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Cate is in the thick of wedding planning when she discovers a stack of old birthday cards from her dad in her mom's attic. She confronts her mother about misleading her for years by claiming her dad was totally out of the picture. Cate thinks it's only right to ask her dad to be part of her life and, more immediately, her wedding. Instead of picking up the phone like a normal person, she decides to invite Lux along and surprise her dad with a face-to-face visit. Since some friends from Bug's past have trashed Baze's bar, Lux thinks it's a perfect opportunity to get Baze out of town for a couple days while Bug cleans up (sand blasting is required, apparently). She trumps up some excuse that it'll be the last chance they'll ever get to go on a vacation together, as a family, before Cate is married. So despite Ryan's understandable concerns, the reality that Baze isn't financially in a position to shut down his bar for several days, and common frickin' sense, the gang heads off for a good, old-fashioned family road trip.
Somewhere amidst Cate's 35 million potty breaks -- not to mention a stopover to eat the world's largest corn dogs and Baze literally sniffing Cate in the car (something about her pheromones now that he realizes he has feelings for her) -- Baze manages to rear-end a chicken truck. Conveniencidentally, it's right outside of the town where Cate's dad lives, so the gang bunks down at a B&B while Baze's car gets fixed overnight. The day, they ambush Cate's long-lost padre and basically invite themselves to dinner at his house. While Cate and Lux are out buying groceries, Cate's father makes some comments that indicate he's not too keen on this whole "dad" situation. Nonetheless, Cate guilts the bejesus out of him by mentioning how prominent his absence has been in her life -- everything from being named high school valedictorian to having Lux, becoming a radio personality, even getting married. Then she asks him to come to the wedding. He's clearly uncomfortable at the suggestion, but how can he refuse?
As Cate toys with the idea of asking her father to walk her down the aisle, making Baze increasingly anxious to tell her about the bad dad vibes he got from Mr. Cassidy. He bites the bullet and comes out with it, causing her to hurl the stock insults she keeps on hand for him and tell him to leave. The morning, when Cate's dad doesn't show up to drive her and Lux back to Portland as he promised, Cate confronts him. He tells her that he never wanted to take on the family man role and was only doing it to save his marriage. Cate realizes once and for all that all her anger at Baze wasn't actually about Baze. Her abandonment issues stem way back, and no amount of time could have shielded her from the pain of realizing her father didn't want her. It's a long ride back to Portland, but Baze manages to lighten the mood with '80s power pop. Cate acknowledges and apologizes for treating Baze badly all these months. She also makes her way over to her mother's house, where they are finally able to understand where each other is coming from. Cate asks her mom to walk her down the aisle.
And as for Bug's big blunder? Baze decides to go easy on him because he himself wouldn't want to be judged based on the past. Baze takes another step toward responsible fatherhood, proving to everyone around him that he's changing and growing up, albeit in fits and starts. This inspires Lux to tell both her parents that she loves them and signs the adoption papers, making them her family for real. At least for the week or so until Baze tells Cate he loves her and throws everything into chaos once again. C'est la vie inattendue.
Want more? The full recap starts right below!Previously: Eleven episodes have come before, and they still feel the need to tell us that Lux is a bastard child? Yeah. Also? Cate and Ryan set the date for their on-again/off-again/on-again wedding -- and she's not even knocked up! -- even though Baze very well may have feelings for his prissy-pants baby mama.
It's an uncharacteristically sunny morning in Portland as Ryan and Cate discuss their wedding invitation, or for the sake of accuracy Evite. Ryan thinks it's tacky, Cate realizes they're not really working with enough time for class. Did I mention this is all happening live on air? God, the ratings must be soaring! Cate calls out Baze for not RSVPing yet before signing off. Cut to Baze, who's in the thick of a debate over whether he should attend the wedding. As if it's an option. He runs his quandary by Bug, bringing him up to speed on Abby's theory that Baze still has feelings for Cate. He doesn't want to believe it yet has a strange urge to sniff her (I wish I were making this up) every time she's around. Bug suggests Baze keep his distance.
That afternoon, Lux and Cate are in Cate's mom's attic looking for Cate's grandmother's brooch. Along the way they run into Cate's headgear and some Kirk Cameron memorabilia. Ah, those glorious days before Fireproof. How I miss Mike Seaver! Lux runs across a stack of birthday cards from someone named Grant. Cate snatches them and runs downstairs, screaming for her mother. TBC...
Back at the bar, Bug gets jumped by some three of his former friends when he is taking out the recycling. Let's just say they have a difference of opinion over who owes who money, and Bug gets the crap beaten out of him. Not for lack of swinging, though. Little Buggy's a feisty one. Guess you've gotta be to have a spider web tattooed on your neck. Baze breaks up the melee and tells Bug to keep his no-goodnik friends in the past.
Back at Cate's childhood abode, we discover that Grant is Cate's father. Ms. Cassidy insisted that he'd been out-of-touch for all these years, but she was lying. Cate's mom thinks she did what was best for Cate, not giving her false hope. Cate thinks her mom was thinking only of herself and retaliating for how much her husband hurt her. This one discovery unravels an intricate web of lies -- indeed one worthy of Bug's neck -- Cate's mom spun about Cate's dad. Says Ms. Cassidy, "You don't know him." Retorts Cate, "Thanks to you."
Later, Ryan and Lux try to get Cate on task with wedding planning, but she's fraught over the secrets she just learned. She realizes that she should make up for the past 26 years by reaching out to her father in Tahoe. She thinks he has a right to know she's getting married. Lux points to their bond and says it's never too late to form a relationship. Ryan suggests a phone call, but Cate's mind is set: She will see her dad in Tahoe before the wedding. Credits.
When we come back, Lux runs into the bar where Bug is standing among the wreckage caused by Bug's "friends." Baze is still asleep, and Bug is freaking out that Baze will make good on his threats that he'd fire Bug if his hoodlum friends came back. They rack their brains for a plan, finally settling on getting Baze to shut down the bar. Cue cross-cut scenes of Lux variously buttering up Baze to come on the trip with her and Cate, and guilting Cate about getting married to Ryan at the expense of Baze's paternal stake in Lux's life. She claims it'll be their first family road trip. They're just dumb enough to go for it.
A bit later, Baze packs up the truck while Ryan worries that this little adventure should have some adult supervision. Cate justifies it by saying the wedding is a perfect opportunity to reconnect with her father, and so the road trip will be for Lux and Baze. Meanwhile, Baze is showing Lux this week's egregious State Farm advertisement in the form of a Driving 101 PowerPoint on their website. Baze has even made a traveling mix chock full o' '80s power ballads. They did build a whole city on rock 'n' roll, after all. Ryan tells Cate to be careful and gives her a goodbye kiss, causing Baze to gawp obviously. Bug appears from thin air to pick Baze's jaw off the ground and say it's no sweat to look after the bar for a few days. I hope he cleans better than he fights.
And so the family that puts the "fun" in dysfunction hits the open road. Cate chats on her phone with the wedding planner while Baze gives Lux a tutorial on the evolution of Starship (formerly Jefferson Airplane, formerly Jefferson Starship). It's not long before Baze and his music get on Cate's nerves. She turns off "Nothing's Gonna Stop Us Now," and he retaliates by jerking the steering wheel so that she drops her phone at his feet. When she leans down to pick it up, he can't control himself and takes a less-than-covert sniff of her hair. She hears it, Lux sees it, and Baze is forced to overcompensate for being a total weirdo by claiming Cate smells like feet. Lux, surely feeling like a chaperon on a third grade field trip, tells them both to stifle. Ryan really should have come along, I'm thinking.
The road trip continues, with accompaniment courtesy of The Escape Club's "Wild Wild West." If I rate this so-far-lame episode higher than it deserves, you'll know why. Who can resist this? And Baze's dancing-from-the-shoulder-up? Pretty awesome. Not as awesome as the world's biggest corn dog, though. Cate objects, but Baze is a man who appreciates the finer things in life and, thus, insists they stop to sample the "local cuisine." They take many pictures, watched by the sourest corn dog server I've ever seen in my 27 years on earth. After filling their bellies full o' delicious, the road trip carries on, halted briefly by Cate's millionth bathroom break and Baze's prankster side winning out as he waits for her to grab the door handle before peeling out -- several times.
Once back on the road, Baze lectures Lux about not letting anything distract you while you're on the road. Considering they're behind a chicken truck and Baze has the attention span of a howler monkey, I know this is going nowhere good. Baze tells Cate to loosen up a little when she gets her panties in a twist about calling her florist. His comment prompts her to say that her wedding is important to her, even if it's not important to him, and ask why he hasn't RSVP'd. Even Lux is shocked by the slight. He claims he has a conflict, but when Cate presses him says something vague about the bar. Of course Baze chooses this time to try to pass the chicken truck all while looking away from the road and at Cate. I'll save you the suspense: They don't get plowed down by a charter bus, but it's pretty close. Baze tries to salvage his lesson, looking back to assure Lux that he is "completely aware of [his] surroundings." While he's looking back, the chicken truck suddenly breaks, and Baze rear-ends it, sending the chickens crashing onto his hood. One chicken awesomely, now freed from its cage, plants itself on and gives the three nitwits a deathly serious "Bitch, please" look. I heard that, chicken!
Later, Baze persists in playing the teacher by telling Lux how to handle accidents. It's just another excuse to shill for State Farm. ! The family assembles to get the news from the mechanic. It's not good. He tells them Baze's radiator is punctured and that he can't fix it until tomorrow. What's worse, all the hotel rooms are booked on account of the local toddler pageant that night. He points them to a bed and breakfast that might have one room left. Baze says they can't possibly all sleep in the same room. The mechanic, God bless him and his folksy common sense, points out that it's better than their only other alternative, the truck.
That night, the tripping trio has managed to secure a room -- with two beds, no less. But Lux is a kicker, so Cate decides to bunk with Baze. He offers to sleep on the floor, but she puts a couple pillows between them and calls it a day. She tells him that she actually had fun today (aside from the chicken debacle) and confesses that she wants so badly to reconcile with her own father in part because of the relationship Baze has formed with Lux. Baze, who has his back turned, is secretly touched by this admission. Then Cate admits that she sees Baze differently now. Baze freaks out and decides it's time to start fake snoring. Cate doesn't mind and gently places his blanket over his legs so he won't get cold.
The morning, Baze wakes up with a start to find that Cate has snuggled up to him. She wakes up shortly after and is likewise freaked. Baze decides that's enough weirdness for one road trip and offers to take the bus home while Cate and Lux visit Cate's dad. Lux knows that Baze's early arrival home will sink Bug, so she begins shrieking excuses about family and whatnot.
Later that morning, the gang arrives at Grant's house. Cate gets cold feet, but it's too late. Cate's dad tromps around from the back, instantly recognizing Cate. They head inside to catch up, where Cate starts from the beginning. Literally. "I quit piano... in third grade. And I had braces..." Baze urges her to move along, so she tells her dad about being high school valedictorian, having Lux, the family reunion, and now getting married. Lux and Baze mention Cate's celebrity status. Grant recalls she was always an overachiever, and he's obviously proud. Cate tells her dad that she just recently found the birthday cards her mother hid, saying it changes everything. She invites him to have dinner that night. He says he can do one better and invites them to eat at his house -- "that way I can get a chance to know your fiancé [Baze]." Cate and Lux quickly put that misconception to bed, and Baze promises to explain everything while the girls go shopping for dinner fixins.
Cate and Lux head off, leaving Baze to make awkward conversation. He tries to find some common ground, positioning himself as a father happy to have his daughter back in his life, but Grant makes some comments about how "two [children] is plenty" and "they're a lot of work when they're little," intimating that perhaps he wouldn't have been such a great dad if he had stuck around. They pour a drink, and Baze toasts to second chances.
Dinner. Lux compliments the dinner, and Cate jokes that she got her cooking skills (or lack thereof) from her mom. Grant says the way to a man's heart is through his stomach. Cate snarks, "No wonder you left." Overly eager laughter followed by awkward glances all around. Cate says she wishes her dad could meet Ryan, then takes the cue to invite him to the wedding. He isn't immediately keen on the idea. She ignores that red flag, starting up about how his absence has cast a shadow on all the important days of her life. She extends the offer once more. He wonders aloud, "What kind of a dad would I be if I said no to that?" Which is not really a yes, so much as a "Well, you just guilted the ever-living Hell out of me, so I guess so?"
After dinner, Lux finds Baze out on the porch. She says it might just be the two of them on the drive back to Portland because Cate's making plans to drive back with Grant. Baze reluctantly admits he gets a bad vibe from Grant. He says Grant doesn't want to be a father, adding that he used to be the same way. He thinks Cate has a right to know this, but Lux warns him that this is definitely a "shoot the messenger" type of situation.
Back at the B&B, Baze listens in as Cate chirp to Ryan about how well the reunion with her dad went. She says she's thinking of asking him to walk her down the aisle. After Cate hangs up, Baze says things are moving really quickly between Cate and her dad. He reiterates how Grant reminds him of himself, "you know, freaked out by the 'dad' thing." Cate asks what he's talking about, so he backs off, promising to stay out of it. Did you hear that, guys? It was Pandora's Box opening. Cate jumps on Baze for being passive-aggressive, asking him why Grant would agree to come back to Portland if he didn't want to be her father. He says maybe for the same reason he sent a card once a year -- to make himself feel like less of a bad guy. Cate accuses Baze of trying to mess things up. Baze claims he's trying to look out for Cate, to keep her from being disappointed. She shoots back that he doesn't need to worry about it because he usually steps into that role. He acknowledges that he screwed up in the past but says he's here now and that he would fight to get Lux back if it came to it. So, he asks, "What is your father's excuse for staying away?" Cate tells him to get out.
Outside, Lux is on the phone with Bug, who says he needs more time to get rid of some of the remaining graffiti. Just as he says this, Baze storms out with his duffle in hand. Lux hangs up and catches up to him. Baze says Lux was right and that he'll always be "the guy who left" in Cate's eyes. Lux begs him not to go. Baze promises to make it up to her. Figuring that Baze will find out anyway, Lux decides to spill the beans about Bug's "friends" trashing the bar. She explains what happened and apologizes for the whole "family road trip" ruse. Baze doesn't pass up the opportunity to embrace the bitter irony of it all, then piles into the truck, slams the door, and takes off.
The morning, Cate and Lux wait on the porch of the B&B for Grant. For hours. Eventually the innkeeper delivers a message to Cate that "something came up last minute," and Cate has to acknowledge that her father's not going to show. So she takes things into her own hands and calls a taxi to confront him. She finds him fishing in front of his house. He apologizes that he can't be what she wants him to be. She points to her reunion with Lux and says it's not a matter of being some idea of a parent. He is a parent. He had a baby. He can't run away from that.
Cate says she just wants her father in her life. His pained silence makes it clear that he's not up to the task. Ohhhhh, and then it all comes out. He only married Cate's mom because she was knocked up (runs in the family!), and they only had Abby to save the marriage. In the end, he just wanted to be an irresponsible bachelor, not a husband or father. He tells her he loves her but can't give her what she wants. Ever. Cate holds back the tears as the epiphany washes over her. All the displaced blame and anger she's been harboring toward Baze was actually for her dad all along. She says Baze wasn't the one who wrecked her. Grant was. She walks away, for good. She rounds the hedge to find Baze standing there with Lux. He admits he never left, just slept in his truck. She staggers toward him and crumples into his arms, crying 26 years worth of tears.
And so the family begins their road trip a little more distant from each other than when they begin. And isn't that always the way? Grace Slick sings about nothing stopping the proverbial "us," blissfully unaware of what irony would lie in her words 23 years in the future. Lux breaks the silence, suggesting they get it over with and talk about the bar, Bug, etc. Baze decides to put off cruel reality and starts a serenade of "Nothing's Gonna Stop Us Now" for catatonic Cate in the backseat. Lux joins in, tunelessly. Eventually Cate wakes from her self-pitying stupor and gets in the spirit, fully swaying and belting out the song.
They arrive back at Cate's, all outfitted in their corn dog hoodies. Lux makes an excuse to go back to the car, and Cate takes the opportunity to apologize for redirecting her decades-old anger at her dad at Baze. She appreciates that he tried to be honest with her and affirms that she always wants him to tell her the truth -- even if she doesn't want to hear it. Baze grimaces slightly at the truth he's holding inside that she definitely doesn't want to hear. They share a moment, then Ryan comes out to greet Cate with a kiss. Lux decides she should go back to the loft with Baze to supervise his talk with Bug.
A bit later, Cate has headed over to her mom's house for a visit. She admits how she used to make up a million outlandish excuses as to why her dad wasn't in the picture, including blaming her mother. Ms. Cassidy admits she didn't want Cate and Abby to know that Grant wasn't just leaving her -- he was leaving them. Cate asks if she was ever going to tell them the truth. Ms. Cassidy said she always planned to "when you got older," then she realized no age is protection enough from that kind of hurt. Cate admits she was going to ask her dad to walk her down the aisle. Now she realizes it should be someone who cares for her and is in her life now. Ms. Cassidy jokes that Kirk Cameron probably won't be available on such short notice. Cate gets serious and asks her mother to walk her down the aisle.
Over at the bar, Lux says they've made progress on the graffiti, which now only says "ass" instead of "asswipe." Frankly, I expected more obscenity from Bug's friends. I'm disappointed. Bug approaches Baze to apologize again for creating problems for him. Baze looks up at him, then back down at his papers before issuing an impassive, "See you tomorrow." Bug can't believe he's not getting fired. Baze says he wouldn't like to be punished for who he was in the past, and he won't judge Bug that way, either. Bug ambles over to Lux and says he owes her. She agrees, "Big time."
As Bug heads back downstairs for another round of clean-up, Lux assures Baze that he has changed and that, among the many fathers she's come across, he's one of the good ones. She asks how long he's had feelings for Cate. He laughs a little, says he thought it would go away with time. Now he's not sure if he wants them to go away because he enjoyed feeling like a family. Lux says she did, too. She tells Baze she's ready. They head over to Cate's, where Lux continues that she's ready to sign the adoption papers. She says she realized on the trip that she loves them. They hug and sign the papers, a family at last.
week: Season finale! Will Ryan finally be rewarded for being the most understanding man on the planet? Or is it more of a reward to be free of Cate and Baze when they get what they actually deserve -- each other? Get out your muscle relaxers and your little black veil. There's a weddin' afoot!