Divorce

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**"Divorce"** is the second episode of *Another Period* and premiered on June 30, 2015. In this episode, Lillian and Beatrice brainstorm ways to rid themselves of their husbands, Frederick gets courted by a wealthy divorcee, and Garfield copes with a traumatic event.

### Characters

* Blanche
* Lillian Bellacourt
* Beatrice Bellacourt
* Albert Downsy, Jr.
* Victor Schmemmerhorn-Fish V
* Garfield
* The Commodore
* Chair
* Peepers
* Frederick Bellacourt
* Dodo Bellacourt
* Pussy Von Andersteen (debut) (last appearance)
* Falling Charlie (debut)
* Hortense
* Hamish
* Mayor Cutie
* Policeman #1 (debut)
* Policeman #2 (debut)
* Towel (debut)

### Summary

The first scene opens on Blanche lighting a smudge stick and moving through a circle created by Lillian, Beatrice, Victor, and Albert all standing next to each other in nothing but their undergarments and leaf-belts for Victor and Albert and flower crowns for Lillian and Beatrice. They are dancing around to the sound of drums and flutes as other servants wave banners. Lillian and Beatrice inform us from a cutaway scene that once a month, "when the moon is a waxing gibbous" they have to have “procreation sex with [their] dumb husbands” to “ensure a male heir”. After the ritual is finished, Beatrice is shown being chloroformed by Blanche before Albert is to have sex with her. In a separate room, Lillian is reading a magazine on the bed, completely emotionless to Victor. Albert and Victor are shown awkwardly have sex with their wives, which they obviously do in disgust.

The next scene opens on The Commodore and Chair embracing outside of the manor by the servants’ entrance. Chair thanks The Commodore for her job at the manor and The Commodore leaves because "business calls". After The Commodore leaves, Peepers sees Chair outside by herself and looks around suspiciously.

The camera cuts to Beatrice lying in Frederick's arms in a moving canoe. The camera zooms out to reveals the canoe is on a lawn on the grounds of the manor and is being pulled by an unknown male servant who is literally harnessed to the canoe. Beatrice and Frederick talk about how much they love each other. Dodo comes outside to where the twins are and ask why the two of them are "lawn-boating". Dodo then tells Frederick to get ready as she has invited over a wealthy widow, Pussy Von Andersteen "in hopes of making a match" and on increasing their fortune.

The next scene opens up on Pussy Von Andersteen walking into Bellacourt Manor. Garfield is walking behind her, carrying her bags. Dodo welcomes her to the manor and tells Blanche to be Pussy's lady's maid for the duration of her visit. Pussy politely declines and says she'll keep Garfield. Pussy walks past Dodo and Garfield follows. Garfield shows Pussy to her rooms and puts her bags down. As he was doing this, Pussy had closed and locked the door behind them. When Garfield stands back up and turns around, she slaps him, assaults him, and then ravishes him. She leaves the room and Garfield is left in the room, alone. He picks himself up and begins to cry. A montage shows him stumbling about the manor grounds, crying in some of the shots.

The next scene opens inside of the manor on Dodo, Pussy, Beatrice, Lillian, and Hortense sitting around. Pussy asks Beatrice about Frederick to which she replies, "Oh, I wouldn't bother with him. He only likes women his own age. Like exactly his own age". Dodo asks an entertainer that they have either hired for Pussy's visit or who works at the manor, Falling Charlie, to do his routine for Pussy. Falling Charlie attempts to, instead, introduce his newest character he has been working on, "The Little Tramp", as the falling routine is "quite physically taxing". Dodo tells him to do the material they have paid him for. Falling Charlie sits on a chair, falls backwards, and begins spasming on the floor. Beatrice, Lillian, and Dodo laugh hysterically. Dodo asks about Pussy's dead husband when Pussy tells her that he didn't die and that she just got a divorce. Lillian then says she wants a divorce and Dodo looks very worried. Hortense informs Lillian that there are only 3 ways a woman would be granted a divorce: infertility, abuse, or a dead spouse. Lillian begins scheming.

The next scene cuts to outside Bellacourt Manor where Frederick and Pussy are sitting on a blanket on the lawn, having a picnic. Garfield and Blanche stand beside them at attention. As Frederick and Pussy enjoy their picnic, Garfield whispers to Blanche that he has been ravished and she replies with, "Men can't be ravished". Frederick tells Pussy he doesn't think he can pick her to be his wife and she responds with, "Sweet boy, I'm the one who does the picking". Frederick does not understand, as Pussy is a woman. Beatrice walks over next to Frederick and Pussy with a picnic basket and a blanket and sets up her "own different picnic" right next to Frederick and Pussy. Pussy suggests to Frederick that they retire to her chambers. Frederick helps her up and follows her inside. Beatrice gasps and whines.

In the next scene, Chair is seen over by the servants' entrance gutting a dead turkey. Hamish comes over and sits next to her and asks what the hell she's doing at Bellacourt Manor. She tells him she needed a real job and leaves.

The scene opens on Frederick and Pussy in Pussy's room. Pussy begins being very forward and forceful towards Frederick and Frederick tells her that she is being very un-ladylike. Pussy forces her hands behind Frederick and he spasms. Pussy asks Frederick if he likes the sensation and he says he does even though he feels he shouldn't. Pussy does it once more and Frederick spasms and falls to the ground.

The next scene shows Albert and Victor lounging on a bed together in nothing but their union suits. Garfield comes in to give them the food they asked for. When Albert sees him, he says, "My dear boy, you look as though you've been ravished". Garfield tells Albert and Victor that he has, in fact, been ravished. Albert and Victor laugh and begin making ravishing jokes. Garfield stands to the side, visibly uncomfortable.

The scene opens on Lillian kneeled by her bed, praying, with a rosary in her hands and a Bible on the bed in front of her. Lillian asks God to help her get a divorce and tells God she thinks it's kinder to have him arrested for battery than to kill him. She stands up, walks over to a door, and slams herself in the face with it. The camera cuts to her sitting in a front room of the manor in front of two Irish policemen. She has a swollen eye and is crying while holding Mayor Cutie. She tells one of the policemen about how she was hit and the other one tells her that as soon as she tells them "who the black feller was who did this, [they'll] throw him in the pokey right quick". Lillian then tells them it was her husband and the police look uncomfortable and begin packing up to leave. They ask Lillian if she's a bitch or if she was menstruating at the time of the incident. Lillian tells them this is outrageous, and the policemen inform her of the rule of thumb which states that a man can discipline his wife with anything no thicker than his own thumb. She yells at the police officers that it's the "dumbest rule [she's] ever heard of". The police officers tell her this is the reason why her husband hit her. They tell her to run along and get them cups of tea.

The next scene shows Beatrice looking through a pile of tools on a bed in the manor. She picks up a small hand axe and swings at nothing with it. Lillian walks in and asks Lillian what she's doing. She tells Beatrice she's going to kill Pussy. Lillian tells Beatrice that instead of killing Pussy, they should just have their husbands fake their own deaths so they can marry whoever they want. Beatrice gets excited and asks Lillian if this means she'd be able to marry Frederick then. Lillian replies with, "I'm sure that's what that means".

This scene opens up to a shot of the servants' entrance sign and then to inside where Peepers is calling all the servants to line up. Once everyone lines up, Peepers says he's been hearing rumors of a staff member being ravished and asks who it was. Garfield steps forward and says that it was him. Peepers tells Garfield that "[He] should be thanking his lucky stars that [Pussy] chose to ravish [him]". Hamish yells at Garfield that it's his fault since he always wears such an "inviting" valet's uniform. Peepers tells everyone to get back to work.

The scene opens upon Victor coming into a bedroom that Lillian is sitting in. Lillian asks Victor to fake his own death and Victor says he would never. Lillian then offers him $2 million to do it and he agrees. The camera cuts to another room where Beatrice is sitting and Albert is standing behind her, doing her hair, and giving her advice on her relationship with Frederick. Beatrice asks Albert if he'll fake his own death since Victor is doing it and he also agrees.

The next scene cuts to Frederick and Pussy lying in bed, obviously after sex. Frederick is enamored with Pussy and begins talking about wedding plans. He begins playing with Pussy's hair, who is smoking a cigar, and she asks Frederick not to touch her after sex due to her refractory period. Frederick is visibly upset. The camera cuts to Garfield who is in his servants' quarters, crying on his bed. Chair knocks on the door and lets herself in. She sits on the bed next to Garfield and tells him she believes he was ravished. Garfield is happy to hear that. He tells Chair that he was "saving [him]self for a summer at sea". Chair tells Garfield that "we live in a ravish culture" and wipes his tears with a towel. She then puts the towel in Garfield's lap and tells him he can keep it. Garfield is overwhelmed - he's never been given a present before. He tells Chair he knew she felt the same way about him as he feels about her. When she asks what way that is, he replies with, "Nothing, no ways." He names his gift Towel.

The scene opens on Pussy standing in one of the halls of the manor with her bags at her side, obviously getting ready to leave. Frederick walks in and finds her, after looking for her all over. He spots her bags and asks where she's going and if they're getting married. Pussy tells Frederick she never had any plans on marrying him in the first place. Frederick begins crying and begs Pussy to stay but she leaves. When she asks Garfield to carry out her bags for her, he pulls Towel out of a coat pocket, kisses her (Garfield calls Towel "she/her"), and tells her that Towel will stay with him no matter what happens.

The next scene opens on Lillian sitting in a bubble bath. From a cutaway scene, she narrates and tells the audience that she "convinced Victor to leave for six months so he can be declared legally dead and [she] can have sex with whoever [she] want[s]". The camera cuts to a cutaway scene of Victor and Albert who tell the audience why they decided on faking their own death. At the same time, Victor says it was for the money and Albert says it was because of their true love. Victor then agrees with Albert but tells us that he can't live his life on a "husband's allowance". The camera cuts to Victor and Albert carrying luggage up to a small house. This is where they will be living for the duration of their faked deaths. The camera cuts back to Bellacourt Manor to Beatrice being waited on by two lady's maids. Frederick walks in the room and tells Beatrice he sent Pussy away and that he picked her "over that heartless, manipulative letharia" and that he "ha[s] no emotional attachment or hurt feelings from being discarded and used by Pussy". Frederick and Beatrice kiss.

### Quotes

* "Once a month, when the moon is a waxing gibbous, we have to have procreation sex with our dumb husbands." **- Lillian**
* "I don’t know why we took all that land from the Indians if we’re just going to act like them." **- Lillian**
* " Nothing brings me as much pleasure as helping out pathetic gutter-wenches." **- The Commodore**
* "What are you doing out here, you muskrat?" **- Peepers**
* "Your skin is like a milk-fed piglet" **- Beatrice**
* "Afternoons are for defecating and learning Latin." **- Dodo**
* "Pussy Von Andersteen’s former husband was a coon tie tycoon, he made a fortune off of designing racoon-skin neckties..." **- Dodo**
* "Yes, if we have infinite money and we add Pussy money to it, we have double infinite money." **- Dodo**
* "Oh, I’ve had a divorce. I had one in Paris with apples and heavy cream, and it was delicious" **- Beatrice**
* "But you’re a woman, I’m the one who does the picking. ‘Cuz I have the genitals…" **- Frederick**
* "Before I met you, I was a piano player, I had my own minstrel show: Lazy Black Hamish and His Negro Knights. “I sure does wish job was spelled S-L-E-E-P!” **- Hamish**
* "But I like Albert, he’s the only one who can make my bangs fluffy." **- Beatrice**
* "Father refuses to cover up another murder. We can’t have another Weekend at Bernard’s." **- Lillian**
* "I wear my valet’s uniform for me!" **- Garfield**
* "We live in a ravish culture, it’s everywhere we look - nickelodeons, daguerreotypes, etchings." **- Chair**
* "Well, yes, but I married into this family to stack cash and I can’t live my goddamn life on a husband’s allowance." **- Victor**

### Historical References

* Lillian referring to taking "all that land from the Indians"
* Dodo telling Beatrice and Frederick that afternoons are for "...learning Latin"
* Pussy Von Andersteen's former husband being a "coon tie tycoon"
* Falling Charlie (Charlie Chaplin) being the entertainer at Bellacourt Manor and his character, "The Little Tramp"
* Divorce being a taboo subject
* Blanche saying "men can't be ravished" (still applies to society today)
* Frederick being confused by Pussy being able to make a decision because "[he] has the genitals"
* Hamish being the piano player and owner of his own minstrel show
* Referring to Garfield's predicament as being "ravished"
* The policemen being Irish and having Irish accents
* The policemen not being able to do anything about the possibility of Lillian being hit by her husband and bringing up the rule of thumb
* Chair referring to "nickelodeons, daguerreotypes, and etchings" when telling Garfield they live in a "ravish culture"

#### Historical Errors

* Falling Charlie (Charlie Chaplin)'s age - Charlie Chaplin was born in 1889, which would only make him 13 or 14 years old in 1902. He is portrayed as an adult.

### Trivia

* Lillian gave Victor $2 million to leave and fake his own death. According to historicalstatistics.org's historical currency converter, $2,000,000 US dollars in 1902 "could buy the same amount of consumer goods and services in Sweden as $51,364,070.45539158 US dollars [can] buy in Sweden in the year 2015".

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### References

1. ↑ "Divorce"Leggero, N. (Writer), Lindhome, R. (Writer), & Konner, J. (Director). (2015, June 23). Pilot [*Another Period*]. In Red Hour (Producer). Leggero/Lindhome Productions & Konner Productions