August: Osage County

It’s nighttime, and the windows are now uncovered. Barbara, Ivy, and Karen are in the study, passing a bottle of whiskey. In the dining room, Mattie Fae and Charlie play cards on one team against Steve and Jean. Bill is on the porch looking at paperwork, Little Charles watches television in the living room, and Violet, fresh from a bath, sits and stares thoughtfully out the second-floor window. The three sisters talk about Violet, apparently having come to their mother’s defense when her doctor had suggested sending her to an institution, claiming that Violet is mildly brain-damaged from drug use. Barbara posits that he’s trying to avoid a lawsuit for prescribing all those painkillers in the first place. They wonder how Violet managed to get so many pills, and Ivy explains how Violet claims different pains and lost pills to get new prescriptions until the doctor cuts her off. Then, she blackmails him by threatening a lawsuit and to report him to the American Medical Association if he doesn’t keep prescribing. For the doctor today, Violet had acted fragile and betrayed, with no trace of the ranting and raving at dinner.

Barbara talks about the time that Violet had acted like she was brave and determined while heading into rehab, but she had actually hidden a stash of pills in her vagina.