Overwhelming Goodness

"First of all, Papa Smurf didn't create Smurfette. Gargamel did. 

She was sent in as Gargamel's evil spy with the intention of DESTROYING The Smurf Village, but The Overwhelming GOODNESS of The Smurf Way of life transformed her. 

And as for the whole gang-bang scenario, it just couldn't happen. 

Smurfs are asexual. 

They don't even have reproductive organs under those little white pants. 

That's what's so illogical, you know, about being a Smurf : 

What's the point of Living --- if you don't have a dick?"

-- Donnie Darko

"Vengeance is Mine," Sayeth The Lady-Version

"Vengeance is Mine," 

Sayeth The Lord;

And if that ain't reason enough 

to convince you that 

God is a Woman, 

then I can't see any way 

in which anything else

ever COULD --

HE WHO REMAINS: 

No. 

(CHUCKLES) 

No. Nope, this is where we diverge from The Dogma. 

That first variant encountered a creature 

created from all the tears in Reality, 

capable of consuming Time and Space Itself.

A Creature… You both know.

LOKI: 

Alioth.

HE WHO REMAINS: 

Bingo! I harnessed The Beast’s Power 

and began experimenting on it.

 

I weaponized Alioth and I ended… 

I ended The Multiversal War. 

Once I isolated Our timeline, all I had to do was manage the flow of time and prevent any further branches. 

Hence, The TVA. 

Hence, the Time-Keepers and a highly efficient bureaucracy. Hence, ages… 

(GRUNTS) 

…and ages of cosmic harmony. 

Hence… You’re Welcome. 

… You came to Kill The Devil, right? 

(CHUCKLES) 

Well, guess what? 

I keep you safe. 

And if you think I’m evil, well, 

just wait till you meet my variants. … And that’s the gambit! Stifling order or cataclysmic chaos. (CHUCKLES) You may hate the dictator, but something… (EXHALES DEEPLY) …far worse is gonna fill that void if you depose of him. I’ve lived a million lifetimes. I’ve gone through every scenario. This is the only way. The TVA, it works.

SYLVIE: Or you’re a liar.

HE WHO REMAINS: Or I’m a liar.

LOKI: So you just… continue to prune innocent timelines?

HE WHO REMAINS: Mmm-mmm. You two would. There’s two options! One… you kill me and destroy all this, so you don’t just have one devil, you have an infinite amount. Or… you two. You two run the thing.

LOKI: You’re lying. Why would you give up being in control?

HE WHO REMAINS: (SIGHS) Buddy… I’m tired. And I’m older. I’m older than I look. This game is for the young, the hungry. I’ve gone through a lot of scenarios… trying to find the right person to take this spot. It turns out that person came in two. (EXHALES) But it’s definitely you two. So, no more lies. You kill me and the Sacred Timeline is completely exposed. Multiversal War. Or you take over and return to the TVA as its benevolent rulers. Tell the workforce who they are and why they do what they do.

SYLVIE: You treated real people’s lives like some kind of game.

HE WHO REMAINS: It’s not personal, it’s practical.

SYLVIE: It was personal to me.

HE WHO REMAINS: (GROANS) Grow up! Grow up, Sylvie! Murderer! Hypocrite! We’re all villains here. (CHUCKLES) We’ve all done horrible, terrible, horrific things. But now, we, you… have a chance to do them for a good reason.

(DISTANT RUMBLING)

HE WHO REMAINS: We just crossed… the threshold. (CHUCKLES)

(THUNDER RUMBLING)

HE WHO REMAINS: Oh. So, I fibbed. I fibbed earlier when I said I know how everything’s going to go. I… I know… I knew… (CHUCKLES) …everything up to a certain point, and that point was about… seven, eight, nine, ten seconds ago. But now I have no idea. No idea how the rest of this is going to go. I’m being candid.

(HE WHO REMAINS EXHALES DEEPLY)

LOKI: So, that’s it? That’s it? This is what happens at the end of time? And now you’re just gonna sit there with all that freedom and… let us decide your fate?

HE WHO REMAINS: Yes! Yes! Yes! What’s the worst that can happen? You either… take over and my life’s work continues or you plunge a blade in my chest and an infinite amount of me… start another Multiversal War. And I just… end up right back here anyways. (CHUCKLES) Reincarnation, baby.

SYLVIE: No, it’s just another lie. Another manipulation.

HE WHO REMAINS: Oh. No lie. No manipulation.

(THUNDER RUMBLING)

(HE WHO REMAINS SIGHS)

HE WHO REMAINS: Wow. (CHUCKLES) I love this. I love… all this honesty. … Feels like a fresh start. … Oh, holy…

(LOKI GRUNTS)

SYLVIE: What’re you doing?

LOKI: Hang on a moment. Let’s just talk about it.

SYLVIE: Well, how about we finish what we started and kill him?

(GRUNTS)

(BOTH GRUNTING)

LOKI: What if he’s telling the truth?

SYLVIE: So what?

LOKI: I believe him.

SYLVIE: Believe what? That a bazillion boogeymen will turn up just because we give people free will? He’s a liar, Loki.

LOKI: So am I. (PANTING) And I don’t think he was lying. Not about that. Insane? Yes. But maybe he was telling the truth.

HE WHO REMAINS: Better hurry. Timeline’s already branching.

SYLVIE: So, what are you suggesting?

LOKI: That we think about it.

SYLVIE: And what precisely is there to think about?

LOKI: Weren’t you listening to what he was saying? That’s the gambit. Remove the dictator and what fills the void?

SYLVIE: Ah. You want the throne?

LOKI: No, that’s not it. No.

SYLVIE: I don’t believe you.

LOKI: Sylvie, the universe is in the balance, everything we know to be true. Everything. I know the TVA has hurt us both. But what if by taking him out, we risk unleashing something even worse? All I’m suggesting is we just take a minute to think about it. I promise you from my heart this isn’t about a throne.

SYLVIE: What was I thinking trusting you? Has this whole thing been a con?

LOKI: Really? That’s what you think of me… after all this time? Sure. Why not? Evil Loki’s master plan comes together. Well, you never trusted me, did you? What was the point? Can’t you see? This is bigger than our experience. 

 SYLVIE: Why aren’t we seeing this the same way?

LOKI: Because you can’t trust… and I can’t be trusted.

SYLVIE: Then I guess we’re in a pickle.

LOKI: Sylvie, wait. (PANTING) Wait.

(BOTH GRUNTING)

(GRUNTS AND GROANS)

LOKI: Sylvie. Sylvie.

(SYLVIE GRUNTS)

LOKI: Maybe he’s lying! Maybe he’s not. The cost of getting this wrong is too great.

SYLVIE: 

Fine. Do it. Kill Me. 

Take your throne.

LOKI: No.

(SYLVIE GRUNTING)

(GRUNTS)

LOKI: Sylvie, stop. Stop.

(SWORD CLANKS)

(BOTH PANTING)

LOKI: Stop.

(SYLVIE BREATHING HEAVILY)

LOKI: 

Stop.

(SYLVIE SNIFFLES)

LOKI: 

I’ve been where you are. 

I’ve felt what you feel. 

Don’t ask me how I know. 

All I know… is 

I don’t wanna hurt you. 

I don’t want a throne. 

I just… (SIGHS) 

I just want you to be okay.

(SYLVIE SNIFFLING)

(SIGHS)

(SWORD CLANKS)

SYLVIE: But I’m not you.

(GRUNTS)

(BREATHING HEAVILY)

(SOMBER MUSIC PLAYING)

HE WHO REMAINS: Incredible. (LAUGHING)

SYLVIE: Aren’t you gonna beg for your life?

HE WHO REMAINS: Um, could, could. (CHUCKLES) … (GRUNTS) I’ll see you soon. (CHUCKLES)

(SOMBER MUSIC CONTINUES)

(SYLVIE CRYING)

(CRACKLING)

(RAPID BEEPING)

MOBIUS: No turning back now.

Who said anything about turning back?

“For all time.”

“Always.”

(LOKI SIGHS)

MAN: Copy. Reporting to the armory, sir.

That’s, what, 63 new branches in this unit alone?

Does he want us to just let them all branch?

At this point, how are we gonna stop it?

LOKI: We can’t!

What? What’d you say?

LOKI: It’s done, Mobius. We made a terrible mistake.

What’s done?

(MOUTHING) What?

LOKI: We freed the Timeline. We found him beyond the storm. A Citadel at the End of Time. He’s terrifying. He planned everything. He’s seen everything. He knows everything. It’s complicated. Okay?

Right.

LOKI: But someone is coming. Countless different versions of a very dangerous person. And they’re all set on war. We need to prepare.

Take it easy. You’re an analyst, right? What division are you from?

LOKI: What? What are you talking about?

Who are you? What’s your name?

Boots on the ground now. Archives.

Who are you?

(LOKI BREATHING HEAVILY)

(SHUDDERS)

The Man and His God

 

INT. FRED'S APARTMENT - NIGHT 

Wesley and Illyria continue their conversation in the dark room.

WESLEY (standing, excited) 

You could go anywhere, you could leave.

ILLYRIA 

That's not possible.

WESLEY 

Of course it's possible. 

Are you telling me the great Illyria, idol of millions, was limited to one small dimension?

ILLYRIA 

I traveled all of them as I pleased. 

I walked worlds of smoke and half-truths, intangible. (turns away) 

Worlds of torment 

and of unnamable beauty. 

(looks into the mirror, Wesley's reflection over her shoulder) 

Opaline towers as high as small moons. 

Glaciers that rippled with insensate lust. 

And one world with nothing but shrimp. 

I tired of that one quickly.

WESLEY 

Then why stay in This World? 

Surely there's a world more appealing -- 

-- maybe not the shrimp one --

-- but one where you'd be welcome like you never will be here. 

Why don't you go? 

You can go. Why don't you go?

Illyria snaps, grabbing Wesley by the throat and staring at him angrily. 

She lets him go, tossing him aside as she starts gasping for air.

ILLYRIA (breathing hard) 

It's too small. It's too small. I can't breathe. 

(pacing, panicked, in a circle) 

I can't live with these walls. I can't breathe. There's no room for anything real.

WESLEY 

It's all right.

ILLYRIA (glares at Wesley) 

I should gut you where you stand. You challenged me. 

There's not enough space to open my jaws. 

My face is not my face. I don't know what it will say. 

(panting)

WESLEY 

Illyria... come with me.

Illyria starts to calm down and her panting slows.

EXT. ROOFTOP - NIGHT 

Illyria and Wesley are standing on the rooftop. 

She's got her head leaned all the way back, staring skyward.

WESLEY 

Are you all right?

ILLYRIA 

I breathe easier.

WESLEY 

The walls don't press in as hard when you can't see them.

ILLYRIA 

But they're still here.

WESLEY 

Yes.

ILLYRIA 

All I am is what I am. I lived 7 lives at once. 

I was power and the ecstasy of death. 

I was god TO a god. (looks down) 

Now... I�I'm trapped... on a roof. 

Just one roof... in this time and this place, 

with an unstable human who drinks too much whiskey and called me a Smurf. 

(Wesley chuckles) 

You don't worship me at all, do you?

WESLEY 

And you really can't leave.

ILLYRIA 

I... don't know. (looks up) 

And I fear in any other dimension in this form I'd be but prey to those I knew. 

(hangs her head) 

I reek of Humanity.

WESLEY 

Don't flatter yourself.

ILLYRIA (looking over the skyline) 

Your World is so small. 

And yet you box yourselves in rooms even smaller. 

You shut yourselves inside... 

in rooms, in routines.

WESLEY 

There are things worse than walls. 

Terrible... and beautiful. 

If we look at them for too long they will burn right through us. 

Truths we couldn't bear. Not every day.

ILLYRIA (sighs) 

We are so weak.

WESLEY 

Yes. Yes, we are.