West Hollywood, California, 1976
Seedy, dirty bathroom. A big, beefy guy pushes a small weedy guy up against
the wall. Weedy guy tries to kiss him but has his head slammed backwards for
the attempt. He stays put. The beefy guy backs up to the other wall, undoing
his jeans as he goes. Weedy guy walks up to him and tries to kiss him again,
but the beefy guy pushes him down to his knees and shoves his cock in the
guy’s mouth. The weedy guy just takes the treatment. He doesn't even look
up.
Outside we realise this isn't just a diner, it's a gay boy hangout of sorts.
The beefy guy leads the weedy guy out of the bathroom by the collar, holding
up a badge. He's a cop, and he's just busted the weedy guy for being gay. He
reads him his rights on the way out the door as the other guys in the bar
just watch and look like this happens every day.
<titles>
At home with Jenny and Tim during their morning ritual. They brush teeth,
they go to the toilet, they start kissing and suddenly Tim sweeps a giggling
Jenny up in his arms, presumably headed back to the bedroom. So much for
being all clean.
Alice wakes up on the couch to the frightening sound of a coffee machine
having a heart attack. Lenore comes out of the kitchen covered in water or
milk or something to do with the coffeemaker. Alice yells, perturbed both at
being woken up and the thought her espresso machine might be dead. She
marches into the kitchen to survey the damage.
Lenore looks at Alice’s chart on the wall and starts to add her name
connected to Shane’s. Alice declares the espresso machine dead and walks out
to catch Lenore in the act. She hurriedly wipes it off, trying to explain
the point of the chart.
Lenore declares that she knows what the chart means, that's why she's
writing her name connected to Shane. Apparently Shane and Lenore shared a
few hot and heavy goodnight kisses at the pool party. Alice looks somewhere
between appalled and disgusted at this news. Lenore wonders aloud if she
hasn't made a mistake limiting herself to men. Now Alice looks like she
wants to throw up, very sorry she asked for details. Lenore just looks smug.
Off Alice’s disgusted face we cut to Tina running down the hallway of her
apartment. She races into the bathroom and pukes. Good old morning sickness.
Bette asks if she's OK and is answered with another round of vomiting. She
answers the phone at that moment. It's Bette's dad, calling to confirm their
dinner date. Bette's cheery voice heard against Tina's puking explaining how
great they're doing is a riot.
Kit is sitting at a desk writing a letter to her son, David. She writes
"this is your mother" at first, and then scratches that out and writes "this
is Kit". Both seem wrong somehow.
Bette rummages around in her closet looking for something to wear. Tina is
lying on the bed, still nauseous. Bette predicts her father will be excited
by the news of the pregnancy. Tina is rubbing her stomach and trying to look
interested.
They speculate on whether Melvin will ask about the baby’s last name. Tina
hopes it won't come up, but instead of hyphenating to Kennard-Porter maybe
they could combine their names somehow? They toss around a few suggestions.
“Portard” is rightfully jettisoned. “Kenter” fares better, but it’s still
kinda lame. Tina doesn’t want to tell Melvin they’re doing anything until
they’re sure, knowing what he’s like. Bette queries that comment, but
finally agrees it’d be better all round if it didn’t come up. She heads off
to work.
Dana takes a break from training and goes over to Lara who is sitting
courtside watching happily. Dana leans down to kiss her and brags that her
serve is faster. They giggle like school girls when Lara asks who is the
sexiest tennis player in the world. (“Anna Kournikova” is Dana’s reply).
They kiss contentedly. As Shane would say, so fucking cute.
Conrad, Dana's agent, walks down the bleachers and calls out "hey!" like
he's telling two dogs to quit humping. Dana immediately jumps up away from
Lara and looks nervous. Lara stands her ground. It's her first meeting with
Conrad. His yellow sunglasses make him look sleazy. Dana looks so guilty
she's all but chewing her fingernails.
Conrad tells Dana that Subaru is having a swish party and they want her to
be there. Lara’s excited about it, but Conrad just sneers at her. She seems
warier now, like she suddenly knows who the enemy is. He raves about the
event, describing it as an evening with the who's who. Dana admits that's
very hot. Lara asks where it is being held, obviously she intends on going
as Dana’s date. Conrad fesses up the address, but he's not happy about it.
Lara draws Dana close to her and says she's so hot she wants to sex with her
right now. (Did someone just put up the temperature in here?) Conrad points
out that he's still there. Lara just looks at him as if he's a bug she wants
to scrape off her shoe. His suggestion that he’d oblige if the girls wanted
to mix it up a bit gets a similar reaction. That’s about all Lara can take
so she announces that she has to get back to work. She says goodbye to Dana
and gives Conrad the cold shoulder he (it?) deserves.
Conrad points out that Dana should take Harrison to the party for the sake
of appearances. Suddenly Dana realises just how much trouble she's in. She’s
trapped and she knows it. She tries to protest, but Conrad bites her off.
At The Planet, Alice confronts Shane over the Lenore kissing thing. Shane
fesses up, the drinks were probably a little strong but Lenore is pretty hot
for an older woman. Alice is stunned. Shane goes on to give details which
Alice doesn't want to know, but of course Shane is the one who should be
grossed out, after all she's the one Lenore got funky with. Alice is
surprised. Lenore's version was that Shane came onto her. Shane just grins
and comments that Lenore is a wild one. Alice begs again for no more details
and says Lenore needs to be shipped off to her brother ASAP.
After Alice finishes ranting she sees and points out two guys staring at
Shane, and one of them is Harry Samchuck. (Trust Alice to know.) Shane looks
over and freezes. Apparently Harry thinks Shane's a guy and he and his rich
mafia fag friends thinks she's just a male prostitute they can pick up.
Shane is so out of there. Alice apologises once more about Lenore's
behaviour as Shane goes, but she just laughs it off.
Shane spots her old friend Clive at the counter. He’s back from visiting his
mother in San Diego. He waves to Harry Samchuck. He's obviously a twink that
has been picked up. Another clue to Shane's interesting past.
As Shane tries to leave, Clive begs her for a place to stay for a few
nights. She can't possibly do it, she and her flatmates are sharing four
people to a one-bedroom. He says he can’t stay anywhere else because people
aren't returning his calls. She can't bend on this, she really can't give
him a place to crash. Finally Shane leaves and Clive walks in the direction
of Harry Samchuck.
At the college Tim ticks the names off a board as a bunch of track-suited
students get on a bus. He jokes with Trish as she passes - she flirts with
him back. Randy is tense. It's their biggest meet of the year. He thanks Tim
for whatever he did to get Trish into the meet, since she was on academic
probation.
Tim does a last check to make sure he has everything. He panics. He's
forgotten his grandfather’s lucky stopwatch and has to go home and get it.
Randy tells him to forget about it. He can’t though, he’s superstitious and
there’s no way can they win without it. Randy’s wearing his lucky Garfield
boxers so he can’t talk. He laughs and sends Tim on his way.
Jenny and Marina are sitting on the bed in Jenny's studio. Marina has just
read the demon possession story and she thinks it has amazing potential.
Jenny pouts at her lack of overwhelming praise but Marina her that writing
is about re-writing, she can’t expect everything she writes to just be gold
immediately. Marina crawls on top of her and asks if she is the demon Jenny
is struggling with.
Tina nervously tries on pretty much every piece of clothing she owns in
front of the mirror, trying to pick something out to wear to dinner with
Bette's dad. She looks at different combinations before settling on a cute,
blue wraparound dress. The doorbell rings. It's Kit bearing a huge box full
of vitamins and pills for Tina that are all good for the baby.
Tina mentions she and Bette are having dinner with Melvin. Kit wonders why
she didn’t know. Tina knows she's put her foot in it so she tries to blow it
off as no big deal, Bette made him squeeze them into his business trip.
Apparently Bette wants to tell him about the baby in person. Kit is hurt,
but tries not to show it.
Tim gets home, fumbles around for his stopwatch and calls out for Jenny.
She’s not in the house so he assumes she's outside in the studio.
Marina is going down on Jenny. Jenny’s back is stretched out, she has her
head thrown back. Marina is on the floor, kneeling between Jenny's legs, her
back to the door. That's how Tim sees them as he peeks through the glass.
Tim waits a moment before opening the studio door. Jenny’s eyes grow wide
when she sees him. Marina sees her face and turns around. They both watch
Tim watching them from the doorway.
Jenny reaches for her shirt as Marina slowly stands up. She's still wearing
a bra and skirt but the buttons are undone. Audacious as always, she looks
Tim right in the eye as she's doing herself up. No one says anything.
leaves, giving Tim a defiant look as she goes.
He's shell-shocked. There's not much he or Jenny can say. He walks towards
Jenny and picks up the pages of her discarded story from the floor. He reads
the title "The Demons That Tempt Me", and throws it in her face. Somewhat
stilted, and still numb with shock, he leaves. She doesn't move.
Bette walks in late from work around dusk to find Tina asleep on the bed.
They have to pick up her father in half an hour and Bette is a nervous
wreck. She argues with Tina’s choice in clothes and says she'll pick
something out for Tina to wear while Tina takes the tags from the present.
The bag says Chanel. Bette has bought her father a $300 tie. Tina hides her
shock.
Bette asks why Tina called earlier. Tina says she didn't, but Kit may have
rung from the home phone. Tina has to admit that she let slip about Melvin
being in town and Bette gets angry. She snaps that she’s worried that the
combination of David writing her a letter on a post-it and then their dad
coming to town and not seeing Kit might drive her back to drinking. Tina
just swallows her angry retort, not wanting an argument.
Tim is outside the opposition pool leaning on his car in the parking lot,
stopping and starting his stopwatch obsessively. Finally he puts a thumb
through the glass and it cracks. He stares at it for a long while then
finally walks inside towards the competition.
Bette and Tina drive up to pick up Bette's father in front of an expensive
looking hotel. When he finally sees them Melvin gives Bette a big hug, and
gives Tina a nervous almost-kiss on the cheek. Tina hands him the present
and says it's from Bette. (The fact that she didn't say "from us" is
completely lost on Bette.) He's pleased with his tie - Bette has good eye
for colour. Tina just smiles and looks superfluous. Melvin keeps raving
about the tie.
The disappointed swim team have lost and are getting on the bus after the
meet. Trish sees Tim's long face and tells him not to take it so hard. Jenny
runs out of nowhere and throws herself into his arms in front of everyone,
saying she's sorry. They start to argue with Tim eventually demanding his
ring back. Jenny declares he’ll have to take it from her, which is too good
for Tim to resist so they start wrestling over the ring.
Jenny screams "no! no!" until Randy is forced to intervene, he can't have
his assistant coach beating up his fiancé in front of the whole team. But
Jenny claims she's fine and Tim asks him to leave them alone. Randy
reluctantly leaves on the team bus.
Jenny begs. It was a big mistake. It just became too hard to resist, too
hard to stop. Tim is rightly confused. He asks how many times it's happened.
Jenny lies and says it only happened that once. He doesn't believe it. How
can he marry her knowing what she did to him? He thinks she must have been
laughing at him the whole time.
She keeps saying please please please Tim over and over. He throws her off
and gets in his car. She's babbling something ridiculous like nothing has to
change. She seems to be in some weird state of denial. Finally she says that
if he leaves her she thinks she'll die. It has to be tempting for him to
just drive off.
Finally, probably just to shut her up, Tim asks Jenny if she still wants to
get married. She says more than anything else. He tells her to get in the
car and they drive away.
Dana comes downstairs from her bedroom dressed up for the Subaru party. She
drops an earring on the floor and bends down to get it nearly toppling on
her heels, showing that she isn't exactly a natural when it comes to evening
wear. Harrison comes out of the kitchen bearing two enormous, pink drinks,
apparently made from vodka and whey protein. Only a tennis player could come
up with something so disgusting, surely?
The doorbell rings. Lara comes in bearing two formal dresses. Dana hears
Lara's voice as she comes in and panics, while Harrison finds a reason to
make himself scarce for the duration. Lara fawns over Dana momentarily and
then says she needs help - she didn't know what Dana would be wearing and
god forbid they should match. Dana is looking more and more pained each
second.
Harrison chooses that moment to come back down the stairs. One glimpse of
him and Lara knows she's not going to the party. She's totally embarrassed
that she just assumed she'd be going and heads for the stairs, not
particularly interested in Dana's explanation. Dana blames it on Conrad,
saying he thinks it's better to stay consistent, and Harrison is who she
usually goes to these things with. Lara understands only too well Dana’s
closeted persona. She sounds pretty damn sick of it actually. Dana admits
she should have called. Lara replies that would've been nice and leaves.
Harrison tries to give Dana a pep talk but it feels like he’s just making
things worse. Dana looks as though she wants to throw either Harrison, or
herself, out the nearest window.
Tim and Jenny show up at The Planet. Marina is pretty easy to find. Jenny
tells her that what happened between them was a mistake and it'll never
happen again. Tim hovers over her like an angry bear, he’s obviously
dictated to her what she has to say. Marina says nothing, just stares at
Jenny as she humiliates herself. Tim lashes out, she growls back. He asks
her when it started and Marina cryptically says that it didn't. Despite
everything, Marina's parting look to Jenny isn’t hostile, just sad. Jenny
follows Tim when he commands her to leave, like the good little puppet she
is.
A few moments later Clive finds Shane over by the pool table. He's carrying
a bag, probably everything he owns. He says he told Harry all about Shane,
including that she did Pink's mohawk for one of her videos. Apparently Harry
was impressed and wants to recommend her to all his Hollywood friends. That
could be big business for Shane. All he wants is to hang out with her
sometime. Shane is determined she's not doing that, Harry still thinks Shane
is a guy and she's not into that, she’s found a real job now.
Shane notices his bag. She thinks its great he's found a place to stay until
Clive admits he's staying with Harry. Shane's conscience can't allow that
and she finally cracks and says Clive can stay with her for one week.
Lenore is packing her bags. Alice’s brother Nelson is outside honking the
horn. Lenore feels like she's being banished but Alice explains that she
just desperately needs her space back because she works there. Lenore is
pretty pissed off at being passed from child to child. Alice promises to
remind Nelson's kids to call her Bunny and not Grandma. Her vanity is
hilarious. Alice preys on that vanity and tries to buck up her mother's
spirits by telling her that Shane thinks she's wild. It works. Lenore asks
Alice to let Shane down easy. Alice has trouble not laughing.
Jenny and Tim are in the car and driving past a sign that says they're 23
miles from Tahoe.
Bette tells her father the story about how she procured the "Provocations"
exhibit and sweet talked Peggy Peabody. Melvin is proud and raves about how
Bette can do anything she puts her mind to. Bette glows under his praise -
she adores him.
Melvin asks Tina how her career is shaping up. She admits she doesn't have
much of one right now because she left the studio seven months ago. Bette is
holding Tina's hand. She realises Melvin is staring at it uncomfortably and
lets go. Tina looks abandoned. At Bette’s urging Tina tells Melvin that she
and Bette are having a baby. He's a bit literal, at first he doesn’t
understand. Then it clicks for him and he freezes up. He flatly refuses to
acknowledge the child will be his grandchild. It is biologically impossible.
He'll have nothing to do with it.
Bette is stunned. Tina looks sad, but not surprised. Bette tries to explain
it and gets pretty much nowhere. He's still referring to Tina as Bette's
"friend” so clearly doesn't have the mental capacity to deal with the whole
concept. Even the fact that the donor is African American doesn't sway him.
He somehow finds the whole concept illogical. In between all this the waiter
keeps coming back trying to tell them the specials. It’s amusing.
Tina can't take it any more and politely decides to leave. Bette offers to
take her but Tina insists she stay and talk to Melvin. The waiter just
stands there looking perplexed. Melvin calmly orders the sea bass. Bette
gives him a look, wondering how he can be so cold.
Tim flicks through pages of the bible as they wait in a wedding chapel for
their ceremony. He looks up a passage on homosexuality, as if suddenly
finding it perverse now that he's caught his wife-to-be in the act. An
absurd middle-aged woman, the celebrant, comes down the spiral staircase
smiling and leads them into a dingy little chapel. Her equally weird husband
is to be their witness. It's all very icky and wrong. She asks if they've
both given this a lot of thought and are sure about it. Only Jenny answers,
yes. She asks if they ran away or if Jenny is pregnant. She's seen it all in
her time. Jenny says they're just in love. The woman looks amused and
slightly disbelieving, as if no one really in love could ever marry like
this.
After the ceremony Jenny and Tim stay in the hotel attached to the chapel.
It's equally as dingy. Jenny jumps on the bed like a teenager. Tim brings
out a bottle of champagne and they toast to themselves as Mr and Mrs Haspel,
arms linked. Jenny is brimming with happiness. (Denial!) Tim still seems
kind of numb. Jenny says that she thought the minister was pretty great. Tim
asks why, because she's a woman? Jenny wraps herself around Tim, sitting on
his lap and moving against him, trying to get his... attention. Now he looks
really uncomfortable.
Tim asks Jenny to take a shower, presumably to wash off the last of Marina
from her body. She understands and agrees. It's all very awkward.
There's a knock on Lara's front door. She opens it to find Dana standing in
the doorway looking utterly pathetic and miserable. She thinks for a moment
and invites Dana inside. She's looking pretty miserable herself.
Lara asks how the party was. Dana looks even more miserable. Lara's standing
with her arms folded, body language screaming defensiveness and pain. She's
finding it difficult to even look at Dana.
Dana begs. She's sorry, she always screws everything up, but she'd really
like another chance. Slowly Dana starts to touch Lara. With the touch Lara
melts bit by bit. Finally she lets go of the anger. She says yes they can
try again, on one condition; that Dana has to at least start making steps
towards coming out. Dana says she will. Lara points out that when Dana hides
being gay she's hiding the most beautiful part of herself. Also she is
really, really gay so she'll just be miserable in the closet. Dana knows
these things. Lara melts all the way to forgiveness and they kiss. Dana is
relieved she hasn't managed to destroy everything.
In the dingy hotel Jenny is naked in bed waiting for Tim to come to her from
the shower. When he does he's wearing all his clothes, like he really
doesn't want to touch her at all. She snuggles up to him invitingly, as if
she believes if they make love it'll wipe the slate clean. Tim tries but he
just can't get it up. She tries to masturbate him, but it's no use.
Kit is having a party at her apartment. There's lots of people there,
drinking and dancing to slow music. Kit herself is in the kitchen with a guy
called Roger who is fixing her a huge sandwich.
Bette tells Kit she saw Melvin. She apologises for not telling her he was
coming. Kit says it's OK, it's not like she even talks to Melvin anyway.
Bette can't believe Melvin was so horrible, but Kit knows better. She's used
to the cruelty Melvin can inflict. He's small minded and a bigot. They
disagree on the way Bette gives up her dignity to pander to their father’s
pride and Bette leaves unhappier than when she arrived.
It's just before dawn. Tim is leaving Jenny some things on the bedside
table, what looks like a note rolled up and threaded into his wedding ring
which he has taken from his finger. He stares at her, face blank, like he
feels nothing. Finally he takes the car keys and leaves, stopping just once
to take a last look at her.
Kit walks through the halls of Melvin's flashy hotel in the wee early hours
of the morning. She finds his door and knocks nervously. He opens the door,
unimpressed and tells her to arrange a meeting at a more appropriate time.
She says she knew he was up doing his 5am sit-ups, since nothing about
Melvin ever changes. He makes the observation that this trait appears to be
mutual.
Kit says she's not there for herself, she's there for Bette. He starts
ranting again about not accepting a grandson with no blood relation to him.
Kit says she doesn't care what Melvin thinks, he owes Bette more than that.
Bette idolises him, but if he rejects her does he really want to open his
door thirteen years later and find that Bette is standing there and is a
stranger to him, like Kit is now?
She gives Melvin the letter she wrote for David and asks him to deliver it.
Apparently the return address on the letter David sent was some office of
his school. Kit leaves, and Melvin is left to mull over her words.
Tim is pushing 80 mph on his way back to LA, just driving without thinking.
He's pulled over by a highway patrol cop, the same cop that arrested the gay
guy in the clip at the beginning (this week’s obscure tie-in). Tim spills
his entire story to the cop, even the parts about Jenny having cheated on
him with a woman. The cop explains that he believes the whole myth about
women just wanting a man to please them is just a lie. He thinks
homosexuality is a warning to all men. Two people with the same equipment
who know how to use it, how can anyone of the opposite sex compete with
that? It's unsure if Tim gets anything from this speech but a boost to his
rapidly growing homophobia. The cop lets Tim off with a warning. He just
nods and promises to follow the speed limit from now on.
Jenny wakes up alone in the hotel room. She searches for Tim and finds his
note rolled up in the ring on the bedside table. She slips the note out.
It's blank. He had no words. She sits there naked and confused. Perhaps the
reality of what happened has finally hit her. She folds the note up into a
tiny ball and just holds it.
<fade to black>
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