Firefly Lane season 2 part 1 recap guide: All 9 episodes explained

Firefly Lane season 2, episode 3 recap: I’m Coming Out

The third episode opens with the aftermath of a car crash, one I’m assuming is related to why Kate and Tully eventually stop being friends. But before we can find out more about it, we return to the present, where Kate is having sex dreams about Johnny! Is there a reconciliation in their future?

1970s

With Cloud out on parole, Tully is able to return to Firefly Lane. She and Kate haven’t spoken since their big fight. Kate has since moved on and found a new best friend, AV Club president Lisa-Karen (Kyra Leroux). They even got matching haircuts.

Now that Cloud is out of jail, she’s trying her best to be the picture-perfect Martha Stewart homemaker, including going by her real name, Dorothy Hart, instead of Cloud. She wonders when Kate is going to come over, and Tully says they’re no longer friends. Similarly, at the Mularkey household, Margie (Chelah Horsdal) questions Kate as to why Tully isn’t around anymore.

We also check in with teen Sean (Quinn Lord). Margie wants to set him up with her friend’s daughter, Nancy. Later in the episode, Margie does some accidental snooping of her own in Sean’s room and finds gay porn under the mattress. Sean walks in just as she finds it and tries to dismiss it, agreeing to go on the date with Nancy to throw her off his trail.

1980s

Tully is over the moon when she gets a letter from a woman who worked with Benedict Binswanger for 30 years. In it, she claims that he’s a bad man who isn’t fit to be governor. Tully prepares to go meet her “source,” and Johnny tells her to bring Danny since he has been assigned to the Benedict story, too.

Meanwhile, Kate informs Johnny that her parents are going to be in town soon, and he proposes that she introduce him to them as her boyfriend. The problem is that Kate’s parents, Margie and Bud, don’t like Johnny. They think he used Tully and is something of a playboy. Johnny says that’s all the more reason for her to invite him for dinner, so he can prove them wrong.

While prepping for dinner with Kate’s parents, Johnny and Kate get distracted and start stripping down and fooling around. Of course, that’s right when Bud and Margie walk through the door and witness the entire thing. That’s not going to help Johnny beat the sex fiend allegations!

The Binswanger source turns out to be an older woman named Daisy (Marion Eisman), the same woman we saw open the door for Cloud in the previous episode during the opening flashback. Daisy tells Tully that Benedict is a horrible, evil man. She also says, “what Benedict did to your mother was terrible,” seemingly hinting that he is Tully’s father. Before we can learn more, a nurse arrives, and we learn that Daisy is in a retirement home and often gets confused. She thinks Vanna White sends her messages through the TV.

However, that doesn’t mean everything Daisy said was a lie. We know she was telling the truth about working for Benedict, so could the stuff she said about him and Cloud be true, too? Well, Tully and Danny aren’t so sure. They chalk the whole thing up to being a bust. Tully doesn’t think Daisy actually met her as a baby or that Benedict is her dad.

She ends up inviting Danny to the apartment where dinner is underway with Kate’s parents, Sean, Kate, and Johnny. It’s not going well. During the meal, Margie makes a comment about how women don’t need men and that it’s okay to have a career instead.

But Johnny misinterprets her words and runs with them, ranting about how marriage is sexist and outdated and that he doesn’t know anyone who is happily married. That’s obviously awkward since Margie and Bud are both right there (though Margie did have affair, so maybe Johnny has a point). The whole dinner seems to go sideways quickly.

After, Kate addresses Johnny’s anti-marriage comments. She does want to get married, and Johnny is adamant that he doesn’t. They let the conversation die for now, but I assume it’s going to come up again at some point. We know they do get married and have Marah in the future, so obviously, something changes Johnny’s mind.

Later, Tully and Danny say their goodbyes. Danny suggests spending the night together again. Too bad Tully already has another date. Danny gave her the “speech” about not getting serious, remember? But when Tully gets in the guy’s car and drives off, Danny looks disappointed.

2000s

While putting laundry away in Marah’s room, Kate accidentally-on-purpose snoops through her instant messages (remember those?) and sees her talking about how she wants to kiss a girl named Ashley. Kate realizes that Marah might be gay.

Johnny and Sean end up coming into the room just as Kate reads the messages. All three are obviously accepting and open to the idea of Marah being part of the LGBTQ community, but they’re not sure whether they should bring it up to her or not. Johnny tells Kate not to say anything. They should let Marah come to them and create a safe space for her.

Kate jumps the gun and tries to be overly inclusive with Marah, talking about her crush on Angelina Jolie and jamming to the Indigo Girls. It’s the exact kind of lovable-but-awkward behavior we’ve come to expect from Kate and a perfectly hilarious mother-daughter scene. Kate doesn’t tell Marah what she read, but she is trying her best to let Marah know she can come out to her.

Tully is still trying to figure out the next phase of her career. Taking some advice from Justine and, surprisingly, Cloud, she decides to launch a website where she can blog to her fans about her life. Her first post clarifies why she left The Girlfriend Hour and signals to her followers that she’s ready to kick off a new chapter.

And speaking of awkward family dinners, the meal between Kate’s parents, Sean, Johnny, Kate, and Marah, is just as tense as the one in the 1980s. Margie makes a comment about Kate and Johnny getting back together, and Kate has to tell her that’s not happening right now. Then Sean ends up coming out as gay at the table once Margie starts pressing him about Julia.

The night ends with a series of confrontations. First, Johnny and Kate have an argument outside as Johnny thinks Kate is pushing Marah, and he doesn’t agree with how she’s handling it. He’s also been testy in general, having an episode in the shower after the sound of a dropping shampoo bottle triggered a flashback to Iraq. He keeps telling Kate to back off and leaves in a huff that night.

In the house, Margie tells Sean she could have told him, and she would have supported him. But Sean thinks Margie knew all along. She just didn’t want to admit it.

Before Marah can leave to go to a sleepover at Ashley’s (where there will be several other girls in attendance), Kate tells her she can always come to her with anything. Once Marah leaves, she and Sean talk about what happened, and Kate supports her brother. She suggests they go to a gay bar, and even though Sean doesn’t know where any of the Seattle gay bars are, Tully sure does!

Not only does the trio have a blast dancing, but Sean meets a handsome guy and gets his phone number. That same guy also happens to be a Tully fan and tells her that he saw her video. It looks like her website has already found an audience.

Elsewhere, Johnny goes to a grungey dive bar and picks a fight with another patron. He ends up getting his face beaten to a pulp. So, yeah, he’s definitely not doing well.