- Ray starts to have second thoughts about himself after he didn't help Debra when she was choking.
- Debra starts to choke on an orange seed while she and Ray are watching TV on the couch, but Ray does nothing. He simply turns up the TV volume. Debra accuses him of being useless during emergencies. Ray says that it wasn't an emergency as the seed eventually came out and that Debra was coughing and not choking. Ray says that Debra can depend on him when the chips are down. Debra narrates the incident when he hid in the closet when a squirrel entered the house. Debra declares that Ray is useless in an emergency. Ray says that had Debra been really choking, he would have known what to do, by instinct. Even Robert says that Ray has never been very good in crisis situations and tends to panic easily. Robert teaches Debra how to perform the Heimlich maneuver on herself.
Ray talks to his mother. Marie says that while Debra can be very demanding, but she agrees with Debra and says that she would trust Robert and Frank over Ray in an absolute emergency. Marie says that while Ray is sensitive, but that is not enough to face a burglar or a peeping Tom. Frank beats Ray at arm wrestling and that just makes Ray feel even worse.
Ray hangs out with the guys at Nemo's at lunch. Andy (Andy Kindler), Gianni (Jon Manfrellotti) and Robert make fun of him when they find how Ray panicked and Robert showed Debra how to perform the Heimlich maneuver. Even the waitress Suzy (Susan Varon) knew that Ray lost an arm-wrestling match with Frank. Ray claims that Frank cheated as he was using his whole body and had bad breath. The guys call Frank manly, as he did what it took to get the job done. The guys argue over who is more manly and who gets Debra in case Ray passes away soon. Robert thinks he has dibs as he is the brother and it's in the bible. Gianni is hairy and scary and Andy is cute and Squishable. Ray laments that he does not want to be taken care of. Robert again makes fun of Ray as he lives across the street from his mother.
So, Ray tries to be too manly with Debra that evening. He takes care of some hardware chores around the house (he checked the smoke detectors, changed a light bulb, squashed a bug). Ray is also ready to pick a fight with anyone, if needed when he finds that the grocery store might have forgotten to put ketchup (that Debra bought) in her shopping bags. Debra gets a splinter in her hand, while putting Ray's stool away. Ray wrestles with Debra to get a splinter out of her hand. Debra figures out Ray is trying to act manly so that she won't call him useless anymore. Debra says that she overreacted the previous day and calls Ray a wonderful husband and a good man. Ray still insists on getting the splinter out. Debra starts bleeding after the splinter is out and Ray backs off at the sight of blood.
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![Doris Roberts and Ray Romano in Everybody Loves Raymond (1996)](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/M/MV5BMjI5Njk0OTM5OF5BMl5BanBnXkFtZTgwMDUxNzQ2MjE@._V1_QL75_UY133_CR44,0,90,133_.jpg)