Episode
Girlfriends: On the Couch
Overview
Toni continues to see her therapist, Dr. Miller. Rather than following the doctor's advice and writing a letter to her mother detailing her grievances against her, Toni instead brings her mother to her sessions. Veretta stays with Toni and Todd and monopolizes the house. Todd tries to tolerate her rude and thoughtless behavior, but insists that she stop smoking in the house. Veretta refuses, and says that she doesn't have to listen to Todd because her daughter paid for the house. They get into a heated confrontation, and wind up ordering Toni to choose between them. Meanwhile, William worries that the fact that he and Donna have such different backgrounds (she cleans bed pans for a living and insists on travelling by bus) will impede their chances of having a future together. He vows to try his best to keep the relationship going, because he considers Donna to be special. Joan obsesses over whether to resume sessions with her own therapist after Lynn and Maya make several deris
Details
- Series
- Girlfriends
- Season
- Season 4
- Episode
- Episode 16
- Air date
- 2004-03-01
- Runtime
- 21 min
Episode context
On the Couch is Episode 16 in Season 4 of Girlfriends. It aired on 2004-03-01. The runtime is 21 min.
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Episode 15: Good Catch or Bad Hop?
Maya and her friends enjoy perks such as limo rides and entry to exclusive clubs, courtesy of her baseball player beau, Alex. She is reluctant to refer to him as her boyfriend, and bristles when he repeatedly makes up excuses to avoid spending time with her. She also objects when he surprises her with expensive new furniture. Alex convinces her to allow him to shower her with gifts, as he enjoys doing this and doesn't think of her as a groupie. However, when the girls show up at a party, Alex refuses to allow them to come inside. Toni forces Maya to face the fact that Alex only wants her as arm candy, to see when he sees fit while he continues to play the field. William continually bothers Alex for autographed memorabilia, while his friend Dan (who suddenly appears after learning that William knows a baseball star) can't seem to get the idea that Lynn isn't interested in him. Lynn, meanwhile, works on a documentary about single mothers. She pays them for their time by babysitti
Episode 17: Love, Peace and Hair Grease
Joan grows increasingly bored with her job. William notes that she doesn't hold the passion for the law that is required to truly succeed in their profession. She feels rejuvenated as she helps re-decorate Lynn's apartment. As Lynn returns some items she ""borrowed"" from her friends, Joan is furious to discover that Lynn forgot to send in Joan's application to the Fashion Institute many years ago. Joan had believed that she had been rejected, and had decided to go to law school because she didn't think she could make it as a designer. She lashes out at Lynn and blames her for changing the course of her life. Joan confides in Sharon about her dissatisfaction at work, and Sharon quickly takes her gripes to Swedelson. Joan assumes that she is about to be fired and tries desperately to get her job back. Much to her surprise, she receives a promotion. However, she realizes that her new success hasn't changed her feelings about her job, and decides to quit. Meanwhile, Maya receives
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Episode 14: Leggo My Ego
Joan's procrastination puts her job in jeopardy when she doesn't act quickly enough toward securing donations for a charity auction, which she has agreed to arrange for her boss. She turns to Toni to use her connections to the area's finer merchants to bring in an item that can help Joan meet the auction's $60,000 goal. However, Toni forgets to help Joan because she is obsessed with tracking down her ""best friend,"" supermodel Beverly Johnson (with whom she has never actually had any contact). Joan launches into a verbal tirade about Toni, which she overhears. Toni accuses her friends of being ""jealous, ugly bitches"" and continues on her quest to meet Beverly Johnson. She eventually meets Beverly, who is perplexed by her claims that they are soulmates and mistakes Toni for a schizophrenic. Toni reluctantly sees a therapist, where she initially raves about her life, but soon breaks down and admits that she fears no one would miss her if she died. Meanwhile, William seeks revenge a
Episode 18: Wieners and Losers
The newly unemployed Joan cannot stand the idea of just sitting back and relaxing, and drives her friends crazy by constantly cooking and knitting for them. She goes to the mall, and winds up taking a job at Wienercycle. Her friends tell her that this is a very stupid idea and convince her to quit. She tries to do this, but is inspired by the teenage shift manager's take-charge attitude and decides to stay and help her. Joan tries to defend her bizarre actions as the result of her work ethic, but experiences a wake-up call when she learns that the manager isn't really as gung-ho about her job as she had appeared to be. Meanwhile, William annoys Toni, Lynn and Maya by flaunting his new $6000 pen. Toni gets revenge by swiping the pen, and the girls enjoy watching William behave like a madman as he tries to find it.
Episode 13: Comedy of Eros
Toni refuses to believe Joan's claims that she isn't upset about spending Valentine's Day alone, and insists on constantly trying to cheer her up. She follows Joan to the movies and annoys everyone by talking loudly and giving away plot points. Joan gets up and moves to another seat, and runs into her old friend Davis. They go out to dinner and have a nice time together, but Joan realizes that she isn't ready to get into another relationship. Toni tells Todd that they shouldn't exchange Valentine's gifts because of their limited finances, but then reveals that she recently spent $2800 on boots. Todd is hurt when Toni then buys Joan a gift, but Toni actually realizes this and takes steps to correct her mistake. William tries desperately to make a connection with Donna, the woman at the bus stop, but she wants nothing to do with him. He makes the ill-advised move of sending Lynn to talk to her, which only ends up frightening Donna further. However, he later pleads his case and co
Episode 19: He Loves Her, He Loves Me Not
Joan feels bad about the way the girls have treated William's past girlfriends and decides to go out of her way to make Donna feel welcome. She hosts a dinner to give them a chance to get to know her. Donna is unnerved by the closeness between Joan and William, particularly when they take it upon themselves to help her organize a Cinco de Mayo party for the convalescent home where she works and get really excited about it. Donna confronts William during the ride home and offers the opinion that he is in love with Joan. He insists that this is not true and tries to provide reassurance. He then angers Joan by backing out of plans to do a song and dance together at the Cinco de Mayo party. Donna observes William's reaction to Joan's ridiculous performance and again opines that he loves her. William tells her about the psychic, but Donna believes that her purpose might actually have been to force William to face his true feelings for Joan. Meanwhile, the girls are furious when they
Episode 12: Prophet and Loss
A stranger stops Joan on the street and tells her, ""You made the right decision."" He claims to be a psychic, and manages to convince Joan that he is for real. She takes his words as a sign that she was right to break up with Brock. However, she soon re-considers after she runs into Brock on the street. She observes him playing with his young niece and concludes that she might be satisfied having children in her life without being a mother for a while. However, a visit to her gynecologist gives her pause when she is forced to face the fact that her child-bearing years are limited (because many older women face complications in their pregnancies). Meanwhile, a dream prompts William to confront Lynn about annulling their marriage. He accompanies the skeptical Maya when she tries to confront the psychic. After the man tells him that ""she's right in front of you,"" he mistakenly believes that he is destined to be with Lynn. The psychic later directs him toward a woman waiting for a
Episode 20: A Partnerless Partner
William is made a senior partner in the law firm. He is thrilled about this, as is Maya, who will now get a substantial raise. He brings a beautiful date to the party honoring his promotion. Joan comments that he now has everything he wants, but William still feels as though something is missing. He talks with Swedelson at a strip club. Swedelson says that William should not pursue a relationship with Joan and instead advises him to go after Sharon, who had earlier seemed to be sending William signals. However, William discovers that Sharon is involved with the building's security guard. He goes to Joan's house and tries to share his feelings with her, but backs down after she talks about thinking of him as her ""big brother."" Meanwhile, Toni, Maya and Lynn enjoy the benefits of an especially friendly masseuse.
Episode 11: Merry Ex-mas
Maya invites Darnell's girlfriend, Lena, to her Christmas party in an effort to be civil. However, she grows jealous and gets Jalen to pose as her boyfriend. She is also furious when Lena gets Jabari a Game Cube (he wasn't supposed to get one because of his poor performance in school), and accuses the couple of not communicating with one another. Maya later catches Lena with a man at the bar, and winds up in the strange position of trying to help her with her relationship. Meanwhile, Joan gets really carried away while organizing a caroling outing for her friends.
Episode 21: Just the Three of Us
Toni has an apparent breakthrough in therapy. When Dr. Miller asks with whom she would want to be stranded on a deserted island, she picks Joan and realizes from her explanation that it is because she loves her. She is excited to realize that she is capable of love. However, Todd is miffed when she explains this to him. He doesn't like the idea that she didn't know about love before, and sees her decision to choose Joan over him as another example of her tendency to not take his feelings into consideration. William tells Toni that she was wrong to talk about her session with Todd, and recommends that she do something to show how much she appreciates him. She plans to surprise him with a picnic lunch, but sees him dining with an attractive colleague and assumes they are having an affair. Although he insists that she is mistaken, Toni is worried, and the tension between them escalates. Maya completes her manuscript and asks Lynn to read it and give feedback. She asks her not to
Episode 10: Don't You Want Me Baby?
Toni is furious to discover that Todd failed to deliver a message from a remorseful Greg before the wedding. Claiming that she needs closure but actually hoping to rub her happiness in Greg's face, she insists that she needs to meet with him. Todd fears that Toni still has feelings for Greg and threatens to leave her if she sees him. Toni declares that Todd needs to trust her; she ignores his ultimatum and meets with Greg anyway. Meanwhile, Joan is devastated when William's nephew/son cries every time she holds him, as she sees it a a sign that she wouldn't be a good mother. After Jabari tells Maya and Lynn that his classmates think they are lesbians, Maya angers Lynn by saying that she wouldn't even be her type.
Episode 22: Love Thy Neighbor
Maya's neighbor, Jalen, tells her that he would like to begin dating. She turns him down because she feels that she has to much going on in her life for a relationship. Lynn expresses an interest in Jalen and asks Maya's permission to date him. Maya gives her approval, but then confesses to Joan that she only did this because she is sure that Jalen will reject Lynn. Much to her surprise, Lynn and Jalen being seeing each other. A jealous Maya continually makes up excuses to barge in and try to break up their date. She eventually admits that she is interested in Jalen. She and Lynn ask him to choose between them, but Maya fears the repercussions on their friendship. They decide that neither of them will date Jalen. Todd tells Toni that he has been offered a job interview in New York. He is very upset when she tells him to go for it without even asking him for any details. He gets the job as a plastic surgeon on a reality show, and tells Toni that he doesn't want her to come wi