Little Fires Everywhere

After Mia tells Bebe about her baby, Bebe goes to the McCullough house to see her child. Mrs. McCullough ignores Bebe’s pleas. Mr. McCullough arrives at home with two policemen to take a distressed Bebe away. Unsure what to do, she walks over to Mia’s place to seek advice. As Bebe cannot afford a lawyer, Mia suggests taking her story to the local news channel to bring attention to the custody issue.

Channel 9 news reporter Barbra Pierce ambushes Mrs. McCullough at her home with questions about Mirabelle. She also interviews Bebe, who shares her side of the story. When Mr. McCullough hears about the news story, he rushes home. The McCulloughs are convinced that the law is on their side, as Bebe gave up custody as soon as she abandoned her child. However, in the days that follow, the news cycle reports on this custody issue incessantly.

Mr. Richardson offers his legal services to the McCulloughs, as they are longtime friends of the family. This upsets Izzy, who has seen Bebe at Mia’s apartment and sympathizes with the young woman. She argues with her parents about their decision to side with the McCulloughs and decides that her allegiance is with Bebe.

Mrs. Richardson finds out from a recent news source that Bebe was informed about the whereabouts of her baby by “a coworker at Lucky Palace, a Chinese restaurant on Warrensville Road” (137). She realizes that this coworker is Mia and feels betrayed that someone she is renting to would intervene like this. 

Lexie is accepted into Yale University. To celebrate, Mrs. Richardson takes her out to brunch. She invites Pearl along to use it as an opportunity to get more information about Mia. Izzy invites herself as well. During the brunch, Pearl admires Mrs. Richardson and expresses her desire to be a journalist just like her. Mrs. Richardson is briefly moved but remembers Mia’s lies and continues to interrogate Pearl, who is unaware of the woman’s motives. From talking to Pearl, Mrs. Richardson finds out that she was born in San Francisco.

Mrs. Richardson locates Pearl’s birth certificate in San Francisco records but reaches a dead end when the certificate does not list a father. Upon further research, she learns that Mia was born in Bethel Park, Pennsylvania, as Mia Wright. She finds an obituary for Warren Wright, who she assumes is Mia’s brother. She learns that Mia’s parents, George and Regina Wright, still live in Bethel Park and obtains their address.

Meanwhile, as the adoption scandal grows into a bigger issue in Shaker Heights, opinions are divided. There is enough public sympathy for Bebe that she is eventually granted visitation rights. Bebe has monitored visits with her child at the public library with Mrs. McCullough present.

One day, Pearl and Trip are alone in the Richardsons’ house. When Trip asks Pearl for help on an assignment, she leans in close to him, and they exchange a kiss. She leads him to his bedroom where they have sex for the first time.

Meanwhile, Lexie and Brian have been having sex regularly, so much so that she has not always been careful with using protection. When she notices pregnancy symptoms, she buys a pregnancy test and discovers that she is pregnant. She schedules her abortion for when she knows her mother will be out of town.

Mrs. Richardson leaves town to find Mia’s parents, not telling anyone her true destination. She introduces herself to George and Regina under the guise of wanting to mention their son, Warren, in a story on promising young athletes whose lives ended too soon. She inquires about Warren and then covertly asks about Mia. She learns that Mia left home shortly after Warren’s death and her parents have not heard from her since. They also reveal that Mia had been pregnant with the baby of another couple, the Ryans, because they could not have children of their own. This means that Pearl is actually the Ryans’ child.