Episode #214 "Relax!"

Walt’s surprised when he learns that Sean and Claudia are having guests for dinner; he’s also surprised that he’s not invited. Claudia says Sean’s trying to prove that he’s a sensitive, open, non-judgmental person. The previous weekend, the Finnertys are at Action Mountain unaware that it’s Gay Day. Sean encounters a co-worker, Paul Ferris. Sean starts to shake his hand, but Paul gives him a hug. Dean arrives for dinner with a bouquet of flowers for Claudia. He remarks that the girl at the flower shop spent a half hour putting the flowers together for him. This annoys Lily, since she believes that everywhere Dean goes women freak out over him. Sean tells Walt he would have been invited to dinner, but they weren’t sure that he’d mix well with some of the other guests. Sean has worked with Paul for four years and has had no clue that he’s gay; now he can’t stop thinking about how to act at work. The guys at work can be pretty insensitive. At Action Mountain, Paul sees Eddie with Sean and automatically assumes they’re a couple. Sean quickly informs him that Eddie’s his brother. Sean is a little freaked out by the encounter, even though he’s quick to assure everyone that he’s not a homophobe. An attractive woman in her twenties, Gretchen, arrives for dinner. Lily assumes she’s Eddie’s date and invites her in. Dean introduces himself, but Lily hustles Gretchen off to see find Eddie. Claudia doesn’t understand why Sean felt compelled to invite Paul to dinner. Sean explains that there was an accident at work; he outed Paul. Paul doesn’t know he’s been outed, and Sean plans to tell him that evening. Henry and Jimmy are running around referring to their dinner guest as “the gay guy.” Lily is keeping an eagle eye on Dean and bristles every time he speaks to Gretchen. When Paul sits down next to Dean and introduces himself, Lily explodes. She’s on to his little game. Eddie grabs Lily and tells her she has to chill out; she doesn’t own Dean. She’s acting psycho and needs to pull back. Sean is clearly ill at ease with Paul but trying hard to make him feel comfortable. When he confesses that he accidentally outed Paul, he finds out that Paul already knows. Dino, one of the guys at work, told him. It’s revealed that several of the guys already knew, because Paul told them. He thought they were open-minded and could handle it. Sean wants to know why Paul didn’t tell him; he’s very upset. Paul starts to leave, but Claudia says they’d really like him to stay. Lily apologizes to Gretchen about her paranoia, and Gretchen pretends that she thinks Dean is just okay, but she slaps him on the butt on his way out.