Love and competition are in the air in Best Medicine Season 2, Episode 3, and DECIDER has an exclusive first look at what’s in store.

FOX’s official synopsis for “Crate Expectations,” the highly anticipated episode that showrunner and EP Liz Tuccillo said the team is “the most excited about” when we visited the Best Medicine set, reads, “As the citizens of Port Wenn get competitive during their annual floating crate race, Martin (Josh Charles) urgently tries to give important medical advice when three men have positive pregnancy tests. Meanwhile, Eden (Eliza Coupe) learns she wants to be liked after her singing ’causes’ a man to pass out, and former record-holder Sarah (Annie Potts) coaches Peter (Ben Lewis Doherty) in the art of crate racing.”

The episode is so eventful that the synopsis didn’t have room to include a major development: Mark (Josh Segarra) and Louisa (Abigail Spencer) are dating again! They’re just not dating each other…

DECIDER’s exclusive minute-long clip gives a buzzy glimpse of Best Medicine Season 2, Episode 3, in which ex-fiancés Mark and Louisa cross paths at the new beauty salon, Mane on Main in Maine, and realize they each have first dates in Milbridge later that night.

Predictably awkward? Or unexpectedly awesome? In true Port Wenn fashion, the answer is obviously both!

As Irma (Alison Cimmet) shaves Mark’s face, she asks, “So, this date tonight — anyone I know?”

“Definitely not. I thought I’d cast a wider net. I’m going to Milbridge,” Mark replies, unaware that Louisa is getting her hair washed in a nearby sink. “Thought it would be nice to maybe find somebody who hasn’t already met my ma.”

A surprised Louisa pops her head up and says, “I’m going to Milbridge tonight, too!” She initially lies and says she’s meeting a friend to spare Mark’s feelings, but she finally comes clean, admits she also has a date there, and the two take a crucial step forward in their friendship.

After Mark and Louisa say they’re happy for each other, Louisa reveals that Elaine (Cree) convinced her to try online dating, but she already wants to cancel because the date is so far. When Mark suggests they carpool, the already tense salon grows silent. Noticing the uncomfortable looks, Mark asks if driving to their dates together would be weird, and receives a resounding yes from the townsfolk. Even Louisa admits, “It might be kind of weird.”

“For you, maybe. I don’t think so. I’d be fine with it. We’re buds now,” Mark replies, bringing a smile to Louisa’s face and seemingly convincing her it’s a good idea.

While we’ll have to wait and see what becomes of Mark and Louisa’s big night out, we do have more insight into what the season has in store for their love lives.

Though Louisa isn’t having a baby with Mark, her IVF and motherhood journey will be a big part of her journey this season that will undoubtedly impact her dating life. “I think [Season 2 is] about discovering what happiness means to Louisa,” EP Rodney Ferrell shared during our Best Medicine set visit. “There’s a lot of things spinning in her head: ‘Do I have a baby? Do I have a baby on my own? Is it okay to have a baby on my own? Does it mean I’m giving up happiness with someone that I could love and spend my life with? Or can I have both?’”

We also know a new love triangle in town will involve one of Martin’s monitors, Parker (Jack Cutmore-Scott), who has “sparks” with Louisa, because “she can’t just be sitting around pining for Martin for a whole other season,” Tuccillo told DECIDER. Despite new relationships and romantic detours, Tuccillo does think, “Louisa is the love of his life… And they really are meant to be together.” So where does that leave Mark?

The lovable but lost sheriff will “be looking for love in all the wrong places this season,” Tuccillo teased, adding, “Hopefully he’ll get a win by the end of the season.” Until then, we’ll see Louisa’s lighthearted ex engage in soul-searching as he ponders his purpose in town. “I think when he steps outside of his relationship with Louisa, he’s like, ‘I’m the sheriff of this town. Am I taken seriously? What am I doing with my life? Am I ultimately happy just being the small-town sheriff? Is it okay that I sleep with people and don’t really settle down?” Ferrell teased. 

For more Best Medicine Season 2 insights and cast interviews, read DECIDER’s Season 2 set visit recap and 17 secrets we learned about the sophomore season. And of course, tune into Best Medicine Season 2, Episode 3 on Tuesday, Oct. 6 from 8:00 to 9:00 p.m. ET/PT on FOX.

New episodes of Best Medicine premiere Tuesdays on FOX with next-day streaming on Hulu.