One of the strangest aspects about Cougar Town is the show's ability to be incredibly silly, absurd, and downright insane, while still pulling off emotionally affecting scenes. Granted, sometimes this switch doesn't go off without a hitch, but fortunately, whether or not you actually feel sad or warm-hearted at a more dramatic moment, the show will kick you back into comedy before long.
Take this episode, "Keeping Me Alive." There were three particularly more dramatic moments: the "Aw Shucks" moment between Travis and Ellie conceding that they are simpletons, the moment of Jules and Bobby figuring out their post-marriage relationship, and the heartbreaking scene of Laurie's breakdown.
Watching Ellie try to assert her intellectual superiority over the episode was actually quite fun. What the hell was the documentary about that Travis wanted to see? Locomotion and kinesis? It sounded like a physics lecture, and I'm fairly confident not too many physicists would want to go sit through a documentary about it, much less a photography nerd and a drunken, angry mother. You also couldn't help but feel for Travis and Ellie as they tried their hardest to define the word "island." I felt their pain. Maybe they should vacation to the island of Mexico one of these days.
As much as I felt for Ellie, I still got a great big kick out of her being told off by Jules, Grayson, and Andy. I'll admit it too: I don't know what bonds are, besides money but not. I do know where Afghanistan is, though, and I (somehow) manage not to clap at dead people in documentaries.
I think that many people do subscribe to Ellie and Travis' pleasure in seeming smarter than others, even when its not necessarily the case. There's a small boost in self-confidence to be had when you hear a group of grown adults call Mexico an island. At least aspirin-rimmed margaritas are involved to help you through the pain
Bobby Cobb is an idiot, but one of my favorite idiots, primarily because he rarely does anything, no matter how stupid, without having noble intentions. In this episode, he looks to not only become more independent from Jules, but become someone they can rely on in the process. Sure, he accidentally turns Jules' office into a bar, and then mistakes a client's wife for his mother, but he only does so to try to help Jules instead of just himself.
But Jules takes some convincing. Jules values herself on how much she's needed, and has for a long time. That's why she had, and probably still has, trouble with Travis being a whole 20 minutes away, and it's a big part of why she doesn't want Bobby to help her out. Jules is needed, she doesn't need. Of course, his case could have been stronger had he never cheated on her. This is a dynamic we haven't explored much in the show: Jules and Bobby's divorce. We know he cheated on her, and he was still in love with her for most of last season, but we've only heard a small speech or two regarding Jules' feelings.
Last season, Jules had to drill into Bobby's head that she didn't love him anymore. She still found herself comforting him, though, and also him comforting her. We saw them working together, and occasionally teaching each other lessons, like letting Travis go, but we never explored the bad blood between them. I think the show used their conversation on the beach to show us that we've actually been seeing it all along. She helps Bobby out so often because she's still a little bitter and likes to help him as a reminder that she can do things he can't.
I will criticize Jules on her client a little bit though. She has confessed to having redneck roots, and on top of that she should have known to at least ask Bobby for advice, if not outright help, in communicating with the man, who totally should not have shamed Jules' "Woo!" And I would also have preferred a less-Chinese bathroom. Most other rooms, Chinese would work for, but not bathrooms.
Finally, Laurie had her "dump 'n bump" phase with Smith. I think that the reason Laurie and Smith didn't work out actually can be attributed to Smith's dad, a role Barry Bostwick should really get nominated for an Emmy for; who else can pull of Tarzan golf yells like him? If that final scene at the driving range is any proof, nobody can.
At any rate, Smith's dad never liked Laurie, since she is of a less refined class. I think that this has affected Smith more than he knows. There was an episode last season where Smith wouldn't get upset at a man Laurie fooled around with while he was away at Law School. This theme followed them all the way into the episode right before this one, where Smith couldn't care less that Laurie and Grayson hooked up.
Obviously his reaction last week was not due to a passive personality, like they tried to pass off on him last season. I think it is his lack of passion towards Laurie, whose history he is hung up on, more so than her personality, her heart, or even her Vajazzling. I kind of hate Smith for this, because I think he knew she was not the one for him from the start.
On the other hand, to give Smith a little credit, Laurie didn't initially love Smith either. In the beginning, she felt too unsophisticated for him, and later almost broke it off due to Smith's lack of ex-boyfriend-fighting. Grayson and Jules both helped push her to give Smith a chance. Laurie was able to move beyond her history of dating shirtless men who carve "DIE BITCH" into glass tables, and found someone she could settle down with and be genuinely happy, which is not at all what she expected going into this relationship last year.
Andy may be a bromantic dork, and Grayson may hail from planet Douchelon, but they do have one over on Laurie in that they understand relationships a lot better, from their combined experiences of odd love (Andy and Ellie) and devastating heartbreak (Grayson's divorce). They saw right away that the Smith-dump-'n-bumping Laurie was not who she really was anymore, though I'm inclined to more believe in the Smith-beer-smashing-curb-kicking Laurie is more to her nature.
Finally came the Good Will Hunting recreation scene (still topped by the Shawshank experience from last season, though). While Andy and Grayson brought some giggles, it was Laurie's heartbreaking realization that shows the heart of this show:
"Why doesn't he love me?" "I don't know."
Sure, a good friend could have said a number of things in this situation "He doesn't appreciate you for you." "He's a heartless jerkoff." These guys are here to support in every which way they can, especially in being truthful to each other.
Bobby calls out Jules for not actually forgiving him for messing everything up in their marriage, and gets her to admit that she gets a little pleasure in seeing Bobby struggle. After the gang gets Ellie to realize she's as simple as them, Travis tells her that their thing isn't so much actually being intellectual, just so long as the others think they are. And Andy and Grayson aren't going to go into a tirade against Smith because there really isn't a solid reason to despise him: Both he and Laurie thought they shared something, when, unfortunately, it was only Laurie loving Smith, and not the other way around.
This episode may have delved into real introspections of the characters, but that didn't mean it didn't have it's funny moments:
-While I pronounce it "Rue-inned", I prefer "Roined" to "Rue-eened" any day. If you're gonna say it wrong, go way wrong
-"No more alimony and you still need me? This is the best day ever!"
-Laurie's two brothers: the one who lost an eye in backyard wrestling, and THEN "The Cyclops" I wonder if she's got a glass eye herself.
-Truth or Penny Can was fun, but it was no Movie Mash-Up game
-"Travis, you are wearing Kylie's varsity field hockey jersey!" "I'm proud of her..."
-"You're manly, but you're still slight, so I can spin you like a pizza!"
-It would only make sense that Ellie writes a blog about Project Runway that seems to have nothing to do with the contest. I'd be surprised if she even paid attention to the fact that any of them made clothes.
-"I only have half a bottle of spray tan left. Should I go North, or South Side?" "Zebra stripes!"
-I know Bobby's heart is in it, but if my Realtor is giving away beer to get business, I'm going somewhere with fewer toothless people.
-What else is Dog Travis good for besides selling sperm? Also disturbing about that comment is that Bobby once referred to his penis as Little Travis. So wrong.
-Does anyone look good in bowties?
-Is it really just the yelling that makes golf suck? Or am I just a jaded non-sports guy?
GRADE: B
The last act of the episode kept wavering in tone, from serious to silly, keeping it from striking its themes home. Still, Busy Phillips saves the day by giving yet another heart breaking speech that gets through loud and clear. Add that to some real insight into Jules and Bobby, and that raises an episode that, while still pretty fun, doesn't seem to pack the hilarious punch of other entries.
MVP: Busy Phillips, for Laurie's breakdown. Runner-up is Christa Miller for Ellie's deflated ego.
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