Writer
Joseph Dougherty
Director
Melanie Mayron
Air Date
10/16/90
Guest Stars
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Writer
Director
Air Date
Guest Stars |
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Elizabeth Kemp as Kate; Beverly Hope Atkinson as Judge Allan; Lauren Tom as Gail; Richard Gilliand as Jeffrey Milgrom
Synopsis
Jeffrey dumps Ellyn while Susannah takes a job in New York.
Summary
Jeffrey gets ready while Ellyn is asleep, trying to slip away to the airport to go to Indiana without waking her up, but she gets up anyway and makes him stay for coffee which includes some strained conversation.
Susannah gets a job offer from a friend at a foundation in New York for a ridiculous amount of money. Susannah goes to meet Gary in the park and tells him about the job offer, leading it out that she'd like to take it, but of course she couldn't because of their situation. Ellyn starts to track Jeffrey down since he hasn't called and finds out that he has flown to Los Angeles as well. Water has flooded into the Race Street Project and destroyed a roomful of records and case files, but Susannah doesn't seem all that upset--it's a way out.
At dinner at Hope and Michael's, Gary rattles on to Michael while Susannah downplays it all to Hope. Ellyn gets progressively more drunk and corners Elliot, asking him about the mentality of a man who has cheated on his wife. Ellyn checks her messages and finds one from Jeffrey. Gary finally puts himself on the line and says that he'll help Susannah work out the job situation and he'll do whatever it takes. Ellyn tells Hope that Jeffrey went to L.A. to see Christie (his daughter) and her mother, Audrey.
Susannah and Gary go to New York and stay with her friend Kay, and while Susannah and Kay catch up, Gary sulks around the apartment and looks trapped. Gary and Emma go out to the park for the day, watching a steel band, and hanging around until they pass a shooting scene on the way back. Gary is sickened and upset by it and the city.
Jeffrey finally calls Ellyn back and it seems that he and Audrey are getting back together. She is hurt, upset, and tells him exactly how it is and doesn't let him off the hook.
In New York, Gary can't sleep for all the sirens, so he and Susannah finally talk. Gary finally lays out that he hates the city and can't live there, but he doesn't know how they can all be together and still have what they want. Susannah suggests that they live separately and that it's only 90 miles between New York and Philadelphia. Gary drops by to finish building the book cases for Ellyn, figures out that Jeffrey has left, and stays when Ellyn asks him to. Susannah explains the arrangement to Hope as if by rote, but neither looks very convinced. Gary and Ellyn are very sympathetic and supportive of each other's difficult situations while comparing their relationships to various natural forces.
Gary returns to Susannah and finally asks her not to leave, still knowing that she can't stay any more than he can go. She's willing to give the plan a shot, but Gary wants something more solid. So they get married at the courthouse with Ellyn as a witness. They say goodbye at the station, quite emotionally, and after Ellyn takes off, Gary is left standing by himself at the station, crying quietly and looking confused.
Notes
Jeffrey's first wife's name is Audrey Reference to the impending Gulf War is made Gary's wedding ring nearly doesn't fit on his finger There's a close up shot of a road crossing sign when Gary and Susannah are saying goodbye at the station
Quotes
"Watch yourself with those Hosers." --Ellyn's take on life in Indiana
"Susannah will love it. She's a stress junkie." --Gary
"I'm not drunk. You can't get drunk on Corbo Bianco." --Ellyn
"It's really very civilized." --Susannah, regarding the plan
Fashion
Susannah has cool pajamas, long dark red pants and top. Elliot's hair is cut a little oddly this season, but I can't put my finger on it. Gary should never pull his hair back, but he does. He wears a white hooded sweatshirt with Reed Racoons on the front and also the dark cardigan with the brown border with white diamonds on it. Hope wears some post maternity clothes and Susannah looks pretty thin after the baby.
Analysis
It’s funny, but the stuff that has stayed in my memory is very small, not particularly funny or horrible, and consists of tiny little details. The first one to surface is thinking about watching Polly Draper perform Ellyn’s telephone monologue in “Distance.” I remember standing off to one side, holding my breath and sort of willing her through it (we were doing it as one continuous shot) and when it was finally over I went over and we hugged each other. She played the thing wearing a towel having just gotten out of the shower and her hair was wet and I remember the smell of her wet hair when we hugged.
And only about half of Ellyn’s telephone monologue actually made it into the broadcast version of “Distance.” The speech was about three pages long and, to a certain extent, we never expected to use it all. So the speech was structured to have, I think, three “snap-off” points where you could get out of the scene and still have it do the job. We got out at the second “snap” as I remember.