The act of making French toast provides a tidy (and delicious) set of bookends for the film. The morning after Joanna abruptly leaves, Ted makes Billy breakfast, under Billy's helpful supervision. It's not a trial by fire for Ted; it's a trial by toast.

More Like Burned Toast

It almost becomes a literal trial by fire for Ted, though, and that's because he has no idea what he's doing in the kitchen. He doesn't know where any of the bowls are kept, so he cracks eggs into his "Ted" coffee mug. If he doesn't know where they keep the bowls, it's a safe bet that he never pitched in to help Joanna make a meal, let alone said, "Hey, I'll make dinner on Tuesday. You take the night off."

When Ted makes that first batch of toast, he gets eggshells in the mix and has to tear the bread apart to jam it in his coffee mug.

Yum?

He does this all while casually, and incorrectly, informing Billy that all the best chefs are men, right before he almost lets the pan full of the World's Worst French toast burst into flames.

Needless to say, if this was Top Chef, Ted would be packing his knives and going home. Ted has zero idea how to be a parent because he's never tried to be a parent before—not out of any fear of failure, mind you, but because he simply wasn't interested. Child rearing was Joanna's job. Ditto for the vitally important and perpetually overlooked tasks of cooking, cleaning, shopping, and knowing where the bowls are.

Ted's nervous, confused, and angry at his situation. He has to make French toast. He has to brew himself some coffee and get Billy some orange juice. He has to get Billy ready for school. In short, he has to do everything Joanna used to do every day, and he's frazzled.

That's why he spouts that nonsense about male chefs. That's why he keeps telling Billy that they're having fun while Billy looks at him like, "Uh, yeah. I am not eating that." That's why, when he drops the hot pan on the kitchen floor, he screams "Damn her!"

Ted's been thrust into the role of single parent, and his only guide is the kid he's supposed to parenting. That shell-filled, blackened toast is a symbol of his frustration and failure.

Breakfast Redux

On what's supposed to be Billy's last morning living at Ted's full-time, Ted makes French toast once again. This time, he's got the kitchen humming like a well-oiled machine; Billy helps. Their skills would make even Gordon Ramsay proud, and that guy hates just about everything.

This is no ordinary breakfast, though—and not just because Joanna's on her way. The French toast marks how far Ted and Billy have come. By that we mean, this: First, it shows how Ted has evolved into an awesome parent who's got this whole morning routine thing on lock. He isn't stressed out. He knows where the bowls and pan are because, like a boss, he knows where everything is. As a parent, he has to. Second, it shows how tight Ted and Billy have become in the 18 months that Joanna was away. They're a team in the kitchen—and everywhere else.