By Lady Lola
In a hurry? Read the recaplet for a nutshell description! Finished? Click here to close.Everyone weighs his or her options this week. For Cate, it's deciding whether to be likable or honest. It all starts when an Ice Queen from corporate comes to break the news that Cate's newly complex life is not going over well with listeners. She even brings along a handy dandy pie chart to track Cate's winsomeness. Yeah, it's a small pie chart. She decides to bring Baze onto the show for a morning to clear up any confusion about Cate's past, as well as to add some spice to the dull-as-dishwater rapport between Cate and Ryan of late. This is problematic on several levels. First off, Ryan is getting sick of Baze, who has shoehorned himself into their lives, even making unannounced overnight visits. Second, Cate is scrambling to make sure Ryan doesn't know about her and Baze's one-night stand. And finally, Baze has been goaded into seeking out new booty calls since Cate's the only girl he's been with since finding out about Lux. And who does the booty in question belong to? Yeah, that'd be Cate's boss. When you add that all up, it comes to one giant clusterfuck of a radio show. Lucky for Cate, it boosts ratings and keeps her job safe. On the flipside, a curious listener asks brings up the possibility of Cate and Baze hooking up past high school, and the awkward silence that ensues tips Ryan off that everything isn't exactly kosher. Cate resolves to tell him the truth but chickens out when it comes down to it, stopping short of admitting that she and Baze had sex in order to preserve her relationship. Putting a little icing on this shit pie, Cate sets the date for a wedding that is clearly in jeopardy of occurring at all should certain dirty laundry be aired. And it totally will.
Meanwhile, Bug must choose between his bike and his bitch. After his little joy ride with Jones's car last week, he's facing two years in prison. Lux tries to convince him to take a plea deal for six months, but he asks her to sweet talk Jones into dropping the charges. Jones agrees on the condition that he can have Bug's motorcycle, a.k.a. the only thing in the world that matters to him (save maybe Lux… maybe). Lux convinces Bug to hand over the bike for their relationship's sake. Eventually, she even manages to convince Jones to give it back to Bug after she shows Jones the house of horrors where Bug grew up. This new closeness is fraught, though, as Jones tries to kiss Lux (she pulls away), and Bug sees them riding the motorcycle together and assumes the worst. Long story short, Jones gets his clock cleaned, Bug gets his bike back, and Lux gets treated like garbage for mopping up everyone's mess. Bug tells her no one will ever love her because she's damaged goods. Cate gives Lux the piece of advice she really should have taken herself. She suggests Lux be honest with Bug about the non-kiss and demand to be treated better. Unlike her hypocrite of a mother, Lux actually takes the advice. It blows up in her face epically, and Bug skips town. Now Lux is left without the one thing in the world that mattered to her. You see, kids. So, to recap. Kate's a lying ho who gets to go to cake tastings. Lux stays true to herself and gets abandoned… again.
Want more? The full recap starts right below!Previously: All the usual stuff, plus Bug got arrested for kinda-not really stealing a car.
Another dreary day in Portland. I think you can tell it's morning because it's even darker than usual. Cate and Ryan wake up with a morning-breath smooch at 4:45 a.m. She excuses herself to brush her teeth so they can have proper, non-stinky morning sex. Except when she walks into the bathroom, Baze is in there with pants dropped. Apparently he's been making a habit of staying overnight catching Lux up on the culture of the decade of her inception. Some time later, they head downstairs to make breakfast. Ryan is still (jealously) bitching about Baze's omnipresence as Lux explains why she's up so early -- she's heading to Bug's arraignment. Cate doesn't want her missing school, but Baze already said she could go. Lux senses the tension between Ryan and Cate, so she heads upstairs. Ryan takes the opportunity to say he'd like to see less of Baze around. Cate says she couldn't agree more.
Meanwhile, Baze returns to his apartment to find The Other One, who is bitching about how parenthood has killed Baze's game. He's gone from the short, white Wilt Chamberlain to Math apparently. And doesn't have any more meaningless sex, which is a sin against God, the great one who gave him a penis. Baze makes him promise not to tell Math before fessing up about his one-nighter with Cate after they found out about Lux. TOO thinks this was a horrible mistake. Not only has he been there, done that, it's also a minefield logistically-speaking if this news comes out. TOO thinks Baze has a thing for Cate, but Baze denies it. TOO challenges him to prove it by sleeping with someone else. Baze accepts the challenge.
Across town, speaking of minefields! Cate and Ryan take calls from listeners. The first caller sounds like an older lady, and she just can't get the sequence of Lux's conception into her thick skull, so Ryan takes another call to avoid talking about Baze. The caller flirts with Ryan, insults Cate, and asks when the wedding is in about two seconds. Apropos of this last query, Cate goes into one of her tirades about how society pigeonholes women into boxes with its dates and deadlines... or something. Ryan shuts her up, thankfully, as the listener has hung up (or possibly died of boredom while still holding the phone).