Angels in America, Part One: Millennium Approaches Act 2, Scene 7 Summary

  • That afternoon, Louis is sitting outside the Hall of Justice in Brooklyn, where he works. He's eating a hot dog.
  • Joe enters with three hotdogs and a Coke.
  • He asks Louis if he can sit beside him.
  • Louis says sure.
  • Joe asks Louis how his friend is doing. (Remember, the last time they saw each other Louis was crying about Prior.)
  • Louis says his friend is doing much worse.
  • Sorry to hear that, says Joe.
  • Louis can't believe that someone so nice voted for Reagan. He also can't believe Joe is eating three hot dogs, since they're made of so much gross stuff.
  • Joe points out that Louis is eating one.
  • Louis quips, "Yeah, well, the shape, I can't help myself, plus I'm trying to commit suicide, what's your excuse?" (2.7.19).
  • "I don't have an excuse," says Joe. "I just have Pepto Bismol" (2.7.20).
  • Louis fake barfs in Joe's lap.
  • Pushing Louis' head away from his lap, Joe asks if Louis always acts like this.
  • Louis starts talking about how he's worried about Reagan's kids, especially Ronald Reagan Jr., who he thinks is gay.
  • Joe warns him not to make assumptions about people.
  • Louis says he sincerely wonders what it's like to be in the Reagan family. He says they're all totally separate from each other and only speak though agents. Louis supposes that's what everybody is like these days – disconnected.
  • He continues, saying, "All of us... falling through the cracks of what we owe to our selves... and what we owe to love" (2.7.31).
  • Joe is impressed by how Louis just says and does whatever her wants.
  • Louis asks if Joe is trying to tell him something.
  • The two share an awkward flirty moment.
  • They start talking about how total freedom is kind of scary.
  • Louis implies that he thinks of himself as heartless.
  • Joe assures Louis that he's not heartless.
  • Joe decides to tell a story about how last Saturday he woke up and thought it was a work day. So he showed up here at the Hall of Justice and it was totally deserted. It made him feel kind of like all the justice in the world had evaporated. He thinks such a thing would terrible, but also great, because then we'd all be totally free.
  • Joe says he can't go in that building today.
  • He takes a swig of Pepto Bismol and says he needs a change.
  • Louis offers to keep him company for the rest of day.
  • Joe looks at Louis, a little afraid.
  • "Sometimes, even if it scares you to death, you have to be willing to break the law," says Louis (2.7.51).
  • Louis almost tells Joe that he's moved out of his apartment with Prior, but then he stops himself. He simply says that he hasn't been sleeping very well.
  • Joe says he hasn't either.
  • Louis licks a napkin and wipes some Pepto from the corner of Joe's mouth. He says, "Maybe the court won't convene. Ever again. Maybe we are free. To do whatever. [...] You're scared. So am I. Everybody is in the land of the free. God help us all" (2.7.55).