After partial wages arrive, coworkers learn Mr. Smith sold his assets and postponed his mother's surgery to cover pay, so they vow to chip in for her medical bills. In the office a rival publicly humiliates Smith—mocking his kneel and demanding five million—while others jeer. Meanwhile Lewis panics: his girlfriend's pregnancy needs money and he threatens suicide; he takes cash from home and asks Paul for help. Unbeknownst to many, Smith transfers funds anonymously to Lewis. The episode ends with Paul sneering, "you'll always be beneath me," setting a power confrontation to come.