“The Audacity” recap: Duncan pursues caustic billionaire Carl Bardolph with mixed results

Key Points

• Park relentlessly pursues Bardolph, ultimately bringing the man-child billionaire on board…but not before he stabs Duncan with a fork.

• An unexpected meeting between Martin and Tom Ruffage results in a major breakthrough for the former’s fledgling AI-companion passion project.

• JoAnne and Orson’s strained relationship is made worse when the latter fudges his lab work with dog feces.

The Audacity‘s third episode, titled “Valley of Heart’s Delight,” opens on a typical morning. Well, typical for Silicon Valley’s bizarre tech bubble, anyway. As wildfire smoke fills the sky, Duncan Park (Billy Magnussen) brushes his teeth while talking to Dr. Gary (Paul Adelstein). The therapist has his neuro-psych results: Turns out Park is not, in fact, “on the spectrum.”

Duncan immediately takes offense to the doc’s “normal” diagnosis, as the increasingly insecure CEO is convinced he’s actually quite extraordinary. Frustrated he’s not neurodivergent, he hangs up the phone and spits a mouthful of toothpaste on a spider struggling to climb from the drain.

Desperately needing a win, Park pushes forward with his plan to exploit JoAnne’s (Sarah Goldberg) patient Carl Bardolph (Zach Galifianakis) to put Hypergnosis’ financial future back on track. After stalking the cry-baby billionaire at the close of last week’s episode, he again surveils him at his favorite eatery.

Duncan puts down his binoculars, enters the cafe, and confidently approaches Carl. He begins kissing the former tech bigwig’s butt before pivoting to his pitch. He sits, uninvited, at the table where Bardolph is trying to enjoy his breakfast banana, with a knife and fork, obviously. Duncan continues to run his mouth at the silent, simmering Bardolph, who reacts by forcefully stabbing Park in the palm with his fork. As Duncan flees in horror – and a flurry of f-bombs – Carl continues calmly eating his banana, presumably now with a blood-stained utensil.

Bardolph then races to JoAnne’s house to share what just went down. He confesses to stabbing the “discount CEO,” but paints himself the victim. She politely asks him to save it for their next session, as JoAnne’s dealing with her own disaster-of-the-day. She’s on an urgent call with her ex-husband – the one who failed to send Orson’s (Everett Blunck) school transcripts. He informs her their son isn’t in school, but she insists he is, as she can see his precise location on her phone.

She rushes to the academy, only to find Orson casually surfing the web in the secret room he’s been hiding in since the first day of school. The headmaster soon gets involved and surmises the sneaky teen still isn’t enrolled. Frustrated that the school was unaware of her son’s deception, JoAnne gets angry at Orson, whose escalating anxiety triggers his ongoing digestive issues.

Back at Hypergnosis, Duncan’s demanding his minion Lucky tend to his punctured palm. But they’re interrupted by Park’s new Veterans Affairs partners, Tom Ruffage (Rob Corddry) and Jeffery (Andrew Bushell.) They happily inform him their boss, the Secretary of Veterans Affairs, is flying in for a visit. The beleaguered CEO blows them off, until he learns the unexpected drop-in will lead to him securing his contract money quicker. Park immediately changes his tune and begins planning an obscenely patriotic barbeque to welcome the VA secretary.

Duncan returns home to continue treating his injury…and to frantically update JoAnne on his toxic encounter with Carl. He complains of her patient’s violent episode, to which she responds by suggesting he let it go and maybe take up pickleball. And once again, she has no time for her  needy patients’ self-absorbed shenanigans, as she’s currently trying to get Orson to provide a poop sample for his upcoming gastrointestinal test. But Duncan’s not giving up. In fact, the spider he attempted to drown earlier not only survived, but has inspired him with its eight-legged persistence.

Park heads back to Carl’s haunt, but doesn’t even make it through the door this time. Three of Bardolph’s bodyguards tackle him to the ground, sending the bloody, tearful Duncan back to his Hummer. Hoping for a win at his big barbeque – complete with a hog rotating on a spit – Park arrives at Hypergnosis outfitted in a tacky cowboy hat and denim shirt.

Unfortunately, the pesky wildfires have other plans for his VA secretary-schmoozing shindig. Tom and Jeffery’s boss’ flight is delayed, forcing her to pick between attending one of two events she has scheduled. She does not pick Duncan’s party, putting all his red, white, and blue decorations to waste.

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While Duncan drowns his sorrows in a glass, Tom starts feeling anxious, as the smoke – and smell of cooked pig – triggers memories of his military past. Meanwhile, Anushka (Meaghan Rath) has arrived with her husband Martin (Simon Helberg), who of course brought his AI child Xander along. Martin stumbles upon Tom in the midst of his breakdown, and introduces the vet to his tablet-based teenager.

Tom initially takes offense, but is soon sobbing and spilling his guts to the digital companion. After giving the feeling-sorry-for-himself Duncan a pep talk, Anushka tracks down Martin. When she approaches her husband, and witnesses Tom connecting with Xander, she can’t believe her eyes.

When the couple arrives home, Anushka grabs a bottle of wine and wants to celebrate Martin’s success. More specifically, she now recognizes his tech’s potential and wants in on the deal. But he brushes off his wife, reminding her how she previously mocked his passion project before seeing its game-changing potential.

Duncan’s not having a much better time since returning from the cancelled party. Lili’s (Lucy Punch) infuriated over his indifferent response to news of their first home burning in the wildfires. But he’s way more upset that housekeeper Thelma has just crushed his new arachnid pal with one of her slippers.

Returning to Orson and his tummy troubles, JoAnne and her son arrive at the hospital – stool sample in hand – so he can undergo diagnostic testing. While the boy preps for his procedure, his mom runs all over the hospital to find a lab tech willing to accept her son’s excrement during their strictly-enforced lunch hour.

Later that day, the estranged pair enjoy a rare bonding moment. JoAnne’s making Orson his favorite ramen, something his father would apparently never do. As the two make progress mending their relationship, JoAnne gets another call. Surprisingly, it’s not Duncan, but the hospital, informing her that the provided stool sample wasn’t from a human. Any emotional ground the mother and son may have recovered is immediately lost when it’s revealed Orson obtained the poop from their dog Zeus.

Making matters worse, JoAnne receives another call from Duncan. He’s furious over his two failed attempts to woo Carl, and wonders why she chose him as a potential mark in the first place. At the end of her rope following Orson’s dog defecation ruse, she unloads both barrels on Park. She admits to setting him up with Carl knowing the volatile billionaire wouldn’t suffer Duncan’s foolish shenanigans. JoAnne then doubles down, telling Park he’s not the genius he believes he is, and that all his success is due to his late partner, Hamish.

She hammers a final nail in the coffin, telling Duncan she’ll happily take him down with her if he decides to bring her insider trading secrets to the press. Following the explosive call, Park picks his phone back up and stares at a picture he’d taken earlier of his late house pest.

Again inspired by the insect, Duncan decides to take another shot at Carl. He enters the diner, which is empty – save for an annoyed Carl – due to the wildfires. Park confidently approaches Bardolph, but initially stays out of stabbing distance. He notes the musician playing on the radio, Linus Po, a recently deceased folk singer who’s quite popular among Silicon Valley’s elite.

Duncan tells Carl a story of how he tried to hire the musician to play at his wedding. The proud, principled artist refused…until Park brought him around with a fat payday. While he reluctantly played, he ended his set by flipping off Duncan and his rich friends. But Park believes he emerged from the encounter victorious because he got Po to sellout, proving anyone can be bought for the right price.

By the time Duncan finishes his story, he’s sitting close to Carl, who’s expressionless but slowly nodding. We’re not treated to his final response, but instead a shot of Duncan exiting the diner. He clenches his fists, shakes them at the sky, and repeatedly yells “Yes!”

Back behind the wheel of his Hummer, Duncan composes himself and celebrates properly. He cues up his phone’s AI music app, and says, “Make me a song of triumph, in the style of Linus Po…and put my name in it.”

As he drives beneath the beautiful, smoke-filled Silicon Valley sky, the ridiculous tune plays us into the credits: “Duncan walks forward, the rise of a king…”

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