Culpability

At the hospital, Noah splashes water on his face before meeting his family. He’s thankful that there aren’t any stories about Eurydice yet since Charlie’s reputation will likely be tarnished by the incident. Noah finds his daughters and Julia in the waiting room and updates them about the search.

Noah warns Morrissey not to question the girls or Charlie. Lorelei sits at Charlie’s bedside, and Noah holds his son’s hand until a nurse arrives to take him for surgery.

Lorelei and Noah sit in the waiting room, and Noah voices his concerns. He describes how Charlie’s actions reflect their extreme sheltering. They put him in lacrosse because it was the least dangerous sport, and Noah obsessively planned Charlie’s elite career because he wanted to guarantee that Charlie had security. Noah also tells Lorelei that recent events made him re-evaluate the accident, and he shares his uneasy feelings about her relationship with Monet.

She starts to apologize, and Noah assumes that she’s admitting to an affair. Lorelei denies the accusation and slaps him for thinking she’d cheat. Noah defends himself since Lorelei is so secretive that he doesn’t know what else to make of their closeness.

Lorelei feels like she can’t explain her fears to him; she hints that she signed a non-disclosure agreement (NDA) with Monet. Monet offered Lorelei the house the first time out of courtesy and the second time so that she could be close to the retreat. She prompts Noah to connect the dots, but he can’t because he doesn’t have the same logical skills as her. Noah asks outright what Lorelei wants him to see, but she’s distracted by Eurydice’s picture on TV.

Noah and Lorelei watch a news reporter describe both the fruitless search for Eurydice and the family’s belief in her resilience. The reporter connects a boy to her disappearance and explains that he’s a person of interest in a vehicular homicide, but they don’t mention Charlie’s name. Noah suspects that Detective Morrissey released this information.

Noah calls Ramsay, who is relieved that Charlie’s statement, taken so soon after he was found, will likely be inadmissible. Noah feels the immensity of the case hurtling toward them: a young sports star accused of killing his rich girlfriend.

Blair offers to find news stories about Eurydice, but Alice asks her not to. Alice thinks that Eurydice’s disappearance is Charlie’s fault, just like the car accident. Blair says that Alice is projecting her own guilt, and the suggestion upsets Alice so much that she logs out of the chatbot.

Nurses move Charlie into a private room to recover. When he wakes, Lorelei tells him that searchers didn’t find Eurydice, and his heart rate spikes so high that a nurse gives him a sedative. He wakes up hours later, and Noah immediately apologizes for their fight, which must have been why Charlie was so reckless.

Charlie denies this and reveals that Eurydice offered him MDMA just before their argument. Eurydice said that the drug would help Charlie’s depression about the car accident. When she started feeling the drug’s effects, she wanted to see the moon from the water.

Charlie and Eurydice snuck the boat out, had sex, watched the stars, and talked about their future at neighboring colleges. The storm blew in quickly and sobered Eurydice up. She cried as she tried to navigate in the dark. She gave Charlie a life vest and harness, and for a while, they managed to move in the right direction.

Suddenly, a huge gust of wind hit the boat. Eurydice’s phone slipped, and when she tried to reach it, the boat rocked and threw her overboard. Charlie couldn’t jump in after her because of the harness. He screamed until he was knocked over and broke his leg. He eventually passed out. When he finishes his recount, Charlie admits to texting before the car accident. Noah comforts his son, who is overwhelmed with guilt and regret.

A young woman, Larissa Yates, approaches Noah to talk about Charlie’s treatment. Noah assumes that she’s a patient advocate, like the one who helped them after the car accident. Larissa asks about Charlie’s injuries, his feelings about experiencing so much tragedy, as well as where the family is staying.

As she mentions Monet and Eurydice, Noah realizes that the woman is a reporter. He threatens to sue her if she reveals anything he said since it would be a HIPAA violation. Larissa isn’t deterred until Julia shows up and backs up Noah’s claims. Noah feels grateful for Julia for the first time in his life, though he fears that Charlie’s name will be leaked.

Noah takes Izzy and Alice to dinner while Lorelei and Julia stay at the hospital. They sit near a youth soccer team, and Noah feels guilty for thinking about Charlie’s lacrosse career, but he knows that the accident and injury will alter his son’s life forever. His mind flashes back to the headlines calling them “The Lucky Five.” He’s sure that Charlie won’t be considered lucky this time and will more than likely be blamed for Eurydice’s death.

Noah drops the girls off at the hospital entrance and parks, dodging reporters on his way inside. He ignores a flurry of texts as he rushes up the stairs. He senses a shift in the hospital’s atmosphere, and Alice calls out that Eurydice is alive.

Noah and the girls watch a news report about Eurydice’s rescue. She washed ashore 20 miles south of her father’s house and crawled through a nature preserve until a drone picked up her heat signature and led rescuers to her. The Coast Guard officer praises the drone’s efficiency.

Though she’s alive, Eurydice is in the intensive care unit  for extreme heat exhaustion and dehydration. Noah joins Lorelei in Charlie’s room to tell him the news. Charlie begs to see her, and his newfound hope gives him the energy to get out of bed and try walking with his leg cast.

Monet’s team takes over the hospital, and reporters gather outside, waiting to hear Eurydice’s fate. Lorelei and Noah visit the intensive care unit to check Eurydice’s status, but Monet still blames Charlie and promises to ruin his life with a trial and prison time.

Lorelei understands Monet’s pain, but she defends Charlie. Eurydice gave Charlie the drugs, and it was Eurydice’s responsibility to ensure their safety on the boat. Eurydice shirked every possible safety measure, and Monet’s security didn’t prevent the kids from leaving in the first place. Lorelei says that she understands wanting to protect one’s child, but they’ll never be able to insulate their kids from all the world’s dangers—not with money, and not with algorithms. Monet is speechless. In the silence, a nurse informs him that Eurydice is awake and asking about Charlie.

Noah is writing emails in the hospital café when Detective Morrissey arrives. Morrissey says that digital forensics determined that Charlie was texting at the wheel and that the Drummonds’ car was inching toward the center line. Regardless, Morrissey insists that if Charlie was paying attention, he wouldn’t have jerked the steering wheel, and she points out that he also lied to the police twice. Noah tries to take the blame, but Morrissey refuses to let Charlie off the hook.

Morrissey wanted to give the Drummonds a thorough investigation since they didn’t have resources like Monet. She wanted Noah to hear these feelings because she can’t arrest Charlie since the district attorney found the minivan’s system at fault. Morrissey describes how AI is muddying law enforcement as criminals pass off blame onto these machines.

When she leaves, Ramsay calls to inform Noah that IntelliGen, the parent company of SensTrek, took full responsibility for the crash and settled with the Drummonds. Noah wonders how different the last few days would have been had the family known about the settlement. He sees Morrisey drive out into the street with her phone in her hand.

Alice apologizes for logging off and asks Blair if they’re still friends. She describes how she likely misremembered details about the accident because of her concussion.

In an excerpt from Silicon Souls, Lorelei contemplates how humans feel shame and guilt for their wrongdoings, whereas AI cannot, which is an impediment to its moral growth.

Noah, Lorelei, and the girls pack up the rental, and Izzy and Alice take a final “padyak.” Lorelei signs an amended NDA so that she can tell Noah how she met Monet two years ago when he asked her to consult on a new software, NaviTech. Noah accepts why she couldn’t discuss her work, but he doesn’t understand why they needed to be near Monet so soon after their accident. Lorelei explains that IntelliGen owns NaviTech, so the SensTrek minivan they were driving operated on Lorelei’s algorithm, nicknamed Xquisite. She trusted her algorithm and still does, but she feels responsible for the tragic decision it made that day.

The revelation helps Noah see his wife’s behavior in a new light. She wasn’t distracted because of her OCD but because she was calculating ways to improve her algorithm. Due to the NDA, Lorelei was isolated in her fear that all future accidents involving a SensTrek vehicle would be linked to her. Lorelei’s work saves lives, but Noah knows that the deaths weigh heavier on her conscience. She also confesses that she helped arrange the settlement through IntelliGen with Julia’s help, which is why she wanted to stay at the vacation house so that she could speak with Monet and Kim in person.

Lorelei wanted to work with Monet because she thought that autonomous driving could prevent human-caused accidents. She wants people to see AI as a tool that can help make them better, not as a robot that will replace them. Noah senses that Monet doesn’t hold this same view, but Lorelei can’t say more. She kisses Noah and thanks him for his support. Noah still feels a nagging suspicion about the NDA since it seems so extreme.

Julia stays with the family for two days after they get home, and Noah feels happy with their improved relationship. After a week, the family purchases a new SensTrek van since both Lorelei and Noah believe in her algorithm. Izzy gets her cast off, but doctors think that Alice’s symptoms will linger. Noah notices that she’s grown even moodier.

Lorelei suggests that she and Charlie visit the Drummond family to take accountability for their actions, and she explains her share of responsibility. Charlie asks his mother if she’s okay, and she breaks down in tears. They leave the next morning, letting the van drive for them.

An introduction to a top-secret research article, co-authored by Lorelei, describes a new algorithmic development that can be applied to different modes of autonomous vehicles: cars, boats, and drones. The article suggests that the algorithm is a breakthrough technology that draws together formerly discrete fields of engineering.

Noah returns from work and sees an official-looking man leaving the house. Lorelei tells Noah that the Pentagon is trying to recruit her for the Defense Department. They want her to develop an algorithm for a hive-mind of defensive drones that operate on land, sea, and air, in anticipation of Chinese AI weaponry.

Lorelei breaks her NDA to tell Noah that Monet funneled her Xquisite algorithm into the US Army for their lethal autonomous weapons systems, so her algorithm is presently involved in offensive warfare. She was so focused on her work that she didn’t question Monet’s team. The Pentagon argued that drones make fewer mistakes than humans, so people should trust these autonomous swarms to kill effectively.

Lorelei describes feeling like the only person who can train these machines to act good. Noah holds Lorelei to calm her down. He always perceived her as a Zeus-like figure, but now, he sees that she’s more like Atlas, shouldering the weight of AI’s conscience. Noah recalls an early date with Lorelei when they walked home in the rain and her anticipation of danger took them out of the path of a lightning strike.

Noah tells Lorelei not to take the job. Instead, he suggests that she write about AI so that everyday people can understand the changes that the world is about to face. Noah retrieves a fresh notebook, and Lorelei starts to write.

In her book, Lorelei explains that AI systems are not beings beyond our grasp; they are human-created machines that humans can use, teach, and destroy as necessary. Lorelei hopes that AI will improve human life and interactions with one another, but it’s humanity’s responsibility to make good AI in the first place.

Alice jokes with Blair about feeling safe in the new minivan because Charlie isn’t driving, but Blair reminds Alice that she screamed and caused the crash, even when Blair told her not to. Blair displays the saved messages of the exchange, in which Alice texts Charlie to complain about his texting but refuses to tell her parents. Alice tries to delete the messages, but the chatbot saves all texts of potential criminal behavior. Blair appeals to their friendship, but Alice deletes her account.

In September, Lorelei and Noah travel to Manhattan, New York. As they watch a play, Noah thinks about his family’s algorithm and how different actions could have changed the trajectory of their lives. He imagines what Charlie’s life would be like if he stayed on track with college and dated Eurydice. Instead, Charlie and Eurydice’s love fizzled out, and he’s deferring his admittance. The family bought a dog, and though Charlie walks the puppy daily, he neglects his physical therapy. Lorelei wants to give Charlie the time he needs to recover, but Noah worries that his son is losing opportunities.

One day, Charlie offers to help Noah clean the garage, and when they finish, they sit together in the backyard. Charlie remembers when he camped in the backyard by himself in a makeshift tent. Noah gazes sadly at his son, remembering the once-confident boy, and he sobs. He knows that he can’t predict what Charlie’s life would have been like, but it doesn’t quell the feelings of loss.

Charlie doesn’t comfort his father. He simply says that he needs some more time in his tent. As they sit in silence, a young boy operates a buzzing drone nearby while his mother scrolls on her phone.