In Red Band Society season 1, episode 2 we found out the truth about Jordi’s condition, and learned more about Kara’s past.

The second episode of Red Band Society focused mainly on Leo (Charlie Rowe) and Kara (Zoe Levin).

Jordi (Nolan Sotillo) goes into surgery, and when Leo discovers he doesn’t have to have his leg removed after all, he takes it almost like a personal insult. Not realising that Jordi’s cancer has spread, Leo begins lashing out at everyone around him, and flees the hospital to attend a frat party.

Meanwhile, Emma (Ciara Bravo) attempts to help Kara bond with her estranged parents, and sort of ends up succeeding. Let’s dive right into the biggest developments of the episode:

Kara and her… moms?

Surprise! Kara’s mother Sara (Andrea Parker) is married to another woman, Kara’s former nanny Daniella (Tricia O’Kelley). No one saw that coming — especially because last episode, we were also introduced to her parents, and they looked like this:

We have to assume that this is her father and his new wife/girlfriend, of course, rather than the writers giving her a last-minute origin story.

Kara’s relationship to her mother and her wife is complicated. She is clearly unhappy that her mother took up with her former nanny, blaming Daniella for breaking up her parents’ marriage.

When the pair first arrives, back from a romantic getaway in Barbados, they try to bribe Kenji (Wilson Cruz) into bumping Kara up on the heart transplant list. When that fails, they immediately begin planning a social media campaign to raise awareness for her condition. They do a nice Soul Cycle plug, and decide to name their campaign #HeartandSoul (which we have to admit, is actually kind of brilliant).

At her stress test, Kara notices Emma cheating on her weigh-in, and later escapes her mothers’ planning by going to Emma’s room to read. She confronts Emma about her attempts to avoid gaining weight, but Emma retaliates by asking about Kara’s family situation.

Emma succeeds in making Kara stop insulting her, just for one moment, to reveal how she really feels about her mothers’ seeming indifference to her.

Emma approaches Kara’s mothers and, addressing mainly Daniella, tells them that Kara needs them to be there for her. Of course her mothers decide that Emma is amazing, and proceed to tell Kara she needs to be more like the other girl in order to gain support for their campaign.

When Kara confronts Emma about this, Emma apologises, and reveals that she assumed Daniella was Kara’s biological mother. Daniella does seem more focused on Kara, and Kara finds her alone in the hospital room when she returns there. They bond, and Kara admits that Daniella didn’t cause her parents’ divorce.

Finally, Kara seems able to open up to her mothers — if for nothing else than to tell them she’s never actually watched Ellen — and they share a nice group hug.

‘Feelings just aren’t cool’

Leo is intent on waiting for Jordi to get out of surgery, to be there for him when he wakes up. He even skips physical therapy, much to Nurse Jackson (Octavia Spencer)’s dismay.

As the surgery begins, Jordi goes to the magical in-between place where Charlie (Griffin Gluck) lives. He is singing and playing the guitar (and props to Nolan Sotillo for showing off his amazing voice), when Charlie interrupts him, and begins to explain the purpose of the place. But then Jordi collapses, saying he doesn’t feel well.

In the operating room, Jack (Dr. McAndrew, played by Dave Annable) is stunned to find that Jordi’s cancer has spread to his soft tissue, and decides not to remove the leg. There is no point, seeing as it would not make a difference.

Jack tells Leo he didn’t remove the leg, and Leo storms off, not understanding the full extent of the situation. Leo is upset that “Jordi got to keep his leg” while he didn’t, and drags Dash (Astro) to a frat party. There, he quickly finds a girl to make out with, and after lashing out at Dash and sending him back to the hospital, the pair take it to an upstairs bedroom.

But when the girl tries to remove Leo’s pants, he panics, insulting her and falling to the floor after she leaves. Luckily, Nurse Dobler (Rebecca Rittenhouse) intercepts Dash as he attempts to slip back into the hospital unnoticed, and together they get Leo out of the frat party and back to the hospital just as Nurse Jackson is about to raise the alarm.

The hard truth

After Jordi’s surgery, he is so happy about getting to keep his leg that Dr. McAndrew doesn’t have the heart to tell him the truth about his condition.

As he tells Nurse Jackson, Jordi doesn’t have anyone, and he feels horrible about not being able to give him better news.

But he finally tells Jordi that he will have to start chemotherapy, and that they need to find a family member to sign off on his next operation.

The problem is that Jordi’s grandmother doesn’t like doctors, and doesn’t believe he even has cancer. Considering that next week’s episode explores Jordi’s backstory, maybe we’ll learn more about why that is the case.

Monkey love

Early on in the episode, Kenji shares his theory with Nurse Jackson: a study with monkeys has shown they will always pick the carer that gives them affection, rather than the one that gives them food.

Nurse Jackson is clearly the food monkey in this scenario, but as she points out, “Starving monkeys die.”

But at the end of the episode, she proves she doesn’t always have to play bad cop. Speaking to an upset Leo, she tells him, “You can’t run away from life.” Leo admits he didn’t want to be there for Jordi as much as he wanted Jordi to be there for him.

But he is not alone, Nurse Jackson reminds him. And in the end, Leo finally goes to visit Jordi.

What did you think about this episode of Red Band Society? Share your thoughts in the comments!

The show returns next Wednesday with season 1, episode 3, “Liar, Liar Pants on Fire.” There, we flash back to Jordi’s past, while Nurse Jackson discovers Kara has been getting drugs from an orderly.