In mid-August, Sadie tackles Ichigo’s crucial storm sequence, aware it may be the last feature she can finish before fall. She and Sam quietly know they won’t meet the summer deadline, despite Marx’s attempts to plan for the school year. Sadie’s custom engine fails to achieve the watercolor, watery feel they want; Sam critiques the storm’s lighting and texture, and a frustrated, exhausted Sadie withdraws.

While Sadie naps, Sam researches game engines, recalling his grandfather Dong Hyun’s belief that anything can be understood and fixed by taking it apart. He studies other titles and lands on Dead Sea, whose airy lighting evokes what Ichigo needs. When Sadie wakes, she acknowledges the engine behind Dead Sea—Ulysses—belongs to her former professor, Dov Mizrah. Sam urges contacting Dov and even licensing his engine.

Sadie meets Dov at his studio; he praises Ichigo and grants Ulysses, taking a producer’s credit and equity. At the apartment, Dov’s presence and intimacy with Sadie unsettle Marx, who questions Sam about the ethics of Dov’s prior relationship with her. Dov pressures Sadie to take the semester off, framing it as seizing momentum and empowerment.

Two weeks later, after reworking the project with Ulysses and finishing the storm, Sadie announces she is taking the fall off; Sam immediately commits to do the same. They ask to keep using Marx’s apartment as their workspace, and Sadie says she will stay with Dov. That fall, Marx is the only one to return to school, shelving theater for producing duties.