How It All Goes Down
Amy Elliott Dunne—October 16, 2010
- It's been a month since the Dunnes moved to Missouri and Amy's been doing her best to adapt to this new environment. Aside from all their New York stuff looking out of place in their cookie-cutter house, the transition has been pretty peaceful.
- The only real disaster is the housewarming party Nick's mom, Maureen, insists on throwing for them. On a rainy day, Maureen's friends descend on the house with food in Tupperware containers that they will eventually expect to be returned—Amy, however, doesn't know the proprietary rules of washing and returning plastic containers, and throws them all away. Later, she sheepishly buys brand new containers to give to Maureen's friends instead.
- The party is also super awkward because these women fawn over Amy while gushing about what a nice guy her husband is; the younger women—who could potentially become her new Missouri girlfriends—do the same thing. Everyone seems unduly fascinated by the fact that Amy was born and raised in New York City, and they go on and on about it as though she isn't even from the same country as them.
- Amy's obviously not having fun at her party. These women make Amy feel like Nick has imagined her into being someone she's just not—the kind of wife who gets involved in community events like potlucks, raffles, and charity walks, and cooks for everyone all the time. Not that there's anything wrong with doing these things—if you like charity walks and cooking, knock yourself out—but Amy's just not a fan. She also seems slightly resentful of handing over the last of her trust fund money to open The Bar.
- Go arrives at the party with their father, who seems to be having a good day; he dismisses Go from dad-watching duty and mingles into the party. Meanwhile, Amy grows more and more annoyed with the fact that everyone at the party seems entitled to give her marriage advice, including Maureen, who delivers a drunken soliloquy about "good times" and moments of regret, then just walks away from her.
- Just in case you don't believe that this really is the worst housewarming party ever, the night concludes with Nick's dad losing control of his memory—he yells at Amy for being in her own house, calls her foul names, and tells her she has to leave. Even when Nick tries to explain who she is, he still won't let up. Amy eventually agrees to leave the house, thinking about how Nick's dad is more right than he knows when he says, "She doesn't belong here."