Post–Life article, Supper at Six’s popularity explodes. Walter touts lucrative endorsements, including a pink “girls’ chemistry set,” which Elizabeth rejects as sexist. Still hurt by the smear, she refuses Roth’s call. Weeks later, on air, she abandons an eggplant lesson, saying “Life is bitter enough,” and shifts to brownies, signaling her foul mood.

At home, Harriet steps out, leaving Madeline watching the show and recalling how Elizabeth trashed their Life copies. Mad secretly read the story at the library and wept at its lies. Reverend Wakely rings the doorbell to check on Mad; he declines dinner but affirms family is more than biology. On TV, Elizabeth pointedly contrasts cooking’s usefulness with magazines.

Elizabeth returns home early, startling Wakely. As they awkwardly meet, a studio audience member asks on-air if Elizabeth is really a chemist, then cruelly calls Madeline “illegitimate.” Elizabeth panics; Wakely snaps off the TV and tries to shield Mad. Elizabeth reminds him they’d met at Calvin Evans’s funeral.

Over brownies, Wakely explains his admiration for Calvin and rejects the stigma of “illegitimacy,” echoing Elizabeth’s view that society’s myths distort truth. He produces a manila envelope from Roth: a mock-up titled “Why Their Minds Matter,” featuring Elizabeth and women scientists worldwide. Roth’s note says he quit Life, his piece has been rejected by ten science outlets, and he’s off to Vietnam.

Elizabeth praises the article’s accuracy and purpose, but Mad breaks down, believing her mother belongs in a lab and that TV is her fault—something Wakely’s typist implied. Elizabeth insists she’s still a chemist, even on television; Mad sadly counters that she isn’t, underscoring their deepening conflict over identity and purpose.