Elizabeth returns to the Chemistry Department and is presented a lab coat altered to read “E.Z.” Donatti immediately calls her into his office, claims a forthcoming RNA piece in Science Journal, and presses her for her abiogenesis paper. Despite her request for six weeks to focus, he insists on “teamwork,” revealing he has already gone through her files and knows she is far along.

Donatti then assigns her typing and coffee duties, declares her a lab tech rather than a chemist, and suggests she speak with the men about support needs. When Elizabeth protests the pay and role, he calls her “Luscious” and offers “further education” via a steno correspondence course instead of a PhD. Shaken, Elizabeth retreats to the ladies’ room.

There she encounters Miss Frask in the next stall. A tense exchange follows, intercut with Frask’s stalled career and a flashback to Madeline’s first school day, where a teacher enforced pink-for-girls rules. Frask needles Elizabeth about a wealthy investor funding Hastings’s abiogenesis based on “Mr. E. Zott,” implying Elizabeth tried to pass as a man. Elizabeth counters that she was fired and blames systemic pandering and prejudice.

The argument escalates until a faucet breaks; Frask shuts off the valve, and they face off, each asserting professional identity. Finally, Elizabeth reveals she was sexually violated by her thesis advisor and expelled from her doctoral program. To Elizabeth’s surprise, Frask quietly says the same happened to her, turning their hostility into a stark moment of shared trauma.