The second episode of "Grosse Pointe Garden Society" kicks off in 2010, with the ensemble in a frenzy, desperately attempting to reach Birdie, whose phone remains unanswered. Alice, filled with dread, is convinced that Birdie will betray them all to save her own skin. And, lo and behold, that's precisely what transpires as Birdie walks into the police station, clutching a charred phone as evidence.
Enter Joel Thomas, Felix's father, whom we glimpsed briefly in episode one. He interrogates Birdie, demanding to know who they murdered, but she remains tight-lipped. Thomas is skeptical of her tale, noting the myriad of gory details omitted during their exchange. The only way to win his trust, it seems, is to present the body itself. Instead, Birdie produces the garden tools they used to riddle the corpse with holes—every implement from the shed, save for a tiny trowel.
Thomas realizes the gravity of the situation; he's onto a crime scene and proceeds with a thorough investigation. The tools are all confiscated as evidence. However, a delightful twist unfolds: Joel appears to be on their side, clandestinely concealing the evidence to shield the Garden Society from incrimination. He leans in to kiss Birdie, cementing their clandestine affair.
Flash forward to the present, where Gary arrives at Catherine's abode only to find her husband present. He refrains from outing Catherine as his paramour but threatens to harm "the woman," brandishing a firearm. Yet, his tough-guy facade crumbles instantly as he admits he's no killer, breaking down in tears. Talk about an anticlimax!
However, Catherine finds herself inexorably entangled with the man, as Gary leverages blackmail to coerce her into compliance, threatening to unravel and disintegrate her entire life should she refuse to cooperate. Matters worsen when she encounters Gary's wife, Amanda, at the supermarket. Amanda's revelation of her pregnancy only serves to intensify the guilt that already weighs heavily on Catherine's conscience.
Alice arrives to retrieve Molly, who has been abandoned like a mere possession in a dog carrier, after refusing to pony up the money for the urn's retrieval. Alice is far from resolved about the situation, but she is faced with far graver issues. With her job now lost, Alice and Doug are confronted with the dire struggle of covering their rent, leaving them with no alternative but to relocate to a rental house under Doug's parents' roof. This arrangement fills Alice with dismay, viewing it as a subjugation to her in-laws' control. For Doug, it marks the abandonment of his dream to be a painter, as he longs for stability and parenthood, querying Alice's commitment amidst her recurrent hesitancy.
Desperate to reinstate her job, Alice appeals to Peyton's mother to intervene with the school board. Upon discovering Peyton's mother's hunting background, which fuels Peyton's motive to slay Molly, Alice storms to Peyton's residence after uncovering a bullet amidst Molly's ashes.
At Peyton's place, she embarks on a quest to uncover evidence of Molly's murderer, only to find Peyton doting over his own dog. Peyton also clarifies that the bullet is from a handgun, which they do not possess.
Elsewhere, Brett discovers that his unfaithful wife, Melissa, has been painting a grim picture of his family to their children, portraying them as plagued by myriad issues. He confronts Melissa and Connor about these falsehoods, leading to an explosive altercation that leaves homework scattered in shredded pieces.
