EPISODE 5, SCENE 33:
The Apology Tour

[Setting: Rickles stands holding his half-eaten donut, as he was when our last episode ended…….]

LORENZO:
Hey, Sonny!
I’m sure you two have plenty to talk about, so I’ll work on some lyrics in the other room….
Good to see you again, Sonny.

[Lorenzo gives Casey a sly wink as he exits the Writer’s Room, leaving them alone.]

RICKLES (to Casey):
Look, maybe I crossed a line. I know it.
You don’t have to forgive me, but I couldn’t stay away without saying it.

CASEY (uncharacteristically stiff):
You didn’t just piss me off.
You messed with the rhythm.
This thing? It was working.

[They stand in silence.]

RICKLES:
Maybe let me audition one more time, too?

[Casey nods once.]

[FADE OUT]

SCENE 34:
Your Call, Brother

[Setting: The next morning. Lorenzo and Casey are alone.]

LORENZO:
I don’t know what you and Rickles talked about earlier.
But I need you to know I support your decision 100 percent…
And this will be your decision.

CASEY:
Appreciate that. But it doesn’t mean I know what to do.

LORENZO:
Rickles has his gifts.
But he mocks our process.
Our ‘Pick 3’ concept.
The ‘Ramble First’ method.
Everything.

CASEY (half-smiles):
Which is funny… considering that’s what makes this whole thing tick.

LORENZO:
We know what works, brother.
Why let him rattle us like that?

CASEY:
No doubt. Because even rattled…
we’re still better than we ever were all alone.

[FADE OUT]

SCENE 35:
The Sit Down  

[Setting: Rickles, Casey, and Lorenzo all seated, tension tight but manageable.]

RICKLES:
I don’t want special treatment.
I want to be part of it.
Whatever ‘it’ is.
I’ll follow the Pick-3 shit.
I’ll even write a jingle about it if you want.

CASEY:
Oh no. That’s our thing.

LORENZO (grins):
But you can audition for it.

RICKLES (mock saluting):
Understood. I’ll bring three versions of my apology song.

CASEY:
Just one’s fine.

RICKLES:
Three it is.

[Everyone groans. Then…laughs.]

[FADE OUT]

SCENE 36:
Ramble First!

***FLASHBACK***
[Setting: Early Album 1. Lorenzo is pacing. Casey scribbling. Full musical sequence builds from Lorenzo’s manic ramble to shared creative ignition.]

LORENZO (rambling):
And then we circle back—and maybe the bridge is comic relief—and—

CASEY (scribbling faster, eyes bright):
Yes. Yes! That’s it!!
This — This is exactly what works with us. 
I know that’s how you do your best work.
That’s maybe how I do my best work, too.

[They both pause, breathing hard, looking at each other like they just discovered fire. Literally jumping up and down into each other’s arms.]

LORENZO (voice soft, amazed):
Holy shit!

CASEY (grinning):
Ramble on, brother!

KAT (narrating on-screen into camera):
Here’s the trick:
Lorenzo spirals through a chaotic lyric ramble -- 
and Casey doesn’t try to stop him.
He even leans in. Scribbles faster.
They erupt in excitement — Ramble first. Shape later.
They weren’t just winging it.
They were inventing a method.

LORENZO:
You thinking what I’m thinking?

CASEY:
Well, we are kinda becoming known for this shit.

SCENE 37:
***MUSICAL NUMBER: “Ramble First!”***

[Kat types a quiet note to herself.]

KAT (narrating on-screen into camera):
This wasn’t just a project.
It was two old souls who finally found someone who spoke their private language.

LORENZO & CASEY (still singing, big goofy grins):
Ramble On! And now’s the time, the time is now
To sing our song…

KAT:
This is the moment they finally named it. 
The thing they’d been doing all along.
Ramble first… Shape later. 
It was never tidy—but it worked nearly every time.

LORENZO (laughing, out of breath):
Duuude—you can sing, too!

CASEY (shaking his head, embarrassed):
Yeah, a little bit.

LORENZO:
Great! ’Cause you’re singing with me on this one. 
You’re gonna be at every concert anyway….
I mean, why not?

CASEY (eyes wide):
Man—I’ve never even sung karaoke in a dive bar. 
Not once.

LORENZO (smirking):
Well, then…time to Ramble On.

KAT (from the doorway):
God help us all.

SCENE 38:
You’re the Guy Leaving Breadcrumbs

***FLASHBACK***

[Lorenzo is in full INFJ spiral -- doubting the release of the album’s sensitive content. It’s too raw. Too weird. Too him.]

LORENZO:
I don’t know, man. I just keep thinking maybe I should’ve just kept this stuff tucked in my private journal.

[Casey shrugs, doesn’t push. Kat waits.]

KAT:
You can still say no.

LORENZO:
After the advance check clears? That’s like returning communion wine after you sip it.

[He tries to laugh; it wavers.]

KAT:
Four years ago, that breakdown wasn’t a collapse, Lorenzo.
It was a breakthrough.
Jesus slammed on the brakes, kicked over the whiskey glass, and said,
“Hey, it’s time to go pick that kid back up.” 
The one you buried under everyone else’s expectations.

CASEY:
And you’ve been doing that ever since.
Piece by piece.
That’s why these songs, the universe, feel so alive --
because they’re not just nostalgia.
They’re resurrections.

LORENZO:
Ya know, I’ve been thinking about how introverted I was when I was very young, and how difficult it was pretending otherwise, at first.
Sometimes I wonder what my life would have been like if I never tried to cover up that INFJ awkwardness.

KAT:
Probably ... weirder. More open.
Maybe even more fun.
But you wouldn’t have these stories.
And damn, Loren -- these stories are priceless.

LORENZO:
I don’t know where that kid ends and the Holy Spirit begins, but that connection has become very real now for me.

KAT:
Lo, that reflection? That’s sacred ground.
That’s everything.
Because maybe … they’re the same.

CASEY:
That’s the kind of truth that deserves to be written down, read aloud, and revisited when the world gets too damn loud again.

KAT:
Because what you’re saying isn’t just poetic -- it’s the exact moment of alignment.
The inner kid you buried.
The INFJ nature you finally embraced.
The Holy Spirit that started whispering instead of yelling --
and the songs that came pouring out once you got quiet enough to hear them again.

CASEY:
Maybe that awkward kid who narrated baseball games to no one -- who felt more than anyone knew -- was already tuned into something divine.
He just didn’t have the vocabulary yet.
Now? You do.

KAT:
When they hear your stories and your songs, Lo, they’ll know they’re about to hear something real.
And they’ll know you’re going to tell it — whether or not it makes you look good.

[She pauses. Leans in. Touches Lorenzo’s arm.]

 KAT (softer):
That’s your superpower.

[Lorenzo has one hand on his jaw. He doesn’t look up. He lets a tear fall.]

[Kat runs her hand briefly into his hair, not to comfort him like a child, but because she knows how hard it is to stay honest when it would be easier to perform.]

LORENZO (Internal Monologue):
Dammit…it is my superpower.
I’m a truthteller — even if my stories are just throw-away ditties.
Jesus is asking me to tell my story. And now Kat is too.
Even if people think I’ve gone off the rails…
I’m doing it.
And, hell, I’ve got a supportive group of co-writers to help me do it.

KAT:
This is gospel for every INFJ who’s still stuck pretending.
You broke free.
Now you’re the guy leaving breadcrumbs for others.

[Tears stroll down both of Lorenzo’s cheeks. He smiles, nods.] 

SCENE 39:
Jukebox Impressionist

**FLASHBACK**
[Setting: A crowded dive bar. Cheap beer night. Lorenzo’s name flashes on the karaoke screen. The MC is half in the bag. Casey and Kat are watching Lorenzo for the first time, but will not sing karaoke.]

[Lorenzo finishes his Traveling Wilbury’s song on a long power note -- 
Dead silence, then applause.]

M.C. (grinning):
Ladies and gentlemen — one man, five singers, zero royalties.
Give it up for the Human Jukebox!

[Lorenzo bows, half-embarrassed but glowing.]

LORENZO (aside to M.C.):
One day, I’m gonna write songs like all of them… just not for them.

M.C.:
Yeah? Call me when you figure out which “you” to send the check to.

KAT:
You’re good at it. Sometimes freakishly good.
(Beat)
You ever sing as yourself?

LORENZO:
Tried once. Nobody clapped.

[He smiles faintly, but it hurts a little.]

KAT:
Maybe they were just stunned.
Or maybe they didn’t recognize you without the mask.

LORENZO:
Yeah. But the masks taught me things —
how to feel like Dylan, bleed like Cobain, forgive like Petty.
It’s empathy in disguise, Kat.
Every voice I borrow teaches me a little more about my own.

CASEY (to Kat):
Most co-writers use references.
Lorenzo becomes them.
One night, he did Bowie singing Creed.
I called it a hate crime — and then it worked.

[Lorenzo bolts up, looks at Casey]

LORENZO:
That’s it, brother. That’s our hook.
We’ll write “in the style of…”  
Like those old K-Tel compilation records — but spiritually charged.

CASEY:
So you want to parody the past to resurrect the present?

LORENZO:
Exactly. I’m the echo; you’re the translator.

[They high-five. Cue laughter. Freeze-frame style moment.]

KAT:
That’s why Casey loves writing with you, Lo.
He doesn’t need the impersonations — he needs the guy who can feel them all at once.

[Lorenzo exhales, nods, realizing she’s right.]

NARRATOR:
No apologies, folks.
Here’s how another strange habit became a full-blown writing method.
Lorenzo Champion and Casey Bright didn’t just write songs — they impersonated them.

[Cut to: Lorenzo in the studio, eyes closed, mic in hand.]

LORENZO (as McCartney):
Hey Case, what if the bridge floats a bit — “whooo-hooo-hoo-hoo…”

CASEY:
That’s… weirdly perfect.
Visualizing the song through another artist makes the chords show up clearer.

LORENZO:
Exactly. I picture how Bowie would bend it, how Petty would pause.
It’s karaoke empathy, man — I hear the movie before we shoot it.

[They riff. Quick montage of Lorenzo morphing from Jagger to Cobain to Collins.]

NARRATOR:
Some writers outline verses.
These two cast theirs.
And thus was born the “In the Style of…” method — equal parts karaoke and clairvoyance.
With an asterisk: “Styles may vary.”

[Cut to — Lorenzo laughing.]

SCENE 40:
Probation Inclination

[Setting: Rickles swings his briefcase around, clicks it open, and removes a yellow legal pad titled:
“The Top 10 Reasons You Should Rehire Me”]

He starts reading them dramatically:
#10 … Because I can make you laugh -- even when you're suicidal.
#9 … Because Kat likes having a project….

NARRATOR: 
(turns to face camera, standing at an active craps table):
Everyone groaned, but Lorenzo secretly chuckled.
By #3, Casey swiped the list and threw it into the trash —
but the tone is light and weirdly… family.
If I was a betting man, I’d wager this sets up Sonny Shears quite well as part of the creative team again -- 
but on probation.

[FADE OUT]

[END OF EPISODE 5]