The Bee Sting

Dickie becomes obsessed with creating an underground bunker near the shed. He and Victor work day and night. PJ spends less time with them because school has started. Dickie stops worrying about his father and the garage until Ryszard calls.

Imelda and Big Mike meet in secret to confide in one another everything about their lives. Big Mike is helping with the garage because when he was a child and dirt-poor, Maurice would always give him food when he went begging.

Every day, Cass wants to tell Elaine she’s in love with her, but can’t muster her courage. Elaine, increasingly anxious about not looking alternative enough, tells people lies about herself. Cass and Elaine grow sad and everything annoys them. Cass becomes more interested in environmentalism. She misses Dickie. Finally, Elaine confronts Cass about their depression and suggests they throw a party to brighten things up.

Dickie explains to Ryszard that he doesn’t have access to the funds anymore, but Ryszard insists that he wants the money by Friday and texts Dickie a link to a porn website, where Ryszard has uploaded a recording of them having sex. Panicked, Dickie goes to the bank with PJ, but when the bank can’t give him the money, Dickie passes out on the street. PJ is increasingly worried about Dickie’s odd and erratic behavior.

PJ wonders if he can change anything in life. At school, a bully makes fun of him and assaults him because of Dickie’s weird survivalist construction projects.

Imelda is unsure about taking her emotional affair with Big Mike further—the next step is having sex. He invites her over to his house on Friday because his wife will be out of town. Imelda wonders what her life would have been had Frank lived. Maybe it’s not too late for her to find love again. She agrees to spend the night with Big Mike.

Cass hasn’t been drinking since her debacle at Maurice’s dinner party, so Elaine has been telling people in Dublin that Cass is recovering from an alcohol addiction. Cass decides to start drinking again to fit in with Elaine’s new friends. Elaine invites their cool English professor, named jj, to their party.

Dickie confides in Victor that an old friend is extorting him with compromising recordings for money. Victor points out that no matter how much Dickie gives this person, they will never go away.

On Friday, Elaine and Cass prepare the house for the party. Cass is flattered and surprised when jj invites her to submit poetry to a literary magazine.

Also on the same Friday, PJ tells Imelda he’s spending the night at his friend Zargham’s house. He takes a bus to Dublin instead.

That afternoon, Imelda hears gossip that Big Mike’s former Brazilian mistress has been spotted in town again, pregnant. Imelda gets a call from the nursing home informing her that Rose has had a stroke.

Ryszard gives Dickie a 10:00 pm deadline for the money and sends the coordinates of a meeting spot—the shed he’s been working on with Victor. Confused and frightened, Dickie wonders if Ryszard has been scoping them out. Victor suggests that Dickie take a firmer stance with Ryszard: Shoot Ryszard with the hunting gun and make it look like an accident.

Friday night at the party, Cass wants to tell Elaine about her feelings, but she worries that she’ll risk their friendship. Elaine gets annoyed with Cass and tells her they need to reevaluate their relationship. When PJ suddenly arrives at the party, Cass is embarrassed and tells him to leave. PJ insists that it’s an emergency about Dickie and that needs her help, but Cass just tells PJ to follow the train tracks back to the bus station. When other party guests are perturbed that Cass has sent a kid away on his own, Cass panics and runs out after PJ.

Noting how old and frail Rose has become, Imelda is shocked when her brother Lar walks in the room. Lar and Imelda haven’t spoken in years because Lar thought Imelda was dead; their father told them she had died of cancer when Lar, Imelda’s other brothers, and their father moved to England after Imelda’s wedding. Lar tells Imelda that Paddy Jo died six months earlier from alcohol use disorder. Imelda notices with sadness that Lar is drunk.

PJ gets lost on the way to the bus station and finds himself in a dodgy neighborhood. Just then Ethan texts him, and PJ texts back that he’s lost in Dublin. Ethan offers to have his mom come pick PJ up, but then a car pulls up with an older, scary-looking man inside. PJ texts Ethan and the old man’s phone rings. Panicked, PJ runs away and finds a store to hide in, but the man follows him in his car as Ethan texts that their phones’ “Find My Friends” function allows him to see where PJ is. Just then, a hand reaches out to PJ.

Dickie and Victor prepare the gun for the meeting with Ryszard. Dickie struggles with the idea that he will kill a man. He has a vision of Frank, who reminds him that he doesn’t have to be a killer—he can just tell the truth about Ryszard.

On Friday night, Big Mike cancels his plans with Imelda, claiming that he has to help a breached cow. Imelda notices that a rainstorm is on its way and recalls her wedding day. She hadn’t been stung by a bee. She had kept her veil on because on the way to the church, her father punched her in the face when he found out she was pregnant.

The hand reaching for PJ is Cass’s; she’s found in the store and gets him to safety. Together, she and PJ take the bus home, expecting to arrive by 10:00 pm. Cass is happy to be going home and worried about her brother.

Imelda decides not to sleep with Big Mike until she can tell Dickie that she’s unhappy and about to start an affair.

As rain pours down violently. Dickie and Victor prepare for Ryszard.

Big Mike’s former mistress Augustina is hiding out in one of the unfinished homes with her boyfriend Ryszard. Once they get the money from Dickie, they can run away together. Big Mike bursts into the house, searching for her—she is the “breached cow” he told Imelda about. Ryszard and Big Mike have a physical altercation; eventually, Ryszard and Augustine leave Big Mike behind and drive away.

The rain is falling so hard and the night is so dark that Cass and PJ struggle to get through the forest on their way from the bus stop to their house.

Victor and Dickie wait anxiously for Ryszard, who is late. The low visibility is making it harder to see anything clearly.

Imelda also rushes through the rain in the woods, looking for Dickie. As she runs, she remembers her first pregnancy and Dickie’s devotion to their children.

Imelda gets closer to the Bunker, as do Cass and PJ. Dickie sees two figures in the dark and clicks the gun, ready to shoot.