Immediately after the meeting, Miranda goes to a campus bathroom and admires her healthy reflection. She feels euphoric and giddy with health—as if she were “literally levitating.” For a moment, the three men seem to appear behind her, with their grinning mouths smeared in blood, echoing her own red lips as she reapplies her lipstick.

Fauve enters, pretending friendliness, as if the morning’s meeting never took place. She inquires about Grace’s absence, triggering panic in Miranda. However, Miranda remains calm and says Grace is sick and resting. She also makes a veiled threat that whatever is affecting Grace might be contagious, which unnerves Fauve. She then tells Fauve to “enjoy” the underwear, and Fauve quickly exits.

Once alone, Miranda texts and calls Grace, but she doesn’t respond. Growing worried, she arranges for deliveries of groceries, flowers, alcohol, and balloons to be sent to Grace’s house. She then receives two texts. The first is from Hugo, who wants to see her on campus. The second is from Paul, who is checking in on her. Feeling powerful, Miranda replies “All’s well” to Paul and makes plans to meet Hugo.

Miranda spends the night in Hugo’s basement apartment after they have sex, but she is unable to sleep. In the early morning light, she watches Hugo sleep and begins to confuse him with Paul. She drifts into a surreal reverie, imagining what her life would be like if she and Paul were still together. The vivid fantasy collapses when Hugo shakes her, saying she has been screaming in an unfamiliar language. Miranda brushes it off as typical anxiety before opening night.

Hugo invites her out to dinner to decompress, and they go to a sushi restaurant Miranda used to go to with Paul, even though it is a long drive away. Miranda continues to confuse Hugo with Paul, remarking on their physical similarities under certain lighting and even calling Hugo “Goldfish,” which was her nickname for Paul. She keeps trying to remind herself that Hugo is not Paul, and she recalls that she checked his ID earlier to prove it. She also looked up the reason for Hugo’s previous incarceration and discovers that he was convicted for aggravated assault, which she finds disturbing.

At dinner, Hugo expresses concern over Briana’s accusations, but Miranda laughs it off. He then gently confronts Miranda about the intensity and strangeness of their sexual encounter the previous night, specifically her request to be hit and her tendency to turn her face away from him. He admits it felt as if she wasn’t fully present or like she wanted someone else. Miranda dismisses his concerns, claiming to be extremely happy with him.

During the show’s tech week, Miranda sits in her car outside Grace’s house and watches as a delivery boy makes another delivery she ordered for Grace. However, Grace doesn’t answer the door and leaves it unclaimed. Though worried, Miranda insists to herself that Grace is just resting deeply.

She immerses herself in her work, managing the production singlehandedly in Grace’s absence. Briana returns to rehearsals but is still ill. Although her performance as the frail King is compelling, she struggles to perform the scene where the King recovers. Miranda insists that she perform a celebratory dance across the stage, and while demonstrating this to Briana, she sustains a deep, bleeding gash on her leg. However, she feels no pain though she pretends to be concerned about it so she won’t alarm her students.

Later, Ellie confides in Miranda, overwhelmed with guilt. She fears her deep desire for the lead role caused Briana’s illness. Miranda dismisses her fears, and Ellie agrees to stay on in the role. She gives Miranda a new bag of her bath salts, happy that her previous gifts seem to have cured Miranda. Miranda agrees that they have, and keeps the new bag of bath salts in her pocket.

Afterward, Hugo finds Miranda and is disturbed by her bleeding wound and her claim that it is painless. She pushes him to have rough sex, forcing his hands around her throat and goading him to choke her. Horrified, Hugo flees.

While driving home from the theater in the predawn dark, Miranda turns up the music to drown out an ominous droning sound that feels like it is coming from inside her skull. She also feels she is being watched. She drives past her own house, feeling a pull toward the ocean. When she arrives, she walks fully clothed into the freezing water. She feels elation as she sense the coldness of the water and the salt burning the gash on her leg.

In the water, Miranda smells botanical scents and sees brightly colored flowers, twigs, and leaves floating around her. She doesn’t realize it, but these are the contents of Ellie’s herbal mix as it soaks through her pocket. Eventually, she awakens at dawn on the rocky shoreline. She is still wearing the dress with the poppy print that she wore on her first date with Hugo, and it is crusted with salt. Three crows land nearby and watch her. Her phone begins to ring, and she realizes it is opening night. She feels dressed and ready.