Crowded Episode 1.03 Brother

All of the emotional progress Mike (Patrick Warburton) has made with his dad is thrown out the window when Ethan (Clifford McGhee), Alice's (Carlease Burke) son, visits and Bob (Stacy Keach) reverts to treating Mike like second best. Ethan is a professional golfer who stays at the Four Seasons and introduces Bob to celebrities... until a medical condition ended his career and left him secretly living in Mike and Martina's (Carrie Preston) shed. When Martina learns the truth, she encourages Ethan to tell Bob, but Alice and Mike are only too happy to do it themselves - Alice so she can spare her son's feelings and Mike so he can bask in his stepbrother's failure.

Though Ethan agrees to come clean during family game night, he repeatedly chickens out, prompting Alice and Mike to nearly spill the beans. Martina prevents them from doing so, but after growing increasingly frustrated with her family's inability to communicate, ends up blurting out Ethan's secret herself. Mike expects Bob to be disappointed, but instead sees him be supportive and understanding. Having hit his breaking point, Mike confronts Bob about his preference for Ethan, and Bob admits he subconsciously associates his bad marriage with Mike's mom with Mike. The moment of honesty leads to a breakthrough in their relationship - just as Martina predicted all along.