PRIVATE THING

David Lee takes off, and Will and Diane ask Alicia to hang back. Even though they both have little giggle-grins flitting across their faces, it's in Alicia's nature to immediately get worried she is somehow not excelling.

Diane: "Sit down and stop looking like we're about to murder you on a webcam."
Alicia: "I'll sit down, but I'm gonna keep making this face for a while."
Diane: "The legendary Jonas Stern, who started this firm a million years ago, once brought me into an office not unlike this one and offered me a cigar. I demurred, of course, and he said, 'Fine. But when I'm done saying this, I want you to go home and be very quiet for a moment. Just to be proud. And then go do something crazy you'd never do, like go windsurfing...'"
Will: "That's what I did. It sucked."
Diane: "...Or go to the track, which is what I did."
Alicia: "Are you guys swingers? Is this some kind of..."
Diane: "We want to invite you to become an equity partner in the firm."
Alicia: "Holy shit."

They laugh at her, because she is adorable and because she has been so afraid, for so long, that the idea of something good actually happening is just at the very tips of her fingers, and to see her grasp it is a thing of beauty. Holding yourself to a certain standard comes with the knowledge that nobody else will really see how hard you're working, because it's not about them anymore.

They know her, so they know what happens next: She weeps, with relief, and betrays herself by laughing, and crying, and admitting how crazy she's going. They are patient, considering she never shows any emotions whatsoever, and right now she is showing all of them. It's terrifying. Not for them, but for her. And for us.

Alicia: "I thought this would take years! I guess there really is such a thing as a free lunch."
Diane: "Hold off on responding until the end of the week, and then assuming that this show doesn't somehow ruin your entire life in this episode, you can decide."
Alicia: "Does anybody say no?"
Will: "Nobody we would choose ever would. Now go, engage in the bloodbath that this episode is sure to quickly become."