Firefly Lane Season 1, Episode 5 recap: Kimber tracks down [SPOILER]

In Firefly Lane Season 1, Episode 5, “Sweet Child of Mine,” Kate gives birth to Marah in the past and Tully starts to feel like she doesn’t fit into her life anymore. In the present, Kimber tries to get a real scoop on Tully’s past life and Axl the dog gets put down.

Caution: There are spoilers from Firefly Lane Season 1, Episode 5 below.

Things for teenage Tully and Kate aren’t any better since Kate discovered her best friend had been lying to her about her mother all along. At home, Kate is also struggling to deal with the possibility of her mother having an affair.

Kate and Tully have a friend break-up, even going so far as returning all of their gifts and items to each other. But then Kate’s mom and Cloud drop a few hints to bring the girls back together and Kate’s mom even willingly bails on a John Denver concert so Kate can go reconcile with Tully.

Firefly Lane Season 1, Episode 5 recap: Kate gives birth to Marah in the past.

In the ’80s, Kate is very pregnant with Marah and that leads to increased insecurity in Tully who isn’t sure how she fits into Johnny, Kate and Marah’s little family. Yes, Tully is the godmother but she goes above and beyond to fit herself into their lives at all hours of the day, much to Johnny’s annoyance. Tully calls constantly, randomly shows up at their house and becomes Kate’s breathing coach on top of everything else. She smothers the couple, afraid that when the baby comes, there will be no more room for her in Kate’s life.

Kate goes into labor while she and Tully are at a bar. Tully is too drunk to drive so Kate has to drive to the hospital while having contractions. She makes it there in time and gives birth to baby Marah. Tully is there for moral support, but once Marah is born she’s shoved out of the picture by the many nurses milling around the couple, busy cooing over their baby.

After all is said and done, Johnny, basking in the glow of becoming a father, apologizes to Tully for being so short with her over the baby and her constant intrusions. Yet he also mentions how happy he is to have his little family unit, which pointedly doesn’t include Tully. The conversation motivates her to accept a job in New York.

Firefly Lane Season 1, Episode 5 recap: Axl the dog reaches the end of his lifespan.

One of the many inappropriate and over-the-top gifts Tully gives to Kate and Johnny during the pregnancy is a rambunctious puppy that isn’t housebroken. Despite his initial frustrations, Johnny and Kate both grow very fond of the dog, named Axl, who lives a long, healthy 14 years of life.

In the present, full-grown Axl has a heart condition and takes a sudden turn for the worse one afternoon while Marah and Johnny are playing with him. The vet tells them that it would be best for them to put Axl to sleep, or he’ll just continue to suffer.

It’s a heartbreaking moment for the family, particularly for Marah, who has grown up with Axl throughout her entire life. His death certainly doesn’t make things any easier for the increasing tension between her and Kate. Although Johnny does clear things up with Marah about Travis — Kate didn’t cheat on him with Travis like Marah assumed.

As Refinery29 pointed out in their recap, I can’t believe Firefly Lane was bold enough to introduce a dog and kill it off in the same episode! As if there isn’t enough to be sad about on this show.

Firefly Lane Season 1, Episode 5 recap: Kimber tracks down Cloud for a scoop.

Apart from the dog drama Episode 5 focuses on the aftermath of Tully finding out she’s pregnant. It comes with a lot of baggage for her since she’s not sure she wants to have the baby and she’s on the outs with the father, Max, although they do make up by the end of the hour.

On top of that, Tully is scheduled for her one-on-one with Kimber that Kate promised her at her initial job interview. Kimber has an ulterior motive for her interview with Tully. She doesn’t just want funny celebrity anecdotes like the time Tully gave Tom Cruise pink eye by mistake. She wants the hard-hitting truth about Tully’s relationship with her mysterious mother, Cloud.

Thus far, Tully has repeatedly told people that Cloud died when she was still a teenager, but by the end of the hour we find out that is yet another big fat lie. Kimber somehow manages to find Cloud and she wants to know everything about Ms. Tully Hart.

Firefly Lane Season 1 is now streaming on Netflix.