Christine

Riding with Arnie to the airport, Michael tries to act as a peacekeeper, alluding to Regina’s menopause and Arnie’s new personality traits. They listen to WDIL, an “oldies” AM radio station, and Arnie discusses classic cars. Michael notices that Christine’s odometer runs backward.

When Michael offers to pay for Arnie to keep his car at the airport parking lot, Arnie becomes mad, not wanting to take a 20-mile bus ride just to get his car. Michael eventually convinces him to keep it at the airport. Arnie complains about insurance, referring to insurance agents as “shitters.” He and Michael bond over Arnie and Regina’s stubbornness. Their laughter causes Christine to stop running. Michael thinks Christine smells “bitter.”

Sandy Galton works at the airport garage every night from 6 to 10 o’clock. After work, he plays poker at a 24-hour gas station with Buddy, Moochie, Don, and another young man, Richie Trelawney. Don’s father runs the gas station, and the young men make extra money by shortchanging customers, charging them for new tires when they use remolded ones, and selling inspection stickers to teens. Sandy mentions that Arnie’s car is at the airport. Buddy calls Arnie “Cuntface” and formulates a plan.

Arnie and Leigh become physically romantic on an embankment (the “local lovers’ lane”) until she pulls away. She thinks Arnie cares more about the car than her. She asks why Arnie doesn’t call the car Christopher, and she starts to hit the seat. She wants to have sex with Arnie, but not in the car. She senses that Christine watches her.

Arnie drives Leigh home and walks her to her door. She says she loves Arnie, and when he returns to the car, it’s off. Arnie wonders whether he spends more time with Christine than Leigh. He looks at the keys that LeBay gave him and notices that LeBay’s initials are sharper. Arnie drives through the snow, feeling like Christine magically keeps him safe. At home, he thinks about how he can’t recall the specific repairs he made to the car.

Leigh dreams about having sex with Arnie in a blue room. Christine is outside and wants to talk to Leigh about who needs Arnie more. When she was a young girl, Leigh wanted a red race car for Christmas, but her mother said that was a toy for boys. The toy car drove around a road. Leigh knew that a store employee controlled the car, but the setup gave the impression that the car was driving by itself.

Sandy nervously lets Buddy, Don, Moochie, and Richie into the airport parking lot. They use cocaine and drink Texas Driver (a mix of juice and wine). In his booth, Sandy hears Buddy and the others wrecking Christine. Sandy neither likes nor dislikes Arnie, but the destruction makes Sandy uncomfortable. He considers distancing himself from his friends and taking night classes.

Arnie and Leigh plan to drive to Pittsburgh for an early Christmas shopping trip, but when they see the vandalized car, Arnie squeezes Leigh’s hand hard and screams, “Christine!” and “shitters!” Leigh believes that Arnie has “lost his mind” and throws up.

Arnie tows the car to Darnell’s garage. At home, Arnie and his mother continue to fight about Christine. He claims that Regina had the motivation to destroy his car and reminds her that someone “took a shit” on the dashboard. Arnie vows to work on the car before and after school. Regina watches Arnie sleep. He looks “horribly old.” She thinks about turning off his 4:30 am alarm but doesn’t.

Regina cries, feeling like she’s betraying her stoic, working-class family. She has one sister and seven brothers. Her father worked in construction, and her mother was “washed out.” Battling sexism, Regina made it to college. Now, she senses that everything she worked for is in “shambles.”

Leigh visits Dennis in the hospital and tells him about Christine and Arnie. Her parents don’t want her to see Arnie, and he doesn’t want to involve the police, but Michael calls them. Arnie has been eating dinner at Darnell’s and doing errands for him. Leigh spoke to Arnie’s parents, who offered to buy Arnie a quality used car if he got rid of Christine. He said no. Leigh calls Christine a “bitch” and says Arnie has an “obsession.” Dennis promises to talk to him.

After Dennis has a dispiriting visit with his family, Arnie comes by to spend Thanksgiving with him, bringing two candles, apple pie, and turkey sandwiches. Dennis recalls how they used to eat Wonder Bread with mustard. Arnie and Dennis remember when Elaine had “the farts.”

Arnie and Dennis talk about Christine, and Arnie claims that Buddy and the others didn’t harm the engine. Dennis thinks Arnie is lying and downplaying the damage. Arnie says the cops scared Moochie and Richie—and almost got Sandy to “confess.” Arnie reaggravated his back injury and guesses it happened while hooking Christine to the tow truck. Like LeBay, Arnie wears a back brace.

Arnie previously signed one of Dennis’s casts. Now, Dennis asks him to sign the other one. When Arnie leaves, Dennis puts his legs together and notes that the signatures differ.

Moochie attends a Jackson Browne concert at the Pittsburgh Civic Center. He collects more than $30 by “spare-changing” (asking people for change). While trying to hitch home early in the morning, he spots Christine and realizes that Arnie isn’t driving the car—no one is.

Moochie runs across the multiple lanes of JFK Drive, but Christine smashes into him and runs him over multiple times. The blood and dents on the car vanish as it drives itself back to Darnell’s garage, where it lets itself in using the garage opener Darnell gave Arnie when he began transporting illicit alcohol and cigarettes for him.

Arnie’s back continues to hurt, though he admits that he’s unsure how the pain began. His mother wants medication for stress. His father failed to become chair of the Horlicks History Department and has phlebitis. Michael wonders if Arnie was involved in Moochie’s death, but Arnie reminds his father that he was at home. Arnie dismisses Moochie as a “shitter.” Michael pleads with Arnie to sell Christine, but he refuses.

Regina says she watched Arnie sleep last night, so he couldn’t have been driving the car that killed Moochie. Michael’s skeptical “mind monkey” gets satisfaction, but Regina can’t fall asleep until she hears Arnie come home.

After Arnie finishes working on Christine, he sits inside and listens to oldies on WDIL. He remembers replacing the antenna but can’t remember putting in new glass and seat covers. He dreams about LeBay driving Christine and killing numerous people, from Sandy and Darnell to Leigh and Dennis. He hears LeBay scream “shitter!” and another voice asking him when he hurt his back.

Rudolph Junkins, a state police detective, arrives. He compliments Arnie’s work on Christine but asks why Arnie didn’t take photos of his vandalized car. Arnie says he could only get liability insurance, not damage insurance, so there was no point. Junkins doesn’t understand why Arnie didn’t report the destruction. Arnie claims that he just wants the conflict to end. Junkins thinks Arnie looks awful and is lying about the work he did on Christine.

Once Junkins leaves, Arnie calls Leigh from Darnell’s office. They’ll get ice cream and go Christmas shopping tomorrow. Arnie promises not to act “weird.” A mysterious voice asks why he always wants to listen to oldies and how he hurt his back.