Episodes Flashcards
Episode 1 (To Business) summary
The audience are introduced to Young Woman and the various characters who work in the George H. Jones company office. Young Woman arrives late to work and is grilled by her colleagues. She is called to the office to speak to Mr Jones, ending the episode with a monologue informing the audience that he wants to marry her.
Episode 2 (At Home) summary
Young Woman is living with her controlling mother, who maintains that material stability is more significant than romance or love. Eventually, despite her misgivings, she decides to marry him.
Episode 3 (Honeymoon) summary
George and Helen enter a hotel room on their honeymoon. While George is happy and boisterous, Helen is skittish and quiet, and hesitant to embrace her new husband. George urges her to relax, asking her what is wrong. Helen locks herself in the bathroom as she undresses, whilst George starts to count down, forcing to reveal herself in a sexual manner.
Episode 4 (Maternal) summary
A new mother now, Young Woman lies unhappily in a bed as construction sounds come in from outside the window. The nurse assumes that she should be happy to be a mother, as George bustles in with a bouquet of flowers. His arrival forces her to vomit, but she is ignored by medical professionals.
Episode 5 (Prohibited) summary
This episode’s setting is a bar. There’s an electric piano playing and people talking at tables. Two men start talking, and we see that they are waiting for the young woman and the office telephone girl from Episode One. This is the first time that Helen has gone out to a bar.
Episode 6 (Intimate) summary
Helen Jones feels happy for the first time. The man has a very different attitude toward her than her husband does. The man asks the young woman questions, listens to her thoughts, and seems genuinely interested in what she has to say. The young woman, meanwhile, is relaxed, playful, and most surprisingly, sexually liberated.
Episode 7 (Domestic) summary
Helen and Jones are reading newspapers, each on the far end of their shared sofa. Jones talks to himself about his business, and Helen interjects as if by rote. She grows increasingly restless, and Jones’ attempts to engage her physically make her skittish. She worries for the safety of her lover, as he has left her to travel abroad.
Episode 8 (The Law) summary
There’s a time skip: Young Woman has killed her husband. The reporters in the room seem excited, spinning opposing versions of the events. Helen learns her lover has betrayed her, is bullied into confessing, and relinquishes her life. She tells the court that she killed Jones “to be free.”
Episode 9 (A Machine) summary
In a jail cell, a priest prays over Helen, repeatedly raising his voice to be heard over the sound of an African American spiritual being sung offstage. The jailer tries to make the singer stop, but the young woman requests he be allowed to go on, saying the sound helps her. She sees her mother for the final time and pleads for her to keep her (previously unmentioned) daughter safe. Finally, she is executed, finally free from the pain of her monotonous existence.
