'Rooster' Episode 2 Recap: How Does Katie Keep Her Job?

Even the titles of Rooster‘s episodes make me cackle, probably because I love a show that’s dedicated to representing supportive fathers, something we’ve seen a lack of in media recently. The second episode of the comedy takes us deeper into the lives of Katie, Archie, and Sunny, but it also focuses on the hit that academia’s been taking. Unsurprisingly, there’s something immensely endearing about Walt, the President of the college, and I think there is one particular scene in this episode that really cements him as a “good person.” But then, he goes and blackmails Greg soon after. I also really enjoy the relationship he shares with Dylan, which feels genuine. But that’s enough talk about what’s cute and not. Let’s dive straight into the recap of the 2nd episode.

Spoiler Alert

Why Does Katie Assault Archie? 

Rooster episode 2 begins with Greg going on a matcha run for Katie, but she looks like she’s done with life while waiting to be escorted to the police station by her overzealous father. Of course, all the dude is trying to do is keep her safe and happy despite the situation. At the station, the cop takes notes while Katie explains how she chose to burn Archie’s copy of “War and Peace” as an act of revenge, but burning down the house was not on her roster at all. She’s not an arsonist; it was just an accident. The cop is, of course, unimpressed by her version of the story, but when Greg prompts Archie to side with his wife, he seems to get less harsh on her. Anyway, because Greg is correcting the cop’s grammar, he gets mad and expresses how he’s not telling Greg how to write his books, though if he did, he would make the guy do karate. While he’s talking about this, he ends up knocking Archie’s coffee down, and it falls on the only pair of trousers that survived the fire (funny). 

In a moment where it’s just Katie and Archie, because Greg accompanies the cop to get more coffee or paper towels or something (I’d honestly not trust the guy with anything, especially a gun, but we’ll get to that in a bit), things feel a little smoother, if only for a moment. The second Archie opens his mouth, you want to make him shut up, but damn. He says he forgives Katie, not for the fire, though at first it might seem like it; he’s simply forgiving her for, well, not doing anything. He’s the one who cheated and got another woman pregnant, but apparently Katie’s the one who needs forgiveness. Huh? Make it make sense. For obvious reasons, Katie gets mad and punches him in the face, right as the cop arrives. Yeah, things are not looking good for her. 

Why Is Dylan Upset?

As Dylan delivers Walt’s morning coffee and tells him how there’s a crisis with the barista because she looks like she cut her own bangs, Dean Riggs walks in and asks for a young student’s files, because he thinks she’s just “dumb and lazy” and is using ADHD as an excuse. At the same time, Dylan asks Walt if he wants to go on a coffee walk with her to talk about the new Green Initiative policy. Cristle, his assistant, doesn’t seem happy about the idea, so it doesn’t end up happening. But I think it would’ve been helpful, considering what’s actually happening with this policy. 

Anyway, they’re interrupted when Greg shows up and awkwardly asks Dylan how she slept; yikes. Walt’s a perceptive old man and notices the tension in this conversation, immediately asking him what’s happening there. Greg changes the subject, telling him he’s there to talk about his daughter, when the woman literally sends Walt a resignation letter. Immediately, Greg tells Walt that he should hold on for a second, because he’s going to convince his daughter to keep the job. Walt agrees, but really, later in the episode, it’s proven that this is all about him wanting something in return, and for Walt, it’s Greg coming on board as the writer-in-residence. Greg has no choice but to say yes to the deal, because it means Katie can stay on after a short suspension for accidentally burning down the years-old faculty housing. 

Now, it would seem Dylan’s really upset about Greg telling Walt that she wanted to sleep with him, though he says it’s because of his microexpressions. But she’s just upset he said she might’ve found him charming. However, the real reason she gets mad is because Walt tells her that they have to move the Ludlow Review online. A published book for the poetry department that he used to read cover to cover apparently. He does seem genuinely upset, but Dylan is angry because she wants him to fight for it, considering how important it is to her specifically. This was likely Dean Riggs’ doing, no? Ugh, I don’t like that prehistoric man. 

Is Katie a loser? 

Anyway, the whole point here between Katie and Greg is that she feels like she’s let everyone down and she’s just a loser (especially after seeing Sunny looking like a model). At first, Greg tries to be supportive by telling her she’s not, and that she shouldn’t give up, but Katie pulls out the UNO reverse card and tells him that he was the one who gave up as soon as her mom left him (ouch). This kind of opens his eyes, or maybe it’s the year-round Christmas store’s banging hot chocolate with the peppermint stick that gets to him. Anyway, he switches tactics after taking the weather vane cockerel for her. This is a ritual where a professor steals the vane and then hides it for a student to find. If a student finds it, the whole department gets the day off. Anyway, she expressed how she’d never done it, but this is her motivation to stay back in college now. 

But Greg tells Katie that though she’s not a loser, she’s been doing some loser-y things of late after the whole Archie thing, but he’s hoping he didn’t pass down his loser-ness to her, and hopes she won’t give up as he did. It does seem like Dylan’s pep talk helped. So Katie writes a letter to the college saying that she was of unstable mind when she ended up burning down the building, which allows her to come back after her suspension. But this is when she tells Greg that she’s going to keep the cockerel for when she’s in a real sour mood, like when she sees Archie with a stroller. 

What’s Happening With Archie? 

At the end of episode 2, Greg literally runs to Archie’s place and gets the ladle with the key on it to walk into his room and beat him up on live TV. Archie was such a showoff; he told his entire class about how he’s been invited to do an interview on TV because he’s apparently an expert in UK-Russia relations, hence the geopolitical non-fiction book. Also, it seems other female students are showing interest in him now too, but anyway, the point here is that he’s giving that interview when Greg barges in to beat him up. Turns out he wasn’t wearing pants, because it was a Zoom call. Mate, this isn’t the lockdown. Anyway, this is more embarrassment for him, and I don’t know how Sunny’s going to take it, especially since she told him earlier that she genuinely likes him even though he called himself an idiot. At the same time, Walt invites the cop to his personal sauna, likely to convince him about Katie, because of the deal he made with Greg. The cop talks about not knowing where his gun is, which makes me feel like that’s something we’ll need to worry about in the next episode, but hey, this is a comedy, so maybe not. Really, now the only thing to worry about is Dylan, and how she’ll handle this whole situation, because after Walt’s ice plunge, he decides to call her for the coffee run, and she says she doesn’t have the time for him. Guess this friendship needs mending, and Greg will likely help. In the end, Greg’s about to leave, and Katie tells him she’s half sad about him leaving, because he did help her. However, the second he sits in the cab, he screams, “See you next Monday,” referring to his new job at the college. Apparently, that’s something he completely forgot to tell his daughter about. So that’s going to be a fun conversation to come back to. 

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