In which Hayley tries to have a girls’ night but gets in her head.

For a long time, Hayley has always been informed as a character by her relationships to other characters. Early on it was the Stan/Hayley political dynamic that was the catalyst for the show. More often than not it’s the Jeff/Hayley dynamic. Sometimes it’s the Francine/Hayley mother-daughter dynamic or even Steve/Hayley depending on the story. Storylines with Hayley would often involve other members of the Smith household. This episode bucks the trend by bringing back two of Hayley’s oft-mentioned but only sometimes seen friends Danuta and Nerfer

Hayley is hanging with Danuta and Nerfer at their apartment when she suggests hanging out at her house. But she starts hearing a voice in her head (guest star Natasha Leggero) nagging her about that. She tries to clear up all the issues she sees such as Klaus, Rogu, Steve and even Jeff. However, the voice still nags her even while the girls are over, and she is trying to get them to watch Big City Honeys. She runs to Roger to see if he can help. She convinces Dr. Penguin (!!) to return and he suggests Hayley try to push the voice out of her head through HIV: High-intensity Visualization.

She believes she gets rid of the voice but the voice comes out as the appearance of a cow. The cow continues to follow her around. She tries HIV again with Dr. Penguin but this causes her to jump into Big City Honeys. The cow follows her there and makes her realize she shouldn’t try to run from her life. She learns from Nerfer and Danuta that they actually admire Hayley for having a husband and a job.

Meanwhile over in the B-Plot, Roger opens a spa in the attic with the unfortunate character of Rub Rub Tugginton (it’s on all the merchandise). His clients Stan and Francine try to get a couples massage but he develops carpal tunnel syndrome. His clumsy attempts to continue the massage but this turns into sex between Stan and Francine.

Stray Obervations

• Shoutout to Reginald who doesn’t appear but is mentioned. Guess he’s off giving back to his community (Chlamydia)
• Tia Mowry voices the roommate, Jason Alexander voices the landlord and Jaleel White voices Queef. It’s a veritable 90s TV star bonanza
• The title Big City Honeys evokes Sex and the City but the show is actually more like Friends and its ilk with the bad laugh track and hacky sitcom jokes and the best friend who comes through the window and happens to be Black.
• The Knicks joke is funny because of course this was written/produced when they were bad but they just finished a season where they made the playoffs and got out of the first round in forever

Thoughts: Really solid episode for me. The return of Dr. Penguin, good use of Roger, funny stuff in the B-Plot.