A quick review of tonight’s “Cougar Town” coming up just as soon as I pound grape…
Like I said on Monday, “Baby’s a Rock ‘N’ Roller” was definitely the stronger of the two episodes airing this week. Jules still gets to be crazy, but in a more understandable, likable way. Grayson with kids continues to be both funny and a source of genuine, unmanufactured tension between the two of them, and the moment when the gang is all startled to remember that Stan exists is a very funny meta joke. Bobby’s various plans for waking up in time – and then the ways in which they were foiled – were vintage hillbilly logic, and the episode was peppered with other fine running gags, like the “Hey, sexy” callbacks, Ellie’s random seven minutes of likability, and the remarkable acoustics of Wayne’s wine bar.
But what really made the episode pop for me was the Laurie storyline, which was pretty fantastic and nailed all the things I love most about this show. Not only was Busy Philipps joy as Laurie did the Walk of Awesome infectious, but the very fact that the show would do this (as I talked about with Lawrence in our interview) – would treat Laurie’s backsliding into immaturity as something to accept and embrace, rather than as something to judge – was great. This is a show about ridiculous, juvenile people doing ridiculous, junveile things, and the best way to approach that is to not fight the current. Yes, the show has moments where the characters grow, but some of its sweetest emotional moments come from them recognizing that their loved ones’ quirks are worthy celebrating, rather than trying to change. Great scene, great storyline, damned good episode.
Also, Laurie’s right: ass worship is, indeed, contagious.
What did everybody else think?