Culpability

Noah sends Charlie’s contact information to Ramsay immediately, forgetting that he hasn’t told Charlie about the lawyer or that he knows about the texting. He jogs back to the house, where Charlie is already on the phone. Lorelei reprimands Noah for complicating things behind her back.

After Charlie gets off the phone, he tells Noah that he isn’t allowed to say anything about the case. Charlie gets ready to sail with Eurydice. He worries that he looks more guilty now and thinks that he’ll get arrested and lose his scholarship, all because the AI car didn’t do what it was supposed to do. Noah moves to comfort his son, but Charlie brushes him off.

Charlie storms away and paddleboards to the Monet house. Noah watches the girls “padyak”—their own word for attaching a paddleboard to a kayak. He wonders when their lives will go back to normal and considers the different decisions they could have made to prevent the accident.

Lorelei teaches this kind of situational ethics, which explores how moral decisions are made on a situation-by-situation basis. Circumstance also shapes a person’s ethics; for example, Lorelei grew up with privilege, so she never worries about access to education, healthcare, and support. Noah, on the other hand, came from a family riddled with money-related tragedy. He wonders if his fate has finally caught up to him.

He finds a note from Lorelei saying that she’s out for a run, so he takes another look at her notebook. His name doesn’t appear again, but it’s obvious that she is still writing about the accident.

In her book, Lorelei describes the “black box” of AI systems, the complex internal workings that even the most intelligent experts can’t understand. The black box shows how much people don’t know about AI and the terrifying possibilities of this unknowability.

Lorelei returns from her run after speaking with Julia on the phone. Julia thinks that calling in a lawyer was a mistake, though she agrees that there are many conflicts of interest. The girls interrupt the conversation, and Noah offers to bring them into town. Lorelei stays behind.

Noah, Alice, and Izzy go to a roadside fruit stand, shop, and eat pizza and ice cream. They stop at a petting zoo, where Noah drinks three beers while the girls roam around. The management company calls about the air conditioning and tells him that they didn’t hire Home Depot and don’t know who did. Noah drives the sleeping girls home, aware that he’s intoxicated and putting his children in danger.

Noah takes a kayak out alone, and while he’s paddling, he sees Charlie and Eurydice on her sailboat. Noah is struck by Eurydice’s command of the vessel, and he watches Charlie mimic her movements. Charlie’s happiness moves Noah, who realizes that the boy hasn’t had this kind of freedom due to his strict schedule and anxious parents. Noah vows to let his son enjoy these moments of freedom while he can.

Lorelei announces that she doesn’t want to go to Monet’s dinner, but Noah convinces her to go. Lorelei puts on a sleeveless dress, which is unusual for her and makes Noah uneasy. As she gets ready, Lorelei explains that she’s now confident that the AI system is to blame for the accident. Noah isn’t so sure since Charlie’s taking the wheel must have disabled the auto-drive. Lorelei argues that Charlie assumed he could be inattentive because SensTrek advertises the van as a safe place to be distracted.

Noah still can’t shake the feeling that Charlie will face legal consequences because of the texting. Lorelei shares that in every other case of a SensTrek van accident, the driver wasn’t held liable. She tells Noah not to worry. Noah feels like he’s always out of the loop.

Alice apologizes to Blair for not talking to her. She noticed Izzy being weird, and when Blair says that Alice might be deflecting, Alice tells her that she doesn’t need a therapist, just support. Alice isn’t bringing her phone to the party.

Charlie offers to drive to the Monet house, but Lorelei gets behind the wheel. At the estate’s gate, a security guard, Aharoni, lets the family onto the property. Noah already wants to leave, and he latches onto the fact that Lorelei knew another guard’s first name, Dorit, despite it not being on her name tag. Eurydice greets them and chatters nervously about the chef to the girls and Charlie. She takes Charlie’s hand, and Noah and Lorelei see how in love the two young people are.

The family follows Eurydice into her father’s house. Hors d’oeuvres fill a huge table, and a waiter brings around wine. Monet enthusiastically greets the family, paying special attention to the girls. Lorelei speaks with Yael, whom Noah senses she doesn’t like.

Daniel introduces himself to Noah, mistakenly calling him “Norman,” and asks how he and Lorelei met. Noah explains how, in his first year of law school, he went to a pick-up basketball game. One of the men had recently gone on a bad date with Lorelei, and the group teased Noah that he’d be perfect for the quirky girl. When he lost a bet one day, his payment was taking her out. Noah is forever thankful for joining that group since he met his wife and got his job through those connections.

Monet asks about Noah’s work, recognizing the firm’s name from the Monet Group’s acquisition of IntelliGen. He casually mentions the air conditioning at Noah’s rental, which he took care of after Lorelei texted him, revealing that he owns all the rentals in the cove. Noah doesn’t know why Lorelei has Monet’s phone number.

Yael’s wife, Kim, pulls Monet away, and Noah confronts Lorelei. She confesses that she’s worked with Monet and that he offered her use of the house after he heard about the accident. Lorelei’s shifty behavior and anger at Monet for spilling their secret make Noah even more concerned. The girls pull Lorelei away, and Noah searches for another drink.

Noah makes his way to the bar and orders a double scotch and soda. He is deeply uncomfortable with how much Monet knows about their family. He tries to talk himself out of believing that Lorelei is having an affair but drunkenly wonders if she’s sleeping with Yael or Kim. Noah thinks that Lorelei’s staunch morals would stop her, but he doesn’t know what she does on her international trips.

Nearby, Monet casually lounges in a chair with the attention of all his guests. Lorelei stands by herself, glancing around the courtyard but often looking pointedly at Monet.

Noah avoids Lorelei and chats with Monet’s underlings about their work. He is both impressed and envious of their important roles. A group of men near Noah joke about using AI in pharmaceuticals. Noah asks about their work, and the men explain that they’re a researcher, a banker, and a systems engineer. The engineer describes his recent project, but Noah can’t understand his technical jargon.

Monet suddenly asks for everyone’s attention, and he doles out thanks to his staff and his daughter. He gushes over Monet Group’s “exquisite” work and says that even though they’ll likely be criticized by the public, he’s confident that they are making the world safer. Noah is surprised to see sour faces in the crowd, including Lorelei’s. Lorelei walks away with Kim.

After the post-dinner fireworks display, Noah has a final drink, and Lorelei asks to go home. He decides not to confront her about her affair. Lorelei says that Charlie is staying late and will get a ride home. Although Noah knows he should let it slide, he storms away in search of his son.

Noah wanders down to the shore, unnoticed by Kendrick, who is playing Candy Crush. He finds Charlie and Eurydice making out and startles them. Noah asks Charlie to come home with the family, but Charlie argues that he’s old enough to do what he wants. His arrogance angers Noah, who realizes that his son refuses to consider the consequences of his actions.

Noah snidely tells Charlie that he needs to rest for his interview with Detective Morrissey and reveals that Alice told him about the texting. He instantly feels ashamed for ratting out his daughter. Charlie quips that Noah was distracted in the van, too. Noah tries to apologize, but Charlie walks away with Eurydice.

In her book, Lorelei describes the butterfly effect: how small choices can lead to unpredictable, large-scale consequences down the line. In the world of AI, each decision an algorithm makes can have unpredictable effects, so developers must be cognizant of the potential impacts of their work.

Back at home, Noah deliberately leaves his items strewn around the bathroom to annoy Lorelei. He recalls how he and Lorelei came to sleep in separate beds. When Noah first moved in with Lorelei, she slept horribly and obsessively washed the sheets every night. He was offended at first but soon realized that it was a symptom of her disorder. He threw out their shared bed and bought two twin beds while she was away at a conference. When she came home, Lorelei cried and had sex with him. For the rest of their life, Noah ensured that Lorelei always had her separate space, but now, he worries that his accommodations pushed them into separate worlds.

Noah gets up from bed and stares out at a passing storm. Lightning illuminates Patrick Carmichael on his deck. Lightning continues to strike, and the figure of Patrick morphs into Phil Drummond staring blankly up at Noah. In fear, Noah steps back. He tries to sleep, but his mind races about his argument with Charlie and the storm.

Alice can’t sleep because of the storm and because she worries that her father told on her to Charlie. Blair asks if Alice told on herself, too, but Alice quickly says goodnight.

Noah wakes to the sound of Detective Morrissey pulling into the driveway. He greets her, and she hands over a search warrant for Charlie’s and Izzy’s phones. Noah quibbles about the warrant’s validity, but Morrissey persuades him to cooperate.

Izzy and Lorelei come inside, and Izzy throws up in the sink. Lorelei asks both Morrissey and Alice for privacy while they talk. Izzy confesses that she was texting Charlie before the accident, but Charlie convinced her not to destroy the evidence. Izzy feels responsible for killing the Drummonds, but Lorelei and Noah tell her that it’s not her fault. They unlock Izzy’s phone and send her to her room. Noah goes to wake Charlie, but he’s not in his room.

Noah thinks that Charlie must have stayed at Monet’s overnight, as neither Alice nor Izzy has seen their brother. Noah and Lorelei both leave messages on Charlie’s voicemail, and in the meantime, Morrissey questions Noah about using his laptop in the car.

The sound of a vehicle approaching stops her questions, and two black SUVs full of Monet’s security team pull up. Aharoni asks where Eurydice is, and the team searches the house and questions the Carmichaels next door. Aharoni updates Monet, and the security team drives away. Noah and Lorelei stand together in shocked silence and worry.

The family goes to Monet’s estate to talk with him. Noah and Lorelei thought that Charlie was there with Eurydice, but Eurydice texted Monet at midnight saying that she was going to bed. Noah silently recalls that he saw her with Charlie after that.

Morrissey arrives, much to Monet’s dismay, but he eases when he realizes that she’s there for Charlie. Kendrick runs up from the beach with Charlie’s phone and a bottle of MDMA tablets. Monet orders the Cassidy-Shaws to stay in the house and out of the way. Noah lies to Lorelei about knowing about Charlie’s drug use. He hopes that the situation is just a big misunderstanding and that Charlie and Eurydice will come back soon.

A Coast Guard boat docks in the cove, and the team with Monet enters the house. Noah suggests that the kids took out a boat since he saw them on the beach. Aharoni dismisses the possibility because Kendrick was watching the water, but Noah shares that Kendrick was playing games at his post.

Monet runs down to the boathouse and finds Eurydice’s sailboat gone. He’s certain that Eurydice would never go on the water at night during a storm, and he blames Charlie for drugging her. Monet threatens to punish Charlie if Eurydice is hurt. An aide hands Monet his phone, which shows that Eurydice’s boat has almost reached the open sea.

Monet gathers his team and the helicopter pilot to coordinate a search-and-rescue operation. Lorelei urges Noah to go with Monet. She wants someone there for Charlie—someone who will bring back the news, good or bad. Noah runs down to the helipad and pleads with Monet, who allows him to climb up into the luxurious, soundproof helicopter.

Monet ignores Noah, but Aharoni informs him that they’ll arrive in three minutes. The helicopter suddenly turns, and everyone looks out the window. Noah sees Coast Guard boats, another helicopter, and four autonomous drones helping the search. Eurydice’s boat comes into view; it’s still upright, but its sails are torn. Charlie lies unmoving on the boat’s deck with a broken leg. An officer boards the ship and shakes Charlie awake.

In her book, Lorelei quotes Jean-Paul Sartre’s statement that “man is condemned to be free” because he’s responsible for all his actions despite not being responsible for his creation (246). Humans then created AI systems with autonomy, so they are also responsible for what these machines do.