Firefly Lane Season 1 Episode 1 gets off to a twisting start. The opening chapter begins with Tully walking on to the stage — she’s a TV host for The Girlfriend Hour. Noticeably, before she walks on stage, she appears to be experiencing traumatic memories of her past. The series then flashes back to June 29th, 1970. Tully’s mother Dorothy visits her at the grandmother’s house — she asks young Tully if she wants to live with her again. The grandmother is anxious and worried that she’s leaving with her. Episode 1 hints at a dreadful mother/daughter relationship.
Firefly Lane Season 1 Episode 1 Recap
Tully’s mother showed up again in her teens
And the terrible parenting comes to light very quickly. Young Tully and her mother visit a protest, but Tully quickly loses her in the crowd, so she sobs and lays on a bench. She ends up back at her grandmother’s house. The same thing happened when Tully turns into a teenager — her mother turns up and tells her she’s living with her again.
The opening chapter then moves to teen Kate, who notices someone moving in across the road — teen Tully and her mother. The series quickly connects these two characters and their opposing worlds.
To the present day — Tully and Kate are friends
Back to the present day, Tully is back on her show. Afterward, she rings Kate; she’s worried about ratings and demographics; she wants to go for drinks, but Kate is readying for a job interview at a paper. Afterward, Kate gets called into the school due to her daughter’s (Marah) behavior.
Marah tells the principal that her mother is going through a divorce. The series is honing in very quickly that there are plenty of stories to fill from the 70s until the present day.
Kate’s job interview where she met Johnny
Kate rushes to her job interview, while her daughter waits in a car. A flashback shows Tully arranging an interview for Kate at her workplace in the 80s. This is where she was introduced to the boss Johnny, and Kate was instantly attracted to the man. He was unaware that Tully was arranging an interview with him, and he’s fuming. But he gives in and gives Kate a job anyway.
The awkward, present-day interview
Kate attends the interview in the present day, and the difference in confidence and attitude is evident — the present-day Katie lacks confidence; she seems beaten before she even walks into the room. The interviewer, Kimber, is worried she hasn’t worked since the 80s; the editor doesn’t feel it’s the right fit.
Kate offers to get the editor an interview with Tully as a bargaining chip. Later in the evening, Tully and Kate catch up with drinks and discuss the new job. Kate gets emotional about Marah and believes it’s her fault for it as she split the family apart. Tully assures Kate that she’s the best mother and that she can “meet many new penises” after being with the same one for 15 years.
Marah has lunch with her godmother
With no surprises whatsoever, Tully is the godmother of Marah, so she takes her out for lunch. She acts as a role model. They end up talking about sex, and Marah says she hasn’t done it yet. Fans break up their discussion. Marah notes that Tully is famous, and calls her mother a b*tch. Tully gets emotional, stating that Kate is not a b*tch and that she’s been her best friend for years. We get a sense of how much Tully loves Kate here; this isn’t some friend — it’s a sisterhood.
The first time Kate and Tully left, and it wasn’t all that great
A flashback shows teen Kate getting bullied on the school bus, while teen Tully is at the back of the bus — she’s super popular. Later on, Kate delivers casserole to Tully’s house. Tully brings her in, and Kate is surprised she can smoke. This is clearly not when they started to become friends as Kate ends up heading home very quickly, but Tully was curious about her.
Tully doesn’t do second dates
In the present day, Tully goes to a bar and pulls a man named Max. They immediately go to her place and have sex. Afterwards, he tells her he used to watch her on the news as a kid. Max then tells her he got divorced last year and he doesn’t do one night stands a lot — he tells her she’s the fourth person he’s slept with, and Tully is surprised.
Max is trying to get a second date, but she tells him she doesn’t do that but does like Krispy Kremes after a long night. So we’ve established so far that Tully is still the wild one, and there’s a hint she doesn’t like commitment, while Kate longs for security, yet her life has fallen apart recently. Episode 1 provides a match made in heaven.
Covering for Tully
In another flashback, teen Kate covers for teen Tully who steals cigarettes in a shop. On the way walking back home, Tully ends up speaking to a boy named Pat. He invites her to a party. But this is where Kate and Tully start becoming friends. The sensible one befriending the naughty one — a recipe for disaster, or a recipe for years of friendship.
Friends over premiere
In the present day, Tully decides to hang with Kate rather than attend a premiere that George Clooney was going to be at. Kate tells Tully that she’s a failure. Tully tells her she’s braver than her and that she will get through this divorce. You can tell Tully means what she says; despite her success, it’s like she admires her friend who has a completely different, non-famous life.
Tully and Kate go out for work drinks in a flashback, and they end up talking about Johnny. Tully teases Kate about him. Kate says she admires him as a mentor, but she doesn’t have a crush. Tully keeps encouraging her to act on her crush, reiterating that Kate likes him.
In the present day, Kate and Tully attend a fundraiser at a highschool. Travis introduces himself to both women — Kate has an interest in this man. Both present and past merge; Tully appears to be enticing the man Kate is interested in, and she watches on in both timelines. In both timelines, Kate heads home and leaves Tully at the party. Their friendship is not as perfect as it originally seemed.
Firefly Lane Season 1 Episode 1 Ending Explained
In the present day, Kate returns home and watches her daughter sleep, while Tully heads back to her swanky apartment — she smiles as she sees the Krispy Kreme doughnuts; Max has delivered her some and left a note. As for Kate, she’s shocked to see paperwork in her house that says “consent for treatment of a minor receiving family planning services”. It’s signed by Tully.
Johnny heads over to Tully’s apartment, but she tells him to see his daughter and his wife, Kate. Johnny says he made a mistake over everything — he wants to stay with her for the night. And that ends “Hello Yellow Brick Road”.
Firefly Lane Season 1 Episode 2 Recap
Firefly Lane Season 1 (Credit – Netflix)
Episode 2 starts with teen Tully attending a campfire party with Pat. He tells her that every single guy wants her at this party. In the present day, Tully tells Johnny that she’s angry at him for hurting her best friend, Kate. Johnny expresses they were unhappy. He then reveals he’s going to be a war correspondent again and Tully is annoyed at him, again.
Johnny reminds her of the time when she told him that they were incapable of leading regular lives. Tully laughs at him that he’s holding on to a quote from the 80s that still impacts him. Johnny then deepens the conversation, and asks what would have happened if they made “different choices”.
There’s a brief silence, and Tully tells him where his guest room is. What we can establish from this scene is that Johnny has unanswered feelings for Tully.
Kate is not happy about the consent forms signed by Tully so her daughter can use the pill
“Oh! Sweet Something” soon tackles the issue between both friends. The next day, Tully brings brunch for Marah and Kate. Marah is fretting that her mother knows about the birth control pill, and the consent form — Tully signed it. Kate is annoyed with Tully about the form.
Tully then brings up Johnny and that she should try to catch up with him. Kate then explodes about the consent form and tells Tully that she crossed the line. Tully expresses that she was trying to help and storms out. It’s clear that Tully was trying to help, but in doing so, she undermined the parent — their friendship crossed boundaries.
An awful, traumatic moment for Tully
In a flashback, teen Tully and Pat get drunk and kiss. They decide to go somewhere more private to hook up in the forest. Tully is too drunk and tells Pat to stop as she wants to slow down. Pat tells her not to be “a tease” and rapes her. She zones out and remembers losing her mother during a protest.
Afterward, Pat asks if she would like more beer, and is audaciously unaware of what he’s just done. Tully rolls over on the forest floor and throws up as Pat leaves her there. What a horrific, evil experience.
On the way home, Tully sees Kate’s horse and has a late-night conversation with Kate. Tully cries so Kate hugs her; Tully tells Kate about Pat at the party. Kate is furious and wants to tell someone about it. Tully wants it to be their secret. “Oh! Sweet Something” shows how their bond started from a deep, traumatic secret. It’s easy to see how they became best friends.
Kate starts a new job
In the present day, Kate starts her new job. Kimber wants Tully as soon as possible for an interview; Kate promises her that she will arrange it soon. Kimber asks Kate to read out her latest email, and when she does, it’s comically her boyfriend breaking up with her.
Kimber explodes and says that “love is dead”, and that’s she’s going to be 30 soon, which is oddly ironic, as Kate is older than her. Kate is essentially her assistant.
Meanwhile, at work, Tully wants some shots removed where she’s showing emotion in an interview. Johnny tells her that the shots are fine, and they end up arguing. Tully keeps leaving Kate voicemails asking her to call her back after their argument. She cannot cope without her best friend.
Sean, the brother, returns from the Navy
Episode 2 we are introduced to a new character that sparks a party and a wild Tully.
In a flashback, Kate’s brother Sean returns from overseas and visits Tully and Kate at work — he’s back off-duty from the Navy. Tully and Kate are excited that he has returned. The office turns into a little party with alcohol and cocaine. Tully tells Sean that she wants to “jump his bones”, but he tells her that he’s taken.
Meanwhile, Kate gives Johnny an article she’s been working on. Johnny offers to pitch it for her. The conversation changes and Johnny wonders when Tully turned so sad. Kate confirms that Tully is the saddest woman she knows. Firefly Lane brings up that notion of the happy-looking friend, who buries their darkness.
In another flashback, we see teen Tully having to deal with her mother and her boyfriend. The boyfriend gets close to her space, so she hits him with a spatula while frying eggy bread. Memories flushed back of what happened to her at the camp party with Pat. This is a broken childhood, and the series is trying to exemplify how it has formed her adult life.
Tully arranges a “second date” with Max
In the present day, Tully meets Max at a bar. He calls it a date, but she tells him it isn’t that. Max reminds Tully that she’s more than famous, she’s noteworthy. He asks about her parents. Tully explains that her mother is dead, and she never knew her father. She also states her mother was terrible.
Max raises how maybe the adversity has made her stronger. He gets super nervous around her, and Tully asks if he wants sex in the bathroom. She gives him her knickers and tells him to “knock twice”. It’s difficult to gauge whether she genuinely likes Max at this stage of this series, or if it’s purely just sex to distract herself.
Sean thinks Johnny is into Tully
In another flashback, Tully smashes through a glass table at the office party. Johnny carries Tully away, while Kate cleans up. Sean tells Kate that Johnny is into Tully and that it’s obvious — Kate’s facial expression to this says everything.
Sean then reveals he has found someone, but he doesn’t want to talk about it and looks upset. But it feels flagrantly apparent why — the dialogue is too “on-the-nose” here as Kate keeps on saying “I can’t wait to meet HER // you deserve a good WOMAN”. Sean is gay.
While Johnny tends to Tully’s knee, she tells him that people like them cannot lead regular lives — this is what Johnny was quoting at the start of the episode. As they are about to kiss, they are interrupted by a colleague.
Johnny tells Kate that he got the job
In the present day, Johnny and Kate finally speak. Kate states it felt good to be back in the world again. He then brings up Tully and wonders if they’ve fallen out — he tells her to call her. Kate reveals that Tully gave their daughter birth control pills, and Johnny is fuming.
Johnny then reveals he has a new job and brings up the possibility of having a “good divorce”. It’s evident that Kate is devastated, but she tries to keep it together. It’s one of those failed marriages where there are no hard feelings.
Firefly Lane Season 1 Episode 2 Ending Explained
“Oh! Sweet Something” ends by highlighting how much Tully relies on her friend Kate.
In a flashback, teen Tully asks Kate to come outside at midnight to ride bikes. In the present, Tully goes to Kate’s house and tells her she cannot go a whole day without speaking to her — she calls her a soulmate. Tully apologies about Marah and the birth control pills. Kate explains how she is slowly losing her daughter, just like her husband, but Tully reassures her, and they finally make up.
The episode then flits to two years later, and Marah offers to drive her mother. Marah is wearing the earrings that Tully got her. They both express how they miss Tully. Kate and Marah are wearing black, hinting that they are going to a funeral.
Episode 2 peels away at Tully’s character to encourage the audience to understand her underlying sadness. The strength of Tully’s friendship with Kate feels more apparent in the second chapter — even though they have unspoken issues, they are friends for life.
What did you think of Firefly Lane Season 1 Episodes 1 and 2? Comment below.
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