Cougar Town - "Blue Sunday" - Review

The quirky, wine drenched, awfully titled Cougar Town returned last Tuesday on a new network (TBS). The fate of the series had been up in the air for while there, which was a shame because the series is one of the most underrated comedies on television. Running gags, a sense of place, and a great big heart make stopping in with the Cul-de-Sac Crew required viewing. It may not always go for big laughs but it has such great, well-defined characters that deeply care for one another, and in their own co-dependent way they help eachother through all of life’s problems, no matter how small they may seem. The series returned in top form in “Blue Sunday”.  

Jules Cobb is the center of this crazy group of people. Grayson may begrudgingly accept some of her ideas, but he knows as well as everyone else that she’s the “light” at heart of the show, and “as she goes, so do we all”. I don’t know if I’d call her the "heart" of the show (that role often feels more true for Bobby, and even sometimes Andy and Laurie who are all three so very goodnatured and sweet), but if Jules is feeling the “blues” than it’s going to drag down the whole group (who seem to perpetually be in her home).

 The episode confronts the question of how we deal with our problems. Do we confront them head on or do we run away (in this case quite literally run) from them? 

Bobby Cobb is always literally running from his problems (that’s how he’s gotten by all his life), and when he owes money, Travis tries to convince him to be a bigger man and deal with his problem (Although he ends up running away and crosses paths with Jules who is also doing the same – “It’s amazing I’m normal,” Travis says). Bobby’s partner in crime Andy ran away as well, in this case from work when he wasn’t finished with an assignment. And Ellie avoiding the reveal of what seemingingly unsexy sexual thing her husband Andy did to her while she was out of it on ambien (which somehow the series also makes seems sweet in its own strange way) is its own weird form of running away.

Travis thinks he’s above all this: He’s a “nerd”, as Laurie puts it. He talks through things. But then he’s given the trump card that he can’t talk about: his feelings for Laurie, and we find out that he’s no better than anyone else when it comes to dealing with his problems. When she confronts him, much as he’s been telling his dad is the right thing to do, he instead takes his father’s advice and runs away from his problems. The Laurie-Travis question has been simmering for a long time now, and while they seem oddly well-suited for eachother, the age difference remains a hindrance to them getting together. While Laurie thinks its sweet that Travis has a crush, she really can’t see him as anything more than a sibling (or can she? Is her black army boyfriend the only thing stopping this pairing?). 

But as the A-plot suggests, this kind of avoidance of problems isn’t a good thing. Grayson is getting used to being married to Jules, who has a few tricks up her sleeve of quirks she has yet to reveal. She dreams that Grayson flirted with another woman, which sets her off into a depressed bout (“like dark blue. Like one notch over suicidal,” as Laurie, who had great episode, put it). Ellie keeps telling him that he should simply apologize for the dream, as crazy as that may seem. As Jules keeps descending into unhappiness (pretending to be positive at the behest of her therapist - another example someone avoiding their problem), she blows up over ice cream falling off her cone and onto the ground. Ellie, to the anger of Jules, tells Grayson about how she gets with her “blues”, and he confronts the problem, apologizing for the dream. He may not have wanted to apologize, but he realized that letting problems churn does no one any good. Eventually they’ll catch up to you.

All in all, a welcome return of one of the most delightful tv comedies. New showrunners and a new network have done little to change its DNA. And that's a good thing!

Stray Observations:

-“It feels like it’s been over a year” – Cougar Town gets appropriately meta in its cold open.

-“Are you alcoholics? Are you in AA?” “That’s two questions”

-“I read something” “Story’s really not true” “Alright I heard it”

-“Do I want to find out why my neck is stiff?” “Never”

-Jules likes pulling out Grayson’s old man hairs.

-Laurie really likes monopoly: “I once had a quickie in a backseat cause the guy was named Marvin Gardens”, “That’s why they called me community chest”

-Of course Bobby doesn’t get sarcasm

-Laurie is "lasered smooth hairless": Jules: “I’m gonna need to see that later”

-Another change in phrase meaning by Jules: “Junk in trunk” now = Having emotional baggage

-“He’s so black I feel like I’m in a sensory deprivation tank when he’s on top of me”

-For the delivery of it: “You never don’t pee in there, right?” “No”

-Tom dancing outside, looking through the window as everyone dances inside. - They've gotten some great mileage out of the character
-The fake preview for version of the series that's action packed, soap opera was hilarious. Great cameo by Michelle Williams.

Grade: B+