Just as Matt starts to look like he could use a Schedule II narcotic, he looks back to the Big Board and spots Tim Batale, still in his blue Oxford shirt and khakis, and the baseball cap that we've up until now seen only on top of Matt's head. Tim says that he tried writing his way back on the show -- put a sketch in The Stack and everything. But it didn't even make it to dress. So now he's just there because "...I don't know. I don't know." Well that clears it up, then. 1999 Imaginary Matt says, "You know, you and I don't know each other well." 1999 Imaginary Tim looks back at him and says, "What?" The camera has pulled in tight so that all we see are Matt and Tim's faces on opposite sides of the frame, staring at each other not unlike -- I cannot believe this is my reference point -- the video cover for this movie. Matt says, "You know, I don't remember how we met," and the music gets louder and more severe and more ominous, and just as Tim breaks out into a rather creepy smile, we slam cut into the present.

Look: it's a rather dumb idea for a plot, this kind of Shyamalan-esque exercise in viewer manipulation and pulling the wool over our eyes. Not to mention its being kind of lame from the story side of things, what with the suddenly-appearing (a) drug addiction, and (b) recognition that this is a television show with actors and writers who care about seeing their sketches on TV. Mostly, it's symptomatic of a show that really doesn't know what it wants to be anymore. But I will say this: the technical aspects of the show -- the direction, the camerawork, the sheer vibrancy of the studio in 1999 -- are on point. You almost wish the show would stick with the flashback and allow Matt, Harriet, and Luke to start fresh.

Cal plunks the Big Board down in front of Matt, snapping him back into focus. Well, as focused as Matt's been all day. Danny asks Cal to step out for a second so that he and his boyfriend can have a talk. And instead of recognizing a fellow junkie when he sees one, Danny just stares at Matt until Matt admits that he and Harriet broke up last week. "That's what you and Harriet do," says Danny, being pretty unrealistically obtuse. Unless maybe Matt's this out of it every week, in which case it would explain the sorry-ass state of the show pretty well. Danny asks how it was different this time, and Matt lies that it wasn't and that he's fine. Danny asks when this happened, and Matt tells him it was when he and Jordan were on the roof: "And don't get me wrong, I love that you guys are together, but really could've used your help on the Neve Campbell sketch." Danny ignores the selfish and petulant "what about meeeee?" crap and goes for the factual inaccuracy: "Neve Campbell?" Matt says that he meant "Dolphin Girl." Danny goes back to how this breakup was different, and Matt snaps that he doesn't know. Danny's distracted from his rapidly unraveling friend by Tom tapping on the window and holding out two crisp bills of some sort. I can't quite make it out, but I'd be willing to wager Tom's counting on his buddies Abe and Abe to tip the scales in his favor. Danny opens the door and takes the bribe. "Let me tell you why," Tom begins, but Danny shuts the door in his face, for about the hundredth time this episode. He returns to Matt, who tells him that Harriet and Luke are back together. Danny thinks that Matt can change that any time he wants, with "five little words: 'I can't live without you.'" Matt shoots that down, but Danny says, "Just try it," because what's it to him to fuck with a girl's head like that? Matt finally says that he can't put himself in a position to feel worse than he does now. He steps out to "give some notes," and as he passes Tom and Dylan, he tells them that their sketch is in. We're still inside the office with Danny, so we watch Tom and Dylan hop around and freak out through the window. I figured those five-spots would work.