Lessons in Chemistry – Introduction to Chemistry

After finding out that the Remsen Foundation donated Calvin’s favorite book Great Expectations to St. Luke’s, Mad (Alice Halsey) and Elizabeth (Brie Larson) have a new lead in their mission. In a flashback to thirty years prior, a young Calvin (Caden Dragomer) is reading “Great Expectations” when Wilson (Beau Bridges) shows up to the school. Wilson meets with the Cardinal (Adam O’Byrne) to find out more information about Calvin….only to be told that Calvin died the previous summer of tuberculosis. Calvin’s fate was sealed that day.

At the station, Supper At Six continues to heat up…as does the budding attraction between Fran (Stephanie Koenig) and Walter (Kevin Sussman). After Walter brings in flowers to “de-drab” the office, Fran seeks out Elizabeth’s advice over her crush on Walter. Excited at the prospect of her friends together, Elizabeth pitches the idea that Fran takes the lead and asks Walter out on a date.  Still believing in traditional roles, Fran shoots the idea down. But no time to dwell as Phil (Rainn Wilson) has called a meeting between Elizabeth, Walter, Fran, and himself. As Swift and Crisp has pulled their sponsorship on the show due to Elizabeth’s vocal support for the protest, no one else is willing to take Phil’s calls or wish to sponsor the show. Elizabeth and Walter have two weeks to find a new sponsor or Phil will cancel the show.

At her law firm, Harriet (Aja Naomi King) is hard at work trying to get the votes to shut down the freeway project. As she continues to wear down those voting, she has a breakthrough and manages to get over half the votes to secure their neighborhood. The years-long fight over the Sugar Hill neighborhood has finally gone her way!

Wilson returns to his office to find his secretary (Alyssa Preston) and a few other women excited over the latest phone call: Elizabeth Zott. While Wilson quickly learns from his secretary who Elizabeth is, he is eager to find out why she has called. Unfortunately, the call will have to wait as Elizabeth is in the middle of filming Supper at Six. As she makes stuffed mushrooms and underhanded insults at Phil on the air, Elizabeth is surprised to find a return audience member back in the group: Mrs. Fillis (Tristen MacDonald). After Elizabeth’s prior advice to the young woman to apply for medical school and pursue her passion, Mrs. Fillis is pleased to share that she has done just that and is the happiest she has ever been. As the crowd applauses for the accomplishment, Elizabeth seems to take pause.

Later, in her dressing room, Elizabeth and Walter relax after another show. Walter shares that he has declined her judging a middle school science fair, but Elizabeth explains that she would love to do it. Walter agrees to tell the school she is available, and the conversation then turns to Elizabeth trying to encourage Walter to get back out into the dating world. As Walter leaves the dressing room, the phone rings and Elizabeth is finally able to set up meeting with Wilson.

Scheduling a meeting, Elizabeth and Mad sit down with Wilson and start to ask about the Remsen Foundation’s interest in philanthropy. While Wilson does not initially understand the purpose of the visit, finding out that Mad is Calvin’s daughter immediately piques his interest. However, it is not his story to tell and he goes to make a call. On a golf course, a young man runs out to a woman teeing up, an Avery Barker (Rosemarie DeWitt). As it turns out, Avery is Calvin’s biological mother…and very much alive.

Avery comes over to the Zott residence and explains her story to Elizabeth and Mad. Having Calvin at the age of sixteen, her parents took the baby from her and placed him in a children’s home. As Avery finally acquired her trust fund at 25 years old, she enlisted the help of Wilson and began the Remsen Foundation as a way to track down her son. When they eventually found Calvin at St. Luke’s, their plan was temporarily derailed by the supposed death of Calvin. It wasn’t until years later as Avery saw Calvin’s face on the cover of a magazine that she started writing him to try and get to know him. Thinking the letters were fake, Calvin had Harriet write a cease-and-desist letter to Avery. But Avery truly stopped pushing when she saw Calvin and Elizabeth together, knowing that her son was happy was good enough.

While this was a lot of information to take in, Avery hopes to have a relationship with Elizabeth and Mad as a way to connect with Calvin. However, it may take Mad and Elizabeth some time to come around on that. Later that night, Mad expresses how sad she is that the journey seemed to come to an end, but Elizabeth assures her that she sees parts of Calvin in her daughter and that there will be more information in time that helps complete the picture of her father.

The next day, Elizabeth asks Mad to play hooky for one more day with her and come to the science fair. There Mad sees her mother in her element and realizes that she belongs in a lab….not in a kitchen. Later at the Sloane residence, Elizabeth shares everything with Harriet as the women celebrate the saving of their neighborhood. Harriet reminds Elizabeth that she will figure out what to do with her show, which gives Ms. Zott a great idea.

On the next Supper at Six, Elizabeth announces a new sponsor for their show: Tampax. Not only does she show the box on camera, but every woman in the audience is gifted a box of their own. Furthermore, she announces that she will be leaving the show and there are plans to find a new host. Phil is perplexed, but Elizabeth has one more trick up her sleeve. After calling the station owner Kenneth (Greg Benson) and explaining all of this prior to her show, she made one more request. And with that, Phil is fired and Walter is given control of Supper at Six. Inspired by Elizabeth’s courage, Fran takes the initiative to ask Walter out on a date….and he accepts.

Eager to get the meeting on the freeway underway, Harriet is excited to save her neighborhood. Unfortunately, Councilman Sommers (David Bickford) flips at the last minute and votes for the freeway. Harriet lost the fight after so many years. Later that night, Elizabeth comes over to console her friend and commiserate over beer.

Finally realizing her dream, Elizabeth seeks out Avery and asks her for help on one more thing. Sometime later, an eager classroom of students await the arrival of their new teacher….which happens to be Elizabeth. As she is on the way to obtaining her Ph.D. and continuing her path as a chemist, things finally seem to be where they need to be. At a dinner party hosted by Elizabeth, she makes her signature lasagna dish to a group of close friends and family. Looking around at the “family” she has created, she sees Calvin (Lewis Pullman) looking at the life she has created for their family….and she smiles before joining everyone.