Glenn Howerton as Jack, Paula Pell as Helen
Helen (Paula Pell) helps Jack (Glenn Howerton) write a feel-good philosophy book in Season 1, episode 7 of NBC’s “A.P. Bio.” NBC/Vivian Zink

Jack needs Helen’s optimism in this week’s episode of “A.P. Bio.”

According to the synopsis for Season 1, episode 7 of the NBC comedy, Jack (Glenn Howerton) receives an offer from Miles’ (Tom Bennett) publisher to write a feel-good philosophy book. Since he knows that this book could be his ticket out of Toledo, Jack quickly turns to his A.P. Bio students for help. But when he realizes that his class is not good enough to assist him in this particular endeavor, Jack reaches out to Helen (Paula Pell) instead.

“Would you like to come to dinner tonight, my place?” Jack asks Helen in the trailer for the episode.

Helen accepts Jack’s invitation as she seems to think that the disgraced Harvard professor is hitting on her.

In a sneak peek from the episode, Jack reveals to Helen the real reason why he invited her to dinner. “I’m working on a book to help people smile and I thought, ‘Well, who makes me smile more than anyone? And it’s you.’ So I need your help,” Jack tells Helen.

“I’ll be so honored to help you with your book,” Helen replies. “You know what I always say, ‘Always go for a second helping of helping.’”

“That’s the stuff I need,” Jack says of the catchphrase Helen just made. “I need more of those. You’ve got a bunch of those?”

While Helen has a lot of witty taglines in her mind, she prefers that they resume working on it tomorrow at lunch time. “I’m tuckered out. It’s almost 8:30 p.m.,” Helen says.

“No, no, no, I just need 75 more of these, and then we’re good,” Jack insists.

To make Helen stay a little bit longer, Jack offers her a cup of coffee, which she fails to resist.

After finishing up her cup of coffee, Helen begins to blurt out a bunch of funny lines, much to Jack’s delight.

Elsewhere in the episode, Durbin (Patton Oswalt) accidentally sets off an emotional firestorm when he reveals that while Stef (Lyric Lewis) chose Mary (Mary Sohn) as her emergency contact, Mary chose Michelle (Jean Villepique).

“A.P. Bio” Season 1, episode 7, titled “Selling Out,” airs tonight at 8:30 p.m. EDT on NBC.