Original subtitles

VIRGINIA: Previously on Masters of Sex...

It's the key to your new office at Buell Green.

They fully endorsed the study

and my bringing you aboard.

CYRIL: After the dust-up yesterday,

I thought it would be best if we kept our patients

away from each other.

My God.

GENE: So, uh, you guys are friends from, uh?

Acquaintances, really. Oh, we go way back.

I really think Al would love Helen.

Unless, of course, you have a special someone?

No, I was recently jilted.

LILLIAN: I'm never going back to that hospital.

It would be irresponsible to stay on.

I am scared, though, for what's ahead.

He is a rough customer, Robert.

And he does have a temper.

But when it's late...

And it's just the two of us...

Alone in our bed, well...

I'm sure you can understand how hard that is to leave.

Why did he break your nose?

I don't remember.

And there was no one there to stop it?

Oh, I... I could have stopped it.

I took it.

Like a man.

MAN: You a fight fan?

VIRGINIA: Not really.

Then what brings you here?

I want to see how it ends.

(THEME MUSIC PLAYING)

(SIGHS)

(BOTH PANTING)

I could kiss you now.

We don't kiss.

No. Don't move.

(GROANS) I want to.

No.

(SIGHS)

Don't move.

(SIGHS)

MAN: Don't move.

(SWITCH CLICKS)

MAN: You're moving.

I have a sunburn.

Radiation burn from last time.

Mmm-hmm.

And it itches, which is why I moved.

I'm sorry. What?

Sunburn. Ah. Yes.

Common side effect.

We can prescribe a topical cream.

And nausea.

And fatigue.

I do have reduced cognitive function.

Losing words and weight.

And hair.

Don't move.

Thank you for your concern.

Your lack of interest is rather liberating, actually.

I could likely say anything to you and you wouldn't blink.

I was raised by vampires.

I drive getaway cars in my spare time.

I once had intercourse with a corpse.

Then look again, please.

It's much better for me to take her in the mornings.

Well, then, perhaps you can find someone else

to bring her.

I mean that it's much better for her.

By the afternoon, she's very tired,

so perhaps you have a patient

who prefers taking an afternoon slot.

You aren't proposing

I ask someone to move their appointment

in order to accommodate your friend, are you?

Virginia, let's just go.

What you may be unaware of, Priscilla,

is the fact that my friend is also a doctor.

I can come in the afternoons.

And I would like to think that you would be glad

to extend to Dr DePaul...

MARIEL: Virginia.

...the same professional courtesy that... It's me. Mariel.

Oh, you don't recognise me because...

Ta-da... I'm down two sizes.

Look... Loosey-goosey.

Don't you look wonderful.

Virginia introduced me to the most wonderful diet programme.

And Priscilla here was having trouble

finding us a morning appointment.

Virginia, take the afternoon slot. Sign us out of here.

Yes, since I told you mornings next week

are completely booked.

Completely? (CHUCKLES)

This is why we call you "Priscilla the Hun."

We do. It's not even a secret.

Uh, I'll see if Mrs Marmo

is willing to switch her 10:00 a. m. On Wednesday.

Does that work for you, Virginia?

That would be wonderful.

Thank you so much.

You just can't take no for an answer, can you?

As you can see, we screen very thoroughly.

We do an intake with you first, of course.

It's impressive.

Guess what I'm wondering...

Um, my question is...

You can ask me anything.

Well, sometimes, in the bedroom, I mean, with Roger...

That's my husband...

I wonder if different ways of being intimate would produce...

Different results?

Well, first of all, we would be happy

to have both you and your husband as participants

in the study together,

and I could see to it

that you could experiment

with different sexual positions,

which is, I think, what you're trying to say.

I wish I could do this.

You can. It's completely anonymous.

Your husband...

It's not my husband. It's Dr Hendricks.

I'm sorry?

Dr Hendricks has forbidden staff

from participating in the study.

I mean forbidden.

So, as much as I'd like to,

(SIGHS)

can't lose my job.

VIRGINIA: You should have levelled with us.

Instead of ripping down our fliers in the dead of night.

I removed them in broad daylight.

You promised me

our study had your full backing and support.

I did allow your study to come to this hospital,

but I assumed you'd bring your own subjects.

White subjects. White subjects only!

Wait here.

Why is your staff not allowed to participate?

Bad idea. According to whom?

Charles, if your intention

is to move history forward, as you put it to me,

you better come up with a better reason than that,

otherwise you are a man spouting revolution

while in reality, you're just toeing the party line.

No doubt there's a gurney waiting for you somewhere.

Find it.

You're not familiar

with the history of medical research

in the Negro community.

Why, if you mean...

I mean, Negroes forced to undergo

risky experimental surgeries,

dosed with radiation,

cut open to find brain abnormalities

which could explain their propensity to violence.

I have heard...

You've heard that Negroes have been thought to require

near lethal doses of X-rays to

penetrate their skin.

And now we have you and Miss Johnson,

two white researchers,

who wish to watch through glass as Negroes copulate.

In our study, subjects understand

the parameters of their participation.

They know exactly what is expected of him or her and why.

But the impression, Bill.

The associations the good people of this community

have with their hospital...

Your staff already wants to sign up.

Several of them would participate today

if you weren't forbidding it.

Most of my staff has never seen a lynching.

I have. Have you?

No. Did you know most of the times

they castrate a man before they string him up?

Why do you think that is?

Fear, I suppose,

based on erroneous stereotypes,

stereotypes a study like ours could begin to dispel.

Bill, trust me when I tell you

you have stepped into something you do not understand.

Already it's creating more of a headache for me than I need.

Just this morning,

a journalist from a local Negro paper was in my office

wanting to verify the shocking rumour

that Buell Green was embarking

on a ground-breaking, top-secret study

exploring Negro sexuality.

But is that not moving history forward,

the very thing you implored me to do?

We'll move history forward.

Mark my words.

We just won't do it by burning my hospital to the ground.

Now, if you don't mind, I came in here to take a leak.

Unless you'd like to watch.

Uh, let's, uh, start with shrimp cocktail

and then steak and lobster for the main part.

Uh, and then how about hot fudge sundaes for dessert?

You can do hot fudge?

Anything is possible, madam.

All right. Banana splits.

Mmm-hmm.

The more you care, the more you spend, right?

(CHUCKLES)

Ooh, what about an ice sculpture?

We could do a swan. I don't want a swan.

That's the most words you've said in a row all day.

Betty, I... I'm watching you,

and it's like you're killing yourself over all this stuff.

Yeah, well, your pretzels

are going into every food fair in the country.

I mean, Gene, honey, it's not every day a man is syncopated.

Syndicated. Yeah, syndicated.

And I want you to know I appreciate all this.

It's very sweet of you. It is.

(SIGHS)

But?

(SIGHS)

I've been thinking.

And?

And the idea

that we're not gonna be able to have kids of our own,

it's been really tough.

I admit that.

So I've been trying to get used to the idea of adopting, and...

I just... I can't.

I wanted our kids to be you... Part you, anyway.

And when I realise

how much I want to see you in those little faces...

(SIGHS)

It always led me back to you.

(CHUCKLES)

I'm sorry, that...

That had too many "yous" in it.

Hey. It's... It's okay.

You're enough. That's what I'm trying to say.

It's not like you don't frustrate the hell out of me,

'cause half the time, I want to wring your neck.

(CHUCKLES)

But as long as I'm yours and you're mine...

That's enough for me.

Uh, dinner is in 15 minutes.

You were saying something about Hendricks?

About his, uh, not wanting Negroes in the study?

Hendricks doesn't.

But he's wrong.

And he knows he's wrong.

Why would he say it, then?

He's scared.

'Cause it's dangerous for him.

Because all taboos feel dangerous until they're broken.

Apparently there's a Negro journalist

who is interested in the study being at Buell Green.

We're trying to find this journalist.

Once we can convince him of the value of the work

and he writes as much,

then what choice does Hendricks have

but to bless Negro participation in the study?

What are you doing?

Oh, I'm just... (CHUCKLES) I don't know.

I...

Every night, I wonder if they put on this show just for me.

Every night, you watch them?

No, not every night.

But the situation does... It does concern me.

You're staring at them like some peeping Tom.

I'm not a... And what about you,

standing here proposing to do the exact same thing,

stare at Negroes?

At a hospital in a study.

Oh, and because it's for science, it's not the same thing?

I don't feel safe.

They haven't done anything.

Libby, either you change the situation or I will,

because this...

This needs to stop.

(INDISTINCT CONVERSATIONS)

(TELEPHONE RINGS)

Excuse me, ma'am.

Dr Franklin's patients sit on that side of the waiting room.

I'm here to see Dr Masters.

I'm Virginia Johnson.

I'm Dr Masters' research assistant.

Are you here as a patient or for the study?

I'm Morgan Hogue from the St. Louis chronicle.

I understand you've been looking for me.

Yeah... Yes. We have.

Please come with me.

(MOANING)

(COUGHS)

Oh ! Oh, my God !

(SIGHS HEAVILY)

Oh, my God.

I missed you.

I knew you couldn't stay away forever.

The flesh is weak.

The course of true love never did run smooth.

All of the above.

You're staying.

I mean, are you staying?

I...am...

I can stay a little longer.

I got to go back to work anyway.

Knock it off. Mrs Mendel is coming.

Mrs Mendel's not dead yet?

Probably wishes she were.

Harry stepping out on her. I'm sure that...

Something with white roses that keeps coming up.

Poor Mrs Mendel.

She loves her husband.

He loves someone else.

Hey.

Why don't we, uh...

Why don't we get you an apartment?

Move you out of here.

You know, two rooms,

maybe a balcony overlooking the river.

Would you like that?

There's no reason that the two of us can't see each other all the time.

You know, a lot of the time.

You could hang up this nonsense with Al,

and we could just be together.

So you stay married, and I'm your what?

Your mistress?

(SCOFFS) That's a silly thing to say.

That's not what you're proposing?

Men have mistresses.

This is a new start. For us.

We... We have money for the first time ever.

No, you and Gene have money.

The three of us have money, and money means options.

Yeah, with me as your piece on the side.

(SIGHS) Honey...

You and me, we were never gonna have the white picket fence ever.

So... If an unconventional life

was always in the cards,

then this unconventional life, it's a pretty good one.

Mrs Mendel will be here any minute.

You should get dressed.

Jim Crow would certainly feel at home in your waiting room.

Believe it or not, it was actually the Negro doctor

that insisted upon keeping our patients separated.

And now Hendricks won't allow

his own staff in the study?

I'm glad you tracked me down.

Well, Hendricks wants to maintain

the mantle of respectability here at Buell Green.

Yet we believe the Negro community here

could actually benefit from our study.

Your study might also help dispel

some of those stereotypes about Negro sexuality.

Our point to Hendricks exactly.

So are you saying this is the reason you came to Buell Green?

We should have included Negroes in the study from the beginning.

But now that we have,

we are committed to this line of inquiry.

My only caution to you

would be to remember

we're not here to forward anyone's agenda.

The mandate of our study

is to only go where the research leads.

Meaning it isn't your job

to eradicate the image of, say, the Mandingo.

A Negro that acts like an animal, obsessed with sex.

Or the jezebel, the female equivalent.

VIRGINIA: I'm sorry.

The portrayal of black women as oversexed and immoral

to the point where a black woman can't be raped

because she wants sex all the time.

Well... Certain facts can be measured.

Penis size, performance, frequency.

As Mrs Johnson says, we will publish what we find

and let the facts speak for themselves.

It's about time they did.

(SWITCH CLICKS)

What's going to happen to me?

I'm sorry?

I want you to tell me what's going to happen to me.

You should talk to your general physician.

I'm asking you.

You seem to not think of me as a person,

so I trust you to tell me straight,

not to sugar coat it.

The radiation may slow the cancer,

but it's unlikely to stop it.

Your aphasia will worsen.

It'll be harder to express your thoughts, to think clearly.

You'll start to sleep for longer and longer periods,

and you will suffer loss of bladder and bowel control.

Your family can hire a laundry service.

What about pain?

It varies.

You can talk to your doctor about morphine, but it's...

Not readily given.

No.

You'll slip into unconsciousness.

By the end, you won't know what's happening.

But I'm sure that your loved ones will do everything they can

to see that you're comfortable.

Lillian, wait.

Lillian !

Lilli...

Lillian.

I'm done, Virginia, with treatment.

(SIGHS) Don't be ridiculous.

Ridiculous is lying on that table,

radiating my brain

in the hopes of having a few more days to lie on that table

and have more radiation.

I understand why you would feel that way,

but you can't just give up.

Why not?

Why isn't that the very best thing I could possibly do?

Stop hoping, accept what is?

Because you never know what could happen.

What did the doctor say? Surely there must be a protocol.

Virginia. There could be a new trial a month from now.

A new course of treatment. Virginia!

Even if the odds are 100 to 1, you could be that one.

We are not days away from curing metastatic cancer.

I don't want to spend what time I have left

fighting a battle that I certainly will lose.

And mostly... (SIGHS)

I don't want to fight with you.

You don't want to fight at all, clearly.

You don't even... You don't even want to fight for your life.

I'm sorry. I... I don't know how to not fight.

I'm sorry, too.

Lillian.

What are you doing?

I'm going to take, um, uh...

God damn it.

A taxi.

Let me at least drive you home, Lillian.

Please, for my sake.

Virginia, I can't do this for you.

I tried. But I'm done.

(CAR DOOR CLOSES)

(LAUGHING)

You know what we should do this weekend

is take a trip up north.

I have a little cabin up there.

Yeah, smack in the middle of the St. Francois mountains.

Fresh air, great fishing,

and it's spontaneous, and I love spontaneous.

Mmm, yeah, like the both of you, shooting from the hip,

showing up here tonight completely unannounced.

And we're glad you did, of course.

We were going to dinner, anyway. Right?

The more the merrier, now that we're four.

I'm always telling Al he needs to be more spontaneous.

Hel, are you serious about this?

Only one way to find out.

Wait, wait. What's this now?

Uh... Well, Helen wants us to elope.

(LAUGHING)

Wait a minute. Helen proposed to you?

It's crazy, isn't it?

I mean, I've never heard of a woman doing that.

It's so romantic.

We'll do Gene's party tomorrow.

We'll get married the next day.

Gene and Betty can be our witnesses.

This is all happening so fast!

I just want to make sure that...

I mean, are you pulling my leg?

Listen to me, kid. I'm givin' it to you straight.

Clark Gable? No!

God, I can never guess it!

One rocco more or less...

For Christ's sake, Al, it's Humphrey fucking Bogart.

(LAUGHING)

Okay, well, who cares who it is?

If you want to get hitched to me,

I want to get hitched to you.

Come here, baby.

Hey!

Hey, you want to do that, you get a room.

You do not do that in this house.

That is just fucking rude!

Whoa. Betty!

Uh...

I, uh, I'm just tired. You three go to dinner.

My head is splitting. I got to rest.

(SIGHS)

I promised I wouldn't tell anybody, but now...

All bets are off.

She's being so pig-headed.

Or realistic.

She's given up.

And I... (SIGHS) I didn't see it coming.

You said she'd been sick for years.

No.

I didn't see her coming.

I'm always so...careful, you know?

With people.

Always keep that wall up.

Lillian snuck in.

But how is it even possible?

She's so... Rigid and demanding.

She's a complete know-it-all.

She... She's not even very much fun.

If we're going to be honest.

You didn't see it coming because she's a woman.

(SCOFFS)

Sometimes I would look across our office and think,

"Mmm, my God.

"She is so...ferocious."

(CHUCKLES)

But she's alone.

(SOBBING) And she's my friend.

(SNIFFLES)

And I don't have a lot of those.

(SNIFFLES)

And somehow Lillian snuck around the wall.

And now she won't even listen to me.

Lillian, who...

She... She knows me.

(SNIFFLES)

(SIGHS)

I know you.

(CAR DOOR CLOSES)

LIBBY: It was a friend high up in the police department.

I simply asked him to check

because I was concerned about your safety.

It wasn't Robert's fault.

So you know that he has a record.

He's been arrested three times! How can that not concern you?

You don't understand.

He was walking down the street.

They picked him up outside a bar.

One arrest was for assaulting a police officer.

They assaulted him first.

Coral ! Listen to yourself!

I feel like Robert's intoxicated you

to the point where you can't see straight.

Why are you doing this?

Because I am uncomfortable.

I'm very uncomfortable with him

and whatever it is that's going on between you two.

I can't have me or baby John

around someone with a criminal record.

And I can see that I can't persuade you

to stop seeing him, so...

Given that I don't feel comfortable,

that I need to keep my family safe,

I can't have him coming to the house.

I'm sorry, but from now on,

you're gonna have to find someone else to drive you.

You'll have to make other arrangements.

Yes, ma'am.

I know you think you have something with Robert,

but ask yourself,

"Is it really worth it?"

All this tumult for that one thing?

I'll make a call.

My auntie can pick me up tonight.

Okay.

(SIGHS)

I got the funnies, if that's what you're looking for.

Alka-Seltzer, more like.

You must have polished off an entire bottle

last night after we left.

Al and I were laughing about when we were kids.

We would double date. I'd always drive.

I would leave Al in the back seat with his date to have at it

while whatever girl was stuck with me

would be sitting in the front seat with her hands in her lap,

wondering why I suddenly went paralysed.

Al's an oaf. Oh, really?

'Cause from where I'm standing,

it seems like maybe you like Al a lot.

Maybe you got a thing for Al.

Oh, my God.

What? Don't play dumb with me.

You yelled like a house on fire when Al kissed Helen.

Their pawing each other was a vulgar display.

Or maybe you want to be in that back seat with Al,

have him kissing on you instead of Helen.

Maybe I'm just not man enough for you.

Oh, you can't be serious.

You... You are worth a dozen Als... Two dozen Als.

We promised each other no more lies,

so if I am disappointing you,

you know, between the sheets, just...

Oh, for God's sakes. You want the truth?

I was genuinely sickened by that Al-and-Helen freak show.

What are you talking about? They're getting married.

They are somewhere between the bearded lady and the monkey man.

I have been putting up with Al because of you,

because you are friends with him,

but (SCOFFS) last night, that... That was too much.

I cannot stand Al,

and I don't want to see them ever again.

Even Helen? (SIGHS)

Helen especially.

Whew.

If I could check just a few facts with you.

I'm wondering if part of the reason

you were drawn to medicine in the first place

was due to the fact that you were sickly as a child.

I'm sorry?

You suffered two serious bouts

with a fairly rare blood infection. Septicaemia.

Which landed you in the hospital

for a three-month stay when you were eight,

four-and-a-half months at 10.

That must have left a strong impression

on a young boy.

I went into, uh, medicine

because I was focused.

I knew what I wanted to do.

But you had a wide variety of interests

at Hamilton College.

You were a boxer. You learned to fly a plane.

I had a pilot's licence. So?

So why not be a pilot?

Uh...

As an obstetrician, you get to bring life into the world.

So, the sickly child became Prometheus,

creating man from clay.

If you're trying to imply

I have some sort of god complex...

The point is your story is one our readers can understand.

You started under adverse circumstances,

you focused on work that served the greater good,

and now you're here at Buell Green,

having come from Memorial Hospital,

where your tenure was very short.

A month, in fact.

Technically, yes.

Is it true you assaulted a physician at Memorial?

You... You talked to Doug Greathouse?

Doug Greathouse is irrelevant to this story.

There was also an incident

where you put a fire extinguisher

through a window at Maternity Hospital.

This apparently led to your dismissal.

That is incorrect.

You weren't dismissed?

The chancellor and I did not see eye-to-eye.

Miss Hogue, the story we agreed

is about the positive effect of our study

on the Negro community here at Buell Green.

And it is.

We also agreed the facts would speak for themselves.

And from what I can gather,

you've had a very successful career.

But now with your sex study,

you've met with resistance.

And so you've countered with resistance.

You've had to.

Which makes you a revolutionary of sorts,

estranged from the white community.

I'm not estranged from the white community.

Like many in our community,

forced to resort to violent tactics.

Well, according to Greathouse and his band of idiots.

Jesus, don't... Don't write that.

Look, these... These incidents taken out of context

will be misunderstood,

and I do not want them used in the piece.

You don't get to say what's included in the piece.

It's my study.

And it's my story.

So you won't be our witnesses now?

No. No, I don't think so.

And... And I also have to talk to you about...

About the party tonight.

What the hell?

I know. Al, I'm sorry.

I was gonna make up some story,

like the kitchen caught on fire

or the caterer got run over by a bus,

but we got a history, so I'm...

I'm gonna give it to you straight.

Betty doesn't like Helen.

But they're thick as thieves.

Maybe they once were, but something's gone sour there, and...

And Betty is done with Helen.

That is just insane.

I mean, those two... They're so close.

The way they kiss each other right on the lips,

and now they hate each other?

I don't... Wait, wait, wait, wait.

What are you talking about? On the... On the lips?

Yeah.

At Kemoll's. That night we all had dinner.

I went out to see if Helen

wanted me to order crème de menthe

when she left the table because Betty was so upset.

Yeah.

I see them come out of the ladies' room,

and suddenly they're in this lip lock,

like...Cary Grant and Grace Kelly

in To Catch a Thief.

I mean, I had aunts that used to lip-kiss,

but they were guineas.

Had moustaches. And that was like pecking.

But Helen and Betty...

Wait. Wait.

Al, wait a minute.

I mean, come on.

As I live and breathe.

(DOORBELL RINGING)

Are you going to let me in?

I don't open my door to salesmen.

I'm not selling anything.

Are you sure? Aren't you always?

You peddle diet pills in a cancer ward.

(CHUCKLES)

That was not my finest moment, I'll admit.

Please let me in anyway.

I thought if you had a shopping list,

I could pick up some groceries for you.

I'm all set.

Any errands that need running?

I could, uh...

I could take those letters to the post office, if you'd like.

This one's for my family.

I was going to send it special delivery.

Can you give it to them in person?

In person?

They're instructions.

There's a family plot in Weymouth.

The DePauls there go back to the 1800s.

My parents will want me buried in this plot.

They will insist on it.

But I want my body to go to science.

All those brave souls

whose bodies taught me how to be a doctor.

Maybe some medical student

will discover a cure for ovarian cancer by using mine.

There'd be a nice symmetry to that, don't you think?

By taking this, you're promising me you'll see to it,

that my wishes are carried out.

Will you take it?

CORAL: There you go.

Good night, Mrs Masters.

Oh. Um, Good night, Coral.

My auntie is waiting for me.

(DOG BARKING IN DISTANCE)

(BIRDS CHIRPING)

(SIGHS)

No doubt Miss Hogue told you

I would prefer she not go ahead with this story.

She did.

But I read the rough draft of her piece,

and she presents the conflict you have

as part of a larger and righteous battle.

I won't lie. Makes for good copy.

No doubt it does.

But to be honest, I'm not worried about myself.

I'm more concerned about the scientific findings.

How so?

I initially told Miss Hogue

I would let the facts speak for themselves.

We go wherever the data leads.

But the initial results have given me pause.

Miss Hogue said you were just beginning

to bring Negroes into the study.

We've had plenty of, uh, Negro participants

since arriving at Buell Green,

and while Negro sexuality

wasn't our focus at Maternity,

we had enough subjects to warrant a control group.

But now, by refocusing this data

specifically on Negro performance, physiology,

we found significant differences

between white and Negro subjects.

Such as? Penis size, for one.

Sexual appetite.

Elevated testosterone levels.

I don't think this is a story you want to publish.

I think you're lying.

Mr Wilson, my methods are beyond reproach.

You don't want a story published

that paints you as an ostracised and unstable figure,

so instead, you threaten me.

No one's threatening...

You hold before me the spectre of a story that claims it's true.

The Negro is an animal. The Negro wants your women.

I'm not an errand boy, Dr Masters,

here to do your bidding.

I'm an editor, and I will publish that article.

Even though men have been lynched and castrated

for the mere perception of sexual aggression,

never mind the scientific confirmation of it.

Did you think that you could bully me into this

and I'd just shuffle away and say, "Yes, sir.

"Yes, Dr Masters.

"I'm sure scared of what your study might do"?

(SCOFFS) What kind of a man are you?

Well, I'm not the kind of man

who would savage someone's reputation, his livelihood,

his life's work because it makes good copy.

Why don't you go look in the mirror

next time you ask that question?

Okay, Dr Masters,

I'mma go look in the mirror, just like you say.

You publish this story,

and I promise you, I will publish my findings.

Fraudulent findings.

I will prove you a fraud.

You want to take that risk?

My study may have been shown the door,

but I've got an office full of accolades.

I've got 25 years of a sterling reputation.

You know, I've delivered the children

of every prominent politician, lawmaker,

and newspaper man in this city.

So why don't you go ahead and try me?

Let's see who the public listens to...

Me or you.

(ELEVATOR BELL DINGS)

You ready for cheese puffs and champagne?

(CHUCKLES)

Hey, how do you get, uh, this, uh... What do you call it?

That's a cummerbund.

Yeah. How do you get this cummerbund off?

Betty, come on. Hey, what?

A girl can't take her husband upstairs

for a quickie before the guests arrive?

Betty.

What is that? Is that your attempt to... To reassure me?

Because I'm reassured now.

About Al, about all these other men that you've been with.

I know...

I know that they didn't mean anything to you.

I know you didn't love them.

No, no, I never did love any of them.

Because you loved Helen.

(SIGHS)

Who are you, Betty?

Huh? Come on.

Just tell me.

I mean, we've been round and round with this.

Come on. I think you owe me the truth.

Please, just for once, tell me, who are you, really?

I'm... I'm ju... I'm just...

I'm just a woman who...

Yes, loved Helen, but that doesn't matter.

Oh, it matters to me. No, Gene.

You're the one I married.

You're the one I'm gonna stay married to.

It's just you and me,

hand-in-hand, despite everything.

Everything... Oh, and it has been everything.

Every lie imaginable, Betty. Come on.

About your past, about you having kids.

And I've have made peace with...

I have made peace with all of it,

because I found something that was important to me.

I found someone that I loved.

And now you're telling me that your heart belongs to Helen,

and that doesn't matter, that I should be happy

about these fucking compromises and half-truths

that are gonna carry us into old age,

this fucking avalanche that is our marriage!

I care about you !

Care... Care is what you have for a stray dog

that you find in the road.

Love is what you have for someone that you share your bed with.

Gene, there are... Stop it!

I cannot hear this any more.

You want to sell yourself.

You're the... You're the pro here. Go ahead.

But I will... I cannot sell myself this cheap.

(DOORBELL RINGS)

(INSTRUMENTAL MUSIC PLAYS ON RADIO)

I learned to box step to this song.

At cotillion.

(BOTH LAUGHING)

I was 13.

Eight inches taller than the tallest boy.

Oh.

They called me Giraffe.

Not just tall.

Spotted.

(BOTH CHUCKLING)

Well, a few of the boys

must have caught up to you eventually.

A little piece of you

is always the girl you were at 13.

Did you ever fall in love with a boy?

I think so.

(CHUCKLES) No one's ever been in love with me, though.

Not that I've known of, anyway.

I've had relations a few times.

No one's ever stayed.

You know, lingered.

And that's what I've missed out on,

that kind of closeness.

You have that with Bill.

With Bill?

(SCOFFS)

With Bill.

He loves you.

He never says it.

But you know it.

That's everything, isn't it?

This is how I get my kids to drift off.

I trace words on their foreheads.

"Sleep tight."

"Eat your broccoli."

(BOTH CHUCKLE)

With me, you could always play connect the dots.

No.

More like stars.

I see the constellations in these freckles.

The Big Dipper.

Ursa Major. (CHUCKLES)

Oh, and there's Lilantha

with her crown and her chariot.

Lilantha... There's no Lilantha.

Oh, you don't know that myth? No.

The warrior princess?

Strong? And brave?

And so tall and beautiful

that she struck some men dumb.

Some men very dumb.

(CHUCKLES)

But she knew who she was.

And that is why she burns so brightly.

You can always spot her in the sky.

I'll see you in the morning.

Okay. In the morning.

(TRAIN WHISTLE BLOWS IN DISTANCE)

(INDISTINCT CONVERSATIONS)

ROBERT: After you.

(CAR DOOR CLOSES)

(THUMPING) Oh !

CORAL: That was good. It was fun.

ROBERT: Yeah, it was nice, huh?

(DOOR CREAKS)

What are you doing?

Do you know it's a federal offence

to tamper with someone's mail?

I'm not tampering. I'm looking for Coral.

I didn't see her name on any of the apartments.

What do you want with Coral?

Is that another threat?

Just because you're her boyfriend

doesn't mean that you get to...

Whoa. Boyfriend? Who told you that?

Coral told me.

I'm her brother.

You... You have different last names.

We have different fathers.

But she... She said that you...

About your relationship... About what...

Your leg is bleeding.

What did you scrape it on?

May I?

Ow.

I don't know what Coral told you,

but whatever it was, it wasn't true.

I'm fine. You can stop.

I said stop.

Give this to Coral. Please.

This is her severance. Take it.

Just please take it.

You know what? You can tell her that she is fired.

(SOBBING)

(SIGHS)

(TREMBLING)

(BREATHING HEAVILY)

Lillian?

It's me. I forgot to take the letter.

(BREATHING RAGGEDLY)

Lillian? (ENVELOPE CLATTERS)

Lillian?

Lillian. Lillian !

(RINGING)

WOMAN: Operator.

Yes, hello, I need an ambulance.

My friend, she's taken sleeping pills... An overdose.

Okay, ma'am. I need the address.

The address...

(SIGHS)

WOMAN: Ma'am?

Hello? Ma'am?

(LILLIAN BREATHING RAGGEDLY)

(INHALES SHARPLY)

(BREATHING HEAVILY)

I have, uh, never misrepresented my work.

Ever.

Even as a tactic.

Yes, so I heard.

There's nothing more dangerous than a desperate man.

I can't, uh, continue like this.

Took me 16 years at Good Samaritan

before I left to build something of my own...

This hospital...

Before I finally turned my attention

fully and without compromise to the work I was meant to do.

I can't work, uh, in a hospital any more.

I can't be beholden to others' rules.

God knows who would have me even if I could...

So cut the cord.

(EXHALES SHARPLY) 25 years of a career.

My entire life.

No more delivering babies, surgical privileges gone.

It feels like dying, and it is.

So let's see if you have the guts to be reborn.

I want your office cleared out by morning.

(DOORBELL RINGS)

(SIGHS)

I'm sorry. I must have, uh...

You're looking for Virginia?

Shelley Decklin.

Who are you?

Yeah, I thought you might be her,

that she lost her key or something.

Who are you? (CHUCKLES)

I just said.

Who are you, uh, to Virginia?

Her... Her beau.

I... I guess that's who I am.

We were supposed to meet here tonight,

but so far she is a no show.

No call, nothing.

And you have a key.

So, uh, you been dating awhile?

A couple months.

Met in the lobby at the Park Plaza.

Caught the last round of the Moore-Durelle fight.

Ah, yes. I r... I remember that night.

Anyway, uh, I was, uh, just passing.

(STAMMERS) I'm sorry. And you are...

Colleague.

Uh, Virginia and I wor... Uh, work together.

That's all.

Can I give her a message?

No.

No message.

(BREATHING HEAVILY)

(BREATHING RAGGEDLY)

(BREATHING SLOWS)

(BREATHING STOPS)

(BABY SWING TICKING)

LIBBY: What is it?

I'm, uh...

I'm not feeling very well.

Bill.

(TICKING CONTINUES)