'Ben and Kate' Season 1, Episode 5: 'Emergency Kit' Recap

BJ comes into work late—unfortunately, the day that the owner of the bar, Buddy, happens to be there (played with disgusting hilarity by Rob Corrdry). He and BJ banter flirtatiously. Somehow BJ seems genuinely excited that he is divorced, and asked her out for the night.

Ben is excited that the knives he ordered have come in—and Maddie gets a birthday invitation for Tyler Swanson’s birthday party. And there’s a bouncy house! But Maddie hates bouncy houses because Kate has told her that they have a high injury rate.

Ben fact-checks his knife infomercial by attempting to cut through a VCR.

Kate gets the call at work that Maddie may or may not end up with a small forehead scar. Kate rushes home to clean up the nick on her child’s face, but finds the emergency kit suspiciously light. This may or may not be because Ben wrapped Maddie up in bandaging and had her use the fire extinguisher in the rolling chair to propel herself around the house…

Kate says she needs to know that, living in their home, Ben will be prepared for emergencies. Ben is saved by a call from Louise, who Kate hates. She thought Ben was done with Louise. Kate needs to know he won’t be distracted by his crazy ex, and that he can handle things around the house. Ben’s answer to everything is simply relying on his instincts—and for everything else, duct tape.

At the bar, Kate confesses to Tommy she might be overreacting, but he assures her if Louise is back in the picture, Ben's judgment has been compromised. Kate says she wishes Tommy could check on Ben somehow… he says if he did that for her, it would be a betrayal… if he did it for himself, however… it would be almost heroic.

The doorbell rings as Maddie and Ben are having a discussion about the possibility of a zombie attack. It’s Louise, who hugs Ben kind of inappropriately. He says it’s not a good time, since he’s babysitting. She says that she just came to get her sweatshirt, and he sends her around back to get it.

Tommy swings by to eat the granola bar from his pocket and fakes a reaction to peanuts, but Ben doesn’t know what to do (although Maddie helpfully goes to call 911), and Tommy can’t lie. He tells him Kate put him up to it. Louise comes in wearing just her “Take me drunk, I’m home” shirt and informs Ben she installed a webcam. Somewhere. Ben hustles her out as Tommy disapproves.

Ben hints about payback for Kate, and Tommy agrees he’d be like a hero if he helped.

Ben confronts Kate about her plot at the bar, and she tells him she doesn’t want unpredictable Louise around Maddie.

“Maddie’s like my heart, walking around in the world outside my body,” which doesn’t make sense to Ben, because she’d die instantly. Ben tells her she can’t prepare Maddie for everything.

BJ comes in dressed for her date and asks Kate what she thinks of her outfit. Kate realizes she “like likes” Buddy, since she’s never asked her that before. Kate tells her since she like likes Buddy, she shouldn’t sleep with him on the first date. BJ says no promises.

Ben wakes Maddie. He warns her if she hears anything weird, he’s just testing her mother.

Ben runs in to wake Kate in an emergency drill. “They” are coming. She asks what will happen if she passes—will he take things seriously? He agrees, he’ll even become an ENT.

“An ear, nose, and throat doctor?”

Kate has emergency candles and canned beans stashed around the house. Tommy comes in, a lackluster zombie, through the door, rather than the window.

“I was going to, Ben, but then I realized that me climbing in through a window at night, that’s like a one-way ticket to a candle light vigil that turns into a riot.”

Kate is rocking the test, and asks for the electricity back on since she has ice cream sandwiches that will melt. He reveals a handful of wires that indicate he made the foolish attempt of unplugging the circuit breaker.

Ben goes to fix it in the garage, where Louise is waiting, pantsless, and he retreats.

Inside he tells Kate he can’t let Maddie grow up to be afraid of everything, and Kate tells him he doesn’t know what it’s like to be a mother. BJ comes in and asks why there are candles and Kate tells her it’s because the power is out and they’re being attacked by contagious zombies. Maddie, unfortunately, overhears this tidbit, and takes it seriously.

BJ tells Kate she didn’t sleep with Buddy, and Buddy shows up, even more entranced by BJ. He leaves, promising a second date.

In the house, they hear a bang. Louise has helpfully got the electricity back on. Turns out she was also a lesbian briefly, and oh hey, she and BJ seem to have a history no one knew about… Louise goes to say goodbye to Maddie, but she is nowhere to be found. Ben legitimately panics.

They find Maddie has crawled into the attic… somehow...That’s not quite explained… she says to escape the zombies. Ben and Tommy had previously broken the ladder, of course, so Kate tells her she will have to jump, but Maddie hasn’t prepared for that and doesn’t want to jump because of the high injury rate. Kate tells her sometime she will have to do things she’s afraid of and not be prepared, but that’s ok, as long as she has people who she can trust.

Cut to Maddie and Tommy in a bouncy house in the yard. Ben presents Kate with a gift—bandages for the emergency kit that are actually wart removal strips. Ben breaks up with Louise—with a goodbye kiss, and everyone bounces in the house.

“Tommy, are you holding keys? Do you want to buy Maddie’s glass eye or should I?”

Louise comes back and stabs the bouncy house, so I guess Ben got his point across.