Hype 1.6 - Picking Up the Pieces

Hype - Picking Up the Pieces

Genre: Crime / Dark Comedy

Director: Stephen Merchant

Writer: Dominic Wilkins

Cast: Seth Green, Charles Baker, Nick Swardson, Daniel Stern, Stephen Merchant, David Cross, Sarah Polley and Gabriel Iglesias

Plot: David (Seth Green) is taken aback that his former colleague and friend Chuck nearly killed himself after falling, once again, into the addiction pit. He sits silently on his couch and Jessie (Sarah Polley) keeps asking him questions about Chuck. David drowns all the sound by going deep into his memories and remembering the good moments he had with his work crew. She suddenly realises they were all having substance problems and he figures out that ever since they stopped working together when Sarah was arrested, they probably went right back to their old habits. He heads out his apartment with his brand new designer leather coat claiming he wants to get the boys back on track. 

On his way out of the apartment, David is stopped dead in his track by his neighbour, Jesus (Gabriel Iglesias). He says he’s tired of hiding his money in his apartment and he wants in on whatever he is doing, because clearly, it works. Things haven’t been easy since he suffered from his heart attack and he wants to make money just like David does. David reminds him that it’s better for him not to get in this business, it’s dirty and he doesn’t want to hurt anyone else. His hands are dirty, and he doesn’t want to do harm to nobody else. Jesus is perturbed by David’s words and leaves him alone and David says it’s for the better.

As David enters his car, he’s interrupted by someone else, Dennis (Daniel Stern). Dennis tells David that it’s nice to see he’s doing good for himself with the money he stole from the others. David says he still has their share safe somewhere, he was just waiting for everything to cool down to give to everyone else. Dennis says they haven’t heard anything for the last month, so it’s time he gives them their shares. He asks Dennis if he heard what happened to Chuck, so he doesn’t want to give anyone money until he knows they won’t spend it all on drugs or whatever fulfills their needs. Dennis doesn’t care about the others, he wants his share and Sarah needs hers too. From what he remembers, no one counted the money and it looks like he had a lot of money to spend. For all he cares about, David ratted her out and took off with the money. Sarah asked him to find out who gave her up to the authorities and everything points to him right now. David assures him he didn’t rat them out. Dennis says it will be up to Sarah to decide if she believes him and he leaves. 

David decides to find all the other members of their crew so they will be able to tell Sarah he didn’t rat her out, they all saw him as their brother, basically, except Dennis, with whom he barely talked, so he doesn’t understand. He passes in front of Dr. Stewart’s clinic and he decides to stop to see if Steve is there, because Chuck won’t be here for sure. Dr. Stewart (Stephen Merchant) is in the middle of a group therapy session and when he sees David, he asks if he wants to join the group. He finds out soon enough he cannot say no. Stewart sits him in the rotating chair, allowing David to see Steve (Nick Swardson). Stewart asks David if he needs to confess anything today and David reminds him they aren’t in a church and he doesn’t need to confess anything. He says he can feel something is bothering him and David opens up about how he feels responsible for his friend Chuck’s overdose. Stewart and Steve learn at the same time about Chuck’s overdose and Stewart, troubled to find out one of his ex-patient went back to old habits sends everyone on a break. Steve gets reaches over to David and straps him out of the rotating chair. He wants to go see Chuck.

When they arrive at the hospital, they rush to Chuck (Charles Baker)’s room, where they find out he doesn’t have a family and they are the first visitor he has. Steve says what Dennis is saying is complete bullshit and he’s willing to stand with David. He knows he wouldn’t blow this up willingly. As for the money, it would be nice to have it, but it doesn’t bother him. David says it’s good to see him doing great after all these months. Steve says he would be lying if he said it wasn’t hard. He gave them a purpose and all of a sudden, they had nothing, just like they did before. It was hard to resist the urge to go back to past habits, but he kept fighting, he held on to the hope that it would get easier once he had his share of the money. Dr. Stewart was a big help and seeing him today made him feel good. Being in Chuck’s room makes him realise that he’s happy he made the right choice. David asks Steve to come with him to the prison, so he can tell Sarah he would never throw them under the bus. He says it’s a wonderful idea and they leave to see Sarah in prison.

They get to the closest prison they can think of and when they ask to meet with Sarah, they tell them there’s no Sarah Bernard in here. They take a look at the list of inmates and find out it’s a male incarceration center. Before they leave, David notices a Wilson Devereaux is listed as one of the inmates. David asks if they can see him and out comes Wilson (David Cross). He’s happy to see David and David asks him what he’s doing here. David says there has been a mistake and he’s accused of indecent exposure. His life is ruined. He needs David to pay off his bail so he can go out there and organise his defense better. David says he’ll come back for him at some point, but he has something more urgent to do. Wilson asks him what’s more important than helping a friend in need and David reminds him he’s not his friend and leaves.

When they get to the prison, they see Dennis getting out. He says Sarah doesn’t believe him, she’s now more certain than ever that he ratted her out. He wishes the good luck inside and leaves. They announce themselves at the front desk and wait.