Lessons in Chemistry

On an episode of the show, Elizabeth explains different kinds of chemical bonds before demonstrating how to make a chicken pot pie. Walter is worried, as Lebensmal has extended Elizabeth’s contract for another six months on the sole condition that the science is turned down and “sexy” is brought in. However, Elizabeth continues to discard every suggestion of Walter’s and women seem to like Elizabeth’s use of scientific terms on the show, as it makes them feel “capable”.

Elizabeth takes a question from the audience as she has a little extra time at the end of the episode. The woman asks Elizabeth a detailed question about the edema on her leg, using some of the concepts Elizabeth had introduced on earlier episodes. The woman is a housewife who enjoys reading medical journals in her spare time, and Elizabeth’s questioning reveals that the woman had once dreamt of becoming an open-heart surgeon. This revelation is met with applause from the audience. Elizabeth encourages her to pursue her dream, asserting that it is never too late. She also gives the woman the chicken pot pie Elizabeth has just made, as a show of support for her “fearless future”.

Elizabeth gets a call from Mrs. Mudford about the “inappropriate family photo” Madeline brought in with her family tree. Harriet informs Elizabeth that he has received calls from the reverend of the First Presbyterian, who asked for Mad, as well as from the LA Times, who want an interview with Elizabeth. Elizabeth doesn’t want to do the interview, as she is sure there will be questions about her family.

Walter calls to commiserate with Elizabeth about the fact that Amanda, too, is in trouble about the family tree. He also informs Elizabeth that Lebensmal is not happy with how the show is going. Walter requests that Elizabeth feature a can of soup on one of the episodes that is made by one of the sponsors Lebensmal is courting. Elizabeth wants to meet Lebensmal face-to-face, but Walter forbids it.

The week gets steadily worse: Mrs. Mudford begins to gossip with the parents about all that she has learned about the children and their families, revealing that Madeline is born out of wedlock and Amanda doesn’t have a mother; Elizabeth learns that she is making significantly less than the other people on KCTV, and that profit-sharing privileges are only extended to male employees. Harriet is injured when Mr. Sloane throws a beer bottle at Harriet in a rage. Elizabeth is furious, but Harriet does not allow her to call the police, insisting she can handle Mr. Sloane on her own.

The events of the week propel Elizabeth to insult the sponsor’s soup on television, dismissing it as full of poisonous chemicals. She explains how to kill someone by feeding them toxic mushrooms and rants about women not being paid the same wage as their male counterparts before going on to show the audience how to make a broccoli-mushroom casserole.

Lebensmal asks to see Elizabeth at 7 PM and Rosa, the make-up woman, warns Elizabeth not to go alone. Elizabeth ignores this and goes to meet Lebensmal, who yells at her in an attempt to intimidate her. When this doesn’t work, he tells her that she, and everyone else who works on Supper at Six, is fired. This doesn’t rattle Elizabeth, who calmly explains that Lebensmal wants to fire her because he “want(s) a show that reinforces societal norms […] (and) limits an individual’s capacity” (274). In a final attempt to display his authority, Lebensmal begins to undress in front of Elizabeth, thrusting his genitals in her face. Elizabeth calmly withdraws a 14-inch chef’s knife from her bag, at the sight of which Lebensmal promptly faints.

Lebensmal has had a heart attack and is hospitalized for three weeks, followed by a year of bed rest; work is “out of the question” (276). Walter is amazed to learn that Elizabeth was there when it happened and was the one to call the ambulance. He is further horrified to learn that she went to meet with Lebensmal alone in the evening, despite Walter’s warnings.

Elizabeth tells Walter that Lebensmal had fired them all before trying to assault her; however, he was unsuccessful, as he had a heart attack at the sight of Elizabeth’s knife. While she was waiting for the ambulance to arrive, Elizabeth had perused documents about the show in Lebensmal’s office to find syndication and new sponsorship offers. Contrary to what Lebensmal had led Walter and everyone else to believe, the show was doing exceptionally well.

Walter becomes acting executive producer, syndicating Supper at Six across the country and negotiating new sponsorship deals that bring in substantially more money. He updates everyone at KCTV about Lebensmal’s condition, and news of his heart attack is met with applause. They send Lebensmal a get-well greeting card signed by everyone, some of the remarks indicating how much Lebensmal was hated by people at the channel. Emboldened by this and by Elizabeth’s simple advice to him when he took up his new role—to do the right thing—Walter pens: “MAY YOU NEVER RECOVER” (282).

Harriet forges Elizabeth’s signature and smuggles Madeline out of school so that she can visit the Supper at Six set and watch her mom live. They plan to enter through the emergency exit and sit in the back row, unnoticed.

Harriet and Madeline arrive to a huge crowd waiting to see Supper at Six; a security guard, Seymour Browne, informs them that people have been waiting since 4 AM, but the studio audience has already been selected, and they won’t be able to enter. Madeline asks the guard to write his name in her notebook so that she can tell her mother how tough a job he is having; Seymour obliges and is taken aback to see Madeline’s surname on the notebook.

Harriet and Madeline are immediately ushered in, and Walter’s secretary gives them front row seats. They accept after being reassured that the blinding lights means that Elizabeth can’t see her audience at all. Madeline is filled with pride when she watches Elizabeth conduct the show but also feels a small pang of jealousy when she realized that she has to share her mother with so many other people who watch her on television.

Walter asks to meet with Harriet and Madeline, wanting to know why Madeline is not in school. Elizabeth will be angry if she discovers that Madeline is on the set, and Walter explains that Elizabeth is just trying to protect Madeline from the lack of privacy that accompanies fame. Madeline asks Walter why he thinks Elizabeth is so popular, and Walter opines that it is because Elizabeth makes very good food and says what she actually thinks, which is rare. Towards the end of the show, in response to an audience question, Elizabeth reveals that she is an atheist, and Walter begins to receive numerous phone calls as the episode concludes.

A public proclamation of atheism is unheard of in 1960, and Walter begins to get threats from sponsors and viewers who want dire things to happen to Elizabeth. As Elizabeth asks Walter to have faith that things will be alright, Wakely is struggling with his own faith after a particularly hard day. He returns to his office to find his new part-time typist, Frask, watching Supper at Six as she works at the typewriter. Frank tells Wakely that she used to work with Elizabeth until they both got fired from Hastings.

Wakely asks Madeline why she didn’t tell him that her mother was on television; Madeline had assumed that everyone already knew, especially after Elizabeth’s revelation that she is an atheist. Wakely updates Madeline on his follow-up with All Saints, where after many failed attempts at getting in touch with the bishop, the secretary finally told him that they had no record of a Calvin Evans at their home. Madeline is convinced that the secretary is lying.

The bishop at All Saints remembers how, in 1933, he had been assigned to the boys’ home in the middle of Iowa with the instruction that he ought to secure long-term funding for the place, following which he would be transferred to a better place. He had no luck for his first four years before finally, in 1937, a man named Wilson arrived claiming to be from the Parker Foundation, an affluent Catholic fund. He was looking for Calvin Evans and wanted to take the boy back with him. The bishop lied to Wilson that the boy was dead in order to secure the funding. A shocked Wilson agreed to endow the Calvin Evans Memorial Fund at the home, and the money was earmarked for science and sports. Years later, when Calvin appeared on the cover of Chemistry Today, the bishop received a phone call from Avery Parker of the Parker Foundation who was livid to discover she had been lied to; the endowment was effectively cancelled.

In the present, the bishop has been avoiding Wakely’s call, tired of the trouble Calvin has caused him in the past. To prove Madeline wrong, Wakely calls the home again, pretending to be a donor looking to give money to the place where Calvin Evans grew up. He is immediately put through to the bishop, who admits that Calvin had been raised there and inadvertently revealing that the Parker Foundation had funded the Calvin Evans Memorial Fund at the home. Wakely passes on this information to Madeline, as well as the post box number he found for the Parker Foundation, suggesting that Wilson had been Madeline’s fairy godmother. Madeline is confused about why the Foundation funded, and then rescinded funding, for a memorial for her then-alive father. But she reiterates that she has faith that she will uncover the truth, surprising Wakely with her insight that even if religion is based on faith, the inverse isn’t true.

One of Elizabeth’s viewers asks for a diet tip, and Elizabeth suggests rowing as a form of exercise, instead. Because of this, when Elizabeth next goes down to the boathouse, she finds it crowded with women, who are all following her advice.

Picketers who are unhappy with Elizabeth’s atheism turn up outside KCTV. Although Elizabeth is unruffled, Walter is worried because Elizabeth has been getting a number of death threats. Six-Thirty is worried, too, as he has noticed a non-clapper in Elizabeth’s television audience. He makes his way down to the studio, getting past Seymour until he finds Elizabeth inside. When Elizabeth explains that Six-Thirty is her dog, Seymour inadvertently reveals that Madeline and Harriet had come to visit, too.

Walter calms down an angry Elizabeth by lying that Madeline had visited because of a homework assignment, “Watch Your Parent at Work Day” (313-314). As Elizabeth introduces Six-Thirty to him, Walter unwittingly agrees to having him on the show, too. Six-Thirty becomes an audience favorite, even beginning to get his own fan mail. The dog, meanwhile, remains on high alert for the non-clapper. When he finds her in the audience again, he manages to get close to her during a break and picks up the smell of nitroglycerin in her handbag. Six-Thirty manages to remove the bag and relocate it near Seymour. Seymour discovers sticks of dynamite inside, accompanied by flyers denouncing Elizabeth to be a “godless Communist” and alerts the police. Further investigation reveals that this woman was behind all the death threats and, tired of being ignored, was moving to take action.

Elizabeth is approached to do an interview by Life magazine but turns it down, because she is sure they will want personal details. Walter enlists Harriet’s help to convince Elizabeth to do the interview; he and Harriet have grown closer, and Walter finds himself falling in love with Harriet.

Franklin Roth from Life arrives the following week to attend a live taping of the show. From his interactions with Elizabeth he gathers that she is being forced to do the interview and, refusing to interview someone against their will, he apologizes and leaves. Seymour stops him at Elizabeth’s request, and she takes Roth home. Elizabeth shows Roth her lab and the erg Calvin built and tells him about her abiogenesis research. The interview is bland and boring, so Roth takes a chance and asks her about Calvin Evans.

Elizabeth is instantly taken aback and upset, and Roth believes he has lost her trust. But she ultimately begins to talk and tells him their story.