A couple of teenage girls are working in a fast food joint. The place is a
graveyard and they're bored. One is cleaning the bench while the other looks
like she's leaning back staring at the other girl's ass.
Their early-twenties manager comes out and demands that the second girl help
with the cleaning. She shrugs him off - she's got attitude. He retreats into
the back. As soon as he's gone the girls start to kiss each other, slowly at
first then with more intensity. The guy spots them through the glass in the
door. He watches for a second, then unzips his pants and starts masturbating
while he's watching them. We see the girls get hot and heavy, and his breath
against the glass. The girls don't notice he's watching them.
<TITLE>
Shane is looking hot. She's hit a club with Clive. They walk through the
crowds of gay boys. This club looks and feels very different from the usual
lesbian clubs we see on the show. As they walk through many guys size Shane
up.
Harry and his friends are sniffing oxy by the bar. When Clive reaches Harry
he reaches straight for the oxy tube but Harry stops him, insisting on
introductions before drugs. Harry fawns all over Shane. Shane is pissed that
Clive didn't tell them who/what she is. Harry implies that nothing Shane
could say would make a difference, so he gets quite a shock when Shane says
she's a girl. He’s disappointed because it's always the skinny boys who have
the biggest cocks. He starts fondling with Shane's pants like he doesn't
believe her. She backs off and heads for the bar, disgusted by him.
Tim is at home and his conscience is killing him – it could be that it’s
sinking in that he abandoned Jenny in Tahoe with no money and no way of
getting home. It's 3am and he can't sleep. He puts on some sweats and gloves
and heads for the garage with a little tension to work out.
Tina is up late reading a parenting guide. Bette walks in, sits beside her
and starts massaging her feet. She asks if Tina feels sick and if there’s
anything she can do. Tina replies, no she's just awake, but the foot massage
feels good. Bette comments that Tina can sleep on the whole plane ride. She
asks if Tina could have anything right then, what would it be? Tina replies
she'd like something cold. They go through the alternatives and agree on a
Slurpie. Bette is happy to oblige and heads for an all-night convenience
store.
Back to the gay bar. Lots of sweaty men dancing. Looks like someone at
Showtime is trying to get us lesbians back for all those Lindsay/Melanie
scenes they had to include in Queer As Folk. Clive is spilling the beans
about Shane and their collective past. They turned tricks together in Santa
Monica for six months. Apparently Shane only gave hand jobs, no matter how
much they offered her. Harry remarks that's called integrity, and it isn't
something you can buy or steal. It’s hard to tell if that means it is
something he respects.
Harry enquires as to whether Shane would go for a trick now. Clive says no,
she's a hairstylist now. Harry promises that he's going to send her Cherie
Jaffe, the wife of his business partner. She's a Hollywood mover and shaker
who sounds like she could make or break Shane’s professional reputation.
Shane is shocked and suspicious. We get the feeling she’s learned the hard
way that most favours come at a price. She takes a hit of something she
thinks is blow but turns out to be Oxy. Her worries all fade as the drug
starts to kick in.
Tim is in the garage whacking his punching bag. He's really built. Bette
walks past carrying an enormous slurpie. She waits quietly at the door until
he notices her. He apologises if he's making too much noise. Bette waves him
off, explaining her late night craving run. She asks if Tim wants to talk
about it. He nods.
Tim thinks he's a fucking idiot for not noticing the affair. Bette
disagrees, saying she wouldn't have thought Jenny would be unfaithful
either. He explains about their Tahoe wedding barely eight hours after he
walked in on Jenny and Marina. Bette admits she completely understands why
he did it - she could imagine herself doing some crazy things if she thought
she was going to lose Tina. Everything feels empty now for him. He expected
to be mad and is shocked that he just feels nothing. Now he has no idea
where she is.
Bette tries to pitch Tim that old nugget about Jenny being a writer and that
writers crave experience. Perhaps that's all Marina was, an attempt by Jenny
to broaden her experiences? Tim just says he thinks Jenny's a fucking
typical dyke. Bette refuses to be tarred with the same brush; that's why
they left Tim’s dinner party, because she couldn't bear to see Marina and
Jenny doing what they were doing.
Bette realises from Tim’s shocked look that he didn't know it was going on
back then. He was starting to believe that it had only been that one time.
Bette apologises, she didn't tell him because Tim is her friend and
sometimes people kill the messenger. He asks how long it was going on, and
Bette honestly says she doesn't know. He's pissed, like there's some big
lesbian conspiracy out there determined to keep him from knowing the truth.
Next morning. Flash to Jenny by the side of the road, somewhere between
Tahoe and LA. She's writing bad poetry to Tim and we hear some of it out
loud.
Tim sits on his couch at home, restless, still wearing the sweats from the
night before. He hasn’t slept. The phone rings but it’s a salesman. Tim
swears, hangs up and throws the phone on the floor in frustration.
Bette is madly packing while on the phone checking details with her
assistant. Peggy Peabody has invited them both to New York for the opening
of the “Provocations” exhibit. Tina is sitting on the bed, doing her
breathing exercises and trying not to throw up. She's impressed as this was
the first time they've received an invitation that had her name on it rather
than just "Bette Porter and Guest". However, Tina still looks less than
ready to walk, let alone fly.
Finally Bette realises that Tina isn't up to it, that she can’t go anywhere.
She tells her to call, day or night, if she needs her. Apparently their yoga
teacher has recommended a Chinese herbalist with a cure for morning
sickness. Bette has second thoughts about leaving her at home alone, but
finally Tina convinces her to go.
Shane's flatmates are sitting at The Planet talking about the women's night
they're planning to hold. They discuss a name for the night, and come up
with TWAT! Alice is sitting at a table next to them overhearing everything.
She’s feeling lonely so she picks up the phone and calls Shane but just gets
her machine. She leaves a message about Shane's flatmates saying twat like
they have Tourette's syndrome and Dana and Lara having left after giving her
the "we fucked all night" vibe. Alice misses someone to be surly and cynical
with.
Out of nowhere appears Lisa the Lesbian Identified Man. Alice's face lights
up and he joins her. Lisa starts to win her over with his "so sensitive it's
making my ears bleed" routine. Anyway, she explains that the situation with
her mother got a lot worse after the conversation they had the other day,
but that he can't possibly want to hear all the boring details. Au
contraire, he's fascinated, as any sensitive LIM would be. Lisa listens and
then tells Alice everything she wants to hear, agrees with her every word
and basically makes Alice feel validated. He's kinda sweet, but very weird.
Shane is asleep in her car outside the salon where she works. She looks like
shit, and she's still wearing the clothes from clubbing the night before.
Her boss goes ballistic and orders her inside to get cleaned up before any
of the clients see her. She's still either drunk or drug fucked because she
doesn’t do much more than just wriggle around in the front seat of the car.
He insists that no matter what skanky things Shane did to what skanky
people, he won't have that skankiness in his shop. He seems to like the word
skanky, and well, it kind of does describe Shane's look.
Tina appears at The Planet looking radiant - much better than she did that
morning. Bette apparently called Alice at 6am and left left strict
instructions to let Tina sleep in until 10.30am. Tina is pleased that Bette
was considerate enough to call. Now that she’s puked up most of her internal
organs Tina says she's feeling a lot better. Lisa tells Tina he's jealous
that his body will never experience what her body is experiencing right now.
Alice looks charmed, Tina looks weirded out.
Tim has finally decided to use the phone to try and find Jenny. He calls the
hotel he left her at and learns that she checked out early that morning.
Cut to Jenny hitchhiking. Inside her head she's composing some more really
bad poetry, things about eviscerating her heart and tearing out her organs
as gifts for Tim. Finally a black 4WD stops. She looks nervous for a second
and then walks up to the car and gets in.
Tim is at the police station filing a missing person report. Apparently she
hasn't been gone 48 hours yet so there's nothing the officer can do. He
can't even take a description of Jenny yet, not until she's officially
listed as missing. Tim gets agitated. He tries to tell the officer
everything, all the sordid details. A couple of guys behind Tim in the line
are waiting for something really simple and they get on Tim’s nerves by
asking him to hurry it up. He asks the cop if it had been his boyfriend who
was missing, would the officer help him then? Now we realise that Tim pretty
much just hates all homosexuals right now.
Someone famous named Mrs Zimmer turns up at Lather, the salon where Shane
works, wanting to see Shane personally. Apparently Harry's contacts are
coming through already. Shane's boss knows her and starts almost
hyperventilating. Shane is hidden in a chair around the corner still half
passed out. The boss describes Ellie Zimmer to Shane: she’s a studio boss,
friend of Madonna and J-Lo, Hollywood trendsetter, powerful enough to put
them all out of business if she doesn't like her hairstyle. Shane's too
whacked out to be intimidated. Her attempt at cleaning up consists of
standing up and running a hand through her hair. Ellie Zimmer thinks Shane
is hot.
Jenny is riding with a couple of teens who look high. The guy – Malcolm -
climbs into the back seat with her and opens up a bag of shrooms. At their
prodding, Jenny eats not just one but a whole handful.
In the waiting room of the Chinese herbalist’s office a Chinese woman is
raving about how the doctor fixed her chronic back problems and is now
fixing her boyfriend's back. She asks why Tina is there. Tina reveals she's
really hoping the doc can help with her morning sickness. Marcus Allenwood
emerges from the doc's office. He is the Chinese woman's boyfriend. Tina
immediately says hi and launches in about how she and Bette were going to
call him and that the insemination worked, they're having a baby. Marcus
thinks its awesome. They hug. The girlfriend absorbs the news slowly.
On the road again. Jenny sober is pretty flaky - Jenny on shrooms is
positively freaky. She's thinking of someone and asks the cosmos "are you my
heart?" Is it Tim or Marina? Malcolm asks why she's there. Is she running
away? Did she commit a crime? She says no. He says she looks like she did
something bad. Jenny tells him about Tim, Marina and the affair.
The girl asks if she's a lesbian because she had some friends once who were
busted being lesbos after kissing in the fast food joint where they worked.
(The weekly tie-in.) Their boss caught them and ratted them out to their
parents. The girls were sent away to boarding school and then one of them
killed herself.
Jenny is horrified. Malcolm reveals those weren't her friends, it was an
after-school special. In any case, the girl insists, the girl killed
herself. She's dead, so Jenny should be careful if she thinks she might be a
lesbian.
In the Chinese doctor's office Marcus Allenwood's girlfriend throws a hissy
fit. She didn't know Marcus was a sperm donor and she seems to think Marcus'
sperm aren't his to give. He tells his girlfriend that she's way ahead of
herself. Tina steps out of it and goes back to sit down, not able to deal
with the woman's illogical outburst. Finally the doctor tells them to take
the argument outside. When Marcus and the squealing chick are thrown out,
the doctor throws Tina out too, even though she had nothing to do with it.
In the back seat of the car Malcolm, asks Jenny what she's writing. She
answers that it's a letter to Tim. She starts to read it to him, it's the
same bad poem she's been composing all along. She explains some words to him
and he's fascinated. Then he's shocked, why would Jenny offer her boyfriend
a pile of sick meat? That's what she's saying isn't she? He asks her to
continue on. The next bits about offering Tim her sweetbreads and a variety
of meats make her sound like a serial killer.
Tina gets to her car (after a few more slings from the wailing chick) and
starts to cry, totally thrown. The insane-o chick threatens that she and
Marcus have rights over the baby and that she’ll sue if she has to. Tina
immediately tries to call Bette to say something horrible has just happened.
She leaves the kind of message that we know is going to freak Bette out when
she gets it.
Ellie Zimmer is leaving the studio praising Shane as a hair genius. The boss
of the salon is falling over himself with gratitude at Elllie's compliments.
Shane just stands there, looking pleased with herself but only slightly less
drugged-out than before. Ellie invites Shane to a screening of the new
Steven Soderburgh film. Shane says it "sounds kinda beast but thank you." I
think that means thanks but no thanks. Ellie hands over a card and says call
me. She's still raving about Shane as she walks out the door.
Tina arrives home to find a basket of goodies on the doorstep from Bette.
She looks calmer now.
Cut to New York. Bette is at the “Provocations” exhibit. MONA is a really
great space. Lots of people are milling around. A montage shows us various
art pieces and Bette talking to various people about art. She looks in her
element.
Tina is unwrapping the gift basket as she checks the answering machine.
Alice called saying Dana and Lara are on their way with food and she will be
by later after her "situation”, which is what she calls dinner when she not
sure whether it's a date or not. Presumably she's going out with Lisa. Dana
called confirming she and Lara will be there with takeout at 7. Shane called
and says that Bette called her to say they should still do poker even though
she's out of town so she's on her way over. So Shane passed up a film
premiere for her friend’s poker night. That seems very sweet.
The rest of the answering machine is filled with nasty messages from the mad
Chinese woman, including her saying that it is easy for her to find out
where Tina lives. Tina freaks out again and calls Bette, who is of course
inside the show and has her mobile switched off.
Randy is at Tim's house listening to the sad story. He says he would have
left too if it had been him, but he wouldn't have gone to Tahoe in the first
place. Randy's wife Carol is worried about the sickos and serial killers out
there who might hurt Jenny. Tim doesn't know what to do, he's pacing back
and forth. Carol comes up with the idea that someone should check with
Jenny's mother. Tim kicks himself and dials right away.
Tina picks up the phone when it rings hoping it is Bette, but it is the
sicko woman again. She slams the phone down. There's a knock at the door.
Tina looks around like she's stuck in a haunted house in a horror film.
Thankfully Lara and Dana are there.
Lara asks if the crazy woman would really come over. Tina thinks she could
be capable of anything. Dana suggests to go around and lock all the doors
and windows. Lara comments that she's so smart. Dana says you're the smart
one. Lara says no you are. Dana says no you are, you have cooking
intelligence. Lara says but you have mind and body intelligence. They start
to giggle and kiss. So cute! Tina looks at the them like they're five.
Dana and Lara apologise and head off in separate directions to keep closing
windows. Probably a good idea or else they'd be doing it all night.
Tim calls Sandy, Jenny's mother. He doesn't want to alarm her but Jenny is
missing... then Jenny's mother breaks in and tells Tim that Jenny is fine
and she called an hour ago. Sandy asks if Tim thinks Jenny is insane. He
replies that he thinks she knows exactly what she's doing. But they still
don't know where she is. Carol says that if she had to guess... Tim gathers
his keys and heads for The Planet.
The poker players are assembled. Even Lisa the LIM is there. Shane is
telling bad jokes and dealing cards. Dana and Lara snuggle on the floor with
beers in hand. Tina looks a lot more relaxed now with people around. Alice
asks if the psycho lady is still calling. Tina admits they unplugged the
phone. They ante up for the poker game. Dana is still not impressed by Lisa.
She just doesn't know what to make of him.
Back at the Provocations exhibit. The story is circulating about Bette's
master stroke to secure the exhibit for the CAC. A woman introduces herself
to Bette saying she's honoured to meet her and she's so impressed how Bette
went up in the faces of the big boys and stole the exhibit from under them.
It’s Lisa Gay Hamilton! She may be flirting with Bette, but they cut too
soon to really tell.
Kit arrives at the poker game. Shane tells the same bad joke. Kit fawns over
Tina for a while and insists that if the crazy lady turns up they all can
kick some ass.
Tim is knocking on the door of The Planet. It's closed but we all know
Marina works strange hours. He calls out for Jenny, convinced she's there
and bangs until Marina opens the door. He pushes his way inside demanding to
know where Jenny is, searching around like a madman. Marina tells him he
needs to calm down. He's incensed. He asks Marina if she has a conscience,
does she even feel bad that she sat at his table and lied to him? Doesn't
she know the meaning of honour? How does she feel about getting Jenny to lie
to him? Marina replies only that everyone is responsible for their own
actions. Her refusal to rise to the bait just gets him angrier.
Tim calls her pathetic and she starts to laugh. He asks if what women do
together even counts anyway? She replies that he was there, he saw how much
it counts. He's at boiling point. She walks forward into him and tells him
that he needs to leave. Her contact triggers violence in him and he grabs
her, trying to exert physical power where anger and verbal power had no
effect. She stands her ground and asks what were all thinking – what is he
trying to prove? Finally, when it's obvious he's getting nowhere, he shoves
her away and stalks out.
Back at the poker game while Lisa is in the other room Dana makes fun of
Lisa and Alice's budding relationship. She asks if Alice should call herself
trisexual. Lara is confused and we go through the lesbian man explanation
again. Tina just wants to know is Alice attracted to him as a lesbian or as
a man? Dana asks Shane if he pees standing up or sitting down. Shane replies
that she’s never peed with him, so how would she know?
As Lisa walks back in Kit admonishes them all and raises the point that if
Lisa wants to give up his white man rights and become a second class
citizen, who are they to judge him? Even Dana has to admit she has a point.
They all welcome Lisa into the fold. Shane welcomes him to the heavenly
gates. Go Shane!
Bette is trying to catch a cab back to her hotel after the Provocations
exhibit. She finally turns on her mobile phone and gets Tina's messages.
After just hearing the first message Bette tries to call the home phone.
There's no answer and the message bank is full. She tries to call Kit and
gets Roger who doesn't know what the emergency is. She finds out how long
ago Tina called.
At Tina's place there's a serious slumber party going on. Everyone has
crashed on various mattresses, couches, whatever. They're all asleep except
Lara and Dana who both claim they can’t sleep. Lara looks around and then
starts to seduce Dana. Dana is horrified – they’re in a room full of people!
Asleep or not, that's just funny. Dana says don't, stop, we can't. Lara asks
who says they can't and keeps going. Dana keeps looking around at first to
see if everyone is actually asleep, but then after a few seconds Lara
manages to capture her full attention.
Alice wakes up first and hears the heavy breathing. She looks over and
settles in to enjoy the show. Shane's awake and looking bemused. She catches
a bit of the show and lies back down. Lara and Dana having stealthy sex is
actually really hot. Lara admits she finds it sexy to be doing it in the
middle of a room full of people. Dana insists on being quiet, but doesn't
say no. Kit is awake now and trying to stop herself from laughing. It gets
intense. Even Alice is embarrassed and hides her face in the pillow. Finally
Kit clears her throat at them and Dana panics, ending it rapidly. Lara
cracks up and Dana hides under the blankets, completely embarrassed. Damn!
Jenny is driving the shroom mobile. It's late and she's having trouble
staying awake at the wheel. The GPS tells her she's lost and going the wrong
way but the girl beside her tells her to ignore it. Malcolm says that he
wishes he were Tim. Tim is such a lucky guy, getting all those gifts from
Jenny (we are still talking about her eviscerated heart and bleeding
internal organs here).
Bette is in a taxi in New York. It’s the middle of the night. She calls
Peggy Peabody (expecting to get a machine and not the real woman) and is
apologetic when she wakes her up. She cancels the rest of her stay in New
York to travel back to LA. There's been an emergency with Tina and the baby
and she needs to head home. Peggy tries to convince Bette to stay, there
were so many important people Bette needs to meet. But Bette insists she
needs to fly out immediately. She's still trying to call home and still
getting the full machine.
Everyone is asleep on the floor at Tina's when there's a knock on the door.
Someone comments that it could be the crazy woman. It's not, it's Marcus
come to apologise for the behaviour of his girlfriend. He's managed to get
the bitch to calm down and he's made her promise not to call Tina again.
Tina is looking out the door as if she expects to be physically attacked any
second. He says he tried to call but the voice mailbox was full. Tina slaps
her forehead - you have to wonder if she's even thought about Bette yet.
Marcus leaves and Tina feels relieved. Just that moment as she closes the
door she realises that the phone is still unplugged.
Tina goes through the mailbox, surprised Bette didn't call and erasing all
the crazy woman's messages. She tries to call Bette, but of course Bette is
in transit. Kit tells Tina to call Bette's hotel. The hotel says Bette
checked out early that morning. Now Tina is worried.
While they talk about where Bette could be, Bette herself arrives in the
doorway. She made very good time getting home from New York. Bette's almost
crying with worry and grief. We're left to wonder what kind of catastrophic
scenarios she's made up in her mind over the past hours on the plane home.
She hasn't slept all night and looks exhausted.
She asks what the hell happened. Tina's tickled pink that Bette flew home
just because she couldn't reach her, but now Bette's wondering if she didn't
make a huge professional blunder for no good reason. Tina tries to explain,
but it doesn't sound as urgent now as it did then. Tina thinks maybe her
hormones are making her think things are bigger and more unmanageable than
they really are.
Shane asks how New York was. Bette smiles for the first time. She says it
seems all of New York knew the story of how she got Provocations. She was
kind of a star. Of course, now she's not going to be at a dinner in her
honour and she was cultivating a major donor to be on her board of
directors. Bette swallows her frustration and tells Tina that she’s just
relieved everything is OK, that's the most important thing. Deep down we
know she's angry, and will probably stew on this for a while.
Tim sits alone in his kitchen, wearing the same clothes from the day before.
He probably hasn't slept at all, again.
The black 4WD drops Jenny off on a street corner and drives away. She waves
goodbye to the shroom people. She's back in LA. She mails the crazy letter
to Tim. The end of the letter says that whatever happens it will be on her,
on her heart. As Marina says - everyone needs to take responsibility for
their own actions. Even Jenny. It's a relief after she's spent so much time
in a child-like denial. She sits on the concrete next to the mailbox and
contemplates her next move.
<fade to black>
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