“Friends with benefits… the old F.W.B.” – Jules
This is the first time in a long time that I wasn’t instantly ready to write glowing things about Cougar Town.
I didn’t dislike “Feel A Whole Lot Better” but… it felt a little off. Maybe a little bit more like the vibe of the earliest episodes when the show was still finding its way. Certainly there was a more dramatic flavor this week, which it’s been trending to more lately with Travis (Dan Byrd) going off to college and the slow burn on the Jules (Courtney Cox) and Grayson (Josh Hopkins) relationship.
Last week, in “Letting You Go,” the drama and comedy were in near perfect balance – I’m still cracking up over bizarre and nearly experimental comedy of the whole midnight cowboy and wine/popcorn/Enya/dancing bit (if you haven’t seen it… well as you might guess, you just have to go see it).
In this episode, the drama focused on Jules contending with her agreement to do a “friends with benefits” (“the old F.W.B.) relationship with Grayson and her immediate realization that she had serious feelings for him. It’s possible that the “off-ness” had to do with this storyline moving too quickly – we had 21 episodes to meet these two characters and slowly see them work up to The Big Hookup, and now they’ve zoomed from One Night Stand to F.W.B. to the start of a real adult-type relationship in just over an episode.
There were some funny moments here, too, but the rhythm and chemistry didn’t quite match those of recent weeks. The turnabout of the old “that’s what she said” joke (mostly kept running by The Office, both UK and US, I’d say) to “that’s what he said” was just kind of so so in my book, but there were some funny one liners, such as when Ellie (Christa Miller) refers to the cheesy dolphin tattoo on her butt as her “spirit guide.” And Jules’ insane series of plans for what to do about Grayson worked pretty well (Plan B: deliver a series of insult/compliments to throw him off guard). But my favorite moments involved Andy (Ian Gomez), as they often do. His “fresh” robot dance stylings were most welcome indeed.
In other storylines, Bobby (Brian Van Holt) and Travis did some bonding while hunting down balloons for some kind of bizarre contest, and Laurie (Busy Philipps, who has been a standout lately) first taunts and then surprisingly bonds with Ellie over Ellie and Andy’s decision to get a nanny. Oh, I did very much enjoy Ellie’s attempts to appear to her nanny that she had an actual job, which devolved into her trying to hand a glass of wine to a cop at the park so that she could better hide from the nanny’s stroll with the baby.
So I guess there was a lot to take away this week.
From Around the Web: Cougar Town, “Feel a Whole Lot Better”
- Buzz Sugar: I love seeing any and all of Jules’s and Grayson’s interactions, so I’m happy to ride along whatever relationship they can make, but I’m curious to find out how other fans feel. Do you want to see them in a committed relationship, or would you rather they stay as single friends – who may occasionally give in to their impulses?
- Gather: Cougar Town star Busy Phillips is pregnant. Michelle Williams best gal pal is expecting her first child with husband Marc Silverstein.
Some stats and info about Cougar Town, “Feel A Whole Lot Better”
TV SHOW – Cougar Town
SEASON/EPISODE – Season 1, Episode 22
AIRED ON – May 5th, 2010
NETWORK/STREAMING SERVICE – ABC/TBS
GENRE – Comedy, Relationship Shows
CREATED BY – Kevin Biegel, Bill Lawrence
CAST – Courteney Cox, Christa Miller, Busy Philips, Dan Byrd, Josh Hopkins, Ian Gomez, Brian Van Holt
This review originally appeared on TV Geek Army.