The introductory montage for “Julia’s” new life in Townsville is essentially the life that Roger’s always wanted. The members of the community whisper over how mysterious and deep Julia’s history must be and she’s seen as the fascinating enigma that Roger has always considered himself to be. In spite of Roger being a glowing social butterfly in his new Erin Brokavich-esque lifestyle, he continues to hold onto the grapevine that started this mess, almost as a haunting reminder of where he began. The whole thing is terribly melodramatic, but that’s it’s goal. It’s even easy to picture Julia Roberts going through some version of this narrative up on the silver screen.

Roger’s new life leads to him finding happiness and love within Jesse. Jesse allows Roger to finally be able to move past the trauma that he went through with Stan and get on with his life. If Roger plays his cards right, he might even find himself with a dance to the harvest festival (which does not have a dance, just to be clear). Just as Roger is finding peace as Julia, his past decides to messily intersect with his new life. Stan comes to Townsville looking to steamroll everything that Roger has built in the process.

This reunion between Roger and Stan involves a lot of showboating and hiding of emotions while all that Roger is really looking for is for Stan to admit that he actually wants Roger to come home. Stan and Jesse continue to be juxtaposed against each other as Roger tries to figure out what’s best for him. It’s the sort of trajectory that happens all the time in the films that this episode is poking fun at, like Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore.

“Julia Rogerts” might tug at the audience’s emotions a little bit and make it truly seem like Stan is indifferent to Roger, but thankfully it’s revealed that his behavior is all part of a ruse. Surprisingly this ends up morphing into one of the better examples of an episode that explores Stan and Roger’s bond, of which there are already plenty of strong contenders. Then, just for good measure, the episode throws one final curveball into the mix by letting the melodrama take a backseat to the absurdism of Crow Gods. That’s nothing for the fresh team of Stan and Roger though.

Speaking of ruses, that “decoy” of Stan that Roger puts together at the Smith household is pretty damn brilliant. This sort of thing would actually work in real life if you had the wherewithal to create such a ruse. It’s a plan so perfect that it can even make something like grass-ketball seem natural.