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.

Travis, The Dancing iPad

Cougar Town, S03E11

A hurricane blew into town, and Jules set up a party to ride it out with her friends.  Besides the wine running out, the biggest issue was that Travis looked like he finally had a chance to be with Laurie since she was having problems with Wade.  Jules was against her son getting together with Laurie until Bobby made her realize that Travis' happiness was more important than their personal feelings.  Travis ended up helping Wade patch up things with Laurie via a video call on an iPad and convinced Laurie to give Wade another chance even though it would ruin his own chance.

I usually don't pay attention to the few seconds for the title, but I noticed this time there was a quote from Abed:

"I didn't know it was back on either."

I started to wonder if they always do that sort of thing.  I keep forgetting that Abed loves Cougar Town.  It's just so random when you think about the kind of shows he usually enjoys (crime and sci-fi).  Then again, Abed is a jack-of-all-trades, really.  It's funny to think that he wouldn't have noticed that one of his favorite shows was back on the air.  Guess he has really been distracted by that Dr. Who knock-off he and Troy enjoy so much.

Anyway, back to this show.  I wasn't rooting for Travis to get with Laurie.  I'm sure it will happen one day, but thankfully it wasn't last night.  I mean, sure they would make a good and possibly entertaining couple, but I just can't care that much when Travis is involved.  It's like his nonchalant attitude has affected my feelings about him.  He always sounds like he's about to take a nap (or just woke up from one), so I tend to ignore what's going on with him.

That being said, I was laughing when he was acting as Wade's "body" by taping the iPad to his face and taking direction from Wade.  It was crazy ridiculous, but a little bit sweet in a weird way.  It sort of made me think of them making some kind of weird iRobot in the future where someone from a remote location could control a body and have their face show up in a screen as if they were there.  Watching Laurie dancing with Wade's screen face on Travis' body was oddly cute and scary.  It was funny that Travis let himself do that for Laurie's sake, but he drew the line when he had to touch her butt for him.  It was already a strange situation, so I don't know why that was too much.  Taping an iPad to your face for your rival in love should be too much.

Besides that moment, I didn't think anything was too funny except when Jules kept pouring herself a glass of wine, forgetting that the bottles were empty.  They were having a pretty good party (despite Jules fretting about a future grandson bore by Laurie and Travis) until the wine started to go.  I liked how the guys were smart enough to know that they needed to hurry up and get some more before things turned ugly.  And Ellie immediately turned to them and asked in a scary voice what were they whispering about.  I wish that they were unable to leave, just so I could see a wine-less Ellie tear them apart.

 Not one of the best episodes, but at least we didn't see the start of Travis and Laurie skipping around town together.  That can be put off for another season (if there will be one), I hope.  I guess with Wade enlisting in for another year, we won't be able to physically see him for a while.  It's just as well because it is a little funny that Laurie is walking around with him on a video call as if he's a real person.  I could stand to see her doing that more.  This show is often a little boring to me compared to some other shows (I laugh more watching Mad Men), so I'll ask for anything that might make me think watching the rest of this season is worthwhile.

Bobby Sees His Racist Side

Cougar Town, S03E10

Jules wanted Andy to run for Mayor so that he could get her a permit to have her wedding on the beach, which wasn't allowed.  Ellie despised the idea of her husband being in public officer since it would force her to interact with people more.  After making a comment to an Asian man, Bobby worried that he was racist, and Laurie put together a panel to help him.  Travis made out with Holly, and he and Grayson tried to teach Jules a lesson about cutting Holly a bit of slack.

Even though Jules suggested Andy run for Mayor for her own selfish reasons, I think she was right that he would be a good candidate (as least out of the people she knows).  I would be interested in seeing him win that position, although I doubt it will be very easy for him.  I'd condemn Jules further for making Ellie unhappy with her plan to get Andy to be mayor, but Ellie's reasons against it were too funny.  She really is a woman after my own heart.  I would be annoyed too by the idea of having to deal with more people than the few I can tolerate.  The best thing about her opposition of Andy running for mayor was when she told Andy in the car about her opinion on the matter.  Andy said he wouldn't be mad, but he purposely ran over a speed bump quickly so that her coffee would splash in her face.  It's great seeing Ellie on the receiving end of a joke at her expense.  I almost wish that she hadn't come to her senses and realized how selfish she was being to her husband.  I would have preferred to see how she could have gotten him back, though.

Bobby's realization of his racist nature was probably the funniest thing in this episode.  I just can't believe how stupid he was to tell that guy he would probably love a giant camera around his neck.  But you knew that he had no malice behind his words--only ignorance.  So when the guy got upset and Laurie looked at him with horror, it was really funny.  He also thought that all black guys could dunk and asked a man if he could in a later scene.  Bobby's too much of a bonehead for anyone to take his racist remarks seriously.  Plus, like Andy said, the fact that he was so bothered by the racial implications of his words and thoughts, made Bobby a decent guy with the potential to one day to realize when he was using stereotypes to make judgments about people.

It was also nice to see that in Laurie's panel she had included her boyfriend, Wade.  I wasn't sure if he would ever be mentioned again.  According to their routine of getting naked for each other on Skype calls, I would say that their relationship is still going on strong.  That means it's still possible he would visit Laurie once he's done with his service in Iraq.  I'm sure that would make for some really entertaining scenes, knowing how hyper Laurie is.

I never pictured Holly getting together with Travis, but when he later explained that he was just taking advantage of a woman, that made a lot of sense.  The only way Travis could go from small talk at a coffee shop to heavy making out had to be due to him being with a vulnerable woman.  Travis is a bit of a loser with no swagger to speak of, so a girl like Holly is probably his best bet.  I'll admit it's a little weird since she has had a baby with his future stepdad, though.  More than the baby, I would think that he would be a little disturbed by locking lips with someone that Grayson had once done the same.  I wouldn't even eat a piece of bread that he had eaten from.  Eww.  But I'm not sure if Travis really has any feelings for Holly or if he was just messing with Jules to make a point.  Someone as self-centered as Jules needed such an extreme measure to teach her to stop judging people.

I liked the Bobby story enough that I think this was a good episode overall.  I definitely laughed more times than I have compared to other episodes.  I hope that next time we get to see some of Andy's campaign ideas.  I could see the possibility of that being funny, especially if Bobby was his manager.  Almost anything that will take away the focus from Jules' wedding is welcome to me.  I already know that it's not going to be the dream wedding she wants, even if she does get to have it on the beach.

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.

Bobby and Angie's Non-Future, Travis' Bleak Future

Cougar Town, S03E07

Bobby imagined that he was going to finally settle down with Angie, only to see that she hadn't considered their relationship to be exclusive nor anything above superficial.  Jules was excited to have her first real set of wedding photos until Travis offered to take them and showed her his horrific style of photography.  She worried further that a career as a photographer was one that would ensure her son would struggle in life.  Ellie teased Laurie with a Simon, but eventually let her know that everyone is stupid about something in life.

I was not expecting Angie to be the one that put a cork in the romance for she and Bobby.  He's such a loveable oaf, you forget that he has a past of numerous affairs while married to Jules.  I guess it's a little karma for him, but I felt bad for him.  He was on top of the world (literally kicking his heels), and Angie showed him in a big way that she was just interested in having fun.  Luckily, Bobby came to his senses and stopped sleeping with her eventually.  He's not made of steel, so it's expected that he would succumb to pleasure a few times, but in the end his heart took over and he ended it with her.  Sad to see Angie go, but she was doing Bobby no good.  Maybe she'll realize that losing him was a mistake one day.

I never thought Travis' photography would amount to more than a class, nor was I thinking that his taste of subjects would be things like open sores and severed body parts.  Although, twisted family begets twisted children, I guess.  I can't believe how much she loves Travis that she couldn't disappoint him right away.  After looking at his portfolio, it's a given that anyone would want proof that he could actually take more elegant and romantic photos.  Instead, Jules lied that she wanted him to do it, and then lied again to tell him she didn't.  Only after Angie talked him about his actual talent did Jules feel comfortable enough to hire him once again.  She's a damn fool.  One random picture that he took that seemed okay (the one of her sleeping) wouldn't be enough to convince me, nor the ramblings of an unbalanced teacher like Angie.  She may win an award for supporting her son in a pointless career of his own choosing, but she's probably going to regret the photos she gets for her wedding later on.

I felt Laurie's pain with that Simon.  I could never be as skillful with one as Ellie in a million years.  But I'm glad Ellie didn't just torture her with something she was better at, but also showed her own intellectual weakness (basic math that doesn't go beyond reducing the nanny's pay for damages).  She may have a bitch coating, but in the inside, she's all marshmallow fluff.  I think that she really likes Laurie a lot more than she'd like to admit.

This episode was good, but I wish that we had more scenes of Grayson being a dad and sucking at it or something.  I did like how Jules and Ellie wouldn't listen to him about being a parent as he was too new to put his two cents in about Travis.  I hope that Bobby won't be all depressed in the next episode, but I'm sure that Andy will be there to stroke his hair (most likely literally).  Really hope there will be a better Ellie-centered story in the future--I'm getting tired of her being sort of an afterthought.  When she's not in the spotlight, I can't seem to find the story to be all that entertaining.

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.

Ted's Back! And He Brought Friends!

Cougar Town, S03E05

I can't believe how quickly I was over that Bobby and Angie (I finally took the time to learn her name) would get together.  It was definitely because Bobby had no swagger (I guess that's not too surprising) and Jules took it upon herself to set them up on this "perfect" date where he wouldn't have to speak much, yet would have a memorable day with her.  As soon as I saw that overly detailed plan, I knew there was no way it was going to go that smoothly.  I didn't think it would be as much as a disaster as it was, though.  In the end Jules managed to pull it together and Bobby and Angie had a kiss to The Little Mermaid's Kiss the Girl.  It might have been a sweet story to me if I had stopped caring already.  Even for me, that's quick to lose interest.

What I liked about this episode was mainly three things.  The first was when Jules was surprised with Ted's band staying at her house for a week and Ellie and Travis were pumping their arms to the band's Heigh-Ho.  I wouldn't have thought these two would be a funny combo, but last night they proved me wrong.

The second was Tom's ability to repel people.  It's so pathetic that it makes you laugh.  All he had to do was just start shooting the breeze with some people, and they would instantly walk away from him.  I think the last time he had to do this for Jules so that Angie and Bobby would have one more shot was the best time.  As soon as he opened his mouth the crowd magically disappeared around him.  Poor, creepy Tom.

The last thing is one of the best things I have seen on Cougar Town.  It was at the very end where Ted was freaking out because he felt like everyone in town looked like people he used to work with.  Yes!  A direct shout-out to Scrubs!  Ted even pointed out that Ellie and her character from the other show were pretty similar in personalities (I don't mind that at all--she's brilliant as a cold-hearted bitch).  You can watch below:

Loved this!  Scrubs had a really great cast and hilarious stories, despite they were working in a hospital where people often died or had horrible conditions.  I only wish that Turk had been able to make an appearance too.  I miss their bro-mance.  That was one of the best things about that show.

Speaking of bro-mance, I was none too shocked that Ellie and Jules have made out.  I was just surprised that it only happened once.  They're pretty open with the fact that they may one day make their relationship official.  And I can completely buy that she is a better kisser than Grayson.  He just looks like he'd be clumsy and inadequate in most things of a romantic nature.

Overall, I say that the last part of the episode made me like it more than the others.  It was just really nice to see the Scrubs gang back on TV!  Especially because I wasn't expecting them to do that.  I doubt that they will do something like that again, but a girl can dream.  I can be satisfied that at least the makers of Cougar Town will grace us with the cameos of the Scrubs cast from time to time.

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).