Black Bag

I’m here to see Mr. Meacham.

- -

["Polyrhythmic" by Phil Kieran playing]

[music continues louder downstairs]

You were right, George.

We have a traitor in the house.

There are five names on there.

Your wife’s one of them.

Why is that?

You asked me to look at everyone.

I looked.

She has the security clearance, she has the motive,

and she has the capability.

I had to put her down.

How long do you think you’ll need?

Give me two weeks.

If Severus is deployed as intended,

thousands of innocent people will die.

Okay. One week.

If it is Kathryn, do you really think you can do that?

How’s Anna?

Still mad.

- I’m sorry. - I made a mistake, that’s all.

She just can’t let it go.

She will, eventually.

Yeah?

Some things really are best swept under the rug.

I just wish it wasn’t so fucking easy.

To cheat.

For us.

Mm.

Not everyone aspires to your flagrant monogamy, George.

If you’d like Anna to be less angry,

you might consider going home.

Good luck finding the rat.

- -

I can feel when you’re watching me.

Sorry.

- - I like it.

I understand this is not

the casual dinner you’d prefer.

Yeah. It’s an unusual group.

Data scraper, two agents and the in-house shrink.

What are we hunting this time?

Severus.

And you think one of them took it?

Possibly.

Hmm.

It’s been a while since we had a traitor to dinner.

At least knowingly.

We shouldn’t be discussing this.

No, probably not.

I would’ve thought you’d start with polygraphs.

I wanted to try something more elegant first.

What’s on the menu?

Fun and games.

Will there be a mess to clean up?

With any luck.

- They suit you. - Mm.

No, you spent too much.

It’s boring how much you think about money.

It’s terrifying how much you don’t.

Avoid the chana masala.

Contains a healthy amount of DZM 5.

Darling, you may not dose our guests.

One of them is a liar.

I want to know which.

- Matthew. - Hello, sir.

I want to settle up for the table by the door.

- Of course. - And I’ll have a double Jameson.

Straightaway, sir.

I know they’re not that much older, really,

but I kind of feel like I’m going to my parents’ house.

If-if they weren’t divorced and didn’t hate each other.

Well, here’s what I know.

You don’t get invited to dinner twice

if you say no the first time.

But why now?

With 24 hours’ notice?

And why us?

We all work together.

Two couples in the same field. It’s not that much of a reach.

So you believe this was just spontaneous?

I’m assuming so until I see reason to believe otherwise.

You and Freddie sitting across from each other

after what just happened?

That could be read as provocative.

Freddie’s fine.

Right?

: How should I know?

Ask the shrink.

Whose idea was it, do you think?

- George or Kathryn? - STOKES and CLARISSA: George.

- Sorry, sorry. So sorry. - For fuck’s sake, Freddie.

I mean, you booked the table.

You’re the one that wanted to meet beforehand.

I am absolutely at fault, I admit it.

And Dr. Vaughan, were she allowed to say so,

would claim there’s a certain hostility

in my chronic tardiness.

But in order to make it up to you all,

I have paid the bill and tipped like a gangster.

Oh, come on.

We are celebrating James’s well-deserved,

meteoric ascent through the ranks.

Cheers.

- Shall we? - Right.

Wait.

I was hoping for some pointers. I mean, how shall I behave?

Praise his cooking, and I promise all will be magical.

Hello. Kathryn.

- Hello. - On time and everything.

- Come in. - Thank you.

Oh, shall I take that?

No, I’ll take it to the kitchen.

Come in. Yes, it’s cold, isn’t it?

- - Hello.

- Lovely to see you. - All right.

- I should take your coat. - Wow.

Thank you.

This is, um... beautiful.

: Oh, yeah.

The joys of not having children, hey?

- What would you like to drink? - Rum.

- Rum. - Mmm.

- ’98 for the table. - Right.

Oh, yes, lovely.

[chatter continues in other room]

Should we get this over with?

I get it, why you went with him.

- Yes? - James is the smart play.

Young, aggressive and--

How shall we say it?

Uncompromised.

I’d always hoped it would be you.

I drink too much, I fuck too much,

and I owe more than I’m worth.

The pills are becoming a problem as well.

I’m so glad I can confide in you, George.

I need to change.

Oh, give them a break.

Most of NCSC is 25-year-olds.

They were just mucking around,

trying to zero-day a central router.

They didn’t know they’d brick the whole system.

Wait. Syria 2012?

That was you?

- That was us? - I don’t know.

I don’t work on that side of the house.

That op was tight. I’ve read that string.

It’s a very sexy piece of code.

Mm. It was all fine till little Eddie Snowden

decided to call everybody out, said it was a fuckup.

It shut Assad’s ass right down, didn’t it?

How many civilians died as a result?

Greater good.

Yeah, I don’t find amorality attractive.

Then give up either your profession or your sex life.

- I give it two weeks. -

Optimistic.

Did you get hell from oversight?

- Nothing I couldn’t handle. - Oh, please.

The committee fucked with Kathryn exactly once.

Half of them lost their assignments.

’Cause that’s what bad bitches do.

Chana masala is fantastic, by the way.

Absolutely delicious.

Mm. - Thank you.

Come on.

Syria’s hardly the worst thing we’ve ever done.

I once outed my kid’s teacher as a pedophile

just to get him fired.

- Oh. -

Figures.

Turns out the guy’s eight-year-old had a rash.

Guess he shouldn’t have emailed those pictures.

That is uniquely loathsome, Freddie.

You hand me an angle, I play it.

New teacher gave Matty an "A."

- Don’t fuck with SIS dad. - So we’re all horrible people.

Is that what the point is here?

I prefer to say "complex."

And what’s wrong with "patriotic"?

Come on, most of us are sick as shit.

Nobody can lay a glove on Oedipus over there.

What, you all don’t know about that?

- Careful, Freddie. - It’s common knowledge.

Well, that’s for him, not you.

It’s all right. But thank you, darling.

See?

- George can handle it. - Handle what?

Little Georgie surveilled his own father.

Ouch.

Oh, my.

Well...