- When rain starts leaking into Joe's room, he moves into the main house—into the room that used to belong to Norma's ex-husbands (she had three).
- Joe asks Max why the doors in the house don't have locks, and Max explains that Norma has made suicide attempts and the doctor recommended removing the locks so she couldn't lock herself in a room and slit her wrists or anything. Well, that's reassuring.
- Joe asks why all the fan letters she gets aren't enough, and Max admits that he personally forges those fan letters. Oof. Later, Norma throws a New Year's Eve party where she and Joe are the only two guests. She says that she's fallen in love with him, and fantasizes about the things they'll do together.
- Um. Not so fast. Joe says she's not thinking about what he might have going on in his life—another girl he might be interested in—aside from the fact that she should be dating some guy who's closer to her status level.
- Norma is upset, and Joe leaves, looking for a party with younger people. This leads him to his friend Artie Green's house.
- Artie's glad to see him and has been wondering where he's been. He introduces Joe to the room—scene of a really active party—and tells Joe that he can sleep on the couch if he wants to.
- Joe meets Artie's girlfriend—who turns out to be Betty Schaeffer from Sheldrake's office.
- Betty tells Joe she looked into some of his old unmade screenplays and liked part of one, Dark Windows. While Artie's gone, they go off alone to talk about it.
- They end up having a joking, flirtatious conversation in mock-overwrought dialogue. It's interrupted when Joe hears that the phone is free, and he goes to call Max and tell him that he's moving to Artie's.
- But, on the phone, Max tells him that Norma attempted suicide by slitting her wrists. Joe rushes off, past Betty, and out into the night.