The Changeling

Once upon a time, a specific time,

July 5th, 1825 to be exact, 52 men and women sailed out of Norway

in an undersized sloop they named Restauration.

These immigrants sought religious freedom from persecution,

so they fled to America.

Not just an improbable crossing, an impossible one.

How in the world did they make it?

They had help, that's how.

Tell me your journey, each of you.

Tell me your life's voyage, and I will tell you who you are.

This fairy tale begins in a library in Queens.

Hello! Hello!

I am in distress!

This is dire!

I am in need of a toilet!

Listen to my voice. Can you hear me?

I got ears, don't I? Look.

Well, you see I have ears too, so why are you yelling?

I need a piece of ID before I give you the bathroom key.

I don't have ID.

Leave your bags here with me.

These contain state secrets!

Okay.

Thank you, ma'am.

My pleasure.

- Hi. Hi. - Do you need something?

I was gonna help you with him.

Oh.

Seems like you got that all figured out.

Imagine that.

Um... Apollo.

As in Creed?

Actually, yeah, kinda.

Hmm.

- - Do you wanna... ...go, like...

Do you wanna go to dinner... dinner with me?

Mm-mmm.

Please.

- No. -

If Emma Valentine thought Apollo Kagwa would give up this easily,

she was mistaken.

But to understand why and how in the world, we must first go back.

Way back.

It was during the great garbage strike of 1968

that Brian West met Lillian Kagwa.

How are ya?

I'm, uh... I'm here to see a Mr. Pavel Arsenyev.

Mr. Arsenyev, there's a...

Oh, it's, uh, Brian West. Uh, Brian West.

Brian West here to see you.

- Fuck, fuck, fuck. -

He'll be right out.

Thank you.

I'm his parole officer.

I'm not supposed to tell you that though, so you gotta keep that between us, right?

Kwagwa, that's an interesting name.

Kagwa.

Kwagwa. Kwaga.

- I don't date white men. -

Me neither.

Hey, Kragwa. Kragwa.

Lillian.

Lillian. Um, listen, uh,

a lot more monitoring needs to be done around here, so I'll be back, all right?

I'll see you later.

Hey. That man is bad for business,

and since he's so smitten with you, that makes you bad for business, so...

No, Mr. Arsenyev, I need this job.

I don't want to hear it. Go. Get your stuff.

Hey, look who it is.

Modeling agency/money laundering racket. Not smart, Pavel. Not pretty.

Not pretty at all. Back to jail for you.

You got me fired. New job pays half. New apartment only has one room.

I liked it at the modeling agency.

Just give me a chance.

Never.

And he couldn't stay away.

Yes.

And that there is how Brian met Lillian,

but didn't go on a real date until years later.

You know, there's this place right around the corner.

It's really good. They have great, um...

That's nice, but no.

Some may call that stalking.

Apollo called it persistence.

Personally, I enjoy the simple things like a stroll through the park

- or something at the be... - No.

- Hey. Do you maybe just wanna go to... - No.

Yes.

Re... Great.

Yeah.

- Boones Mill? - Yeah.

Yeah, you haven't heard of it. Population, 285.

- - Mmm.

It's just where my parents landed, I guess.

Well, I bet your parents have a lot of cool stories

- about Boones fucking Mill. - I've never spoken to them.

Huh?

No, I mean, I'm sure I have actually spoken to them.

I just don't remember the conversation because they died when I was five.

- Oh, I'm s... - Don't... Yeah. It's not a thing.

So, uh, how'd they die?

Unimportant.

Well, what happened?

- To them? - Uh, to you.

Well, my sister Kim adopted me. She's 13 years older.

Shit.

And Ms. Rook, the local librarian. She would look after me when Kim couldn't.

And she would let me and my best friend, Michelle, watch all the movies.

One day, I was 12, and I picked up this movie at random...

Well, random, it was the only movie in the entire library

- that had Black people on the cover. - Mm-hmm.

- Quilombo. - Okay.

It's about the uprisings in Brazil, and it's just like

a ton of Portuguese people just getting, like...

- ...brutally killed by slaves. - Oh!

- - That's fucking awesome.

Yeah, actually, it was watching that movie that made me...

- What? - Oh, my God.

Do you know that I just realized right this second

that movies are called movies because they move.

- - Movies!

I haven't thought about that one. It's true.

- Wow. Mm-hmm. - Well, they do move. Mm-hmm.

Anyhoo. Um, Quilombo made me realize how big the world was.

Bigger than Boones fucking Mill. And I wanted to see it. All of it.

Mmm. What about your peeps?

Um, one sad story's enough for the first date.

Hmm. Wow. One of your eyes is bigger than the other.

- God. - What?

That's not a bad thing. That's a beautiful thing.

I think it's gorgeous, frankly.

You're the most gorgeous person I've ever seen.

- - Ever known. I mean, your soul is...

- My soul? - Yeah.

Dude, no.

- I mean, think of the kids we'd have. - Kids?

- I never cared if I had a boy, a girl... - Okay.

- ...twins, triplets, quadruplet... - Okay. Apollo. Stop. Seriously.

What? I mean, some people wanna be an astronaut,

some people wanna be a scientist,

- some people wanna be a zookeeper. -

- A zookeeper? That's pretty cool. - I just wanna be a good father

to the kid I end up having.

No, don't do that. Don't do that look. Do a different look.

The reason I said no to you when you first asked me out...

And the six times after that.

And the six times after that

is because I'm moving to Brazil, and I don't know for how long.

That can't be.

And yet, it does be.

No. No. I'm the god Apollo.

Excuse me?

- I am the god Apollo... - God.

- ...and I command you to stay. -

This is the final boarding call,

- flight 613 to São Paulo at Gate 530. - Goodbye.

Final boarding call for flight 613 to São Paulo.

All ticketed passengers, please board now at Gate 530.

Sake?

I don't drink, but, uh...

Idiots don't drink.

You don't drink?

Yeah. Idiot.

Thank you.

So, tell me something else.

What should I tell ya?

Well, you can't know anything until you know everything,

so everything it is.

Everything it is, um...

Well, I was born in Syracuse.

My family moved down here, so I was raised in the city.

I spent a lot of time in the theater.

I used to love watching the pictures, you know, I'd sell my little candy,

try and make some money.

Uh, I grew up fast. You know, New York, it...

- Thank you. - ...it'll do that to you.

I don't know what you're talking about.

He's just a friend. He delivers groceries.

- You're so stupid. - You fucking whore.

- Oh, I'm a whore? - You're invisible.

Oh, I'm invisible? Well, I'm not invisible

when I'm looking your micropecker in its teeny-tiny, little beady eyes.

They drank a lot, and, uh...

What are you looking at?

...I, uh... I didn't like spending a lot of time at home.

I'm sorry.

No, I'm sorry. I should be, uh... I should be asking about you.

One sad story is enough for a first date.

I want children.

Excuse me?

I want children. I do.

I want the chance to be a good husband and a great father.

I think I could do that, you know. I do. I-I want a redo.

Maybe we save the wedding planning until after the movie.