It's about letting us empathize with Lucy as she yearns for stardom, even as we laugh at her foolishness.

As regular viewers, we know early on that all her hopes will come to naught, which enhances the sadistic pleasure we experience at her situation.

As she gets into the fight in the tub we continue to laugh at her foolishness while we vicariously enjoy letting out some aggression and mashing those grapes in another person's face.

Then, when Lucy is rejected for the movie, we empathize with her loss and laugh at her foolishness, while we also laugh at Ethel's pretentiousness.

When Lucy snarls, we're still laughing at her but we like her so much, we can't help but empathize with her and find her endearing at the same time.

Most of all, we enjoy watching the characters as they appear to suffer and involve themselves in matters that are of great moment to them but that are of no consequence to us.

We enjoy playing at having these emotions, ourselves, even as we are freed from having to really suffer them.

What is this episode about? It's about what all fiction is about: the confrontation between our narcissism and a world full of limitation. Like Lucy, we are all self-involved fools with inflated dreams who are foiled by life. Watching her, we get to laugh at ourselves while we deny it is about ourselves and enjoy the fact that it is someone else who is doing the suffering.

The fiction and the humor and our affection for the characters, as well as the fact that it is about other people who don't really exist, all give us permission to laugh and help heal the pain we experience as a result of the limitations of life. Oh yes, it also gives us permission to be a little foolish ourselves.

But now that I've totally depressed you, you definitely need the therapy provided by seeing another one of Lucy schemes go awry...