"Everything That Rises Must Converge" is the twelfth episode in the first season of the Showtime drama The Big C. It originally aired on November 8, 2010.
Synopsis[]
In an effort to be supportive of Cathy's decision and to find out more about it, Dr. Todd accompanies Cathy to Canada for her bee sting therapy. As open as he tries to be, Dr. Todd just can't get around how quackish the whole therapy seems. After the treatment, Cathy too believes that the "Bee Man" is a lunatic, but is glad she made the decision to take a chance. As their trip progresses, many revelations about Dr. Todd's professional and personal life become known to Cathy, which explains why he seems so protective about Cathy and why he wanted to come on this trip. Before she left Minneapolis, Cathy found out that Adam is seeing a girl named Mia, who, if she is indeed his girlfriend, would be his first. Cathy takes an extreme but nonetheless effective measure to ensure that things go well for Mia and Adam's possible relationship, despite the less than helpful advice he receives from his Uncle Sean. And an incident between Marlene, Adam, and Paul makes Marlene take decisive action.
Plot[]
Cathy wakes up to see cheery pictures of roses, rainbows and sunshine taped to the ceiling above her bed. Paul is cleaning furiously to remove germs, which he thinks might seep into the bottom of her feet and give her cancer.
He offers her breakfast and announces: "I'm going to be your can-cierge." He also tells her he bought a new couch. She wanted to pick it herself. She also doesn't need him to go to Canada with her for her bee sting therapy. Dr. Mauer is going.
"Don't get all possessive of your cancer, Cathy. I've seen the x-rays, there's plenty to go around," Paul says.
In summer school, Cathy tells her class they're working on thank you notes. So they won't grow up to be "thankless s---."
Adam fixes Marlene's cuckoo clock. She remembers it waking her up to go to school at 5 a.m.
Cathy comes home to find Paul doing laundry and finishing up dinner prep. She says laundry's her thing. "Don't take laundry from me, Paul," she pleads. He's a whirlwind of helpfulness.
Adam wanders in and announces he's not eating his dad's crap, he's going to Brent's. She watches as he giggles and texts someone. She figures out it's a girl. There's a honk outside and he runs for his ride -- leaving his phone behind.
Cathy picks it up and starts reading the texts. She calls the number and gets Mia's voice mail. She leaves a really long message, telling Mia that Adam is sweet and kinda shy and he likes her -- he giggled.
Cathy tells Mia's voice mail to help Adam out. "And don't you dare break his heart," she says. She's halfway through saying she looks forward to meeting her when Adam runs back in to get the phone.
Readying for their road trip Dr. Mauer tells Cathy the bee sting therapy sounds "out there."
"I don't trust anybody called 'The Bee Man,'" Mauer says. He's got a website that plays "Let it Be" with the sound of buzzing.
Cathy asks Todd about his fiancée Julie and he says they're not talking. He proposed and she said she'd think about it. Cathy reassures him that he's a catch.
Sean and Adam poke around Marlene's house. He mocks her Agatha Christie collection, but is excited to find Flannery O'Connor. He announces that Rebecca did a number on his psyche.
Adam thinks women are weird and tells Sean what his mom did. Mia won't tell him what the message said. He says he was about to make his move. "Your own mom c--- blocked you," Sean says.
He tells Adam to try leading a sentence with "would you mind..." and see where it gets him.
Cathy and Todd arrive at the bee sting guy's ramshackle house. There are tons of jars of honey inside. It looks like a rustic lodge inside.
The Bee Man (Liam Neeson) comes in. Dr. Mauer asks if he can ask where the Bee Man got his degree. "Yes," the bee man says, and doesn't elaborate. He explains that he's going to put the bees on the site of infection and their venom will do something that sounds fishy to Todd.
Back home, Adam plays video games with Mia. She has to go home to meet her dad's new girlfriend. He apologizes again for his mom and she says it's good she cares enough to call her up and say he's shy.
Adam's appalled to learn what his mom said and insists he's not shy. Mia turns to leave and Adam says "would you mind if...I did something?"
He continues awkwardly with "would you mind if the something I did was with you?"
Mia looks at him awkwardly, then kisses him briefly and says good bye.
Back in bee land, the Bee Man holds a jar of bees to his his face, saying a quiet thank you for their sacrifice. He puts one on Cathy's back, but it gets away. Todd stomps on it, earning a glare from the Bee Man. He goes to wait outside.
Marlene surprises Paul as he's painting. She saw him replacing shingles earlier. She tells Paul when her husband Eddie was sick she couldn't stop making banana bread. She later found out he hated it. She was making it for her, not him. She tells Paul that Cathy might not want him doing all that stuff and she's on her own journey. She advises him not to hog the road.
At a bar in Canada, Cathy catches Todd up on what he missed inside, including the realization the Bee Man was a lunatic. She got a jar of honey out of the deal. The bartender is doing a Tarot card reading and Cathy asks for hers. The Bee Man ambles in. Cathy thinks he's kind of sexy.
The bartender mistakes them for a couple. Cathy's expects to get her bad news and so she laughs when the bartender says someone close to her is going to die.
Todd huffs off and when she follows, he tells her she shouldn't make light of death. She points out that as an oncologist, he's going to have patients die on him. He's seriously upset and goes outside to get some air. The Bee Man grabs Cathy for a dance.
In Marlene's house, Adam is still working on the cuckoo clock when she comes up, angry and scared, and tells him to get the hell out of her house. She pulls a gun on him. He's freaked out. She doesn't recognize him at all. He goes.
The Bee Man dances freshly with Cathy. Todd comes back and cuts in, saving her.
He tells her he cares about her and doesn't want her to die. He kisses her and immediately apologizes. He tells her he has feelings for her. She tells him he has to pick the girl who lives.
Back at Marlene's house, Paul is angrily looking for Marlene's gun, but she can't remember where she put it. She says she'd never hurt Adam, but Paul points out she didn't recognize him. He tells her to stay away from Adam.
Later, she writes Cathy a thank you note, for being her friend and being like family. Painting outside, Paul hears a single gunshot. He runs to investigate.
We hear more of Marlene's letter as Cathy comes home. "I know you're sick and all, but you've gotta pull your head out of your ass. You have a family that loves you."
Cathy comes home and we hear Marlene say: "They want to take care of you, so let them."
Adam, Paul and Sean greet her. We see her get the news.
Later at night, she reads Marlene's letter, telling her Adam's a good kid. She asks Cathy to look after her dog.
"It was time for me to go, I'm loony toons, you're not."
Cathy tapes a picture of Marlene to the growing tree of happy pictures on her ceiling.
Marlene tells her not to be afraid. "When it's really your time to go, I'll be waiting for you. But until then, live your life as hard as you can." Cathy comes downstairs and cuddles up to Paul on the couch.
Cast[]
Starring[]
Guest Starring[]
Co-Starring[]
Quotes[]
Trivia[]
Gallery[]
