SPOILER ALERT AND WARNING: The following contains spoilers for Average Joe Season 2, Episode 5. It also contains discussion of suicide.
Average Joe Season 2, Episode 5 is rightly called “Keep It Together.” The first 40 minutes of the Paramount+ show are an exploration of loss, grief and a few other poignant emotions. It’s painful and beautiful and more than audiences might expect from this series. And then there’s Cathy.
This is in no way a slight to actor Cynthia Kaye McWilliams, who continues to play Cathy with a cocky finesse. She’s a joy to watch. But in the same episode where the fans—and the group—think Cathy has gotten over her instinct to be a “selfish bitch,” she calls the cops and gloats about everyone (including her own husband) going to jail. From an entertainment standpoint, Cathy is a great character. From a friend standpoint, it’s hard to see how she ever comes back from this.
Before Average Joe gets to that point, though, this episode mostly slows down to enable all the characters—including the villain Sipho—to confront the burdens that they carry. “Keep It Together” opens with as much of an origin story as fans will get for Sipho, learning that he’s one of the only survivors of a 1985 church massacre. Found by a soldier surveying the dead, Sipho turns the soldier’s weapon on him. This one scene gives a whole lot of context to who this young man became. And later on, as present-day Sipho goads a henchman into attacking him, audiences realize how much pain he’s still carrying even while he’s inflicting it on others. None of this excuses his behavior, but it’s meaningful to see more of the character beyond his being the antagonist.
The episode truly belongs, though, to Michael Trucco as Touch gets to the point audiences have been waiting for. The friendship between Touch and Phyllis (a wonderful Pearl Thusi) has been one of the best parts of Average Joe Season 2, and it comes to a head in Episode 5. Seeing how despondent Phyllis is about not being able to help the people she loves most, Touch does his best to reassure her, which leads to him confiding in her and asking for her help. What follows is a deeply touching sequence of events. Phyllis performs a ritual that enables her to have a brief conversation with Donna, passing on a message to Touch, who then confesses his suicide attempt to Joe, Leon and Cathy.
Trucco is absolutely gangbusters in these scenes; one can feel Touch’s compassion as he rallies Pearl, but then he struggles to extend that same compassion to himself. But his vulnerability is equally affecting. Trucco remains one of the best actors in the business, and scenes like the one at Phyllis’ dinner table are another example of why. He pours his heart out and in so doing, connects with the audience on such a profound level. Watching Touch’s character arc has been an absolute pleasure.
“Keep It Together” also carves out space for Phyllis and Imani, though. It’s important that they’re not just there to facilitate Touch or Joe’s stories; they have their own arc going. Phyllis is able to also have a moment with Imani’s mother, and later with Imani herself, after Joe understandably lectures her about assassination attempts in the way that only Joe can (take a shot every time the word “motherfucker” is used in this episode). Even though they’re probably only one-season characters, they feel like they’re living full lives, and the audience cares about them as much as the core group.
Eventually, because there must be forward plot movement, Joe takes Leon and Touch to the secret club and finds someone else who knows him by name. But Average Joe doesn’t get much further than that, thanks to Cathy making the decision to turn on her friends again. Some viewers might be frustrated that there are only three episodes left and they’re not that much closer to unraveling Teddy’s secrets. But “Keep It Together” is a far better episode because it doesn’t just keep pushing forward after Joe rescues Imani. The episode allows its characters to explore how taxing all of this is on them emotionally. And that’s actually just as compelling as the mystery that’s unfolding. This is an episode that brings the audience to tears, and wonderfully so.
Average Joe streams Wednesdays on Paramount+. Photo Credit: Courtesy of Paramount+.
Article content is (c)2020-2026 Brittany Frederick and may not be excerpted or reproduced without express written permission by the author. Follow me on Twitter at @BFTVTwtr and on Instagram at @BFTVGram. For story pitches, contact me at tvbrittanyf@yahoo.com.
