Warning: Major spoilers ahead

The morning after the fire, Katie is still feeling sorry for herself. A trip to the police station with dad Greg reunites her once again with Archie, and she admits setting his prized first edition of War and Peace on fire but denies burning his house down deliberately.

After a nudge from Greg, Archie agrees that if Katie says it was an accident, then it was. When the officer accidentally spills a cup of coffee over Archie’s trousers – the only pair that didn’t burn in the fire – he and Greg run to get paper towels. While Archie and Katie are alone, she thanks him for having her back, and he declares, in spite of everything, he still loves her. He asks if Greg knows about Sunny’s pregnancy, and she confirms she hasn’t told him. Archie admits he isn’t even sure if Sunny is keeping the baby or not.

Archie shares that he got with Sunny because he wanted to be with someone who still thought he was special – as while he’s admittedly flawed, they had been largely arguing about all the things she wanted him to change about himself. But when he tells Katie he “forgives her” for that, she responds with a punch to the face for having the nerve, giving him a black eye.

At a poetry class, Dylan encourages her students to submit their poems and short stories for the upcoming issue of The Ludlow Review. She then brings Walter a coffee, who is stressed because the school board wants to initiate a new “green” policy across campus to help with the environment, cutting off faculty building lights at 7pm, and improving recycling.

Dean Riggs pops by but swiftly leaves after a crude comment about a student, and Dylan shares her shock that Walter could be friends with a man like Riggs. However, she’s next out the door when Greg arrives, clearly embarrassed about their encounter the night before. He makes matters worse by asking how she slept. Walter notices the tension and uses Greg’s micro-facial expressions to deduce he had rejected her advances.

Greg tries to brush it off as he wants to talk about Katie and whether her job is safe. Walt shares it’s not, thanks to the fire and assaulting another professor, and to cement everything she has already handed in her resignation. Greg says he’ll talk to her, but to please keep her job open. Walter agrees – if he shares details about what happened with Dylan. Reluctantly, he spills that he thinks she found him “charming”.

When Archie meets with Sunny at a study hall, he lies about his black eye and stained trousers, saying he fell. She tells him she’s keeping the baby, because despite her plans for other things, she can’t bring herself to not want it. Seeing him hesitate, she asks him to pretend to be all in for a moment, as she has an interview for an internship coming up and she needs to be reassured.

As Archie leaves, a student who is clearly crushing on him, Gina, approaches to talk, but he’s too dumbstruck to wrap his head around what he’s just been told, realising he now needs to adjust to the idea of becoming a father.

Greg spends more time with Katie, but she knows he’s trying to change her mind about the resignation. While he’s briefly distracted by a year-long Christmas store, he tells her not to give up because of a setback or two. She snaps at him, saying he gave up when his wife left by moving to Florida to hide from life. Katie immediately regrets it and apologises, and he brushes it off, joking he’s not doing nothing: he’s thinking of joining a cult down there, which makes her laugh.

Dylan approaches Dean Riggs to secure his budgetary approval to make The Ludlow Review a biannual release – one for Spring and one for Winter. Instead, he calls her unladylike for asking for money in such a way, before noting the new student centre has tightened their budget. While she argues the arts programme and poetry department is one of the things Ludlow is known for, he mocks her before walking off.

Needing to vent, Dylan asks Walter to go on a coffee walk with her but is unimpressed when he asks to hear about every sordid detail about her “throwing herself” at Greg. She’s stunned Greg would have blabbed about it, but he says he can’t blame her.

On their continued walk across campus, Katie comments to Greg about how she never took part in an annual tradition of “stealing the cock” – a rooster-shaped weathervane that teachers hide and, if the students find it, they get the day off. Greg argues that’s something to stay for, but she’s caught off-guard when she spots Sunny walking through the grounds in her interview outfit. Katie calls herself a loser, and that she’s done with the place.

Greg is determined for her to stay though, later telling Walter she’s not leaving. Walter agrees to keep her on staff, but she’ll have to serve a short suspension and write a letter of apology to the board - though she can “blame it on women’s stuff like hormones”.

Greg is grateful, but Walter makes it clear there is a quid-pro-quo required. He asks that Greg take the writer-in-residence job until the end of the semester. He notes Greg’s ex-wife Elizabeth’s name is on their new student centre, so he’s practically family - and notes Kate’s continued employment is dependent on him agreeing. With no other choice, Greg accepts the position.

An elated Archie shares with his class that he’s been invited to appear on BBC News as a specialist on UK-Russian relations. While he feigns modesty, he’s clearly excited, and is encouraged when his class cheers him on. As he prepares for his television interview, he realises his black eye has now fully set in. He messages Sunny asking for help.

Freaking out in his hotel room as Sunny covers his face with make-up, Archie slips up by admitting Katie punched him and ponders what he’s done to look like an idiot on TV. She tells him honestly he can sometimes come across as a narcissist with a punchable face.

He’s shocked by his bluntness, and asks if she sees him that way, and she admits it’s strange that he’s choosing to live at a hotel instead of with her. Archie says it’s a big step, but she reminds him that they’re having a baby. Despite his foibles, she likes him, but he needs to step up and be the man she knows he’s capable of being.

Greg heads to a diner where student Tommy works as a waiter, noticing he’s handing his friends leftover scraps of food people leave behind. He opens up to Tommy about his fear of being a bad father, and soon the boys are all supporting him to tell him he’s not. Then Dylan arrives, angry about Walter knowing about their interaction the night before. He apologises and offers to make it up to her, and she says she’ll let him buy her breakfast.

After sharing what’s going on with Katie, Dylan tells Greg a story about her dad surprising her with a trip to Rhode Island to help her choose to attend Brown University, her dream college, even when she was scared about being so far from home. She encourages him to do something to prove to Katie he cares for her – and he steals the cock weathervane for her.

However, it backfires. Greg excitedly shares the cock with Katie, but instead she’s annoyed he got to do the one thing she hasn’t done. He tells her she was right about him, and he was not as resilient as he could have been when he split from Elizabeth. However, he doesn't want to pass that trait down to her and urges her to be brave. Touched, she asks him to help write the apology letter Walt needs to get her back in the faculty.

Dylan goes on another coffee walk with Walt, who is feeling down about turning people away for things they need due to budget cuts. When she tries to reassure him that these decisions just come with the job and no one holds him personally responsible, he breaks the news that, as part of the green initiative, they need to move The Ludlow Review online. It upsets him too, as he reads it every year, but his hands are tied. Dylan is crushed.

As Greg and Katie finish the letter, she comments how she’s going to save hiding the cock as a “pick-me-up” for when she sees Archie pushing a stroller around campus – accidentally busting Archie for getting Sunny pregnant. Greg races to the hotel where both he and Archie are staying, grabbing the oversized ladle attached to the hotel master key as he goes. Barging into Archie’s room in the middle of his BBC News interview, he proceeds to beat him with the ladle and wrestle him to the ground – revealing that Archie had removed his stained trousers and was conducting the interview in his underwear. The whole campus watches as it airs live to the world.

The next morning, Walt calls Dylan and asks for a coffee walk, but she turns him down. Wal makes do with Officer Donnie’s company –who he’s treating to a sauna as thanks for not pursuing criminal charges against Katie. Archie arrives at Sunny’s house, accepting her invitation to move in with her, which makes her happy but leaves her housemate, Mo, far from impressed.

As Greg packs up a cab, Katie thanks him for coming to see her and tells her she loves him. He responds by saying he’ll see her on Monday. He speeds off before Katie can react.