Bent Episode 1.02 Smitten

Alex is making out on the front porch with Ben, her boyfriend for the past month. Alex is embarrassed they haven't had sex yet due to the logistics of being a busy working mom, but when they do, it'll be mind-blowing. Pete, Alex's contractor, rises up from the crawl space beneath her house to belittle her pillow talk. "Mind-blowing, huh? Way to undersell." Alex is annoyed Pete was eavesdropping, and Ben is bothered by the obvious chemistry they have when they talk to each other.

Back inside the house, Alex and Ben find Screwsie (Alex's sister), Charlie (Alex's daughter) and Charlie's friend Joffrey. Joffrey was scared while watching a movie, and Charlie wants him to man up by the baseball game this weekend. Alex has become the ill-prepared coach of Charlie's baseball team now that her husband is in jail for insider trading. Ben tries to comfort Charlie about her father being in prison. Charlie isn't interested and mocks him instead. As Ben leaves, Pete lets him know Ben's got "Charlie issues" and until Charlie signs off on him, he's never going to go all the way with Alex. Ben rebuffs Pete's advice as Ben's sure he's got it all under control.

When Pete's construction crew and Walt, Pete's father, are out at for drinks, Walt reminds Pete he needs a ride to a commercial audition, so Pete nominates the new guy Gary as his driver. Pete is making a move for his latest female conquest when he's interrupted by his bitter ex-fiancee Natalie. Natalie informs the "new girl" that Pete gambled away her engagement ring. Pete notes in his defense that he never intended to marry Natalie. This is enough to scare away tonight's prey. After trading barbs back and forth, Pete decides to buy Natalie a drink.

Alex confesses to Screwsie she hasn't had sex in a year. Screwsie suggests just getting a hotel room if having Charlie in the house is the issue. Alex instead idealizes a bed and breakfast, which doesn't rate highly on Screwsie's passionate location meter. Meanwhile, Pete wakes up with his old dog licking his face, which feels nice at first, until Pete realizes it means he went home with his crazy ex-fiancee. Pete decides to make it mean more than a one-night stand and, to her surprise, asks Natalie out for dinner that night. Later, neither Clem (Pete's electrician) nor Alex buys Pete being with Natalie because he's happy with her. They think Pete's just trying to hide his inability to move on. Pete deflects these assaults by bringing up the rumor that Alex is going to a hotel room with Ben. Alex proudly clarifies it's a bed and breakfast, which makes Gary say "old people" and Clem say "quaint."

Ben excitedly tells Alex he's invited Charlie to hang out with them on Friday night, so Charlie can get to know him better. Alex thinks there might be a problem since she's already booked a bed and breakfast on Friday. Ben likes Alex's plan better and says he'll cancel on Charlie until he realizes that would only make things worse. On Friday night, Ben is telling medical stories to try to impress Charlie. However, Ben goes too far and ends up grossing Charlie out by discussing holding a fetal pig's heart in his hand. Debriefing with Alex later in the kitchen, Ben is lamenting how he knew he should've stuck to the story about pulling the football out of a patient's anus, when Alex turns on her sink and it sprays her with water.

Pete heads out to fix Alex's sink as Natalie walks up to his door. After Pete explains how something came up, Natalie senses another excuse and offers Pete an out, saying they don't have to do this. Pete refuses to succumb and insists they line up another date on Saturday. At Alex's house, Charlie helps Pete repair the sink and genuinely seems to enjoy spending time with him. Charlie gets excited when Pete mentions he played baseball in high school. Charlie invites him to pitch at her game on Saturday since her mom is terrible at it. Ben mentions he used to play baseball as well, yet Charlie appears less than impressed. Alex follows Pete out of the house as he cockily tells her she's never going to seal the deal with Ben. Alex tells Pete to stay out of her sex life, and Pete retorts, "What sex life?" as he rides off on his motorcycle.

The next day, Alex is practicing her pitching in order to help Charlie's team despite the fact she's not getting any better at it. Alex asks Screwsie what she's doing wrong, and Screwsie replies, "pitching." Alex lets Screwsie know how Ben is trying so hard to impress Charlie but it keeps backfiring. Screwsie recognizes the one who's really good with Charlie is Pete. Alex doesn't want to hear it, throws a ball that misses the pitching net entirely and breaks a window. Pete yells out he'll shoot her an estimate to fix it.

Walt believes he has nailed his commercial audition. When the casting director sees Gary in the hallway next to Walt, though, she invites him try out, and Gary ends up landing the gig. Walt is heartbroken at home. How could he have lost out to a chorus guy from a high school production of Grease? Pete tries to cheer him up by mentioning all the one-time guest spots Walt's done on other TV shows, and this lifts Walt's spirits. As Pete heads out to Charlie's baseball game, his dad warns him not to get thrown out like he used to.

By the time Pete shows up to the game, Ben is already pitching on the mound. Pete shoos him away and announces he'll take over, m uch to Alex's chagrin. Alex informs Pete it's the fifth inning and too late for Pete to take over. Pete explains to Alex how a family emergency came up, and he sent her a text saying he'd be late. Alex never received any text and assumes Pete is merely trying to lie his way out of the situation. Ben asks if Pete has been drinking, and Pete says only one beer... and then another one after that. Pete's old dog wanders up to the mound, which means Natalie is right behind to ask Pete why he's flaked on another date. Natalie slaps Pete, and Alex gets both of them off the field so Ben can keep pitching and finish Charlie's game.

After the game, Ben and Alex are making out at her house. Charlie is at Screwsie's place, and it seems like tonight is the night. Alex's cell phone beeps during foreplay, and Pete's message saying he would be late to the game finally comes through. Alex realizes Pete wasn't lying after all. Ben has grown tired of all the Pete drama and asks if there's something going on between them. Alex tries to avoid the question by kissing Ben and saying, "Are we going to do this or what?" Ben doesn't buy the denial and tells Alex she can call him tomorrow as he walks out.

Pete goes over to fix Alex's sink again while Alex is celebrating her one-year anniversary without sex. After Pete's finished, he accuses Alex of faking the sink being broken just to get him over there at midnight. Despite Alex's denials, Pete goes in for a kiss anyway. They get close, but Alex's instincts get in the way; she claims she won't because she's been cheated on, and this would be like cheating on Ben. Pete observes, "So if Ben wasn't in the picture..." Alex gets him out the door before she can change her mind, even though he is clearly on her mind.