On Beauty

The Belseys attend Carlene’s funeral. In attendance are a wide diversity of people, including Erskine. Kiki is embarrassed to see how eager Howard it is to speak with Erskine and the cultural commentator Zia Malmud so he can enter his intellectual world again instead of dealing with death. Levi is struck by how run-down the church and its neighborhood look, considering how wealthy the Kippses are. The funeral service begins with a choir singing Mozart, and Howard is surprised to find himself sobbing. He starts to think about the death of his own family and transcends his space. Levi tries to comfort him, and Howard emotionally leaves the church. Kiki mistakes Howard’s departure as rudeness.

After the funeral service, Zora runs into Chantelle, a beautiful young woman who interns for Monty. No one can find Howard.

Howard walks to Cricklewood, a neighborhood often designated as unsalvageable. Without thinking, Howard ends up at his childhood home and visits his father Harold after four years of staying away. Howard is angry at the presence of an older woman named Carol, who Harold explains visits on behalf of the church. Howard pays for a nurse to care for his father, and he is against interference from the church. Howard and Harold immediately begin arguing. The history of their tense past still affects them; Harold was against Howard going to college, leaving England, and marrying a Black woman. Now, Harold admits to his father that after 30 years, he and Kiki are likely finished with their marriage. Howard can’t stand sitting around with his father and leaves.

Carlene Kipps is buried in Kensal Green, a Victorian cemetery from 1833. Kiki and her children watch the burial, but don’t know how to get to the Kippses house for the wake. Kiki is distraught but takes comfort her children.

Howard comes across a football game and sits in the bleachers. He gets a little drunk on beer with the other men in attendance. He calls Adam, who tells him Kiki has been frantically worried about where he’s gone. He calls a cab to get to the Kipps house for the wake. At the Kipps’s house, he doesn’t see his family, so he steps outside for a cigarette. Howard opens a side door and accidentally finds himself in Victoria’s room, in which Victoria is crying on her bed. Victoria asks him to stay with her so she can talk. She seems drunk, but so is Howard. Victoria sits on his lap and starts kissing him. Victoria undresses and lies on her bed, exposing herself to Howard. She writhes and calls out for him to put himself inside of her. Surprised by her ecstasy even though he hasn’t done anything, Howard pets at her and then has sex with her. He climaxes right away.

Wellington College’s library is named after Helen Keller. On January 10, the faculty meet in the Keller Library for their much-anticipated meeting. Howard takes the floor to propose a silencing of Monty’s lectures, on account of Monty’s political ideation and the issue of many students feeling alienated or offended. Howard cites a blocked series of lectures in the previous year that were anti-Israel in sentiment. Howard proposes that Monty doesn’t have to have his lectures canceled, but that his lectures should be provided to the Equal Opportunities Commission for review and editing if hate speech is found. Monty defends his right to free speech and claims that a writer can’t control any impact they may have on their audience. He also accuses Howard of forbidding a club of Muslim students from renting a university room for prayer, another example of Howard’s control over free speech. This incident led to the students suing Wellington for discrimination. Howard points out that the Wellington policy is that no religious observation can happen on campus. Another professor proposes that Monty’s lectures should go forward because they should trust in the liberal intellect of their students. Howard repeats his accusation that Monty will be offensive because he is homophobic, to which Monty retorts that his comments about homosexuality were that Christians should be able to believe what they do about homosexuality without being legally branded as discriminatory.

The other faculty debate the issue until Dean French calls for a vote. The faculty overwhelmingly vote in favor of allowing Monty’s lectures to continue without censorship.

Zora successfully defends the unenrolled students at Wellington; she convinces the faculty to table their vote for the next month, a huge feat at Wellington. After the meeting, Victoria finds Howard. He pulls her aside to speak in private and tells her to forget about their afternoon together. Victoria reminds him of the dinner he agreed to attend with her. She shows him compromising pictures, and Howard worries that he’ll start trouble if he doesn’t play along. That night, everyone in the Belsey household prepares for their own nights out. Zora is also going to a university dinner. Howard is disappointed she didn’t invite him, but Kiki tells him that Zora has been having some trouble with other students insinuating that she gets special treatment for being Howard’s daughter.

At the dinner, Howard notices Monty at a different table with other students. He starts suspecting that part of Victoria’s attention to him is to rebel against her father. He finds Erskine, already drunk, and they chat about how attractive Victoria is. Erskine’s open desire for Victoria makes Howard want her again. The event starts with a performance by the Glee Club. Howard, a little drunk and easily annoyed by Glee Clubs, can’t control his laughter. The other tables stare at him, and Victoria tells him he’s embarrassing her. Howard leaves the dinner early and falls asleep on the couch.

Kiki returns home from a night comforting a friend whose husband has left her. She tells Howard that they need to talk about what will happen next with them. He distracts her with an imitation of the Glee Club, and she laughs until she cries. Kiki’s tears stem from laughter but take on the edge of her sadness.

Levi goes into Boston on a school day to pay Choo an unexpected visit. He’s been reading a book about Haiti and has imagined what Choo’s life was like back in Haiti. He’s noticed that Choo doesn’t hang out with the other guys outside of their hawking, and Levi wants to help him. Choo tells Levi that he knows he doesn’t live in Roxbury, that a guy in their crew saw Levi in Wellington. Choo worked as a server for a Wellington dinner, where he saw Monty Kipps, who Choo detests for making money off Haitian culture.

Meanwhile, Kiki goes to Monty’s house to pay her own unexpected visit. Kiki has brought him a pie to pay her respects for Carlene’s passing. Monty has her wait while he goes into another room, out of which comes a crying Chantelle, who storms out. Monty tells Kiki that Chantelle wants to continue auditing a class at Wellington even though she’s not enrolled there. Monty doesn’t believe that Chantelle should gain admittance into Wellington just because she’s Black and poor. Instead, he wants people like Chantelle to believe that they can get into institutions like Wellington the same way white people do. Kiki notices that the painting Carlene loved of the goddess Erzulie is gone from the house. Monty has hung it in the Black Studies Department.

Monty and Kiki walk into town together. Kiki asks him more about his anti-affirmative action stance. Kiki believes that Black people need to support one another more against the institutions of racism. Monty points out that liberals tend to think they’re more moral than conservatives, but that Kiki’s ideas can be labeled as much of a fairytale as his religion.

In the two weeks since the faculty meeting, Zora has sent Claire 34 emails. Claire prints them all out and calls Erskine in for a meeting. Claire tells Erskine that Zora’s petitions and plans for keeping Carl’s place in Claire’s class are overwhelming her, especially because Claire can’t do anything about the issue if the board ultimately votes against it. He concocts an idea to create a job for Carl that would make him formally eligible for Claire’s class.

Carl is thrilled with his new job as Hip-Hop Archivist for Wellington’s Black Studies department. Carl is passionate about his work, but annoyed that Zora keeps dropping in to say hello. A Haitian protest outside his window distracts him, and he tries to turn Zora way, but he notes how sensitive she is. Zora tells him that she’s gotten more signatures for her petition to keep him in Claire’s class, but with his new job, Carl doesn’t really care much about the class. Carl shows Claire his project analyzing the idea of “crossroads” in hip-hop.

Victoria sends Howard explicit emails, and he agrees to meet her at a hotel. Inside their room, Victoria disrobes but they’re interrupted by a cleaning lady still in the bathroom. Victoria berates the woman for not speaking English clearly. When the woman leaves, Victoria reattempts the seduction, but Howard leaves.

Howard prepares a lecture on Rembrandt for a gallery event. Levi stops by Howard’s office, even though he should be in school. Levi asks his father for money and admits that he quit his job at the record store.

On his way out, Levi runs into Carl. Levi is in disbelief over Carl’s new job. They’re interrupted by Victoria rushing out of a building. Levi doesn’t recognize her from the funeral and is stunned by her beauty.

Victoria finds Howard in his office. She tearfully berates him for leaving her twice. She knows that he only wanted her body and insists that he doesn’t really know her. She accuses him of being self-absorbed. She tells him to delete all her emails and has dropped out of his class. As Howard leaves campus, he sees that Monty’s lecture has started in the Keller Library. The crowd is enormous, and Howard is upset to see Kiki in the audience.

Howard waits for Kiki to return home and starts an argument with her about Monty. Kiki accuses Howard of not having any real ideas, which is at the true root of his dislike for Monty. Monty may be repulsive, but he is honorable because he truly believes in his cause. Howard asks Kiki what she loved about him. Kiki and Howard have sex. Howard tells Kiki he wants to stay together, but Kiki is uninterested in being with him now that he can’t keep up with her changes.

Jerome comes home from college for Spring Break. Kiki asks him to check in with Levi; she knows that he’s been hanging out with new friends and selling handbags on the street with them. She appreciates Levi’s newfound political ideas since finding this new group of friends but worries that his new group has consumed him. She also finds it strange that Levi has been so involved with the recent Haitian demonstrations because he’s not Haitian.

Jerome goes into town to look for Levi. He picks up a copy of the Wellington College newspaper, where Zora has published an op-ed about inclusion of Black students. Jerome finds Levi with his friends and Levi introduces him to the group. Levi goes to visit Carl at work. Carl tells him that he’s been hanging out with the gorgeous girl they saw come out of the building. Carl shows Levi the dirty pictures Victoria emails him.

Kiki notices that Levi has been crying. Jerome and Zora drop him off at the Bus Stop on their way to a party. Jerome finds Carl and Victoria having sex in the coat room. Filled with rage, Zora goes to the coat room and grabs Carl by his throat. She drags him out of the house. She accuses him of not reading the op-ed she wrote to help him. She storms away, but Jerome, Carl, and Victoria catch up with her. Zora calls Victoria a slut and Victoria cries. Carl brings up Howard, which sends Victoria into hysterics. Jerome realizes that Howard slept with Victoria. She rushes inside while Carl accuses Zora of being a part of the dishonesty of the university. Carl reveals that Monty has been sleeping with Chantelle. Through tears, Carl says that he regrets getting involved with people who think they’re better than everybody else.

Kiki wakes Zora up; she’s been called into an urgent meeting with Dean French. When she gets to his office, she sees Monty, Erskine, and Claire. They ask her if she’s seen Carl. The painting of the goddess Erzulie has been stolen from the Black Studies department. Monty accuses Carl of the theft, and Claire defends Carl. Zora confirms that she saw Carl at a party the previous night. Zora tells Monty that if he wants to know about Carl, he should ask his daughter.

Kiki starts her spring cleaning and Jerome wakes up hungover and tries to help her. While cleaning, Kiki finds the painting of Erzulie. She finds Levi and smacks him. Levi admits that he and Choo took the painting but insists that it’s not stealing because they were just reclaiming what Monty stole from the Haitian people. Kiki tells him the painting belonged to Carlene, that she bought it before she married Monty. Jerome notices a white notecard on the back of the painting. Carlene has left a note for Kiki, gifting her the painting.

On their way home from Wellington College, Zora tells Howard about Monty’s affair with Chantelle. She believes this bombshell will help her cause with the unenrolled students, since she can make the point that Monty wants to forbid unenrolled students from accessing the campus to keep his affair with Chantelle, who is an unenrolled student, quiet. Howard delights in this news and encourages Zora to expose Monty at the next faculty meeting. Zora asks Howard if it’s true that he slept with Victoria. Howard admits to it, and Zora feels betrayed. Back at home, Zora immediately searches for her mother.

The narrative flashes forward. Kiki and Howard have finally separated; she’s left the home she inherited from her mother and moved into her own apartment. Howard rushes to get ready for his lecture, which he hopes will get him tenure now that he’s been placed on sabbatical and never finished the book he was supposed to publish. Zora won the battle for the unenrolled students, but Carl never returned to Wellington.

Important people have turned up to Howard’s gallery lecture, including colleagues from Wellington. Kiki is also in the audience. He awkwardly stumbles through the pictures on his Power Point, and smiles at Kiki.