Fight Night

Mom leaves Swiv a note that apologizes for not being a better mother. Swiv becomes anxious, thinking that this means Mom is contemplating suicide. Grandma placates her before she leaves to spend the day playing cards with her friends. Alone, Swiv does not know what to do with herself.

Mom comes home from rehearsal happy. She and Swiv take a walk and buy cookies. Mom talks and talks, telling Swiv not to worry about her and that she will keep fighting. They watch some people playing pickleball, and Mom mocks them for not playing real tennis. She is talking about old friends when they are interrupted by Mom’s director. After he leaves, Mom claims that he touched her inappropriately at rehearsal and hurls some insults at him. She also suggests that her acting career has been hampered by her age and now by her pregnancy, and she thinks the director is trying to blacklist her. Swiv asks where Dad is, and Mom says that she does not know.

Mom asks if Swiv wants to go back to school, but Swiv does not. She is still too determined to be “King of the Castle,” she tells Mom.