The Golden Spoon

Betsy heads to a local diner to meet with Francis, her agent. He tells her that early footage of the show has been leaked to the press. Betsy wants to blame Melanie, but Francis says that, whatever his source, Archie was the one who made it public, allegedly to try to rescue the show from irrelevance. He is now making overt attempts to replace Betsy completely and move the show to Los Angeles. The server at the diner recognizes Betsy, who does her best to be gracious, but fumes inwardly and answers through “gritted teeth.” Concerned for Grafton’s future, Betsy listens to Francis’s plan for how to navigate Archie’s duplicity. In a rage, she returns to Grafton Manor.

When Betsy leaves the grounds, Pradyumna wakes Lottie and leads her to the East Wing. When they search the study, they discover a set of recipe cards created by Lottie’s mother. Pradyumna can see how much Lottie’s mother loved baking from the handwriting on the cards and their worn edges. When they hear Betsy’s SUV pull up, they realize they will not be able to escape the East Wing without running into her. They duck into an unlocked room that turns out to be Archie’s bedroom. Pradyumna notes the presence of Hannah in the bed as well, and wonders if Lottie saw her too. Yet once the danger of Betsy has passed, they get on with their day as if nothing has happened.

In the tent, Stella fumes over Archie’s actions. Not only has he been manipulating Hannah, Stella thinks, but he’s also spoiled something that she had come to value about Bake Week: the lack of creepy men. Noticing that both Hannah and Betsy seem less put together than usual, Stella focuses on the cake challenge. She responds curtly to Archie’s questions about her bake and reviews her plans for writing an expose of his inappropriate interactions with contestants on his previous show. If she can pull it off, she thinks, she just might find herself again.

Gerald hides in the woods and reviews the blueprints of Grafton Manor to find a vantage point on the tent. He assumes that the saboteur must be one of the contestants and decides to save Bake Week from itself. He sneaks back onto the property during filming and climbs a drainpipe to the room he has chosen to occupy.

Filled with hope due to her recent discoveries, Lottie feels grateful for Pradyumna’s help. She always wondered why her mother’s recipe box was never returned to her in the aftermath of her mother’s disappearance. She now knows that Betsy cannot have forgotten her and her mother. She reminisces about being in the kitchen with her mother. The happy memories quickly give way to a more disturbing one: Lottie’s mother’s hands shaking as the shadows of Richard Grafton and Betsy passed by the door.

Distracted by the events of last night, Hannah struggles with her cake. Archie avoids Hannah’s workstation throughout the day. One of her sponge layers sticks to the silicone mold, leaving the “innards” of the cake exposed—and all in front of a camera operator. She tries to boost her confidence by remembering Archie’s words the night before and his promise to take her to Los Angeles. Nevertheless, Betsy’s questions about her cake fluster her, leading Hannah to promise a product she knows she won’t be able to deliver. Betsy’s remark about covering up mistakes makes Hannah wonder if she knows about her and Archie.

As the judging of the cakes begins, Betsy is still angry from her meeting with Francis. What’s more, just before the day’s shooting began, Melanie had tried to get Betsy to walk in with a cake and pretend it was hers, an idea that Betsy dismissed as gimmicky and dishonest. Hannah’s cake looks beautiful, but the texture and taste are disappointing; it does not escape Betsy’s notice that Archie is especially tough on her. Pradyumna and Stella’s cakes earn high praise, particularly Stella’s. Lottie presents a layered blueberry buckle cake based on one of her mother’s recipes. Betsy can tell that the bake is perfect but struggles to swallow it because the nostalgia it inspires is so intense. She abruptly leaves the tent and discovers that the recipe box in her office is missing. Finally, she recognizes who Lottie is.

The contestants line up to await the judges’ decision. Although Pradyumna predicts he is in the bottom two with Hannah, he feels grateful for how this experience has forced him to rethink his alcohol misuse. The judges return and announce that Stella is the winner. To everyone’s surprise, the judges select Lottie to exit the competition. Pradyumna is perplexed by the decision and disappointed that he won’t get to continue investigating Grafton Manor with her. Later that evening, Lottie shares with him her memory of her mother fearing Richard Grafton. As they speculate about what might have motivated her mother’s fear, Pradyumna encourages Lottie to reveal her identity to Betsy, but she resists.

As Lottie packs her belongings, Stella knocks on her door to apologize for winning the day’s challenge over Lottie. The two women chat and console each other. Stella notices Lottie’s mother’s recipe box and begins looking through it. Because she made such an intense study of Betsy’s recipes as a child, Stella instantly sees that the recipes in Lottie’s mother’s handwriting are the same as the ones Betsy published. Lottie, who has paid little attention to Betsy’s rise to fame, had never noticed the resemblance. Though Stella refuses to believe that her heroine could do such a thing, Lottie is adamant that Betsy stole the recipes from her mother.

Hannah, her mind full of her future with Archie, goes for a run to the nearby village. She calls her boyfriend Ben from a pay phone and tells him she has met someone else. When Ben expresses concern that someone is taking advantage of her, Hannah refuses to believe it. By the time she returns to the manor, the rain has started.

Nine hours later, Gerald is still waiting in his hiding spot when he overhears a conversation between two people. He is surprised to hear that Lottie was sent home, and when he hears them mention his name, Gerald realizes that he is listening to the saboteurs. When Gerald leans over the balcony for a better look, he identifies Melanie with a man he doesn’t recognize—but who is vaping during the conversation. As Gerald struggles to see where they are going, the balcony crumbles beneath him.

In her room, Stella listens carefully for Hannah to leave her room. She still can’t believe what Lottie told her about the recipes, but focuses instead on the piece she has already begun drafting about Archie. She follows Hannah to Archie’s room in the East Wing and sees her go in. As she waits for the perfect opportunity to catch Archie with Hannah, the memory of her own sexual assault returns. Stella had been on a work trip with a senior editor and thought he had singled her out because of her abilities. She goes over the details of the night, and of his ignoring the situation afterward as if it hadn’t happened. Stella realizes that she is seeking justice for herself as well as Hannah. Stella senses herself blacking out as she opens the door.

Having finished off the wine provided in the library, Pradyumna drunkenly wanders through the house. He stumbles into the kitchen and discovers the wine cellar. He then hears “a bloodcurdling scream” (209).

Hannah fights back tears as she frantically packs her bags. She is angry with herself for having believed Archie’s words the night before. She recalls the cruel rejection she has just experienced from him and dreads returning to life in Minnesota. She slams her suitcase against the wall and hears someone scream.

Stella awakens from her fainting spell in Archie’s room and struggles to remember what happened. She is lying in a puddle of water underneath an open window, and her clothes are soaked through. As she attempts to close the window, Stella sees someone running across the lawn and spots a black spot at the top of the tent. She hears a scream and closes the window.

Betsy stares up at Archie’s body, mangled and suspended from the top of the tent, and screams. She runs out of the tent and dials 911, but when the operator answers, it occurs to Betsy that the incident may be “a gift to her from the universe” (218). She hangs up the phone and screams again.

Betsy’s screams wake Lottie from a nightmare about her mother’s disappearance. She meets Stella in the hallways and notes her wet hair and disheveled appearance. They discover Betsy, Pradyumna, and Hannah in the foyer.

The contestants and Betsy view Archie’s dead body in the tent. They gather in the kitchen to wait for the police. Pradyumna wonders about the look that Betsy shot at Archie in the tent that afternoon. He is surprised by the feelings the experience has awakened in him and he leaves the kitchen.

Betsy orders Stella to come upstairs with her and help her change. Stella obliges. She becomes distracted by the Golden Spoon trophy in Betsy’s office as she makes Betsy a cup of tea. Stella observes how cold Betsy is—how different she is from her public persona. She thinks that Betsy might be capable of stealing recipes after all. As Stella leaves the East Wing, she questions whether she is responsible for Archie’s murder.

Lottie comforts Hannah and Stella before going to find some blankets. It occurs to her that this may be her one chance to speak to Betsy alone, so instead of returning to the kitchen right away, she goes to the East Wing. She has never been so far into this part of the house, since the Graftons always kept themselves separate. Betsy sits calmly. When Lottie asks if she remembers her, she replies in the affirmative, calling Lottie by her childhood name.

Alone in the library, Pradyumna stumbles in the dark after the power goes out. He cuts himself on a letter opener as he searches for a flashlight in a desk drawer. The drawer and its contents fall to the floor. He builds a fire for light and begins to clean up the mess he made. As he attempts to reposition the desk drawer, he discovers an envelope taped to the inside of the desk. He opens it and finds a document.

Alone with Stella in the kitchen, Hannah confides in Stella about her relationship with Archie. Stella comforts Hannah and shares her own story. Gerald surprises the two women when he enters the kitchen with a flashlight. Pradyumna soon joins them with the document in his hand. He urges all of them to follow him to the East Wing to find Lottie.

Lottie and Betsy argue over Lottie’s return to Grafton. Betsy mocks Lottie for still being upset about her mother’s disappearance and needing closure for something that happened so long ago. Lottie tells her that she knows about the recipes, just as Pradyumna and the other contestants arrive. Pradyumna gives Lottie the document. It is her birth certificate, and it lists Richard Grafton as Lottie’s father. Betsy calls it out as a fake, while Lottie is stunned, having never imagined that Richard was her father. Betsy defends her father as an “angel” and insults Betsy’s mother, claiming to have built her business herself. Stella chimes in, affirming Lottie’s version of the story. As Betsy unravels before their eyes, Pradyumna whispers to Lottie that her mother was afraid of Betsy, not Richard.

In a fit of rage that had been bottled up for over half a century, Betsy admits the truth: She murdered Lottie’s mother. An extended flashback—a flashback that stands in for a longer confession—reveals that, even as a young girl, she had noticed her father’s flirtation with the “help,” and had even caught them one afternoon in the conservatory. Furious with her father and Lottie’s mother for making her and her mother’s life miserable, the young Betsy became prone to enacting violence on her toys. One night, when Betsy was 12 years old, Lottie’s mother attempted to speak with her, and Betsy became so enraged that she pushed her over the railing and killed her. Her parents hushed everything up, but Richard Grafton was never happy again. As Betsy concludes her confession with a dismissive remark about the insignificance of Lottie’s feelings, Pradyumna asks where the body is, and Betsy cannot help but glance out the window at a certain dogwood tree. Police sirens wail in the distance, coming closer to the house. Before Betsy can say anything, Gerald says he called the police because it was clear that no one else had.