"Two for the Road" is the seventh episode in the first season of the Showtime drama The Big C. It originally aired on October 4, 2010.
Synopsis[]
Cathy and Sean hit the open road to visit their dad. During the trip, Cathy tells Sean she has cancer. Sean falls apart at the news, so Cathy pretends it was a big joke. Adam gets drunk while under the supervision of Paul. Marlene finds Adam on the front lawn puking. Marlene will keep it a secret, but Adam is in further servitude to her.
Plot[]
Marlene changes Cathy's lump bandage, saying it's the least she can do after "forgetting" to pick up Cathy after her surgery.
Marlene offers that she has two daughters, "one of them married a Jew and the other one's a bull dyke."
They call sometimes, asking about the house and if she's taking her meds.
Cathy goes home, and asks Sean when the last time was he saw their dad. He's trying to leave when she announces they're going to see him.
Adam whines about having to go, so Cathy abruptly tells him to do what he wants and leaves him there, whining about what he's supposed to do for food.
On the road, Cathy calls Paul and puts him on speakerphone. Sean gets to hear Paul complaining about still sleeping on his sister's couch and seeing his therapist to help him cope with the fact he went "outside the bonds of marriage for sexual gratification."
She asks him to pick up Adam.
Cathy thanks Sean for going and says it's brave of him to go to make amends. Sean says he doesn't care about that "a--hole" and is only going to dig up the time capsule he buried in the back yard when he was 15.
Sean pushes play on the CD drive and finds her self-help CDs.
Cathy talks more about their dad and Sean confesses to her that it's time they talk about it, he announces their dad molested him.
Cathy is horrified, naturally, until he bursts out laughing and mocks her for being so gullible.
Cathy gets a text from Lenny saying he can't stop thinking about last night.
At the house, Paul plays video games with Adam and his friends, insisting they call him Paulie. When Adam's friends leave Paul toasts him, leading Adam to take a beer from the six pack. Paul stops him, then reconsiders and hands the 14 year old a beer.
In the car, Cathy argues that she wasn't perfect as a child. Then, to prove her point, she asks Sean for a beer -- but he has to drive. "Wow, last time I drove a car, Regan was ignoring AIDS," he says as he speeds off.
Paul gets mopey watching their wedding video with Adam, who is supremely uncomfortable as his dad points out his mom's rack. Suddenly, Paul is near tears talking about her.
On the road, Sean pulls over so they can try to steal the sign for "Dingleberry Creek."
At home, Paul is passed out and Adam takes a sip of his whiskey.
Sean pulls over to go Dumpster diving. He finds a sealed box of Little Debbie's and a canned ham. They picnic on the hood of the car.
Sean is back to ragging on their dad, and mentions an affair he thinks he had with someone named Sharon. "Who cheats when you already have somebody who loves you?" he wonders.
Cathy says they don't know that he cheated, but Sean doesn't believe their dad just fell in love and married her in the three months after their mom died.
Cathy gets another text from Lenny.
Adam wakes up on Marlene's lawn with the dog licking his face and Marlene standing over him. He immediately pukes, then assures Marlene it's OK because his dad's inside.
Sean waits in the car while Cathy pees on the side of the road. He sees a graphic text from Lenny on Cathy's phone. He asks who Lenny is and asks if she's cheating on Paul. She readily admits it. He's angry that he's defended her to Paul and she's been having an affair. She tells him it's recent and not that simple. Sean shouts, asking why no one tells the truth. He calls her a liar and coward and says "you're just like dad."
She asks him if he still thinks she's a goodie two shoes and tells him "my caution is officially thrown to the wind."
He drives off without her, then backs up to get her. They drive the rest of the way in angry silence. At their dad's house, Sean goes immediately for his time capsule.
Marlene marches Adam home and sees Paul passed out in a pile in the living room. She tells Adam to go to sleep and clean Paul up in the morning.
Marlene dumps chips on Paul's head to wake him up, then tells him being a father isn't a part time job and you can't quit when you feel like tying one on.
At their dad's house, Cathy notices her mom's urn is sitting in the empty fire place. Her dad half pays attention to her as he watches baseball on TV. She tells him she and Paul are separated. He tells her to work it out, "I really don't see you doing that much better than Paul."
He tells her she should be realistic, plan for her old age.
She tells him it could be the last time she sees him. He tells her he's not that old, but she says it's not always about him.
She stands up in front of the TV and tells him no one was allowed to have high expectations around him and he's missing out on his great family. Sean walks in to hear her talking him up, saying he's amazing and can make an entire meal out of a Dumpster. She tells her dad she came here to tell him something: "I love you and you're an a--hole."
Cathy takes their mom's urn as she goes.
Sean comes in with his time capsule in a Tupperware. Later, he opens it on the banks of a river.
It's got a Polaroid and a 20 year old joint in it.
Cathy dumps her mom's ashes in the river and asks Sean if he wants to be cremated. "What's the big rush? It's not like you're going to die tomorrow," he says.
She tells him she's sick, then says she has cancer.
He thinks about it and asks if she's going to do anything about it. "Other than eat more sweets, not really," she says.
He takes a minute, then says people die and that's the way it works. He gets choked up, saying he was just starting to figure her out. "I was just starting to understand that you're the only thing I have in this world," he says, breaking down.
She hugs him and comforts him and then bursts out cackling, saying she got him. He commends her for fooling him.
She suggests he light up the joint as he laughs and she stops, wishing what she said was true.
Cast[]
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