Splitting Up Together – Soups Jealous

By: Taylor Gates

Wes (Trent Garrett) texts Lena (Jenna Fischer), telling her he can’t stop thinking about what they did in the car. After some debate, she responds with a bunch of fire emojis. Lena reminds the kids to do their chores, but they’re running out the clock until it shifts to Martin’s (Oliver Hudson) turn so they won’t have to. Lena decides to join in and leave the housework to Martin, too.

Maya (Diane Farr) helps Lena pick out a dress for her next date with Wes. She’s been having a really great time with Wes but doesn’t understand why Martin’s been acting so cold towards her since he’s in a full-blown relationship already. Maya shares that she did some research about getting pregnant and found out she’ll have to open an account at the sperm bank. Lena promises to be there to support her every step of the way.

Martin tells Arthur (Bobby Lee) about his terrible night trying to surprise Lena. Martin goes into the garage where Lena is putting on makeup, searching for a board game to have family game night with the kids. He agrees to let Maya join them and gets irritated when she hears Lena on the phone with Wes.

Wes takes Lena to a fancy restaurant complete with blackberry-infused water. The servers tell then that they’re a screen-free restaurant and store their devices on a tray in the back. In order to keep up her chill persona, Lena reluctantly complies.

Wes notices that Lena seems more relaxed and thinks he’s been a good influence on her getting to mellow out. Lena agrees but says there are still complicated things in her life like Martin’s jealousy. She starts rambling about how stressed she is about her kids being home without her, warning Wes she has many sides to her. He assures her he can handle it.

Milo (Sander Thomas) complains that Martin isn’t taking care of him as well as Lena does when he’s sick. He even tries to play him, saying that Lena gives him $20 every time his fever is over one hundred degrees. Maya realizes this means no game night and Martin explodes, suggesting that she have sex in their driveway instead.

Meanwhile at the restaurant, Wes and Lena are having a great time making each other blush. Maya tries to contact her and tell her that Martin definitely knows about her and Wes in the car and that Milo has a bad fever, but Lena doesn’t have her phone on her. After unsuccessfully trying to get the server (Alice Lee) to let her see her phone, Lena sneaks into the back of the restaurant to retrieve it herself. When she sees all of the missed calls and texts, she panics and sends some soup to their house.

Martin starts doing a good job taking care of Milo, and Maya muses that she would never be as good of a parent as he is. Martin tells her she shouldn’t be intimidated and thinks she’ll be a great parent. Martin is furious when the soup arrives, saying that this is a sign of doubt and an attempt by Lena to out-parent him.

Maya tells Martin he doesn’t have the right to be upset about Wes because he’s dating Charlotte (Kelsey Asbille). Martin tells her the truth about him being her dance teacher and him trying to surprise her for their anniversary. Maya is crushed by his announcement, even more so when Martin describes how he lost passion for Lena during the years they were married.

In the phone room, Lena tells Wes she feels like a horrible mother for not knowing about Milo. Wes assures her that her maternal instincts aren’t dwindling, reminding her she got her phone despite threats not to and sent Milo overpriced soup. When they get back to Lena’s house, Lena tells Wes she just wants to quickly check in with Milo before hanging out. Wes tells her to go spend time with her kid and call him the next day, which Lena is grateful for. Maya tells Lena the truth about Martin and his dance lessons, which makes her feel bad.

Lena apologizes to Martin for what happened with Wes and assuming he had a girlfriend. Martin thinks everything played out the way it was supposed to—he can’t make one stupid gesture and fix everything. He admits seeing her with another guy hurt him, and Lena questions if it hurt his pride or heart. Martin gets frustrated, saying they get on each other’s nerves and she belongs with someone like Wes. However, the reconcile shortly after when Lena checks on Milo and sees that Martin has been taking good care of him.

Afterwards in the garage, Lena tells Maya that she and Martin are still definitely divorced. Maya replies that she’s doing some online shopping for both sperm and purses. She’s decided that she’s really doing the whole baby thing, and Lena promises to act as a dad. They take a picture with the sperm purchaser agreement for the future baby book.