Joan arrives home the next morning to find her mother working at the kitchen table again. There are two plates full of pink cupcakes on the island behind her. She comments that Joan's home early. Joan says Grace wanted to go to some "protest thing." Helen asks if she had a good time: "I mean, I'm not prying, I just…" Joan says it's okay, but notices the cupcakes before she can say anymore, and falls silent. The cupcakes have pretty artsy-looking frosting jobs, but I guess that's what you'd expect from Helen. Joan says quietly, "You made the cupcakes." Helen turns around: "Well…I figured everyone else would want them. I thought that's what you wanted." Joan, in a small voice: "Right." Helen asks if she's okay. Joan says she's great. Helen doesn't know what to say, especially that won't make things worse, so she turns back to her reading. We get a shot of Helen and Joan through the windows along the hall to the kitchen door, divided by a thick pane. Joan walks out.

Joan's walking along the street when she sees Mrs. LandingGod (dressed in an outfit so mismatched and nutty it would definitely earn her some Fug Blog reproach) feeding some birds. Joan: "God feeds pigeons?" Mrs. LandingGod doesn't respond. Joan: "Aren't there enough actual old people to do that?" Heh. Mrs. LandingGod replies, "You'd think, wouldn't you?" Joan tries to warm her bare hands (look into mittens, girlie) and says, "You said independence doesn't mean being alone. I can't talk to my mom, I can't talk to Adam. So now I have nobody." This, she says to God. How does she even ambulate with myopia this severe? She blathers on: "I should just get one of those depressing motel rooms and learn how to smoke." Maybe you and Andy could just hang together. Mrs. LandingGod tells her she's only as isolated as she thinks she is: "Not being able to reach out is just another decision you're making." Joan complains she's made a mess of everything: "There's nothing I can say to make things right." Mrs. LandingGod: "Falling into silence just makes it impossible to survive. Your existence depends on the relationships you have with other people, Joan. Just as matter can't exist in the absence of energy. See, it's how I made the world." Joan: "So just decide not to be alone?" Mrs. LandingGod nods. Joan looks dubious: "You saw me and my mom. It's like we're…living in two different worlds." Mrs. LandingGod then relates the myth of Demeter and Persephone, saying: "The distance you feel, that cold isolation…you don't have to live there forever." Joan: "So you gonna take pity on me too, and make things right?" Mrs. LandingGod: "It's a myth, Joan." Joan asks what to do. She tells her, "That's your decision," and hands her the bag of birdseed and walks off. No Godwave.