Lessons in Chemistry (Season 1) Episode 4: Recap and Ending Explained – How Will Elizabeth Cope With the Job of Being a Single Parent and a Scientist?

Lessons in Chemistry (Season 1) Episode 4: As much as this show doesn’t seem like the one to introduce curveballs, more interested in examining a period landscape and the misogyny and the perspective of American women in academia, as well as the perspective of women in general, “Lessons in Chemistry” is a clear example of softer subversion done right. Or at least done interestingly. While the previous episode focusing on the dog “Six Thirty,” can be argued to have not worked, this episode thankfully returns the perspective to Elizabeth and, from there, extrapolates the logical difficulties she as a woman would have to face in a society still not progressive or even remotely open enough. And because this is a show with a frankly strange sense of humor, it never devolves too far into melodrama.

Lessons in Chemistry Episode 4 Recap

Episode 4 – Primitive Instinct

I do rest my case on this show having a weird sense of humor. As the episode opens with Elizabeth Zott in labour alone and as her contractions increase exponentially, the head nurse advises her to be given more of the “good stuff.” This causes Elizabeth to hallucinate that Calvin has appeared in front of her as her doctor and will be helping her while she delivers her baby. When asked what the name would be, she is advised to name her child the emotion she is currently feeling and not overthink it (again, who is this head nurse, and how does she have a job?). Either way, Elizabeth names her daughter “Mad” because it is pretty understandable. And while retroactively, you can expand on the name and call it Madeline, just imagine what would have happened if she had named her daughter “Exhausted.”

It is also hilarious how the name of the episode stems from her requesting that her baby get back on its primitive instinct and start breastfeeding or do anything other than cry. Brie Larson’s performance during these moments is especially affecting, as she breaks down crying, asking the baby whether she doesn’t like her. The baby becomes silent temporarily when she imagines Calvin hugging her from behind, giving her strength, before resuming crying again.

Unable to handle it, Elizabeth rushes to her neighbor Harriet Sloane, and while Harriet is overwhelmed by Elizabeth’s planning and meticulous routine of looking after the baby, what becomes especially revealing is when Elizabeth reveals how she has thoughts about leaving the baby or giving her away—thoughts that a mother shouldn’t have. To that end, Harriet asked one of her friends, who had been playing bridge with her that evening before being interrupted by Elizabeth, how many times she had considered giving away her son. The answer was quite funny: “Twice, every day.” The conversation and how Harriet breaks down the intricacies of motherhood are fantastic in how they are subversive about the traditionalities of motherhood.

As a show, “Lessons in Chemistry” relishes showcasing the different ways in which Elizabeth chooses to bypass all of the different ways to find work. Because the bank wouldn’t allow her to draw a second mortgage if she didn’t have a job to pay it off, Elizabeth would have to pay her bills. It is hilarious and also mind-numbingly anger-inducing to hear the dismissive tone of the manager when he suggests she either get a job “that pays or marry rich.”

She chooses to earn money by becoming a consultant for all the scientists at her university, and the montage sequence showcases her brilliance juxtaposed with her utter lack of interest in any of the male scientists’ “accomplishments.” The only time she had anything remotely interesting to witness was one of these older scientists singing and entertaining her daughter while Elizabeth corrected his lab work. And, of course, the final news she gets is that Boryewitz hasn’t been visiting her with his problems because he and Donatti are working on Evans’ old lab.

The result is an angry Eizabeth marching into Evans’ lab with Six-Thirty and her daughter in a pram in tow and finding her worst suspicions confirmed. Donatti’s justification for this serious form of “intellectual property theft” was that they had managed to secure the Remsen grant and had even put her name in the acknowledgments as if that would be enough to cleanse them of that fraudulent deed. Thus, her anger is justified, even though her proclamations do strain credulity, and how she chooses to go about making sure that she will be able to complete her research faster and more successfully is even more so.

Effectively, Elizabeth chooses to plan to build her lab in her house. She goes about that by drilling, which is when she hits the electricity line and shuts down the whole neighborhood. Harriet has to come down and rescue her by repairing it herself because being a single mom for so many years has taught her to “either ask for help or clean the toilet herself”.

Their conversation also reveals the opening sequence in this episode: that Harriet’s husband is deployed in the war, and both of her pregnancies had been unplanned; every time she was in labour, her husband would be out of town or, in the second case, deployed. Her story and Harriet’s strong, resilient character become the guiding light for Elizabeth, who shares a kinship with her based on somewhat common experiences of raising a kid mostly on their own and acknowledges those moments of the past while accepting that they contribute to the resilience of character.

Here’s where the show feels more cartoony: when Elizabeth impersonates Fran Frask, the head secretary of the university, and orders chemicals and lab equipment, hoping that extra chemicals and equipment will get lost in the sheer volume of materials. Honestly, I don’t know, and thus, her building a glass enclosure for protection of mucosal membranes from noxious fumes, strengthening her kitchen and making them laboratory-grade, or baby-proofing her cabinets just feels too easy. Then again, this is a show that also focuses on the perspective of a dog in the previous episode, so what do I know?

There are also interesting elements in this episode about Elizabeth’s past, her closeness with her brother, for instance, or later on in the episode where she explains to the new preacher in the neighborhood, Wakely, how her father had been a preacher, so she does have a complicated relationship with faith. It does explain her undying devotion and pursuit of science as the definite antidote towards faith, but it also somehow explains why she feels the presence of Calvin in her life, even though her desires to witness Calvin as a father would always remain unfulfilled as much as she wanted to chase their dream and accomplish it.

Thankfully, Harriet Sloane and her daughters wouldn’t have to face that because her husband James finally returned from the war two days early, much to the surprise of his wife. She thus organizes what is effectively a “cookout,” inviting everyone in her neighborhood, including Elizabeth. It is in this cookout that Elizabeth has a conversation with Preacher Wakely, and she also gets the idea of using a spinning top as a makeshift centrifugation machine upon seeing Linda and James Jr. play with it. But the Sloanes also need to manage this new dynamic once Chief Surgeon Sloane has finally landed on the mainland and is now choosing to take up the chief residency post of general surgery at Kaiser Sunset Hospital.

While Harriet doesn’t have a problem with him going back to work, she also wants to resume her life, both by taking the bar exam and, if she passes, by accepting the position of junior associate. She would also want to chair the Adams Washington Committee to keep fighting the good fight and not have their neighborhood turned into a freeway ramp. It is a lot, but as Harriet admits in the beginning, she had been putting herself on hold, and now she would like to resume her career. But as self-doubt begins to creep in with the age-old balancing act of career and parenthood, James comforts her, saying they will figure it out because it is them. At the very least, this is also what both Elizabeth and Harriet had in common: understanding spouses.

Elizabeth also gets an in-person visit from Dr. Mason, who asks her about her health before informing her that he needs a rowing partner, like Evans, and would expect her there the next day, as his two-seater had fractured their leg. When she hesitates because she doesn’t have the time, he asks her point blank, Who does?” before telling her that adulthood is overrated, with problems piling up all over. Perhaps a bit of chilly water and rowing would do her good. Elizabeth accepts this proposal, and while Mason leaves, she imagines Evans before whispering, “I love you.” In a way, she is living Evans’ life as well. 

Lessons in Chemistry Episode 4 Ending Explained

Throughout the episode, we see apparent flash forwards seven years later of a healthier kid having a scrumptious lunch but mostly choosing to sit alone, being friendless, and finally being unable to finish her family tree assignment. The show had been playing with the conception that this would be Elizabeth’s daughter “Madeline” in the future until the final scene, where it is revealed that Madeline is one of the other kids who had been teasing the healthier kid in her shoes and later consoled her about her family tree not being completed, reminding her that she had been unable to finish the assignment as well, for obvious reasons.

But now, seven years later, when a young Madeline is picked up from school by her mother, she is caught lying about having had her lunch. This entire segment soon connects to how she gets the job as a cooking show host. The healthier kid is the daughter of TV producer Walter (Kevin Sussman), and his kid had been fed Madeline’s lunches for over a month. Walter also had the inevitable task of finding a show in the afternoon slot with a host who, according to his boss, should be “motherly yet fuckable”.

That opportunity inadvertently falls on his lap when Elizabeth comes to Walter’s office to berate him about his daughter’s palate (or lack of a suitable one during lunchtime) and even gives him her recipe for chicken pot pie roast. He finally makes a run for it and stops her as she is driving her car out of the parking lot and offers her the job, much to the chagrin of Elizabeth, who couldn’t imagine herself without the role of a scientist. But later in her house, as she is cleaning up Maddie’s toys on a hot, sweltering, sleepy afternoon, she sees the closed television set, and a realization strikes her. 

This was a funny swerve, yet a strange one considering the time jump. We don’t know whether the time jump is permanent or whether the show will oscillate back and forth. And while the show’s world is a weird mix of period realism and cartoonish progressiveness, the humor and strong acting make up for the show’s flaws.

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Lessons in Chemistry (Season 1), Episode 4 Links: IMDb, Rotten Tomatoes, Wikipedia
Cast: Brie Larson, Lewis Pullman, Aja Naomi King, Stephanie Koenig, Patrick Walker, Thomas Mann, Kevin Sussman, Beau Bridges
Genre: Drama | Runtime: 8 Episode