Marietta, her staff, and Moira are at the opening of a new basketball court at a local girls’ school.
Amy: Marietta, isn’t it great to get to see the faces of all these kids we’re impacting with our work? This court wouldn’t have been built without us!
Marietta: It’s definitely wonderful. I am so proud of what we’re doing to empower the young girls of New Orleans. I don’t love that it’s called the “Marietta Landfield Memorial Court,” but what are you gonna do?
Tammy: That was, a… a misstep on my part. It was supposed to be the Martin Landfield Memorial Court.
Marietta: Why were we naming a girls’ basketball court after my dad, exactly?
Tammy: You approved it!
Marietta: I approve a lot of stuff I don’t actually read. I’m a very busy woman!
Amy: Oh, I will be using that information to my advantage.
Tammy: Henrietta, you don’t look well.
Henrietta: It’s just the heat. I’m used to working in our cushy air-conditioned office.
Amy: We’ve been outside for twenty minutes. We have an hour-long dedication ceremony ahead of us.
Henrietta: I’ll be fine!
Moira: Maybe she has the flu.
Henrietta: No, I’m fine.
Marietta: If you’ve got the flu, I need you to stay away. I have a very busy schedule.
Tammy Do you?
Marietta: I feel like I’m being greatly undervalued, and I don’t really appreciate it. I work so hard.
Amy: Yes, she works hard for the money. So hard for it, honey.
Marietta: You see, you can’t use the words of Donna Summer to mock me, because I find it a great compliment to be compared to one of the greatest voices in music history.
Henrietta: I have to go to the bathroom, I’ll be right back.
Moira: She’s got the flu.
Marietta: Hey, Henrietta, when you get out… you can head home and get some rest. Just take Tammy’s car, not mine.
Tammy: My car? She’s your cousin!
Marietta: I’m the mayor, I’m not about to get sick.
Tammy: Let’s face it, if I get sick, you’re also getting sick. Let’s just cut to the chase.
Amy: She claims to not have the flu. Maybe it’s just food poisoning. I know that’s about how I’ve looked when I had something rotten to eat.
Marietta: Are you implying my mother gave her food poisoning?
Amy: I think you’re the only one who brought up your mom. I’m sure she’s eaten other places recently, too.
Marietta: I’m very protective of my mother’s cooking. It’s the only time I ever get to eat aa quality meal.
Tammy: I invite you over plenty!
Marietta: Tammy, I just wouldn’t feel right making your personal chef cook for another person.
Amy: She’s got a personal chef?
Tammy: I’m a former First Lady, of course I do!
Moira: Oh, are all former First Ladies snobs?
Tammy: I’m not a snob!
Marietta: Eh…
Amy: I’m a woman of the people. That’s why I’m going to be our next mayor.
Marietta: Jesus Christ.
The next day, at the office…
Marietta: Do you guys know if Henrietta’s coming in today? It’s very unusual for me to get here before her.
Tammy: She hasn’t called out. Maybe she’s just running late.
Amy: She should just stay home if she’s sick. Whether it’s contagious or not.
Tammy: Some people enjoy work and don’t want to miss it if they don’t have to. I get it.
Amy: You enjoy work?
Tammy: I didn’t say that. I just said I understood it. Myself, I enjoy Scandal and don’t want to miss it.
Amy: Scandal went off the air almost a decade ago.
Tammy: Well, I’m still on season three of binging it. Marietta runs me ragged, I never get time to just watch what I want.
Marietta: You don’t need to talk about me like I’m a dictator. I’m just your boss.
Tammy: I used to be your boss! I’m still not used to this arrangement!
Amy: I can’t wait to be the boss around here. It won’t be so long now.
Tammy: Are you going to keep bringing this up every day?
Amy: Until she gives me a legitimate reason that I shouldn’t run.
Marietta: Not at work. We have important business to tend to.
Amy: Like what?
Marietta: I don’t know, surely you have some Bluesky posts to go write. You’re the damn press secretary, I never see you doing your actual job.
Amy: That’s unfair!
Tammy: It’s not wrong.
Henrietta: Hi, guys.
Marietta: Henrietta! I was getting worried about you!
Tammy: We all were.
Marietta: It’s not a competition, don’t worry.
Tammy: But if it were, I cared the most.
Henrietta: Can we lock the office door? I have something I wanted to talk about, but I don’t want any interruptions.
Marietta: Tammy, you run the office.
Tammy: That’s fine with me.
Marietta: I am getting more worried, though. Are you ill?
Henrietta: Well, I’ve been struck with an affliction.
Amy: Oh no, it’s cancer. I knew it!
Marietta: You said food poisoning!
Amy: I was trying to be optimistic, I didn’t want to scare her.
Henrietta: I don’t have cancer.
Amy: I knew it! Tammy’s such a worrywart.
Tammy: If it were possible to kill someone with your mind, you’d be dead.
Marietta: What’s going on then, Henrietta? Is it the flu? Because I don’t think closing us in tight quarters is the best move, then.
Henrietta: It’s not that. I left the groundbreaking yesterday because I was throwing up. I sort of already knew what was wrong, I’ve certainly felt it before. But I stopped at CVS for a test to make sure.
Amy: She’s got COVID. Oh no! We’re all screwed, when’s the last time any of us had our COVID vaccines?
Marietta: I don’t know… 2021?
Amy: We’re gonna die.
Henrietta: I don’t have COVID.
Marietta: I think everyone besides Amy knew that.
Amy: I knew it, too.
Tammy: Sure.
Henrietta: I’m pregnant.
Marietta: Oh, congratulations! I always wanted more than one, I guess it just wasn’t ever in the cards for me. I’m glad it is for you!
Henrietta: I’m not happy about it.
Marietta: Oh boy.
Tammy: Well, luckily we live in Louisiana, a state that is very good about handling unwanted pregnancies. You’ll have no trouble at all -
Henrietta: I’m not getting an abortion.
Tammy: Oh, thank god. Because, uh… you weren’t getting one if you wanted one.
Amy: Classic 2020s!
Marietta: So why are you upset about being pregnant? You love being a mom, clearly. And you’re old enough that it’s not inappropriate and weird now!
Henrietta: I think Mason’s cheating on me.
Marietta: Oh boy..
Tammy: Do I want to ask why you think that?
Marietta: Let’s not be nosy.
Henrietta: No, I need to let it out. I’ve had the suspicion for a few weeks. Every time I get home, Mason hasn’t been around. That’s not how it used to be, he would always get home before me. And when he does get home, he’s so evasive about where he was. He claims he’s been working late, but he never elaborates on why he’s suddenly working two hours longer every night. He’s also got no sex drive, which is very unlike him. I mean, he’s twenty-three years old, for Christ’s sake! What 23 year old guy isn’t ready to go at any moment?
Marietta: What a wonderful discussion to be having at work.
Henrietta: Does he just not find me attractive anymore?
Amy: Oh, wow, that’s a worry you usually don’t have for another thirty years or so.
Henrietta: Also, he keeps getting these texts from a woman named Emily. I don’t read them, but I have seen them pop up on his phone. I don’t know who she is!
Amy: Honey, do you think your husband would put his mistress’s name in his contacts as-is and then just leave his phone around for you to see their texts?
Henrietta: I don’t know! I’ve never been cheated on before! We’ve been married… to long. Maybe this is a blessing in disguise, I never had a chance to date or be single or have fun. I got knocked up, we got married, and I thought it was all going great, but maybe I was wrong. I never had freedom! And now I’m carrying an anchor around in my belly.
Marietta: Look, this has clearly been weighing on you for a while. I know you’re probably upset you might be getting cheated on, but you’re certainly talking as if you’ve been unhappy and have felt tied down for a while.
Henrietta: I know. Maybe we need couples’ therapy.
Amy: Or maybe you just need to be free. If you’re both unhappy, and he’s unfaithful, then you might not be a match. And that’s okay! Sometimes, things seem perfect until they’re not.
Henrietta: I can’t be divorced at twenty-three with two kids!
Amy: That’s not so bad! Better than being stuck in a loveless marriage for sixty years, like people from Tammy’s day.
Tammy: You know, Marietta, this is the second week in a row where someone close to you has had their marriage crumble after learning of infidelity. I think you’re a jinx.
Marietta: I probably am.
Tammy: Let’s just warn Milton.
Marietta: No, Moira would never do that. She has it made - she doesn’t even have to see him half the time!
Tammy: That’s a good point.
Henrietta: Can I ask you guys to promise me something? Don’t tell my mom. I don’t need her sticking her nose into this. Let me talk to Mason first, and clear the air, and then I’ll deal with mom.
Marietta: You’ve got my word.
Later that day…
Patty Lynn: How was work today, honey?
Marietta: Insane.
Patty Lynn: What happened?
Kathleen: Did you get a paper cut and it took the whole staff all day to figure out how to treat it?
Marietta: I can’t help but feel like you’re mocking my job.
Kathleen: You think?
Marietta: I do so much for this city.
Patty Lynn: And what went wrong today?
Marietta: I didn’t say anything went wrong. I just said it was crazy!
Patty Lynn: Is this something about Henrietta: You said she was sick last night.
Marietta: She’s fine. Totally fine!
Kathleen: The way you said that, it’s very possible she’s dead.
Marietta: She’s alive.
Patty Lynn: And well?
Marietta: Eh…
Patty Lynn: What’s wrong with my great niece?
Marietta: She just found out she’s pregnant, and she also thinks Mason is cheating on her. You can not tell anyone. I mean it!
Patty Lynn: That’s terrible!
Kathleen: I know, expecting you to keep a secret. Has she met you?
Patty Lynn: I will keep it! But I feel awful for her! And this is just after Kate found out her husband was running around on her. Maybe you can get them in contact with each other, I think it might help to have someone to talk to that’s going through the same thing as you.
Kathleen: I was divorced twice. The last thing I wanted to do in the aftermath of those divorces was to have to talk to more people about them.
Marietta: I’m gonna be honest, I think a split was coming regardless. The way Henrietta was talking… she’s not happy in her marriage anyway. She never had a chance to grow up, she rushed right into marriage and motherhood. I feel for her.
Kathleen: These are the things that happen when you settle down too early. It’s just a shame there’s a young kid involved now. And another one on the way, I guess.
Marietta: I feel for her. It’s a hard situation to be in. But she’s smart - beyond her years. She’ll figure out what’s best for her, and we’ll all be here to support her through it.
Patty Lynn: Maybe I can invite her over just to give her a safe place to not worry.
Kathleen: You think this is a calming atmosphere? Are you nuts?
Marietta: No one answer that.
The next night…
Eliza: Honey, you all right?
Henrietta: Yeah, mom. Why?
Elena: We’ve noticed odd behavior.
Eliza: You’ve been throwing up lately. Is there anything you wanted to tell us?
Henrietta: Marietta…
Eliza: Marietta who?
Henrietta: Come on, I told her not to tell you!
Eliza: She didn’t tell me anything.
Elena: You were obviously crying. We take notice to that. We’re very observant.
Henrietta: The twins just turned the stove on and then put their Nintendo Switch on the burner.
Elena: Dammit! No emotional breakthroughs while I’m dealing with this.
Eliza: Honey, I know you’re pregnant.
Henrietta: I figured that much.
Eliza: I also know… you know.
Henrietta: What?
Eliza: Your marital issues. No one knows how you’re feeling better than I do. I married your father after I had you, and I quickly regretted it, and I cheated. I wanted to get out, and I did’t care how it happened. Setting down so young has so many drawbacks. It works for some people, for others… it almost steals their independence. And it causes us to act out and hurt someone we really do love.
Henrietta: Mom, I talked with Mason. He wasn’t cheating on me. He was planning a real honeymoon for us now that we’ve got the money to go on one.
Eliza: Oh! That’s great, too!
Henrietta: We’re separating.
Eliza: What? Why? You just said he’s not having an affair!
Elena: I feel like I missed something.
Eliza: You’ll catch up.
Henrietta: He wasn’t having an affair, but I was having doubts. And I told him about them, because I felt bad about clearly being less committed to this marriage than he is. He was hurt, and it felt like whiplash to then tell him I’m pregnant.
Elena: You are? Wow, that’s crazy!
Eliza: She’s aware we know.
Elena: Okay, good. I’m terrible at hiding when I know a secret.
Henrietta: I told him I want to try working it out in therapy, he agreed. He also agreed it’s best to live apart for now. Maybe we make it work, maybe we get divorced. But we’re going to be adults about it. No hard feelings.
Eliza: That’s very mature. I’m proud of both of you.
Henrietta: Can I tell you something? I’m glad I had you to talk to.
Eliza: Any time, kiddo. Any time.
The next day, at the office, Henrietta walks in and hugs Marietta.
Marietta: Not that I mind, but what was that for?
Henrietta: For spilling the beans to my mom. We had a great talk, I really feel better about everything now. Mason was not cheating on me, but we are separating, because this all just helped me realize my feelings on everything.
Marietta: I’d love to take credit for it, but I didn’t tell your mother a thing, I’m afraid.
Henrietta: Who did, then?
Marietta: My mother…
Henrietta: Oh, come on. You know anything you tell her is going to be known by every person she’s ever met. You knew what you were doing.
Marietta: I suppose I may have.
What did you think of this episode of Marietta? Let us know in the comments and make sure to read a new episode next week!
