Episode 02 “ PLAN B” Housing Price Incline SEPTEMBER 11, 2001
THE DAY EVERYTHING CHANGED
As Manhattan burns on 9/11, Colin’s primal fear erupts notfor himself but for his four-year-old daughter trapped on theother side of suddenly impassable bridges. With his hearthammering against his ribs, he forces his way onto a civilianboat crossing the Hudson—his desperation transforming himfrom cautious developer to reckless father The televisionimages of burning towers reflect in her eyes as she whispersinto her useless cell phone, to talk to family. When theyfinally reconnect hours later, something fundamental hasshifted between them—the recognition that in a world whereskyscrapers can fall, nothing is truly secure, not even theirmeticulously renovated brownstone.
This new vulnerability makes Peter Brandini’s betrayal cutdeeper when legal papers arrive demanding a forced sale oftheir home. In their bedroom that night, away from theirdaughter’s ears, Colin and Samantha face their darkest houras a couple. “Everything we’ve built is slipping away,”Samantha confesses, tears finally breaking through hercareful composure.
Colin pulls her close and makes a promisethat will define the next decade: “I’ll find another way—Ialways do.” His audacious plan to buy the decrepit SRO nextdoor strikes Samantha as either brilliant madness ordesperate genius—exactly the quality that both terrifies andexhilarates her about the man she married. As they standhand-in-hand before the dilapidated building that representstheir financial Hail Mary, their breath visible in the coldair, Colin squeezes her fingers. “It’s not the dream house Ipromised you,” he admits, “but it might save the one we’vegot.” Travis Bickle breaks the fourth wall from his own grimySRO apartment, addressing viewers with unsettling intimacy:”You think your mortgage is scary? Try living where theroaches have better tenant rights than you do.
(EST 60 min episode duration)