Original subtitles

As far as I'm concerned,

you are my real mother.

My only mother.

Whoever you want me to know

is the woman who just pushed me out.

If I had it to do all over again,

I would have tracked you down a lot sooner.

You deserve to know your history.

But it took me till I was almost about ready to meet my maker

to do the right thing.

If my birth mother didn't care enough to raise me,

why should I give a damn?

Because it's important.

I have to take care of business

and get all of my affairs in order while I still can.

And you, Dana,

are my most important business of all.

I don't mind the sound of that.

This is serious.

This truth could change everything for you.

You were very quiet on the way home.

Eh, I was thinking about

Ted and Nicole.

I know they've been separated for a while now,

but Nicole divorcing him,

that's gonna... it's gonna still be a big change.

Yeah, a change for the better, as far as I'm concerned.

She needs to get on with her life.

Well, even so, it's...

I can't help feeling like a little bit of a failure.

You?

What does Nicole's divorce have to do with you?

Well, doesn't common wisdom say

that women tend to pick partners based on

their relationships with their fathers?

So I've read.

Well, Nicole and Dani

ended up marrying men

who cheated and lied.

But you, my dear, have done neither.

Don't blame yourself for Ted and Bill's failures,

and take pride in the fact that our daughters

didn't put up with their bum husbands.

Okay, granted, Danielle tolerated Bill's philandering

much longer than she should have,

but Nicole took a firm stand

the moment she found out what Ted did.

-I suppose that's true. -Mm-hmm.

[doorbell rings]

Let-let Rowena get it, sweetheart.

Listen, I think

this is the time for all the Duprees

to come to terms with the past

and start new chapters.

Nicole is getting closure with Ted,

just as I, in a more positive way,

did with the Articulettes.

Hi, you two.

Oh, I'm so glad you came by before you left.

I wanted to have a proper farewell.

Actually, Anita, we were hoping not to say goodbye.

We're hoping you'll reconsider joining us

when we go on tour.

♪ ♪

What's with the last-minute text invite?

Everything okay?

-Uh, do I look okay? -You look fantastic.

In fact, you're radiating. Something's different.

And it's all coming from the inside, too.

Care to spill?

Um, sissy?

NICOLE: It's a party, so I decided to decorate.

With "Pin the tape on the Teddy?"

What are we celebrating?

My impending divorce.

Divorce, the stuff nightmares are made of.

Nicole served me papers.

Ouch. Uncle Ted.

[scoffs]

But did you really think

that it was a surprise, though?

I mean, you've been separated for months.

I thought we were in a holding pattern.

I would talk to her, I would see her.

Her anger had softened, so I thought.

-Yeah? -That's why I feel so blindsided.

But has she ever said anything

to you to make you feel that you were reconciling?

Things are always so vague with Nicole, you know?

Now, suddenly, she's decided we weren't worth saving.

Right. I feel you.

About being blindsided like that.

I'm going through the exact same thing.

With Dani?

No, with Ashley.

Ooh, it is slow as molasses in January,

as my grandma used to say.

Yeah, there hasn't been much activity.

But we are a hospital, so maybe that's a good thing.

Gives me a chance to catch up on my discharge planning.

Yeah, far it be from me to wish ill health on somebody

to make my evening more fun.

I haven't even seen Andre around lately.

Guess his girlfriend Dani's been keeping him

-pretty busy, huh? -[clears throat]

Guess so.

Well, leaves more time on your hands.

So what have you been doing to keep yourself busy?

Oh, you know, I'm just focusing on my own personal development.

I think it's time to invest in myself.

Oh, so you've been embracing the single life?

Is that what I just said?

-Practically verbatim. -Okay.

So, are things still done with you and Derek?

Yep. Maybe I'll use all that time I spent dating

and do something for myself.

Ooh, like learn a language.

Oh, yeah. Which one?

I don't even care. Anything but French.

[Shanice laughs]

Oh, be careful what you wish for.

Ashley, check room availability, please.

We've got a patient coming up from Emergency.

Guys.

What's happening?

Biking accident, he went over the front handlebars.

C-spine precautions are in place

but he is alert and oriented.

SHANICE: Move. Move, quick.

BRYCE: This doesn't look good.

This is a triathlete's worst nightmare.

Okay, we can put him in--

[groaning]

Go on tour with you?

The whole point of this tour

is to show the world that you two

are lead singers.

SHARON: I reminded Tracy

you insisted our reunion was one night only.

TRACY: But you took to the spotlight again like a duck to water.

And I mean that in a good way.

Your light made us all shine.

TRACY: So,

you want to hit the road with us?

I will support whatever you decide to do, my love.

I'm sorry, ladies,

I have to stand by my initial decision.

Right now, I couldn't possibly

think of being away from home.

There's a lot happening with my foundation work,

but more importantly, with my family.

What I've learned the hard way

is that lives really don't change,

no matter how much you dream they will.

How could learning more about my mother

make anything better for me?

I'd be some kind of masochist to want to go out of my way

to meet a woman who wanted nothing to do with me.

Gosh, do you know how many times

that I've been rejected?

Enough to last a dozen lifetimes.

You were always so stubborn and rebellious.

And it serves me well.

And it serves anybody in this world

who wasn't born with a silver spoon for a pacifier.

Please, just shut your trap

for a minute and listen to me.

Tell yourself it's my last dying wish.

Fine, enlighten me, Peaches.

Your birth mother was a friend of mine.

She was...

beyond talented.

She was a professional singer for a while.

Really?

I mean, I really like to sing.

Figured that my birth parents...

...they didn't amount to a hill of beans.

Your birth mother's career was cut short

when she was on the verge of success.

Sadly, she never recovered from that disappointment.

Then, about a year later,

she found out she was pregnant.

What about my father? I mean, who was he?

Your mother would never mention him.

If I asked, she'd never talk about it,

so I just,

you know, sensed that it was...

not a, really, a long-term relationship, and...

You know how that is.

I'm not even sure he knew.

Well, maybe it's in my DNA.

My own kid grew up with a father who didn't know she existed.

It's not in your DNA, Dana.

It's choices and circumstances.

Your mother was working minimum wage jobs

and struggling.

She didn't have support, she was running out of money,

and she decided to turn to me for help.

Put him in exam room two.

Oh, I'll go with him.

Ashley, remember your training.

This is someone you know too well.

Let the paramedics handle it, okay?

There could be a head injury.

What do I do? Uh...

Page the neurologist on duty, Dr. Madison Montgomery.

Ashley, you have to be a nurse right now.

Treat him like you would treat anybody else.

Uh, okay. Okay.

Okay.

Hey, I remember you. You, you're one of the guys

from the fire station, right?

Yeah, that's right.

What happened?

He wasn't prepared.

He started training for the triathlon too late.

He didn't even know the course.

Most of us have gone over that course dozens of times now.

-Was there a hill or... -No,

it was a series of S's, S-curves.

-Okay. -You know, there was a horseshoe, it's nasty,

but every rider, every professional cyclist

knows to slow down.

Derek wouldn't slow down. I tried to warn him.

He didn't listen to me. He sped up.

-Oh, my God. -Yeah.

He went over the handlebars.

His lower back slammed against the curb.

God, what was he thinking?

I don't know.

But before the competition, he told me

that he was willing to go to the limits and beyond.

That's what he always does.

It's different when you're pulling someone

out of a burning building,

but it's something else entirely

when you have nothing to lose but...

Me.

Brilliant me, I blew off a completely perfect,

very hot, no strings attached thing with Dani

so I could settle down with Ashley,

only for Ashley to tell me we were done. I...

You were willing to give up Dani Dupree

for the newbie nurse?

I thought that Ashley and I could have

had something serious.

I mean, she straight up told me that she would date me...

Thank you.

...if I was willing to be exclusive,

and you know me, Uncle Ted,

that has never been my MO.

But I said sure, why not?

And then she just played me.

Maybe you think you were giving her what she wanted, hmm?

How's a man supposed to figure that out?

I did everything by the book.

I took it slow. I wined her, I dined her.

-I'd share stories together... -Mm-hmm.

...only to wind up still kicked to the curb.

I mean, what's up with that?

Women have a change of heart, I guess.

Yeah, I guess.

I know that Dani is wild,

and she blows hot and cold,

but Ashley, I thought she was the kind of person

that would keep her word.

-She seems so rational. -[scoffs]

For the sake of sounding like a caveman,

is there even a such thing as a rational woman?

You see, that right there?

That is not making your case as husband material.

Yeah, well, I've groveled for the past few months.

Where has that got me? Hmm? Nowhere.

I'm gonna keep it real.

Nicole has been so inflexible, so unforgiving

for something that happened decades ago.

What am I supposed to do, get a, get a time machine

so I can go back and make different choices?

I don't know. I took Ashley to Paris,

never even leaving D.C.

If you want Auntie badly enough, you...

Hmm. You know, I hate to be Captain Obvious,

but whatever magic trick you pulled

didn't work any better than my apology,

so you can keep your advice in your pocket,

and I'm going to keep the liquor in the glass.

So, is that why I'm here?

To watch you wallow in self-pity?

Yeah.

I've lost the love of my life for good,

so I deserve a big fat pity party.

Ladies, the first rule of my divorce party

is that nobody, and I mean nobody,

is allowed to tell me how sad they are for me.

The divorce was my choice.

I gave it a lot of thought and, honestly,

I feel really good about it.

So, no moping, no commiserating.

I'm opening my arms to the universe

and saying, "I am single, bring me whatever I've been missing."

All right. Well, Nicole, we are entering

independence together since old Andre gave me the boot.

What? Why?

He decided he'd rather be with someone

much, much duller than I am,

all because she was willing to get serious.

I'm getting whiplash. Didn't you two

just make a splashy debut at your mom's concert?

I don't know what I was thinking. PSA, ladies.

Sometimes it's better to keep a sneaky link a sneaky link.

Can't argue that.

Uh, out of the three of us, Vanessa,

you're the only one who's still married.

Yours is still going strong.

Is "strong" really the right word? It's going.

I've got plenty of reasons to stick with it.

Like?

Nicole, you only gave us one rule for the party.

Oh, right.

Rule number two:

Anytime we catch ourselves talking about

the men we are involved with, we have to drink.

This party is about independence,

remembering that we only

need each other. Mother just showed us

how it's all done with the Articulettes.

To women.

-To us. -To us.

Ladies, if you don't mind,

I will allow you the privacy to say your goodbyes.

So good to see you again, Tracy.

Oh, you're welcome at our home anytime.

Visit anytime.

You are a gracious host. Thank you, Vernon.

Uh, what about me?

Does that offer apply to me, too, or am I too much trouble?

You know, I've spent a lifetime tangling with the toughest.

I think I can handle you.

-Oh. -[laughs]

I know that's right.

I bet you could back in the day,

if certain people hadn't gotten in the way.

And I'm still in the way, so slow your roll, sis.

[laughter]

Oh, I saw that look of relief on his face

when you said you wouldn't be joining us on tour.

VERNON: Yeah, of course I was relieved.

I want to see my beautiful wife every day.

I make no apologies for that.

Now, excuse me.

I-I have to prep for this upcoming semester,

and I am far too long in the tooth

to keep school hours and nightclub hours.

Good night.

[laughing]: Good night.

We are all so blessed.

-Amen. -Amen.

How many people get the chance

to heal old wounds so profoundly

and finally put the past to rest?

I am well acquainted with how tough it is

to raise a child on your own.

Hell, adversity--

it's been my constant companion.

What about your daughter?

Eva? What about her?

Is she as rebellious as you were?

[scoffs] Hardly.

She waited till her butt was full grown to rebel.

You know, I don't know whether to be

disappointed or proud.

You know, you were actually a pretty sweet child.

-Really? -Mm-hmm.

But then, you hit those teen years and decided

it would be cool to hang out with the alternative kids.

That's when you started calling me "Peaches" instead of "Mama."

That hurt like hot tar.

For what it's worth,

I'm sorry.

It's absolutely worth something.

Must have been a difficult decision

for my birth mom to give me up.

I can't imagine what it'd be like

to have life without my Eva.

Dana?

I promised you, hand to God,

that I was going to give you the whole truth,

even if it was hard to hear.

And that's what I'm going to do.

So...

Your birth mother never wanted children.

She was horrified when she found out she was pregnant.

But me...

...I always dreamed of being a mother.

But the good Lord didn't bless me

with the ability to conceive.

I wasn't rich by any means,

but I had a steady job

and I paid my bills.

I was doing a lot better than my friend.

When she called me and asked...

well, it was mutually beneficial.

Hmm. Makes sense.

I mean, explains my whole life.

Nobody ever seems to want me around.

We'll need to follow concussion protocol

since, according to his records,

he had another concussion a few months ago.

I need to be here.

[Derek groaning]

ASHLEY: Hey, everything's

going to be okay, okay?

-Ashley. -You're in the hospital.

Your neurologist is here,

and we're going to get you the best care that we can.

-I messed up. -No, you don't have to do that.

I nearly made it.

I hit the curb on the course.

I knew what I was supposed to do,

what everyone told me to do, but...

Derek, scan your body mentally.

Where's the pain?

My back hurts like hell.

And...

I can't feel my legs.

Old wounds healed.

That's a beautiful thing.

But I do have one huge regret.

What is that?

The decades we spent apart from each other,

isolated, mad...

...unwilling to close the distance between us.

Now, I admit,

I was the one who was most negative.

You said it, not me.

[laughter]

I'm trying to be real here,

and you just gonna poop on my parade.

It be's that way sometimes.

-Anywho... -[laughs]

[sighs]

What I'm saying is

if we would have just put aside

the anger and resentment,

maybe we'd have been able to get back together years ago.

Mm, that's a beautiful thought, Sharon,

but we each have had our battles to fight.

For me,

it was opening up the box

where I kept everything Barbara.

And until I did that,

I wasn't ready to face the two of you,

much less try to salvage

what was left between us.

Was it worth it?

What was left between us

was far more than I even thought possible.

I always knew that if we could get into

the same room, we'd hash things out.

I mean, look at us.

We sang together after decades of off stage,

and we managed to put ourselves back on the map.

And you and I are going on the road.

[exhales sharply]

The love between us was real,

and it can hold up against anything.

I am so grateful for that.

God, have... haven't we cried enough?

I'm sorry. I was thinking about Barbara,

and how much I wish she could have

shared this triumph with us.

No one wanted you around? [scoffs]

That's not at all what I see.

To me, you were an answered prayer.

One woman's answers, another woman's question.

Your birth mother offered me her unborn child.

With one stipulation.

When she gave birth,

I had to move away

and never tell her where we went.

I had to cut off all contact,

and I could never tell you who she was.

And when you were old enough to ask about her,

I was supposed to just say your mom passed away.

Don't know whether to hate or admire a schemer like that.

Maybe I'm a chip off the old block.

Well, when your mother started to show,

she went away so that she could have her baby.

You. When she went into labor,

she called me.

I was there at the delivery.

You were crying so loud,

louder than any other baby

in that entire maternity ward.

What'd I look like?

You were beautiful.

Brown face with chubby cheeks

and the cutest little nose.

Who named me?

Your birth mother.

Dana Leslie.

She said you looked like a "Dana."

And "Leslie" was her grandmother's name.

Oh.

Given everything you just told me,

I'm really surprised.

I mean, I...

wouldn't expect her to care enough to want

to pass a part of her on to me.

I probably shouldn't tell you this.

No, mm-mmm, mm-mmm.

Peaches, no. You are in it,

so you better use your conscience and you better

spill the beans, 'cause I want to know everything.

When your birth mom looked at you,

the look on her face was so, so tender.

She was nearly in tears.

She was holding you so tight,

I thought she wasn't going to let you go.

Thought she had changed her mind about giving you up.

And then she handed you to me.

She knew I could do what she couldn't.

That's love.

It appears you have an injury to your L2 vertebrae.

Do you know what that means?

Yeah, I injured my spine.

I can't pinpoint the exact location of the damage

or the severity until we take a closer look.

Shanice, please call down for an MRI

and make sure the OR's prepped for immediate surgery.

And find out which neurosurgeon's on rotation.

Wait, they're going to operate?

Don't be alarmed.

These scans will tell us what we need to know

for now, but until the surgeons get in there,

they won't be able to fully diagnose the problem

and figure out how best to treat you.

I'd like to be a part of his surgical nursing team.

Dr. Montgomery, you should know that Nurse Morgan

and this patient have a personal relationship,

so I'll make those calls.

Okay, I-I-I just want to help.

Listen, the best way to help your friend

is to provide emotional support

after he's out of surgery.

We don't have a second to waste.

I'm going to get an orderly to take him down for the scans.

Okay.

Everything's gonna be okay.

I love you, Derek.

I thought you were over me.

Tried.

Failed.

Your mother loved you by giving you to me.

She didn't want the fuss of all the paperwork

or getting all the extra people involved.

And when she placed you in my arms...

you were mine.

Did she keep in touch?

Did she check up on me?

No.

She was a woman of her word.

She meant what she said about no contact.

And then she passed away a few years later.

I'm sure it was complicated.

I guess I'm surprised she didn't even

want to see me before...

I mean, like, "What you doing?"

She was in bad shape, Dana. Don't judge her.

She had given up on everything.

Because of whatever illness she had?

Sure. Um... the illness.

Okay. There's no way to sugarcoat this.

Your mother wasn't sick, at least not in that way.

Was she in an accident?

Peaches, how did she die?

Suicide.

Barbara is with us, right this moment.

I felt her energy on stage.

I told my daughter something special happened

and it felt like a weight

was just lifted off of me when we sang.

I believe our concert brought Barbara back from the dead.

Made sure she got the props she never got

during her years on God's good Earth.

She was overlooked because of me.

You went above and beyond to make up for it.

Now it's time for us to take the past and put it behind us.

You pulled off a freaking miracle.

Be as proud of yourself as Tracy and I are of you.

DANI: Hear, hear,

to Mother and the Articulettes.

Mm, but may I remind you that our perfect

Y-chromosome-free sisterhood is a little flawed

due to Mother's near-perfect marriage to Daddy.

-Drink. -Ah!

-Next toast is yours. -Eh. I'll pass.

Oh, come on, get with the program, nephew.

If we can't drown our sorrows,

at least we can briefly submerge them, hmm?

Okay. Bottoms up.

TED: Yep.

Ah-ah! No fear, Vanessa. You jumped the gun.

The rules of the party are not to mention men

we are currently or formerly involved with.

-Dads are okay. -DANI: All right.

Aren't you supposed to be trying to cut loose?

Start a new chapter?

Yeah.

Then let's toast to your next ex,

whoever he may be.

I mean, who is she looking for me to be?

Her ex?

She swore up and down she was over him.

Besides, I tried to be him by being a one-woman man for her.

I swear...

If one more person tells me I need to cut loose,

-I am going to-- -DANI: You'll what?

People wouldn't keep saying it if you actually did it.

-Can't, I'm busy. -VANESSA: With?

Work.

And with my kids, you know.

Especially Eva.

She needs me the most.

But at least once a day,

I ache to talk to Nicole, you know, just...

get her advice, share good news.

Just hear her laugh, hmm?

-Go, bestie. Go, bestie! -Go, sissy. Go, sissy!

-Go, sissy. Go, sissy. -Go, go, go, go, bestie!

-Who can't let loose? -[shouting]

Hey, hey, hey, get it!

You betta, you betta, you betta, you betta!

Can't touch, now. Hey!

Me, that's who.

It's killing me that I'll never know

if Ashley and I could have gone the distance.

Mm.

To heartbreak.

To moving the hell on.

Aw, yeah.

[laughter]

I came as soon as I got your text. I'm so sorry.

[crying]: It's horrible.

Derek can't feel his legs.

They just rushed him into surgery.

Oh, God, he's been taking these crazy risks lately,

and I can't help but think that he's just trying

to prove that he's worthy of me because I kept rejecting him.

Oh, don't blame yourself.

He runs toward danger for a living.

Derek's always been a little reckless.

But he used to say that he would do it

to live life to the fullest.

But, oh, I'm just...

I'm afraid that he's pushed things too far.

Oh, God. How is he? How was the surgery?

Sharon, we got to go. We're going to miss our flight.

Okay, okay, I'm coming.

Just have one more thing to say.

I agreed to do the concert,

hoping to relaunch my career and make me some cash.

I intended to walk away

and never waste another thought on you, Anita.

[laughs]

That's not what happened.

This has been

one of the most moving

and fulfilling experiences of my life.

Since when does our resident tough girl get sentimental?

Honey, you ain't the only one who can change.

TRACY: This has been

an amazing experience.

SHARON: I am so grateful

that you put your pride aside.

And for getting us

back together,

All four of us.

Thank you.

No, thank you both

for letting me back in your lives.

For giving your all at the concert.

But mostly for always inspiring me

with your glorious voices.

One last time for the road?

ALL: Better together,

sisters forever.

Articulettes strong.

You remember that girl group,

the Articulettes, that I used to listen to?

Of course.

I just went to their, uh,

reunion concert a few nights ago.

-It was smoking. -Mm.

So amazing to hear

all those women singing together in person.

I knew all the songs.

They used to be a quartet.

Yeah, yeah.

They honored, um,

Barbara something or another.

She got booted out before they made it big.

Yeah, Anita Dupree seemed to...

to be really affected by that.

Why do you ask?

Well, that Barbara something or another...

...is your birth mother.

Derek listed you as his emergency contact.

Oh, I knew that's how it was before,

but then, um, well, we broke up, and I--

-Would you prefer not-- -No, no, no, no.

I want to know everything.

Please, how is he?

There was an impingement on Derek's spinal cord

from a bone fragment that chipped off during his accident.

The surgeon was able to remove it

and unpinch the nerve.

Okay,

so, um, eventually he'll make

a full recovery then, right?

Right?

I hope he regains function.

But it's also possible he may never walk again.

Your speech about missing Nicole every day,

it's given me some perspective.

Well, a man who's willing to chuck

a friends with benefits situation

with a former supermodel

for a chance at love with the city's best new nurse

has plenty perspective.

Maybe, but that's not the point, Uncle Ted.

What's the point?

Being real with yourself, with Nicole.

I mean, sure, you may have done some begging

and had a romantic gesture or two,

but have you ever gotten real with her?

Apparently, I haven't.

Well, maybe if you did, it might get through to her.

You make a good point.

And I don't want to lose the love of my life.

You know, thank you.

For what?

For making me realize

I can still fight for Nicole.

Goodbye, you wonderful women.

I had the best night ever.

I like this new sassy, single Nicole.

She's fun.

But, sissy,

you know you don't always have to act like that, right?

If you ever find yourself mourning your lost marriage,

you call me. You can talk to me.

I appreciate the offer, but honestly,

right now, I don't feel the least bit sad.

I hope that's true,

because we Dupree women have a tendency to put on

the tough gal mask.

That doesn't mean we're not hurting, deep down.

Ain't that the truth?

Love you, sissy.

I love you more.

The house suddenly got quiet,

so I assumed it was safe to come down.

The ladies are on the way to Chicago for the big tour.

Have any last-minute regrets?

No, that chapter with the Articulettes

is a fait accompli.

Mm.

Except...

What's on your mind?

I think it would have been nice if someone

from Barbara's family had been in the audience.

I'm just sorry it didn't occur to me

to reach out to them.

Well, I hope that small regret doesn't mar your experience.

Oh, no, no, no.

Nothing could do that.

I just have to trust that Barbara's family

has made peace with what's happened.

My mother was an Articulette?

Yes, poor Barbara Mitchell

didn't get any of the fame or money.

She wasn't on any of the records.

I mean, I don't even know her voice.

Well, I said my piece.

Well, I'm glad that you are getting closure

from telling me all this,

and maybe in the long run,

I'll actually be grateful that you filled in all the holes.

But right now,

just knowing where I came from

makes me feel like crap.

What am I supposed to do with all this information, Peaches?

Every cloud has a silver lining.

So they say.

When I get to heaven,

I'm going to have my maker take me

straight to Barbara,

'cause she is up there, making a way for you

to make up for all the things she's done.

What are you talking about?

Because of your birth mother,

you stand to inherit a fortune.

Martin, I think we have a situation.

I didn't lie.

I saw you and Dani Dupree

all over each other.

I have some news,

and you're not gonna like it.

Why the rush?

And why is Anita Dupree

the first person you need to see?

Get that woman out of my house!

-Who is up next? -ChelseaKat.

BOTH: ChelseaKat! Period!

[muffled scream]

Captioning sponsored by CBS

Captioned by Media Access Group at WGBH access.wgbh.org