Lessons in Chemistry – Poirot

In a flashback to a church in Alabama 1934, a preacher named Ezra Zott (Jon Fletcher) is onstage addressing his congregation. As the preacher addresses talks about his children Elizabeth (Ridley Haitkin) and John (Jackson Kelly), it becomes clear that this is a glimpse into Elizabeth’s upbringing. As Ezra asks for a sign from God, a fire erupts on the seat in front of John…which intrigues Elizabeth. John later shows his sister that lighting pistachios on fire achieves that flash fire. To John, chemistry is the real magic….not what their father is trying to peddle to his audience. As Elizabeth watches the next show, John’s eyes wander over to a gentleman sitting next to him.

Presently, Elizabeth (Brie Larson) has had another successful show. Her audience is filled with women eager to learn more about cooking, while Phil (Rainn Wilson) tries to work his magic in landing an endorsement. When Elizabeth finds herself with a few extra minutes, she steps out from behind her counter to have a little Q & A session with her fans. And from the first question, Elizabeth realizes that women in her audience are seeking more than just recipes….especially when they have the same aspirations as her.

But while Elizabeth’s fame is taking off, racial turmoil is sweeping the nation As the Sloane family and their friends gather around the television to watch Martin Luther King Jr. get arrested at a sit-in, Harriet (Aja Naomi King) is ready to act. Her husband Charlie (Paul James) is hesitant about the whole idea, but Harriet refuses to back down. This causes a bit of friction between the loving couple, even after Harriet goes to answer the phone and listens to Elizabeth drone on about how she wore pants on her show today. Yet Harriet is not one to back down, especially when in the upcoming days she organizes her protest while at work.

Yet the Sloanes are not the only ones with tension running high. In the Zott household, Mad (Alice Halsey) and Elizabeth are still adjusting to the new schedule. As Elizabeth says goodnight to her daughter and heads downstairs to sign autographs, she has another flashback to her father greeting his adoring members of the congregation. Upstairs, Mad has started to gather her clues about her father and opens a Scientific American Magazine with Calvin (Lewis Pullman) on the cover.

The next day at the station, Elizabeth and Walter (Kevin Sussman) are greeted by an overly excited Phil . As Phil pops open a bottle of champagne to commemorate the success of “Supper At Six,” he is also eager to share that the show is now being sponsored by Swift & Crisp shortening….which means Elizabeth will have to endorse the product on the air. But while Phil is excited for the endorsement, Elizabeth turns down talking about the product as she wants to remain authentic to her audience. Phil warns Elizabeth that if she does not mention the product on her show, she is fired. Elizabeth decides to talk about the product but chastises the use of shortening and focuses on using beef tallow instead to make her strawberry shortcake. When Phil comes to get a slice of cake from Elizabeth after the show, he punishes her stunt by suspending her and the crew for three days without pay. Going home to angrily cook and clean her feelings, another flashback to Elizabeth’s past shows when Ezra learned of John’s sexual orientation and the prompt chastising of it. Using John’s sin, Ezra tries to “cast” out the evil from his own son.

Realizing that she needs additional ingredients for what she is making, Elizabeth heads to the grocery store and ends up bumping into Fran Frask (Stephanie Koenig). Fran is apologetic for what happened at Hastings and ended up leaving shortly after Elizabeth did. The two women have a polite conversation with Elizabeth inviting Fran to her next show. Once the suspension lifts, Elizabeth is greeted to a frosty welcome to the staff that lost out on money because of her. Going against her own morals, Elizabeth plays Phil’s game and endorses Swift & Crisp to placate him. Afterwards, Fran gushes about Elizabeth’s show and even shares a few pointers to make it better. Realizing that she could use a little help in talking to the audience, Elizabeth offers Fran a job working with her. Upon meeting Fran, Walter seems a little flustered by her presence.

In the quest to find out more information about her father, Mad heads back to Reverend Wakely (Patrick Walker) and admits she has hit a dead end with the St. Luke’s schools. Wakely tells her the trail may have gone cold this way, but Mad should keep finding new ways to learn more about her father. Mad and Linda (Alana Gay) end up at the library where Mad requests any information that they may have on Calvin Evans. While the librarian requests some time to pull together the information, she returns to Mad with a pile of information….one being a cease-and-desist letter from Harriet’s law firm. Using that information, Linda and Junior (Hero Hunter) head to their mother’s work to take Calvin’s file….and are caught.

Later that night, Elizabeth and Harriet talk about Mad trying to find out more information on Calvin. Harriet tells Elizabeth that Mad is not a baby anymore and that Mad’s curiosity stems from Elizabeth’s reluctance to be vulnerable with her daughter. Additionally, Harriet hands Elizabeth some flyers for the protest that they are holding about the freeway. After one suspension from the show, Elizabeth says she cannot help out Harriet in fear that she will hurt her crew members once again. This angers Harriet, especially since Calvin deserted her when she needed him the most the last time. Furthermore, Elizabeth has a platform that would help her.

Another flashback shows Ezra torturing John to make him change his ways, with John killing himself later that night. While her mother Iris (Danielle Hoetmer) cries over the body of her son, Ezra tells Elizabeth that her brother made his choice. Remembering John’s words about being honest and no longer living a lie, Elizabeth decides to use her next show to talk about the protest and her attendance in support. As Phil comes up to tell her the show is suspended for four days, Elizabeth knows that it will cost Phil more to suspend her than it would for her to compensate the whole crew. Elizabeth finally found her way to remain herself rather than cow-tow to Phil’s demands.

With the protest in full swing, it goes as expected. While it may be peaceful, the police arrive and begin to shake up the protesters by throwing a few of them to the ground and arresting others. Later that night, Charlie comes home to Harriet and admits that it is not changing things that scare him the most. Rather, he is more afraid to lose Harriet to the fight of injustice. The two share a vulnerable moment.

But vulnerability is also making its way to the Zott residence. After the events of the protest, Elizabeth decides to open up to Mad and they share a moment. As Mad shows what she has learned about Calvin, Elizabeth shows Mad the pistachio shells that reminded her of her brother. The next day, Mad takes the information that Linda and Junior found on Calvin and presents it to Wakely. She has found the St. Luke’s where her father was. But Wakely’s interest is piqued for a different reason, especially when he realizes that Mad’s father is Calvin Evans.