Episode Report Card Lady Lola: B | Grade It Now! YOU GRADE IT 'Rents
By Lady Lola | Season 1 | Episode 3 | Aired on 02.01.2010
In a hurry? Read the recaplet for a nutshell description! Finished? Click here to close.Just when it looks like the Bazile-Cassidy-No-Last-Name family is starting to meld together, Cate hears about gang violence at Lux's school and deigns to yank her out of there and transfer her to Cate's alma mater Westmonte. She does this, of course, without consulting anyone, least of all Lux herself. Lux takes umbrage at this because if she wanted to be treated like furniture, she could just go back to the foster system. She spends much of the episode sulking around with no small amount of encouragement from her be-neck-tatted boyfriend Bug to abscond with her savings (and anything else she can carry for pawning purposes).
Where her savings and the items for pawning do prove useful, however, is with Baze. He's having trouble making rent payments on his bar. The payments in question are owed to his phenomenally assy father. Things reach a breaking point after Cate announces her new Mom status on-air. Listeners on this Very Special Broadcast (in which Ryan takes it upon himself to announce the Baze-y Daddy) include Cate's sister and Pa Bazile's secretary. PB makes a unilateral decision that Baze is bringing over his new family for a tense and ill-fated dinner or else he's repo-ing the bar.
So the scene is set with Cate, Baze, and Lux already engaged in a power struggle. Now throw in Cate's boxed wino mom, her obliviously obnoxious shrink sister, Baze's silently judgy mother, and his aforementioned colossal prick of a dad. And what does that spell? Magic! Or the worst dinner party in the history of man, from insult A to insult Z. Some of the highlights: Baze and his dad have a Great Santini moment, Lux disowns the entire family, Cate calls her mom a drunk, and Lux rides off into the night on the back of Bug's hog.
In the end, Baze helps Cate realize that she should be looking through the eyes of Lux, so to speak. Instead of them forcing their disjointed lifestyles on Lux, they should try to find a way to fit into her life. And, in an unexpected twist, Lux doesn't ride on the back of Bug's bike all the way to Reno or Guadalajara or wherever the kids are going these days. She actually decides to stick it out, using her own money and some acquired from her new rich dupes… um, I mean friends from Westmonte to bail out Baze so his dad doesn't have to. She is rewarded when her worlds finally mingle. She brings Cate and Baze to Bug's enviably well-manicured rooftop, and the whole family (both new and old) has a good, old-fashioned weenie roast. And can't nobody be unhappy when there are hot weiners around. No sirree, Bob.
Want more? The full recap starts right below!Previously: Lux was a bastard child of two 16-year-olds named Cate and Baze. While Lux pinged around the foster system for 15 years and change, Cate and Baze spent that time mastering their own self-involvement, getting engaged to their coworkers (Cate), opening a bar (Baze), and perfecting their respective demeanors of uptight and overly relaxed. (Lux takes after Cate.) Lux re-entered the lovable cads' lives, bringing along with her a whole slew of issues and, oh boy, will there be plenty of time to sort out those issues. Lux has been returned to sender, courtesy of the Oregon state family court system.
Good morning, Portland! Lux and Baze have settled nicely into their getting-Lux-to-school routine as he hands her a coffee with two sugars, and she hands him a lightly toasted blueberry waffle. Meanwhile, Cate and Ryan remind their listeners that Cate has taken on the role of Mom. Baze and Lux are listening, which prompts Baze to wonder if people will start calling him Dad. Then he realizes that would take a lot more responsibility, sternness, and, apparently, hair. Back on the air, Cate thanks her listeners for being surprisingly supportive. Baze pulls up to school just as Lux's flame-headed friend Tasha is being harassed by some hoodlums. He offers to walk the girls up, but they say they can handle themselves. Then the bell rings, and yet more hoodlums make a run for it, followed by an armed guard. Baze looks on speechless as the girls make their way inside.
Meanwhile, Cate asks her audience, "It's parenting, how hard can it be? I mean, every dummy is doing it." Ryan takes a call, who lights into Cate for not revealing her dirty little 16-year-old secret sooner. Turns out, it's Cate's sister Abbie. She wonders if Cate's told their mom yet. Cate sidesteps that question, so Abbie turns to the paternity of the darling little bastard. It seems Cate led her to believe she got knocked up by the school mascot. Ryan spills that it was Baze, and Abbie is shocked to realize that Cate had sex with her high school crush. Abbie is a split-second away from going ballistic when Cate cuts to commercial. Ryan snarks that Abbie -- who may be even more high-strung than Cate if such a thing is possible -- is actually a therapist. He calls Cate out for hooking up with her sister's crush, but Cate points out that everyone had a crush on Baze. He was the quintessential popular quarterback, after all. Cate takes issue with her sister calling her on-air and taking her to task for being a selfish parent. She says she hasn't had a chance to prove herself since she's only had Lux a week. As she talks, Ryan gets an alert that Lux's high school has been locked down due to gang violence. Ryan covers for Cate as she runs out of the station.