[theme song plays]
♪ Demons come from every side ♪
♪ In the darkness is the light ♪
♪ Out of the shadows of my life ♪
♪ In the darkness is the light ♪
♪ Surrender will win the fight ♪
♪ This girl's walked on fire and ice ♪
♪ But I come out ♪
♪ On the other side of paradise ♪
♪ Paradise ♪
[Fi] Since the beginning of history,
people have told stories about the merfolk,
a strange, water-breathing race, half-human, half-fish.
These beautiful creatures have a hypnotic charm
that humans find irresistible,
but romances between the two species never seem to work out.
He's from the wrong side of town, and she's from the bottom of the ocean.
Like in the Hawaiian legend of King Maui,
whose daughter had a thing for the mergod Paumakua.
The king grounded her,
and when she tried to see the mergod behind her father's back,
he punished them by turning Paumakua into this mountain called the Ali'i nui.
My guess, it took a little while
before anyone else wanted to date King Maui's daughter.
They say love conquers all,
but how much can we change ourselves to make love work?
Ten percent? Fifty percent?
Until we're no longer human at all?
[upbeat music playing]
♪ These nights I just can't sleep ♪
♪ These walls are paper thin ♪
♪ I just can't take the heat ♪
♪ Something's trying to get in ♪
♪ Hit me, hit me, hit me, hit me ♪
♪ I ain't gonna bend no more ♪
♪ One day I'm bound to break ♪
♪ You stripped me down to my core ♪
♪ That's all that I can take ♪
♪ I've been folding myself, yeah ♪
♪ I really sold myself with no escape ♪
♪ I've been folding myself In little shapes ♪
♪ Trying to please you Trying to appease you ♪
♪ And ended up with 10,000 me ♪
♪ When you met me you said I was ice ♪
♪ You said you were the one to thaw me ♪
♪ Now I'm too broke to pay that price ♪
♪ The secret to love ♪
♪ The secret to love is not origami ♪
♪ I've been so many shapes ♪
♪ Since the day that I was born ♪
♪ From ugly duckling to a swan ♪
♪ And now a unicorn ♪
♪ I've been folding myself ♪
♪ Yeah ♪
♪ I really sold myself with no escape ♪
♪ I've been folding myself In little shapes ♪
♪ Trying to compare Trying to ensnare you ♪
♪ Till finally there was no one there ♪
♪ When you met me you said I was ice ♪
♪ You said you were the one to thaw me ♪
♪ Now I'm too broken to pay that price ♪
♪ The secret to love ♪
♪ The secret to love is not origami ♪
♪ No, no, no ♪
♪ Oh, how I miss the exchange ♪
♪ Of electricity ♪
♪ And now it feels so strange ♪
♪ To expose the real me ♪
♪ Ain't gonna fold myself ♪
♪ Yeah ♪
♪ Just gonna behold myself ♪
♪ Well, I really mean it ♪
♪ I know I sold myself ♪
♪ Ain't gonna fold myself, yeah ♪
♪ The secret to love ♪
♪ The secret to love is not origami ♪
[crowd cheering]
[man] Beautiful.
-[chuckle] I'm sorry? -Your song.
But if you thought I meant you, you were right.
Thanks.
It was very sad, though, your song.
Were you singing about someone in particular?
Is that a roundabout way of asking me if I'm with someone?
Is that a roundabout way of saying you're not with someone?
Maybe.
You've been alone a long time, haven't you.
No, please...
It just makes me curious.
Men must have tried to get close to you.
Why didn't you let them?
Irene says we're ready to go, Mom.
Um... OK, honey.
Um... this is my son, Jack.
Jack, this is...
-Lal. -Lal?
Lal Nereus.
Um... I'll be along in a minute, OK, honey?
No problem.
-So, it was nice to meet you, Lal. -Yes. You too, Jack.
OK, then.
I have to go, but I want to talk to you more.
Tomorrow.
I don't even know you.
You can contact me at my hotel.
The Century Plaza Hotel.
[door opens]
So, study girl, they going to let you out of junior high school?
I cannot believe I have to
stay home from the gigs to do this stupid promotion test.
I totally feel like Cinderella.
Jack, you've got to tell me all the answers, please.
-Not tonight, Fiona. -Why not?
Jack's all wigged out because your mom met a guy.
A guy?
Hey, there was something really creepy about him, OK?
Was he like a stalker? Did he do something weird?
Well, yeah. He talked to her.
He talked to her? You're wigged out because a guy talked to Mom?
Hello, I'm in, like, trouble here!
I forgot my bag on the bus.
I'm doomed.
-[door closes] -Fi... Fi, Fi, Fi, Fi, Fi...
Your scores on these multiple-choice exams have nothing to do with actual knowledge.
It's all in your test-taking strategies.
You've got your balancing the grid, your same-answer runs,
and the most important of all, educated guessing.
Really?
Yeah, these things... uh, they've been passed down
from generation to generation of test-takers everywhere.
Well, who am I to argue with tradition?
Jack!
Hi, Lal. Didn't mean to interrupt you.
[Lal] It was my good fortune.
I came here to leave a message for Molly, and saw this pool of water.
So you decided to swim?
I love the water.
You swim like a fish.
I want your mother to meet me at the aquarium tomorrow,
when the sun is at its zenith.
You mean noon?
Molly is very special, Jack. I want her to be a part of my life.
Yeah... well, that would be up to her.
Of course.
Jack...
when you talk to Molly... give her this.
OK.
You fear what's coming, Jack, but you can't stop it.
It can't be real.
Grandma Valerie says you can tell if a pearl is real by biting it.
[Jack] Biting it?
Well, if it's real, it'll feel really gritty.
-It's real. -Whoa.
-So, what are you going to do? -Well, obviously, I can't keep it.
I'm going to have to give it back to him at the aquarium.
What? You mean you're going to see him again?
I mean...
Mom...
this guy appears out of nowhere, and then he swims in our pool,
and he gives you things...
OK, I know it doesn't sound that bad when I say it out loud, but still.
[Molly] I appreciate the concern. I do.
[laughs] I promise I'll be home by 10:00.
[Lal] Molly!
-Wow. You look great. -Thank you.
I rarely have a reason to dress up.
-You got my gift. -Yes.
Do you like it?
It's exquisite, but I can't possibly accept it.
Please, keep it, Molly, at least until the end of our time together.
Then afterwards, you can give it back, if you still want to.
All right.
So... why the aquarium?
I want to introduce you to my friends.
They're beautiful.
-Are they? -You don't think so?
Sometimes when things become too familiar,
you forget how beautiful they actually are.
But seeing the world through the eyes of another
makes everything new, wonderful again.
Do you spend a lot of time around fish?
Yes. Nearly all of it.
So, what? You're a marine biologist?
Molly, do you see this one?
[Molly] Flatfish, right?
Flat fish. Yes.
His natural color is dark, mottled, as you see it now,
but he has the ability to change the color of his upper body,
so he blends in with his surroundings.
-So he can hide from predators? -Or lay in wait for his own prey.
[Molly] But he's always white underneath, right?
The threat of exposure is always there, Molly,
but he's very careful. He's clever.
You do spend a lot of time around fish.
What?
He saw me.
-[Molly] The octopus? -[Lal] You see the way he moves his head?
That means love.
He feels love?
They're very intelligent, very sensitive.
He wants to touch you.
-You can see that? -I can feel it.
They understand the world by touching.
It's the surest way to know the truth.
What does it tell you about me?
-That you're intelligent, sensitive... -[laughing]
And that you've suffered losses, yet it hasn't stopped you.
Yeah.
Well, being a mom is knowing that you're going to get up every day
and make it work, even if you don't think you can.
But your children will be grown soon and gone. What then?
Wow!
You really don't sugarcoat things, do you?
Studying the ocean teaches you
that there are no guarantees any of us will be here tomorrow.
It teaches you that if you want something... you go after it.
You take it.
You mean, that's what fish do.
What's wrong?
Molly, come with me. I want to show you something.
Molly, do you remember what I said
about seeing the world through the eyes of another?
I want to show you my world.
But, Lal, this is a pool.
Yes. It'll do.
[chuckle]
Wait... wait a minute.
You can't be serious!
What is it, Molly?
Are you afraid to trust a mysterious stranger?
[laughing]
[panting]
It's all right, Molly. You're safe.
What happened?
How do you feel?
I feel... I feel fine.
Actually, I feel incredible.
I can't believe you got me to go swimming with my clothes on.
Molly, when can I see you again?
We're leaving town tomorrow. Tonight's my last show.
Then see me tonight, after the show.
Mom.
Is it, uh, raining out?
The author's intent in paragraph four is--
C!
If two to the power of X plus one is equal to 16,
then the value of X must be--
-D! -Fish is to trout, as--
-E? -Yes, that's my girl!
Record time. Let's tally up the score.
-Fi? -Yeah?
-You're brilliant. -[laughs]
Almost 30% correct.
Carey, that's not a very good score.
Well, Fi, if you're desperate enough to try this technique,
you should be grateful for whatever you get.
And you're telling me you aced this test?
In the sense that it taught me a very valuable life lesson.
[sighs]
Hey, guys.
Hey, Fi, do you think I could take your laptop
-to the club with me tonight? -Sure.
Since I'm going to have to do actual studying.
Thanks.
Hey, wait up. I'll go with you.
Sorry, Fi, I've got to work.
[upbeat music plays]
♪ You'd better get some chalk ♪
♪ And put it on the blackboard ♪
♪ Husband minus wife ♪
♪ Sorry you had to learn so young ♪
♪ There's math in real life ♪
♪ This is the new math ♪
♪ We didn't add up So now we've got to decide ♪
♪ This is the new math ♪
♪ Still I think it's a shame How we multiply and divide ♪
He thinks he's a merman?
[groans] Don't tell me you spent the whole show online?
[Jack] Carey! Carey, where's Mom?
She went down to the pier with that guy she met last night.
[people chattering]
Molly...
I want you with me.
Lal... you know we're leaving tomorrow.
I can't let that happen, Molly. I love you.
I can give you things no woman has ever dreamt of...
Untold beauty...
Treasures you can't even imagine.
All you have to do is come away with me... tonight.
Tonight?
-For how long? -Forever, Molly.
But I can't just leave my children.
Molly, I need you now. I won't let them come between us.
No! You can't ask me that, Lal.
I don't even want you to ask me that!
Molly, you and I, we don't have to be alone anymore.
Hey! Get away from her!
Stay out of this, Jack!
Look, you psycho, I don't know what you think you are,
-but you'd better stay away from-- -Jack, no!
Jack! Jack!
Jack, where are you? Jack! Jack!
Jack?
Jack! Jack!
Jack, honey, are you all right?
He'll be all right, Molly.
Who are you?
I'm sorry, Molly.
Until he fell, and I saw your face, I... didn't understand.
[Jack coughing] Mom...
Jack... Jack, honey. Honey...
Jack!
Mom, are you OK? Where's Lal?
Lal had to go.
Come on, son.
Come on.