Chapter 4

**Chapter 4** is the fourth episode of the Netflix romantic comedy-drama series *Uncoupled*. It aired on July 29, 2022.

## Premise

*While feeling betrayed by a friend, Michael lunches with his mother, learns about Colin's new addition and confronts some hard truths about himself.*

## Plot summary

Michael and Billy are out on a morning jog and Billy finally broaches the subject of when Michael and Stanley will be friends again. Michael disagrees that it is pure nonsense, as he feels betrayed by Stanley's actions. Billy then mentions how he always found Colin dull, and that he would not have gone to Colin's dinner party like Stanley did partly out of loyalty to Michael. Michael then goes onto say how that today is the day he tells his mother that Colin left him.

Later, he finally tells his mother about Colin breaking up with him, but she can't believe it. She states that the two of them looked so in love at the birthday party, and so she asks his son if he did something stupid like cheat on Colin. She then asks him to think back to see if he did something to push him away.

Much to Michael's surprise, Stanley shows up at Claire place with a painting she bought at the Sayre Gomez show. So he wanted to supervise the installation himself. He tries to talk with Michael, who is still acting cold towards his friend.

Michael and Suzanne try to get Claire to agree to sell a little under the asking price, but she doesn't want to budge on that. After a bit of back and forth, Claire agrees to let Michael and Suzanne take her to go see some lofts downtown so she can finally begin moving on from the old life she had with her now ex-husband.

Sometime later, Michael goes to check up on his mother, and ends up seeing that Colin is in her room talking to her. Michael asks his mom, if she called Colin over. But she denies that, and Colin mentions how he is still in the family text thread, and some he came to make sure that Michael's mom was okay.

Colin and Michael have a sweet moment, but it is quickly ruined when Colin mentions that now that he is living alone, he got a dog. Which angers Michael since while the two were together he wanted a dog, but Colin did not.

At Billy's party, Claire and Suzanne end up finding some common ground over being divorced single mothers. Along the way, Suzanne mentions that the father of her son Kai, is likely one of three men she had sex with, but had no idea how to contact in 1997. Claire jokes that her life is similar to the *Mama Mia* film. Later, Claire mentions how Pierce Brosnan once hit on her in the first-class lounge at Heathrow. Eventually, Claire agrees to sign off on the offer for her unit before leaving the party.

Much to Michael's surprise, he realizes that the drag queen hired for the event was the couple's therapist he and Colin went to go see. An angry Michael confronts the aforementioned therapist, and he apologizes that he is hurting. However, Michael insults him by saying that perhaps he is a better drag performer than a therapist. Eventually the therapist mentions that Michael just heard what he wanted to hear, and that not once in the couple's session did he let Colin speak. So perhaps that was the problem in his marriage to Colin. He then advises him to stop looking for answers and for someone to blame. That he is gone, so Michael needs to let him go. If Michael wants someone to love, he needs to love himself first and foremost. A dejected Michael then thanks Suzanne for still being one of the few people that still wants to be part of his life.

Eventually, Michael and Stanley make up, with Michael apologizing and offering him a drink. Stanley then admits that it is like a switch was flipped in Colin, and that even though it was naïve, he went to that dinner hoping that he'd get an answer as to why he did what he did, but its to no avail. Michael then goes onto say that he just has to accept that perhaps he will never get his answer, and admits that a huge part of it probably had to do with his so called giant feelings, and sucking the air out of a room. But Stanley stops him; stating that he won't let his friend go down that path, and blame himself solely for the breakup. Because in the end, there's nothing good that comes from that. Stanley then tells Michael, that he is absolutely a person worth loving.

## Cast and characters

### Starring:

* Neil Patrick Harris as Michael Lawson
* Tisha Campbell as Suzanne Prentiss
* Emerson Brooks as Billy Burns
* Brooks Ashmanskas as Stanley James

### Guest-starring:

* Tuc Watkins as Colin McKenna
* Byron Jennings as Ben Lawson
* Stephanie Faracy as Lisa Lawson
* David Pittu as Dennis/Miss Communication

### Co-starring:

* Paul Adam Schaefer as Alex
* Jonathan Strait as George
* Jhulenty Delossantos as Luis
* Samuel Muriithi as Art Handler
* Tabitha Lee as Preppy Woman

## External links

* Chapter 4 on the Internet Movie Database
* Uncoupled (@uncouplednetflix) on Instagram
* Uncoupled on Wikipedia
* Watch Uncoupled on Netflix