In the aftermath of Bunny’s funeral at the Corcorans’, Richard drifts through grief and medication, has a nightmare of Bunny’s ruined face, and finds himself oddly unmoored and “free.” The clique splinters into private evasions: Charles drinks and grows volatile, Henry disappears, and Richard hides in Dr. Roland’s office to study and sleep. Francis’s nerves break into a midnight hospital trip that ends with a doctor suggesting panic attacks; Francis admits he knows what is truly bothering him but refuses help.

Charles’s drinking escalates into a drunk-driving arrest in Henry’s car. Richard posts bail and walks Charles home, where Charles reveals how close the FBI came to arrests during the investigation and how suspicious Henry appeared to authorities. Back at the twins’ apartment, Richard witnesses Charles kiss Camilla in a sexual way; Francis later confirms he believes the twins sometimes sleep together and admits Charles has also slept with Francis. Tension deepens when Camilla abruptly moves out; Francis deduces Henry has installed her at the Albemarle Inn under a false name, suggesting an affair and worsening Charles’s paranoia and rage.

Charles’s collapse becomes physical: after Richard finds him passed out drunk in a children’s playground “snail,” Charles develops a high fever and is hospitalized with a stubborn infection and dehydration. Henry and Francis insist Richard bring Charles whiskey to avoid dangerous withdrawal. Meanwhile campus shifts into aggressive anti-drug policing, and Cloke—still dealing—confirms the FBI played “lifeboat” pressure games and implies Henry tried to redirect suspicion toward others, possibly including Richard.

A new crisis erupts when Julian receives an unsigned, typewritten “letter from Bunny.” Julian assumes it is a cruel hoax, but Richard and Francis recognize it as real and panic when they discover a sheet bearing the Excelsior hotel letterhead from Rome—proof linking Bunny’s last accusations to the group’s Italy trip. Before they can steal it back, Henry meets Julian and accidentally reveals the letterhead; Julian’s demeanor turns cold as Henry tries to explain. Julian ultimately hands Henry the letter, but the encounter breaks the relationship. Shortly after, Julian takes an indefinite leave and vanishes, leaving the Greek program collapsing under administrative replacement by an inferior Hackett chaplain.

With Julian gone, Henry grows brittle and contemptuous; Charles grows openly accusatory, repeatedly implying Henry is sleeping with Camilla and blaming him for everything. After a disastrous lawyer meeting for Charles’s drunk-driving case, Francis and Richard attempt to hide Charles at Francis’s country house. Charles becomes paranoid, claims Henry intends to kill him, and produces the Nembutal capsules Richard once stole for Henry—interpreting them as poison. Charles steals Mr. Hatch’s truck, then reappears at the Albemarle, armed with Francis’s aunt’s Beretta, intent on killing Henry.

In the Albemarle room, Charles holds Henry at gunpoint. Francis throws wine in Charles’s face as Henry lunges; shots fire in rapid pops, a window shatters, and Richard is grazed in the abdomen. As the innkeepers pound at the door, Henry pulls Camilla close, tells her he loves her, and—when the door opens—shoots himself in the head, twice, collapsing onto the carpet.