How It All Goes Down
Eleanor — Singapore
- Eleanor figures out Daisy's sources regarding Nick's supposed girlfriend.
- Commence more unknown namedropping:
- Moses Tang was at dinner in Surrey where Nick's second cousin Cassandra (Radio One Asia) was "holding court" (1.7.2).
- Cassandra says loudly at the table to Nick's aunt Victoria that he's dating a Taiwanese girl and bringing her to the Khoo wedding.
- It's on good authority that Rachel's of the Taipei Plastics Chus. "Not exactly old money, but at least they are one of the most solid families in Taiwan," according to Cassandra (1.7.2).
- Because Cassandra's information is typically "dead accurate," Eleanor puts stock in the gossip (1.7.3). After all, Cassandra is known to have spies across the globe.
- Eleanor is annoyed that she didn't know Nick had a girlfriend.
- We learn Eleanor's theory on men: marriage is purely timing—whoever is there when a man feels ready to marry is the one. Most Young men are ripe in the early 30s: her husband was and now it's Nick's time.
- A little of Eleanor's crazy flag starts to show as she assumes that Nick "purposely hadn't mentioned" Rachel and that her "meticulously laid plans" are about to be derailed (1.7.5).
- She has an ability to calculate a person's place in the social universe by knowing their name and where they lived.
- She uses this to evaluate the Taipei Chus, but because they are new money, she knows "next to nothing" about them. This makes her feel "particularly anxious" (1.7.8).
- Desperate, she needs to know "what she's up against" (1.7.8). We're suddenly concerned about these plans Eleanor has…
- Knowing full well it's 6:45 in the morning for Nick, she calls him anyway, leaving a voicemail for him to call with flight details.
- Forgetting Astrid is in Paris, she calls her. The two discuss shopping at first, to Astrid's annoyance since she's just been woken up.
- Eleanor then asks Astrid about Nick coming to Singapore and says she wants to throw Nick and his girlfriend a surprise "welcome to Singapore" party. She asks Astrid if this is a good idea.
- Surprised by her aunt's kindness, Astrid assumes Nick had charmed his mother into being excited about Rachel.
- Fishing for information, Eleanor finds out Astrid met Rachel over a year ago, she seems very American-ized ("How horrible," Eleanor thinks), and Astrid doesn't recall knowing that she's from Taiwan (1.7.35).
- Wanting to give Rachel the best advantage, Astrid tries to present the best of Rachel: she's smart, a professor, schooled at Stanford and Northwestern.
- Eleanor interjects a disdainful thought for each detail and assumes Rachel is "a cunning, calculating older woman" (1.7.44).
- Saying she's getting a cake, Eleanor asks how to spell Rachel's last name.
- Astrid and Eleanor talk about homes and real estate, with Eleanor self-deprecating about her "small little pigeon-hole" (1.7.56).
- Astrid wonders "for the millionth time why all her relatives constantly tried to outdo each other in proclaiming their poverty" (1.7.57). Yeah, us, too.
- Before hanging up, Eleanor discloses the small pharmacy she takes to fall asleep at night.
- She feels satisfied with the information she gained from her talk with her niece.