The Beatdown
February 5, 2003
Troy: Nora --
Nora: Why should I stand here and listen to one thing you have to say?
Troy: Look, Nora, I know that it looked bad, but --
Nora: "Looked bad"? "Looked bad"? The Man who claimed to love me --
Troy: I do love you!
Nora: The Man who I was going to marry in one week is having sex with -- of all people -- Lindsay Rappaport, and he only cares about whether it looked bad?
Troy: Nora, would you please just let me explain?
Nora: There is nothing you can say to justify this.
Troy: I did what I did because Lindsay knew about my wife!
Nora: Your wife? Your wife?
[Nora chuckles]
Nora: My God, Troy! How many more secrets are there?
*~*
Nora: Are you still married? I mean, were you planning on committing bigamy on top of everything else here?
Troy: My wife's dead. She died in Africa.
Nora: Why didn't you tell me?
Troy: I wanted to, Nora. I wanted to. I even tried to a couple of times.
Nora: No, no, no, no, no! I have been married twice! I never kept that from you!
Nora: Go on! You better tell me, or I'm going!
Troy: If I told you, Nora, then I'd have to tell you how she died. My wife started playing games with me. She started flirting with different men. It was just a game. She wasn't cheating on me or anything, but she wanted me to think that she was.
Nora: And why would she do that, Troy, because you were sleeping around with every woman in Africa just like you've been sleeping around with Lindsay?
Troy: Would you let me explain, please?
Nora: Get to the point.
Troy: When I realized what my wife was doing, how she was humiliating me like that, I got angry. And so I got even.
Nora: How?
Troy: I made love to her. Then I pretended that I was Colin.
Nora: What?
Troy: I made her think that I was my own twin brother, that she'd been unfaithful by sleeping with Colin.
Nora: That's disgusting.
Troy: I know it is. You're absolutely right. And my punishment is she ran. I tried to stop her, I tried to get her to listen to me, I tried to tell her that it was just a game. But she was gone. I couldn't reach her. She was out the door. We lived on the cliffs overlooking the Zambezi river. She fell.
Nora: And she died.
Troy: Yeah. I've had to live with it ever since.
Nora: So, am I supposed to feel sorry for you, that it's forced you to do all these things that you're doing now? I don't understand how this has anything to do with Lindsay!
Troy: My wife's name was Joanna.
Nora: The painting? The one she gave you?
Troy: Yes.
Nora: Of a woman betrayed?
Troy: Yes.
Nora: The one who drowned in the painting she called "Joanna"?
Troy: Yes.
Nora: She knew?
Troy: Nora, I am so sorry.
Nora: Lindsay knew this whole time? You and she have been sharing this secret for months!
*~*
Nora: So you confide in Lindsay --
Troy: No --
Nora: And not in me, the woman you claim to love.
Troy: I do love you.
Nora: How long, Troy? That's all I want to know.
Troy: Oh, come on, Nora.
Nora: How long have you and Lindsay have been sharing this dirty little secret?
Troy: Come on, Nora. You're freezing. Can we please just go inside and talk about this?
Nora: I'm not going anywhere with you.
[Troy sighs]
Troy: I didn't confide in Lindsay, ok? She wanted to hurt me. She wanted to hurt us. So she kept digging till she found the one thing that she knew I could never tell you about, and she used it.
Nora: And you allowed her to by keeping it from me in the first place.
Troy: I couldn't tell you, Nora. You would never have loved me if you knew what I had done.
Nora: You never gave me the chance.
Troy: Maybe because I was afraid that you would hate me as much as I hate myself.
Nora: Ok, so, she found out about Joanna, and then what? What, did she threaten to tell me?
Troy: Yes. She wanted to destroy us, and I wasn't about to let that happen. I figured out a way to stop her. I knew that she wanted me. I knew she was obsessed with me.
Nora: So you offered yourself up as blackmail?
Troy: I had to stop her from telling you.
Nora: By having sex with her?
Troy: Nora, I don't want her. I don't even care about her. I just did it --
Nora: Oh, no, no, no, no, no, please don't! Don't, don't say you did it for me! Don't say that you're sleeping with Lindsay for me!
Troy: I did it for us! Nora, I love you so much, and I would do anything not to lose you. I just hope I haven't lost you already. Come on. Just tell me there's still a chance.
*~*
Nora: So that's it? That's it? That's your explanation?
Troy: It's the truth, Nora.
Nora: That you loved me so much that you kept secrets, lied, and slept with Lindsay Rappaport?
Troy: Nora, Nora, it wasn't like that.
Nora: My God, you're as sick and as twisted as she is. This is a nightmare. I mean, how could I have fallen in love with you? I don't even know who you are.
Troy: I am still the same man that you love.
Nora: I should have trusted my first instincts about you when I couldn't sleep with you, when I looked in your eyes and I saw Colin there.
Troy: I'm not Colin.
Nora: You're no different!
Troy: Don't say that.
Nora: You want to be.
Troy: Don't say that.
Nora: You want to be different. You tried to prove that you were different, the good twin. You took his money, you set up a free clinic, you're masquerading as the caring doctor.
Troy: Just stop it.
Nora: You even convinced yourself --
Troy: Stop.
Nora: That you were in love with me.
Troy: I am in love with you, Nora.
Nora: No, you're not. No, you're not.
Troy: Don't you see?
Nora: You're not!
Troy: Yes!
Nora: No. You want to be. You want to be, because it would make you feel good about yourself, because then you'd be a good person and I bring you respectability. And you want to be respectable. But you didn't -- you didn't sleep with Lindsay to shut her up. On some level, you just wanted to sleep with her.
Troy: Don't, don't. No, Nora, don't even say that, ok?
Nora: So what is it about her, Troy? What is it that you want more than you want me?
Troy: Don't do this, don't do this.
Nora: Is it what turns you on so much?
Troy: Don't do this, ok?
Nora: Is it because she's so needy?
Troy: Just stop, please, ok? None of this changes the fact, Nora, that I love you and you love me!
Nora: I could have accepted what happened in Africa if you had loved me enough to trust in me, to trust in us. What I can't accept is the lying and the cheating. What I saw tonight, when I saw you both tonight, it destroyed any feelings that I had for you. It's over.
Troy: You've made mistakes, too, Nora.
Nora: Oh, yes, I have. And I've paid for them. But I didn't make this one. You did. You made this choice. You live with it.