Never Alone, But Forever Crazy

Cougar Town, S0314-15

Jules was forced to deal with some issues she was having with Grayson's privacy and deceiving Laurie about her position as co-maid of honor when everyone re-enacted the premise of Groundhog Day for her.  Travis had to rekindle Bobby and Andy's passion for penny can.  Grayson proposed that he and Jules elope in Napa by themselves, but she brought the whole gang with her.

Sometimes I think that Grayson is the most reasonable person on the show and found his explosion of fury when Jules and company would not give him the tiniest bit of space in his new home to be overdue.  There's only so much one person can take before you just push them over the line and having people lotioning up and raiding your drawers and closet while you want to read is beyond what a normal person could tolerate.  That's why it was not just appropriate to see Grayson yell at the gang and punch the wall, but it was also funny.  Finally he stops just complaining in the background while everyone ignores him and puts a little force behind his rejections of their ways!  Truly, I identify with Grayson the most of all (especially because I would have been a neighbor like him was who intended to interact as little as possible with his fellow neighbors).

I wasn't too surprised that Grayson's request for the two of them to be eloped was denied.  But it frustrated me to see Jules not understand that just the two of us didn't mean the rest of the people who never leave her house (gathering at 6:30 in the morning?? I would shoot those people!).  In fact, I think my head would explode if Jules had taken Grayson to Napa with just the two of them.  But at least Grayson accepted his fate that he was marrying everyone (his proposal to them all was lame) and didn't drown himself in a full wine barrel.  There's not much he can do short of murdering Jules' entourage.

Besides Grayson's outburst, I liked that they recreated Groundhog Day to teach Jules a lesson.  It's one of my favorite movies, and I would love it if I could do that with a group of friends.  The fact that Jules didn't understand the concept of the movie and was annoyed that they kept saying the same thing for a few days was really funny.  I only wished that she had taken longer to figure out how to make things right with Laurie and Grayson.  I like when they sort of team up against her.  She deserves it.

Concerning penny can... I was so hopeful that Travis had done something great for once in his miserable life and brought an end to that game.  It has a certain charm for weirdo adults, but when you think about it, it's a really stupid game that loses its charm the more they play the game.  It was only slightly cute when Little Stan was asking to play and finally did play it at the end.  Other than that, I didn't pay too much attention to that story.

I also didn't pay too much attention to Travis trying to get Laurie again.  I was happy, however, to see Wade.  He is quite cuter in person than on an iPad!  But I know one day, especially now that Travis has drunkenly exposed himself to Laurie, Travis will get Laurie.  Am I sitting on the edge of my seat waiting for that day?  Hell no.  But I hope to enjoy more of cute Wade for a little while longer until that happens.

I was disappointed that they had their wedding on the beach while trying to avoid the cops because it happened without much mishap.  I wanted to see disaster after disaster before they said "I do."  It was sweet, but it didn't pull at any heart strings for me.  What was better than their wedding was Ellie flirting shamelessly with the guy at the hotel.  I mean, if Andy had dropped dead right in front of her, I think she would have hopped over his body and jumped Daniel's bones in a second.  I loved it. She just wouldn't stop, even when Daniel was arrested.  She kept texting him things that were certainly crossing over to cheating on Andy.  Somehow I really envy how she can do that with no guilt.  It's cruel in a hilarious way, and I sort of wish I could do that if I were married.  I gained a little more respect for Ellie.

This wasn't a bad season finale, and I could be happy if this were the series finale, frankly.  This show was a little too often off the mark for me in terms of jokes, so I'm not that eager to continue watching it on TBS, unless I hear some pretty good rumors about it.  I kept with this show hoping that it would grow on me and it has a tiny bit, but not so much that I think that I will be definitely watching it again in its fourth season. 

Travis Gets Too Much Information

Cougar Town, S03E12

The battle for who's sexier revealed some harsh truths about Laurie and Ellie's own sexuality, which Travis unwillingly had to console them about.  Grayson was living at Jules' house while his house was being repaired for hurricane damage, and he and Jules began to project past problems with their ex-spouses on each other.     Bobby and Jules also had a contest to see who could keep their white shirt stain-free the longest.

The only thing I liked about Ellie and Laurie's story was that they were so open about their sexual activities with Travis.  It was funny watching him suffer through his crush talk about how she got her freak on and his mom's best friend talk about the degree in which she got naked during intercourse.  And Ellie just wouldn't stop telling Travis, even when she promised to after he agreed to help her make Andy more sexually satisfied.  It's just really sad that Travis is the best person they could find to help them with sex problems when he isn't exactly an expert himself.

The issues that Grayson and Jules were going through were a little interesting, but the only thing I really liked about their situation was that their therapist warned them they would treat each other like their exes, but neither of them listened to her.  Then in the end, they denied that she ever said it and questioned her credentials.  When the therapist broke a vase in frustration, it made me wish she had thrown it at them.  She seems a little unbalanced herself (though I'm not sure it's not just from dealing with Jules all the time), so perhaps the next time "Julson" wastes her advice, she'll get a little revenge on them.  I think they may need therapy beaten into them because talking seems to do nothing.

I think that the white T-shirt challenge was one of the better contests they've had on this show, but it still wasn't that amusing.  Nor was it surprising when Grayson ended the challenge by tripping and spilling wine onto Jules' shirt.  Just when she finally gave him permission to drink wine on the couch, he blew it by making her lose and staining the couch.  But when you look at the random messes Bobby has made around the house (foremost the mustard on the ceiling), I think I would cut him some slack.

There were two episodes shown this week, but this one was the weaker of the two for me.  There wasn't much to laugh about, but there was a lot to criticize concerning the characters.  It was nice to see that it isn't impossible for Jules and Grayson to live together and see Travis wanting to blow his brains out from all the juicy details he was getting from Laurie and Ellie.  If only they had stepped up that latter part more would this have probably been a funnier episode for me.

Maybe Jules Would Be Better Without Therapy

Cougar Town, S03E09

Grayson and Jules discussed combining their finances and homes and made little progress with how they wanted to handle the changes and decisions they would have to make when they got married.  Jules consulted with her therapist to the point that she was overstepping the boundaries that a therapist and patient should have.  Laurie struggled to keep up with her cake business while doing her job at Jules'.  She hired some unpaid workers to help her, but the staff quickly quit.  Travis convinced her to quit her real estate job and go 100% into her cake business.  Ellie teased Andy that Bobby was too sensitive to handle one of his pranks, so Andy made Bobby go hiking with an empty water bottle that he believed would fill itself on its own.

As much as I would hope that therapy would help Jules, it only seems to be making her crazier.  It is funny, though, that she can threaten her friends and family with therapy sessions if they upset her.  This even works on Ellie, who was forced to go after stealing Jules' "thunder"" twice in the episode.  I started to feel bad for the therapist who was allowing Jules to come in any time she felt like, even when she was interrupting other patients' sessions (who seemed more than happy to let Jules take their time).  However, the therapist was an enabler herself--since Jules' bills were affording her boats, she was happy to throw empty advice to her (which Grayson and Jules gladly lapped up).  I think therapy is only letting Jules feel like she can control people even more and rationalize her actions that make no sense to others around her.

As for their discussion about which house they are going to keep, I'm pretty sure that it's going to be Jules'.  Or either they might get another house (which I doubt with their finances).  I liked that Ellie was in favor of the two staying at Jules' house because it was across from her own and she didn't have the energy for the 30 steps to Grayson's.  It's funny how Ellie can be as lazy as I sometimes.

I wasn't too interested in the Laurie story because I knew what was going to happen from the beginning.  Obviously, she couldn't balance having both jobs, and Jules had mentioned that she couldn't afford to pay Laurie anymore.  I just thought it was stupid that Travis didn't tell her sooner that it would have been best for her to just take a leap of faith and go for her cake business for real.  Then again, I could see how she would be afraid that Jules would refuse to let her quit (or just dramatically refuse to speak to her again if she did).  Thankfully, Jules wanted to fire her, so Laurie's quitting was good for both sides.

There also wasn't much to say about the Andy and Bobby story either.  There were two things, however, I liked concerning Ellie in that story.  One was that she challenged Andy to make Bobby believe he had a "magical" self-replenishing water bottle, but when Andy was worried that Bobby could really get into trouble on his hiking trip, Ellie told him she was amazed he could send his friend off to such place where he could die of dehydration.  What a delightfully bitchy thing to say!  Bobby was taken off in an ambulance when Andy and Ellie found him, but he wasn't angry at all his friend had included him in one of his jokes.  However, the second thing that I liked was a conversation a ranger (I guess) and Ellie had while Bobby and Andy hugged:

[Guy] You married to one of those guys?

[Ellie] No.  They're lovers.

Sometimes I wonder if she wouldn't be happy if Andy just ran off with Bobby.

At the end, Ellie tried to get back at Little Stan with a demon mask, but he just thought that she wasn't wearing makeup.  Andy tried to congratulate his burn, but Stan told him to go away.  Ellie also walked away defeated.  That kid is really made of the most evil parts of both his parents.  He's going to be a terror as teenager.

I think that Ellie saved this episode again.  It was a little funny that Jules was abusing her therapist's role in her life, but not so much that it was funnier each time she did it.  If her therapist is smart, she should realize that Jules' psychological problems have increased since she started having the sessions and cut her lose.  No number of boats can possibly compensate being at Jules' beck and call for any unimportant matter that comes along.

Ellie's Mom--That Explains A Lot

Cougar Town, S03E08

Ellie's mom, Betsy, came into town, and Jules tried to help Ellie get her mother to say something nice about her.  Andy convinced Grayson that he needed to take more interest in his friends if he wanted to lose the title as "New Guy."  He tried to convince Laurie that she should start her dream of selling cakes through his bar.  Travis wanted to steal a statue from campus to make his house an actual party house and got his family to help him.  

I've started to like the pattern of Andy screwing around with Grayson, who doesn't seem to get that Andy takes pleasure in tricking people (no wonder he's a good match for Ellie).  Grayson is such a moron that he doesn't get it yet.  But I do think that Andy was halfway trying to help Grayson stop acting like such a superficial friend.  I don't know if Laurie was the best person for him to dig deep and learn more about as if he was really interested.  Grayson surprised me by actually supporting Laurie's dream (even if it was to benefit himself).  She is practically in his bar all the time anyway, so she might as well become a part-time employee.  I just wonder how that might impact the "work" that she does for Jules.

I didn't think the Travis story wasn't that interesting itself.  It was just weird that he got both his parents and his grandfather involved in stealing the statue.  His wacky family was much more skillful in stealing something than his loser friends.  It's really sad that Travis still needs his family to give him a leg up on being cool.  I know that they are all really close, but at some point can't he be less of a dork on his own?

I really liked Ellie's mother.  It was so weird that she didn't like her own daughter, despite their similarities.  One of the best things about seeing Betsy was that Ellie seemed like a nicer person in comparison.  At least Ellie doesn't pretend to be someone really sweet and talk badly about them behind their backs all the time.  She's mostly the kind who tells you straight up what she doesn't like about you, and I love her for that.  But her mom's brand of two-facedness wasn't bad either.  It just seemed like a device torture Ellie by fooling her friends into thinking she was nicer than Ellie knew to be true.  It's too bad that Ellie decided to cut her out of her life (necessary, though).  I'd like to see her come back and make someone cry again (poor, sensitive Jules).

A little side note--little Stan is crazy.  What kid his age is going around destroying mailboxes?  It's creepy in a way that is somehow funny and cute.  Loved him dragging a random mailbox and Jules letting him slide because it wasn't hers, therefore not her problem.

I liked this episode because Andy messed around with Grayson, but in doing so, he and Laurie got a little closer.  The Ellie story was the best part, and I will miss seeing Ellie's mother around.  She was a cold-hearted bitch, but at least she made Ellie seem quite nice in comparison.

So Grayson Has A Kid--So What?

Cougar Town, S03E06

We get reminded of Grayson's former life as a "ho bag" in this episode.  Laurie tries to reconnect with her buddy Travis, but finds that it's not as easy to turn back the clock as she had thought.  Bobby also took the task of teaching Ellie to surf, not taking Andy's advice to hear that it too, like Laurie's endeavor, isn't as easy as he thought it would be.

Jules seemed a little off base about wanting to get counseling with Grayson before they got married to make sure they started things without baggage, but it backfired on her and they discovered that Grayson actually had a daughter through one of his random hookups.  This was less of a shock to me, but it was a convenient way to get around Jules having to conceive another child.  Travis is enough.  I can't imagine her having another kid, especially at her age and with her current lifestyle (all that wine drinking).  I'm not sure how I think Grayson will be as a dad.  I think he might do okay with a girl rather than a boy (as a man, I don't think he would be the best teacher), but I'm sure he can spoil Tampa (I would have never chosen that name) rotten.

I almost felt a little bad for Laurie who couldn't snap her fingers and make Travis follow after her like a puppy.  It only makes sense though; he's in college now and supposedly a grown man.  Of course, he would move on from hanging out with her so much when he knew that she would never like him the way he did.  Thanks to Sig, though, Laurie finds an opening to bring she and Travis back together.  She was incredibly skillful in teaching the two how to do the steps for the "black frat."  I also enjoyed watching all the guys move in rhythm together.  That kind of stuff, no matter for what purpose, is impressive to me.

Also, Travis' attempt to name their house was funny.  I'm glad Laurie was there to give her opinion about Travis' ideas such as the "Phallus Palace" and "Wang Town."  She was right that it sounded like a good name for a gay bar.  Her suggestion of "Panty Graveyard" was a good one.  She's a much better dude than Travis will ever be (though that probably has a lot of do with all the smothering his mother did).

I was expecting more from the surfing lessons from Bobby, seeing as the pupil was Ellie, but there wasn't much to it.  He gave up on her for a moment, than he changed his mind and stuck with her.  I was expecting her to have all these funny failures as she was trying to surf.  I actually liked her idea of just sitting on the board and chilling in the middle of the ocean.  I think that's a genius way to get a little peace from all of the intrusive friends she has where she lives (the place where it's supposed to be like your sanctuary).  But I guess her learning to surf, too, is good since Bobby is going to be out there anyway so solitude is out of the picture.

I'm pretty interested to see Grayson having his first scene acting like a real father.  I wonder how Jules will interact with the little girl.  She shouldn't be too overbearing because it's not her baby boy, so maybe she will treat her like a normal person (as normal as she can act toward anyone on Earth).  There wasn't enough Ellie-isms in this episode to suit my needs and not enough comedy overall for me to like it too much.  If it wasn't for all of the "baby mama drama," I think I could have lived skipping this one.

Andy Is Kind Of A Sicko

Cougar Town, S03E01

 I didn't have an episode of New Girl to enjoy this week, so I hoped that Tuesday night's void might be lessened by some of the wackiness up in ol' Cougar Town (actually, what city in Florida does it take place?). Such was not meant to be.  Don't get me wrong, it wasn't a shipwreck, but it wasn't as great as it could have been.

Why?  Well, for one, Travis got hurt, which meant we had to listen to him whine for a bit and watch Jules mother him even more than she usually does.  The only good thing about them going to the hospital was that we learned that no one in their gang knows one damn thing about Tom besides that he lives in their neighborhood.  He was a doctor whom no one knew even his last name!  This is the first episode I felt like they were the jerks, and anything creepy Tom did he could get a free pass.

Besides learning how much of a background character Tom was not only to us but to his fellow characters, we also learned that Andy has been regularly spying on Grayson.  It's times like this that I'm reminded that Andy isn't just an awkward and childish man, but he's also creepy and evil (torturing Grayson about his dwindling affection from Jules).  His ultimate man-crush is unquestionable Bobby, but now I'm starting to think that if he were given the opportunity, he might get into Grayson's pants too.  Seriously, who watches someone so consistently from their own window and comes into his fiancee's house to watch him?  Granted all of the gang just comes and goes as they please, but they usually don't hide behind chairs.

Given that Andy is someone I would cross a street to avoid, he was right about how much Grayson wanted a little loving from Jules, and it showed in humorous ways.  It's funny how Grayson used to be so cold, but now he can start rubbing Andy's shoulders without stopping himself right away.  Andy was a little more into it than he needed to be, going back to what I was saying before about him.

That gag with the dogs...  I'm not an animal person so it just pissed me off.  It was funny in the sense that it was cute, but it wasn't funny in the sense that I laughed.  And whose dogs were those?  Do they just all gather there at the park all day long?

There wasn't much Ellie time in this episode, sadly.  However, she did manage to squeeze out one good line:

I miss being a ho.

 Laurie welcomes her back anytime.  Ha.

When are we going to see more of Demon Baby Stan??  He's probably my new favorite character.  If not, the Ellie supply needs to be higher and the coddling-Travis time needs to be way down.  And Jules didn't even get crazy this episode, now that I think about it.  We need that!  Next week better have a better ratio of these things I just mentioned.

You Make Me So Mad I Wanna Murder You!

Cougar Town, S01E02

Of course, this episode was the start of Jules' wedding planning.  I thought she might start with a lot of grand and crazy ideas of her vision, but she needed to accommodate some of her friends' needs first, like Ellie and Andy's need of a place to have sex during the event.  I liked that Grayson asked if he got a say about the wedding because it was his too, and the gang just laughs at him.  Only in a parallel universe would he be able to put his own two cents in.  I forgot that Jules is a people-pleaser and doesn't want anyone unhappy with her.  After all, she pretty much worn down Grayson from an disinterested neighbor to a fiance.

I admire Grayson for trying to fight back in the tiniest way, since his power is basically nonexistent with Jules around, by refusing to accept "Thanks, Babe" as an end to a conversation.  But I like how Ellie and Jules were confused at first why he was still there and hadn't listened  to Jules' command to go to go ask her dad for her hand.  Jules sweet talks him into going, so his little stand is pretty much pointless.

Grayson and Travis visiting Jules' dad was funnier than I expected because he soon asks Grayson to shoot one of his horses.  But in fact, he is just screwing with him and lets Travis in on the joke.  I wondered if it was just because he didn't like Grayson (which I could understand; he's not easily likeable), but it was because he wanted to test how far he'd go for the sake of his daughter.  Bobby had been a bad husband and he didn't want to see her with another unfit guy.  Compared to some other shows I've seen where the dad tested the new husband/boyfriend, I'd say Grayson got off easily.  Not that I wanted to see him shoot a horse, though.  But it was nice to see Travis and Jules' dad bonding together to play around with Grayson.  He got them back by almost shooting the horse.  Who wouldn't when Travis was questioning his manhood by asking how it was possible a grown man such as himself hadn't already killed a horse.  I loved when Travis said that in his monotone voice.

Also, Jules as an eavesdropping ninja, as Travis put it, was a nice joke.  I especially enjoyed her using his powers of stealth to pop up next to Bobby and Andy on the roof.  I would hate to have her as a friend because I feel like I'd want to talk about her, but would feel like I'd always have to check over my shoulder first.

Bobby was trying to express his approval of Jules and Grayson's engagement with the gift of zip-line, but that story was not that interesting to me.  I did think it was kinda cool when Jules finally used it and ended up landing on the hood of Laurie's car.  She took a pretty nice fall.

The best thing of the episode was Ellie and Andy's ritual of expressing murderous anger.  Whenever Ellie got so mad at Andy she wanted to kill him, she would just "do" it.  They would act out the killing moment, complete with blood and murder weapon, and Travis would photograph it.  Then they kept past "murder scenes" on their walls to remember them.  Man, I like that idea!  If only I could do that, but with my friends.  It's a pretty unusual, but entertaining way to channel out your fury.  And later you can laugh about it and realize how silly you were.  I mean, Andy just left the ice cream out too long; did he really need to be bludgeoned to death with a bat?

I won't really mention the whole co-maid of honor (Co-MOH) thing.  Of course, Jules would do that.  I do want to say that Ellie and Jules' relationship is so creepily close, it's funny.  Like how they both keep bags in their cars in preparation of running away together one day.  In a Thelma and Louise fashion?  They're a good match, though.  Someone very self-centered and someone who gets joy from making others happy.  You could easily imagine the two of them married, because they kinda are already (kinda like in Scrubs how Turk and JD were).

Wish there were more jokes that I liked, but that whole murder-pretending thing was good enough to satisfy me this time.  I wonder how ridiculous Jules is going to get soon about planning the wedding.  I hope it's something that even a whipped Grayson will have to fight against (though he won't win).

Good Ol' Predictable Cougar Town

Cougar Town, S03E01

 After much waiting (not for me because I watch enough shows that I don't really notice), Cougar Town returns to ABC.  I think it's relatively funny show, but not as funny as the creator's former show, Scrubs.  That show was great, and had such wonderful chemistry between the cast.  I get the same kind of vibe from Cougar Town, but it doesn't quite strike my funny bone as hard as its elder.  Anyway, I was mildly interested to see it back.

They start off the episode with the aspect that I love the most on the show: the gang's intense need to drink wine all the time.  Jules comes up with idea to make a wine glass neck strap so they don't have to hold wine glasses anymore.  But they decided that they enjoying holding the glasses, so instead of abandoning the straps, they just have two glasses: one for decoration and one for drinking.  Good God, these people are drunks!  But you have to respect how they keep taking "pounding grape" to a new crazy level.  I would only like to join them if it was time to sit around and drink wine like it was going out of style.

The main issue in the episode was that Jules was thought to be predictable by her friends.  I knew that once this was made clear, she would try to show her spontaneous side, but fool no one.  She tells Grayson that she wants them to be a couple that always surprises each other, but with a man who can compose a song about your daily routine to the point that he is singing about you throwing away a mouth piece, there will be few on Jules' end.  Unsurprisingly, she tells off some skater kids who are making noise while she and Grayson chat.  Later, her car is toilet paper "sharked," and she schemes to get back at them.

I thought that Jules would be wrong about the kids that attacked her (since it was a rather large group), and she would end up making an new enemy.  However, after she goes to the house of the "culprit," the police shows up, and she and the reduced gang have to scatter.  Just as Jules is about to get caught, it is revealed that the policeman is in fact Grayson.  How did Grayson get a cop car?  Laurie and Tom were in on it.  Grayson was the one who had sharked her car!  I was confused about why he had done so at first.  Was he just trying to give her a surprise?  Jules is pretty dumb, though.  She didn't notice that the fake address Grayson had given her was an empty house of her own listing.  Wow.  She must be one hell of a realtor.  I finally understood what Grayson's plan was when he proposed!  Whoa!  On a season prieimere?? I didn't see that coming at all!  I mean, I knew that one day he might, but to propose underneath a tp-ed tree?  I've never seen that before.  Besides that this was one of the most original proposals that I've seen on TV, Jules was unusually lip-locked at that time.  She found some words, but it was sweet that they had a moment without her talking so much that she kind of ruined it.

That was the sweet part of the episode, but let me talk about the funny parts.  The best of all was the now toddler Stan, aka the Devil Baby.  Ellie, the toughest character on there, tells him that he should apologize and Stan just casually says, "Doubt it."  I did not have high expectations for this kid, but he instantly got my adoration.  Ellie and Andy are pretty terrified of him and with good reason when he is known to be walking around with a hammer, destroying things in neighbors' yards.  We later see him with hammer in hand, up to no good.  Love it.  Stan also shows that he isn't playing around when Laurie dares to take off his mutant, killer rabbit picture off the fridge.  Upon seeing this he stops in his tracks and turns to stare at his parents with his demonic eyes without a word.  Wow!  Can we just have a whole episode about him??  So creepily cute!

I also enjoyed how the gang kept saying "This should be the gang," when one or more of the other members weren't present.  My favorite version of the gang was Ellie and her wine glass.  She reminds me of myself.  Haha.

The last funny part I want to mention is the green screen at Travis' college house.  I thought it was an insignificant little side story, but it turned out to be a more humorous device than it first appeared.  I loved when Andy and Bobby were using the green screen to pretend they were flying through the clouds.  The only thing was that they couldn't even see what they were doing.  Still, their child-like friendship has always been a point of hilarity for me.  I'm not surprised that Jules later uses it to fashion an overly dramatic re-proposal scene for she and Grayson.  It's nice that he's so whipped that he doesn't even question having to do that for her.

Grayson tells Jules that she's not boring because she's crazy.  I think what he meant to say is that she was predictably crazy.  You may not know what brand of crazy she will be, but you do know that if something goes wrong, she's not going to respond in the same way a normal person would.  I'm glad that we can still count on that with this new season of Cougar Town.  It may prove to be an interesting season after all.