ABC is certainly in a hurry to finish their commitments to Cougar Town, throwing a double dose of the Cul De Sac crew our way this week, before taking a week off and finishing with season 3 another hour-long affair at the end of the month. ‘Square One’ and ‘It’ll All Work Out’ weren’t the funniest of most engaging episodes we’ve had to watch this season, but the unintentional pairing of these two episodes back-to-back on air showed a few intriguing connections thematically between the two.
Ellie’s a major part of both these episodes, deconstructing the two aspects most people would agree are her two most questionable: her abilities at being a wife (and a hot one at that) and her mothering, something that’s always been a bit of a raised eyebrow topic on the show. She’s challenged in both of those episodes: in ‘Square One’, it’s about having a slice of humble pie, and for once in her life conceding to the one man in the world who’s willing to put up with her icy tendencies. And if being called out – and bested – by Laurie isn’t enough, she gets called out even worse by the whole crew (with Jules as their mouthpiece) on her mothering philosophy in ‘It’ll All Work Out’.
But she’s not a character without nuance – even the bats in her cold cave of a heart have the ability to smile. One of the re-assuring things about Bill Lawrence shows are his characters – even the evil ones – are never without feelings, and have insecurities and anxieties just like any regular person. Ellie doesn’t want to feel like she’s lost her sexiness, and she obviously doesn’t want to feel like she’s a bad mother. And both of these big problems are solved by the smallest of gestures: a simple session of day sex, and a well-orchestrated turkey delivery by Stan at the end of ‘It’ll All Work Out’.
The other thematic connections are about the different dynamics within the 4 married and soon-to-be-married members of the show. ‘Square One’ explores both Andy & Ellie’s relationship, but also Grayson & Jules, and the impending realities of them having to co-exist under the same roof. There are some times where Jules starts to become a little too much of a caricature, and her obnoxious challenges of her therapist’s suggestions starts to bring out some of the traits of Jules that makes any sane audience member wonder why Grayson is trying to live there in the first place.
In ‘It’ll All Work Out’, the issues are more gender-based: while Ellie and Laurie are battling over mom skills, Grayson is making one of his rare human attempts at emotion, bonding with Andy over Play-Doh butt pizza, and reminding him that they’ve got to be a team now, because they’re inevitably going to be hanging out once Jules & Grayson are married. The jury is still out on how Bobby is going to react to this new team-up, but for now, Grayson’s got Andy in the mayoral race, and they’ve finally found something connecting each other.
It’s arguable how much the show really needs to do the whole Thanksgiving tradition – for me, every one of those episodes feels way too familiar to Monica’s Thanksgivings on Friends and less like an original tradition for these character on this show. I do appreciate the show wanting to keep its traditions going, even when its not on the air for said holidays… I just think there needs to be less of Jules making Thanksgiving chore lists and more of the gang just being goofy, drinking wine and playing the white t-shirt game.
‘Square One’ grade: B+
‘It’s All Work Out’ grade: B
Other thoughts/observations:
– funny how the male members of the Cobb family solve problems. Travis dealing with the weird sexual situation with an amazing amount of maturity and knowledge in ‘Square One’, and we see where he gets it from with Bobby’s hearfelt discussion with Jules.
– R.I.P. Big Carl. Now we introduce you to Big Lou, the third of his name in the House Cobb.
– speaking of Big Carl, shoutout to Bone Thugs in Laurie’s eulogy.
– the meta scene at the beginning of the second episode, paired wonderfully with the Cougarton Abbey title of the first episode (the second Community shoutout in the titles this season alone… the love affair continues).
what did you think of tonight’s double dip? Leave your thoughts/comments below!