Pilot

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**"Pilot"** is the first episode of *Another Period* and premiered on June 23, 2015. In this episode, Lillian and Beatrice prepare to entertain a Newport power broker, and new servant Celine adjusts to life at Bellacourt Manor.

### Characters

* Lillian Bellacourt(debut)
* Beatrice Bellacourt(debut)
* Victor Schmemmerhorn-Fish V(debut)
* Blanche(debut)
* Albert Downsy, Jr.(debut)
* Garfield(debut)
* The Claudette Sisters(debut) (last appearance)
* The Marquis de Sainsbury(debut)
* Chair(debut)
* Peepers(debut)
* The Commodore(debut)
* Dodo Bellacourt(debut)
* Frederick Bellacourt(debut)
* Mayor Cutie(debut)
* Hortense Bellacourt(debut)
* Hamish(debut)
* Helen Keller(debut) (last appearance)
* Anne Sullivan(debut) (last appearance)

### Summary

In the first scene, Lillian, Beatrice, Victor, and Albert are sitting in the living room. Victor is having his feet washed by a servant and tells him to stop breathing since he can hear him. Blanche brings Lillian a plate of eggs dauphine but Lillian slams it out of her hands because she wanted scrambled eggs. The tray lands near Victor's feet and the eggs get upon his snood. Everyone yells at Blanche for being careless. In a quick cutaway scene, Lillian and Beatrice introduce themselves to the cameras. The scene cuts back to the main room. Garfield runs in the room with a telegram and hands it to Beatrice. She looks and it and throws it on the floor. Victor asks what the telegram says. Beatrice says she can't read. Garfield re-presents the telegram to Albert. Albert reads it and informs everyone in the room that Lillian and Beatrice's best friends, the Claudette Sisters, have passed away. After a brief moment of shock, the camera cuts away again to Lillian and Beatrice squealing and clapping excitedly. Lillian informs the audience that the Claudette Sisters' passing means that there are two spots open in the Newport 400, a social registry of "the 400 most important white people in all of America". The scene cuts back to the main room. Beatrice, Lillian, Victor, and Albert are proposing a toast to the Claudette Sisters and to tuberculosis for taking their lives. Victor spits his champagne back into his glass and yells "THIS IS DISGUSTING!" at the servants in the room.

The next scene cuts to a montage of Lillian and Beatrice being waited on by lady's maids along with an article from the Newport *Looky-Loo*. Over the montage, Lillian narrates to the audience that The Marquis de Sainsbury will be coming to meet them to decide if they "will finally make it into society".

In the next scene, a red-headed woman walks into the manor from outside. Peepers sees her and asks who she is. She introduces herself as Celine. Peepers walks down the hallway with Celine and informs her that "some of [her] duties will include winding the clock, exercising the swans, bloodletting, and ghost removal". In a quick cutaway scene, Peepers informs us of his role as head butler for the Bellacourts. The scene cuts back to Blanche setting the dining room table. Peepers screams at her and she drops the tray and screams and hyperventilates uncontrollably. Peepers informs us Blanche has just gotten back from the asylum and that they "have a lot of fun with her". In a cutaway scene, Blanche tells us she has been diagnosed with hysteria and that the state has made Peepers her legal guardian which means "he can throw [her] in the nuthouse just because he goddamn feels like it".

In this scene, Dodo, Frederick, Beatrice, and Lillian holding Mayor Cutie are walking in from outside. Dodo asks Frederick about taking a wife. Peepers and Celine walk in from the other side of the hall and greet the Bellacourts. Peepers covers Celine's face when Dodo looks at her disgusted and introduces her as the new servant. Beatrice decides that Celine should be called "Chair" now and everyone agrees. Lillian has Chair shake Mayor Cutie's hand and everyone leaves the room.

In this scene, Frederick and Beatrice are seen embracing in a darkened bedroom in front of a bed. They talk about finally being alone as the camera pans out and reveals a line of gentleman's valets behind Frederick and a line of lady's maids behind Beatrice. After Frederick and Beatrice kiss, Beatrice has her lady's maids begin undressing her as Frederick watches. It takes several minutes and when they have finished, she is seen in nothing but her undergarments - a chemise and drawers. Frederick then has his valets undress him which reveals his union suit. They embrace and kiss again and fall onto the bed.

This scene opens upon Peepers opening a door and Chair looking in from behind him. He tells Chair this is where she'll be staying, alone, basically, until she dies (if she's lucky). He then tells her to get dressed. The scene then cuts to the Bellacourts (Frederick, Lillian, Dodo, Beatrice, and Hortense) eating dinner. Lillian is sick of having "bald eagle and toast points again". Dodo tells Hortense to stop eating but Hortense continues to eat. In a cutaway, Dodo introduces Hortense as her eldest daughter "who suffers from a variety of ailments" and tells us "one can only hope she’ll live a mercifully short life". Lillian and Hortense argue back and forth after Hortense has told everyone at the table that she has invited Helen Keller over for a visit on the same evening The Marquis de Sainsbury is supposed to come evaluate Lillian and Beatrice for positions in the Newport 400.

The scene after the commercial break cuts to Victor and Albert packing for what seems to be a camping trip. Lillian and Beatrice come in and ask where they're going when The Marquis is on his way and they tell them they're "going off to war, of course". During a cutaway, Victor and Albert inform the audience on how much they hate their marriages and how their marriage dowries are "almost like a prize you get for enduring something horrible or something that makes you want to throw up". Victor and Albert take off out the door together, giggling.

The next scene opens on a sign on a wall outside of the manor that says "Servants Entrance". All the servants are sitting together eating their single meal of the day, which Peepers tells the audience, is called "All Meal". Garfield sarcastically asks Chair how her first day was when Chair gets angry for being called Chair all day. Hamish and Peepers then chime in and talk about how they had just as horrible a time as Chair. Peepers tells Chair she can just become a beggar if she wishes. Garfield then says she would be a prostitute instead. Blanche chimes in and tells of her dreams of becoming a factory worker. Peepers, Hamish, and Garfield laugh at her. Hamish says the only way to get out of this house as a woman is to use her body. A bell rings, All Meal has finished. All the servants get up and leave the room.

In the next scene, Beatrice and Lillian are lounging around in their undergarments. Hortense runs into the room to grab Garfield because Helen Keller is arriving. Lillian and Hortense begin pulling Garfield on both of his arms and argue over him. Dodo comes in and threatens to put down 2 of Lillian's 12 horses if she doesn't let go of Garfield. Lillian lets go and Dodo scolds her to come meet their guests.

The next scene opens upon Peepers opening the manor doors while Hortense, Frederick, Beatrice, and Lillian wait inside. Helen Keller and her aide, Anne Sullivan, step inside. Helen Keller signs to introduce herself. The camera then cuts to tea being poured into teacups from a silver teapot. Helen Keller, Anne Sullivan, Hortense, Lillian, and Beatrice are all sitting around the table. Lillian and Beatrice are staring at Helen. Anne tells Hortense that Helen would like to thank her for her financial contribution to their women's suffrage movement. Lillian stands up and goes on a rant about how women shouldn't be able to vote.

In the next scene, Peepers is leading Chair into a room which he informs her is the east morphine room. Dodo is lying on a lounge waiting for her servants to inject her with morphine. After Peepers tells her how to do it, he leaves the room and Chair injects the morphine into Dodo's arm. Dodo then informs Chair that she thinks her husband, The Commodore, is having an affair. Dodo dozes off.

The scene comes back to Helen Keller, Anne Sullivan, Hortense, Lillian, and Beatrice sitting around the table, having tea. The camera cuts to outside the manor, showing a horse-drawn carriage pulling up in front of the manor. Peepers comes in and informs everyone that The Marquis de Sainsbury has arrived. Lillian and Beatrice rush around and tell Blanche to hide Helen Keller with a sheet. The Marquis comes in and Lillian and Beatrice rush over to greet him. In a cutaway scene, he informs the audience that he is "the arbiter of the Newport 400" and that "it's [his] job to separate the elite from the almost rich vomit people". After the cutback to the room, The Marquis recognizes Helen Keller and pays all of his attention to her as, apparently, he can communicate with her. Lillian gets extremely jealous and plans on ruining the evening for Helen.

After the second commercial break, everyone is sitting around on couches and chairs and The Marquis is grasping one of Helen's hands so he can continue communicating with her. He is telling jokes with her and having good conversation and Lillian tries to butt in but The Marquis shoots her down. Lillian suggests that they should "bring out the cocaine wine" and The Marquis seems impressed. Hortense initially declines the cocaine wine as she, Helen, and Anne are all members of the Women's Temperance League, but after Beatrice reminds them that it's "mostly cocaine" they accept.

In the next scene, Frederick is shown in the bath being washed by Garfield. Frederick is complaining to Garfield about how he can't be with the woman he loves and about how he has "absolutely nothing to do all day except eat, take naps, hunt, relax, take drugs, play sporting games, [and] do all the leisurely activities that please [him]". Frederick asks Garfield if he can imagine what it's like to not be able to follow his dreams, and Garfield tells him that working for the Bellacourts is a dream come true.

The scene comes back to everyone with The Marquis drinking cocaine wine, all of whom are thoroughly high/drunk at this point as they are all talking loudly, laughing hysterically, and sweating. After The Marquis says "any lady in Newport society needs to know how to hold her liquor", Beatrice challenges Lillian, Helen, and Anne to a drinking contest. Hortense ends up winning the drinking contest and an argument ensues about how she wasn't even asked to play in the first place so she didn't really win. A fight breaks out between the women and The Marquis hides himself on the large chair he has been sitting on. Beatrice breaks a silver platter, takes a sliver, and stabs Anne in the arm. Helen grabs Beatrice. Frederick runs in the room and uppercuts Helen square in the nose, grabs Beatrice, and they start making out. The Marquis yells, "You heathens! What is this, Baltimore!?". A gunshot rings out and The Marquis grabs his shoulder and falls to the ground. Dodo is seen from an upper stairwell holding a shotgun and mumbles "intruder!".

After the third commercial break, the scene opens upon servants picking up the room in which the fight has happened in. Lillian apologizes to The Marquis for Hortense ruining the evening and The Marquis says he doesn't know who Hortense is. Hortense tells him she's "literally been here the whole time". The Marquis invites Helen and Anne to accompany him and leaves, obviously disgusted by the entire Bellacourt family. Lillian narrates from a cutaway and states that she doesn't care about the Newport 400 anyway and that the only thing that matters is family.

In the final scene of this episode, The Commodore is seen wandering outside the manor at night into the servants' entrance. He walks into Chair's room and closes the door behind him. Chair opens her eyes and sits up in bed and The Commodore sits beside him. The Commodore asks Chair if she enjoys her new position and she agrees. The scene shows a brief sexual encounter between the two. In the cutaway right before the end, Chair is seen rubbing her stomach and says "I hope it's an heir. I mean, a boy."

### Quotes

* "Well, I’d like to propose a toast to the death of our social rivals!" - **Lillian**
* "I want those peacocks’ teeth brushed." - **Peepers**
* "Servant, your name is Chair now." - **Dodo**
* "Bald eagle and toast points again? Yuck!" - **Lillian**
* "Lady Hortense is my eldest daughter. She suffers from a variety of ailments from photosensitivity to thigh heft. One can only hope she’ll live a mercifully short life." - **Dodo**
* "Now that the Bellacourts are fed and ready, it is the servants’ turn to eat their single meal of the day. This is what we call 'All Meal'". - **Peepers**
* " I’m not going to die! People are living into their fifties these days." - **Blanche**
* "Helen Keller is coming to visit me! Oh, I haven’t been this excited since Lillian’s birthday was the same day as the World’s Fair and nobody came to her party. " - **Hortense**
* "I wish I had skin like that but Great Grand-no-no sacked a Moorish village, and now I’m Latin." - **Dodo**
* "I’m the great Marquis de Sainsbury, the arbiter of who’s who in Newport society. Now, with all this new money, it’s my job to separate the elite from the almost rich vomit people." - **The Marquis de Sainsbury**
* "Well, since we have such an esteemed guest staying with us, why don’t we bring out the cocaine wine?" - **Lillian**
* "What serendipity has married cocaine and wine? I tried opium once in Indochina and all it made me do was shit through my teeth." - **The Marquis de Sainsbury**
* "I have absolutely nothing to do all day except eat, take naps, hunt, relax, take drugs, play sporting games, do all the leisurely activities that please me." - **Frederick**
* "You are all piles of trash! I am a mountain of gold!" - **Hortense**
* "You heathens! What is this, Baltimore!?" - **The Marquis de Sainsbury**
* "Have you ever taken a ride in a 1901 Rolls-Royce carriage? Four horsepower. Human leather." - **The Marquis de Sainsbury**

### Historical References

* Garfield bringing Beatrice a telegram
* Beatrice being illiterate
* The Claudette Sisters' death by tuberculosis
* Blanche having hysteria
* Hortense inviting Helen Keller and Anne Sullivan over
* Blanche having "big dreams" of becoming a factory worker
* Hortense supporting Helen Keller's and Anne Sullivan's women's suffragette movement
* Dodo's addiction to morphine
* Peeper's ignorance of using clean needles
* The Marquis de Sainsbury arriving in a horse-drawn carriage
* The Marquis de Sainsbury referencing "tr[ying] opium in Indochina"
* The cocaine wine
* The Marquis de Sainsbury telling the joke about "Roosevelt's daughter... without a hat!"
* The Ming vase Helen Keller falls on and breaks
* The Marquis de Sainsbury asking Helen Keller and Anne Sullivan if they've ever "taken a ride in a 1901 Rolls-Royce carriage"

#### Historical Errors

* Victor's snood - Snoods are headgarments made of cloth or yarn to hold women's hair (basically a hairnet). However, there are beard snoods for men. But why would Victor wear a snood? He's not in food production.
* Victor and Albert "going off to war" - The Philippine-American War ended in 1902 and America was fighting in no other wars at the time. However, Victor and Albert probably just told Lillian and Beatrice they were going off to war because they wouldn't know the difference anyway.
* The Marquis de Sainsbury's 1901 Rolls-Royce carriage - There was no such thing. Rolls-Royce wasn't even a company until 1906. Rolls-Royce never made carriages and their first car, the Rolls-Royce 10 hp, was manufactured between 1904 and 1906. Only 16 were made.

### Trivia

* A marquis is a nobleman of hereditary rank in various European peerages and in those of some of their former colonies.

### References

1. ↑ "Pilot"Leggero, N. (Writer), Lindhome, R. (Writer), & Konner, J. (Director). (2015, June 23). Pilot [*Another Period*]. In Red Hour (Producer). Leggero/Lindhome Productions & Konner Productions
2. ↑ Marquees (2016, May 17). Retrieved May 6, 2016, from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marquess