Nine things Cougar Town has done right all season long

“Sorry Jules, but you’re not in a relationship yet. It has to last more than nine days before I consider it real. It’s the same rules I use for hair extensions and foster parents.” – Laurie

Even though I haven’t written about Cougar Town in the last few weeks, I’ve been loving every episode. Last week’s “wine makes girls skinny” was a favorite moment. I’d be fibbing if I told you I didn’t do an internet search for that article….

Tonight Cougar Town went out on a high note, doing all the things they do best, while upping the ante on sweetness:

They brought back some gems from past episodes. Ultimate penny can, a game they’ve been perfecting off the edge of the land boat all season, finally found a purpose in a hilarious contest to see who’d have to tell Bobby that Jules and Grayson are dating.

A weird fact (or two….) was revealed about Bobby. We get some awesome tidbit every week, from the big things, like driving a golf cart and living on a land boat, to the small stuff — you know, like carrying around a journal to write “smart” things in. Tonight the writers took a trip to Deviant Land as they divulged that Bobby would “hit that” Ewok if she were wearing a skirt.

Making fun of the actors’ physical quirks as part of their character. We’ve poked fun at the bald head of Andy, the crazy amounts of Botox Jules and Ellie do and of course Grayson’s tiny eyes. Tonight, Travis’ skinny arms were the focus. I’m waiting for them to somehow work in the massive amount of moles that Busy Phillips has all over her chest.

A group show. Sometimes Grayson plays his tiny guitar while they all sing along, but tonight he was the one man audience for the “good morning, look at my funky wool hat show.” No one can get away with anything on Cougar Town without it coming back to haunt them, which really feeds the evil little parasite inside my heart.

An ‘Ellie and Jules are way too close’ moment. Though it wasn’t quite as creepy as Ellie being the stand-in for afterglow cuddling with Jules for Grayson, Ellie snooping in Grayson’s closets with Jules just oversteps so many boundaries I don’t know where to begin. I think they need the social skills group from last week’s The Middle. But they took it one step further with the “relationship remix.”

Bringing back the best stuff at the end of the episode. Not only did we get to see balloons fall from Grayson’s ceiling as Jules described she feared may happen, but once again, we heard the “relationship remix.” It’s great when a character’s worst fears are realized at the same time another one’s words get taken out of context. Delightful!

A bizarre pop-culture reference. Pop culture references are all the rage these days, not done much better anywhere than on Psych. Cougar Town never does it in ab obvious, run-of-the-mill way. Some might even argue that Teen Wolf is so outdated and uncool that it couldn’t possibly even be a pop culture reference, but therein lies the beauty of Cougar Town.

A ‘Travis learns the ways of the world’ moment. It’s been fun being a part of Travis’ coming of age, and how he can do it with the most embarrassing set of parents on TV right now is incomprehensible. Tonight, we saw Travis discover his relationship style: he’s the Yes Man. He wears it well, and it worked on Kylie.

A moment of sweetness. There’s always one of these, whether it’s Ellie revealing how much she really does love Andy, or Jules and Travis having a mother-son moment. Tonight’s was the perfect moment of sweetness to end the season with. They all love Bobby so much that the elaborate plan to make him happy so they can break the news that Jules and Grayson are dating was beyond adorable. There really is so much love amongst this funny, incestuous little group and I look forward to having them back this fall.

How’d you feel about the season finale of Cougar Town, and the whole season in general? You coming back for more?

Clacked by Debbie McDuffee
on May 19, 2010 @ 22:00 EST5EDT