get to the bottom of this.
#1436
⇓
-There is no bottom, Martin. You can always go lower.
#1437
⇓
♪
#1438
⇓
♪
#1439
⇓
[dramatic music]
#1440
⇓
♪ ♪
#1441
⇓
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