MONDO EXTRAS
Fall Pilot Season: A Gifted Man
The next day at the office, Michael meets tennis play Lacey and takes her to her CTA scan. She's sweet, and his response is literally, "Don't waste your energy on being nice to me." He goes into his office, but before he reads the CTA, Rita gives him a green smoothie and connects him to Anna's hospital in the Bronx. He goes to speak with her but she... passed away two weeks ago. But... they... just... is Michael some sort of Gifted Man, or something? I don't understand. Before he can really process it, Rita busts in (ugh Rita, your birthday was yesterday, get over it already) and is like, um, should I call the tennis pro's parents since her scan is obviously awful? And Michael is like, "Not now, I'm seeing dead people. Go look up Anna and tell me she's not dead."
Later that night, Michael looks up all kinds of psychological diseases on the fake Internet, wondering if he might have schizophrenia, given the whole Anna thing.
At the office, he learns his buddy Ron went home and Michael wants to talk to him twice a day. And yeah, Dr. Anna Paul, 41, is super dead. Rita informs Dr. Crazypants that his sister is here and he's waiting in an ultramodern hanging chair. She's there to talk to him about getting therapy for Milo and says the doc suggested the "primary male" in his life attend the sessions and Michael's all like "hold up, I'm about to beat this level of Angry Birds" and Christian is like, "Dude, that's you." Michael laughs at his sister and tries to walks away, but she quickly sees paper announcing Anna's death. Christina is all um, didn't you have dinner? And Michael denies it, trying to blame it on wine and Oxycotin. Then she's like, "You are lying, you dined with a ghost!" (not, "You took an oxy with wine and drove my son around Brooklyn?") and Michael raises his voice in denial. She says her spirit probably came to him and that her shaman (convenient that she has a personal shaman, no?) friend Anton knows all about this stuff and that he can help. He leaves in a huff.
So, Lacey's brain scan is not looking good. She keeps on smiling despite the news, Dad keeps on frowning and Mom keeps on momming. Michael gives the family their options: No. 1 is immediate surgery, the obviously best thing for her health, but then she can't play tennis; No. 2 is to play the French Open, but take the 1.3% chance of an aneurysm, and if there is, there's a 75% chance it would kill her. Mom is like, dude, door No. 1 and Dad is like eh, let's kill our daughter. Michael asks Lacey if there are any symptoms that her brain is bleeding -- headache, eye pair, impaired vision... oh my god, do I have an aneurysm right now?! She says that she's fine and is going to play the match, make history and then come back to get her head cut open. "How's that sound?"













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