It was a family affair on Rooster episode 5 when Katie’s parents were reunited at Ludlow College for the weekend. Up until episode 5, Elizabeth was a mystery besides her being Katie’s mom, Russo’s ex-wife, and the student center’s honoree. Meeting the woman behind all the titles was fun and an interesting storyline.
I loved that she entered the story after Russo’s wild morning after and Katie’s awful romantic choices. Elizabeth became the person to break up the tension within the chaos. Even though she claims Russo is more emotional, she helped her daughter through her tough moment, which was lovely to watch.
Russo's dating life discoveries
Cristle (formerly referred to as Crystal) and Russo are a surprise pair, even though they are no-strings-attached. But it is obvious that Cristle wants to be more than just someone who makes Russo’s woes better. I feel bad for her.
After class, Russo finds out Tommy was late on rent, so his roommates kicked him out. Russo offers him the extra room at his house. He tells him to swing by after hockey practice, leading him to tell Tommy how the hockey coach is doing. Even though he says he just needed someone to help him, we see him being a tad aggressive and Russo breaking it up. Russo admits to the coach that he doesn’t believe in him as much as before and sends the coach off the ice.
Russo joins Cristle in Walt’s lecture about Roosevelt. She stands her ground and wants a real date. She tells him she’s a single parent who deserves some respect. Without hesitation, she accepts his dinner invitation. As if a date wasn’t just made, she starts the applause for Walt’s lecture.
As Russo is getting ready for his date, he discovers his toothpaste is missing, and his phone is dead. Having Tommy live with him isn’t going to be easy, but Cristle is waiting, and he has to get going. He runs right into his least favorite cop, who tells him his bike isn’t street legal. The cop hugs him, saying he’s letting this slide because Russo stopped the cop’s son from being punched by the hockey coach. He exits the weird conversation to find Cristle sitting with two other people and chatting because it looks like she got tired of waiting. Defeated, Russo turns around and leaves before she can see him.
Russo goes straight to Cristle and apologizes for missing their date last night. Even with the legit excuses (that viewers know are true), she’s upset with him. Walt’s interruption frizzles out their awkward conversation, causing Russo to clam up and leave.
They finally go on their real date. She flirts with him under the table to clearly send the message of “dessert after dinner.” They end up getting Gatorades after sexy time, with him calling her his queen. As he closes the fridge, he sees Tommy and wonders why he’s at Cristle’s house. The discovery is made that Cristle is a single parent to Tommy.
Forbidden Love and Internships
Mid-sex, Katie questions what they are doing. Honestly, I’m wondering the same thing, even though Archie seems to be into it, while Katie feels unsure every time they are together. It’s a very confusing storyline of forbidden love. It is made even worse when Russo starts knocking on the door right after Archie has rolled over her. Katie rolls out of bed as Archie has the dog jump into bed with him.
As Katie scolds her dad for just dropping in (only texting when he knocked on her door), he shows her his new bike. He runs into his least favorite cop as he rides off with Katie, telling him to be safe and not go so fast. Instant Karma.
Archie gets him and Sunny coffee. She just got rejected from an internship. Of course, just as they kiss, Katie and Dylan spot them from the stairs. As Archie gives Sunny a pep talk, Dylan reminds Katie that she doesn’t need to watch them any longer. Oh, the irony. Meanwhile, Russo encourages Dylan to make the temporary Dean job hers since she’s already drunk with power. Then, he hands her his hemlet and hops on his bike to ride to campus. I love their friendship. Just as Dylan is making herself at home in her temporary office, Walt walks in with the dean, leaving Dylan shocked.
Later on, Archie surprises Katie on campus about hooking up. She tries to turn him down since she needs to meet her dad soon and needs to regain some self-respect. But, just as he’s convincing her, she surprises him with a question about him sleeping with Sunny or not. I agree with Katie that he may be the worst person in the world for having to clarify that he’s not sleeping with them on the same day but is still involved with both of them. He tries to say he’s keeping his options open if Katie doesn’t pick him so he can still stay with the mother of his unborn children. How disgusting of him to play them both without a care in the world.
Mo and Sunny join Walt in his hot house, and he tells her that Biotech wants to hire her. The exciting news makes Sunny spiral a bit about moving away from Archie. Later on, when Archie asks about her internships, she lies to him. He encourages her to keep her chin up, kisses her head, and leaves. Mo loves that Sunny is keeping secrets from her.
For Katie, explained
Right as Archie walks away, Russo speeds up on his bike to Katie and reveals his “For Katie” shirt. As soon as she finds out Zoey is handing out the shirts, she takes her dad’s bike and rides off. She enters the pizza shop to confront the girl for making her the face of a cause she didn’t ask for. After confirming Zoey should call her Professor Russo, she storms out.
The next time in class, Zoey doesn’t engage with the lecture at all and looks so sad. Katie talks to Russo about it, and he shows her that Zoey gave him four shirts. She blames herself for being too open about what was going on with Archie. Russo tells her she doesn’t connect with her students, and Tommy agrees, which leads them to explain why he’s there. They explain that Russo needed women advice after messing up royally with his one-night stand turned almost real date. Katie believes it, and they move on to Tommy agreeing that he loves that Russo enjoys connecting with his students. Katie worries that she can’t connect with her students because of her age being so close to theirs.
Then, she witnesses how close Russo is to his students when he heads into the kitchen to get snacks ready for Tommy’s friends who are coming over. Katie jokes with Tommy that Russo is her dad, not his, and Tommy tells her he’s everyone’s dad. Tommy’s friends are over after Katie leaves as the boys rave about the snacks and talk about Russo’s sex and dating life. They celebrate when Crystal says yes to dinner. Russo agrees to help Tommy get his grades on track as he gets ready to move back in with his parents.
Katie confronts Zoey about the t-shirts again but is calmer. She apologizes for coming down too hard on her and is honest about her struggles. Zoey admits she was her favorite teacher because she relates to her. Katie admits she wants to be called Katie so she can be Zoey’s favorite teacher again.
The next episode of Rooster airs on HBO and HBO Max on April 19 at 10 p.m. ET.