1.1 "The Kominsky Method" - "An Actor Avoids" Quiz

Answer: Michael Douglas

Prolific actor Michael Douglas plays Sandy Kominsky in the show, an actor who now has his own acting studio. Douglas was born on September 25, 1944 and is the son of actors Kirk Douglas and Diana Dill. Michael Douglas began acting professionally in the late 1960s and has won multiple awards throughout his career.

These include an Academy Award for Best Actor ("Wall Street") and several Golden Globes for Best Actor ("Wall Street", "Behind the Candelabra", and "The Kominsky Method". Douglas was married to Diandra Luker between 1977 and 1995, and then married Welsh actress Catherine Zeta-Jones in 2000.

Answer: Playing God

Sandy Kominsky explains to his students that on a superficial level, actors are pretending to be someone else and "making believe". However, on a deeper level, Kominsky says that actors are playing God because, like God, an actor creates something from nothing. Like God, Sandy says, actors must love their creations, put everything they have into them, and then let them go because "true love, God's love, is letting go."

Answer: Musso & Frank Grill

Norman Newlander first appears at his table while waiting for Alex, the waiter, to bring his drink. He is dining at the Musso & Frank Grill, one of Hollywood's most famous fine dining restaurants, associated with the slogan "some place to eat". Sandy then walks in and orders a Jack Daniel's on the rocks and a diet Dr. Pepper. Newlander breaks the news to Sandy that the latter didn't get a part in a sitcom he auditioned for. "The Kominsky Method" was Alan Arkin's last television role before he passed away in 2023.

Answer: An old woman

Sandy and Norman briefly exchange quips about their personal lives. They talk about Mindy, who helps Sandy run his acting studio. Then the conversation takes a more serious note as they talk about Eileen, Norman's wife who is battling a terminal illness. Finally, Norman asks if Sandy is still dating "Triscuit". Sandy corrects his friend and tells him the right name was "Tristin", but that they broke it off because they didn't have much to talk about, since Tristin was half Sandy's age. That's when Norman responds: "listen, half your age is still and old woman", and then ends the scene doubling down by saying "do the math".

Answer: Steel Magnolias

Still angry about not getting the sitcom part, Sandy tells his students that he will no longer include sitcoms as part of his study program. Then, he invites one of his newer students, Theresa, to perform one of the scenes she practiced. Theresa, played by Emily Osment, chooses to perform the eulogy speech from "Steel Magnolias", a 1987 play by Robert Harling which was also turned into a movie starring Sally Field, Dolly Parton, Shirley MacLaine, Daryl Hannah, Olympia Dukakis, and Julia Roberts. Theresa is very nervous at first, but then gives an excellent performance. Sandy recognizes the speech from Sally Field's character in the movie, only to point out that he was Field's acting coach in preparing for that very scene.

Answer: Miley Cyrus

When Theresa's two performances are over, Sandy invites his students to reflect on which one they liked better. After getting a couple of answers he did not like, Sandy then liked a comment from Lisa. Lisa looks a little bit older than her fellow students.

After the class is over, Sandy and Lisa go out for coffee to a diner. Sandy talks about how he coached Faye Dunaway, Diane Keaton, and Jessica Lange. Lisa says that she was a theater minor in college, but decided to take up acting later in her life after she got divorced from her cheating husband.

Indeed, Lisa says that she is paying for acting classes with her divorce settlement money.

Answer: Buy Bitcoin

Since the beginning of the episode, Jude (one of Sandy's students) was asking for advice for his upcoming audition in a shampoo commercial. Sandy brushes it off and tells him to wash his hair before the audition. Later, Jude walks into Sandy's office and happily exclaims that he got the role.

After Sandy lets out an uninterested "congratulations", Jude says that he will immediately cash the check and buy Bitcoin, "the money of the future".

Answer: Norman bet his wife that Sandy wouldn't show up

After Sandy speaks to his daughter Mindy, he realizes that he should not let go of the opportunity to visit Eileen before it's too late. Kominsky seems to have second thoughts: he first drives by the Newlander home, then keeps going, but then drives in reverse and gets out of the car. Norman opens the door to Sandy holding a bunch of yellow flowers (later revealed to be daffodils, even though neither Sandy nor Norman knew what they were).

Then, Norman says that he is not happy to see Sandy because he bet his wife $100 that he wouldn't show up. Eileen, who is bedridden and connected to oxygen, is very happy to see Sandy.

Answer: No

At the acting studio, Kominsky asks his students to let all the tension out because "tension is a performance killer". During the exercise, Lisa asks Sandy to take her out to dinner. Though Sandy initially refuses because of the imbalance in power between a student and a teacher, she finally convinces him.

When Sandy goes to Lisa's house to pick her up, he meets Lisa's son Matthew. Matthew reluctantly lets Sandy into the house and appears uninterested in talking to him. Lisa apologizes, but Sandy is understanding and insists that Matthew's reaction is normal after seeing a strange man taking his mother out to dinner.

At the end of the scene, Matthew can be seen staring from inside the house and giving Sandy the middle finger. Sandy, in turn, responds in kind.

Answer: Eileen dies

Throughout the episode, it is clear that Eileen is gravely sick and doesn't have much time left. When Sandy finally visits her, Eileen makes him promise that he will take care of Norman when she is no longer alive. At the beginning of Sandy's date with Lisa, while he was driving to the restaurant, he got a call from his daughter Mindy saying that Eileen had to be rushed to the hospital. Lisa agrees to go with Sandy. Sadly, by the time they get to the hospital, Eileen has already passed away. Sandy walks into the room to console Norman.

Then, the two go out for takeout food while Mindy drives Lisa back home.