Incest -316- -

Two brothers run a construction firm. The older brother is married to a sharp, ambitious woman who sees that the younger brother is incompetent. She urges her husband to buy the younger brother out. The younger brother’s wife, a gentle, traditional woman, sees this as an act of war. The four of them have Sunday dinners where every compliment is a knife.

Family, in the lexicon of drama, is not a sanctuary. It is the primary collision point between who we are and who we are told to be. The dinner table is a battlefield; the holiday gathering, a minefield of unresolved resentments. The most enduring family storylines—from King Lear to Succession , from August: Osage County to The Sopranos —do not ask us to love our families. They ask us to survive them. Incest -316-

A father, late in life, has found therapy. He has a list of apologies. He travels to see his adult son, who has not spoken to him in a decade. The father has memorized the script: “I was wrong. I hit you. I was drunk. I failed you.” He expects tears, a hug, a new beginning. Two brothers run a construction firm

Use these as central or subplot drivers: The younger brother’s wife, a gentle, traditional woman,