God Friended Me

Previously on "God Friended Me"...

And to those I'm meeting for the first time,

thank you in advance for the support.

I'm afraid I don't share your confidence.

What, the council didn't like your proposal?

Actually, just one member in particular.

If you truly love this church,

you'll consider stepping down.

Reverend Elias, your services are no longer needed.

- I'm Ali. - Emily.

I'd love to get to know you more,

you know, outside of a waiting room.

I have breast cancer. That's why I said no to a date.

So how's 7:00 tomorrow?

- Oh. - You okay?

Emily and I were on our date. I passed out.

- Can I see her? - Actually, she wanted me to come out

and tell you that she'll be calling you later.

She's not gonna call me, is she?

Did, um, your doctor say anything else?

I told you... just that the treatment wasn't working.

Hey, nothing about the next step?

No.

Well, I'm sure that's what she's gonna talk to us about today.

Dr. Chang. Hi.

I'm sure you remember my entire family.

Of course. I assume Ali's filled you in.

- She has. - Like we first discussed,

we need to shrink the tumor before we can remove it

in order to give us the best chance of success.

Unfortunately, your current treatment

didn't give us the results we were hoping for.

So what's the next step?

Well, we're gonna have to get more aggressive.

Aggressive how?

Stronger medicine, adding radiation.

But if we opted for surgery now

instead of waiting for the tumor to possibly shrink...

We can discuss it,

but the highest probability of long-term success

is reducing its size.

The good news is, the cancer is localized.

So, once we shrink it,

we're looking at very good odds going into surgery.

- Okay? - Okay.

When do we start?

I wish there was different news today, Ali.

I'm sorry. Um, but it's just a bump in the road,

and we'll get through this.

Let's stay hopeful,

because there is a new treatment option,

and we are gonna be here for you every step of the way.

- Thank you. - Mm-hmm.

- I'll check on you later. - Okay.

- See you. - Okay.

Want to talk about it?

No. Not really.

You know what you need?

You need a day off.

- You want me to play hooky. - I want us to play hooky.

Look, seeing that I have a podcast and work from home,

I'm pretty sure no one's gonna notice.

And you can call in sick.

I can tell them I have cancer.

Okay, I guess I can take the afternoon shift.

What do you have in mind?

_

- What is it? - The God Account

just liked "The Maltese Falcon."

Maybe it wants us to go to the movies.

"Maltese Falcon"...

Wasn't that one of Mom's favorite films?

Yeah.

Yeah, she took us to see it when we were kids.

It was one of the first films we saw

at the Harlem Cinema House.

I haven't been there in years.

You know what?

That changes today. Come on.

What's going on with the God Account?

Any lead on Corey Smith?

Uh, yeah, we found out he works for DARPA.

What's that?

It's a top-secret government agency.

So, yeah, walking in and saying "hello"

is definitely out of the question.

But look, no more talk about the God Account.

I just want this day to be about you.

I've been meaning to ask you, did you call Emily?

I did...

after I got home from the hospital the other night,

told her it was probably for the best we didn't date.

Let me guess. You think I'm making a mistake.

No, no, no, no, no. I think you're right.

Look, you have been going through a lot lately.

You don't need to overextend yourself.

Meeting Emily was just bad timing.

Man, this place hasn't changed a bit.

It always made me feel like I was ten years old again.

Me too. Other than Harlem Episcopal,

we spent more time here as kids than any other place.

Now, aren't you glad we played hooky?

Mm-hmm.

Hey, Mr. Johnson, uh, I don't know if you remember us...

Miles and Ali Finer.

Of course I do.

You know, I remember when Arthur and Ella

brought you in as kids.

You know, he and your mother had their very first date here?

I told him, "Do not take Ella to see 'Lady Sings the Blues.'"

It is not a first-date flick.

But he wanted to impress her.

So they both came out of the movie weeping.

I can't blame them. My wife and I did, too.

We were sorry to hear about her passing.

Thank you.

Hey, you kids are gonna be late for the movie.

Come on.

Uh, Mr. Johnson, how much for the tickets?

You are my guests. Come on in.

_

- Everything okay? - Yeah.

- Yeah. - Miles,

Ali, this is Haley, my star employee.

There's only two of us,

so I had a pretty good shot.

Nice to meet you.

Enjoy the movie.

So what can I get you?

Two, uh, popcorns with extra butter, please.

And two boxes of Reese's Pieces, please.

So how do you two know Mr. J?

We grew up watching movies here.

Yeah, Harlem Cinema House and Mr. Johnson

have always been a huge part of this community.

Mr. J's one of a kind.

If it wasn't for him, I don't know where I'd be.

_

What's going on?

Nothing. It's just Rakesh. He's bored.

Welcome to Harlem Cinema House.

Today we are presenting "Krush Groove."

My name's Leo. I'm your projectionist.

You're not gonna get a better viewing experience

of classic movies than here at HCH...

... where we still show our prints

on one of the last remaining

- 35-millimeter projectors... - _

... in the country.

Hope you enjoy it.

Okay, spill it. I know that's not Rakesh.

What's really going on?

It's the God Account.

- It sent a Friend Suggestion? - Not one but three...

Mr. Johnson, Haley Chambers, and Leo Rettke.

It looks like the God Account really did want us to go to the movies.

- That movie was amazing. - Yeah.

Hey, what are you two doing here?

I texted them.

With three friend suggestions, we need all hands on deck.

Well, three different people means three separate problems.

Yeah, well, unless, you know, they're all connected.

Yeah, he's right. I mean, it can't be a coincidence

that they all work here.

So why don't we, uh, split up

and see what we can find from each one of them?

Well, Miles and I know Mr. Johnson, so we'll talk to him.

Okay, Rakesh, why don't you talk to the projectionist, Leo?

And, Cara, you can talk to Haley.

She runs the concession stand.

- Yeah, cool. - Okay.

Hey, Haley, these are my friends Rakesh and Cara.

Hey, it's nice to meet you.

- You too. - Whoa.

"2001" and "The Shining" double feature?

Please tell me that's not sold out.

- No. - So why are you taking it down?

Sorry, I assumed since you were Mr. J's friends,

- you already knew. - Knew what?

Mr. Johnson is being forced to close down the theater.

Come Monday, this place is sold.

Lester. Come in.

To what do I owe the pleasure?

I wanted to come by and thank you.

I just got word that shelter at Harlem Episcopal

was approved for another year of funding.

And deservedly so.

It's been serving the community for 15 years.

Well, we appreciate it.

I know you had to make some difficult decisions

about which programs to cut in order to balance the budget.

I did, but the shelter was never going to be one of them.

By the way...

I heard from a friend of the dioceses

that Reverend Elias's program was not so fortunate.

I wish I could keep them all open, but as you said,

decisions had to be made.

To say he was not pleased would be an understatement.

I thought you should know.

I appreciate the heads-up, Lester.