Hello Tomorrow! (Season 1) Episode 5: ‘Hello Tomorrow!’, depicts a story of greed and corruption set in a retro-futuristic world. The creators, Amit Bhalla and Lucas Jansen, make earnest attempts to infuse comedy into the show’s sci-fi drama. However, the humor often falls flat since most of those bits feel trite or boring. That leaves its better comic performers (especially Hank Azaria, Alison Pill, and Matthew Maher) to sell their lines through dialogue delivery.
We see Jack Billings and his colleagues selling the dreams of lunar residence in its blatantly old-fashioned setting. With the fifth episode, the show is slowly departing from its early sales-pitchy approach to disclosing the darker truths hiding underneath. So, this Billy Crudup starrer has now started to seem more like a drama about the ground realities than a sci-fi narrative.
The latest episode makes some of those darker aspects clear to us. Let’s find out what happens in this episode, streaming on Apple TV+. Please note that there are spoilers ahead.
Hello Tomorrow! (Season 1) Episode 5 Recap:
“From the Desk of Stanley Jenkins”
The new episode, directed by Ryan McFaul, shows Brightline employees battling their legal and emotional issues. Eddie (Hank Azaria) is over the moon (pun intended!) that he has gathered enough funds to get a lunar residence. Shirley (Haneefah Wood) is happy with his happiness and says that she will talk with Jack (Billy Crudup) about getting them on the next flight to the moon. While this couple is enjoying their time together, Herb Porter (Dewshane Williams) is reconnecting with his wife, Betty (Susan Heyward). On the other hand, Jack is making himself ready to tell Joey (Nicholas Podany) about the truth of their relationship.
However, because of Myrtle Mayburn’s (Alison Pill) call about Joey’s recent sale, Lester Costopoulos (Matthew Maher) takes him to his office. Herb sees it from a distance but decides to keep it a secret. Meanwhile, Jack is busy using Phil Montez’s (Teddy Cañez) recording for his next sales pitch. His shtick rehearsal is interrupted by Shirley, who tells about the great news about her and Eddie’s lunar residence. Jack is puzzled about how to tell her the reality of their dream. So, in his salesman-y style, he assures her that he will work on getting them on a flight at the earliest.
In his office, Lester continues to bring up the truth about young Joey, who is confused about what exactly he did do to deserve that disciplinary action. Meanwhile, Herb maintains his go-getter approach and decides to use Joey’s arrest to malign his image in Jack’s eyes. But Betty suggests he take the high road instead of defaming Joey. Shirley later discusses her concerns about traveling to the moon with Eddie. He assumes it to be because of her past relationship, but she denies that is the case. That’s when she receives a letter from Jenkins. So, she leaves the room to meet Jack immediately.
Since Lester tries to scare Joey into confessing guilt for selling, the kid sees no other way but to speak about Jack, who is his next superior. He still worries that telling Jack’s name would get him in trouble. Meanwhile, when Jack tries to get hold of Joey in the office, Shirley approaches him with Jenkins’s letter. Herb interrupts their dialogue to tell Jack that the authorities have taken Joey. So, Jack decides to leave immediately to take care of Joey, which upsets Shirley since he yet again ignores others’ requests because of his closeness and concern for this kid.
While Joey is tired of Lester’s persistent bickering, Jack walks into the room and saves him by showing a file of documents from the HQ (the same one that he takes out of his room’s locker). It is clear that he is hiding something nefarious from the other Brightside employees. But Joey keeps naively following him. He feels that Jack needs to bail him out. Jack tells him that he need not stress about it.
Myrtle notices Joey being bailed out and approaches Lester in rage. Lester points out that he serves only the system, and since appropriate documentation has been provided, his job is done. He does not want to do something just for the sake of her personal vendetta. However, since he is infatuated with her by then, he offers her one or the other way to lift up her spirits – which is mostly a refund since that fits the legal procedure. But that fails to make her happy.
Later at a gala night, Shirley gets welcomed by Phyllis Montez (Dani Motalavo). Right after, Phil steals her from his daughter and brings her to dance with him. While Herb and Betty enter the event without any issue, the guard stops Eddie because of the kind of suit he is wearing. While Eddie tries making a case for himself and his good taste in clothes, the guard hears no other word from him and escorts him out. He is left with seeing Shirley dancing with Phil from the outside. He tries to trade it with others but also fails at those attempts.
Meanwhile, Jack takes Joey to the event and tells him to dance with Phyllis. From a distance, he eyes Elle (Dagmara Dominczyk) and gets enamored by her mere presence. He soon learns that Elle now owns the club where they are dancing. Before approaching her, he goes up to Shirley to tell her that they can finally start selling. However, she is still worried about Jenkins’ letter.
Jack pretends to read that letter while Shirley keeps bombarding him with questions. Why does Jenkins want every piece of paperwork that she has? Why is he putting so much pressure on Jack? Should she deal with him instead? Due to this, Jack decides to hand her an ID card with Stanley Jenkins’ name so that she can call him. But upon doing so, an old woman picks it up and tells her that she has been fooled. Why would Jack give her a fake number? She tries to get hold of Jack to ask about it.
Meanwhile, Jack approaches glamorous Elle, and they start flirting with each other. They continue doing so while dancing together. She opens up about her bigger dreams, and he attentively listens, only to be interrupted by Joey. By then, the kid had learned from Betty about the ban on sales and also that Jack knew about it. He gets pissed that Jack didn’t tell him beforehand where he could have stopped his arrest. The breakdown between the two of them makes Herb and Betty fill up with joy.
Hello Tomorrow! (Season 1) Episode 5, Ending Explained:
Myrtle is devastated that her life is a mess now that lies surround her – be it by her husband, by the Brightside, or by the conglomerates that keep promising her happiness instead of truth. Meanwhile, Lester continues to shred the provided documents and then suddenly stops, thinking of helping Myrtle.
Shirley finally tells Jack that Jenkins was never in the room. She says that the number he gave was rerouted to tell a place on Earth. While he keeps pretending to have no idea about it, she talks about this put-up façade, which is why their launches are getting constantly pushed. She feels bad for tricking everyone into believing in this dream.
Shirley assures Jack that she will help find a way out of their mess while not knowing that he is also in on this plan (or has orchestrated it). Meanwhile, a family of four, which has been promised a lunar residence, reaches an empty lot for their rocket launch. The guard of that establishment opens the gate to realize that Jack is still fooling people into believing in this dream.
