QUESTA - Act 3

Table Read

Act Three of QUESTA follows Paul through a harrowing period of grief and moral reckoning in 1991 New York. After a tense encounter with Rich

Key takeaways

• Paul confesses to Father James that he killed Will in an alley after a violent altercation, revealing his motive stemmed from desperate loneliness following his lover Kevin's death from AIDS.
• Lori confronts Paul on the street, mistakenly believes he loved her son, and later shares a quiet coffee scene where they bond over shared grief and the pain of unspoken truths.

Main topics

• Grief and mourning
• AIDS crisis in early 1990s NYC

Notable quotes

"I killed him!"

Conclusion

The episode closes on a note of fragile redemption, as Paul finds unex

Transcript preview

Speaker 1 (0:00) Previously in Act Two. When we last left Cuesta, it was 1991, and Paul, a grieving gay widower, had killed a young man in an alley behind a gay bar. His sister Susan covered for him. Daniel, a homeless witness, lied to the police and started following Paul home. The dead boy was Will. His mother Lori, a village hairdresser sleeping with her parish priest, was already in spiritual freefall. Susan was pregnant. Bradley was dying of AIDS. Then it all tightened. Paul started following Lori. He sat across from her at a Jersey coffee shop, pretended to be one of her old clients, and cried in front of her for the first time since the killing. She comforted him. Daniel sat next to Paul at AA and told him he was beautiful. Paul walked into a gay bar shaking and gave a stranger his number. Susan came to his apartment and found him refusing meat and talking about trying to be good. By the end of Act II, Laurie had walked into a confessional, broken down on the priest she'd been sleeping with, and told him God had sent her a stranger as punishment. She screamed. Then she went silent. She is swimming in grief. Speaker 1 (1:11) Interior Paul's apartment later that evening. Richard, Lori's ex-boss and the guy from the bar, is sitting on Paul's sofa. Paul is surprised that Richard... One more Speaker 2 (1:20) time. R sitting on... Well, Speaker 1 (1:22) but R, I know, and I do think it's a typo because it's one guy. Oh, yeah, it is. I'm sorry. I thought Richard Speaker 2 (1:27) and Lori were there together. Yeah, I know. That's what I thought. Speaker 1 (1:30) No, it caught me off guard when I was practicing. So that's the only reason I know. Interior Paul's apartment later that evening. Richard, Lori's ex-boss and the guy from the bar, is sitting on Paul's sofa. Paul is surprised that Richard called him. Richard is surprised that he called Paul. What to do? What to say? Paul hands him a glass. Speaker 6 (1:52) Sorry, I only have water. Speaker 5 (1:54) That's okay. Paul sits on the sofa. Just a chance calling you tonight. Speaker 5 (2:02) I'm surprised you remembered me. Speaker 6 (2:04) It's only been a couple weeks. I'm glad I picked up the phone. Speaker 5 (2:08) I don't usually do things like this. Call up someone I hardly know and, you know. Speaker 1 (2:16) Paul is just smiling at Richard. Both guys are uncomfortable. Speaker 5 (2:20) Nice place. Speaker 6 (2:21) You caught it on a good day. Speaker 5 (2:23) What are you thinking? Speaker 6 (2:26) About you. What about me? I'm wondering what you look like without your clothes. Speaker 1 (2:33) Paul goes to unbutton Richard's shirt. Speaker 6 (2:35) Oh, whoa. Speaker 5 (2:37) You Speaker 6 (2:38) move fast. Speaker 5 (2:40) I'm hoping you didn't come here to discuss Proust. Not Proust, but the use of irony in Jackie Collins. Touché. I haven't had sex in a long time. Neither have I. That's hard to believe. You seem very comfortable with the idea, and you're a bit aggressive. Speaker 6 (3:01) Kevin would have roared if he heard you say that. He thought of me as uptight and shy. Was he your lover? Yes. My dead one. Mine was John. We gay boys who have so much in common. Our love of divas and dead boyfriends. Let's not talk about that now. Speaker 1 (3:20) After a moment, Paul gets up. And although also a bit nervous, he begins to undress himself. Speaker 5 (3:27) Should I? I don't know if this is going to work. Don't you like sex? Speaker 1 (3:32) Paul continues to undress as Richard watches him. Speaker 5 (3:36) Obsessed with it. Masturbate way too much for somebody my age. Since John's death, that's three years. Only had sex twice. Both disasters. But my fantasies get more and more... Speaker 6 (3:55) Bizarre. Speaker 1 (3:55) Paul is down to his underwear. Speaker 6 (3:57) Really? Yeah. Let's go there tonight. Speaker 1 (4:02) Richard turns away from Paul. Paul kneels near the sofa and puts his arms around Richard. Speaker 6 (4:08) Whisper one of your fantasies. I'll create it for you. I'll enter your mind and take it over. This way we can both stop thinking. For a while, Speaker 1 (4:19) Richard starts responding to Paul. Speaker 6 (4:24) The darker. the better. Go there. Speaker 1 (4:29) Richard, still slightly shaking, starts whispering in Paul's ear. The camera gets closer and closer. They begin kissing passionately. Exterior street, day. Daniel is following Paul, but he is quite a ways behind him. The street is packed with people running around with determination and purpose, traffic noise. Daniel appears almost to be in slow motion. He is strolling. He's in a different world, on something powerful. He may have even forgotten he's been following Paul. He passes an attractive heterosexual couple in their 20s. He sizes up the man. Speaker 3 (5:07) Are you one lucky bitch? Speaker 1 (5:09) The woman laughs. The man gives Daniel a contemptuous look. Daniel sees this. Speaker 3 (5:13) One second, Glantz. Speaker 1 (5:15) Close on Daniel laughing. Cut to interior Paul's apartment, night. Close up on Paul's answering machine. Paul's hand is erasing messages. Ron's voice. Speaker 5 (5:26) Hey, it's me. Where the hell are you? By the way... Speaker 1 (5:29) Erased. Joan's voice. Paul, can you call me back? We have to talk about this leave of absence. Erased. Richard's voice. Speaker 5 (5:38) It's Richard. Last night. What a night. I'm still... Erased. Speaker 1 (5:44) The sound of messages gets louder and more garbled as we hear the messages being quickly erased. The camera pulls back to reveal Paul in his semi-lit apartment. It's night. All looks lonely and frozen. Exterior, a street in New Jersey. Bright afternoon. Lori comes out of a bank. Some distance from her, Paul lurks near the entrance of a store. He begins to follow Lori. He stays about a half a block away from her. Lori abruptly turns as if she's forgotten something. She instantly spots Paul. Speaker 2 (6:17) It is you. What are you doing? Oh, why, hello. Have you been following me? No. It's good to see you. It's been a while. What are you doing here? Going to St. Anthony's. In the middle of a weekday afternoon. I thought I saw you last week. You couldn't Speaker 6 (6:37) have. I haven't come here for a while. It was you. You're being silly. Speaker 1 (6:43) How about a coffee? Lori stops. She stares at Paul, really looking him over. Paul is terrified. Speaker 2 (6:50) You know something about my son? You were never a client of mine. What do you know? Nothing. Really. Oh my God. Do you know who killed him? No. Was he a friend of yours? I never met him. I don't think that's true. Speaker 1 (7:07) I better go. Lori grabs him and stops. You Speaker 2 (7:10) move one step away from me and I'll start screaming. How did you know Speaker 1 (7:14) my son? Paul tries not to look at Lori as she holds on to him. I didn't know him. Did you meet him in that bar? Had he been there before? No. A couple of passers-by take notice of Paul and Lori. Look at you. Look at the pain in your Speaker 2 (7:27) eyes. Speaker 2 (7:29) It can't be that. You didn't... Did you... Did you love him? What? You did. Speaker 2 (7:39) You loved him. Speaker 2 (7:42) Stupid, how blind. Look, I swear I didn't know. Oh, dear Jesus, my son. Speaker 1 (7:47) He was gay, wasn't he? Paul breaks away from Lori and starts walking. Lori aggressively follows him. Speaker 2 (7:54) You know he wasn't. You're lying. Look at you. Wanting to be close to me, following me. You loved my son. Was he in love, too? Come home with me. Tell me about my son. Please. This is so wrong. I'll beg. I'll get down on Speaker 1 (8:09) my knees right here on the street. I'll never bother you again. I swear it. Lori grabs his shirt and clings to it. Paul is afraid to move. People are looking at them. Speaker 2 (8:18) Please! Please! The van Speaker 1 (8:19) rushes up to Lori. Are you alright? Speaker 2 (8:21) Get Speaker 1 (8:22) the hell away from me! The man backs away. Crazies! Paul gently releases Lori's hands from his shirt and takes her in his arms. Speaker 1 (8:32) It's true. Speaker 1 (8:34) Close-up picture of Will looking young and happy. Speaker 2 (8:38) You can have that picture. Speaker 1 (8:39) Dissolve to interior, Lori's kitchen, the next moment. Paul is seated at Lori's kitchen table. Lori's handing him Will's picture. Paul looks frightened and totally out of it. Speaker 6 (8:50) I couldn't. Speaker 1 (8:51) No, no, really, I want you to have it. Speaker 6 (8:54) No, thank you. Speaker 2 (8:56) You sure he can't get you anything? A little something to drink? Speaker 6 (8:59) No. No, thank you. Speaker 2 (9:01) Did he have lots of gay friends? I don't think so. He was new to it all, wasn't he? I had no inkling. Not the slightest. Where did you meet? Was it in that bar? Speaker 2 (9:13) No, in a coffee shop. But you loved him. Speaker 1 (9:17) Paul is desperately trying to hold himself together. Please, tell me. Yes? Speaker 2 (9:23) Yes. His smile, it was wonderful, wasn't it? That picture captures it, don't