Cougar Town “Ways To Be Wicked”: Mommy Issues

With the very real possibility of cancellation looming, Cougar Town’s third season is wisely being spent expanding the backstories of the cul-de-sac crew, strengthening friendships and exploring characters without sacrificing any of the numerous running jokes or wacky storylines at the heart of Cougar Town. “Ways To Be Wicked” is one of the more subdued episodes of the third season, slowing down the outlandish gags for some solid character moments – even when the show’s desire to define its characters becomes a little obvious.

The episode’s main arc revolved around Ellie and her relationship with her visiting mother, and Jules’s ability to both relate to Ellie and be able to support her. There are some funny “fish out of water” jokes about Jules being mean, but the heart of the story is really explaining to everyone why Ellie can be so cold, and why she has such a hard time relating to people emotionally. Her mother is predictably colder, meaner, and a lot more passive/aggressive than Ellie, the effects of which we’ve been watching for the last two-plus seasons. At times, it feels like the show trying too hard to explain itself (like last week, when Ellie explained her Jellybean nickname for Laurie), but the absence of a resolution at the episode’s end undercuts the lighter tones of the episode with a stark reminder of how important having both friends and family who care about you is, and how they both sometimes need to intersect to make things work.

It parallels the B-story, a haphazard tale of Grayson trying to relate to Laurie, and jumping in way over his head. Grayson’s different neuroses are well-documented through Cougar Town, and him jumping head over heels into Laurie’s cake business (without her permission) was an abrupt departure from what we know about Grayson, and exposes itself as a device to bring these two together for one important conversation: Grayson being an example for Laurie of taking a chance and trying to make your own way in the world. Somehow, Grayson starts to care and Laurie becomes modest… while I do think giving Laurie a purpose in life is a great move for the show, the lackluster devices used to inspire her in “Ways To Be Wicked” felt rushed and mushed together for purposes of having main characters interact.

There’s also a little side story about Sig and Travis trying to make their house cool by stealing a cougar statue from the campus – another moment of show-defining: “Why are there cougars on the campus? It doesn’t make any sense” – with the help of Bobby and Chick, Jules’ father. If anything, it allows Kevin (Travis’ old room mate) to make a cameo, and provides an avenue for Chick to spread some knowledge to Jules about Ellie’s situation. Mostly an excuse for Ken Jenkins to do quirky stuff (in a role that sometimes feels a little too familiar to his role on Scrubs).

While the last few minutes of the episode do well to both provide a realistic ending to Ellie’s mothers visit, much of the episode felt like wacky jokes and a whole lot of shoehorning of plot. Two back to back sub-par episodes of Cougar Town have me a bit worried about the fate of the show moving forward, but there are still a lot of big dominoes to fall story-wise in the second half of this shortened season. Something still worries me about this season, which feels a little more random and disconnected than the second season. Story lines just don’t feel as coherent, and more and more often, throwaway jokes are being inserted where they really aren’t needed, and simply stick out as odd for the sake of being odd (yes, I’m talking about Bobby’s talking stomach).

Grade: C+

Other thoughts/observations:

– as the post image gives away, the Alice Cooper joke was the highlight of the episode.

– Can we get Michael McDonald back in front of the camera a little bit? Really wish there were a few scenes INSIDE the wine bar this season – I was really looking forward to his character becoming a regular point of interaction, like Tom (who’s noticeably disappeared the last couple episodes).

– I’d really like to see Andy get some better activities to do this season. He’s getting a lot of great dialogue and showing off his knowledge of the cul de sac’s inner workings, but the show still treats him like an echo for his male counterparts, and a punching bag for Ellie. I understand the importance of continuity in relationships, but let Andy grow like the other characters have grown.

– Stan is such a little shit.

What did you think of “Ways to be Wicked”? Great episode to flesh out Ellie’s personality and explain her friendship with the group a little better, or another troubling sign for a low-rated show floundering around for survival? Leave your thoughts below!