The Final Episode
(January 13, 1989)

Act I: Jack's Apartment

(Jack is putting on his cufflinks when he notices his and Mary's wedding picture. He picks it up and looks at it, and "Mary" begins "talking" to him in his subconscious, though the conversation is out loud.)

Jack

VOICEOVER OF MARY: We were so young!

Jack and Mary's wedding photo

JACK: (grins) You were.

VOICEOVER OF MARY: I still am. That's one benefit of premature death.

JACK: (laughs) Great, Mare, a little mordant humor on my wedding morning.

VOICEOVER OF MARY: You're really gonna do this, huh?

JACK: Have you got a problem with that? I thought Leigh was the woman you'd choose for me, if you had a choice, which you don't.

VOICEOVER OF MARY: Cruel - it's fair, but cruel.

Mary's photo

JACK: What's going on?

VOICEOVER OF MARY: Well, I'm not so sure I want you to marry her, after all.

JACK: (turning away, deep in thought) You're the one that taught me about change, Mary.

VOICEOVER OF MARY: I know.

JACK: (pondering) Loving you - and losing you - and trying to make sense out of love and loss has been the most important part of my life, until now.

VOICEOVER OF MARY: And now you love Leigh.

(He turns back to face the picture.)

JACK: But I couldn't, without everything that's gone before.

VOICEOVER OF MARY: (sighs) I know that too. Whoever came up with "til death us do part" didn't really get the picture, huh, Fenelli?

JACK: (smiles) Well, they weren't married to you, that's for sure.

VOICEOVER OF MARY: Why can't I just let go?

JACK: (realizing this is not what Mary would be saying) No, no, the question is, why aren't I willing to let go? And the answer is, I am still - and will be to my dying day - as defended against loss and goodbye (he turns away) as a human being can be. But the reality is (he turns back to face the picture) I don't have to say goodbye to you, nor you to me, because we have been - and we are - one, and always will be.

VOICEOVER OF MARY: And wherever thou goeth, I will go.

JACK: (nods) Yeah. (pointing at the picture) God help me!

VOICEOVER OF MARY: Be nice! You were doing so well for a couple of minutes there.

JACK: (smiles) I'm not nice. I've never been nice. You spent a lot of years telling me how impossible I am.

VOICEOVER OF MARY: So much for change.

JACK: Well, there has to be some constancy somewhere.

VOICEOVER OF MARY: There is. Most impossible, most wonderful. I wish you love.

(Jack smiles. There is a knock at the door, which brings him back to reality. He opens the door to Maeve.)

MAEVE: Good morning. Well, the day is upon us. How are you?

JACK: Delighted to see you, and surprised. (closes door)

MAEVE: Well, I needed a moment alone with you, before it all begins.

JACK: Is something wrong?

Jack and Maeve

MAEVE: No, no, no. Now let me see - see if I can get through this. (laughs nervously) I wanted to say that I'm so glad that it was you that loved my Mary, and so glad that you're the father of my very splendid granddaughter, and for being able to share so much of your life. It was a joy and a privilege and I thank you very much.

JACK: Maeve, it isn't over!

MAEVE: (nods) Quite right. When there's a coming together in love of people of like minds and spirit - who worked very hard at knowing one another and promoting the best in one another, in a marriage or in a family - why, then, it's never really over, is it? I mean, the effects live on and on, in us and beyond us and probably in ways that we will never even know about.

JACK: (nods) That's right.

MAEVE: But, it will be different after today, you see, and that's life. (shrugs) Moving on.

JACK: The love won't change.

MAEVE: Of course not. Nor my admiration for you, nor what we've learned from each other, and I value it more than my words can possibly express. And I needed to say that. And I also want to wish you and Leigh every conceivable happiness.

(She kisses his cheek.)

JACK: Thank you.

MAEVE: (laughs) Now, I'd better be getting on because, you see, at six o'clock this morning I was icing your wedding cake and I left with Sean and Owen hovering around it, my dear, like two small sharks.

(He laughs and kisses her cheek.)

JACK: I'll see you in church!

Jack and Maeve

(She leaves and he closes the door behind her, and the scene cuts to the opening sequence.)

Johnny and Maeve

FrankDelia

BenNancy Don

RogerRyan

ChazZena

JackLeigh

SilvioSister Mary Joel

SiobhanJohn and Lizzie

Maeve

Act II: The Ryans' Apartment

(Siobhan comes into the living room, where Maeve is sitting and appears to be sewing something.)

SIOBHAN: Ma?

MAEVE: Yes, darling?

SIOBHAN: (after a brief nervous smile) I'm scared.

(Maeve is visibly stunned.)

SIOBHAN: (laughs) You should see your face!

MAEVE: (laughs) Well, my dear, that is the last thing I ever expected to hear come out of your mouth! I was sitting here thinking to myself, "I think this is the first time in her entire life that my Siobhan ever said that to me."

(She gets up and puts her arm on Siobhan's shoulder.)

MAEVE: Well, what?

SIOBHAN: You'll laugh.

MAEVE: No, never, I'd never laugh at you, unless you're being funny.

(They sit down on the couch.)

SIOBHAN: I'm scared of Fenno.

MAEVE: (understanding) Oh, you mean your feelings for him?

(Siobhan nods, then Maeve nods too.)

MAEVE: I see.

SIOBHAN: I promised him I'd let him know today about going into business together. You know, his license came through and he has to get an office, pick out stationary and choose a name for us...he has all these names... He's in love with me, Ma.

MAEVE: (nods) After you clued me in I've been watching him - I think you're quite right.

SIOBHAN: And because I love him, and I know that I could be in love with him...but I still...I miss Joe until I ache, and I don't think that I can ever love anybody that way again, but at the same time, you know, I would desperately like Fenno to just take care of me, and I'm mortified by that in myself! And I think I'm crazy and I'm afraid of using him and making a mess of the whole thing... Does that make any sense?

MAEVE: Siobhan...

SIOBHAN: Yes?

MAEVE: Live. Go. Do!

SIOBHAN: (smiles) You're tough, Ma.

MAEVE: Oh, my darling, I'm not denying your sense of pain and loss. Feel it; use it. It's the only way in this world to make any sense out of it at all. Do you understand what I'm saying?

SIOBHAN: (nods) Yes.

Maeve and Siobhan hug

(Siobhan gets up.)

SIOBHAN: I think I'm gonna wear green to the wedding.

MAEVE: (laughs) What else?

SIOBHAN: Thank you. I love you.

(She goes into the other room.)

MAEVE: And I you, my darling.

Acts I-II
Acts III-IV
Act V

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