Episode 4

This episode spends a bunch of time checking in on Rob and Sharon’s fucked up friends, but it also, more crucially, reveals some of what we missed in the time jump in between seasons.

You see, it’s Rob and Sharon’s third anniversary, which isn’t exactly a happy time for them. Remember, after Rob and Sharon got married they had a huge fight and she went into labor, giving birth to Frankie prematurely.

So this year, Rob tries to do something different to celebrate, surprising Sharon by taking her to a cheese-making class. Yeah, that’s not really Sharon’s cup of tea, and the two end up at a restaurant. There, they discuss 69ing and growing old. The usual dinner table conversation.

But things still manage to get intense. Rob remarks on how they don’t typically have fun on their anniversary. Sharon has a solution to this yearly malaise: They should change the date. “It’s not that our wedding wasn’t wonderful, it’s just too hard to celebrate when it’s also the date you watched your baby be born and then nearly die,” she says. She explains how her experience with Frankie really messed her up, and contributed to the fear she experienced after having Muireann. But Rob hits back: It was also a terrible time for him.

“You didn’t even let me hold Frankie until he was three weeks old,” he says. “I went from being a single asshole in Boston to a married-to-a-stranger asshole in London with a premature baby in a little see through coffin thing hooked up to what? 80 tubes.” They both break down, only to start laughing when they realize an old couple they had been talking about earlier are now staring at them.

Finally, we get some insight into the tension between Rob and Sharon. The circumstances surrounding Frankie’s birth were traumatizing for both of them. The rush to have another child may have been a coping mechanism.

So they decide to make their anniversary the day they first met. Back home, they are having sex when the baby starts to cry. Sharon wants to go check on her. Rob says that ignoring her is part of her sleep training. He even puts his hands over her ears while he comes. She admonishes him, but then does the same when he starts to go down on her. They are attempting to not let their children define their relationship.

Now, let’s check in with their friends:

Dave: Newly sober, Dave goes to a gathering with his also sober girlfriend and her sober friends, who regale him with stories of their seriously fucked up times. Dave thinks their self serious tales of debauchery are bullshit, but he’s the one getting dumped tonight. His girlfriend catches him in a lie about how long he’s been sober. She breaks things off, and he goes home and snorts coke while attempting to call Rob for help.

Fran: Fran goes on a date with her new boyfriend, who tries to propose marriage, which she promptly shuts down.

Chris: And then there’s Chris, who acts on his sexual curiosity by booking a transgender prostitute for sex. This storyline is a disappointing one for the show. In an age when we’re finally getting complex representations of trans people on TV, this is a step backward. This plotline relies on the outdated stereotype of the trans prostitute, and then reduces that character to a punchline. Chris’ main character trait is “being weird,” and his interest in trans women is frustratingly used as another example of his "weirdness," rather than a sensitive exploration of his own sexuality. After he has sex with the prostitute, he goes back home and calls Fran, attempting to reconnect. I thought you were better than that, Catastrophe.