One of Aristophanes’ masterpieces, LYSISTRATA is usually written off as a little sex comedy about how the Greek women use their wiles to trick the Greek men into doing just what they want them to do. Thing is, if you look a little deeper, you’ll find he’s written about something a bit more profound, about how the best relationships are founded on a certain equality, one where both (or all, if that’s your wont) partners contribute to the end goal, whether it’s sex or waging war or anything in between. The one scene in there that gives this away is when the frustrated husband brings his son to entice his wife down from the Parthenon for a quickie in the bushes. By the scene’s end, she’s made it clear that in all this, she’s saying what will and will not happen in that moment, and he has no choice really but to respect it. It’s a brilliant scene, one whose message is slathered over with a lot of frustrated innuendo.

So it is, I think, with these four. Gilles and André have now both made it clear that they’re not taking any more bullshit from their respective husbands. Eddie may be a powerful financier, and Elliot a wildly successful filmmaker, but at a certain point, the attendant egos are going to be held in check… or else.

OK, a coda to this tomorrow, then off onto something else. Thanks, as always, for being such devoted readers.