Cake Fear

S3 E21: Though Paul is getting ready to celebrate, he can't help but think that this birthday will be like so many others -- a disaster. Jamie suggests thinking positively and not dwell on the past, but Paul senses his worst fears are being confirmed when Ira offers to kill himself to make up for the fact that his cat ate his date's pet bird. This incident prompts Paul to recall his last birthday when Lisa gave him a powerful sleeping pill just before a big surprise party Jamie arranged for him. After recalling the year Jamie thought hosting a birthday party would be just the thing to help Fran take her mind off her failing marriage, Paul remembers how a big snowstorm ruined another celebration. Thinking back to his first birthday with Jamie, he then remembers how being excluded from his traditional birthday walk resulted in her almost leaving him. And, only after Paul admitted to spending the walk thinking about how wonderful life would be with her did Jamie reconsider the hasty decision. Back in the present, Jamie talks Ira in from his perch on the window ledge, though Susannah still isn't convinced that death isn't the appropriate payback for the loss of her bird. And, while Paul sees the whole episode in the light of his long history of failed birthday celebrations, Jamie insists he isn't cursed and that they all try to have a good time. But when Murray chases Ira's cat right out the apartment's open window, Paul fears are, once again, confirmed.