Committed - Episode Guide

Brilliant yet neurotic Nate is a tightly wound ball of phobias until he accidentally unravels when he meets eccentric yet eternally upbeat Marni. As fearful Nate and fearless Marni awkwardly begin their mating dance -- amidst the eclectic craziness of New York -- their relationship's yin and yang somehow match despite a closet-full of obstacles. In fact, free spirit Marni has a "dying clown" quietly living in her apartment's closet (she inherited the homesteading clown who came packaged with the apartment). Bowie -- Nate's friend and co-worker in a vintage record store - offers forceful advice while Marni contends with her sardonic friend Tess, the reluctant and semi-irresponsible nanny across the hall, who might be even closer to the edge than she is. Tolerant and optimistic, Marni finds herself drawn to the endearing Nate despite his obsessive compulsions - and he can't resist her loopy orbit in a quirky relationship straight out of Lewis Carroll's lookingglass.

Nate is convinced that Marni's friend Todd hates him and uses his wheelchair disability to his advantage to garner sympathy from Marni. To make amends, Nate takes his shoes to Todd's shop to have them repaired and invites him to hang out sometime. Todd suggests Saturday but Nate has a basketball game and feels uncomfortable playing with Todd because of his disability. Elsewhere, Tess sets out to prove that the mailman is not the nice person Marni believes him to be. To prove her case, Tess plants a video camera above the mail slots to record his actions. Clown and his friend from Clown College exchange pies-in-the face via the postal service.

After several months of dating, Marni realizes she has never set foot in Nate's apartment. Marni invites herself over to his place and Nate, in a state of panic over his crazy, pack-rat apartment, decides to turn off all the lights so she can't see the mess. Marni's curiosity over what Nate is hiding gets the best of her, so she breaks in the next day with Tess. Elsewhere, Bowie discovers the true meaning of the Chinese symbol that he had tattooed on his arm.

Nate shows up at the hospital and is initially confused for Raoul, an imaginary boyfriend Marni concocted to impress her co-workers. Nate then feels that he is competing with the imaginary Raoul for Marni's affection. Marni has a hard time letting go of this lie but is forced to, after a bad fall lands her in the hospital and her emergency contact (Raoul) is called. Meanwhile, Bowie writes an inappropriate song about his relationship with his mother. Tess hires Clown to perform at a birthday party.

Marni and Nate sleep together for the first time and "the morning after" turns out to be less than the romantic day they envisioned it would be. It starts to fall apart when Marni's dad decides to talk to her about abandoning Marni and her family before leaving on a trip to Asia. Elsewhere, Tess offers to help Nate out by delivering the record store keys to Bowie downtown, so Nate can spend the day with Marni. Clown is determined to make Nate laugh by performing some of his circus routine.

Marni tells Nate the night before that her birthday is the next day. She tells him not to get her anything, but after he sees all the amazing gifts she received from all of her friends, Nate succumbs to the pressure of trying to top them. Todd returns to give Nate a little suprise of his own. Elsewhere, Tess accidentally drops the brand new iPod Marni had given her down the trash chute.

After losing a job promotion, Marni falls into a depressive state, and Nate fears she has gone to the Empire State Building to end her life. As he arrives, he finds Marni in a jovial mood and she attributes it all to her friend Carole. Marni later encourages Nate to see Carole, because she believes she can also help Nate with his problems. Nate, under the assumption Carole is a therapist and not Marni's friend, tells her everything about his life. Elsewhere, Tess's employer gives her two hundred dollars to buy Ryan a cat and things go horribly awry.

After a mugging incident and an incredibly horrible day, Marni and Nate decide they want to detox from the city byspending an entire week inside Marni's apartment with no outside contact. After a few hours, Marni and Nate begin to crack but are too stubborn to break their pact and go outside. Elsewhere, Bowie wants to break up with his girlfriend and the only thing stopping him is her amazingly comfortable bed.

Marni meets Nate's mom, Lily for the first time at the mental institution where she is a resident. Unfortunately, Lily expresses her dislike for Marni, who then sets out to make Lily like her and will do anything to win her over. However, when Lily convinces Marni to take her out to lunch and then disappears, Nate begins a frantic search for his lost mother. Meanwhile, Tess meets the new "cute guy" in their building and enlists Clown to help her get a date with him.

When the statue guy who stands outside of their building dies, Marni, Nate, Bowie and Tess decide to attend his funeral. While at the funeral, Nate stands in the communion line and accidentally accepts a communion host. Upset about having taken it, he unsuccessfully tries to return it to the priest without embarrassing himself. Elsewhere, Marni tells Tess about her shampoo guy who gives her hairgasms when he washes her hair. Tess, intrigued by Marni's experience, decides to try him out.

Nate loses a bet to Bowie and has to buy him a $29 hamburger from an upscale restaurant. On their way to the restaurant, Nate gets into an argument with a homeless man at the ATM and accidentally knocks him down. Marni witnesses the incident and gets the mistaken impression that Nate was deliberately cruel to an innocent vagabond. Nate spends the rest of the afternoon trying to befriend the homeless man to get back in Marni's good graces.

Marni and Nate are invited over to Todd's apartment for dinner to meet his new girlfriend, Natalie. While at dinner, the mood intensifies as Todd pays attention to Marni and ignores Natalie. Nate confides to Marni that he believes Todd set the dinner in order to set up Natalie and Nate, who appear to be a perfect match. Obsessed by the idea that she and Nate may not be the perfect match for one another, Marni orders Nate to date Natalie. Marni later comes to regret the decision and vents to Tess and Bowie.

After getting drunk with Todd, a hungover Nate wakes up in Natalie's bed, with no memory of what happened the night before. Nate panics and heads to Marni to assure her that nothing happened between him and Natalie. He asks that she believe him and Marni decides to take his word. Nate, unsure of what really happened, decides to go back and ask Natalie about the night's events. Elsewhere, Tess baby sits a new kid, Zach, who asks her to pose nude for his friend. Meanwhile, Bowie decides to promote his new CD at the marathon, using paper cups to advertise its release.