The opening scene finds the domesticated (shirt tucked in, hair parted) Alan in the kitchen engaged in the motherly duty of packing a picnic basket for a night at the Hollywood Bowl with a date to see Michael Bublé perform. Meanwhile, his brother Charlie, the sexual extrovert of the duo, donning his familiar shorts and floral print rayon shirt, signifying his laid-back style, is overtaken this morning with ennui and laments that he has no one with whom to hang out, having soured on Jake, Alan’s son, who spends the bulk of this episode in a minor subplot involving constant telephone contact with friends. Alan suggests Charlie widen his field of female company from which to choose and attempt to date what he terms “age appropriate” women; the suggestion visibly baffles Charlie. To illustrate this point, Charlie further explicates, “You need a woman whose head is for more than resting your ankles!” the awkward imagery being that of Charlie engaged in sexual congress with a female, in the missionary position, his partner’s legs bent to the point were her ankles are physically able rest atop his head. Alan spells this out further to mean “40-year-old women”, the suggestion of which bowls Charlie over and sets him off on a strange tangent wherein he articulates a deep-seated fear of older women’s oversized earlobes.
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