A car crash puts Tony and Adriana in a compromising position, and Cousin Tony tries to keep Chris from getting wrong the impression and...
Plot
Tony and Adriana La Cerva are in Tony's car late at night when Tony falls asleep at the wheel and the car goes off the road into some brush. Neither is seriously hurt. But the crew sees Tony and Adriana together at the scene and the rumor propagates immediately: Tony is sleeping with Christopher's fiancee. The rumor is false -- Tony has not been having an affair with Adriana -- but it spreads with the speed that untrue things achieve in closed social systems.
Christopher hears the rumor and responds explosively. He confronts Adriana physically, pushing and hitting her in a scene that leaves no ambiguity about the threat she lives with. He then confronts Tony in ways that are formally deferential but barely. Tony denies the affair. Christopher has to decide whether to believe his uncle or his own paranoia. The evidence is circumstantial and the denial is credible, but the situation leaves everyone worse off than it found them.
The episode forces the audience to watch a rumor cause real damage to real people who are innocent of the specific charge, while also knowing that Tony is absolutely not innocent of the general category of behavior being alleged. His history makes the false rumor plausible. Christopher's violence toward Adriana is not produced by the rumor -- it is the rumor giving shape to a pre-existing dynamic in their relationship.
Credits
Written by: Robin Green and Mitchell Burgess
Directed by: Allen Coulter