Warning: Major spoilers for Firefly Lane Season 2 ahead.
The first nine episodes of Firefly Lane Season 2 are finally on Netflix, and as you’re watching the drama’s sophomore season, one major question will consume your mind: What did Tully do to Kate?
Season 2 of the series, based on Kristin Hannah’s bestselling book series, picks up where Season 1 left off. It’s 2004 and Kate (Sarah Chalke) and Tully (Katherine Heigl) are fighting outside Kate’s dad’s Bud’s funeral. The problem is, we don’t know why. Viewers will find out what’s at the root of Kate and Tully’s friendship-ending feud before the end of Season 2, Part 1. But if you can’t wait to find out, or you just need to unpack the events that led up to their breakup, we’ll walk you through it.
What did Tully do to Kate in Season 2? And does it have anything to do with the car crash we get a glimpse of in the Part 1 premiere? Read on to find out everything we know about Tully and Kate’s rift.
What Did Tully Do To Kate in Firefly Lane? And Who Was In That Car Crash?
In the Season 2 premiere, we see Kate and her daughter Marah (Yael Yurman) at home after Bud’s funeral. Marah is comforting her mom in the kitchen and says she’s sorry that everyone keeps bringing up Tully, but notes, “it’s been a while since the accident.” HMM. What accident?
A flashback takes us to a year before the funeral, and we see Kate and Tully (still friends at this point) springing into action after learning Johnny was in an IED explosion in Iraq and being airlifted to a hospital in Germany. Tully chartered a private plane and flew Kate to be by his side. While the two were waiting to learn if Johnny was OK (he was!) Tully headed to the gift shop and bought her and Kate matching beer pint keychains. If this seems like a random detail to recap, stay with me. It comes in handy later on.
Season 2, Episode 1 ends with a “SIX MONTHS LATER” title card, and we catch a glimpse at a major car crash. We don’t know any details in that moment, but based on what Marah said earlier, we assume Tully is involved. She was, but it’s not that simple. There’s much more to this heartbreaking story, so let’s dive in, shall we?
In the episodes that follow, viewers get additional glimpses at the crash scene and are able to put the pieces together. We see the Seattle police and fire departments arrive on the scene, and at the end of Season 2, Episode 4, it’s revealed that the beer keychain Tully bought in Germany is hanging off the keys in the car’s ignition. “Holy shit. That’s Tully Hart,” an officer approaching the crashed car says.
At the end of Episode 6, another flashback reveals that Tully wasn’t the alone in the car. Kate and Johnny’s daughter Marah was in the passenger seat. But that’s not all… Season 2, Episode 7 finally brings us to the day of the crash, and we learn exactly what happened that night. Tully was watching Marah for the evening at her apartment so Kate and Johnny could have some much-needed alone time. Even though Marah was grounded, she begged Tully to let her go to the movies with Ashley, a girl she likes. And Tully finally caved and let her leave. With Marah out of the house, Tully spent the night catching up with her old flame Danny Diaz over takeout and wine. Tully had no intentions of leaving her apartment that night, so when Danny went home, she continued drinking and chilling on the couch alone. But everything changed when she got a frantic call from Marah, who wound up at a frat party instead of the movies and was feeling unsafe.
Tully hopped in the car and picked Marah up. On the drive home she stopped at a red light, and when the light turned green, Tully hit the gas, like she was supposed to. Another car sped through a red light and slammed into Tully’s car from the side, and the episode ends with Tully waking up in the hospital asking about Marah. She sees Kate and Johnny through the window, but they ignore her cries. And in Episode 8 we learn why. The crash was an accident, but police found that Tully was legally drunk when it occurred. That damning fact, plus learning that Tully let Marah go out when she was grounded, sent Kate over the edge.
Does Marah Die in the Car Accident With Tully?
Tully gets arrested for driving while intoxicated, and in the days following the accident, Johnny and Kate completely shut her out. The crash puts Tully’s career in jeopardy, and though Marah is alive, she’s left with a concussion, two broken ribs, and a shoulder surgery. After Kate ghosts Tully, she shows up at her house and Johnny answers the door. “There’s nothing to explain and she doesn’t want to see you…you’re not the victim here,” he tells Tully. After a crushing montage of Tully reaching out to Kate and being ghosted, she finally receives a text from Kate that reads, “Meet me at my place.” Thrilled, Tully rushes to reconcile with her best friend, only to learn that she never sent the text. Marah took Kate’s phone and reached out to Tully in hopes of helping the two patch things up, but her plan didn’t pan out the way she’d hoped.
Why Is Kate So Mad At Tully? Firefly Lane Star Ali Skovbye Weighs In
Tully apologizes to Kate, and Kate hears her out, but ultimately shuts her down. “I’m not me without you, but I can’t forgive you,” Kate says. The two spend the rest of the season estranged, and when we see them run into each other outside of Bud’s funeral in Episode 9, Kate tells Tully, “You have a lot of nerve showing up here.” Tully stresses the gravity of the event and asks, “Don’t you think you punished me enough?” But Kate doubles down and refuses to let Tully back into her life (even though she admittedly misses her).
In an interview with Decider, Ali Skovbye, who plays teenage Tully in Firefly Lane‘s ’70s flashbacks, shared some thoughts on the Season 2 feud. Though she was devastated to see the dynamic duo break up, she felt the accident was just a reminder of all the times Tully was a sub-par friend to Kate over the decades.
“I think I cried almost every episode,” Skovbye said of Season 2, Part 1. “It might just be like a biased thing, but especially Episode 9 — I was like fully sobbing. I also think it like as heartbreaking as it is, Tully does tend to walk all over Kate a little bit and take advantage of her. So I think seeing Kate finally stand up for herself is actually kind of amazing, and I think it needed to happen. But it was really sad. Their storyline is really sad.”
After learning she has Stage 3 breast cancer in Episode 9, Kate heads straight to Tully’s apartment and knocks on the door. It’s clear she wants to make up and needs her best friend to help her through the challenging time ahead, but unfortunately Tully isn’t home. She’d just left for her new job in Antarctica. UGH!
Will Tully and Kate reconcile before the series ends? We’ll have to wait until Season 2’s final seven episodes premiere on Netflix on June 8, 2023 to find out, but we have high hopes that they’ll find they’re way back to each other soon.
The first nine episode of Firefly Lane Season 2 are currently available to stream on Netflix.
