Episode #101 "Homecoming Queen"

The setting is Normal, Ohio, somewhere outside Cincinnati. Butch has just flown in from Los Angeles, and his sister Pamela has picked him up at the airport and is driving him to her house. Butch is making fun of Pamela's driving; she tells him to shut up or he can stay with their parents. He tells Pamela she's a wonderful driver. At Pamela's house, she calls her kids, Robbie and Kimberly, who greet Butch tentatively. Robbie asks if it's true that Butch ran away to Los Angeles because he's gay. Butch says actually he ran away to Santa Monica. Kimberly's amazed that he'd come back to Ohio just for a party. His son's leaving for medical school, says Butch. Later, Kimberly teases Robbie that being gay is hereditary, and Robbie takes it to heart, asking his mom if she thinks he's gay. She doesn't. Butch tells Pamela he's thinking of going to see Elizabeth, his ex-wife. The prospect of seeing his ex-wife and son, Charlie, who he walked out on, leaves him in a panic. Bill and Joan, Butch and Pamela's parents, arrive, and Bill starts sniping immediately at his "gay homosexual son." Bill informs Butch that if he had "run off to La La land to shack up with cute boys," he'd be ashamed to come back. Butch learns from Joan that she hasn't told any of her friends the real reason that he left for Los Angeles. Even now, she can only whisper the word "gay." At Elizabeth's house, Butch meets her new husband Danny who thanks him for being gay. Elizabeth arrives, and, when they're alone, Butch tells her that her new husband is nice but boring. For Elizabeth, boring is fine if it goes along with straight. Charlie arrives and is less than thrilled to see his father. Charlie has a ball game, and Butch convinces his reluctant son to take him along. After the game, Butch and Charlie are having a beer, and Charlie says it's weird that Butch is trying to be a normal dad, since he was never normal before. Butch can't just show up after four years and expect everything to be the same. What should he have done, Butch wants to know, lie and be unhappy for the rest of his life? At Charlie's party, Butch talks to several of his parents' friends and finds that Joan has told them a number of stories about Butch. He's a actor on a soap opera; he's an airline pilot; he's dead. Both his mom and grandfather make toasts saying how proud they are of Charlie, but he shocks everyone when he announces that he's not going to medical school, because he doesn't want to be a doctor. Charlie says he talked to his dad who told him how important it is to be happy. Everyone glares at Butch. The grandparents are devastated, and Joan observes that she should never go to family gatherings without her heart pills. Later it's Butch's turn to make a startling announcement. He tells Pamela he's coming home, and he's moving in with her.