Firefly Lane – Season 2 Episode 4 “Papa Don’t Preach” Recap & Review

Papa Don’t Preach

2004

Episode 4 of Firefly Lane season 2 starts with Johnny having a nightmare about Iraq.  He wakes up startled and Kate reminds him not to miss Marah’s game. She tells him that she has not been seeing much of him lately and is worried. He brushes her off and asks her to leave him alone.

Later, he drives Marah to her game and loses his temper while watching. Kate talks to him about it after he has calmed down and suggests he gets his own place. He chooses to tell Marah himself and takes her to the market. Whilst there, he loses track of Marah and that scares him. Eventually, he finds her buying some earrings and he hugs her, apologizing for letting her down.

After returning home from the market, Johnny tells Kate that she is right and that he will go to therapy and move out. He doesn’t want to let his daughter down again.

Elsewhere, Tully’s videos on the internet are becoming a great hit and she gets a call from her former boss asking for a meeting. During the meeting, he offers to drop the suit against her and give her full creative control of the show. Tully turns him down and threatens him with his past indiscretion to drop the suit.

She decides that she wants to do something different and after running into her mom’s Green Card husband naked in her kitchen, she gets an idea. She tells Cloud that she wants to do a documentary on finding her father. Cloud instantly disagrees and tells her she can’t go down that road. Cloud refuses to explain why and tells her that she is leaving the apartment. Tully gets mad and lashes out at her for always leaving.

We finally get to see who was in this mysterious accident and it turns out to be Tully.

1990

Back in the 90’s, Tully worked at a TV station hosting a morning show in New York while Johnny and Kate were in a blissful stage of their marriage. She is preparing to visit Tully New York and get away from the house a bit.

While at work, Tully runs into Benedict Binswanger who was at her show, but he specifically asks for another journalist to do the interview. He pretends he doesn’t remember her and their conversation is cut short as he has to leave for another meeting.

As Kate visits New York, she and Tully have a great time enjoying each other’s company and spilling their worries. Kate thinks she is pregnant and is excited to have another child but sadly it turns out to be a false alarm.

They run into Benedict Binswanger at a restaurant and Tully goes over to taunt him for choosing another journalist to do an interview but he rips into her. He pretty much details her poor upbringing and calls her a sloppy journalist. Tully doesn’t even get to clap back before he saunters away leaving her pissed.

1970

With Tully and Kate friends again, they start spending time together and Kate vouches for Tully to join the AV club. She also asks to move in with Kate as Cloud has brought home another guy friend who is religious and she doesn’t want to be around them. Kate agrees and they hatch a plan to kick Sean out of his room so Tully can have it. Luckily, the man doesn’t stay for long. Cloud kicks him out after he tried to punish her for getting drunk at a party.

In school, Tully is not a fan of Lisa, the AV club president and Kate’s other friend. She thinks Lisa is bossy but Kate defends her. Kate also happens to have a crush on Eugene.

She gets a chance to get close to him when hosting the club’s film festival at her house. They get close to kissing but Kate’s dad interrupts them. The dad is not pleased that they got drunk and tried to make out. He realizes that Kate is no longer his innocent Katie bear and it breaks his heart.

The Episode Review

It is interesting to see how the dynamics of their friendship stayed the same throughout the years even when they were apart from each other. They have always been there for one another, this is why it is intriguing to see why an accident changed it all.

I am glad, Johnny has decided to get help and deal with his PTSD. It is also a good thing he is moving out. Maybe Kate will be able to move on if she doesn’t see him 24/7.

I wonder why Cloud refuses to help Tully find her dad, what is she scared of? If Benedict Binswanger has anything to do with this secret, maybe her fears are valid. Also, will Tully stop after seeing how the topic rattles her mom?