Marry Me Episode 1.08 Stand by Me

The gang is grocery shopping for healthy food for Gil when the girls realize Jake goes to Gil's doctor appointments with him... and shops for him.... Is Jake too involved in Gil's life? But before they can truly think it through, Kay gets distracted by the hot lesbian butcher she used to have a very dysfunctional fling with.

"Resisting the obvious meat metaphors, she really butchered your heart out. Dammit! Seriously, though, you were severely depressed for a very long time," Annie reminds Kay as she physically restrains her.

On the way out, Gil thanks Jake for his help, but complains about the tree trimmers who start working at 6:00 a.m. outside his window - two hours before he wakes up, smokes a bowl and goes back to sleep. Jake says he'll take care of it, then holds Gil's hand to cross the street.

The girls sit Jake down for a Gil-tervention, but Jake claims there's nothing weird about his relationship with Gil. Just then, Gil bursts in with a long list of issues he needs Jake's help with, including replacing his lost wallet and keys. After fixing Gil's latest round of problems, Jake casually brings up the girls' concern that Gil's been too dependent on him since his marriage ended.

"I'm basically the new Cassie, only I don't have sex with you," Jake points out.

"Which makes you exactly like the old Cassie," Gil clarifies.

When Jake tries to convince Gil to start taking care of himself, Gil throws him out of his unkempt house... and immediately calls Kay and Dennah to help him instead. They refuse, for Gil's own good, and the needy divorcee is left to his own devices.

But the separation isn't just affecting Gil. Jake is having an identity crisis without his hapless sidekick. Annie tries to get him to look on the bright side - now he has more free time to "do Jake." Except Jake now wants to do brunch with the ladies... which the ladies are not on board with. He crashes their girls' day anyway, inserting himself into their girl talk over brunch and tagging along to yoga. Annie promises Kay and Dennah their unwanted guest won't stay long - just until he and Gil patch things up, which will be soon.

Or will it? At yoga, Dennah checks her phone and sees Gil is doing great on his own - he's juicing, he's Instagramming, he's Instagramming his juicing - he's really got his life together. Meanwhile, Jake is freaking out about yoga; he has no idea what to do and when to do it. Dennah tells him to just follow her, seeing as she's the star of the class. Except it turns out Jake is a yoga natural and accidentally ends up pulling off incredible contortionist poses, impressing the class and the instructor, who start chanting his name. With her spotlight stolen out from under her downward-facing dog, Dennah decides it's time to restore the natural order and force Jake and Gil back together.

The girls devise a plan for Gil and Jake to accidentally meet at the grocery store. Only, instead of getting back together, they try to one up each other by showing off how great they're doing. Gil brags about his new side part, which is a well-known "visual cue to let people know I'm now doing well," while Jake tells Gil to feast his eyes on his new yoga outfit, which clearly indicates his "newfound spiritual health." Seeing as they're both better off without the other, the guys decide to go their separate ways.

With their plan a failure, Annie runs off after Jake, while Dennah disappears to mope about her stolen yoga spotlight, leaving Kay at the mercy of the hot lesbian butcher...

The next day, Annie and Dennah learn that Kay went home with the butcher babe - who robbed her. That's when Annie realizes the extent of what they've done.

"We didn't just screw up Jake and Gil's friendship, we screwed up the entire Annie-Jake-Dennah-Kay-Gil dynamic!" she cries. Kay agrees - their friendship network is like a delicate ecosystem. One small change can have a ripple effect and change everything.

"We never should've played God," Dennah adds. "So what do we do?"

"The only thing we can do: play God again to undo our original God-playing. We need Gil to need Jake again," responds Annie.

Since Gil has gotten really into building stuff, the girls decide to give him something super difficult to build - like an Ikea armoire! When Gil crashes and burns, he'll have to turn to Jake for help. The only problem with the plan is that Gil totally kicks ass and puts the armoire together perfectly - and even Instagrams it! When Annie sees the Instagram photo, she tells Jake the bad news. Maybe Gil really doesn't need him...

Just then, Jake's phone rings. It's Gil and he needs Jake to meet him at "Fifth and a maple." Jake is confused, but gets it once he finds Gil stuck high up in a maple tree outside his window. Gil went outside to yell at the early morning tree trimmers, only to have them chase him up a tree. Jake rescues Gil from the tree, and the two make up.

Later, the gang celebrates their reunion at Gil's swanky new apartment, complete with the new armoire and dining room set. Dennah starts to apologize for meddling, but Annie stops her, pointing out that the friends got back together; plus Gil is a lot closer to being a full adult person now.

"We should play God more often," Kay concludes.