Why?

"Why?" is the fourth episode in the second season of the show As Time Goes by. It originally aired on 31 January 1993.

Plot
Jean is with Lionel at a haberdashery on Saturday morning and Lionel is in the fitting room putting on a suit. When the salesclerk inquires Lionel how he is going about, Lionel rants for a while about having to trying on suits. Once Lionel is done, he makes a joke and asks Jean for her opinion on the suit he has on. The salesclerk says he looks smart, but Jean says while the suit is nice, but makes Lionel more like a banker than it does an author. Lionel, at Jean’s suggestion, takes out the ‘bible’ that Alistair gave him and looks at the section about clothes. No one present is able to make any sense of the guidance that Alistair gave.

Jean and Lionel are leaving the haberdashery with Lionel only having bought a tie. Lionel is frustrated about the suit and jokes that the public will have take him as he is. Jean asks him to be cheerful and Lionel agrees and pulls a funny face grinning maniacally while they walk down the street.

Lionel is looking at the tie he bought, saying he no longer likes it, but he won’t be returning the tie to the store as the salesclerk deserves to not have to deal with him for the rest of the day. Jean asks Lionel for his opinion on her coffee which he gives as ‘jolly nice.’ Jean also asks about the section of Alistair’s guidance on sex and Lionel gives her the ‘bible.’ Alistair wants Lionel to come off as a ‘old ram’ by smiling mischievously if pressed on a ticklish subject. Lionel begins to wonder why Alistair is selling his dull book which will likely not achieve a meaningful amount of sales.

Jean and Sandy are in the office trying to get ahold of Alistair, but are unable to do so. Jean explains to Sandy that Lionel is wondering why Alistair is publishing his book, but Sandy points out that they all know Lionel’s book is for Alistair’s respectability as a publisher rather than sales numbers. Jean is worried Lionel will find that disappointing as she believes that Lionel actually cares about book. Sandy manages to contact Alistair and transfers him over to Jean’s line. Judy has already talked to Alistair about this, but leads to the gossip that he is ‘the friend’ she stayed with last night.

Lionel meets with Alistair in Alistair’s office and Lionel is surprisingly impressed by Alistair’s office because the office is not bookish and has very little paper. Alistair says he uses a laptop. Lionel asks Alistair why he is publishing his book and Alistair immediately answers that it is because it makes him feel better as Lionel’s book is a proper book. Alistair asks whether Lionel has bought the suit, but Lionel says he hasn’t because he nor the salesclerk were able to make sense of his guidance. Alistair says he’ll send Lionel to his tailor.

Lionel and Jean and walking in the park looking for a bench to have lunch. They see an empty bench, but a couple sit on the bench as they walk towards it. Jean says that when they were young, they had a trick to clear benches and Lionel takes her hand and convinces her to do it with him again. They sit down on the bench with the couple and make them so confused and uncomfortable that the couple leaves. Lionel tells Jean that he went to see Alistair to ask Alistair why Alistair is publishing his book and believes that Jean gave Alistair early warning as Alistair was too ready with the answer.

Judy comes in the office and Jean asks her about staying the night with Alistair, but Jean is unable to make a second point as she doesn’t know any other person like Alistair. Judy defends Alistair that he is more sensitive the he seems and let Lionel down very gently. Sandy comes in and says that she’s been wonder why Alistair is taking so much time personally with Lionel and doesn’t simply delegate the task to a junior associate and neither Jean nor Judy have an answer to that.

Lionel enters Alistair’s office to ask Alistair why Alistair putting so much time and effort into his book. After some initial obstruction, Alistair agrees to tell Lionel the truth.

Alistair is kissing Judy who is disinterested thinking about Lionel to Alistair’s annoyance.

Lionel knocks on Jean’s office at night and tells Jean that he went to Alistair again to ask the big question of why Alistair was spending so much time on him. Alistair is returning a favor to Lionel’s father, Rocky, on behalf of his father, which is why Alistair has been looking after Lionel like a baby. Rocky lent Alistair’s father 500 pounds in 1947 to start up a publishing firm. Jean changes the subject to ask Lionel if he needs the money. Lionel explains that he had reach a stage of his life that he wanted to return to England and got on the lecture tour and wrote a book to pay for his living expenses. Jean asks about the money that he earned from owning a coffee planation in Kenya and Lionel explains he can only spend the money he earned in Kenya in Kenya because of policy changes. They go out for dinner.

Transcript
Why?-Transcript