"How to Survive Your loveable Jackass" is the first episode of Cooper Barrett's Guide to Surviving Life's first season.
After graduation in 2011, Cooper Barrett and his friends move into an apartment together. Their TV gets stolen at their housewarming party. Two years later, Barry finds the people he believes took it, only to discover they stole back the wrong TV. One of the guys Barry stole it from recognizes Cooper at a Basketball game, and kidnaps him to ransom him for a new TV.
This episode provides examples of:
- Cassandra Truth: Kelly slams the door in Cooper's face when he tells her he was kidknapped.
- Chekhov's Gun: The TV.
- Easily Forgiven: Subverted; Cooper puts Barry in a headlock after they get him back from the kidnappers.
- Also subverted in that Barry holds a grudge against the assumed-thieves for TWO YEARS.
- Foreshadowing: Cooper does this, a lot.
- Hypocrisy Nod: Subverted; Barry seems fully unaware of how big a jackass he is, that when he chews out Cooper for getting kidnapped (despite Barry being responsible for it), Cooper finally loses it and attacks him.
- Jerkass Realization: Subverted; instead of realizing how big of a jackass he was, Barry berates Cooper for getting into that mess that they had to bail him out of, despite Barry being responsible for it.
- Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Essentially Barry, the "loveable jackass".
- Only Sane Man: Cooper tries to be this, but his brother is the one who bails him out of trouble.
- Toxic Friend Influence: Pretty much the whole premise of the episode centers around Barry being the "lovable jackass" friend who gets them into trouble.
- Protagonist-Centered Morality: The MMA guys supposedly stealing the TV was treated like the worst thing imaginable by Barry, while them stealing their TV and not returning it is barely addressed.
- Skewed Priorities: Barry's hyper-focus on protecting the TV, even two years after it was stolen.
- Toxic Friend Influence: As per the episode title, Barry is considered this.
