"Doug!" "Where were you?" "Wherever you go..." "there you are." "I'm so sorry, but Sarita" "Malhotra is waiting in the board room." "I told her you needed to reschedule but she wanted to wait." "Who set up that meeting?" "I don't remember it." "I... don't know, I can find out for you." "What else?" "HR still waiting to set that empowerment seminar..." "Yeah, yeah." "Tell them I empower them to do it without me." "Everything else can wait." "Is there anything for me?" "I need you to find the information about" "Julia Samson?" "What do you want to know?" "I want to make sure she's not dead." "Uh..." "OK." "Did you want me to get rid of Ms" "Malhotra for you?" "Where's she from?" "MW News." "♪ Bar Karma 1x12 ♪ Man Walks Out of a Bar Original Air Date on April 29, 2011" "== sync, corrected by elderman ==" "Sorry to make you wait." "I think the CEO gets to say who's late and who's early, don't you?" "Alright, let's see it." "The MW NEWS mission is to be the premier news source in the world." "We are independent, solely funded by private investors." "You may have seen some of our beta broadcasts." "What makes you say that?" "Our broadcasts are linked to several public venues --taverns and the like..." "out of the way places... perhaps you've watched us." "Background noise--TV news is history - but that's not what you are." "True." "MW News is different." "They are stories that exist only as possibilities." "The future, Mr. Jones." "I can offer you that." "How?" "Long ago, Quantum mechanics showed us that the very act of viewing a microscopic event will tend to change the event itself." "Our research has focused on the many worlds interpretation on quantum mechanics with outstanding results." "We're within months of unlocking and reporting on the future, Mr. Jones." "Here." "In this world." "For everyone." "And we're having this conversation because...?" "Getting there, on the scale we're talking about, will require massive amounts of capital." "I see." "Well, capital's easy." "Figuring out who gets to see the future isn't." "Who do you work for?" "An eclectic mix of what you might call foreground and background players." "Our investors." "Hey, wait!" "Go back one." "You know him." "An early investor." "Very elusive." "Seems to have fallen off the map." "Perhaps you could help us locate him." "His name is" " James Anon." "I'll get back to you." "Music on." "♪" "Still rich." "I love this song." "Whoa, you're here, I mean, here." "Does James know?" "He knows I went looking for you." "I thought he wanted you to stay in the bar." "He didn't have a choice." "Why did you leave?" "To get answers." "About Julia?" "Wouldn't you want to know if you killed someone?" "And once you figure out, will you come back?" "I don't know." "I missed this." "Your apartment?" "Making my own rules." "When I'm here, I know what to do." "I mean, I've got my computer set up to beep if my finances even think about going wobbly." "I've got a staff of hundreds that have my back." "I'm always in control." "I know how things are going to turn out." "I don't think I can leave this." "Even if it means spreading a virus faster and faster." "Its been happening ever since" "Caleb escaped." "What virus?" "According to James, your good luck and my bad luck." "That's a virus?" "Maybe it's just an illusion." "Along with your bar." "Your bar." "I'll tell you what, bring me the deed and I'll sign it over to you." "You can't Doug." "What we're accomplishing in there is so much bigger than what you're doing out here." "Maybe." "But maybe this is enough for me, Dayna." "Sorry." "Who's the little guy?" "I was a funny looking kid." "Any friends?" "One." "Next door." "Whenever I was grounded, which was a lot, we would pass notes through the slats of the fence." "That's sweet." "But one morning, I woke up to sirens." "There was a fire and..." "Worst night of my life." "It's you." "You look so much younger than me now." "Time stands still in the bar." "And I thought my company had good benefits." "Do you still love those peanut butter grilled cheese sandwiches?" "Why?" "You hungry?" "Starved." "I can't find them." "We shouldn't have sent her out there." "Things are coming unglued in a hurry." "I can't believe you ordered these from a five-star restaurant." "Is this even on the menu?" "He owes me." "Okay, now you sound like a loan shark." "Loan shark, corporate shark, what's the difference?" "At some point I'm gonna need you to fill in some blanks here." "Before dessert?" "Well, at least before one of us has to use the bathroom and goes through the door.... ...And ends up someplace else." "I see your point." "So why didn't you tell me who you were until now?" "We were already overwhelming you with so much information." "Everything has its time." "You're starting to sound like James." "He's a good teacher." "You really like it at the bar, huh?" "It's the happiest I've ever been." "For once I'm actually helping people instead of ruining them." "What if we did the same work out here?" "I have money, influence, connections." "We can help a lot of people." "I can't be out here." "Yes you can." "If you're with me." "We can cancel each other out right?" "Let me ask you something." "When I left the neighborhood, how often did you get grounded?" "Never." "My bad luck is stronger than your good luck." "I'm afraid if I go with you," "I'll never come back here." "Bar Karma can't trap you, or take away your free will." "Maybe you don't come back because you don't want to." "Doubtful." "What's that?" "Stock alert." "I haven't got much time." "You're saying this is because of you?" "Wow." "But why you?" "And why me?" "I'm sorry, but if you want to hear the whole story, you'll have to come back to the bar..." "That is some serious bad luck." "Alright, alright." "Here it goes." "I'm not ready to buy but want an exclusive interview?" "You know you're going to sell to me." "So why the charade?" "Everything has a price, Caleb." "We're trying to find ours." "Choices are limited." "There's one side or the other." "You seem awfully anxious about this." "Time is wasting, Sarita." "You don't even have an offer from him yet." "But I'll pay you double what you're asking if we do the deal now." "It's more than money." "I need to be sure we share the same vision." "How's this vision " " Power." "Real power." "Convincing people that what you feel is exactly what they feel." "Inspiring them to happily bend to your will, almost beg you to accept their subservience." "I know how to create power and how to execute it." "That's what I can offer you." "Convincing." "Let's talk after this after the interview." "He'll be here any minute." "Any minute?" "What does that mean to a man whose been trapped in the Void between the branches of time?" "Any minute." "Ha!" "You had me worried there for a decade or so." "Yeah, I had myself worried, too." "Still a train wreck out there?" "Worse than ever." "Sorry to hear that." "But you saw Doug?" "Yes, he's okay." "He saw the picture?" "He knows?" "He still has questions, but yes, he knows." "Things are falling into place." "Or at least, some things are..." "MW News has been off the air this whole time..." "We know you're a billionaire." "We know you're a playboy." "It's rumored that you're a control freak as well." "Have you always been "the guy"?" "To be honest, I'm currently considering a little side venture where I am not "the guy"." "Will you have a majority interest in this side venture" "Like I said, I'm just considering." "Not ready to commit to anything." "Have you had a disagreement over tactics?" "Do you have some insider information you want to share?" "Certainly a man of your accomplishments and, let's say, good fortune could get used by individuals who are simply trying to further their own agendas by borrowing some of that" "Doug Jones magic." "Well, we all reap what we sow." "What's that supposed to mean?" "Just from a song that opened doors for me." "I wish it would again." "Take a listen." "He wants to come back." "I've got him." "Who were you talking to?" "The boss." "The boss?" "I thought I was the boss!" "No, no more cards." "I came back for real answers" "James, not just possibilities." "I told you how important you were when you came here." "You still are." "I gather you got to witness some of Dayna's impact while she was out there with you...?" "The very nature of her negative power is that it is uncontrolled." "And can never be controlled, except in here." "Anger motivates action And revolution." "Same can be said of envy." "It keeps us hungry." "Lust keeps us populated." "Some people thrive on that chaos." "Like Caleb." "He and I were both part of a conglomerate called Karma, Inc." "And he wanted me out there, causing as much damage as I could." "My brother blocked me from bringing Dayna in here several times." "So I had no choice." "I locked him in the Void." "Before that, Karma, Inc." "wasn't taking sides in the war between Caleb and James." "But when they demanded that" "James release Caleb, he refused." "That's when we broke away from them." "But we realized we needed you to survive." "So did it happen or not?" "Which is it?" "Let's play this out..." "You?" "That's right." "This scenario was a simulated" "Branching Event we created for you." "FOR me?" "You never would have agreed otherwise..." "You set me up?" "No man in his right mind would leave the life you had." "You had to think it was all crashing down around you." "Did he trick you, too?" "Wait, no..." "Maybe we should leave him here." "Let him wander the universe alone in his stinking bar." "Turn the tables on the old man!" "How'd that be, James?" "He didn't trick me." "He saved me." "James knew it was important for us to meet early on." "Nothing like the bond of a childhood friendship, when words and feelings are pure and honest." "You'll both need that trust to carry you through the next phase of our mission." "First, I got Dayna here and kept her safe." "But I needed you to balance her out." "How could you let him do that to me?" "Because Karma is more important than any of us." "So what now?" "That's up to you." "You can walk out that door and let the forces of Caleb run wild." "Or stay in here and help us fight him." "If I do this let's be clear." "It's not for you." "I understand." "Alright." "I'm in...again - for now." "Who else could use a drink?" "No " " I'll get that." "To karma." "I got this one." "You're just in time for a board meeting." "How did you do this?" "Come on, James." "It's over!" "Your two kids over there think they're all dialed in, ready to save the world, but guess what James?" "They don't know how to do anything!" "Come on James, have a drink." "Last call, James!" "Time is running out." "Your karma has found you." "== sync, corrected by elderman =="