Friends from College season 2 premiere recap: The Engagement Party

Last season of Friends from College saw many strains on the friendships of the six main characters, including Ethan finding out that Lisa was cheating on him with Nick. Lisa says that they should take a break.

Season 2 of Friends from College opens with Max and Felix in a dance studio practicing a dance for their wedding. It’s a dance that Felix clearly thinks is going to be too over the top for their wedding. Max is getting frustrated with Felix’s inability to get the dance right, but really Max is just anxious about their engagement party.

It’s going to be the first time that Ethan, Sam (who had been having an affair with Ethan), Lisa, Nick, and Marianne will be in the same place since the disastrous party that ended last season of Friends from College. Apparently, most of them aren’t speaking to each other.

Felix reassures Max by telling him that those five are still his best friends and he’s sure they’ll be on their best behavior at the party.

Later, Ethan meets with Max in Max’s office to talk with a marketing team about his new centaur novel, “Equestriana.” Max is not enthused about that title. The marketing team fawns over the book, but also suggests a name change for the novel to “Boy Horse.” (Yikes.)

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Ethan points out some obvious flaws: The title sounds like Boy Whores, plus the cover art has a young boy’s head on a grown man’s body (ripped muscles and treasure trail included). The marketing team acknowledges but mostly brushes off his concerns.

After the meeting, Max tells Ethan to let the team do what they do, figure out how to best sell the book.

They transition into a conversation about the engagement party and Lisa. Max hasn’t heard whether or not she’s coming and Ethan hasn’t heard from her at all. He’s not even sure if they’re still married.

Here there’s also a brief glimpse of Ethan’s Lisa-less life: A mediocre apartment with a strange roommate who is, for some reason, cooking with his shirt off.

The episode shifts over to a conversation between Sam and her husband Jon. Their marriage is clearly not doing well and Jon seems to be losing it a bit. They’ve been in counseling for their marriage.

Sam suggests he doesn’t have to go to the party if he doesn’t want to, but Jon shoots back that there’s no way he’s letting her go alone.

On a train to the engagement party, Ethan, Nick, Sam, and Jon are all in the same car. Spotting each other, they all work to stay away from each other and any awkward encounters. Just as they’re settling into seats and trying not to make eye contact with each other, Marianne also walks in and shouts about how funny it is that they all ended up on the same train.

Marianne, clearly not feeling—or at least not caring about—the tension in the room forces them all to sit together.

They start chatting, awkward at first, but they sort of get back into some of their groove joking around with each other. Ethan tells them about his new book, and its questionable working title.

The tension quickly returns on Friends from College when Marianne asks if Ethan has talked to Lisa. No one has heard from her.

Due to the random chance that had them all end up on the same train, they all arrive to Max’s engagement party together which makes Max ecstatic.

Across the room, Ethan spots Merrill Morgan who Max is representing and who also hooked up with Nick in the past. Merrill is writing a tell-all book. Everyone jokes that they’re not quite sure what about her life deserves a tell-all novel.

Merrill comes over to the group and immediately reconnects with Nick. She then introduces herself to Ethan and Sam who both point out that Merrill went to school with them.

As the party progresses, Lisa finally arrives with a new man in tow. She greets the group with so much pep and energy that it takes everyone off guard. She introduces them to Charlie who is a lawyer who used to work on the same floor as Lisa.

Max pulls Ethan aside and says that he has a feeling things are going to explode. Ethan assures him everything will be fine.

Marianne then comes up to Lisa and Charlie and tells Lisa that she’s missed her. Lisa calls Marianne out for keeping secrets from her. Marianne tries to explain that she was stuck between two friends who she loved and she didn’t know what to do.

Lisa shoots down Marianne’s attempt to reconnect and apologize and Marianne walks away dejected.

Ethan then comes up and asks to speak with Lisa alone, but Charlie won’t leave (because Lisa asked—no, demanded—that he stay). In an extremely frustrating conversation, Ethan tries to explain that he wants to talk to her about splitting up their things and finances and finalizing a divorce (if that’s the route they wind up agreeing on).

But Lisa, despite Ethan’s laundry list of attempts to contact her prior to this moment, acts as if he’s being a jerk for bringing all of this up during the engagement party. (Which, is fair, but c’mon.)

As the party winds down on Friends from College, Max and Felix give brief speeches followed by Max’s mom who jokes that Max begged Felix to get back together after they broke up. Jon, who is still not handling things well, blurts out that he hopes they don’t cheat on each other.

Sam, mortified and embarrassed, walks away. She gets her coat and prepares to leave, but she has no cell phone service. As she wanders trying to find service, Marianne shouts after her, but there’s no response.

Sam has started just walking down the road alone.

Marianne grabs Ethan and Nick to help her find Sam. They split up to search, with Ethan going off alone. Ethan winds up coming across Sam who is frozen, trying not to agitate a skunk that has come across her path.

Ethan sees the skunk and freaks out trying to warn her (though, she obviously new about the skunk) and the skunk sprays her.

As he apologizes about the skunk, Ethan also apologizes for telling Lisa about their affair. Lisa had been driving herself crazy and he need to be honest. Though frustrated, Sam admits that it was for the best since it forced her to tell her husband as well.

They both struggle with the smell of the skunk and joke about how it’s good to finally see each other again. Nick and Marianne rush in and Nick immediately throws up (because, comedy?). There’s then a solid 30 seconds or so of them all just gagging.

Back at the party, Nick runs into Lisa as he gets clean clothes for Sam to change into. They start talking and it’s the first time that Lisa seems to be having an actual, genuine conversation with someone that night.

Nick makes fun of how random Lisa’s new boyfriend is and Lisa shoots back with quips about how Nick and Merrill are so WASP-y that their ancestors probably came over on the Mayflower together.

Marianne tries to sneak past them, but Lisa stops her. Lisa says it’s safe and seems sorry about how she acted earlier in the day. There’s a glimpse that shows that maybe they can all still be friends one day.

As the party (and this episode of Friends from College) winds down, Max and Felix say goodbye to everyone and let out a sign of relief because everything didn’t fall apart.

Next. Friends from College season 2, episode 2 recap. dark

On the train ride back, Jon and Sam talk about how things aren’t getting better and how Jon’s taking out his frustration on people outside of their relationship (like Max and Felix). Jon admits that he probably should have skipped the party.

The episode ends with Jon saying that he wants a divorce and Lisa silently walking away.

What did you think of the season 2 premiere of Friends from College? What’s the deal with Charlie and Lisa? Let us know your thoughts in the comments.

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