Little Fires Everywhere (2020) s01e06 Episode Script

1
Father God, I just ask that
you would watch over our daughter, Mia,
as she willingly and willfully
goes to New York City
to get a degree in fine art.
They had 1,800 homicides,
up from last year.
Protect Mia, sweet Jesus
in that Big Apple of sin.
- And we pray for our son, Warren.
- Mm.
And get him to the NFL.
If it be thy will.
That one of our childrenmight honor us with a successfulcareer.
Amen. Amen. Thank you,
Daddy and Mama,
for that beautiful prayer.
You're lying.
She didn't say that.
No, no, she literally asked
the whole deaconess board
to pray that you don't come backa hooker.
Or worse, a lesbian.
All I'm coming back as
is a better artist.
I hope.
Here. Don't
don't open it until you get to
your dorm.
Mia, I said wait.
Wren
No! You've been saving for a carforever.
Aw, come on. By next year,
I'll-I'll havesome scholarship to some big assschool.
Come on, Mi, just take it.
New York's expensive.
No way.
At least take this.
- Mace?
- You gonna need it.
You ready?
Then sit.
What is beauty?
How do we recognize it?
Is it in the extraordinary?
The mundane?
Or in D as Unheimlich?
The uncanny.
Wow.
Consider
Sigmund Freud's definition.
That the uncanny is in that
class of the terrifying
which leads back to something long
known to us, once very familiar.
This is fine.
Where's the stuff I saw in yourportfolio?
The re-purposed materials,
the collages.
I-I was just trying
to do the assignment.
Oh, and you say those kids
are your subjects?
But are they?
Uh, I thought so.
That stuff is you.
Don't abandon that.
This semester, we'll explore how
your familiar heimlich, or home,
can become uncanny, repulsive.
Or even terrifying.
That's the point of what we're
doing here.
Either put something new into
the world
or use what you have
to show me what is terrifying,
repulsive,
and uncanny about you.
So you were right.
Those kids weren't my subject.
Not technically, I mean.
It's-it's really about me and
this new place, this city
that is so terrifying, in some
ways,
but also familiar.
How did you get this layering
here?
I exposed two negatives
together repeatedly.
But what about those darker
spots?
I used a flame to singe some
areas away.
Come to my opening.
It's at my friend's gallery
in the East Village.
Next weekend.
- Back the fuck up.
- No, I'm sorry, I'm sorry.
I've been watching you,
trying to get up the nerve.
Okay, you look so much like my wife.
You look like her.
You look just like her, and I
thought like, maybe it was a sign.
A sign for what?
What do you want?
Okay. My wife and I, um
can't have children,
and we're looking for a surrogate
who looks like her.
Um, so that-that could carry ourbaby.
And I realizethat sounds completely bizarre.
I know that, and I'm sorry.
I didn't mean to scare you. You don't have to say anything.
Okay, I don't even know
if you would consider this.
If you could even use the money.
Can I just just
That's me, okay. I'm-I'm Joe.
My wife's Madeline, Maddie.
We just
You could just think about it.
Please.
Mia.
There she is. Anita, come here.
My student I was bragging about. Mia Wright.
It's nice to meet you.
Hi.
Thanks again for letting me
stay.
And-and for this.
My friend, Andrew,
crashed with me for a bit.
- He left some clothes behind.
- He moved out?
No, he's been in the hospital
with pneumonia for weeks.
This is his piece.
Always losing people, aren't we?
Not me. I'm staying.
Good.
I can't leave, Wren. I can't.
They said it's all budget cuts
and fucking Reagan.
And how am I supposed to come upwith $12,000 for next year?
I don't know, Mi. Mom-Mom and Dad
will be back from church soon.
They'll just tell me to goto a real school so I can get areal job.
They don't understand.
This is where I have to be.
This is what I have to do.
You listen to me.
Just find a way.
Okay? Do what you have to do.
Just find a way.
There's always a way.
This must feel like a lot.
But we are just so grateful
that you called.
We know how crazy this sounds.
And there is
no real road map for this.
We're just really trying to
figure this out for ourselves.
So there's absolutely no
pressure, there's no rush.
How much would you pay?
And-and how soon would I get it?
We thought $10,000, if that
seems
I-I can't do it for less than
I think we can make 12 work.
You think, or
- or you can?
- We can.
We can, we can draw
official paperwork.
- We can figure out a payment- Anything
to make you feel comfortable.
I'm comfortable.
I'm in.
She's in.
She's in.
Thank you.
Hi! Happy Monday.
Come in, come in.
- Wow, good morning.
- Good morning.
Oh, so this guy's
going to need a bottle soon
and probably a diaper change.
I'll get him all cleaned upand ready for world domination.
Aw. Lexie's already eaten.
She'll give you no trouble.
And Trip's kind of a grazer.
Emergency contacts.
While my mother is at the top ofthe list,
you definitely do not want
to call her after 3:30 p.m.,
at which time she turns into a
pumpkin.
A boozy, unreliable pumpkin.
I get it, I have an aunt
with, um, pumpkin tendencies.
Hi, it's Rachel, right?- Oh.
- Nice to meet you.
- Nice to meet you. Bill.
And hi to you.
- Last night was really fun.
- Oh!
- Big boy.
- Oh.
You gonna take care
of your brother and sister?
Hold down the fort?
Oh, I could just
I want to eat you. Okay.
- Honey, have a great first dayback.
- I will.
- I'm right behind you.
- Okay, bye, guys.
Okay, Mommy's going.
Mommy loves you.
Oh!
Don't be nervous.
Moms always have a hard time
going back to work,
but you have nothing
to feel guilty about.
Seriously.
Ooh! Okay, let's go find
your brother and sister.
- Hi.
- Woo-hoo!
Oh, thank you.
- Elena.
- Hi.
- You look amazing.
- Oh, thanks.
I could kill you.
Come on, let us see the little
guy.
Well, look who finally decided
to put down the babies.
Oh!
His name's not really Moody, isit?
Not that I'm judging.
It's Michael.
I can't believe
you have three now.
I know.
Please tell me you're done.
So done. Uh, in fact,
I wanted to talk to you.
I heard Danny left for The Plain
Dealer,
and I'd really love to take on
more.
Yeah, absolutely, let's talk.
There's been a lot of changes
since you've been gone.
Sandra actually got promoted
to Danny's position,
so you will be reporting to her.
Wow. Congratulations.
I definitely need something.
Anything that works.
I'm not opposed to the pill. Uh, I've read about the sponge.
But is it messy?
I was thinking of something
more long-term.
What do you think of an IUD?
This is actually a bigger
conversation between you and Bill.
Does, uh, tubal ligation
have a lengthy recovery?
Elena.
You can't have birth control right now.
You're pregnant.
No.
Yes.
So I go to watch the game,
and someone
has taped the goddamn
royal wedding over it.
- No.
- Someone.
Okay, I know, I know, it was
bad, but it was so good.
Still none for you.
Right, Linda?
Uh, yeah, none for me.
- Thank you.
- Honey?
Definitely.
And that's when I realized the doll
was covered in Trip's actual shit.
- Oh.
- Oh, my God.
Poor Lexie.
Well, that girl needs her own room.
Mm-hmm.
- How's the search going?
It'd be a lot quicker if Bill
would take my mom up on her offer.
Hey, if my in-laws wanted to give
me a free house, I'd take it.
Down payment free, but
I'd be afraid
to turn into my mother.
That would take a lot of gin.
And with the upkeep alone, I'd have to kiss the PD's officegoodbye.
Which isn't a terrible
thing.
It's a partner track at a big
firm.
You know,
you guys should buy in Ludlow.
You hear about those new loans?
They're practically
paying white people to stay.
My mother is on the committee
that-that pushed for those.
The loans are-they're not reallyfor people like us.
Yeah.
Oh, and Cynthia gave mea recommendation for book club.
- It's a good red.
- Yeah, good wine.
She said it's
a romantic story with a twist.
I'm so sorry.
So sorry. One second.
Oh, my God, Mark.
No.
No, she can't be. Not again.
- Not after I
- Look, I think we should tell them.
They'd want to know.
Miscarriages, I mean,
they happen to people all the
time.
Not to Elena.
Mm.
Mom.
- I'm so sorry about the sitter.- It's fine.
I canceled bridge.
Moody here just cried himself tosleep.
And those other two,
do you even discipline them?
Oh, this place. It's a disaster.
I don't know why you would
rather live in a shoebox
than a beautiful family home.
I'm pregnant again.
I, I just got back, and-andnow I'm gonna be derailed again.
And fucking Sandra got promotedto editor.
Sandra.
Sweetheart, I mean, it's
impressive thatyou've worked for as long as youhave.
This obsession that your
generation has.
It is okay to just be a woman
and let men be men.
You you don't know what
it means to love your work.
This paper that you're working
for, no one even reads it.
And-and Bill told me that your
jobbarely even pays for your help.
Bill said that?
You should be trying to make
things easier on yourself.
Things would be easier
without another baby.
I mean, you're acting
as if it's a choice.
It is.
We've held up signs that said
so.
You have money and resources,
and there is no reason that
you can't have another baby.
Is not wanting another one a
reason?
Not for people like us.
Look at me.
This is a good thing.
This is-this is a good thing.
We're gonna have another baby.
I can't believe it.
Four.
Yeah, four, and I promise it's not
gonna be much different than three.
Okay, come here, come here, comehere.
How am I supposed to tell work?
You can maybe you can
drop back to part-time.
Or you can-you can
just drop it all together.
Honey, I think that you're gonnahave
a lot on your plate with the move.
Was this fourth baby all partof some elaborate plan you had?
To get me to say yes
to the parent's house?
Come here.
I hope it's a girl.
What was that name we loved?
- Isabelle.
- Yeah, right.
- Isabelle.
- Yeah.
No, no way.
His Marlboro ads are not art.
They're derivative.
- He's basically stealing.
- You mean appropriating?
Don't we all do some version ofthat
in our own art?
I mean, look what you're doing.
You take thingsthat don't technically belong toyou
and put them in your art.
I manipulate, I curate.
What Richard Prince is doing is
something completely different.
What about Grandmaster Flash?
Is that art, or is he stealing
from The Tom Tom Club?
I'm not saying you can't
appropriate.
Duchamp, or Warhol, they all
appropriate.
But you just can't only
appropriate.
Like Richard Prince,
it's-it's totally fucking boring.
I've never even used a tampon
before.
I've never
Are you
Are you a virgin?
Do you want me to help you?
It's like you said.
The art should either bring
something new into the world
or-or something strange
and familiar and terrifying,
or at the very least,
uncomfortable.
It should give us the uncanny.
So you were listening that firstday.
You really think
Richard Prince is boring?
Totally fucking boring.
Yeah, then you wouldn't want your
work at a show with him here.
Hmm.
Uh, what?
I'm gonna be in a show
with Richard Prince!
Oh!
Wow.
This.
This one we can work with.
I love this.
I don't know.
I'm not sure it works.
The assignment's to do
a self-portrait.
So stop avoiding it.
Avoiding what?
Feeling it.
When are you gonna tell me
what you've done?
He's here.
Wren!
What the hell?
Told you there was a good reasonwhy I didn't come home this
summer.
Look, are we really not gonna
talk about how crazy this is?
I mean, I'd-I'd be this kid's
uncle.
Not this kid. Your kid.
It's not my kid.
This is wrong.
And twisted, Mi.
God has a plan for you.
Don't parrot them.
And I'm pretty sure
that's not what this is.
What about my plan?
Does that matter?
Do you realize that your sisteris one of the most
talented artists I have ever
met?
Anyone can be a mother.
Few can do what your sister
does.
In fact
no one can.
So, do I look like a New Yorker?
- Mm
- Eh?
Mm.
- Uh
- Come on.
- Yeah?
- Uh
Yeah, it's, uh
Yeah, not touristy at all.
I love it, by the way.
It's so you.
Yeah, the door fills up with
water when it rains, but
Gives it character.
To open when you're home.
Come on.
- Okay.
- I'll open this thing.
Aw. Come on.
Look, Mi, I
I want us to be cool.
The last thing I want to do
is fight in front of the baby.
I mean, she's already
gonna have a hard enough time
going through life
with that big-ass forehead of
yours.
She?
It's a gut feeling.
Do me a favor. Play her some Marvin Gaye whileyou can.
If she can't grow up
with her Uncle Warren,
at least she can have
some good taste in music.
I love you so much.
I love you, too.
So, uh
you gonna break it to Mom and
Dadthat their prayers didn't work?
Well, at least you're not a
hooker, I guess.
- What?
- Come on.
The-the whole Pauline thing.
Oh.
No, no, it's-it's not like that.It's
- Oh.
- My professor, my mentor.
Mm-hmm. Right.
Well, whoever she is,
she don't know you like I do.
Never let anyone tell you who
you are.
Not even me.
Hm?
You say you want to create something
that will change the world.
What if it's her?
Did you mean what you said to
Warren?
Am I making the right choice?
Look at this.
What do you see?
A monster.
I see
power.
Beauty.
Ugliness. Gods and mothers.
Virgins.
I see the monsters, too.
And I love them. Fiercely.
What are we?
I mean, to each other.
What do you feel?
Everything.
My turn.
Isabelle, come on.
You have to eat, please.
Damn it.
- - Okay, Isabelle, sweetie, it'scoming.
Just, just hold on.
Moody, just watch your sister,
all right?
Okay?
It's coming, all right?
Just everybody, calm down.
Lexie, would you
take care of Moody, please?
Just give your brother a hug orsomething.
Just
They must have turned the wateroff.
I don't know. I don't know.
You call him! You were the one
who wanted this renovation.
Jesus!
I don't-I don't give a damn
about your partners, Bill.
I need you. I need you to do actual things.
Where is the fucking pacifier?
Jesus Christ.
Elena, what the hell?
Hi, sweetie.
Four is different than three.
What are you doing?
Elena, where are you going?
To get a god damn pacifier.
It's okay, sweetie. It's okay.
Manager, aisle four.
- Yes. Um, Manhattan.
- What city?
What name, please?
Uh, Jamie Caplan.
Hello?
Jamie?
Yes, who's this?
It-it's me. It's Elena.
So, you-you good? How's life?
Okay, you can't do that.
You can't call me
sobbing hysterically
out of the blue and
What's wrong? Is it Bill?
The kids? What?
I'll have another.
You can't not tell me.
Okay, I crossed
the George Washington Bridge
in Friday night traffic for
this.
I drove to Rochester.
Uh, I don't want to talk
about Bill or the, the kids.
I just want to
hear about you.
How is New York?
It's, uh, it's loud.
And, uh
expensive.
And I can't imagine
being anywhere else.
I just got a job.
At The Times.
You're writing for The New York
Times?
I'm an editorial assistant.
But
Yeah, that'd be the goal, yeah.
I'm in business now, but
hopefully foreign
correspondent, eventually.
For the travel.
And my love of war-torn
architecture.
You always were fond of
destruction.
You know that's not what I
wanted.
I still think about how things
would'vebeen different if you just saidyes.
If you'd stayed in Paris.
Do you think about it?
I had a life to start. A plan.
I mean, it's most peoples' plan, right?
Graduate college, get a job, getmarried, have kids, and you're happy "tildeath."
Are you happy?
Are you?
Happy?
- Did you do this?
- What? No, I didn't.
I didn't, I swear.
- Get up.
- No.
Come on, dance with me.
Oh, oh.
I'm sorry, I just
I just need a minute.
Shit.
Ugh.
Elena, you okay?
Fuck.
- I need to go.
- Why?
What's wrong?
Hey, hold on a second.
Can we talk about this?
Look, I, I want this.
And I know you do, too.
What? A fling at a motel in Rochester?
I still love you.
I
I never stopped. I
I just didn't want your plan.
And by the sounds of it,
you don't want it, either.
But you don't have to settle.
And you do not have to be
miserable.
I never said either of those
things.
No, no, you just
Call me out of nowhere
and ask me to drive
six hours in the middle
of the night to see you.
I called you because I needed afriend.
Not someone to take advantage ofme
in a hard moment.
Take advantage of you?
Are you fucking kidding me?
I'm married, Jamie.
I have four children
with the man I love.
I like my life.
I chose my life.
I, I just oh, I needed
I don't know.
I don't know what I needed.
But it wasn't-it wasn't this.
Elena. Jesus Christ, thank God.
Are you okay? - BILL:
What happened? Where have you been?
We called the hospitals
and your friends.
- Your mom is worried sick.
- I just needed a minute.
Okay.
Okay, well, I'm glad you took
one.
I'm gonna go.
You should get some sleep.
Okay, I'll call you later.
Oh, and um, you should probablybe careful in there.
There may still be some pieces
of china on the floor.
- Okay.
- Okay.
Where's Isabelle?
- Um, she's sleeping, finally.
- Good.
Do you want me to go get her?
No.
I've got it.
- Hello?
- Mia.
It's awful. It's so awful.
- Mom?- REGINA:
He's gone. He's gone.
Your brother's gone.
Mama, can-can you please slow
down?
There's been an accident.
Warren, he was with his friends.
They couldn't save him. He's
dead.
My baby is dead.
Thanks.
It's not what you think.
Is this okay?
Can we talk?
Your daddy and I
We may not understand you.
But we love you.
We all make our choices. You
You made yours.
But people see you today, there'll be a lot of questions.
Today's about honoring Warren.
Let's let it be about him.
You don't want me to come
to my own brother's funeral?
I know you'll find another way
to honor him on your own.
I think me being here
is really helping, so
I just
I-I need to stay a little whilelonger.
Of course.
It's the right thing to do.
But, uh, listen.
I love you, okay?
I love you, too.
- Hello?
- Pauline?
- It's me.
- Mia?
- Wait, who, who is this?
- Honey.
It's Anita, from the gallery.
What-what's wrong?
What happened?
Pauline passed away.
She was sick.
She was diagnosed two months
ago.
Diagnosed with what?
Ovarian cancer.
- What?- ANITA: It was
too debilitating to treat.
She just she wanted
to tell you in person
when you were back, but
I'm-I'm here, I'm cleaning up her place,
and-and putting her stuff in order.
Your stuff is, um, all packed
up.
And along with something
she asked me to send to you.
It's a photo of you that she
loved.
She wanted you to have.
In case you needed to sell it.
For you, or for your baby.
I mean, you kept the baby, right?
Pauline assumed.
And, honey, they've been calling here.
The Ryans.
The want to talk to you.
I loved Pauline and Pauline
loved you, so whatever you need, I'm here.
I don't know where we'll end up.
But I'll let you know when we
get there.