Two women are making love in an apartment decorated with artefacts and
antiques from around the world. We hear a sharp knock on the door. One of
the women, hung-over and annoyed, pulls on some clothes and goes to answer
the door. On her way she stubs her toe on one of the cupboards loaded with
statues. She picks up a small statue that nearly fell off and carries it
with her to the door.
There's a blonde woman at the door. Her name is Helen. She says that her
girlfriend Stacy didn't come home last night. The woman at the door she
didn’t see her.
Helen asks what the statue is. The woman says she picked it up at an estate
auction, it’s an antique from Ecuador from around 500AD - some minor demon
like Abraxas. The woman tells her not to worry, Stacy probably just partied
all night and was passed out on somebody's couch.
Helen is worried. She says she's waiting a few more hours then she's going
to the police. The woman rolls her eyes and closes the door, going back to
the woman on the bed. The naked woman on the bed asks who it was. She
answers, "your girlfriend", and they go back to making love.
<Title>
Jenny is dressed up, looking and feeling good. She comes downstairs to find
Tim unexpectedly sitting at the kitchen table. He's not taking practice that
day so he can map out a study schedule for Trish to get her off academic
probation. Jenny looks mildly irritated - obviously she had plans. He
finally looks up and says she looks fantastic. She says she’s going to The
Planet to write for a change of scenery. Tim announces this a great idea and
says he'll go with her, he needs to get out of the house anyway. She's
definitely disappointed now. Whatever plans she had just got stomped on.
Dana and Lara are naked together in bed, post coital, but something is
wrong. Dana is huddled on Lara's knees looking embarrassed. Lara tries to
convince her that it's perfectly normal, it happens to lots of women. She
looks happy so whatever it is it can’t be too serious. Dana insists that it
has never happened to her before and doesn’t feel normal. Lara strokes
Dana's hair lovingly, insisting it doesn't change the way she feels and how
much pleasure Dana gave her. Dana cringes and hides further under the
blankets, pulling her pillow over her head. Lara is lost for words. Dana's
cat Mr Piddles looks on utterly confused.
Tina is spreading olives and some kind of fish on bread. Bette's face tells
us how disgusting it is. Tina offers some but Bette wisely passes on it.
Strange food cravings? Whatever could that mean? Who the hell needs a
pregnancy test? Bette moves in to kiss Tina goodbye but recoils as Tina puts
some of the disgusting fishy concoction in her mouth. It's all very gross.
Tim and Jenny are both looking over papers at their table at The Planet.
Jenny spots Marina, looking wonderful as usual. Jenny has dropped all
pretence of resisting Marina now. She stares lustfully then looks over at
Tim. When she looks back, Marina is watching her intensely. Marina indicates
oh-so-slightly with her head then walks (glides? saunters?) towards the
bathroom. Jenny tells the hapless Tim she'll be right back and follows
Marina out.
Alice pulls a large box out of a bag and stares at it in awe. She can't
believe you can actually buy pregnancy tests in bulk. The box has a picture
of a happy heterosexual couple on it. Tina claims she'd have more respect
for the box if had honest pictures, like a sobbing woman holding a negative
test. Alice adds that on the other side it could have a teenage girl with a
positive one about to hang herself. They both think that'd be much more
satisfying.
Jenny moves through doors on her way out to the bathroom, anxious. She walks
into a stall and finds Marina there leaning calmly against the wall,
waiting. Jenny acts a little coy but just waits for Marina to pounce. They
start having rough sex against the wall.
Alice is in the toilet with Tina while she takes the pregnancy test. Alice
asks Tina how she avoids peeing on her hand. Tina the expert replies that
you need to hold it just below the clit, where did Alice think pee came out
of? Alice waves her off, saying there's a lot going on down there, how would
she know? I think Alice sounds dangerous and should definitely go back to
men.
Alice and Tina talk about the different ways they used to think they could
get pregnant. Tina cringes and asks Alice if she's sure she wants to go back
to men. Alice is sure, she wants some uncomplicated boy-girl sex. Tina is
listening, laughing and doesn't immediately notice her pregnancy test
results.
Marina and Jenny struggle to get inside each other’s pants standing up
against the bathroom stall. It's messy, torrid, hurried and sexy as hell.
Marina has Jenny backed up against the wall intent on fucking her while an
unsuspecting Tim sits outside in the café sipping his coffee and wondering
why Jenny is taking so long in the bathroom. We almost feel sorry for him.
He looks at his watch and gets up to check on Jenny. It’s a unisex bathroom
ala Ally McBeal so he’s able to walk right in and call out her name. Jenny
is right on the verge of coming and it’s all Marina can do not to laugh out
loud.
Jenny adjusts herself and walks out of the stall, leaving Marina inside.
Jenny starts babbling about hating unisex bathrooms and how shocking it is
to hear a man's voice in there. (Heh, no shit? I bet it shocked you!) Marina
starts to look a little pained. Tim checks for an empty stall and walks
right past the one Marina is in and into the next one. He starts to pee and
Marina rolls her eyes.
Alice yells and runs out of the bathroom, holding Tina's pregnancy test in
her hands. It’s positive of course. Soon the two of them are jumping around
with joy. Kit appears at the door looking tired and sad. Alice blurts the
good news. Tina is still giddy. Kit is happy but asks the question that
we're all asking - does Bette know yet? Won't she be just a little pissed
everyone found out before she did?
Tim is in the kitchen getting ready to leave. He needs to run the study
plans over to Trish. The phone rings and it is Jenny's old professor from
college, Nick. Apparently he's in town and he and Jenny had arranged to hook
up for dinner, but Jenny has neglected to tell Tim. Tim makes an exaggerated
point of standing around to listen to their conversation. Jealous much?
Jenny starts raving about killing off Sarah Schuster, the main character in
her novel.
Tina makes Alice and Kit promise not only not to tell anyone she's pregnant
before Bette finds out, but to not let on that they found out before Bette
did. They talk about the things Tina will have to avoid now; red meat,
additives, alcohol... Alice pipes in with no more smack, crack or blow,
which is very cute. Tina vows to be as together with her pregnancy as Bette
is with her work.
Alice leaves. Kit says the reason she came over was because Bette told her
there was a letter there for her, from her son David. Tina hand sit to her
and she's overcome with emotion for a moment, and then leaves with the
letter.
Jenny is STILL on the phone with Nick. Tim is still hovering, doing anything
not to make it look like he's hovering. Jenny declares how much she values
Nick's opinion and Tim looks about to strangle a bottle of Perrier. Finally
he can't think of any more reasons to hover, grabs his bag and leaves. He
looks pretty pissed, obviously there's a history here.
Bette is absolutely swamped. She’s still trying to find a replacement show
for the spring. She promises Tina to try to be home for dinner, even though
she's stressed and probably should work into the night. Bette is then forced
to try and kiss the ass of the guy who owns the “Impressions in Winter”
collection she cancelled. Things get worse as the guy refuses to give them
the booking. He thinks the CAC board is in turmoil and has decided to give
the show to someone else. Bette's life just went from bad to worse.
Bette’s boss shows up to rub her mistakes in her face and invite her to a
special meeting of the board the next evening. Bette puts on a brave face
and says she's off to woo a half-million dollar investor. After she turns
the corner out of sight she takes a deep breath and contemplates just how
much shit she is in.
The Planet with Alice, Shane and Dana. Alice sees a cute guy and stares.
Dana is looking miserable, she declares she's never having sex again. Shane
looks horrified. After an interrogation in which Alice reveals some choice
embarrassing, comparable moments and Shane asks if she queefed (see, I had
to look it up too) Dana finally admits she female ejaculated with Lara.
Alice and Shane are thrilled. Lara must be amazing in bed. Now Dana is
really confused, she can’t believe this is a good thing and starts to feel
stupid about not listening to Lara.
The gorgeous guy from before goes past and Alice drools. Shane brings him
over. Turns out she knows him, his name is Lisa. Alice has just enough time
to query "Lisa?" before her phone rings and she's forced to go off and talk
to her annoying mother who has unexpectedly shown up in LA.
Shane explains to Lisa that Alice has sworn off women after the incident
with Gabby. Lisa is disappointed. Dana weighs in thoroughly confused (she's
NOT having a good day) and asks if Lisa didn't notice that he was a man?
Turns out Lisa is a lesbian identified man. Shane laughs. Dana's look says
she doesn't need to cope with more weird sexual concepts today.
It’s obvious Alice is attracted to Lisa but she has to rush off because her
mother is in financial trouble. He's all understanding and soft-hearted
which makes Alice even more interested. Dana is all out of words, she
resorts to pulling funny faces.
Alice’s mother Lenore is in the lobby of the Plaza Hotel. She’s having an
altercation with the house manager about the bill. She owes five thousand
dollars. Alice has to pay in it order to check Lenore out of the hotel.
Lenore claims she's in town for the new Gerard Lichtmann film (some hot
director) and that she's good for the money, just not yet. Alice suggests
she might hock her expensive pants. The apple hasn’t fallen very far from
this tree.
Tim is watching sports on TV and Jenny is bored. She starts to seduce him.
They have sex and Jenny starts to drift off, thinking of Marina. She sees
Marina's face where Tim's should be. He asks her where she is. She lies and
reassures him that she's right there.
Bette arrives home in a bad mood. First she sees Tina cooking then notices
three place settings at the table. She concludes that Tina has invited
someone for dinner and swears, not wanting to make small talk that night.
Tina says nothing. Bette keeps ranting until she notices the pregnancy test
on top of the third place setting, then the good news dawns on her. She
picks up the pregnancy test stick and stares at it. Tina's face is glowing,
almost radiantly happy.
Bette finally holds out her arms for Tina. Bette says I love you over and
over. They need to go for an ultrasound to confirm the result. Bette
apologises for being such an asshole. It's so sweet, but there's an element
of tension still in Bette, like this is somehow just one more responsibility
on her shoulders. She’s happy and terrified.
Alice orders a triple shot of coffee and heads over towards Dana and Shane.
Lenore is living with her until her job starts and Alice doesn't look in the
least happy about it.
Dana still looks miserable. Alice asks if Dana is having embarrassing
multiple orgasms now. Shane cracks up. Apparently Lara hasn't called. Its
been 21 hours. She admits that she ran out of her own apartment and left
Lara there. Shane and Alice crack up again. Dana knows she's been stupid and
looks even more miserable.
Bette walks in talking on her cell trying to convince her assistant James
that he’s not going to be fired. Everyone starts congratulating Tina (oops -
Alice's big mouth) and Bette realises that people knew before she did. Dana
asks why she's always the last to know these things. Bette comments she
shouldn't worry, she was second to last. Tina throws Alice a look.
As Tina moves away we see a very nervous-looking Lara standing in the
doorway, holding a single red rose. She walks over, waiting for Dana's
reaction. Shane and Alice smile. Alice tells Dana to take the flower. Dana
throws Alice a withering look, apologises profusely to Lara for being so
stupid and draws her into a kiss and hug. Shane quips about how fucking cute
it is. Alice says yuck.
Bette stalks out, pissed by the fact that Alice was the first to know about
the pregnancy. She’s ranting and being totally irrational. Tina says nothing
and waits for Bette to calm down. She knows how stressed Bette is and she's
trying to leave her alone, but sometimes she needs someone to share moments
with, and that happened to be Alice this time. Bette is sad that her
stressed out state means it can't always be her who is there to share the
moments.
Trish turns up for practice late and Tim tells her to leave. Randy overrules
him and orders him to go get her in the water. She's still their star, they
can't win the competition without her. Tim feels undermined and annoyed, but
does what he's told.
During the ultrasound Bette and Tina see the first glimpse of their new
baby. At first Bette is restless, knowing every minute she's away from the
CAC could mean her job is on the line. She checks her watch anxiously as the
slow procedure gets underway.
Finally the ultrasound is up and they are both awed by the sight of the
heartbeat. The baby is alive and thriving and it finally reminds Bette of
her emotional priorities. She kisses Tina, and you can tell that's she's
finally really there, not half-off somewhere else.
Alice drives Lenore to a meeting with the director. Lenore is laying the
story on so thick that Alice is starting to get wary. Lenore comments that
if Alice spent some more time on her looks she might have a girlfriend by
now. Alice gets shitty and nearly runs over some pedestrians. Finally they
pull over where the meeting is going to be. Instead of driving off, Alice
checks out where Lenore is going. Lenore pretends to go up to a door, and
then turns and walks off across the street.
In the other building is a studio where an open call is going on for a minor
role in a crappy horror film. There is no Gerard Lichtman film. Alice spots
her mom in the crowded room going over lines for her audition. She's
conscious of Lenore's pride and decides not to reveal that she knows.
Randy argues with Tim about what happened with Trish. Randy says Trish
shouldn't have been chewed out in front of the whole team. Tim says he
shouldn't have been either. Randy has completely undermined his ability to
impose discipline on the team. Randy tries to get Tim to come to grips with
reality - without their star they may as well not show up to compete. He has
her Physics mid-term and hands it to Tim, advising him to have her tutored
in the right way. Tim refuses to give Trish the test, but agrees to use it
to help her study.
Tim admits he's worried about Jenny going to dinner with Nick. Apparently
Jenny once gave Nick a blow job and wrote a story about it. Randy can't
believe Tim is letting Jenny go. Tim says he doesn't own Jenny and doesn't
want to be a caveman on the issue, but he can't stop thinking about it.
Randy just replies that if you can't trust someone, you shouldn't even be
considering marrying them. Tim says he trusts her.
Bette walks into her board meeting like the condemned facing a firing squad.
She jokes that she'd rather forego the blindfold. Franklin starts in on the
beginning of the speech she's sure will end with "you're fired".
Jenny and Nick are at the restaurant. Nick thinks her latest story is utter
bullshit from beginning to end. She respects his opinion and is devastated
by his words. He picks apart the story. She's writing about safety, warmth,
belonging. He misses her nihilistic passion and tells her she’s more complex
than that. She admits that she’s been doing some terrible things. His eyes
light up.
A ruckus is walking up the corridors of the CAC. It's Peggy Peabody,
complete with dogs, and she's in a huff. She asks James where Bette is. He
points out she's in a meeting. Peggy barges into the board meeting and
Franklin splutters. Someone from the board has called her and told her that
Bette is being fired. Peggy is outraged. After all, Bette is the most
qualified person in LA to handle her "Provocations" exhibit, which she has
decided to lend to the CAC after all.
"Provocations" is going to the CAC but only on the condition Bette stay as
director until the end of the exhibit. Franklin back peddles and says they
have every intention of honouring the six months remaining on Bette's
contract. Peggy suggests Franklin exercise the eighteen month option in
Bette’s contract as soon Bette one of the most sought after museum directors
in the country.
Nick is impressed by Jenny's affair with Marina. She denies that it's love.
She doesn't know what it is. She likens it to demon possession (abstract
tie-in to the statue at the beginning?) He loves it and advises her to run
with this idea in her writing.
Tim arrives home but Jenny isn't there. It's past time for her to be home.
He's incensed. Where the hell is she? He can only think of one place.
There's a knock on Nick's hotel room door. He's alone. Tim is there looking
for Jenny. The history between the two men crackles. It’s obvious Tim would
like nothing better than to punch the shit out of this guy. Nick calls him
“coach” patronisingly and tells him she left fifteen minutes ago. Tim checks
the room out for himself, but Jenny isn’t there.
Jenny walks through the door at the Planet. She's dressed up, gorgeous and
full of lust. Marina can barely keep her eyes off her. Shane and Alice are
watching, incredulous. Jenny and Marina head out the back to Marina's
office.
Tim is still in Nick's apartment. Nick explains that his and Jenny's
relationship is currently purely intellectual. He congratulates Tim on his
engagement in his best condescending voice and Tim leaves. Nick obviously is
having a wonderful time sitting on his little secret about Jenny's betrayal.
We cut straight to Marina with her hands all over Jenny's clit. They're hot
and heavy and Jenny looks like she's never wanted anything more in her whole
life. Alice sees Tim walk in. She slips past him into Marina's office.
Despite bursting in something so embarrassing, Alice just cuts straight to
the point. Tim is outside and Jenny needs to slip out the side door. It's
crowded so Alice can cover for her. As Jenny slips out Alice says "you're
welcome" sarcastically to the closed door.
Bette arrives home to a celebration in progress. She's obviously called
ahead and told everyone the good news. The whole gang has gathered by the
pool, some drinking, some swimming. Kit runs into the house to greet her
first. Bette asks what David's letter had to say. It turns out he was just
writing to get some medical information and he put a short note on a post-it
with the forms. Kit thinks its better than nothing. Bette is disgusted. From
the note we find out Kit's son is a doctor and is in touch with Kit's
estranged father.
Tina bounces in to drag Bette out to the rest of the party. They have a
private toast. Tina is so happy for Bette. Bette corrects her and say the
good news isn't just for her, "it's for us".
Jenny is in her studio, writing. She's begun a new story, the story Nick
told her to write. It's about her inner demons and how they control her. The
demon is eviscerating her soul, fucking with her head. Abraxas is the minor
demon of lies and deceit.
Lenore is flirting madly with Shane by the pool. She asks Shane to guess how
old she is since she hasn't had any work done.
Jenny writes about the different kinds of lies we tell. About lies that
spare pain, lies that spare dignity, the kinds of lies that are all right to
tell.
Cut to Shane telling Lenore's mother she looks thirty-five, maybe forty,
while lighting her cigarette in a seductive way. It’s a beautiful lie.
Jenny and Abraxas, now being represented physically by Nick, write that
everybody is a liar. He says look at that one, she's about to tell her lover
something patently untrue.
We see Tina telling Bette that whatever had happened in that board room that
night they would have been OK.
Nick/Abraxas ridicules their gestures, how every touch is a lie, a way of
obfuscating the truth. He says they touch each other too intimately and
avert their eyes.
We see Dana and Lara in the pool, unable to deny each other physically, but
Dana avoids Lara’s eyes, obviously emotionally still unsure.
Nick/Abraxas keeps talking. He says they embellish their stories with far
too much detail.
We see Lenore telling a wild story about her glory days as an actress while
the other women look on, obviously indulging her in this moment of
reflection. Though it’s probably based in truth, the story has been
exaggerated for the telling.
Back to Jenny. The spell is breaking. Abraxas/Nick disappears and Tim comes
home. He sees Jenny through the window in the studio and hesitantly comes in
to talk to her, wondering where she’s been but not brave enough to ask.
Jenny says Nick was a pompous ass who ripped her to shreds but that it
helped and now she feels inspired. Tim offers to go and let her work but she
asks him to stay there with her. He's quietly pleased. They hold each other
for a long while while a song about living a secret life plays in the
background.
<fade to black>
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