At Last

Series
The Other Side
Original Broadcast Date
1/23/2000
Cast
Larry Block, Debi Mae West, Joe Frank
Format
54 minutes
Preceded by:	Mercy
Followed by:	Pledge Drive 2000-01-29
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"He had told me because for some reason he felt that I would be open and non-judgmental that he had tried grass..."

At Last is a program Joe Frank produced as part of the series The Other Side. It was originally broadcast on January 23, 2000.

Synopsis

Larry tells Joe that Zachary (14) told him that he smokes grass. Larry decides that he can't stop him, smokes with him. Zak writes a paper arguing for legalization in school. He gets caught smoking at school; Larry talks to the guidance counselor. Larry worries about the family getting in trouble.

13:10: Susan, 23-24, calls Joe at his room in a boardinghouse in Hollywood. She's looking for someone else. Later she invites herself over from a party. When Joe wants her to leave, she strips and dances ('like Twyla Tharp on barbiturates'). Afterwards she calls from jail, then from other jails days afterwards. While Joe's out she breaks in, leaves flowers and curtains. She leaves dozens of desperate messages.

20:30: Larry tells of the meeting with the guidance counselor.

23:00: Debi tells of going to a disco party at a penthouse with Scott, her boyfriend. He chats up Mike, the DJ. Debi figures out they're attracted to each other. She wants to leave; he wants to stay. He asks if he can invite Mike over. Debi says no and kicks him out.

28:40: Joe tells of a dream of driving his mother to an Army base where she wants to get a job 'regulating the temperature of the building.' Surreal events follow.

33:00: Debi's at a club with a friend. They figure out it's gay. The friend's getting married in September. She wants Debi and she to seduce a man each. She makes out with Debi.

39:00: Debi went on a yoga retreat with her 'cute little English friend' about 2 years ago. Debi's boyfriend broke up with her over the phone on their way home. Debi and her friend went out dancing in Venice that night, ended up making love. Debi, distraught, let herself into her ex-boyfriend's afterwards.

42:40: Joe tells of the 15 years he spent working at 'The aerospace corporation', a defense-consulting firm, all of the exciting things he did.

44:30: Joe tells of working as a medical aid in a leper colony in Malta.

44:50: Joe tells of working as a prostitute in Calcutta.

45:10: Joe tells of being a political prisoner in a small Central American dictatorship. He joins their military elite, oppresses the people.

47:10: Debi tells of the friend who was going to get married in September. She calls (it's 20 below in NYC). She's pregnant, will marry right now in Atlantic City, wants Debi to come down and sing 'At last'. Debi tries to sing it.

50:30: 'At last' (Etta James)

Legacy Synopsis

• Larry Block: he shares marijuana with his son, who later gets into trouble for smoking at school.
• Joe: a woman calling a wrong number shows up at Joe's house, offers him drugs, performs an awkward strip show. She calls back from jail. She calls him regularly for months, breaks into his house and replaces his curtains.
• Larry: a meeting with school officials.
• Debi Mae West: at a penthouse disco party, her date accuses her of narcissism, they fight.
• Joe: A dream - he escorts his mother to a military base for a job interview. She becomes upset when Joe gets attention from the soldiers. They get into a brawl. She's ogled by soldiers.
• DMW: a seduction plot in a gay bar. Her boyfriend breaks up with her, she sleeps with a girlfriend, then returns to him.
• Joe: he travels the world as an aerospace consultant. He works at a leper colony, as a prostitute in Calcutta. He's tortured as a political prisoner, sympathizes with his interrogators.
• DMW: singing at a wedding. Song - "At Last" (Etta James version)

Music

• "Serve Chilled" - Groove Armada (from Vertigo, 1999) | YouTube [12:42]
• "Moonlight" - Ian O'Brien (from Future Sound of Jazz vol.6 , 1999) | YouTube [28:25]
• "Mental Void (Instrumental)" - Primeridian (from Zero Degrees Longitude, 2000) | YouTube [41:58]
• "At Last" - Etta James (from At Last!, 1961) | YouTube [50:30]