I’m going to be honest – a lot of great stuff happens with the main cast of Cougar Town on tonight’s episode, “Southern Accents,” but I’m mostly just excited that a couple of previously recurring characters are back! I’m weird like that.
Title Card:
Hey, would you and your friends watch a show called “Pig trials”? Watch the episode, get back to us #pigtrials
Cougar Town
(oooo…. intrigue…)
What Happened:
As with the rest of this half of the season, a good portion of the episode focused on Jules coming to terms with the newest members of this family – Jill and Holly. Things are pretty solid now with Jill. She is cute. Jules enjoys her. Travis likes his new (almost) stepsister. But Jill is a package deal – she comes with her mom, Holly, who enjoys doing tequila shots and bonding with Jules. Jules, being Jules, just isn’t having it. She does not want to bond with this woman who had a baby with her soon to be husband. But in true Bill Lawrence series style, things turn around in the course of 30 minutes.
First of all, Travis starts to bond with Holly. And by that, I mean they make out on their couch and then Jules and a very excited Ellie walk in and see. Of course Jules isn’t thrilled and Travis just makes it worse by pretending he has real feelings for Holly. He doesn’t because that chic is crazy. But he does think that Jules needs to give her a chance and for once, Grayson finally takes a stand and agrees with Travis. Jules, stubborn woman she is – the reason we all love her and get angry with her repeatedly – stands her ground. Even when Ellie says sometimes being selfish isn’t the right thing to do.
Per usual, it is the one adult in the group – Travis – who turns things around. He tells Jules that she allows all the people she loves a blind spot where she ignores their faults because they are good people and she loves them. For Holly she lets the fault blind her to what she needs to see in Holly – that she is a young mom just trying to figure out how to do this. Let me tell you from experience, it is a scary thing – and that is something Jules understands as well. So finally Jules let’s Holly in, even if Holly can’t quite figure out how a door works, but instead of tequila, they drink wine. Of course.
Bobby and Laurie have a kind of bizarre story this week involving Bobby thinking that he is racist because he assumes all black guys can dunk and Asians should have a camera around their neck. I couldn’t quite connect to this one because it felt a bit out of nowhere – no matter how dumb Bobby has acted in the past. It was like they didn’t have a good storyline for them, so instead of sticking them in the other two stories of the week, they just placed them here for a bit. I don’t know… But I did find it funny when Laurie ended up “fixing racism” because she is a pretty white woman. Just like the movies have taught us.
Andy and Ellie were busy this week thanks to a little nudge from Jules. Jules has decided she absolutely must have a beach wedding. (I know where the wedding is, but I won’t tell you if this is it or not.) She goes down to city hall to get a permit, but is told that she can’t have it on the beach, only parties are allowed there, no weddings. Which is… odd. And seems a bit like the mayor makes decisions using a dart board. Which may be true because the mayor is…. Roger Frank (Barry Bostwick – he played Smith’s dad)! So happy he is back because he cracks me up. He doesn’t want to let Jules get married there, even though that is where he recently had his wedding to… Barb!! Hurray for the return of the always deliciously snarky Carolyn Hennesy!
Jules decides maybe it’s time for another mayor. Specifically one she can ask to do things for her – Andy! You may recall Ian Gomez told me about this in our interview so I was very excited to see it pop up. But Ellie wasn’t as excited and didn’t want Andy to run because as his wife she would have to deal with the people. And we all know she hates the people. Which, ironically, is why the people love her! But eventually she realizes that this is what he wants and since she does love him, she lets him run! Huzzah!
The last bit is all about Pig Trials, and honestly I’m not even sure of what to make of it, but to answer your question posed in the title card, Bill Lawrence, if you make a show, I’ll watch it. No matter what you call it.
Another solid outing for Cougar Town. I love seeing Jules grow up a little bit. This family may be a bit unconventional and more than a little dysfunctional, but they are one of my favorites ever on the small screen.
Written by Melissa Miller. Find her on Twitter @serrae