The Last Tycoon S01E07 "A More Perfect Union" Recap

Monroe confides in Kathleen that Minna had problems the public didn't know about. With a modern understanding of mental illness, we can speculate that she suffered from depression and possibly bipolar disorder, along with substance abuse. Monroe confesses that he didn't tell her about his condition because she needed his support and confesses that one night he gave her a sleeping pill to help her and then she fell asleep with a lit cigarette in her mouth which led to her death. Kathleen supports him and insists that it was an accident and he shouldn't blame himself. Monroe later visits Rose to tell her that he proposed marriage to Kathleen and they will be getting married. Rose says she is happy for him, or at least that she needs to be happy for him.

Celia stays at Max's place to help look after the kids while he is at the hospital. She orders some food but he wants her to take it back after he returns home because he wants to be with her without her seeing him as a charity case. Celia learns about Monroe's engagement during a meeting about how to handle the publicity to introduce Kathleen.

Brady slashes everyone's salaries by thirty percent and when Monroe confronts him, Brady admits it was done to pay off Mayer after what he'd done previously with stealing Margot back by blackmailing her.

Kathleen confronts the man that's been following her, Rupert Vajna, saying she wants out. He then reveals Kathleen's secret, that she is an actress from Wisconsin working a long con of Monroe. She wants out because she has really fallen for Monroe but he won't let her go so easily. Celia also decides to spin Kathleen's publicity by using the love story of her and Monroe which will prove enticing to audiences. Celia then tracks down Max and says that her crush on Monroe was merely a childhood crush and that the only person she wants is him. He apologizes for being ungrateful towards her help and the two consummate their relationship on a car on a studio set, with both admitting to the other that it is their first time. The camera then cuts to a blinking red light and a sign that warns about it being an indication that recording is taking place.

The studio employees organise a walk-out to protest the salary cut, forcing the child-star of one of the films in production to throw a tantrum and refuse to come out of her trailer. Monroe is working hard to negotiate to appease those that are organising the protests versus Brady but in the end, Brady strong-arms them and insists they get back to work.

Celia confronts Brady for slashing everyone's salary, saying no one had forced him to pay Mayer back but Brady refuses to acknowledge any wrong-doing. The next day when he has some investors coming to visit the studio, it is completely empty of any employees. They have all refused to come to work due to the abrupt pay-reduction. Mayer comes to the studio and once again tries to convince Monroe to come work for him, even pointing out that the Wizard of Oz script is one that was made for him to work on. He promises him that together they could get him to win Oscars but Monroe refuses to abandon Brady. Meanwhile, Brady is being threatened to be fired from his position by the higher-ups, who tell him that everyone knows that it's really Monroe that has made the studio successful.

Rose finds out that Kitty will likely be moved to a long-term treatment centre that isn't all that well-equipped, and Rose considers having Kitty come home to live with her instead.

Monroe presents Kathleen with an engagement ring and reiterates his love for her. He promises that he loves her for who she is and says she should always be herself and we see her look guilty when he isn't looking directly at her.

The Last Tycoon is available for streaming on Amazon Prime.