Why, Dr. Bob Kelso! It's great to see you again! Ken Jenkins came to Cougar Town as Jules' dad Chick, a warm old Southern gent who apparently loves to wear corsets. With him came the holiday that inspires Jules to recreate Laurie's Saturday-morning-face with pumpkins, Halloween.
The characters pulled off some of the best costumes I've seen on a TV show in a long time. Andy's Burt Reynolds recalled an earlier episode involving mustaches. Of course Grayson meant Prince the singer, not Disney prince, c'mon Jules! Though her Cinderella-ish outfit was really well done for someone who hates Halloween, and of course the bear was her dad. Barb's haystack looked more like a backless Furbie outfit, and I'm pretty sure Bobby's costume was his unwashed laundry.
The top awards go to Ellie, Laurie, and Travis, who went as Laurie, Ellie, and Andy respectively. They played each other perfectly, from Ellie's disconnectedness to Laurie's trampiness, and even Andy himself had to concede to Travis matching his "C'mon!!!!" Travis did lose a few points, though, because A) bald caps are creepy, and B) he looked like he was in blackface.
Laurie did bring up a point about Travis that I sometimes feel about some of my old friends. Being "too cool" for things like Halloween is not cool. I did go to college, but most of my close friends didn't, and we know how to have fun a lot better than my friends who either took "more serious" majors (like Science or Business, as opposed to my English/Film/Japanese degree), and since Cougar Town is basically run by party animals, you gotta play the game, Trav.
By the way, I am not sure I'm liking the Laurie/Travis vibes. She is pretty much smack dab in between Travis and the other when it comes to age, so seeing those two pal around together has some definite subtext of flirtation. Unlike with Grayson, this would be the absolutely unforgivable hookup for Laurie. They have given this vibe in previous episodes too, like the season premier, but this time Laurie's single and not keeping Smith up at 3 AM before his Bar Examination. If she had broken down this week, it would have been right into Travis's lap. Literally.
I do feel like the Bobby/Stan storyline did not need to occur this week, since it's main message (Bobby is a kind-hearted moron) was very similar to his story last week. It was nice to see, unlike last week, Bobby successfully helping (instead of helping and failing). And I hate both "Stan" and "Rick" but I think "Rick" is a bit better, and definitely more likely to help in a bar fight.
Jules' let Laurie be all crazy this week and took the sob story for herself. What was amazing, though, was that most of the heartbreak was based on mostly new information we learned in this episode, yet it still bore the same weight as, say, the end of Laurie and Smith's multi-episode relationship. Maybe it's because Ken Jenkins used the "good old guy" charm for good, unlike evil with Bob Kelso on Scrubs. I don't recall Jules ever making a big deal about her parents before, so to see her get worked up about her dad could have failed miserably, but it was paced so perfectly that it worked.
Fun Stuff:
-Laurie, not drinking always leads to problems.
-Chick and Travis's roommate was some awkward fun.
-"Mirror." "What up, playboy? Oh, you already know!" "Who are you talking to?!"
-"You're beautiful, and I'm only telling you this because you're the only person I'm nice to."
-"Nobody put a camera on the floor because I. Never. Wear. Underwear!"
-Dom DeLuise playing Burt Reynolds.
-"You made him sad blow away!"
-Even if Laurie's dog poop in the cobwebs doesn't come out looking like huge spiders, I would still be scared that there are giant turds in a spider web.
-"That's a cool way to say goodbye!"
-"If you ever stop liking Go-Karts, you're outta the will!"
-Why does Travis sleep on the floor of the Jam Room? Wouldn't the couch be more comfortable?
-"Why does everyone think I swing my arms?!"
-Of course the flip-flop is in the toaster!
-"Who wants a roll in the hay?!" Oh Barb.
-Where was dog/pony Travis this week?
-I was going to quote the bell-ringing beer-fetching scene, but out of context, it sounds really really bad.
GRADE: A-
I had to take a little away for the Bobby storyline, since that could have happened in pretty much any other episode, but between the Laurie and Travis scaring contest, the party at the pub, and Jules' dad, this episode hit all the right notes.
MVP Ken Jenkins, for making us all love Chick in just half an hour.
Runner-Up Josh Hopkins, bringing out the best of Grayson's worst.
No comments:
Post a Comment