Hello Tomorrow! (Season 1) Episode 6: As observed in the previous episode, ‘Hello Tomorrow!’ is slowly shading its skin as a science fiction tale and morphing into a dark comedy about the prevalent themes of greed and corruption. With Billy Crudup’s charismatic lead performance, the show makes an earnest attempt to depict the darker aspects of human nature.
Its latest episode, streaming on Apple TV+, takes a look into Jack Billings’ backstory and how he envisioned this business of lunar residence. It opens with his miserable past to present a few revelations that further our understanding of how such businesses solely driven by profits and numbers end up making a person.
Let’s find out what happens in the same. Be aware that there are spoilers ahead.
Hello Tomorrow! (Season 1), Episode 6 Recap:
Episode 6: The Numbers Behind the Numbers
The title is pretty self-explanatory of this episode’s central theme. It investigates how Jack Billings (Billy Crudup) did numbers on those around him and how its root is others doing the same with him. He used to work for APP (Amazing Personal Products), a year ago. Over there, he was an eager salesman, almost like Herb (Dewshane Wiliams), now working under him. Jack’s boss, Bill Blankenship (Joel de la Fuente) sees his recent sales figures, and shares that they do not look good as per his expectations from him.
Jack gets confused, considering he had a great month in terms of sales numbers. Bill explains that it does not reflect in the long-term assumptions about his performance according to processor-assisted logic. Jack keeps making a case for himself, stating his dedication for over thirty years. But Bill seems hellbent on letting him go, which breaks him. His mood goes down to zero within a matter of moments. His emotional plea for wanting to save the lives of others does not work on Bill, who does not want to put him back out as a salesman.
Jack leaves Bill’s office to speak with Shirley (Haneefah Wood) on a video call about his job loss. She senses that he is upset by this news and gets worried for his well-being. She asks where he is at the time, and he abruptly cuts the call. Then, he goes back to the washroom, and while cleaning the tip of his tie, he attempts suicide. In an eerie shot, we see him struggling to keep breathing while voluntarily choking himself.
The next thing he sees is Hank (Joel Marsh Garland) in a hospital. This man saved him from danger by bringing him to the hospital at the right time. Hank feels glad that Jack was saved and says not to let go of his will to live since accidents keep happening throughout our lives. Their dialogue soon switches to the moon visible through the window. Jack notes that he has always wanted to go there. He recalls what his father said – ‘No one is not a dreamer.’ It seems like the beginning of the scam he started working with as a salesman.
Fast forward to his present time, Jack meets Hank, who had arrived at a site hoping it to be the moon landing one. Walt (Michael Paul Chan) lets Hank and his family stay there for the time being. But seeing that he cannot fulfill the man’s dream, Jack sells him an even bigger one. Instead of a trip to the moon, he asks Frank to buy a residence instead. Walt sees how Jack used Frank’s gullibility to his advantage and questions him about this ‘moon game’ like his father. Due to a past issue, Walt stopped launching ships to the moon. They do not discuss any explicit details about what went wrong.
Jack enters Walt’s cabin to see the old drawings done by Walt and his dad. He marvels looking at them after over 40 years. Walt shows him a model of a subterranean power unit they built to use the temperature for a mining operation. Jack believes that the land his father bought has the potential to build a whole community. Then, Walt shows him where his father’s last sign is. At this point, Jack’s approach seems like Elizabeth Holmes and Theranos. Since he wants something to be the truth, he believes it to be.
Back in the office, Joey Shorter (Nicholas Podany) is angry at Jack since he hid the fact about the sales ban from him. In fact, he takes it as a motivation to increase his sales, indirectly telling him that he does not need any help to do his job. Meanwhile, Shirley’s lack of interest in their travel plan disheartens Eddie (Hank Azaria). Soon after, Jack approaches her to tell her that their business cannot be stopped. Moreover, he wants to buy some time with it to find a solution to their fraud problem.
Shirley sees it clearly as robbing. But to stop them from getting caught in any issue, she asks him to sell the remaining plots of land. Obviously, it can fund them enough to refund the customers they scammed with this dream. For this to happen, she asks Jack to contact Elle (Dagmar Dominczyck) and make her purchase it all with her enormous wealth.
Barbara (Jacki Weaver) calls Joey and tries to forge a strong familial connection with him. She pokes him to look at privileged members from her old age home as his prospective customers. He agrees to do it behind Jack’s back. Meanwhile, Jack offers him a promotion, which he sees because of guilt. He rejects the offer and says that he wants to earn it instead. Herb hears about it and gets upset by seeing Joey getting preferential treatment. Betty (Susan Heyward) consoles him but then shares that she lied about her pregnancy. ‘It is not a lie if you believe it,’ she says. It reminds him about the fraudulent nature of his job.
Lester (Matthew Maher) contacts Myrtle (Alison Pill) to show the last piece of document that he did not shred. He drives to the same lot where Jack met Hank. Then he shares that the Billings family and Walt own this launchpad that constitutes the Brightside Company. However, it is nothing but just an empty lot. Seeing that, Alison gets manically overjoyed. She tries to enter the lot and ends up getting electrocuted. But still, she is just as delighted as Lester to understand Jack’s con.
Hello Tomorrow! (Season 1), Episode 6 Ending Explained:
What does Joey realize at the old age home?
Shirley dissuades Eddie from his lunar residence dream by bringing him another job opportunity. He gets upset and sees it as her not valuing his efforts. But all she is doing is out of care and concern for him. He storms out to get a drink with Herb, who is wallowing in his own misery. They share their sadness over getting betrayed by the ones they love.
Meanwhile, as per Barbara’s request, Joey goes to the old age home. She shares the personal details of other members that he can use to sell them a lunar residence. He feels bad for using their vulnerabilities. But she keeps up with her attempts to increase his sales there. While he is about to leave, she makes him stay for a while. Then she opens up to him about the Billings family, trying to reach the topic of their relationship eventually. But it gets interrupted by Buck Manzell (Frankie Faison), who manically shouts his anger against the forces controlling him. That’s when Joey hears about Jenkins and learns that it is Hank’s turtle.
Jack convinces Elle to purchase the land by that time, as he discussed with Shirley. She asks him to fast-forward the deal. Meanwhile, Joey returns to the office and questions Jack about Buck and their fake lunar residence deals. Subsequently, he asks him why they are selling false hope. Jack tries to justify by speaking about the nature of the world where those like him get walked over. He sees such trickery as the only way to survive, and it’s all right until ‘you believe it is true.’ However, Joey cannot handle this way of handling business and storms out, clearly hurt by the deceitful nature of their work.
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Hello Tomorrow (Season 1) Episode 6 Links: IMDb, Rotten Tomatoes
Hello Tomorrow (Season 1) Episode 6 Cast: Billy Crudup, Hank Azaria, Haneefah Wood, Dewshane Williams, Nicholas Podany, Alison Pill, Jacki Weaver
Where to watch Hello Tomorrow
