"Let's Get Physical" is the sixth season premier in Reba.
After Barbra Jean joins a local gym, gets acquainted with a fitness trainer, and becomes much thinner as the result, Brock requests Reba to visit the gym in question to check up on Barbra Jean for fear of her possibly having an affair. Meanwhile, Van takes a liking to Barbra Jean's new physique and causes Cheyenne to become upset that Van is paying less attention to her instead, and Kyra returns after a long period of absence.
Tropes in this episode:
- Analogy Backfire/Compliment Backfire: After Barbra Jean loses a lot of weight, Van starts to gawk at her a lot more, upsetting Cheyenne. Barbra Jean's attempt at making Cheyenne feel better does no favor for the latter.Barbra Jean: Don't get upset, Cheyenne. You're like a bleached-out... Jan Brady.Cheyenne: Jan? Jan Brady. I'm Marcia. Marcia, Marcia, MARCIA!!! *storms off*
- Brawn Hilda: Dot, a gym trainer portrayed by Dot Marie Jones, is a very muscular woman.
- Catchphrase: Barbra Jean enters the scene with this line: "Yoo hoo! I'm here! And I'm thin!" It lasts only for this episode, though.
- Catchphrase Interruptus: Barbra Jean's announcement upon her entry gets cut off by Reba once:Barbra Jean: Yoo hoo! I'm here! And I'm —
Reba: Oh, shut up and have a doughnut! - Dream Sequence: The episode begins with Van complaining to Cheyenne that food items in the house are getting scarce, which is implied to be the result of Reba eating about all the available food choices, especially once Reba, shown to have become overweight, enters the kitchen with a box of pizza in hand. Van asks Reba why she eats so much, before Barbra Jean enters the kitchen, sporting a much thinner body, prompting Van to remark that Barbra Jean and Reba standing next to each other makes them resemble the number 10. The scene fades away at this point and shows that the whole sequence has been All Just a Dream Reba had while taking a nap.
- Fanservice: Jordan, Barbra Jean's fitness trainer, is handsome and well-toned (and, unbeknown to Brock and Reba, Straight Gay).
- Leaning on the Fourth Wall:
- Reba remarks about Kyra having been absent for the past three daysnote , a bare minute before Kyra enters the scene.(Kyra walks into the house after long absence; audience applause)
Van: What the hell?
Reba: Where have you been?
Kyra: I went to get something to eat. - And one more example, near the end of the episode:Van: Where are you going?
Kyra: Just going to grab something to eat.
Van: Okay, see you next year.
- Reba remarks about Kyra having been absent for the past three daysnote , a bare minute before Kyra enters the scene.
- Non-Indicative Name: Dot, contrary to her name, is a Brawn Hilda whose appearance frightens Reba so much that Reba curls into the fetal position at the sight of her.
- This gets one more mention between Brock and Reba after the latter returns from the gym:Brock: Well? Is he [Jordan] small? Can I take him?Reba: He's big, but not as big as Dot.
- This gets one more mention between Brock and Reba after the latter returns from the gym:
- Poor, Predictable Rock: This episode shows that Van's "system" when he plays Rock–Paper–Scissors is this trope, though it's scissors that he always picks in this case
- It gets lampshaded near the end of the episode when Jake and Van are about to have a go with Rock–Paper–Scissors.Jake: You're going to pick scissors, aren't you?Van: (annoyed) Get Out!!
- It gets lampshaded near the end of the episode when Jake and Van are about to have a go with Rock–Paper–Scissors.
- Real After All / Or Was It a Dream?: Zigzagged. The episode starts with a Dream Sequence, during which Reba is shown to have become obese, whereas Barbra Jean, who makes her entry after stating "Yoo hoo! I'm here! And I'm thin!", is shown to be quite slender (Van remarks with "Do you see that, Cheyenne? They look just like the number 10.") When Reba wakes up, she checks her body and is glad she's not as obese as she appeared to be in the dream — then cue Barbra Jean using the same Catchphrase she had during the Dream Sequence, coming into the house, and looking as thin as she appeared to be during the Dream Sequence.Reba: And the nightmare continues. *pulls her blanket over her face*
- Shout-Out: The title of this episode serves this purpose to Olivia Newton-John, being a line in the lyrics of the song "Physical".
- Straight Gay: Based on Barbra Jean's account, Jordan, her fitness trainer, is gay. We never see him acting in any stereotypical gay manners, though.
- Visual Innuendo: Barbra Jean's exercise regimen with Jordan has quite a few examples of this — for example, when Jordan is spotting Barbra Jean with weight-lifting, his own crotch is barely half a footnote above Barbra Jean's face. The conclusion Reba draws, not knowing much about Jordan, doesn't ease her mind (or Brock's, since she goes to the gym in the first place largely because Brock wants her to check up on Barbra Jean to make sure she's not having an extramarital affair).Reba: (to Brock) I don't know if they're having an affair or not, but if they keep working out like that they might be having a baby.
