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Directed by: Jeremy Podeswa
Written by: Nichole Beattie
Synopsis
Early on the sixth day since John's arrival, Butchie Yost is trying to get back in the game. With Kai looking on from a hiding spot on the beach, Butchie attacks a succession of waves, but some spectacular wipe-outs are showing his rust. Before long, though, the lapsed pro starts landing his tricks, and Kai slinks off to her friend Jane's house to pick up his old boards.
Linc is also getting down to business. The Stinkweed executives have come to town to talk about the company's withering profits and try pushing e-commerce on Linc. After a strategy discussion that ends in Linc mooning his vice president of sales, he strides out of the room, followed by his old friend and business partner, Jake. Obviously, Linc has other matters on his mind. Outside, he explains to Jake what happened to Shaun at Huntington. "A miracle, half our base runs the other way," Jake responds. "Do we make that up selling at shrines?" Linc doesn't have an answer for that one yet. But, Jake isn't waiting for him to figure it out, either. Conspiring with the V.P. of sales, he approaches Tina to record an interview in which he asks whether she ever had sex or used drugs with Linc. "Are you asking me to fib," she inquires. Jake replies, "Are you asking me to write another check? I will if you will."
John leaves Cass sleeping in her hotel room, telling her he's going to "be with his father." Pointing to her heart, Cass mumbles from bed, "Work here." When she wakes up, she takes another crack at the footage whose purpose continues to elude her, obviously frustrated.
As Cissy leaves her daily voicemail berating Mitch, a delirious Palaka stumbles into her shop. Rambling nonsense along with something about a new tattoo on his neck, he passes out at her feet. At the same time, the hospital's attorney, Mark Lewinsky, stops by to get her signature on the last bit of paperwork needed to close Shaun's case. "The merest formality," he says. Besides having her hands full with Palaka, Cissy doesn't like the vibe Lewinsky gives her and tells him to get out – she won't sign anything until she talks to Dickstein. She drags Palaka back to Freddy at the Snug Harbor, where Dr. Smith tries to treat his infection with an ice bath and antibiotics. When she gets a chance to have Dickstein look over the hospital paperwork, he tells her they're trying to make Dr. Smith the "sacrificial lamb" while absolving the hospital itself. "Tell him," Cissy says.
Butchie cracks a beer after surfing, and Dwayne comes to tell him the website's numbers have jumped again, suggesting Shaun should have his own site. Too self-conscious of his hair-lip to approach the boy on his own, Dwayne asks Butchie to come along. But, when they find Shaun smoking pot outside the locked surf shop, he shrugs them off. "He looks like a tool," the youngest Yost says, nodding toward Dwayne, who's out of earshot. Butchie slaps him on the back of the head, reprimanding him for being so rude to someone who's trying to help him. "Just because I'm a f**kup doesn't mean I'm not trying to give you good advice," Butchie says. Shaun suggests his father find Tina and give her some advice – to stick around Imperial Beach.
After Butchie leaves, Shaun heads over to Bill's house. He tells the retired cop he wishes Zippy hadn't saved him and breaks into tears. Awkwardly, but effectively, Bill shows Shaun one of his grief-counseling books, explaining that sometimes you can be sad without even knowing it. Meanwhile, the primary source of Shaun's gloom approaches Linc back at his hotel. "A really good friend of yours wants to pay me to ruin your life," Tina tells him.
Freddy –looking worried despite every effort to the contrary – asks whether his henchman should be in the hospital. The doctor assures him they would only offer the same treatment, but when Palaka's condition doesn't improve the drug dealer hoists his associate out of the bathtub and toward the car. Riddled with guilt for breaking Palaka's wrist, Freddy calms down when Dr. Smith explains the infection came from a dirty tattoo needle, not the injured hand. "Don't try to force an outcome because you're worried about your friend," the doctor says.
Butchie, on his way home from arguing with Shaun, cops a bag of heroin, but when he gets back to his room, he calls Kai instead of shooting up. When she arrives, he tells her he doesn't think he wants to use anymore. Upon receipt of the news she's been waiting years to hear, Kai says, "I saw you in the water this morning. I've got your boards outside." When Butchie goes out to the Jeep to see the sticks, his phone rings with a call from Shaun; Kai drives him to meet his son. Bill makes himself scarce in his own home so the two can talk, while Butchie invites Shaun to smack him and even the score. Instead, Shaun gently pats the back of his father's head.
On the pier, Jake approaches Linc, trying to extort him into accepting a buy-out offer by playing the recording of Tina's incriminating interview. But Linc has his own tape of the conversation and after playing it asks Jake, "Isn't that a felony is this state – offering to pay someone to lie?" With the playing field suddenly pitched in the other direction, Linc asks how much the company was willing to pay to buy him out. Nearly doubling the figure to $65 million, Linc strikes a deal and hands over his recorder.
As the day winds down and Palaka rests easy, John begins to appear to everyone simultaneously: Standing behind Dickstein at the Snug Harbor as he carves a stick figure into wet cement, looking into Cissy's window as she washes the dishes, hugging Cass after she finally receives her moment of inspiration for the drum circle footage. "Shaun will soon be gone," he tells her. Back at the pier, Linc watches with Tina as Butchie, Shaun and John step into the surf with their boards. "The big money," he tells her, "is in escrow for whoever can tell me what the f**k is going on."
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"His Visit: Day Six"
