- Cathy doesn't want to be the one who is always responsible and in control, especially now that she has been diagnosed with a terminal case of melanoma. That's why she kicked Paul out of the house as she literally wants to be the one in their twosome who is seen as the person who freely spills wine on the sofa without caring, instead of that person always being Paul. That's why she's decided that she wants a pool built in their postage stamp sized yard, so that she can teach Adam how to do the banana split dive like she did when she was his age. That's why she feels that she can give Adam a taste of his own medicine by treating him as thoughtlessly as he seems to treat her, all in an effort to make a point. That's why she feels that she can be blunt instead of being politically correct to her student Andrea about the combination of her wisecracking and her weight. That's why she decides that she doesn't need to be cordial anymore to their crotchety neighbor, whose name she doesn't even know after living next to her for five years. And that's why she tries to reach out to Sean despite Sean abhorring everything about what he sees as Cathy's chosen bourgeois lifestyle. Regardless of these changes, Cathy isn't yet ready to tell anyone, let alone her family - Paul, Adam or Sean - that she is dying.—Huggo
- A pool guy somewhat patronizingly tells Cathy (Laura Linney) that her yard is too small for a pool and suggests a hot tub and patio instead. She agrees, then offers to pay double so he'll come out the next day. She cheerily wishes him a happy first day of summer.
Paul (Oliver Platt) pulls up on his scooter. She's not exactly happy to see him, visiting from sleeping on his sister's couch. He asks her to rub the knot in his shoulder. She's rubbing, when he suddenly starts begging her to talk about whatever's going on. He apologizes for what happened. Then asks what they're going to tell their son Adam.
But Cathy has to go, she has an appointment with her dermatologist.
Cathy cracks up telling her hot young dermatologist about growing up with a pool.
After some thought, she tells him she doesn't want to do what he's suggesting about her hair. He gives her a brochure on alternative treatments for melanoma.
She hasn't told her husband. The doctor is borderline appalled. She explains that she was going to tell Paul but when she came home there were 15 men playing video games in her house and her husband was peeing in the front yard. "I found myself saying, 'I need to be alone for a while,'" she explains.
He gives her a brochure for that. He urges her to tell someone.
A somewhat kooky guy on the street skips rope with a chain of plastic bags. Cathy pulls up and orders Sean (John Benjamin Hickey) in the car.
At a fast food restaurant, he takes another diner's leftovers and she's disgusted. She tries to give him a check. He gives it back. They start arguing like brother and sister since they are brother and sister.
He mocks her for being materialistic for wanting a new couch and says she's boring and not happy.
At dinner with Paul, she tells him she wanted the couch because he spilled fruit punch on it. He clarifies that he was Riverdancing. She used to lie awake at night because she knew the stain was there.
"I don't want to be the one to pick out a new couch. I want to be the one who spills the fruit punch," she says.
"But you're not the spilling-the-fruit-punch type," he counters.
She sees a happy couple necking in the corner of the restaurant and is sad. She asks if he thinks she's boring. He says she likes organizing things.
She blames him for the fact she hasn't had an onion in fifteen years. When the waitress comes over she says she's only having liquor and desserts.
When she comes home someone comes up behind her, grabs her and says "your money or your life!" She freaks out, but it's their teenage son Adam (Gabriel Basso). She tries explaining where Paul is, but he interrupts and asks her what she did.
She tries to cheer him up with news of the hot tub, but he says he doesn't like them because she once said they were like a giant petri dish.
The next day, work crews come and she tells the boss to cut down the tree and build the pool as big as he can to fit the yard.
Then she goes over and says hi to the neighbor (Phyllis Somerville) she hasn't once spoken to in five years. But the neighbor turns on her heel and ignores her.
The next day at school, Cathy sits in front of her class and on-line shops for couches. It's summer school. They ask her if she's going to teach them anything. She puts in "The Patriot (2000)," saying it's about 20 percent accurate.
Andrea (Gabourey Sidibe) comes in late and mocks Cathy. Cathy sweetly calls her up, then whispers: "You can't be fat and mean Andrea If you're going to dish it out you've got to be able to lick it up. Fat people are jolly for a reason. Fat repels people, but joy attracts them. Now I know everybody's laughing at your cruel jokes, but nobody's inviting you to the prom. You can either be fat and jolly or a skinny bitch, it's up to you."
At home, the giant tree in the yard comes down as Cathy chops a huge pile of onions to make her son chili. He fakes like he cut his finger, totally freaking his mom out. Then he blows off plunging the stopped-up toilet and goes to eat at a friend's.
A cop pulls up outside telling Cathy she needs permits and one of her neighbors complained.
Catchy charges into her neighbor's house and chews her out, telling her house is rundown and looks like "s---." The old woman tells Cathy that husband built the house and she's just waiting to join him and all her friends who have gone. She tells her she doesn't have a lot of time.
"Well if you think you're going to be one more day, do your neighbors a favor and mow your f---ing grass," Cathy says as she storms out.
She goes home to see Paul on the porch, holding a raw onion. He takes a big bite. She kisses him.
Inside, they're starting to get busy when the phone rings. Her doctor leaves a message, just checking in. He says he's been thinking about her. Paul hears.
She pauses and gets serious. She has something she's been meaning to tell him. He gets entirely the wrong idea and she lets him. He asks how she could do this to him and storms out.
Cathy has lunch with her hot young dermatologist. She suggests maybe he could tell her husband the news. He confesses she was his first. She tells him she appreciated that he felt sad giving her the news.
Cathy waits at school for the bell to ring for class to start, then does cartwheels down the hallway.
She does one past Andrea, who's sneaking a cigarette at a door. Cathy goes over to her and Andrea defends herself, saying fat camp didn't work. Cathy thinks she just lacks motivation, she offers her $100 for every pound she loses and gives her $23 as a sign of good faith. They plan to meet every Friday in the gym.
Coming home, Cathy sees her old neighbor outside coming toward her. She introduces herself, she's Marlene, her dog is Thomas. She asks to borrow the lawnmower. Cathy asks if she was ready to go, did she ever think about just going. Marlene says yes, but she just keeps waiting up.
Outside the house in the car that night, Paul tells his son to call him anytime. Adam goes inside and looks for his mom. He goes upstairs and finds her in the bathroom. She's in the tub, it's filled with red water and she's out cold. It looks like she's slit her wrists. He screams like a little girl and goes for the phone.
A few seconds later Cathy comes up behind him and asks why he's not laughing. She tells him from now on she's going to raise him so hard his head's going to spin and his dad isn't there because she only wants to raise one child. She dumps the chili in the toilet and hands him the plunger, then takes his smart phone and locks him in the bathroom.
She opens a bottle of wine and listens to music, then contemplates the couch. She pours wine all over it, then turns the couch cushions over.
She pulls up to a parking lot and finds her brother hanging from a noose made of plastic bags. He's fine. She hands him her leftover chili.
She tells him she's burning her couch in the yard Friday if he wants to come over.
"You're starting to get your weird back, sis," he says.
"You have no idea," she tells him.
Later, Cathy finally tells someone what's going on. Chemo would only buy her a little time and it would just mean more people taking care of her, which isn't her thing. She says it makes her feel better to think we're all dying. As she talks about it we see her contemplating the black spots on her x-ray.
"I'm warning you that this laughter might turn into a sob in a second yep, there it goes," she cries. She tells someone she's feeling very much in love with them right now.
Pan back and up and we see she's talking to Marlene's dog Thomas on the couch in the deep hole for the pool in her yard.
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