"THE MENU" (2022)

THE MENU

Written by

Seth Reiss & Will Tracy

PINK PRODUCTION DRAFT 9/5/21 Yellow Revisions 10/7/21 Green Revisions 10/11/21 Goldenrod Revisions 10/29/21

A nautical bell. Foghorns. Waves lapping the shore. Seagulls.

A young COUPLE stand alone on a dock. They’re dressed elegantly for a big night out.

MARGOT stares off, a little bored. TYLER drums his hand against his leg. His eyes dart around, a little panicked.

Margot looks at her watch nonchalantly.

Tyler nods, but he’s unconvinced. Margot lights a cigarette. Tyler notices and grimaces disapprovingly.

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Tyler’s tone stops Margot in her tracks. She looks at him. The mood is suddenly a little tense. He’s dead serious.

After an edgy silence, Margot stamps out her cigarette.

A FOGHORN blows close by, startling both of them. A small but gorgeously appointed BOAT pulls into the harbor.

Margot nearly does a double-take.

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Margot just chuckles and shrugs.

A MERCEDES pulls into the dock and parks. THREE RICH TECH- NERD BROS in their 30s and 40s-- BRYCE, SOREN, DAVE-- get out, a little drunk, a little rowdy.

They all laugh. Tyler looks at them with distaste.

Margot sees an OLDER COUPLE getting out of a Town Car. RICHARD (60s) gets the door for his wife ANNE (also 60s). As he does, he turns and briefly locks eyes with Margot. He seems to recognize her. Margot’s eyes dart away instantly.

A finely dressed BOATMAN lowers a gangway on the boat.

Most guests have now arrived. They file on the boat, showing tickets on their phones. As Tyler and Margot queue, Tyler notices someone behind them and averts his eyes.

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Margot looks and sees a MIDDLE AGED WOMAN in a colorful blouse and hip tortoise shell glasses and A MIDDLE AGED MAN.

Margot and Tyler step inside the main cabin of the boat. It’s like something out of a fairy tale. Brass fixtures. Small tables with linen tablecloths. Floral arrangements. Ravel’s “Une barque sur l'océan” PLAYS dreamily.

We hear the VOICE of the CAPTAIN on an intercom.

Tyler is in heaven. He turns to Margot.

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Margot makes a disgusted face. We hear VOICES off screen.

Who should finally enter but none other than a famous middle- aged MOVIE STAR and his young assistant, FELICITY.

Movie Star sees the other passengers. Big smile.

The Movie Star is given champagne. He eyes it with desire but hands it to Felicity, who politely gives it to the waiter.

ON TECH BROS outside of Movie Star’s earshot. Soren eyes him.

We SWING back to Margot and Tyler on two plush seats by the window. Tyler looks anxious. Margot smiles at him.

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A WAITER steps forward holding a tray of food.

Tyler and Margot take their trays.

The waiters leave. Margot stares at her tray.

Tyler takes a quick photo with his phone before eating his.

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Tyler’s too busy greedily devouring his tiny bite to respond.

Margot cautiously tries it and nods her head.

They share a warm beat. The HORN BLOWS as the boat sets sail.

The boat glides across the water, the ISLAND in the distance.

As the great Lillian Bloom holds court, we cut to close-ups of all the diners listening. We end on Margot, as though we are seeing them through her eyes.

Tyler softly to Margot.

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Tyler can’t let it go. Annoyed, he whispers to Margot:

Lillian takes the baton right back from him.

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Margot blinks. The Korean what?

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As conversations splinter off, Tyler turns to Margot.

Tyler eyes Margot and smiles a bit condescendingly.

Margot stares at Tyler blankly for a moment.

The waiter appears.

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RICHARD looks at his phone while his wife sips champagne.

Tyler puts his arm around Margot lovingly and they gaze out the window. The water sparkles in the early evening sun.

Behind them, the dot-com guys are posing for a photo with the movie star. They are saying iconic lines from his movies.

ON TYLER AND MARGOT.

Margot smiles. But it feels a little false.

The boat glides smoothly through the water.

FRONT OF HOUSE lines the dock, smiling, poised.

We follow Margot and Tyler as they disembark. It’s very ceremonial. Margot’s a bit unnerved by all the pomp.

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She smiles at him, the coolest girl ever. Tyler likes it.

The restaurant’s captain, a severe woman named ELSA, checks the guests’ names from a list. When Margot and Tyler reach Elsa in line, she smiles coldly.

Elsa looks puzzled. Margot, equally puzzled, looks at Tyler.

Elsa eyes her with a trace of suspicion. She smiles tightly.

Elsa ushers them ahead. Tyler whispers to Margot:

The boat leaves. Margot, it seems, is the only who notices it leave. She looks longingly at it as it sails away. And then she looks at this island. No way out. She snaps out of it.

Nearby, the tech guys continue to chat with the Movie Star, who seems happy for the attention.

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Tyler overhears this and makes a face: ‘Like hell you are.’

The guests are all assembled on a beautiful expansive lawn. Elsa stands before them. She smiles and addresses the group:

The group laughs nervously.

ANGLE ON the excited FACES of the various guests.

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All start walking -- except for the Liebrandts.

Elsa leads the rest of the group toward the gardens.

ANGLE ON Margot listening to this pretentious speech.

She waves at a GUY IN A ROWBOAT. As if on cue, he waves back. The guests join in and wave as well.

Everyone laughs at what the famous guy said, even though it wasn’t actually that funny. Felicity rolls her eyes.

As they continue on walking, Lillian leans in to Ted --

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Margot overhears this.

Elsa removes a SLEEK, STYLIZED KEY RING and opens the door.

All enter a room where MEAT and FISH hang on sharp hooks.

Elsa smiles politely but coldly.

Pause. Dave is silent.

Elsa laughs. They all laugh.

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The guests are taken through a beautiful garden.

DAVE looks slightly offended.

The group follows Elsa as the tour continues. Tyler squeezes Margot’s hand romantically. She gives him a flirty eye.

We PAN to the front. Lillian Bloom is takes notes.

ELSA smiles and opens a door.

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The group is led inside what looks exactly like a MILITARY BARRACKS, complete with bunk beds.

We see also tiny SHOWER SPIGOTS, like at a YMCA, and a ROW OF TOILETS with no walls or doors, like at a prison.

Tyler smiles, inspired. But Margot looks less sure.

MARGOT reacts. That’s long.

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The phrase disgusts her. But she composes herself.

Tyler puts an arm around Margot. Dream date with dream girl.

She snuggles against him as they walk. They both smile.

As they approach the restaurant, Tyler notices a charming COTTAGE perched on a hill in a copse of trees.

Tyler nods, a bit chastened.

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Elsa shows everyone inside and quietly locks the door.

The room is minimalist and faux rustic. A touch sad even. A museum mood where one doesn’t necessarily “enjoy” eating.

A sad husk of a woman, LINDA (75), drinks wine at a small table abutting a wall. The diners are mildly confused by her presence. She nods at a few of them.

Everyone is shown to his/her seat. Elsa turns to Margot.

Margot makes a face. Was that really necessary?

Richard and Anne sit at a table near Margot and Tyler. Richard’s seat is positioned facing Margot. He notices this and looks concerned.

A weird request. Every seat has a view of the water.

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THE KITCHEN is open, visible from the dining area, the bustling staff hard at work. Tyler can’t believe his eyes.

Tyler leads Margot by the hand into...

...Hawthorn’s world-class machine of a kitchen, filled with COOKS OF ALL RANKS -- more cooks, in fact, than diners. Tyler watches a SOUS-CHEF (JEREMY) plate a cold, snow-like powder.

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Tyler is unsure whether to feel offended until --

LINDA still sits alone, idly playing with her empty wine glass. A cheery SOMMELIER approaches with a bottle.

Linda nods silently.

Back at Tyler and Margot’s table, they sit down.

We get our first glimpse of the man himself: CHEF JULIAN SLOWIK(40s/50s), brooding, intense. Utterly focused, he glides swiftly from station to station, tasting.

Elsa approaches Chef Slowik and talks softly to him. We don’t hear what is said, but he looks in Margot’s direction.

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But he’s looking at Margot. They lock eyes. In that moment the great chef and his guest share a type of recognition -- a sadness perhaps? A longing? Chef tersely breaks eye contact and resumes his tasks. The cooks around him continue to work with an almost sinister focus.

19 TITLE CARD AGAINST BLACK: 19

AMUSE BOUCHE

SERVERS fan across the dining room in perfect unison.

SERVER #1 Here we have a compressed and pickled cucumber melon, milk snow, and charred lace. Enjoy.

We join the movie star’s table. He’s enjoying hisamuse.

Movie star raises his glass

He clinks their glasses.

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He smiles like, “Yeah right.” Felicity goes into her bag.

AT THE TECH BROS TABLE.

Soren makes a face like, ‘Of course it’s my fucking fault.’

They sarcastically cheers.

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They laugh.

MARGOT AND TYLER. Tyler holds his amuse just so and furtively snaps a photo. He will do this with every dish. ELSA notices. She will always notice. He eats the dish and is in heaven.

Margot considers, then:

She puts her hand on his leg.

Tyler gathers himself and then...

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Margot nods. Does she buy it?

Tyler looks pleased with his mansplain triumph. Margot looks out the WINDOW.

20 TITLE CARD AGAINST BLACK: 20

FIRST COURSE

CLOSE on Chef. He tastes something, closes his eyes and keeps them closed, deep in contemplation. Then he opens them.

We follow him into the dining room, where he surveys his guests, raises his hands and CLAPS. Once. Loud. All conversations stop. His staff stops. Everything stops.

Chef Slowik stares at his diners, smiling tightly. This whole solar system revolves around him, the all-powerful sun.

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The diners applaud. Margot scrunches her face and plays along. Lillian and Ted exchange proud, possessive looks.

ON THE PATRONS, who look a little confused, especially the movie star. Tyler, however, is just lapping this up.

Servers fan out in perfect formation carrying exquisitely manicured plates.

One of the plates lands on a table in a gorgeous, slow-motion CU product shot. Perfectly curated bits of flora and jewels of scallop meat rest artfully atop a smooth, icy rock.

A SUPERIMPOSED TITLE reads, “THE ISLAND. Foraged plants, scallop, seawater.”

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Tyler smiles and whispers to Margot a little too loudly:

The room is silent. Chef Slowik stares right at Tyler with a withering glare. Tyler tenses in his seat, mortified.

Anne smiles appreciatively.

He returns to the kitchen. Diners exchange glances with their partners. Margot arches an eyebrow at the pomposity.

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Tyler holds his phone just so and snaps a shot of his plate. Elsa clocks it. Simmering rage.

Margot looks at her plant-covered rock warily. She’s not so moved. But then she smiles, as if remembering something.

Tyler keeps his eyes fixed on CHEF SLOWIK, who is intensely directing his staff in the open kitchen.

Tyler nods, then considers this. He looks mildly offended.

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The sommelier slides up, seemingly out of thin air.

THE MOVIE STAR and FELICITY stare at their perfect plates. Neither lifts a fork.

Movie Star pops a scallop in his mouth. Smiles.

Felicity stares at him.

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We glide over to Lillian Bloom and Ted as they eat the dish with expressions of pure ecstasy.

RICHARD AND ANNE sit eating silently like two live corpses. They could just as well be eating prime rib at a casino.

Finally Anne barely speaks.

Anne shrugs.

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And with that, the scintillating Perry chat is over.

THE TECH BROS are in fact purely eating and drinking, not even looking at their plates as they talk.

ELSA stands against the wall, eyeing them with contempt.

The staff prepares the next course. Chef looks up to stare at Margot, noting her tense posture and nearly-full plate. Then he sees Tyler extend his fork toward her food. Chef winces.

Darkness falls. We see the restaurant from afar, bay windows aglow with warm light. Out here, amidst the water and trees, all is quiet save for the lonesome, distant call of a loon.

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AGAINST BLACK, TITLE CARD:

BREAD SERVICE

Margot and Tyler wait for the next course. Tyler observes something about Margot and smiles. Margot notices.

Tyler examines and catalogues the specimen.

Margot smiles and nods. She goes along with it.

Tyler looks turned on by the notion of taking a fist in the face from a tough poor girl. Margot smiles playfully.

Margot smiles at Tyler. Tyler really feels a connection.

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As Tyler looks out the window, he doesn’t see Margot’s smile gradually decreasing to a glare. No connection on her end.

Chef Slowik CLAPS again. Margot jumps a little, startled.

Chef waits in silence a few moments. Too many moments.

Margot actually chuckles -- you’ve got to be kidding.

Servers place SHALE PLATES on the tables, along with a lovely parchment NOTE. Where there would normally be bread is an empty space surrounded by condiments -- creams, pickles, etc.

A SUPERIMPOSED TITLE reads, “BREADLESS BREAD PLATE: no bread, savory accompaniments.”

MOVIE STAR’S TABLE. Felicity reads the parchment note.

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LILLIAN BLOOM AND TED.

Chef Slowik sees this exchange.

MARGOT AND TYLER.

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Tyler takes her hand, kisses it, and smiles mischievously.

Meanwhile, back at Lillian Bloom’s table:

Elsa approaches with another, LARGER CONTAINER of the broken emulsion Lillian complained about.

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She points to the kitchen, where Chef Slowik offers a wave and warm smile. Lillian smiles nervously and waves back.

Elsa heads to THE TECH-BRO TABLE.

The men exchange an exasperated look. Elsa stares coldly.

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Lillian and Ted overhear. Lillian makes a “yikes” face.

Elsa leans in to speak in a menacing whisper.

She spins and walks away.

MARGOT and TYLER. Margot is not eating. Chef stares at her.

Tyler reaches over and picks up her entire plate to exchange it with his own empty one. He tries to do it carefully but bumps a wine glass with his elbow. It SHATTERS on the ground.

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Two servers appear to clean up the mess. Tyler is mortified. Now Tyler spots Chef Slowik marching over to their table.

Chef focuses solely on Margot.

Chef half-smiles and half-grimaces. No one talks to him like this. He walks away. Tyler looks sick.

AT LINDA’S TABLE.

Chef kneels and gently takes her hand. She looks at him with glazed, wounded eyes. He smiles at her understandingly. She weakly smiles back. Chef kisses her forehead and heads into --

-- where he looks at his watch.

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Tall, spindly evergreens shiver in the cold darkness.

AGAINST BLACK, TITLE CARD:

SECOND COURSE

RICHARD and ANNE silently await more food. No eye contact.

MARGOT AND TYLER. The sommelier arrives.

Margot smiles as the sommelier walks away.

Margot glances over at Richard and Anne’s table. She looks at Anne staring off. Anne feels Margot’s eyes on her. Anne then looks at Margot and Margot looks away.

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There is something sad in Anne’s face as she watches Margot.

A touchy topic. Anne looks away. They sip their wine.

FELICITY and MOVIE STAR

That hits like a hammer. She can tell that hurt.

It’s a gut punch. But then Movie Star turns it back on.

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Beat.

We hear Chef Slowik’s CLAP.

The guests smile, but his enthusiasm feels forced and odd. Chef Slowik puts his hand on Linda’s shoulder.

Linda reacts vaguely, continues drinking.

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The diners exchange uneasy glances. Lillian turns to Ted with a reassuring look -- “Don’t worry, all par for the course.”

Margot, however, watches Chef intently and with empathy, as if understanding his pain. Noticing, Chef locks eyes with her and says the next line directly to her.

Servers appear and set down plates fashioned out of coiled telephone cords, as well as bowls of tortillas. On the plates are chicken thighs with TINY SCISSORS sticking out of them.

A SUPERIMPOSED TITLE reads: “MEMORY. Marinated grilled chicken thigh, tortillas, green salsa cubes, red salsa halo.”

Chef lets this rhetorical question hang in the air.

Movie star reacts.

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LILLIAN BLOOM examines her tortillas: images of buildings.

She holds one with a sign reading “MERCIA.”

RICHARD AND ANNE examine their tortillas. The first reads, “Happy Anniversary, Mr. and Mrs. Liebrandt.” Anne is touched. The other tortillas show what looks like Richard and Anne sitting at their table during previous Hawthorn visits.

Richard dons his glasses.

She picks it up to reveal a tortilla which has been engraved with a B&W image of a man who looks like Richard sitting at a restaurant table with a young woman.

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He grabs the tortilla from his wife’s hands.

Anne just stares at him.

THE TECH BROS discover tortillas printed with dense blocks of FORMATTED TEXT, like business records.

He slams a tortilla on the table and waves Elsa over.

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The MOVIE STAR and FELICITY examine their tortillas.

Each depicts a MOVIE POSTER -- the same movie poster. For a middling comedy calledCalling Dr. Sunshine.

TYLER examines their tortillas, crestfallen.

Margot looks. Each shows Tyler sneaking photos of the food.

Margot looks around. She actually does see a few small spherical ceiling cameras. But Tyler’s too shattered to care.

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A flustered Tyler angrily cuts her off.

Margot turns to wave a server over.

Tyler snaps his fingers at Margot violently.

Tyler glares at her with cold, remorseless eyes.

Margot reels back, stunned.

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He angrily makes a taco, takes a bite. His rage disappears.

Margot just stares at him, her eyes burning with contempt.

She throws her napkin on her chair and leaves the table.

En route to the ladies’ room, Margot stops at a stunning SILVER DOOR molded in an ornate floral pattern. Curious, she slowly reaches for the handle.

Margot turns to see a disapproving Elsa.

Margot enters the dim, modernist bathroom and locks the door.

She stops and suddenly sits down on the tiled floor. She’s breathing heavily, almost hyperventilating with rage.

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She gets a cigarette from her purse, cracks a tiny window and lights up. She notices an artsy framed photo on the wall showing a marshmallow roasting on a campfire.

She gazes out the window and sees a curious sight: a COOK carrying a pair of large costume angel wings across the lawn.

Suddenly the LOCK turns on the door. Margot flicks the cigarette out the window. Chef Slowik enters. He looks upset.

Margot can see he’s actually quite hurt about this.

He takes a slow, deliberate step toward her. He’s harder now.

He takes two slow, deliberate steps forward. Margot steps back until her BACK is against the wall.

Margot is speechless.

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Margot composes herself.

She stares at him, trying to read him.

She tries to move past him but he blocks her.

Margot is thrown. Her usual game isn’t working.

She slips around Chef Slowik and thinks she is about to get out the door, when Chef Slowik stops the door with his hand.

No one talks to him this way. He’s impressed, curious. Margot exits the bathroom.

Meanwhile the movie star puzzles some more over his tortilla.

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Margot returns. Before she sits she kisses Tyler, violently.

Richard looks at Margot from across the way. She catches his eye and winks at him. Richard quickly looks away.

As Elsa passes his table, Richard snaps at her a bit.

THE TECH BROS

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They sit with this thought. Then, shrugging, they make tacos.

30 AGAINST BLACK, TITLE CARD: 30

THIRD COURSE

The patrons silently watch two servers methodically unrolling a TARP across the middle of the floor and smoothing out all the wrinkles. Other servers arrive with decorative baskets and cover the tarp with sea fennel and edible flowers.

Margot watches the team unfold the plastic tarp and then looks at Chef Slowik, who is staring at her. He continues to stare, and then a LOUD CLAP. This time, Margot isn’t fazed.

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Elsa calmly re-folds the tech bro’s napkin for him. It does have a certain calming effect. The Tech Bro sits back down.

A chef around thirty strides out of the kitchen and stands in the middle of the tarp. He stares straight ahead, stoic.

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Sweating, Jeremy looks at Chef. He wasn’t expecting this.

Chef gently touches Jeremy’s head and kisses his cheek.

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Chef takes a step back. Jeremy removes a pistol from the back waistband of his apron and BLOWS HIS BRAINS OUT.

Everyone shrieks as blood splatters on the walls and the floor and on their faces -- including on Linda, who continues to drink, unfazed. Jeremy falls backwards.

The kitchen staff all look for a second, then return to work.

Chef Slowik takes in the horrible sight, CRYING a little, mourning. Servers rush over and, with practiced efficiency, roll up the tarp with Jeremy’s body inside.

Panicked and screaming, many diners rise from their seats and run toward the door. Servers and cooks rush out to block their way, but more reassuring than threatening.

As the shocked diners are corralled back to their tables by the cooks, servers approach tables with perfectly-folded moist washcloths so diners can wipe their faces. Still other servers fan out with PLATES for the tables.

A SUPERIMPOSED TITLE reads, “THE MESS. Pressure cooked vegetables, roasted filet, potato confit, beef jus, bone marrow. R.I.P. Jeremy Loucks, 1990-2022.”

Lillian Bloom looks rattled, but tries to calm the others.

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Ted nods numbly. He doesn’t want to be a rube here.

Chef sees everyone shocked, not eating.

MARGOT AND TYLER haven’t moved. In fact, Tyler is now eating.

The sommelier sashays up, cheery and helpful as ever.

RICHARD AND ANNE

They rush to the front door, but Elsa runs to stand in their way. Everyone else watches to see how this goes.

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He tries to push past when two cooks with cleavers appear. The other diners squirm, some even stand instinctively.

One cook grabs Richard and forces his left hand onto a table. The other one tries to aim, but Richard squirms.

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He looks at her for a split second and freezes, giving the cook the opening to chop his finger off. Everyone screams. It seems pretty clear now that this must be for real. Right?

A petrified MOVIE STAR and FELICITY watch the chaos.

She looks at him. Jesus.

RICHARD writhes in pain on the floor. Two servers gently wrap a linen napkin around his bleeding finger stump and tie it with decorative ribbon. Elsa picks up his finger from the table, slides the wedding ring off and offers it to Anne.

LILLIAN BLOOM watches. This can’t be real, right?

Ted nods, stunned, and leans over to the movie star.

Anne overhears this as she walks Richard back to their table.

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MARGOT AND TYLER. Margot watches in stunned silence as a blood-spattered Tyler quietly eats his food. To Margot’s horror, he seems to be actually enjoying it.

It is becoming clear to Margot that she is facing this alone.

Tyler watches helplessly as Margot follows Elsa toward the kitchen. COOKS guard the entrance, but Elsa waves them aside.

Scared but brave, Margot enters and stands face to face with Chef. He looks her up and down and shakes his head.

3131 PINK PRODUCTION DRAFT (09/05/21)PINK PRODUCTION DRAFT (09/05/21)59.59.

He believes it.

3131 PINK PRODUCTION DRAFT (09/05/21)PINK PRODUCTION DRAFT (09/05/21)60.60.

At that moment, the movie star tentatively tries to enter.

He immediately leaves.

He sets a KITCHEN TIMER.

Put yourself in Margot’s shoes. Mass psychosis.

Margot returns to a wide-eyed Tyler.

3232 PINK PRODUCTION DRAFT (09/05/21)PINK PRODUCTION DRAFT (09/05/21)61.61.

Margot just stares at this creature, utterly bewildered. She slaps him. Hard. He stares at her.

33 AGAINST BLACK, TITLE CARD: 33

Fourth Course

The TECH BROS quietly conspire at their table.

The movie star overhears and joins in.

Suddenly Soren rises to his feet, picks up his chair and hurls it at one of the big bay windows. It bounces right off of the thick reinforced pane.

A few burly SERVERS step forward with knives, ready for Soren to bolt. There’s nowhere for him to go. So he just screams.

Elsa perfectly places Soren’s chair back at his table. The cheery sommelier arrives at Margot and Tyler’s table.

3333 PINK PRODUCTION DRAFT (09/05/21)PINK PRODUCTION DRAFT (09/05/21)62.62.

Chef enters. CLAP!

Some guests exchange glances. Didn’t he say Iowa earlier? Maybe a weird appreciative smirk from Margot.

SUPERIMPOSED TITLE reads: ‘PALATE CLEANSER- wild bergamot and red clover tea.”

Servers fan out with bowls filled with the tea.

This is the first time everyone is hearing this. It’s silent.

People are hesitant to raise their hands. Tyler does.

Some people glare at Tyler: ‘That’s the question you ask?’

The movie star raises a tentative hand.

3333 PINK PRODUCTION DRAFT (09/05/21)PINK PRODUCTION DRAFT (09/05/21)63.63.

The diners are puzzled. What the fuck is he talking about?

Margot clocks that remark. Skeptical.

Ted looks offended. Then a server approaches Lillian Bloom and sets down a comically LARGE NEW CONTAINER.

SERVER #2 More broken emulsion, madam.

Lillian Bloom stares at it. How is this happening?

Lillian might nod her head. Sure. Fine. He’s right.

3333 PINK PRODUCTION DRAFT (09/05/21)PINK PRODUCTION DRAFT (09/05/21)64.64.

Elsa appears near Margot and gestures to the TIMER in her hand. The texture of reality grows stranger by the moment.

Anne speaks up.

Chef glares at Richard and Anne.

Richard looks at Anne for help.

3333 PINK PRODUCTION DRAFT (09/05/21)PINK PRODUCTION DRAFT (09/05/21)65.65.

Margot can’t take this any longer. Some type of mask or willingness to “play the game” seems to be slipping.

Chef Slowik takes a deep breath and smiles.

3333 PINK PRODUCTION DRAFT (09/05/21)PINK PRODUCTION DRAFT (09/05/21)66.66.

Chef looks to Elsa, who flips a SWITCH on the wall. Outside, spotlights reveal DOUG VERRICK, about 100 feet away, suspended by a contraption above the water with angel wings on his back.

Margot sees this is the wrong tactic.

Dave makes a sudden rush to the door but he is quickly bumped to the floor by a large SERVER. He splays out pathetically.

Elsa steps forward.

3333 PINK PRODUCTION DRAFT (09/05/21)PINK PRODUCTION DRAFT (09/05/21)67.67.

Bryce stands up and YELLS like he owns the place.

Chef gestures to Elsa.

Outside, the contraption slowly lowers Verrick into the bay. They can just barely make out his panicked screams.

CAMERA creeps closer to Chef.

They watch, pained, as Verrek is slowly lowered into the water, down, down, down, until finally he goes under.

He waits for total, serene silence.

3333 PINK PRODUCTION DRAFT (09/05/21)PINK PRODUCTION DRAFT (09/05/21)68.68.

Eyes closed, Chef listens a few more seconds. Nothing.

Close on MARGOT. She’s horrified, but also struck by Chef’s serenity. Tyler breaks the silence and leans into Margot.

Margot is too numb to even hear him babbling. And then -- BEEP BEEP! The kitchen timer.

Elsa gestures to the back of the kitchen. Margot begins to walk in that direction, but Elsa stops her with her HAND.

Margot stares daggers at Elsa. She then lifts her hand, which is holding her napkin, and drops the napkin. Elsa of course scrambles to pick it up.

Margot keeps walking.

She is guided by two cooks toward a door that leads to Chef Slowik’s office. She knocks. We hear Chef’s voice.

A small, shitty office.

3434 PINK PRODUCTION DRAFT (09/05/21)PINK PRODUCTION DRAFT (09/05/21)69.69.

Chef looks disappointed at her attempt at flattery.

Margot flinches.

Beat.

3434 PINK PRODUCTION DRAFT (09/05/21)PINK PRODUCTION DRAFT (09/05/21)70.70.

Margot doesn’t answer.

Chef Slowik nods.

A moment.

Chef cuts her off.

They might share a little smirk. The smallest chuckle.

They connect for a moment.

3434 PINK PRODUCTION DRAFT (09/05/21)PINK PRODUCTION DRAFT (09/05/21)71.71.

Beat. The slightest opening in his chain mail.

AGAINST BLACK, TITLE CARD:

FIFTH COURSE

Chef and Margot enter. Tension and dread hang in the air. Exhausted diners flinch as Chef walks near, like beaten dogs.

Chef CLAPS, but the diners are too numb to respond.

They all sit there. What is he talking about?

Elsa is standing by the now open door to the outside. The escape hatch has been opened. But what awaits them outside?

The diners are led out to a beautiful al fresco dining setup. The evening air is indeed beautiful, and a series of torches lend an almost primeval atmosphere to the proceedings.

Tech Bros whisper as they gather around the dining setup.

3636 PINK PRODUCTION DRAFT (09/05/21)PINK PRODUCTION DRAFT (09/05/21)72.72.

Bryce seems somehow more reconciled to his fate than the others. Like he somehow accepts it.

LILLIAN AND TED. Lillian stares up at the stars.

Silence. Chef Slowik CLAPS and everyone comes to attention.

KATHERINE steps out of the darkness. She smiles amidst the exquisite silence, her face lit by torchlight.

Chef Slowik nods slightly but remains impassive. Elsa looks longingly at chef.

3636 PINK PRODUCTION DRAFT (09/05/21)PINK PRODUCTION DRAFT (09/05/21)73.73.

Chef Slowik looks away, a bit pained.

Diners shift uncomfortably. But LILLIAN BLOOM nods.

Katherine approaches Chef and stands very close, looking him right in the eyes. She pulls a small PAIR OF SCISSORS from her apron and stabs him in the thigh. He accepts it with a wince and a nod.

Katherine and Chef Slowik share a long, meaningful hug. Theirs is a deep understanding that we’ll never know.

Katherine smiles at him. He smiles back and pulls the knife from his thigh. A SERVER is there with a tray with a little flower on it to take it away. For the rest of the movie, Chef will have a growing bloodstain on his pants and a limp.

3636 PINK PRODUCTION DRAFT (09/05/21)PINK PRODUCTION DRAFT (09/05/21)74.74.

SOREN immediately makes a break for it and doesn’t wait for the chef to finish his statement.

At this point all the other male diners make a break for it too. Before Richard leaves...

And Richard’s near 70-year old body approximates a run.

Before MOVIE STAR leaves, to Felicity...

And he also kinda runs out of there.

Tyler doesn’t move. He wants to stay.

Tyler reluctantly nods and then walks off, slowly.

Chef turns to the remaining women.

Chef exits. The female diners are left alone. Frighteningly alone. What will be done to them?

The female diners enter and there is one table, small, round and intimate, with six place settings.

Lillian, Anne, Margot, Felicity, and Linda take their seats. And then Katherine sits, and smiles warmly at them.

3636 PINK PRODUCTION DRAFT (09/05/21)PINK PRODUCTION DRAFT (09/05/21)75.75.

Random shots of the men running wildly for their lives. Dave runs with Soren.

On the women. It’s tense. They’re waiting for the other shoe to drop. And yet, there is undeniably a warmer energy in the room now that Chef Slowik and the other men are gone. Beautiful plates of food are set in front of them.

A TITLE reads: “SEVENTH COURSE: ‘MAN’S FOLLY’ - Dungeness crab, fermented yogurt whey, dried sea lettuce, umeboshi, kelp.”

Silence. Someone has to saysomething.

They lightly laugh. But scared, jittery laughs.

Lillian takes a bite. Katherine eyes her as she does so. Lillian sighs. But a sigh of deep respect. She turns to Katherine with an almost apologetic look.

Katherine looks away coolly. But it’s clear the compliment from the great Lillian Bloom still does mean something.

3838 PINK PRODUCTION DRAFT (09/05/21)PINK PRODUCTION DRAFT (09/05/21)76.76.

They continue eating. Until suddenly Katherine begins to softly weep. The women diners look at each other awkwardly. Are they supposed to... comfort their captor?

Not knowing what else to do, they eat.

A SHOT of Ted running. It’s a pretty dainty run. One of the sous chefs appears on the horizon and Ted turns and sees him giving chase. Ted screams. He looks pathetic.

In a nearby clearing, the movie star is running. He hears a pop in his hamstring and comes up lame.

And then he gets tackled by a sous chef.

The women eat. Katherine wipes the last tears from her eyes, revived.

They look at each other surprised.

She glances up at the servers and they bring bread.

Margot takes a quick glance at the hallway leading to the exit. And then she shifts her eyes to see Katherine looking dead at her. Katherine silently shakes her head as if to say, “No chance.” Margot smiles.

They all take a bite of bread. As scared as they are, their faces can’t hide just how shockingly good the bread is.

4040 PINK PRODUCTION DRAFT (09/05/21)PINK PRODUCTION DRAFT (09/05/21)77.77.

Some dazed nods from the table. A strange feeling: doomed captives nevertheless enjoying a moment of deliciousness. Despite everything, for the first time it almost feels like real people eating dinner together.

Elsa watches them, with maybe the slightest trace of longing.

We see at one of the windows, Tyler is staring in longingly as well, wishing he were inside, not even trying to escape.

Soren has managed to locate a rowboat stashed on the far side of the island. He pushes it frantically across the pebble beach to the water.

They eat bread and drink wine. The tension and dread is still there, but it has oddly settled into a kind of dazed warmth.

Margot can feel Anne’s eyes on her. It’s a bit uncomfortable.

Katherine nods.

Katherine just stares at Felicity. And then...

4242 PINK PRODUCTION DRAFT (09/05/21)PINK PRODUCTION DRAFT (09/05/21)78.78.

ON MARGOT, who clocks this answer.

Katherine says nothing. Lillian’s wheels turn.

Katherine looks at her.

Katherine smiles. She’s as crazy as Chef. Or crazier.

Soren pushes the rowboat into the water. He clambers in just as he sees TWO COOKS running up the beach in the distance.

He only has one oar in the boat. He tries frantically to row, switching left and right.

The cooks are now in the water, swimming after. They can swim faster than Soren can row. Within seconds they have caught up to him. One of the cooks begins to climb aboard. Soren hits him with the oar a few times, but he can’t be stopped. The cook grabs the oar and pulls Soren into the water.

A fenced-in chicken coop next to the greenhouse.

Richard, having been caught, is being dragged by the cooks back to the restaurant.

4545 PINK PRODUCTION DRAFT (09/05/21)PINK PRODUCTION DRAFT (09/05/21)79.79.

Bryce has hidden himself inside the darkened chicken coop. Nesting hens sleep. Not a bad hiding spot, actually.

He sees a HAND enter the coop door holding a plate with an egg elegantly presented in a cup. A SERVER peeks his head in.

SERVER #2 A special bite for the last guest to be caught. A little play on the Passard egg with creme fraiche and maple.

Bryce sighs. They’ve truly thought of everything.

They eat. Little side conversations around the room. A sense of warmth in all this madness. Some of the other female staff have joined. Everyone but Elsa.

Anne continues to stare at Margot, here it comes:

It all stops. That cuts through everything. Margot looks at Anne, whose eyes are on her. Margot considers lying. But why?

Anne smiles sadly and nods.

Maybe the hint of a tear in Anne’s eye. She looks away.

After a beat, Lillian jumps in to break the tension:

A beat. Katherine nods.

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A few smiles. Margot hands Lillian a cigarette. Lillian lights it on her table candle. The mood is restored.

Margot takes a bite of bread. She feels a comfort. She looks at the women, then:

At this moment, the male diners are brought back into the restaurant. Some are bleeding. They look exhausted. Some are crying. They look just pathetic.

Bryce, busted nose, notices the basket of bread.

Soren, soaking wet, enters and sits down. Utterly defeated.

Tyler sees the food at the table where the women were sitting. An entire course he didn’t get to try. And bread?!? He rushes to the table and starts shoveling food in his mouth.

Richard sees Ann and Margot together. It’s clear they talked.

MOVIE STAR AND FELICITY. He looks haunted. She notices.

Felicity smiles sadly.

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Chef enters. He sees Tyler stuffing his face. Sheer contempt.

Tyler, mouth full, looks around. His hero is talking to him.

Tyler finishes.

Tyler glances at Margot.

4646 PINK PRODUCTION DRAFT (09/05/21)PINK PRODUCTION DRAFT (09/05/21)82.82.

Tyler hesitate for a moment.

It dawns on MARGOT what he’s saying. He knew. He always knew.

Tyler hesitates. But Chef leans down, inches away from Tyler.

ANGLE ON Margot. Her eyes are filled with malice.

4646 PINK PRODUCTION DRAFT (09/05/21)PINK PRODUCTION DRAFT (09/05/21)83.83.

Chef Slowik stands up straight again. He towers over Tyler.

Chef Slowik places a gentle hand on Tyler’s shoulder.

Tyler looks to the STAFF assembled behind Chef. They smile warmly and nod. Elsa approaches with folded CHEF’S WHITES.

Tyler stands and hesitantly dons the whites and apron. A server places little tweezers and a meat thermometer in Tyler’s sleeve pocket. The word “Hawthorn” is embroidered on his breast. Underneath, Chef, in Sharpie, writes “Tyler.”

Tyler looks at Chef. He can’t help feeling a little proud.

Tyler doesn’t quite know what to say.

4646 PINK PRODUCTION DRAFT (09/05/21)PINK PRODUCTION DRAFT (09/05/21)84.84.

Chef starts shooing him into --

-- Chef takes Tyler by the shoulders and positions him in front of the burners as everyone watches. Tyler shakes.

Someone hands Tyler two leeks. Tyler’s hands shake as he takes a knife and finds a nearby cutting board.

4747 PINK PRODUCTION DRAFT (09/05/21)PINK PRODUCTION DRAFT (09/05/21)85.85.

Someone hands Tyler shallots. He’s so flustered he can only cut haphazard chunks. Margot watches from the dining room.

Tyler nervously dumps all the food into a pan. Someone hands him a piece of lamb, which he numbly adds to the pan. They hand him a spatula. Completely out of body, he stirs.

Someone produces a plate, and Tyler basically just dumps the food onto it. He tries to arrange it in some artful way, but his hands tremble, and it’s just terrible.

Tyler can’t even respond. He’s crying.

Chef takes a spoonful of Tyler’s food and lifts it to his mouth. Just as he’s about to try it --

AGAINST BLACK, TITLE CARD:

SUPPLEMENTAL COURSE

CLOSE on Tyler’s hideous plate. A SUPERIMPOSED TITLE reads, “TYLER’S BULLSHIT. Under-cooked lamb, inedible shallot-leek butter sauce, utter lack of cohesion."

Chef Slowik takes a bite. He looks surprised. And delighted. He looks to be savoring it. Tyler watches through tears.

4747 PINK PRODUCTION DRAFT (09/05/21)PINK PRODUCTION DRAFT (09/05/21)86.86.

And then he spits his food out onto a napkin.

Chef begins whispering into Tyler’s ear. We don’t hear it. But Tyler nods along as he whispers. When chef is done, he looks at Tyler, warmly smiles, and waits for an answer.

Tyler removes his chef whites, hands them to Elsa, and exits in the direction of Chef’s office.

Chef Slowik turns to Margot with a serene look.

Chef Slowik turns to his diners with a remorseful expression.

He hangs his head low and walks back toward the kitchen. As he passes Margot, he mutters to her:

4848 PINK PRODUCTION DRAFT (09/05/21)PINK PRODUCTION DRAFT (09/05/21)87.87.

Chef leads Margot into the pastry area, where the PASTRY CHEFS, faces dotted with flour, ply their craft.

Margot has no idea what to do with this information. And she’s still shaky from what just transpired.

Pause...she’s coming up with something.

Chef turns and looks at her.

Chef is listening.

4848 PINK PRODUCTION DRAFT (09/05/21)PINK PRODUCTION DRAFT (09/05/21)88.88.

Pause. She looks at Chef and Chef back at her.

Margot truly looks defeated. She’s met her match and lost.

Elsa, always somehow nearby, is gutted by her error.

On Margot who looks stone-faced.

4848 PINK PRODUCTION DRAFT (09/05/21)PINK PRODUCTION DRAFT (09/05/21)89.89.

Elsa slides a KEY off of her key ring and, against her better judgment, hands it to Margot.

Margot looks at Chef, and leaves. On her way out of the restaurant, she walks past Chef’s office. The door is slightly ajar, and she can see through the crack in the door Tyler’s LEGS DANGLING OVER CHEF’S DESK. He’s hanged himself.

She’s initially shocked, but then, a hint of a smile.

A clear, beautiful evening, lit by moonlight. Calls of insects and night birds. Margot walks across the lawn. She’s actually going through with this. She moves with purpose, strength, conviction.

Up ahead looms a patch of WOODS.

Margot enters the dark forest along a path leading to the small SMOKEHOUSE lit by a single, dim porch light.

As she walks, she hears a rustling sound in the woods and a distant SNAP. She stops and turns to listen. Nothing. Then she looks down at the KEY in her hand.

Margot enters and flips on the overhead light. Sure enough, there’s the BARREL resting beneath hanging trout.

She approaches the barrel as if to retrieve it. But instead she reaches behind it, where a SCALING KNIFE hangs by a nail.

Taking the knife, she glances out a small window and spots Chef Slowik’s COTTAGE bathed in moonlight.

5252 PINK PRODUCTION DRAFT (09/05/21)PINK PRODUCTION DRAFT (09/05/21)90.90.

While Felicity stares off, exhausted, the movie star gazes at her with a look of deep regret. Then he looks away and nods.

The room is silent. Chef Slowik enters and is about to clap when, scared but brave, the movie star rises to his feet.

Chef turns to him. The famous actor has summoned all of his talent and experience for this crucial moment. But the way Chef makes eye contact immediately throws him.

He quickly sits down.

Chef Slowik takes all of this in and nods subtly.

5252 PINK PRODUCTION DRAFT (09/05/21)PINK PRODUCTION DRAFT (09/05/21)91.91.

Felicity looks at the movie star. She smiles sympathetically.

The movie star looks at Chef, who stares at him. It’s futile.

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Chef turns and walks back into the kitchen. It’s not fair. But the movie star sits down, resigned to his fate.

Margot stands outside the front door.

Margot enters and looks around. The interior is an exact REPLICA of the interior of the restaurant.

In the middle of the dining room sits a COT. Next to the cot is a small table with lamp and a Bible. This is apparently where Chef sleeps.

It’s so quiet here, so clean. Pristine.

For reasons she doesn’t know, she takes her same seat from the restaurant, closes her eyes, and breathes in the tranquility. It is quiet and still.

HARD CUT back to the real dining room. Not quiet. People screaming. Felicity is being forced to feed the movie star nuts, which he is allergic to. It’s clear he is having a massive allergic reaction.

A SUPERIMPOSED TITLE READS: “EIGHTH COURSE: ‘GONE NUTS’ - peanut dashi, peanut foam, peanut curd, peanut brittle, and raw peanuts hand-fed”

5454 Goldenrod Rev. (10/29/21)Goldenrod Rev. (10/29/21)93.93.

We see as well that Lillian is being waterboarded in a giant pail of the emulsion.

Silence. Margot continues to sit. And then she starts to breathe heavily, fighting tears. It’s as if she is now processing everything that has brought her to this point.

Then Margot realizes something. She gets up, leaving the scaling knife on the table.

Sure enough, she finds an exact replica of the SILVER DOOR she glimpsed earlier. She tries to open it, but it’s locked.

She hears the front door open. We see the footfalls of the person stepping inside the cottage. CAMERA rises to reveal --

Elsa sees the scaling knife on the table and smiles.

Margot enters the dining room, ready for a confrontation, and sees Elsa holding the knife.

Elsa takes a step toward Margot, who braces for whatever attack Elsa might unleash.

Elsa is shaking now. Almost breaking down.

Elsa lunges at Margot, swiping with the knife. Margot dodges backwards. She turns and runs, pursued by Elsa, into...

5555 Goldenrod Rev. (10/29/21)Goldenrod Rev. (10/29/21)94.94.

THE KITCHEN

Margot scans the room for a knife, a weapon,anything. But Elsa’s already there, trapping Margot in the kitchen.

Margot starts grabbing whatever she can find -- ladels, bowls, sheet pans -- and throws them at Elsa, as Elsa pursues her around the kitchen island. But Elsa keeps coming at her.

Margot finds a blender-sized kitchen appliance and heaves it as hard as she can at Elsa, who tries to deflect it, but it slams against the side of her head,hard. Elsa reels.

The appliance crashes to the ground, and we see the label in CLOSE-UP: “PACOJET.”

Margot tackles Elsa and manages to get on top of her. She wrestles away the knife. Elsa is beat. She knows it. Suddenly * all of her fight is gone. A strange, sad look of realization: *

MARGOT * What-? *

ELSA * About a barrel... He thought he * told me... But he didn't... It * wasn’t me who forgot... * (acceptance) * It was him. *

Elsa admits a long denied truth: She's given her life and all * of her talents to a man whose talents have slipped. *

Elsa suddenly grabs Margot's wrist. With her usual impeccable * service, she helps Margot guide the knife down into her own * throat. Elsa dies. *

Margot then takes the key ring from Elsa’s pocket and returns to the silver door.

Margot enters. A lovely room. A private haven. Warmly lit and beautiful. An actual life. A desk. Leather chair. Stacks of recipe books.

AND FRAMED PHOTOS all along the wall. We might see glimpses of a few. They seem to be from different points in his life: A preppy, affluent YOUNG SLOWIK in a school uniform. A photo of Slowik, his mom, and a meek looking man.

5656 Goldenrod Rev. (10/29/21)Goldenrod Rev. (10/29/21)94A.94A.

They look quite normal. What appears to be a family photo of Slowik with a beautiful woman and a young girl. A vigorous, focused Slowik opening his first restaurant, Tantalus in New York. Finally, SLOWIK OPENING HAWTHORN, standing with Doug Verrick. Slowik looks drained by this point, the humanity drained from his face. But in NONE OF THE PHOTOS is he smiling.

But Margot’s attention is on one framed photo in particular. She walks closer and closer to the photo, and then takes it off the wall and gazes at it for a long beat. We never see the photo she sees, but it touches a nerve in Margot.

5656 PINK PRODUCTION DRAFT (09/05/21)PINK PRODUCTION DRAFT (09/05/21)95.95.

Then Margot notices a RADIO on a shelf. She dashes towards it and fiddles with the transceiver.

VOICE (crackly) Come in?

VOICE Coast Guard. Who am I talking to?

VOICE What did you say?

VOICE Okay, just, uh -- don’t move!

Margot staggers back out into the “dining room” and retakes her seat. Silence.

A sudden, startling CLAP from an INTERCOM speaker.

Margot makes a face like, “Of course this isn’t over.”

5757 Yellow Rev. (10/07/21)Yellow Rev. (10/07/21)96.96.

We hear a small, resigned sigh from Slowik.

Margot thinks about this for a beat.

Beat. No answer.

We hear Chef Slowik LAUGH softly and knowingly.

We PAN ACROSS the dining room. Panic, exhaustion.

Chef Slowik carries a birthday cake loaded with candles over to Bryce.

5858 Yellow Rev. (10/07/21)Yellow Rev. (10/07/21)96A.96A.

He is singing ‘Happy Birthday.’ The entire kitchen staff follows him into the dining room, singing along. Some guests might numbly sing along too.

Chef Slowik sets the cake in front of Bryce and touches his shoulder meaningfully.

A sweaty Margot enters the restaurant, rolling the barrel in front of her. The diners look at her hopefully.

5858 PINK PRODUCTION DRAFT (09/05/21)PINK PRODUCTION DRAFT (09/05/21)97.97.

Margot sits at her table, which has been cleaned and perfectly re-set. Chef Slowik walks over.

There’s a CANDLE on Margot’s table. Chef Slowik extends his hand directly over it. The flame burns his flesh, but he doesn’t so much as flinch.

He snuffs the candle with his thumb and forefinger.

Outside the windows, a LIGHT appears on the water. A small BOAT. Margot sees it out of the corner of her eye.

Chef Slowik spots it, too, for a moment frozen with indecision, perhaps even fear.

Servers appear from everywhere to get people seated again, wipe down the floor, their work hyper-fast.

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One server applies a white bandage to Chef’s hand and ties a new apron around his waist to mask his blood-soaked pants. The movie star is given a fast-acting anti-allergy syringe.

Margot looks out the window to see a lone COAST GUARD OFFICER stepping onto the dock. No back-up. Not good.

Chef Slowik sees what Margot sees. He smiles just a little.

The guests look unconvinced and exchange conspiratorial glances. How can they let this opportunity pass?

The patrons look around. He’s right. Why didn’t they?

A knock. Chef Slowik nods at a server to unlock the door.

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We cut to the diners’ quietly panicked faces. Chef Slowik laughs, and one by one the whole staff joins in, laughing as well. The diners play along wearily with forced smiles.

Not quite understanding what that means, the officer looks around at the diners. They seem composed enough.

All shake their heads, except for Margot.

The cooks laugh again. Maybe a little too loud.

The Coast Guard Officer notices the movie star, who looks a little worse for wear, but better than before. A glimmer of recognition passes across the officer’s face.

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The officer walks over to the movie star. A server arrives with a pen and paper on a tray.

The movie star smiles sadly and hands over the autograph.

The officer turns and walks back toward the door. As he does, he looks down at the AUTOGRAPH. It reads “HELP US.”

The officer turns, whips out his gun, and points it at Chef.

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A cook behind Chef Slowik steps forward to protect his master, but Chef holds up a hand.

Chef Slowik draws a long breath and complies.

Others diners chime in as well.

The officer inches forward. When he has almost reached Chef, he pivots toward Margot’s table, gun still pointed, and pulls the trigger. A SMALL FLAME emits from the barrel, and he lights the extinguished candle on Margot’s table.

The officer holsters the gun, puts on an apron, and joins his comrades by the kitchen.

We scan the faces of the cooks and servers behind Chef Slowik. He’s right. She has failed the test. She has not lived up to the rigors and standards of Hawthorn.

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Two cooks tip the barrel on its side. A VISCOUS LIQUID pours out across the floor. What is it -- chocolate? Rendered fat?

Resigned to their fate, the diners don’t even bother lifting their feet. By now some even feel as if they deserve it.

Margot’s head droops. All is lost. But she doesn’t look scared. Or sad. Instead, a kind of quiet, simmering anger builds inside her, something that wants to burst out.

Servers have begun draping thick sheets of MARSHMALLOWS strung together with candy floss over the diners and themselves.

Margot doesn’t move as she’s draped in a marshmallow sheet.

Again no one hears. The staff continue to hustle, creating elaborate, Jackson Pollock SPLATTERS AND SWIRLS of melted CHOCOLATE and GRAHAM CRACKER crumbles atop the tables.

The SOMMELIER pours dessert wine into glasses, onto the tables, and over some diners’ heads.

Margot rises, tears off her marshmallow coat, hurls it onto the floor, and CLAPS. Once. Loud.

Everything stops, just like at the beginning of the meal. Chef Slowik looks over from the kitchen.

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We see the staff, shocked and ready to kill her. Slowik draws a deep breath, and something inside him seems to shift.

Margot draws a deep breath and then lets him have it. We slowly PULL CLOSE on her face as she calmly, coldly, and quite sensibly critiques his entire style of cuisine.

The COOKS can’t believe what she’s saying, even if deep down they know there’s a kernel of truth to it.

Chef Slowik and Margot face each other squarely in the dining room, like a sort of final showdown.

Chef reacts.

Chef is silent. This hits.

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Chef Slowik takes it all in and nods slightly.

The word gives him a moment of real pause. Chef Slowik thinks about this. He nods.

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LATER

The sound of cooking. Slowik is alone in the kitchen. The entire staff has gathered in the dining room. The tension in the room has oddly dissipated. Margot waits patiently.

Chef emerges from the kitchen and, sloshing across the liquid still covering the floor, places a plate in front of her.

It looks, no shit, like the best cheeseburger ever. A SUPERIMPOSED TITLE reads, “SUPPLEMENTAL COURSE: ‘A CHEESEBURGER - just a well-made cheeseburger”

Margot looks at it and nods. Then she picks it up and takes a bite. She closes her eyes and savors the bite for a long glorious beat. Then she opens her eyes and looks at Chef.

They smile and share this moment. Margot takes a deep breath.

DOLLY IN on Slowik as he thinks. He looks around his restaurant. The ferocious beauty of his food. The havoc he has caused. The totality of his life. And somehow he knows this is the perfect ending to his menu. He nods. And smiles.

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Chef Slowik walks back to the kitchen and we watch as he delicately wraps Margot’s burger and puts it into a Hawthorn to-go bag. We linger on him for a moment before he walks back into the dining room. He believes he’s doing the right thing.

He gives Margot the burger. Along with a Hawthorn gift bag.

Margot reaches into her purse and hands Chef a $10 bill.

Margot take a last look at Chef and Richard and Anne and walks out of the restaurant. And we sense, perhaps, that she is also walking away from the life she had. Away from a world of men she is now finally done with.

Chef Slowik CLAPS.

Servers place CHECKS on the tables, along with little Hawthorn gift bags.

LILLIAN BLOOM reaches for his wallet until Ted stops her.

He notices that Lillian is almost about to cry.

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On CHEF-- devilishly satisfied by this odd form of revenge.

RICHARD reaches for his wallet with his one good hand and gives it to Anne.

He looks at her.

EACH TECH BRO tosses in a credit card -- they’re going Dutch.

The movie star puts down his card.

The movie star smiles at his only friend.

BACK TO CHEF

With Chef's prompting, the guests slowly begin to clap. The movie star can’t help but give it up sincerely for himself and for a fellow artist. The cooks applaud as well.

Tears well in Chef Slowik’s eyes. He pauses, takes a deep breath. He has somehow found... release.

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From afar we see Margot board the coast guard boat.

The staff has now surrounded Chef in a semi-circle.

A sous-chef turns several knobs on the wall so that the lighting is nearly dark, but almost a spotlight on chef.

Katherine applies a marshmallow jacket to Slowik.

The slightest nod from Katherine.

Chef looks at his mother, who is passed out at her table.

Tears in the eyes of our diners. They know what’s happening.

But is she pleading for him to stop... or to continue?

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Chef strikes a match and tosses it in the flammable pool. A watery curtain of blue flame billows across the floor.

A warm, metamorphic glow illuminates the FACES of our diners.

CLOSE ON Chef Slowik’s serene, smiling face in the firelight.

Margot steers the boat with one hand on the wheel, gazing wearily into the distance, Hawthorn Island at her back.

But then the engine stalls. The PROPELLORS stop spinning. The boat just drifts there in the water, maybe a half a mile or more from the island.

Margot tries for a bit to fiddle with the controls and restart the engine. But it’s no use.

Finally, nothing else to do, she goes and quietly sits on the deck of the boat. It’s a beautiful night.

She gazes at faraway Hawthorn Island. BRIGHT FLAMES begin to rise inside the restaurant. Soon it is a warm, shimmering inferno casting orange reflective streaks across the water.

Margot sits and gazes silently at the distant fire. She takes the cheeseburger from the to-go bag and eats it as she watches Hawthorn and everyone inside it burn, the flames dancing in her eyes.

Then she takes the MENU from the gift bag and uses it as a napkin to dab her lips.

AGAINST BLACK, TITLE CARD:

“FINAL COURSE”

FIREFIGHTERS scavenge through the charred remains of Hawthorn Restaurant. We STEADICAM through the wreckage, passing the remains of the dining room and the kitchen. We may pass some rescue workers trying to force a stubborn charred four fingered hand into a body bag

A SUPERIMPOSED TITLE reads: “DESSERT: ‘S’MORE’ - marshmallow, chocolate, graham cracker, customers, staff, restaurant.”

We finally reach the locked SILVER DOOR, the portal to the room inside, which has somehow not burned.

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It’s like a jumbo-sized version of an airplane black box. Officers blow the door with an explosive, and it opens in a plume of smoke.

We continue in through the door. When the smoke clears, we see the interior -- a bare room with only a single table in the center. On top of the table rests a framed photograph. The same photograph Margot saw in Chef’s home.

We hurtle closer still and finally see what Margot saw: A photograph of a YOUNG CHEF SLOWIK, perhaps at his first summer job at a fast food stand. He has a big smile on his face and an apron that reads “Kiss the Chef.” He’s never been happier, his face lit by the fire of the grill.

And he’s flipping the world’s most perfect cheeseburger.